You know that big scene in Oliver! where he wakes up in a beautiful house, on a beautiful day, with a beautiful flower seller outside singing: 'Who will buy my sweet red roses, two blooms for a penny?'?
I first saw the movie when I was about 10 years old and to this day have always wanted to find that Crescent of houses. A few in London come close to it. I thought Park Crescent at the Regents Park end of Portland Place.
And today I find out it was a film set at Shepperton studios! Apparently the whole movie was shot on sets at Shepperton. This contrasts with a boat trip we took up the Thames in 1968 or 1969 when on a day trip to London with my school - Barnsbury Junior School, Woking - the guy on the loudspeaker pointed out a wharf just past Tower Bridge where 'some scenes of Oliver! were filmed last year'.
IMDB says it was filmed exclusively at the studios. But what about 'Dunstable' in the snow? surely too big a set for a British movie (OK - in the US they can rebuild Manhattan in the 1890s)?
Can anybody who knows somebody involved in the making of Oliver! let me know? To think, I bumped into Sir Harry Secombe about 12 years ago in a remote Surrey pub and I didn't ask him. Given that he was the beadle singing 'Boy for Sale' as they trudged through the snow in Dunstable, he'd have known!
The only movie set I've walked on was Superman II part of which was filmed on Chobham Common. the bit where the baddies arrive on earth in small town America and trash the place - that's actually a couple of miles outside Woking. There were clever perspective tricks to make the place look bigger but so much work went into the build. I took some friends back on our bikes a day or two later and we were horrified to discover the Saloon had been burnt to the ground. Obviously the work of vandals and probably setting back the filming by several weeks. Actually it was the evil work of Terence Stamp!
I've just remembered some other filming - I was in the auditorium of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden when they filmed scenes for the Fifth Element (where the storm trooper type aliens burst in all guns blazing). However I was not an extra - as a commissionaire I was getting some overtime by making sure nobody accidentally wandered in to the upper tiers during filming. Have you seen how much food they dish up on these sets?
The other filming was 'Wimbledon' for the scenes set in Brighton. They spent ages making the streets wet because it was actually a really hot, dry June, probably 2002 or 2003. I might even be in it. There's someone on the beach with a small dog in the background when Peter Colt drives along Madeira Drive. If so, it last about a second and is entirely indistinguishable. It could be anybody, but I did walk the dog when they were filming. I'm not credited as an extra though! There were plenty of them around.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Kenneth Wynn with his original painting for the Penguin book cover for Hornblower.
We took this picture on 21 October 2008 when we held a dinner party to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar.
The boomerang on the door is from our good friend Ron and his late best mate Alec in Newcastle, Australia.
Headlong into 2009
A Happy New Year to anyone reading. I've been away from this for a while but good old Avalon Brighton trundles on regardless.
We've said goodbye to a few local restaurants - Love's, The Saint to name two. I think the diehards- Donatello's, La Capannina, Hotel du Vin - will all come through these times.
Woolworths, several Estate Agents, Roseby's, The Pier (that really annoyed me as I loved the Pier) and countless small shops have disappeared. Tescos and Starbucks have moved on to St James's Street but that is good! Better these brightly lit, thriving stores than boarded up dingy doorways with people sleeping in them.
Our good friend Maruisz Wowra has decided to relocate to Dubai and work for Emirates Air. We first met him in 2004 when he was a barman only a few months in the UK and he became a good friend. He followed our fortunes here at the Avalon Brighton from the day we moved in.
The Amsterdam Bar on Brighton seafront continues to be our venue of choice because of its location and friendly bar staff. It also has a sauna and is a hotel with some stunning rooms! Try us first though! (Only kidding - there are enough to go round).
Don't always trust Trip Advisor when you go away though. I left a good review after staying at the Hotel St Brettonnerie dela Croix in Paris after a Christmas trip there in 2007. We went back in October 2008 and really found it an altogether less pleasant experience. I was bitten to pieces by mosquitoes and bugs (OK mosquitoes are free to roam but the bugs...mmm). Likewise at the Avalon Brighton we get good and bad (and terrible!) reviews and you need to read all to get a balance. And you need to read all the places that get good ones too - to get a balance there. If every review mentions the names of the owners, and how amazingly helpful they were, and how shocked they were to get tea and biscuits on arrival or a freshly cooked breakfast, then either the reviewers haven't been away before or the reviews are faked, probably the latter. Look out too for those which mention how many times they've stayed in Brighton or around the world, what experienced travellers they are etc. Then they leave a review for somewhere as it's the best they've ever stayed in - but have never reviewed anywhere else despite their vast experience. Very suspicious!
Credit Crunch tip - LIDL lentil soup with smoked sausage. 99p. Half a crusty baguette and you have lunch for two for less that £1.50.
Bought George (man we look after who has epilepsy and autism) a Nintendo DS for Christmas. They're nifty little things but I fail to see the point in some of the applications such as cookery. You can buy a book at the Works Outlet in Brighton Marina for £2.99. However he loves the Billiards, Darts, Balance and Bowls. I tried the Brain Training only to discover I have the brain of an 80 year old. At 47!
Yet I do all Sudokus and crosswords in the papers and on my online Mensa Test came out as a genius - and I passed the 11 plus with full marks (that's the online one now, not the original in 1973 - I scraped through that one on an interview even though I could not add together 2 x 37.5p for people who needed two dog licences. Perhaps if they'd asked me how much 2 x 7/6d was I'd have got 15/- and could have converted... We still refer to ten bob or a guinea in the Avalon!
The point is, and I read this elsewhere recently, brain training is a bit of a myth. Most of us exercise our brains enough anyway.
I'll be back sooner next time to comment on things in general.
The picture is of Kenneth Wynn beside his painting of Hornblower for the Penguin book (which is on the mantlepiece to the left of the picture). He's a lovely old boy (Wynn, not Hornblower) who comes to our traditional dinner parties. We met him through a close friend called Romany Van Bosch - you couldn't meet a nicer person: vivacious, fun, knowledgable, interesting, well travelled and still plays Jazz Piano in a South London pub on Monday nights at 76! She's more like 56 or younger. I really hope I'm like that when I get to her age. Ken's 10 years her senior but still very sprightly and joins in the spirit of the evenings. He gets a bit confused from tike to time but then so do I!
We've said goodbye to a few local restaurants - Love's, The Saint to name two. I think the diehards- Donatello's, La Capannina, Hotel du Vin - will all come through these times.
Woolworths, several Estate Agents, Roseby's, The Pier (that really annoyed me as I loved the Pier) and countless small shops have disappeared. Tescos and Starbucks have moved on to St James's Street but that is good! Better these brightly lit, thriving stores than boarded up dingy doorways with people sleeping in them.
Our good friend Maruisz Wowra has decided to relocate to Dubai and work for Emirates Air. We first met him in 2004 when he was a barman only a few months in the UK and he became a good friend. He followed our fortunes here at the Avalon Brighton from the day we moved in.
The Amsterdam Bar on Brighton seafront continues to be our venue of choice because of its location and friendly bar staff. It also has a sauna and is a hotel with some stunning rooms! Try us first though! (Only kidding - there are enough to go round).
Don't always trust Trip Advisor when you go away though. I left a good review after staying at the Hotel St Brettonnerie dela Croix in Paris after a Christmas trip there in 2007. We went back in October 2008 and really found it an altogether less pleasant experience. I was bitten to pieces by mosquitoes and bugs (OK mosquitoes are free to roam but the bugs...mmm). Likewise at the Avalon Brighton we get good and bad (and terrible!) reviews and you need to read all to get a balance. And you need to read all the places that get good ones too - to get a balance there. If every review mentions the names of the owners, and how amazingly helpful they were, and how shocked they were to get tea and biscuits on arrival or a freshly cooked breakfast, then either the reviewers haven't been away before or the reviews are faked, probably the latter. Look out too for those which mention how many times they've stayed in Brighton or around the world, what experienced travellers they are etc. Then they leave a review for somewhere as it's the best they've ever stayed in - but have never reviewed anywhere else despite their vast experience. Very suspicious!
Credit Crunch tip - LIDL lentil soup with smoked sausage. 99p. Half a crusty baguette and you have lunch for two for less that £1.50.
Bought George (man we look after who has epilepsy and autism) a Nintendo DS for Christmas. They're nifty little things but I fail to see the point in some of the applications such as cookery. You can buy a book at the Works Outlet in Brighton Marina for £2.99. However he loves the Billiards, Darts, Balance and Bowls. I tried the Brain Training only to discover I have the brain of an 80 year old. At 47!
Yet I do all Sudokus and crosswords in the papers and on my online Mensa Test came out as a genius - and I passed the 11 plus with full marks (that's the online one now, not the original in 1973 - I scraped through that one on an interview even though I could not add together 2 x 37.5p for people who needed two dog licences. Perhaps if they'd asked me how much 2 x 7/6d was I'd have got 15/- and could have converted... We still refer to ten bob or a guinea in the Avalon!
The point is, and I read this elsewhere recently, brain training is a bit of a myth. Most of us exercise our brains enough anyway.
I'll be back sooner next time to comment on things in general.
The picture is of Kenneth Wynn beside his painting of Hornblower for the Penguin book (which is on the mantlepiece to the left of the picture). He's a lovely old boy (Wynn, not Hornblower) who comes to our traditional dinner parties. We met him through a close friend called Romany Van Bosch - you couldn't meet a nicer person: vivacious, fun, knowledgable, interesting, well travelled and still plays Jazz Piano in a South London pub on Monday nights at 76! She's more like 56 or younger. I really hope I'm like that when I get to her age. Ken's 10 years her senior but still very sprightly and joins in the spirit of the evenings. He gets a bit confused from tike to time but then so do I!
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
What's New at Avalon Brighton?
Well, here we were earlier in the summer with a rather nice car parked outside.Our boiler problems should now be a thing of the past totally. This is because following the crisis mentioned before, I got a new one fitted! It's a condenser boiler - latest energy efficient model AND it cuts your gas bill by 30%. Marvellous, paid for it, got it fitted etc. then British Gas put gas prices up by 35% so I'm back to square one.
The credit crunch seems to bring new gloom and doom each day but recent newspaper reports have mentioned that this is boom time for British seaside resorts. Well, I'd consider Brighton to be one of the forerunners when it comes to being 'by the sea' so have we seen a boom?
I think the short answer must be 'perhaps'. We've had quiet days, manic days and normal days throughout July but it is definitely a lot better than previous years. However unlike last year there are not a lot of conferences or other big events coming up to make our autumn into a busy one so much remains to be seen. And people are not going to flock to the seaside if the weather is awful. So far, it's been a mixture of so-so and awful. we need a good heatwave to take us through August and into September before the school holidays are over.
Brighton Pride seemed the busiest ever. Each year it seems to get bigger, louder and perhaps scarier! Next year we may have a party for guests and friends designed as a refuge from the loud, clubby full-on version that's on the street. An afternoon / evening of Sinatra, Andy Williams, Petula Clark etc. will soothe the fevered brows of us older ones (that's a historical moment when I've put down in writing for the first time ever that I now belong in the older category) and either prepare us for an early night or a Canute-like attempt to hold back the years and head out clubbing. I didn't like clubbing at 20, and I don't like it now 27 years later. Night-time is for bed, daytime and evenings are for engaging in 'life'. OK - not a widely held belief inBrighton for sure.
Some amazingly negative letters about Pride in the Argus today - mostly from gay people too. I always expect letters from people who dislike Pride - or gay people in general - to start with 'I have nothing against gay people but...' and then go on to hide their prejudice behind complaints about noise, litter, disruption, poor shop sales etc. However these were lucid, well argued letters from gay people outlining concern for the huge amount of litter and number of people urinating in the park. These are both problems it's true. I used to think gay people were more aware of health and environment issues but I wonder. You only have to look at the humber of people smoking outisde two of Brighton's busiest gay bars to ask yourself whether the idea that gay guys look after themselves more than straight ones might have been a myth all along.
The other letter mentioned that the word 'gay' had been dropped from Pride. In doing so, it was true - there were probably at least as many, if not more, straight people at the festival than gay ones. But you cannot really discriminate, can you! After all those years of seeking acceptance, equality and freedom it should be a matter of pride that so many people want to join in a festival celebrating the very diversity that was up until so recently a target, a victim of discrimination and prejudice.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
An unexpected surprise...
Eurovision was a letdown last night. Russia deserved to win but if the eastern bloc (as was) continues to vote for each other the UK will never be up there with the leading countries and there's little point participating. Mind you, our song was not too good either.
In the old days (ha!) the songs were chosen regionally and voted on by a panel. Now you can text your choice but sadly the portion of the great British public that can text also has crap taste in music. That's essential for a Eurovision winner but it's obviously the wrong type of crap.
... woke to cold water all round. Large pot of water set on stove in kitchen for washing up, profuse apologies to guests at the ready. Thinking - when I was up there (in loft) some months ago there was a switch plus lead into the tank. Two years ago, on energy audit, I was told this was an old fashioned immersion booster to top up the heat of the water from our boiler.
I went up and switched it on expecting a flash and a bang followed by no electricity for anybody on top of no hot water. Nothing much happened so went back to kitchen to cook breakfast for guests.
British Gas engineer arrived 20 minutes later - looked at faulty part, rubbed chin, shook head - 'unusual type of thermocouple' 90% certain he didn't have one on van (he was right). Showed me old one - broken (his colleague broke it I reckon on the service three days ago). Can't get one until Tuesday, can fit Wednesday. THREE DAYS!!!! I said I needed hot water and that I'd tried an old immersion heater once active in the system and nothing had happened - switched on tap to show him - INSTANT HOT WATER! So we had back up after all that. Most guests came to breakfast understanding at lack of hot water but had they tried - one did - they'd have found it hotter than ever.
OK - I know it costs a fortune to heat a tank of water with one of these. But at least there's hot water for the period until the boiler is fixed and it's a chance to replace our knackered old boiler with a spanking new energy efficient model - so enhancing the Avalon Brighton's green credentials. I'm not gonna leave it on 24 hours a day either. Just 6am - 10am and 4pm - 8pm.
Another moral here - NEVER GET YOUR BOILER SERVICED IN THE WEEK LEADING UP TO A BANK OR PUBLIC HOLIDAY.
It's a stunning day out there and we're off to the seafront. The last day of Brighton Festival and Fringe should have some treats in store. There's a whole street given over to human statues, clowns with microphones in their mouths so you hear them chewing loudly, guys spiking cabbages onto their helmets etc.
At least the three dogs we have staying can get a nice walk as it's currently dry but the forecast is for biblical scale downpours.
Fluffy seagull chicks appeared on chimney at rear of Avalon. Cute now - pain in few weeks when they whine continually for heaps of food needed for their growth from sparrow size to turkey size in 6 weeks.
In the old days (ha!) the songs were chosen regionally and voted on by a panel. Now you can text your choice but sadly the portion of the great British public that can text also has crap taste in music. That's essential for a Eurovision winner but it's obviously the wrong type of crap.
... woke to cold water all round. Large pot of water set on stove in kitchen for washing up, profuse apologies to guests at the ready. Thinking - when I was up there (in loft) some months ago there was a switch plus lead into the tank. Two years ago, on energy audit, I was told this was an old fashioned immersion booster to top up the heat of the water from our boiler.
I went up and switched it on expecting a flash and a bang followed by no electricity for anybody on top of no hot water. Nothing much happened so went back to kitchen to cook breakfast for guests.
British Gas engineer arrived 20 minutes later - looked at faulty part, rubbed chin, shook head - 'unusual type of thermocouple' 90% certain he didn't have one on van (he was right). Showed me old one - broken (his colleague broke it I reckon on the service three days ago). Can't get one until Tuesday, can fit Wednesday. THREE DAYS!!!! I said I needed hot water and that I'd tried an old immersion heater once active in the system and nothing had happened - switched on tap to show him - INSTANT HOT WATER! So we had back up after all that. Most guests came to breakfast understanding at lack of hot water but had they tried - one did - they'd have found it hotter than ever.
OK - I know it costs a fortune to heat a tank of water with one of these. But at least there's hot water for the period until the boiler is fixed and it's a chance to replace our knackered old boiler with a spanking new energy efficient model - so enhancing the Avalon Brighton's green credentials. I'm not gonna leave it on 24 hours a day either. Just 6am - 10am and 4pm - 8pm.
Another moral here - NEVER GET YOUR BOILER SERVICED IN THE WEEK LEADING UP TO A BANK OR PUBLIC HOLIDAY.
It's a stunning day out there and we're off to the seafront. The last day of Brighton Festival and Fringe should have some treats in store. There's a whole street given over to human statues, clowns with microphones in their mouths so you hear them chewing loudly, guys spiking cabbages onto their helmets etc.
At least the three dogs we have staying can get a nice walk as it's currently dry but the forecast is for biblical scale downpours.
Fluffy seagull chicks appeared on chimney at rear of Avalon. Cute now - pain in few weeks when they whine continually for heaps of food needed for their growth from sparrow size to turkey size in 6 weeks.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Bank Holidays - when fuses blow and boilers stop working
There can be no other purpose for the Bank Holiday except to provide a time for essential domestic appliances to stop working.
Your central heating boiler will never pack up at 7am on a Tuesday, in good time to call for a repair by lunchtime and only suffer a morning off work in the process.
No - fuses blow, boilers stop, computers crash, leaks spring anytime after 5pm on the Friday night of a long weekend - usually at the first possible moment. Anything that requires a monster call out charge will happen and will need essential parts from those industrial estates which remain firmly shut for the next three or four days.
So has happened to our boiler at Avalon, Brighton. A house full of bank holiday guests, weather on the turn, and no hot water or heating (hopefully heating is not a problem). From a man on the phone for whom a call out charge of £100.80 applied (what's the 80p for?) it's the thermo-coupler meaning my pilot light won't stay on. 'And you won't get one of them until the shops open again on Tuesday...'
British Gas kindly serviced this boiler last Wednesday. It has worked fine up to then for nearly five years.
My advice if you own a spares shop for boilers or electrical circuits etc. is open on Public and Bank Holidays and close all the rest of the time. You can charge whatever you like to cover your new life of leisure. Be prepared to work hard on the few days you open though because sod's law swings busily into action.
And if you own a guest house make sure you only on Bank Holidays for people who enjoy cold showers.
Brian Snow
Avalon Guest Accommodation.
Boiling a kettle to shave, 8.37pm, 24 May 2008.
Your central heating boiler will never pack up at 7am on a Tuesday, in good time to call for a repair by lunchtime and only suffer a morning off work in the process.
No - fuses blow, boilers stop, computers crash, leaks spring anytime after 5pm on the Friday night of a long weekend - usually at the first possible moment. Anything that requires a monster call out charge will happen and will need essential parts from those industrial estates which remain firmly shut for the next three or four days.
So has happened to our boiler at Avalon, Brighton. A house full of bank holiday guests, weather on the turn, and no hot water or heating (hopefully heating is not a problem). From a man on the phone for whom a call out charge of £100.80 applied (what's the 80p for?) it's the thermo-coupler meaning my pilot light won't stay on. 'And you won't get one of them until the shops open again on Tuesday...'
British Gas kindly serviced this boiler last Wednesday. It has worked fine up to then for nearly five years.
My advice if you own a spares shop for boilers or electrical circuits etc. is open on Public and Bank Holidays and close all the rest of the time. You can charge whatever you like to cover your new life of leisure. Be prepared to work hard on the few days you open though because sod's law swings busily into action.
And if you own a guest house make sure you only on Bank Holidays for people who enjoy cold showers.
Brian Snow
Avalon Guest Accommodation.
Boiling a kettle to shave, 8.37pm, 24 May 2008.
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