Category Archives: Tony

Tony is one half of Debbie And Tony and write about many different topics, including Technology and Travel, Photography and Poetry, Ancient History and also what is going on in the lives of Tony And Debbie.

Summer Is My Favourite Time Of Year

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When I look back at my life, it’s easy to see why I readily admit that Summer is my favourite time of year.

I grew up at the seaside, just outside of Bournemouth on the south coast of England, in a small village called Lilliput, right on the edge of Sandbanks, which is now one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

There we had a beach hut, and since my Mum didn’t work, up to the age of 15 I spent every fine day of the summer months at the beach.

Years later I spent some time in New Zealand, where I learned to Scuba Dive, and also spent a lot of time in the ocean, either diving, snorkeling or just enjoying the beach.

For 12 years I traveled extensively in the Caribbean for work, where I had the opportunity to snorkel and dive again, and more recently I spent 3 years living in South Florida, where of course the beach and ocean are right there close at hand.

It’s not just the beach life that I love of course, it’s the ability to be outside much of the time without freezing to death. 

Florida in particular gave me the opportunity to take up walking, and to work out get fit for once in my life.  

I never felt better than I did during my last 2 years in Florida, but sadly since returning to the UK the often inclement weather has limited my ability to go out and exercise as much as I would like.

So naturally I am excited about flying back to Florida tomorrow for two weeks, and look forward to enjoying some sunshine and heat, even if summer in Florida does mean frequent thunderstorms and high humidity.

This article was written on the subject of “Summer” for the blogging group GBE2.

It Was On The Beach At Midnight

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full moon rising over the oceanAh I bet you thought this was going to be a naughty little rhyme, and while I thought about that, I decided to write a romantic poem instead.  I hope you like it.

This was written for GBE2 (Great Blogging Experience 2), the theme for the week being “Midnight”.

This poem was inspired by one Christmas Eve at Deerfield Beach in Florida, where we walked along the beach after the sun had set, and waited for the full moon to rise over the ocean.  It was a truly romantic moment, and I highly recommend watching the sun/moon rise/set over the ocean.

We were alone at midnight on the beach
The stars seemed almost in our reach
All was quiet except the sound
Of gentle waves washing up on the sand

The moon it was so bright and round
And lit both ocean and the ground
No man in the moon that night for me
But massive craters, so clear to see

It was truly romantic sitting on that beach
Holding hands, both quiet, no need for speech
Just enjoying the beauty of nature so grand
Soaking up love’s emotions right there on the sand

The Greek Bakery

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Green Lanes HarringayLiving in Harringay which is a suburb of North London in the 1980’s was a surreal experience in many ways.

 Although this was England, Harringay is a highly ethnic part of London, and had a large Cypriot population (Greeks/Turks from the island of Cyprus), and driving down the main road (Green Lanes), many of the banks and businesses not only looked foreign, the shop names were in Greek lettering as well.

 We lived about ½ a mile off Green Lanes, and close to use was a Greek Bakery that was one of those that you would walk inside just for the smell.

 They baked Greek breads, pastries and cakes 7 days a week, at a time when few bakeries were open on a Sunday, and it was a great experience to go there early on a Sunday morning and buy some Greek Bread for breakfast.

Greek Bread Their bread was often covered in Poppy, Sesame and other seeds, and it just tasted so good.

 We moved from there to the opposite side of London about 1990 and I have never been back since, so the bakery has probably long since gone, but the memory lingers.

 Being a bread-a-holic, it’s great to see that there are many places these days that specialise in breads for breakfast, and when I head back to the USA to see my daughters, there is nothing nicer to go to breakfast at a place that serves good coffee and freshly baked bagels.

A Nice Day Out In Oxford

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Day Trip To OxfordSaturday was Debbie’s birthday, and so we decided to drive up to Oxford, which is only about an hour away from us, and have a nice day out.

I did a bit of research online and found the main attractions, which included a walking tour around some of the Oxford University colleges, and we were interested to see where some of the scenes from Harry Potter and Inspector Morse were filmed.

I also saw that July 9th was Alice In Wonderland Day in Oxford, a day to celebrate the stories that were written by Rev Charles  Dodgson, who wrote under the pen name of Lewis Carroll.

The drive up to Oxford was uneventful, at least until we came off the bypass, and then we sat in solid traffic for 30 minutes.  We soon found out the reason – bus loads of foreign students who had descended on the city.

We found a car park, underground next to the bus station in the centre of Oxford, and this is where we had our next shock, a charge of more than £16.50 for 4-6 hours.  That is equivalent to US$26.  Ouch!

We were soon to realise that a Saturday in July is NOT a good time to visit Oxford, since lots of schools from the UK have trips, as well as many from the rest of Europe, not to mention visitors from elsewhere in the world.  Oxford on this busy Saturday was literally heaving with thousands of foreign students, as well as hundreds of Muslims in various groups.  Several weddings were also being held in the city, so mini-vans were busy ferrying guests back and forth.

This meant that everywhere was really busy, from the streets to the shops and places to eat, however we were able to secure a place on a Walking Tour around the city, and enjoyed an hour and a half of learning about some of the colleges.  We also got to see inside the dining hall in New College, which is similar to the one in Christ Church and used in the Harry Potter movies.  Unfortunately that dining hall was closed as it was being used for an event.

We got to see the Bodleian Library (well the outside at least) which was used in the movies, and also the tree where Draco Malfoy was turned into a ferret in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.  New College also featured in one of the Inspector Morse episodes, and it was wonderful to be able to walk through these historic buildings, and to learn of some of their famous inhabitants, which also included the poet Percy Shelley and Rev Spooner (the inventor of the Spoonerism).

Alices Shop Oxford Red Queen White RabbitWe also wanted to see Alice’s Shop, which is the actual shop where the REAL Alice In Wonderland stopped to buy sweets.  It’s a tiny shop, but aside from being horribly crowded and tiny (it’s about the same size as our kitchen), it was just selling highly overpriced junk, so sadly we didn’t buy anything there, and I was hoping to find something for my daughters.  Alice Liddell also has a local connection for us, as she is buried in a churchyard in Lyndhurst, in The New Forest not far from where we live.

Sadly the two figures in costume, one representing the White Rabbit, the other the Red Queen, were both Asian Girls, which didn’t really fit in right with this British Tradition unfortunately.

There were some more Alice events going on by the Castle, however aside from the castle being built in Victorian times, the characters had all disappeared by the time that we got there, and all there was to see really was an exhibition of photographs of Britain From The Air, which was interesting, but not really related to Alice, Castles or Oxford.

As time was moving on by then, we headed to an indoor market that we had both been to many years ago, with lots of little shops, selling interesting gifts and other things.  There used to be a butchers shop there which had ducks, chickens, rabbits etc hanging up, but obviously those days have now gone.  Shame, I was hoping to take some photos.

Last stop was the Lush shop, where we were going to just look, but a very nice assistant got chatting with us and offered to give Debbie a hand massage, and then demonstrated some lovely smelly products, following which I happily obliged and offered up my credit card.  I think it really made Debbie’s day, as she was flagging a bit by then.

Then back to the car, fighting our way through the crowds, and a quick uneventful drive home, which took just over an hour.

A very nice day out all told, but we highly recommend going to Oxford mid week and off season for a much more peaceful experience.

We must go back one day, because there is so much more to be seen.  There are more buildings to explore, as well as a trip down the river, following Alice’s journey, and maybe even punting down the river.

What Would I Do Without My Hands

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My HandsMy hands are very important to me.  I do practically everything using my hands, so if I was to lose them I would probably go crazy.

This article is a challenge as part of GBE2 (Great Blogging Experience 2) which is to write an article about your Hand in exactly 100 words.  The little ditty below is exactly that – 100 words.  I hope you enjoy it.

What would I do without my hands
If I fell over how would I land

No fighting back if things came to blows
No brushing my teeth or picking my nose

So many things are just part of my life
Like being able to hug my wife

 I don’t know how those who lose them survive
Without my hands I would not feel alive

So here’s to my hands, my fingers and thumbs
And the joy of being able to wipe my own bum

Without any  hands don’t know what I would do
No more rhymes to write – boo hoo!

The Money Tree

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the money treeI wish that we had a money tree
So that life could be simpler for you and me

We wouldn’t have to work our lives away
Hoping retirement will come one day

When retiring I wonder will we still have good health
With enough money to live on, let alone wealth

Those vacations we dreamed of so impossible seem
There just isn’t enough money to realise those dreams

It’s all we can do to work hard and save
For an overseas trip, one of these days

With our children now living in distant lands
Trips to go see them are all we can plan

But alas we can barely pay for those trips
Let alone dream of others, with savings of zip

So for leisure we go out and take country strolls
And save every penny for our important goals

Because family and kids are things that we miss
So we save hard all year for that big hug and kiss

Maybe some day soon a new life can begin
If we manage to get a big lottery win

But hope as we might, for this fanciful chance
So far lady luck hasn’t given us a glance

Oh I just wish that we could win the lottery
Or if not, find ourselves a real money tree

My First Love

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My first love was Angela Benham.

At the age of seven I was for some reason struck with this cute brunette with wavy hair, who was very popular in school, but who I don’t think even knew I existed.

Back then I was of course fairly plain, overweight, and incredibly shy.  Actually shy isn’t strong enough to describe what I had.  I was so shy I was too afraid to go to the local shops for my Mum, because that meant having to talk to the shopkeeper.  I also never answered the phone until I was 15.  I really was that shy.

But back to Angela, my first love, and almost 50 years on I have no idea what I saw in her or what feelings I actually had, but I had a crush on her at least.

My big chance came when it was my turn to be a team leader when we played games.  Every week two captains were selected by the teacher, and we each picked our own teams.  

I was torn between picking my Angela, who I desperately wanted on my team, and one of the other boys, who I knew I wanted to give us a chance of winning.

And so, I picked a boy first, and was going to pick Angela second, except to my horror, the other captain picked her first.   I was heartbroken.

I think that it was only a few months after that I transferred to a different school, which was located miles in the opposite direction, and I never saw or heard of Angela again.  But I do remember her name, and my moment of heartbreak as I made the common mistake of allowing my head to rule not my heart, and I sometimes wonder whatever became of my first love.

This article was a project for the week for GBE2 (Global Blogging Experience) and was based on the words “First Love”.

Published Article Summary 19th June 2011

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This is a summary of my publishing activity during the last week, as well as the status of my lenses on Squidoo and my reviews on Best Reviewer.

Most of my efforts in the last few weeks working on my new site Squidblogs, as well as Redgage and Twitter, so I have published few other articles on Yahoo.

Yahoo Contributor Network

These are recent articles that I published in the last week on YCN:

You can Click Here to see all of my articles on Yahoo Contributor Network, rather than wait for the next summary posting.

Squidoo

These are my Top 5 ranked lenses on Squidoo:

I also recently created the following lenses on Squidoo:

Squidblogs is a new site that I have been developing, where lensmasters can write about their lenses to promote them.  With Squidoo having eliminated the Squidcast function in the past few weeks, Squidblogs ought to come more into it’s own, as the demand for places where lensmasters can promote their lenses increases.

Best Reviewer

Best-Reviewer allows you to create review lists and to get paid using Google Adsense Revenue Sharing.

These are the most recent Best Reviews that I have created:

If you yould like to create reviews of your own and earn through Google Adsense, it’s very easy, and many reviews only take 5 minutes to create. Click HERE for more information.

Pass The Remote Control Darling

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Who Is The Master Of The Remote Control In Your Household?

Who owns the remote control in your home?I have to admit that I allow my wife to control what we watch on television most of the time, since we enjoy mostly the same shows, but although she is technically savvy in many ways, there are a few ways in which we differ in our methods.

We live in the UK and have Sky (Satellite) as our main provider of television services.

The Sky remote control is programmable so that it can be used to operate the television as well as the Sky Box, so that regular functions like adjusting the volume and turning the television on and off can all be done using a single remote, which as we all know is a whole lot easier than having to align 2 or more remotes on the arm of your chair, or on a coffee table.

By pressing the “TV” button you can also select different inputs on the television, for example if we want to use the Nintendo Wii or watch Terrestrial Television (new lingo for received via an aerial).

My wife sometimes gets confused however, because she will press the TV button accidentally or on purpose, and then decide later to type a channel number to switch to that channel.   Well since the remote is in TV mode and not Sky mode, the television thinks that she wants to switch to a Terrestrial channel, and therefore switches input to Terrestrial and of course there is no signal, since we don’t have an antenna plugged in.

I think she has got used to this now though, but it took a while to explain what was happening.

The real thing that I have trouble with is that because she uses the remote control to select programs, I never know if it’s a live program that we are watching, or one that we recorded earlier.   We have the TVR ability in our Sky Box to record programs automatically, even a complete series, which is wonderful, and you wonder how we ever managed with the old VCR tapes, or before that even.  I guess what you have never had you never miss, but I know I would miss this now if I had to lose it.

But the biggest difference in our attitude to watching programs is the way we watch the shows that we have already recorded.

The way that I would do it, would be to always watch the recorded version of the show, and don’t worry if it’s already started or about to begin, it doesn’t matter any more.

I would (and when I was the King Of The Remote I used to) always watch the recorded version of a show, and then delete it.

My wife however prefers to watch programs live, even though they are being recorded, so if there are 2 soaps on different channels, one after the other, we watch one live, then have to switch channels and either miss the very end of one or the beginning of the other.

After watching the shows, she then goes through the planner to see what we have recorded for those shows, and deletes the ones that we already watched (live), although the status of them is showing as Recorded not Watched, since we did not actually watch the recorded version.

More than once she has deleted something that said Recorded and that we had not watched, whereas using my method, everything you watched would actually show Watched, which to my “manly logic” means that it’s ok to delete.

I’m not sure if this makes sense to you reading this, but certainly to me it does.  Still, after a year or more of dealing with this, I have learned one thing – it’s not worth arguing about, I just let her get on with it, and if I miss an episode of a complex drama or sci-fi series where you need to watch every one at least once or completely lose track, I just stop recording the series, unless I can find the missed episode(s) showing at a different time.

It’s wonderful isn’t it having all this new remote control technology, but we still have to learn to use it, and some use it differently to others.

I guess with more sophisticated television systems, even if there is now only a need for a single remote in our household, it still doesn’t eliminate arguments over who has the remote.

This article was a project for the week for GBE2 (Global Blogging Experience) and was based on the word “Control”.

Article Publishing Summary 12th June 2011

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This is a summary of my publishing activity during the last week, as well as the status of my lenses on Squidoo and my reviews on Best Reviewer.

I have spent time in the last few weeks working on my new site Squidblogs, a place that Squidoo lensmasters can use to promote their lenses, and I have been working on some new Squidoo lenses in connection with this.

I have also been working on Redgage and Twitter, with a formula to use both of these together to increase earnings, as well as to get more back links to articles.

I hope you will take a look at them and also hope that you enjoy them.

Yahoo Contributor Network

These are the articles that I published in the last week on YCN:

 

You can Click Here to see all of my articles on Yahoo Contributor Network, rather than wait for the next summary posting.

Squidoo

These are my Top 5 ranked lenses on Squidoo:

I also recently created the following lenses on Squidoo:

Squidblogs is a new site that I have been developing, where lensmasters can write about their lenses to promote them.  With Squidoo having eliminated the Squidcast function in the past few weeks, Squidblogs ought to come more into it’s own, as the demand for places where lensmasters can promote their lenses increases.

Best Reviewer

Best-Reviewer allows you to create review lists and to get paid using Google Adsense Revenue Sharing.

These are the most recent Best Reviews that I have created:

If you yould like to create reviews of your own and earn through Google Adsense, it’s very easy, and many reviews only take 5 minutes to create. Click HERE for more information.