I have been slacking!

Hi folks!

I have just realised that it has been over a months since I posted on here (apart from mileage that is) which is very lapse of me. I do apologise.

What have I been up to in the meantime? Well, we had a visitor, a friend of SWMBO came and stayed for a week as part of her vacation from Chicago. Whilst she was here, we made a couple of trips out. These included a trip to Avebury where we walked around the stone circle. Our visit coincided with some very cold weather which meant that we had the place to ourselves. No hardship though because the hard frost and looming cloud made for a fantastic atmosphere and awesome light-

Avebury really is a lovely place to see.

Our friend is a bit of a Harry Potter fan, as am I, so we also spent a day at the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden, Watford. Now, this really was a treat. Some of the sets that were used have been rebuilt in the tour venue including The Great hall, Griffindor Common Room, the kitchen at the Weasley house, Snapes potions classroom etc. Also on display are costumes from throughout the film series, props, special effects models, production models, external sets, the list goes on. The day we went was the day the snows descended so, after four hours or so, we decided to cut it short and drive home. Apparently the record is over eight hours! before we left however, we did sink a glass of Butterbeer. Yum!

Griffindor Common Room with a Harry and Hermione costume

Snapes classroom

The Weasley family kitchen

 

The Black family tree at Grimauld Place (not a tapestry but a painting on canvas)

 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

A Creature in the Kreacher Shop

Olivanders wand shop on Diagon Alley

Part of the MASSIVE Hogwarts model used for some of the exterior shots.

If you get the chance to do the tour, take it. Some think it is expensive (£27 I think) but it would be easy to spend a whole day wandering round the sets and exhibitions.

Finally, I have got myself a little part time job, in preparation for my possible enforced retirement from my current full time job. I now do one day a weekend as a sales droid and sometime spanner monkey at my local bike shop! I get paid to talk about bikes, sell bikes, repair bikes and generally have a good time!

Heaven.