At work we have a fully fitted kitchen for staff to make drinks, use the microwave and fridges etc. It has two sinks and an instant boil tap. I love the instant boil tap. Every house should have one! We also have some taps for our sinks. They have been there since I have been there and they are used very heavily every day and so, at some point, they will fail. The tap failed last week. Fortunately facilities swung into action and put up an out of service sign and rang through to get it fixed. I can only assume they had tried to call, Christopher Plummer...oh dear.
And we have been and returned from Northumberland. The last English county before Scotland. It is fairly rural and in most parts empty, save for fields and trees. This year we found ourselves located nearer to the sea, at a tiny village called Beadnell. Just a few miles south of Seahouses. There is not a huge amount in the place to see or do. An 18th century church sits at the centre, which is pleasant enough. One of the local Pubs incorporates a pele tower. A pele tower being a small fortified building (usually a tower), that carries on top an iron basket that could be filled with kindling day and night to warn of, usually, Scottish incursions. An early warning system if you will. These were sites around, Northumberland, Cumbria, North Yorkshire. There is a great example a few miles out of Beadnell called Preston pele tower Preston Pele tower here, looking just that, like an isolated castle keep. Further up the coast is Seahouses and then Bamburgh, and Lindisfarne. All love...
In the words of the song, by Edwin Starr. War, huh, Yeah, What is it good for, absolutely nothing, Uh Huh. Although, yesterday this was proved wrong as it was good for something. It is good for the 6,000 people who I am told are member of the Sealed Knot . There are those of us, whose hobbies tend to be more sedate in nature; Reading, Gardening, making ships out of matchsticks and then there are those who believe that a weekend could not be complete without charging into some one else behind a 30ft ash pike, dressed as a time traveller from the 17th Century. I am, sadly, not one of these individuals as the idea of camping that frequently fills me with dread. Let alone how you tie down a pike or a halberd to the roof bars of a Ford Fusion. But thanks must go to those individuals who, do, want to live that lifestyle and be truly passionate about their hobby. And I guess be passionate about that 'Period' of English History to want to spend their time and their money...
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