Hoots Mon

Overheard while watching the TV programme, 'Kew on a Plate':

Kate Humble; "... and we'll show you techniques for mastering the perfect pea."

Hay; "Mmmm, by the state of our toilet you need to listen to this."

I opened the BBC News website this morning to discover Bonnie Langford is to join Eastenders. Is it me, or is Eastenders becoming a retirement home for superannuated actors?

Following last weekend's visit to The New Inn at Clapham in the North Yorkshire Dales, Hay has gone all SNP on me and bought grey tartan throws, grey cushions with stag's heads on them and I've been tasked with reupholstering the old art deco dining chairs with grey tartan to give them a new lease of life.

The New Inn is decorated like a Scottish hunting lodge - greys and silvers and covered in grey tartan (including carpets), and I must say it looked very swish, if a bit clannish. However, what a North Yorkshire hotel has to do with Scotland is lost on me, especially when the owner is Australian (clan Bruce? Incidentally, look up clan Bruce and there are a million variations). Here's a photo of Hay inspecting the dust on the blinds at The New Inn, which gives you an idea of the decor:

Here is the original chair:

And here's an artists impression of what the reupholstered chair will look like:

The finished article - which was very difficult due to the thickness of the cloth and some intricate corners:

Now to do the other 5. It seems to be a variant of the Grey Thistle Dubh corporate tartan, but once a tartan goes monochrome it could be anything. I'm doing 4 of the chairs in this grey tartan and the two end chairs in black (I think).

The Baptist church in Chipping Sodbury has had a facelift by the addition of a glass and steel portico. Very nicely done too and brings the building into the 21st century:

It's a bit difficult to see from the photo, but behind the glass facade is the original 19th century front. It must look fantastic at night and almost makes me want to go to church.

Here's an interesting photo - it looks like a conifer, but it's a telegraph pole in Chipping Sodbury covered in ivy: