Things I have seen around Aylesbury (Part Six)

Aylesbury Adventist Church, I wonder how many it seats? I assume the adjoining bin is a new extension?

Favourite Podcasts - 13 - Frank Skinner

One minute it's discussion about a football ground, the next it's Proust, then talking about Greggs the baker, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, from fashion, to Peter the Wild...

What the average Absolute radio listener makes of these ramblings I do not know, but it makes for hilarious listening, condensed down into a Sunday podcast and a few extra bits on Wednesdays.

Frank Skinner is joined by the slightly snobby, but likable Emily Dean, and down to earth comedian Alun Cochrane. The podcast has no structure at all, other than being a radio show with an introduction and a loose text-in subject.

There are a few running gags, but the real humour comes from Franks extraordinary quick wit and surreal anecdotes and musings. I was never really a massive fan of Frank in the 90's and early 00's. but either he has changed, or my humour has changed!

This is a must download podcast for me, and always cheers me up on the bus to work on Monday mornings.

Find Franks podcast here on the Absolute Radio website.

Favourite Podcasts - 12 - The Infinite Monkey Cage

Science is very trendy these days, which is very confusing for the geeks who were bullied at school for being good at it.

Comedy is also very trendy these days, and that is confusing for the loners at school who invariably become stand up comedians.

When the two come together you get BBC Radio 4s The Infinite Monkey Page.

Robin Ince does the comedy side (with a bit of science) and Professor Brian Cox does the science bits (with a bit of comedy). The format has changed a few times, but they are now generally recorded in front of a live audience, a few guests talk about their area of scientific interest and other comedians sometime join the fun too. It's hard to say exactly what the podcast is about, but I guess that 'making science accessible and funny' might sum it up.

The series has been so popular that they took the show on tour and added a few of their friends as well, such as Ben Goldacre and Helen Arney. The shows often sell our within days of tickets going on sale!

If you are slightly on the geeky side, or just love comedy then this is a great podcast.

It looks like all the previous series are available for download here, and I hear that a new series is being recorded for broadcast this winter!

(Oh, and we interviewed Robin Ince for our podcast here!)

Marlow to Cookham walk.

 On Wednesday I decided to go for a walk. One of my favourite towns in the area is Marlow, and as I was to be in the nearby High Wycombe in the evening I decided it was a good excuse to go there. Last time I was there I picked up a leaflet of local walks in the information centre, and decided to do the walk to Bourne End.



As I got into Bourne End I realised that I had been there before, and that it was very near Cookham, where friends Dave and Charlotte used to live, and also the the landlords of our local pub in Exeter had moved to for a while to run a pub there (and we did a crazy long trip to visit them to get a pint!).



 Quite a nice surprise, as I do love the place, and was good to wander around for a bit and remember previous visits, but was also good to set off again as it started to drizzle!



Oh... and I noticed it was Autumn!

Favourite Podcasts - 11 - An Aside with Joe

Imagine if every few weeks you could speak to someone who knows so much about F1 and motorsport that it would make your head hurt. Imagine if that person had been to every F1 Grand Prix since 1988, had friends and contacts in high places, and shared all his opinions with you over a glass of red wine.

This is the experience you can have with the An Aside With Joe podcast. Every few weeks Mr C and Christine Blachford (from Sidepodcast.com) get veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward on the line and chat for an hour or so about some current issues in the sport.

Joe is opinionated, but always well reasoned and very ahead of the curve. You will hear things weeks before they actually happen. Whether it be driver moves, sales of teams, new developments or other gossip his sources are so good that he will almost always turn out to be right.

He is also great to listen to, he has a slightly grumpy Jack Dee style of delivery, but he is clearly passionate about the sport and it's future. His insight into what it takes to be a sports journalist are also amazing, and invaluable for anyone thing of taking this as a career route.

A must for any F1 fan who wants to get deeper into the sport than the TV coverage or F1 Racing magazine may give you.

Download the podcast at the Sidepodcast site here.

(and if you like this podcast consider subscribing to Joe's web magazine GP+, from what I have seen it looks amazing!)

Favourite Podcasts - 10 - Words Fail Me

A celebrity opens the page of a dictionary, and then Dave and Neil discuss the words on that page. A simple idea devised by Dave Lovering and Neil Denham (oh, that would be me) just before Christmas 2009.

Sir Patrick Moore, Mark Kermode, Robin Ince, Sir Tim Rice, Zandra Rhodes and many many others, 21 in all, have opened the dictionary so far.

I know I may be biased, but I think this podcast is a fairly good listen, we try and edit the real rubbish out, but hope to keep it sounding like 2 normal people chatting in the pub about a random selection of topics.

Dave is great at finding people to open our dictionary, whereas I do the technical side of things, and we get about 100-150 downloads each month... not a huge amount but enough to keep us doing it!

Thanks to all who have listened, any suggestions for improvements are welcome at wordsfailmepodcast@gmail.com

If you have not listened yet then try one or two, episodes can be found on itunes, podbean or more detail on the blog.

Ibiza Holiday 2011 (Part 5)

You will be pleased to know that this is the final part!



Sailing in Es Cana bay.



Me, with a plate of mussels.



The sparkling sea from a boat.



Storm brewing...

Ibiza Holiday 2011 (Part 4)

Yes, there are more...



The clearest water I have ever seen!



One of Ibizas famous lizards. Cute.



Ivonne relaxing on our balcony, doing a puzzle.



The cliffs go even redder in the sunset.

Ibiza Holiday 2011 (Part 3)

More pictures, getting bored yet?



I drank a few of these, and you may just about be able to see the puzzle book in shot, yes, I had a wild time in Ibiza!



Cala Martina



Cala Martina, a lovely quiet little beach near Es Cana.



Looking over to Saint Eularia.

Ibiza Holiday 2011 (Part 2)

More photos from my holiday last week!



View from room balcony first thing in the morning. I am quite pleased with this picture.



Similar view later in the day!



Boat trip!



This is our Hotel, the Cala Nova Fiesta from the boat.



Blue, blue, blue!



Me, relaxing on the boat.

Ibiza Holiday 2011 (Part 1)

It's time for the online equivalent of a slide show in the front room. Curtains shut, projector buzzing, and hopefully all the slides are the right way up.

Here are my photos of our excellent holiday to Ibiza last week!



View from the hotel.



Me having just arrived, this drink was far too blue.



The bar had nice folksy music playing,



Es Cana at dusk.



Es Cana bay.