Picture Perfect

A bit more thought needs to be put into photos that are taken for presentations, especially when they’re being used for external use. It’s not just a record of a visit that you’ve arrived to hand over a piece of paper in a frame, it’s to entice people to visit the place too. Of course, you could take several shots but you still need to be mindful that other people will see them, and finding the perfect background is essential. Make sure any external items are packed away so that people can see a professional background rather than the belongings that you’ve brought with you on the bus that you’ve quickly dumped to one side and just popped in to get the job done. A bit of editing wouldn’t go amiss either. Do you really need someone’s arm and watch hung into one side? Can you move people or objects to get the best picture? Or how about cropping the picture a bit?

Final Ascent

It’s a long stretch alongside the last couple of fields. There’s still a few cows in the way but they don’t seem to bother us. It’s a tight fit to get to the other side but there’s a stile and a gate nestled in between a clump of trees with a main road in view. There’s some lovely vicarages with some beautifully converted buildings but at the top of the hill lies the village church. It’s a bit gothic with the steeple dominating the horizon. Beyond the gates lies a beautiful view of the fields but staying on the footpath leads you down the hill and straight back into the woods. All you need to do is climb the stile and you’re back on the track to the car park via the pond. Hopefully your car hasn’t been boxed in and that your neighbours and the local dog walkers have been kind to you..

Perfect Patenga

It’s always a risk when you’re trying something new, especially with a new takeaway. Will they understand what you want without having any strange interaction on the phone? Will they follow your instructions successfully and will be able to find your property in a reasonable amount of time? Will it be a good value meal? However, you know you should give it a chance when you hear that some of your friends have frequented it. So I gave it a whirl. I ordered on what might have been a quiet time of the evening but a man soon arrived at the door with a smile on his face who was happy to deliver my food without stopping for a tip. I got what I ordered for a perfect feast. I ordered a bit of pakora which was too much for one person as a starter, followed by a very creamy dhansak. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet had the chance to use them again. It’s either because of repeat habits and persuading others to use their service too!

Locked In

It’s nice and cool down by the canal. However, it also means that we’ve only completed a third of the walk and we’re not hanging around the locks for long. A ten-minute walk brings us to our next footpath for our return route. Unfortunately, the farmer’s had other ideas and has decided to re-route the footpath for a bit, making it difficult for us to see where we need to go. After crossing the footbridge, we must make our own way by climbing over a gate to get back on route. We reach the grounds of Hanbury Park, where at least the footpaths are well maintained and if we head east we can’t go wrong and won’t need to rely on any signs. There’s a few cows lounging about underneath the trees but they take little interest in us as they’re too focused on keeping cool. There’s also some interesting logs and trees scattered about.

"Everybody has that point in their life where you hit a crossroads and you've had a bunch of bad days and there's different ways you can deal with it and the way I dealt with it was I just turned completely to music."

-Taylor Swift.

This may seem monodrone teen babble at first aimed at the self which just goes on and on, but it does have meaning. Sometimes you just don’t know where to turn, and it’s good to know that this happens to everybody (though I doubt it but maybe your turn is coming soon). Music can be a good distraction, but it may only aid you in your direction creatively rather than purposefully (unless you’ve found a specific track aimed directly at you). Depending on what you listen to, music can inspire hatred and anger as well as action and contemplation. It’s all about how you react. You might have earned the right to turn your back on a few things but others may think that you haven’t got your priorities in order. You can take things head on but you need to have the right frame of mind to do it.

Down in the Woods

There’s an interesting patch of countryside nestled on a main road linking a town and a village. It’s a clump of woodland that’s been separated by the road but there’s a car park built housed to host local walks around a nature reserve. You start by descending on a small woodland track and creep past a quaint pond. At the right time, it would make a great photo opportunity for some nature shots. After continuing on a woodland trail, we leave the reserve which is a shame as we haven’t had much opportunity to tour the rest of it and we wouldn’t want to miss out on any sights. A footpath descends through some fields which crosses over some stiles to the canal while giving you a view of the famous radio transmitter station in the distance. You’ve also got beautiful meadows and you may feel like skipping through them like a member of the Von Trapp family.

Did the Pages accompany the Knights far from home and into battles?

Yes and no. after all, not everyone is the same and everyone has their own set of circumstances. An old page though wise with access to a full armoury of knowledge and tactics, may wish to remain at home with his family and the knight allows this out of good trust and service and may appoint an apprentice in his place. Some apprentices would also be deemed too young to see combat and would be left at home to maintain the premises while the knight was away. Some would even flee at the very idea of having to ace danger. It’s nice to think that a page would be at a knight’s side at all times in battle, but this would mean that the page wouldn’t be part of an essential team’ he’d require skills for his own defence as well as being able to support the knight. In essence, he’d have to exhibit greater skills than the knight himself. In most cases, the page would stay hidden from danger, preferably at the knight’s side, and would only be called to the knight’s side when needed.