Yak & Natter

After my successful trial of a Ride Kashmir 151 whilst in Colorado I decided to buy one. So, I had a search on the internet and found one at SportShop.com and ordered it. In under a week it has travelled from the U.S. to Brighton. And here it is:

So, Hull City have finally got their man Phil Parkinson. He has cost the club £400,000 in compensation to Colchester, but at least £300,000 of that came from Crystal Palace for Peter Taylor.

Probably the most famous footballer in the world, Pele, is to visit non-league Garforth Town because the football ground is being named as “Estadio Edson Arantes do Nascimento”. Simon Clifford, the owner of Garforth Town, has contacts with Brazil and other South American footballing nations, which has led to Socrates coming out of retirement to play for Garforth Town in 2004, and according to the Yorkshire Post both Carlos Alberto and Luiz Felipe Scolari are due to visit over summer.

After a lot of press coverage in the last couple of days, it seems that Hull have appointed Nottingham Forest coach Frank Barlow as caretaker manager until Phil Parkinson has his resignation from Colchester accepted.

Adam & Joe fans: subscribe immediately to Adam Buxton’s blog and compulsively download everything. Also don’t forget the Adam & Joe XFM podcast and the DVD.

As we were watching the Portugal v Holland game we realised that the referee Valentin Ivanov reminded us of Whose line is it anyway? contestant Ryan Stiles. With 16 yellow cards and 4 sendings off it might as well have been a comedian doing the refereeing.

The Tour de France is coming to England next year. On Saturday 7th July there will be a Prologue time trial in London, and on Sunday 8th July there will be the first stage which will be London to Canterbury. There will also be the Opening Ceremony in London on Friday 6th July.

The Tour de France was last in the UK in 1994, and has only been here once before that in 1974.

We spent Saturday at the Kent Air Show with the family watching some impressive air displays.

A few weeks back we attempted to cycle a chunk of the South Downs Way, managing to do the 16-ish miles from our house to Falmer—which was a continuation for Jane and Jeremy of the route they started 3 years ago. You’d think once you got up onto the Downs it’s be relatively flat. But no…and to show it, here’s the elevation for the route we cycled:

Some of those climbs are impossible on a bike (well, for me). We need more practice on easier routes.

Which reminds me…back in September we were cycling an easier route along a different part of the downs and came across this vandalized structure along a small track:

It reads: “John Harvey ESQ.
of Ickwell Bury in the Country of Bedford
died suddenly on this spot
on the 20th Day of June 1819.
This plaque commemorates
the restoration of
Harvey’s cross on the 20 June 1999
made possible through funding
by the Harvey family to
perpetuate John Harvey’s memory
and preserve the something
of downland.”

Makes you wonder who the person was, especially given that Ickwell isn’t exactly close to Brighton (and the first rail line into Brighton wasn’t running until 1841). But unbelievably in this day and age, there’s very little information on the internet about it. Why commemorate the place where he died, far from home? Was he known to the area or a frequent visitor? Something as recent as the restoration in 1999 is not a simple google away, which is absurd.

Freakily, someone else was on the same spot one week before us and were equally baffled.

My first thoughts were that it’d be something to do with the local Harveys brewery, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I had to use a search engine other than google (gasp!) to find out anything. What I did find was some family tree information: “Mr Harvey was a deputy-lieut. for Bedfordshire, and served as its high-sheriff in 1795. At the period of the French Revolution he raised and supported, chiefly at his own expense, a troop of volunteers, called the Dismounted Bedfor[d]shire Horse Artillery.” Hmm…Just makes it more intriguing.

The cause of death is given as a fall from his horse, and his will is online.

Last time I visited my parents we headed back from Filey via Bridlington, and happened to stumble across the Bayle Gate. My Grandfather was a stonemason by trade, and Dad told me that the Bayle Gate was one of many buildings he’d played a small part in preserving. I wish I knew other things he’d worked on, or what his mason’s mark was.

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