Occulomency

Brief Encounter (of the Third Kind)

We are having a retro party soon. I think I've found the ultimate retro car.

Yes, a 1976 Austin Maxi.

This one came with a bonus feature that I only noticed after wandering around the car and commenting on how surprised I was that such a heap of shit was still moving about under it's own power.

Yes, if you look closely, this car comes with it's very own incredibly old lady. I believe they were standard equipment on early R reg models, and came with a cabbage smell emitter and fluff covered slightly soft boiled sweet dispenser.

Yummy....

My dad purchased one of these, and in a strange coincidence I haven't spoken to him since. Not that I'm a car snob or anything....

Portmeirion Mermaid Panels.

I've stayed at Portmeirion so often now, that I feel it is necessary to justify my increasingly frequent visits to The Village.

So I had two missions, the first one being to locate and explore Fort Henry, which is located further along the coast at a place he called Diving Board Point.

Clough constructed Fort Henry during the 1930s in the style of a ruined fort. With its semicircular quay in the little bay beyond this was built as a place for both sea- and sun-bathing.

It's a special little place, only accessable at low tide along the beach and rarely visited, it reminds me of the tower at Brondanw. Worth the walk. The second was to locate all 30 Mermaid Panels that Clough bought from an Old Seaman's home in Liverpool.

Anyway, this time we stayed in Cliff House, which was Clough's last large fully detailed building at Portmeirion, designed in August 1967.

From the guide... "It is a neo-classical Georgian style house but with several features typical of Clough's work such as the trompe l'oeil windows covering the entire north facing elevation and half of the west elevation. This was to provide privacy for the occupants of the cottage while at the same time adding interest to an otherwise featureless façade."

It is probably the nicest cottage I've stayed in.

So the Mermaid Panels:

Well, here goes, I've located 27 of them.

The first two are in the Anchor Balustrade, down by the Hotel.

Next comes the Bandstand (nine panels)

Then on to the Gloriette (five panels)

And so to Unicorn (one panel)

The Pantheon (three panels)

Bridge House (one panel)

and finally, the Gazebo (six panels)

And that's that for the Village. I understand that one stray panel is located on Gwynedd Council Offices and another in Pont Street in London, at one time the site of a Portmeirion antiques shop. But what about Number 30? The search will continue.

Be seeing you.

 

Mr Smug's residence.....

Smug... Oh yes.

So we'll be setting off in an hour or so, stopping on the way at a very nice little preserved railway station at Carrog. Usually get to see a nice GWR locomotive which pleases both Occulomency and Son of Mine.

Now, a quick rant to see me through the next week.

Son of Mine is watching a Cbeebies show called Me Too!

Me Too! is a live action television series on BBC Two and CBeebies for preschool children based around the large (fictional) community of Riverseafingal in Scotland, however it doesn't really reflect Scottish culture as I have never seen anyone eating a deep fried pizza (unlike that episode of Ballamory when Miss Hooley causes Archie to have coronary thrombosis),

The strangest thing is a biggish woman who plays the role of "Granny Murray". This lady constantly refers to her young viewers as "Honey Pie". I think it may be Gary Glitter's latest disguise. She is very very creepy.

Oh yes, and there are several really irritating songs (one is playing now.... about cleaning a bus depot before a clock goes bong, or some shite).

And that cross-eyed wierdo....

I think he might have a secret family in a cellar somewhere.

Me Too! is so deeply annoying, that it may as well have Bruce Forsyth in it. I'm hoping that someone blows up Riverseafingal with a suitcase nuke. Soon. Please?

I really don't like this show. it's nearly finished now.

But really it should be banned.

Mind you, Balamory is a bit strange too. It has been noted elsewhere that:

The Policeman has a personality disorder.
Archie in the castle is gay, and the village is homophobic.
The woman that jumps around is a drug dealer
The painter is doing the community service.
Those women in the shop, are the biggest two faced people in the whole village and love the gossip.
The bus-driver is a right trollope, in the evenings. Goes to the nearest town with a nightclub, and picks up men in her bus to have sex with.
I think Miss Hoolie may be a battered wife.

Am I reading too much into this? I'm going to load the car up now.

Where am I?

Well, tomorrow I'll be in Cliff House.

Woohoo!

Four Sixty Eight

Years ago I remember driving through Norfolk and having a poke around this very strange black domed structure.

I always wondered what it was for, and despite having a keen interest in  World War II bombers, I could find no reliable information as to what these domes were used for.

Well, a bit of digging about on the interwebs has revealed the probable use of these strange structures.

These domes were in fact a simulators for training air gunners and navigators.

The gunner was seated in the centre of the dome inside a four-gun turret simulator. For daylight training, moving images of aircraft flying were projected on the interior of the concrete dome, for night training, and this is the clever bit, small lights fastened to the interior, imitated the night sky. By switching some of the lights off in sequence, the impression was given that a plane was occulting the stars. The trainee gunner was supposed to spot this and fire at the plane.

For Navigator training, the dome was effectively used as a planetarium.

There, mystery solved. I wonder what happened to the buggered up old car that was in the thing when we looked in the late '70s?

Half-way through the Cherry Ripe Stash.

Yes, I see what you mean about the facial hair.

Still, I'm not sure he is your type.

Right so, as you will have guessed or known or had a divine vision concerning, Occulomency has been on holidays.

To Norfolk.

Norfolk is a unitary authority, apparently. I have no clue what a unitary authority is, so if anyone out there can explain what one is, please feel free to keep the information to yourself.

Norfolk has Broads, but we didn't go near them. By the way the Broads are 12th to 14th Century peat workings. The peat workings were huge, it is thought that some 30 million cubic metres of peat being removed in 200 years. Now this is all quite random and dull, but the reason peat extraction ceased by the 15th century is quite interesting. Climate change caused a significant sea-level rise which flooded the workings. Climate change eh, back in the day.... Hmmm.... So the RX-8 wasn't invented back then, and I presume as the world was very pre-industrial and carbon emmissions must have been tiny, some other natural process must have been involved. Can we all gain some sense of history and just calm down a bit. Maybe.

Sorry, where was I? Norfolk!

Oh yes, so we had a very nice time, and found the best sausages I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Yes, better than Haighs. Norfolk "Rare Breed" sausages from the Samphire Farm Shop at Blickling Hall. Really really good. I'll be flying by there on occasion to get stocked up in an attempt to make the rare breeds even rarer. Yummy.

Also on the food front, if you are in Sherringham, go to the chip-shop over the road from the Sherringham Fish Bar, exceptionally good chips and very nice batter on the Cod. Recommended.

We did some beaching (pebble beaches being preferred by son and daughter of mine, perversly, and Cley being the best).

We went on three steam railways, the Bure Valley, a narrow gauge line from Aylesham to Wroxham, which was very good. The Wells - Walsingham, a narrow gauge line which was crappy, and the North Norfolk line in Sherringham, a standard gauge line which was excellent (traction provided by a WD 9F!).

Did Creake Abbey, which was charming as ever, but also found Binham Priory, which was also lovely, and the amazing Baconsthorpe Castle which was deserted, free and stunning. A new favourite.

So, all in all, a nice break.

Kind regards.

Occulomency.

Firth the fifth

Pssst.... She's behind you!

I'd be scared of that chest too.

Scared but enthralled.

Forth of Firth

Peter Firth did indeed appear in Equus.

Here he is being presented with an award by Princess Anne.

BTW Click here for "Here Come the Double Deckers", it is hard to believe.

The world is far more complex than I had imagined.

Peter Firth.
That man there, on the left.
Yes that bloke from Spooks.
You know, he was the bad Russian that Sean Connery killed in the Hunt for Red October.
Yes, that's him. He was the one with the Russian accent.
He did a pretty quick lap in the reasonably priced car too.

Well, it turns out that in the early 1970s he was the leader of the Double Deckers.

Yes.

That show with Melvyn Hayes.

Melvyn Hayes, by the way, was married to Wendy Padbury.

She played Zoe Heriot, companion to the second Doctor in eight stories.

Which proves that it is a small world, but also indicates that Melvyn Hayes may actually have been an actor.

Zoe was hot.

Occulomency is happy

Thanks Ned & Co.