atomicvindaloo.com – the occasionally drunken ramblings of an urban philosopher

Artistic Jenny

Ξ August 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family, Henley, Jenster |

Here are a couple of videos of the Jenster at the Chiltern Craft Show at Stonor Park last weekend;

Dog Lane – Green Lane

Ξ August 26th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Atomic, Family |

For a bit of a laugh on the way back from Beale Park yesterday, I took a trundle along Dog Lane – from Rotherfield Peppard to Rotherfield Greys. (Here’s a map for you)

As far as I’m aware it’s a BOAT and is only a couple of miles or so in length. This time of year it’s pretty overgrown and my handy home-made* limb-risers worked a treat. It’s a mixture of gentle mud with a few places filled-in with sand  and rock, with a couple of inclines. In places it’s very narrow – and eventually opens up somewhat into a hardened surface.

Next time I go down, I’ll film it for you.

*Why pay twenty quid or so when you can make them for a fiver?!

You will need about five metres of steel cable, four cable clamps and a couple of eye bolts – assuming that you’ve got a roof rack and bull-bars like me. If not, then you’ll need four eye bolts.

1. Drill a hole into each forward facing corner of your roof rack and attach the eye-bolts to them.
2. Cut your cable in half and thread it through each eye-bolt and clamp with cable clamp.
3. Loop the remaining end around the outside front of the top bar of your bull-bars and, once again, clamp.
4. Go crazy!

Ho ho ho

Ξ August 23rd, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family, Jules |

And off to the crusher goes the last remnant of the Isle of Shiate!

Euro Disney

Ξ August 11th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family, Me, Review |

Well, I suppose I ought to get round to writing a review about the place.

We promised the Jenster that we would take her to Euro Disney and this was the summer that it happened. Drove Jules’ banger down there – about three hours from Calais – and very easy to find from the A1 (sign-posted from CDG airport).

We stayed in the Newport Bay Hotel on-site which, although absolutley huge, was very well run and nicely turned out. We also took the option, when booking, of half-board – at not a lot extra each – and thank goodness that we did.

I think that Euro Disney is listed somewhere or other as being the most expensive place in Europe. It’s true! As an “adult”, the first thing that you can’t help but notice is that, to go anywhere in the park, you have to pass a dozen shops first. From the hotel lifts to the dining room, you go past the Disney shop. To get to the Disney park from the hotel, you go through “Disney Village”. To get from ride A to ride B, you go past X number of shops. To get from the entrance of the park to the rides, you have to walk up Disney main street ……. you get the idea. All this with a hugely excited six year-old in tow adds up to muchos pesos.

The park itself is, unsurprisingly, extremely well thought out and planned and, as a Disney hotel guest, you get to have the park to yourselves for two hours in the morning before the screaming masses of the public arrive. Well, when they say the park to yourselves, what they mean in reality is the Discovery Zone and the Fantasy Zone. The good news is that you can ride Space Mountain until you’re sick, the bad news is that you can ride Space Mountain until you’re sick. Other than that, there’s arse-all to do for two hours.

It’s a little like the meet and greet service that the hotels offer. From the website “Meet ‘n’ Greet with Disney characters with photo opportunities”. In reality, this means that, after you’ve arrived, you can book to meet some characters fifteen minute’s walk away, or queue up (missing your early park entrance) twice to be charged twenty-five quid for a photo with a character.

So, whilst I’m banging on about prices, how does twelve quid for a beer sound? Or six quid for a shot of Vodka? Maybe twenty-three quid for a sausage and chips? Seven quid for a tub of popcorn? I kid thee not, those are Disney prices. We were there for three days – two adults and a kiddy – and, not living like Kings, managed to dispose of a thousand quid in spending money!

So, to sum up. Be prepared to queue (two hours for one ride), be prepared to be fleeced (see above), be prepared to meet the most amazing collection of chavs, pikeys and foreign mutants on the planet and be prepared for you kiddy to have the most amazing time of their life

Worth it? Definitely. Would I do it again? Definitely not!

Bjorn Again at Stonor Park

Ξ August 4th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family, Henley, Jules, Me |

Fantastic evening -- watch the videos!