A Few Ramblings…
Forty-six year old Christian happily negotiating the world with a wife and three daughters
Parkside Annual Outing – 20th August 2011
Our annual church outing took place on Saturday – except that it didn’t!
We normally head off to Henley to enjoy an afternoon playing games and eating tea by the river as we did last year.
Unfortunately the weather intervened somewhat and we ended up at Parkside playing indoor games for the afternoon instead.
Giant Pick-up-Sticks
Eventually the rain passed over and we did manage to get out to Ray Mill Island for a walk and the inevitable ice cream.
Ray Mill Island in the sunshine after the rain
Holly
Full details and more photos can be found over here.
The arrival of Tiger – 19th August 2011
Only once have I been moved on here to put a few words together about a new shop opening. That was back in November 2010 when Alworths came to Maidenhead.
Two days ago a new Tiger store opened in the Peacocks Shopping Centre in Woking.
Woking's Tiger store nears completion
Tiger hails from Copenhagen where it was established some ten years ago. Their mission is simply ‘To provide our customers with stylish products, in a pleasant environment, at astonishingly low prices.’
We had been eagerly awaiting the new store and, on its first day of trading, I took the time to go in there with a friend of mine, Alan, from work. We joined the crowds inside who all appeared to be as keen as we were to explore this new face in the retail crowd.
I was overwhelmed both at the immense range of items found in the shop as well as the frankly ridiculously low prices. We slowly made our way around the store trying to comprehend what type of shop this was. A shop that seemed to sell everything from sweets through toys and games through knick-knacks through toothbrushes through candles through magic sets through art materials through bicycle horns through stationery through kitchenware through clocks. Pretty much anything you could think of was there – and all at amazingly low prices!
On our first visit I was too stunned by the vast, tidy and well-lit stock to make a purchase. Alan managed to buy a harmonica for just £2 and a set of eight chopsticks for just £1.
We left the shop both agreeing that this was one of the best shops that we had ever been into.
We returned again this lunchtime. This time I was ready to buy and walked in with a crisp £10 note at the ready. After much mooching around the stock I ended up purchasing the clock below, as well as a tea infuser and some candles for Sarah, some notepads for Rebekah, a Hawaiian garland for Holly and a pink bouncy ball for Emily. This bagful of goodies took all of my £10. I could easily have spent £50 in there!
Alan picked up some playing cards and a CD/DVD holder.
Standing Clock - Copyright Tiger Retail Limited
We returned to the office enthusing about our purchases and urging our fellow colleagues to investigate this new shop.
Tiger currently have 12 stores in the United Kingdom and plan to open more over the coming months.
In these difficult financial times I wish them every success. They seem to have an excellent and truly unique range of products at amazing prices and have the footfall coming through the door which suggests longevity. I think Tiger are a great asset to Woking and hope they’ll remain a fixture there for many years to come.
Summer Sunset – 17th August 2011
I don’t often get the chance to spontaneously head out with the camera much these days. However, when I received the tweet below, it prompted me to jump in the car to see whether I could get anything.
I drove towards Furze Platt School and parked outside, before striking out along the footpath across farmland opposite.
Unfortunately the sun had already set by time I got there and the photo below is all I could manage. It’s not the best sunset I’ve ever taken, but I quite liked it.
Lone tree at Furze Platt
Vegetable Plot Update – 14th August 2011
It’s been a while since I updated on here about the progress of our vegetable plot.
The vegetable plot in need of some attention
Fortunately one of Mum’s neighbours was able to keep it watered while we were on holiday – particularly helpful as the weather was unusually hot.
Vegetable plot from another angle
Although the plot is in desperate need of some weeding, the plants are all doing well and we have already enjoyed a couple of good portions of runner beans and French beans.
Runner beans
There are several tomatoes on their way, helped no doubt by the recent rainfall, as well as more rhubarb and some yellow courgettes!
Yellow courgettes
The carrots seem to be a little slower to develop but are also heading in the right direction.
Rhubarb with carrots to the left
The whole plot will benefit from some additional compost being added to the soil which will be a job for the autumn. Overall, and certainly compared with our poor efforts last year, I’m pretty pleased with the results so far. It’s certainly come a long way since we first started work!
Tomatoes
A Few Ramblings... 