30 04 2010

This evening some members of the family came along to see Mrs H perform in Half a Sixpence.  It has been a fabulous show,but don't just take my word for it, read the review.

Well done to all involved.

29 04 2010

It has been a very busy week in the Harrington household this week as Debbie has been juggling working with performing as Helen Walsingham in 'Half a Sixpence' for Abertillery Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society every evening. We will be in the audience for tomorrow evenings performance. Am-drams are the life blood of musical theatre in the UK.

Bravo Debbie!!!!

28 04 2010

Today perhaps is the day to unveil the facial hair that I am trying out, to a wider audience. I look forward to the response? I began the 'beard experiment' in order to see how grey the result would be.... the result is mixed. I am still undecided as to whether it will remain.

27 04 2010

I very rarely re write blog posts or add sections, however today I will. This item replaces the previous post.

I was invited a few weeks ago to attend Abergavenny Hockey Club's Junior Awards evening this evening. I was delighted to accept the invitation as it was about 11 years ago, following a brief apprenticeship with our former Club Chair Jenny Stokes that my colleague Pat Harrison and I began the coaching of Junior players at the club - many of these early children are now in their 20's. We continued to be involved with Junior Hockey together until 2008 when we believed that it was time for others to carry on this essential activity for a small club.

Tonight I was astounded by the amazing numbers of young hockey players and their parents in attendance at the Awards ceremony, it is difficult to grasp that something which begins so small ( with around 8 players I think initially!) can go on to develop into an professional coaching organisation - I was truly amazed and impressed with the commitment of all concerned.

I was doubly amazed as Pat and myself were awarded 'Life Membership' of Abergavenny Hockey Club by President Trevor Scott for services to Junior Hockey. For a kid who began playing hockey when encouraged by an English master at the age of 14 and finds that some 39 amazing years later he still turns out occasionally for a game of hockey, it is truly humbling to be given such an honour.

I must say a very big thank you to the Chairman and committee for considering me for this wonderful honour. I am unfortunately not going to be able to attend the club AGM on Friday of this week to thank the committee in person.

26 04 2010

An image from 21 04 2010 here - we were on our way to an outdoor lunch at a nearby hostelry when we happened past this interesting parking place and icon - no sign of any Reflective Practice to be seen :-)

25 04 2010

This telling image followed yesterday's shot as Jaycob finally became fed up with pulling his basket around Wilkinson's - as is perfectly obvious from his body position and facial expression....... priceless!!

Today, we journeyed down to Cardiff Bay to see Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, a an interesting take on the British countryside at the time of World War II

24 04 2010

The view above is of Alison Ludlow's mural in the centre of Abergavenny. The artwork has been in place since 2000 and depicts the modern day town in the majority of the space, Alison has used the former window spaces well to depict specific moments in the history of the town, on the right 1100 when the town castle was being completed by the victorious Normans following William the Conqueror's taking over the country in 1066. While on the left a window is opened into 17th Century Abergavenny in 1665 at the time of reign of Charles II following Parliamentarian unrest and civil war- many of the building depicted still exist in the town today.
The second image I couldn't resist is of course Jacob helping around Wilkinson's in town this afternoon.

23 04 2010

Following the IB Academic Division reflection phase of the Peterson Symposium in Cardiff today, which was extremely interesting and thought provoking there was time to stroll around and enjoy the cosmopolitan city that is modern day Cardiff. You can see the view out from the link between St David's Centre I and II above which is my image of the day. In Cardiff today you not only hear the beautiful lilting language that is Welsh itself, but Spanish, French and Portuguese amongst other languages drift on the breeze.

News on the Symposium will appear on the blog which has been created specifically as a means of informing the wider IB community.

22 04 2010

Chris Dede and Nancy Law( above) present on using emergent technologies in education at Peterson Symposium in Cardiff. .....virtually from Harvard and Hong Kong respectively due to the ash cloud which prevented so many flights from around the world into the UK last week.

The two keynotes certainly helped to focus minds not only on 'emergent technologies' but also and more importantly on research into its use in an education setting.

21 04 2010

A strange sight appeared in the sky at 7 am this morning....... an aeroplane contrail supplied by a high altitude jet heading south west. An increasing amount of the trails appeared until lunchtime when the sky looked like a gigantic 'noughts and crosses'(tic tac toe) board with so many airlines plying their trade....... the clear blue skies must have been similar to those seen prior to the age of the aeroplane, will they ever return?
At the end of the day Abergavenny seen above was at its prettiest

20 04 2010

I think that today's image of the current difficulty of air travel in the UK and northern Europe says it all. It has impacted on our operations as my boss is currently in the US awaiting clearance to fly to the UK. The Peterson Symposium in Cardiff on Thursday of this week will now have a virtual keynote from Christopher Dede the Timothy E Worth Professor in Learning Technologies from Harvard University - this is apt as the theme is that of the impact emerging technology on teaching and learning.

19 04 2010

Today's image is of an 'old friend ' a certain pull along dog who is 53 years old,

I am unclear as to whether he or his owner is wearing better? Or whether we are both past or best?

18 04 2010

Following a busy Sunday of cutting down trees and shrubs plus grass cutting at my daughter's house today, I returned home at 4.15 in time to have a well earned drink (Mmmm!) and catch up on my reading, including today's Times newspaper on the Kindle2

17 04 2010

With the flying ban still in place across the UK the only evidence of flight today were the many hot air balloons flying above the Monmouthshire countryside today, again there is no sign of any passenger jet vapour trails. The Harrington family were up and on the road early as we headed to the Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff to attend a matinee performance of Hairspray which has begun its UK tour in Cardiff and will be here until April 24th.

The WMC looked glorious in the clear blue skies, and this was just the start as the cast of the show fizzed and sparkled on stage in this scintillating performance of the show headlined the West End originator of Edna Turnblad the inimitable Mr Michael Ball. Michael was joined by Les Dennis as Wilbur Turnblad and a truly excellent supporting cast for this tour. It was indeed the scenes with Ball and Dennis which brought the house to its feet this afternoon...... the best day that we have had at a musical theatre performance for may a year, needless to say everyone was on their feet at the end.

The experience was enhanced by the cast coming out front of house to meet and greet with their audience, this was a fantastic gesture to an adoring public. Thank you Michael and the cast.

Michael Ball meets the public following the show

Our programme signed by Michael Ball, Les Dennis and Liam Doyle (Link Larkin)

** Update - fabulous 'fish-eye' shot of MB by Mrs Ddraig-Goch taken on 17 April 2010

16 04 2010

Those readers with long memories may remember my first Asus netbook - the 7inch screen 4G device. Bought long ago in March 2008 it was mine for a short time prior to it becoming the every day laptop for Laura during her AS and A level education. Time has moved on and Laura is preparing to leave in early June for the USA and then to Liverpool to University...... she now has a shiny new full size laptop that she has bought herself.

Surprise, surprise the Asus 4G has returned, and is being used to write this blog post ( I am getting used to the slightly cramped Asus keyboard once again, but not for long.
If you look above you will see that the Asus is running the stunning latest Ubuntu for netbooks which is very impressive in allowing simple programme upload and removal ( well done, its great to see a Linux distro not requiring too much sudo_terminal work). Look more closely and you will see that the screen above has some tell tale educational programmes loaded, the Asus is off to a new owner as it is going to be my granddaughter Abi's first proper laptop ( not bad for a four year old!)-I hope that Jaycob will also be allowed to use it! I only now await the return of the Asus 901from London.

Thanks to James FK for the Ubuntu install :-)

15 04 2010

An interesting day in the UK today as all of the UK's airspace has been shut down thanks to the volcanic eruption in Iceland - the view above taken at 5pm is of the sky above Cardiff Gate Business Park, and shows...... nothing but blue sky as not a plane has moved over the UK since first thing this morning, below is a satellite image from the BBC News site showing the extent currently of the ash cloud.

Thank goodness nobody that I know has suffered from the 'act of God' however tens of thousands of air travellers have had their travel plans put on hold today and possibly well into tomorrow.

14 04 2010

At last my mystery object has arrived and of course it is an....... Amazon Kindle2 e-reader!!!!! Sorry for those who believed it to be something akin to an iPad ( I would have to win one rather than buy one!!!
Below is the unboxing of the Kindle2 received today from Simply Electronics and delivered rather fantastically by DPD who lived up marvellously to their next day delivery - tracking the order was very easy on their website where I could see that it had arrived at Newbury last night, at 9am this morning I could track its journey to Cardiff at 3.30am and onto a delivery van for delivery between 13.48 and 14.48..... it arrived at 13.46 Well done DPD impressive. I would certainly recommend them on the evidence of this service.

Now to unboxing the device... firstly remove outer packaging:

This reveals the inner box:

Including the rather marvellous opening strip:

Inside is the simple but classy machine itself:

Mmmm sleek and stylish:

Hidden below is the instruction manual and power cable:

The Kindle2 started quite quickly:

Revealing the start up instructions inside:

It was simple to join the Kindle Store at Amazon and then purchase my first two books:

The No.1 Ladies' detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett...... now to some reading.

13 04 2010

The first image today is an excellent piece of news..... the mystery object has begun its journey and will be due to arrive in one working day! According to the schedule below it is currently in Newbury which is a short hop along the M4 corridor from here in Wales..... more news to follow.

12 04 2010

Wired my favourite magazine showing seductive tech and interesting trends.

The May 2010 edition of the magazine marks the first birthday of UK Wired. In this issue they pick out their top 100 influential individuals of the 21st Century - headed by Google's Matt Brittin.

Happy Birthday Wired UK

11 04 2010

Blue sky wall to wall today. The grandchildren had a 'sleepover' with us last night, hence this place holder image for today.... it all seems to have been a bit of a blur today. Grandchildren are the best, however it is quite a relief to give them back!!!!!

10 04 2010

I set myself the task today of re felting our shed roof should the weather be warm and dry as predicted. Following an early start the old felt was off and disposed of by midday. The felting of a 6 by 8 shed on a considerable slope.....alone can take longer than predicted and the job (see today's image) was 95% completed by the time of the Grand National at 4.15! Not too dusty for an 'old timer' who now needs a drink...... of tea!!!

Followed by a lie down!

09 04 2010

A slight frisson of disappointment occurred today as I compared the original order for my mystery object above - ordered on April 3rd ( admittedly this was over an Easter weekend when many companies were on shut down) with the follow up email that I received from the supplier this afternoon (April 9th) that my order is still awaiting packaging and delivery from the Isle of Wight.......... more news soon!

08 04 2010

As my new mystery object had not arrived on my return home at 5pm, I decided that with the beautiful weather and a hint of early summer that today was the day for a good brisk walk. We are very lucky in our part of the world to have fantastic scenery as seen above literally on the doorstep. I spent a heavenly hour with sheep and their young lambs for company - also spotting the occasional Red Kite soaring high above in the blue sky.

On a day like this a lot of things are put into their true perspective.

07 04 2010

I wonder what is missing from today's image??????

06 04 2010

I just love this action image taken at Zoopadoopa in Cwmbran today. Zoopadoopa is a great soft play and activity centre for kids of all ages. We had a great few hours here this afternoon.

05 04 2010

Always expect the unexpected should be a family motto. This morning at 7.30am we found ourselves on the M4 heading for London.......Sian and Paddy had unfortunately set their alarm incorrectly and as a result missed their 6.30am train!!!
Hence a 300 mile round trip up to SW6 and home again by 2.30pm no surprise that the rest of the day went by in somewhat of a blur!

04 04 2010

Easter Day was one of family activities around an extensive lunch. In the afternoon the pleasant Spring sunshine allowed outdoor Easter Egg hunts and country walks.