Hornbeam Park

Famed for its Pyramid of Glass.

Apparently the fellow who set up the business park wanted architecturally interesting buildings scattered across the site and had this pictured little gem ear marked for his own company.

The contractor who installed the glass panels apparently put the glass in the wrong way and the building has been inhabitable. The developer lost interest, the contractors went bust and no-one has bothered to fix the error. Harrogate is now blessed with an inhabitable glass pyramid in it business park located to the south of the town.

You might also note the sunny disposition of the day. Apparently this is unseasonably good weather for November. Lucky me. Still bloody freezing.

My work space

Here it is - with me in it - not doing much work though. Ha ha!

The open partitions make for some pretty noisy days which has been a new thing to which to adapt. Every so often I do a sneaky headphones connected to iPod trick and bliss out to some nerdy calcs or cross sections.

Everyone is out of the upper office today so I am alone and emboldened to take stupid photos of self posing at my work desk.

Good God - I have to get out more don't I?

The sandwich man...

is a tall Frenchman. Piercing blue eyes, strong roman nose, designer stubble and short cropped brown hair.

His sandwiches are for the intrepid gourmand.

Home made ciabatta (a chewy moist loaf - not a hunk of crusty ol dough as I have eaten ciabatta before), wholemeal bread that tastes faintly of rye and soft white tortillas. Grape and brie. Egg salad and beetroot. Goats cheese and beetroot. Ham and salad with finely sliced ham off the bone, veined with rich layers of fat. Cheese and salad with salad cream and English cheese - Wensleydale, Gloucester. Feta, roast vegetables and rocket pesto. Cold meats with pickles and chutneys and salad and finally....


Pate gherkin on ciabatta.



He scoffed at my choice of a wholemeal cheese and salad. I counter-attacked by asking which was the best?


Pate - 'ome made. Gherkin. Ciabatta.

Pause. Its the accent combined with excellent quality food you see. I'm not sure I can ever face this man again, sandwiches or not. With a heaving bosom I passed over my £2, barely whispered a thank you and ran back into the office. Theo - this home made pate is to die for and yes - I was well dressed and not wearing thongs so my chances of impressing the frenchman in an effort to cure my lonely single days may have worked.

Oh and no-one is to tell my dietitian about this pate incident under any circumstances.

Pennines - Ancient Fortress Ruins

The sun came out at last late in the afternoon. The Pennines look to me here to be a series of ancient stone fortress ruins. The shapes are so unlike anything natural that I recognise. They must be man-made structures, weathered by the elements.

A Giant's Knucklebones

See - don't they look just like a giant's knucklebones? These weren't too slippery atop Malham Cliff, but the worn and polished limestone steps to Jennet's Foss (Fairy Janet's Waterfall) were deadly. Well, that may possibly be an exaggeration - they were slippery, and after a day of avoiding trouble - I did have a small stack by the Foss. Ha ha - luckily no-one saw me, but the evidence of the fall was left behind on my behind...

Malham - Limestone Pavement

Firstly - can you see how thick the fog is? This was the view that greeted my heaving dripping mess of sweat. All around us were people. Invisible but audible. A large group of ramblers and a geology field trip of university students.

This is looking across the edge of the cliff - some several dozen metres below us were a group of rock climbers who had just reached the lip of a hefty looking overhang.

This limestone plateau has been named the limestone pavement of Malham. The sections really look like enormous giant knucklebones - cubes of a width that would reach half way up my thigh. I did have an eery feeling I was about to come across a Hobbit or Wizard or Fairy at any moment, any corner but that was not to be. The closest thing to magic that my rambling pal Adam and I stumbled across was the glorious cream tea in a tiny little roadside cafe later that afternoon.

Malham Cliff

The fog lay heavy til just after midday and although the limestone cliffs to Malham are quite sheer and stunning - these could hardly be seen until I was literally right up against them. The low visibility ensured you could barely see a couple of metres in front of you, but malham being quite a popular toursist and rambler location was swarming with people - who you could very easily hear, but not see.

The fog also meant that the air was cloyingly humid after having scaled the tidy stair case to the top of the cliffs (just to the left of the photo), I was a heaving dripping mess of sweat. I thought this was a remarkable feat considering it was so cold.

Along the public footpath leading to the cliffs was this happy little stream that gurgled and babbled and laughed all along its length. I was mesmerised. Streams, brooks, wet rivers - are all such exotic features. Having the water brimming to the banks is another novelty and to see through the churning water to the cobbled bed is so thrilling.

Flat!

I have a flat! Its a boring thing to post I know, I know, but its my first step to nesting here in the UK!

The novelty soon wore off when I realised the view of an Asda car park is completely uninspiring and while night safety and well lit streets is great for a single gal - having a sulphur yellow street lamp right beside your bedroom window is not conducive to a good night's rest.

Its been some time since I have lived in a bustling part of the world so the city's night noises keep me awake, and the winds have found their way to the Yorkshire dales and living in the roof of the building, I benefit the most from the ferocity...

But the central heating is very effective, my landlord is a dear and installing a washing machine at my request and according to the National Grid and all the power providers.... I am not on the 'grid'.... yet am happily receiving gas? Do I hunt this matter down and resolve it, or try and get away with free heating?

Peple in the office are all helping out with furnishings and I have offers of old couches, dining tables, coffee tables and floor cushions. I have said yes to all and am strong resisting the suspicion that everytime i talk to someone I have my hand extended palm upwards as if asking for a handout.

I head off to IKEA this week end with an enthusiastic work colleague to kit out the remaining bibs and bobs for my flat and my bed arrives on Saturday morning! After havign to cancel the delivery because I couldn't get my Oz money to my UK account, hence not pay my flat deposit hence not get the keys....

The bed people then lost access to their internet booking system and 'lost' my bed. Then they got suspicious cos my visa card says I live in Paddington Australia but I was getting the bed delivered to Harrogate UK....ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But with the offered help of another work pal I should be sleeping in my new bed come Saturday evening!

Hoodies, gloves and wet weather gear

I finally 'get it'.

Why people wear these things - its so that you can cocoon your extremeties in dry and warm air. Keep the cold wind out, protect yourself against the horizontal stinging cold rain.

These items of clothing are not for dress ups or for really cold winters in the sub-tropics of Queensland!

The other trick to the cold windy rainy weather is knowing how to wrap your scarf for maximum coverage - I'm not adverse to the head bandage / neck wrap combo popularised by school marms in the 50's. I no longer suffer from dress-up shame when I put on m,y gloves in the morning... and its only about 7 degrees in the morning - plenty of mercury to drop before Christmas!

Grey Squirrels

I saw a squirrel in the gardens of Conyngham Hall on Sunday afternoon.

I had just walked along a root gnarled earthy path lined with whispering majesties and lit with leaf dappled light. Every so often I would have to weave my way through clusters of chattering mosquitos. They looked like fairies. Lighter than air, wholly unexcited by earthy objects or affairs. Golden brown with voices slightly out of adult hearing register.

I had come up to a hill shaded by over-sized oaks trees looking down on the World's End Pub. I had found 3 or 4 intact Dandelion parachutes and was onto wishing he loved me a second time when the periphery of my vision saw grey lightening.

Grey squirrels move like supersonic weightless caterpillars. I would like a physiologist to explain to me how it can be so. Grey squirrels move like caterpillars on speed.

But I've learnt that no-one likes grey squirrels here. I was almost relieved because once I had gotten close enough to really check them out I found their little faces to be really mean, and I liked them less. Now i know they are American imports eating the local Red Squirrels out of house and home. I don't like them at all now. In a quiet moment however, I might admit to close friends that I admire the greys for theis physical grace and speed.

Raspberries

Firm to the touch and soft to bite. Delicious beret colour. So juicy looking. Fat lascivious little red pillows. Greedy and sexy in their plumpness. Sweet on my tongue, lingeringly tart in my throat.

Not like the horribly lean and bitter mean suckers i've had before.

The picture is of frozen raspberries, which dare i say, still look delicious. Raspberries are now just out of season here so I have resorted to eating blackberries, gooseberries and my favourite - frozen raspberries.