To Hell With The Devil

As it is Halloween today, I thought a nice bit of Stryper might help re-balance the equilibrium a bit!

TO HELL WITH THE DEVIL

Speak of the devil
He's no friend of mine
To turn from him is what we have in mind
Just a liar and a thief
The word tells us so
We like to let him know
Where he can go

(chorus)
To hell with the devil
To hell with the devil

When things are going wrong
You know who to blame
He will always live up to his name
He's never been the answer
There's a better way
We are here to rock you
And to say...

(chorus)

Cornwall (IV)

This last week being half term, we have enjoyed another break in Cornwall. Travelled down on Monday morning, came back Tuesday afternoon. When we were down in August the weather one day was atrocious. Dartmoor Zoo gave us a free family pass to be used within three months, allied to the fact that the Eden Project give an annual pass for gift aiding. This meant we had two free family passes to use, hence the trip. Stayed overnight in a Premier Inn in St.Austell.

Dartmoor Zoo was misty and damp, but a lot better weather wise than last time. Again the close up experience of being next to lions, bears, tigers and wolves was awesome. You really get a sense of the power of these animals.

The Eden Project was a better experience for me this time round, on the grounds that I was not feeling ill this time. Again the place is incredible, and is definitely better experienced earlier in the day, before the crowds get there. The colour and layout of the plants is breath taking as well.

A good two days, despite the amount of milage involved. Roll on the next time!

P.R.A.T.S. XI

For those who do not know the world of P.R.A.T.S. here is a slide show of the most recent event, as compiled by RockinJock666. They are a great night out with some lovely people. I may even be lurking in there somewhere....

Happy Birthday

Nuff said really, but feeling very nostalgic today. Times like these are when you realise that the number of close family you have left is pretty small really. I do have loads of good friends though, so thanks to you all who have stuck by me through thick and thin.

Nostalgia in tune time as well, with the lovely Clare Grogan and Altered Images from 1981.

Boys Don't Sing

Saw this series when it was first shown, and also watched the updated documentary the other night. An awesome display at the Schools Prom in the Royal Albert Hall by the Lancaster School Choir from Leicester. They had no singing history until Gareth Malone went in as part of a BBC2 documentary, and instigated the choir. Against initial opposition, the results speak for themselves.

Anything is possible with perseverance and prayer....

Hells Bells

Don't know if any of you have come across this lot, but worth checking out if you get the chance. They played a pub in Cheltenham last night, and I went with a mate, even though not nec my favourite type of rock. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

They have been called the country's leading ACDC tribute band. Others may beg to differ, but my mate endorsed that label. The lead singer is bald and looks late 40's to early 50's the other four look late teens to early 20's with long hair.

They also act as their own support band, doing the opening 40 minute set as Hell Razers playing cover versions of loads of classic rock tracks. Included Toto, Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses, Thunder, to name a few. Main ACDC set was just over an hour. Good night out and lots of fun.

Cornwall (III)

Now for the last instalment of our week in Cornwall.

Geevor Tin Mine is set on the northern tip of the peninsula, and face straight off the cliffs onto the Atlantic Ocean. It could be a bit wet and wind swept I'd imagine, but was reasonably ok when we were there. It is the country's largest preserved mining site, and has been preserved as it was at it's closure in 1986. It is a fascinating place to visit, and gives an insight into how tin was mined both historicaly, and up to the time it closed. The underground tour, is of a mine started about two hundred years ago, and going through the narrow and low tunnels gives a real impression of how hard it would have been working there. The shift managers room, I think it was called, really effected me in a way that I did not understand for a while. As I said earlier the preservation is based on 1986. This room showed plans and newspapers from the period on his desk. It was only a bit later that the penny dropped as to why I was feeling emotional. 1986 was the year my father died, he was a self employed quantity surveyor, and his office was so very similar to that of the shift managers! Whereas the plans were for mining tunnels, not the M25 intersection, they were on the same type of paper, and the desk and bookcases were laid out in a similar fashion.

Trengwainton Garden is a National Trust controlled garden just outside Penzance. The house itself, is privately owned and not open to the public. The gardens are narrow, but fairly extensive. The walled kitchen gardens were my highlight. The location of the gardens, and it's climate, enable tender exotic plants to be grown here, which will not survive elsewhere on the British mainland.

The Eden Project is a masterwork of recycling an old industrial site. A former quarry has been turned into a superb site of botanical beauty. The biodomes contain plants from all over the world, and are stunningly laid out. The information panels are some of the most user friendly I have come accross. There are features on recyling as a whole as well, which fit in nicely with the overall effect.

Overall we had a good week away, and would definately visit the far west of Cornwall again.

Links to some of the places visited:

Geevor Tin Mine www.geevor.com/

Trengwainton Gardens www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-trengwaintongarden

Eden Project www.edenproject.com/