Category Archives: Bits and Pieces

En-suite Camping Den – Gullivers Caravan And Camping Club Milton Keynes

The caravan and camping club site at Milton Keynes has a new en-suite camping den; I tried it out a couple of weekends ago!

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The en-suite den is different to the other unfurnished glamping dens located on this club site:

Sleeps up to four (two adults and two children).   No pets
Settee converting into a double bed
1 bunk bed with mattresses
Microwave
Patio furniture
Toilet
Hand basin
Shower

Prices

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Minimum two night stay.
Security deposit is required

Review

The en-suite den is a fun getaway for two people sharing a weekend together; I think you’d get cabin fever if you spent more than 4 nights here as a couple, let alone a family of four!!!

Although the space is a little tight (if you’re a grizzly bear like me), the sofa bed is very comfortable indeed; I am 6’4″ and I had just the right amount of room to stretch out my legs when laying down.

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I didn’t risk the bunk beds because I had visions of plummeting through the top bunk into the bottom one or waking up with claustrophobia; the bunk beds are partially enclosed and look like torpedo tubes on a submarine.  Kids will love them though.

The wash basin is directly under the microwave and you will need to take care not to bang your head when you brush your teeth.  Bit daft that?

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My advice would be to take advantage of the en-suite loo, but use the main shower block instead of the shower.

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There are various mains supply sockets throughout the den along with mains lighting.

Don’t let my tongue in cheek comments put you off!!

With access to Milton Keynes central , Bletchley and Bicester, the en-suite den is great value for money; after all, it’s not much more per night than a standard pitch cost for a tent with electric hookup.

Below is the standard den if you want to compare.

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The standard den is a bit like Arthur Fowler’s allotment shed?

Mach Storm – Dome Screen Dogfight By Namco

Milton Keynes Holywood bowling has a Mach Storm arcade cabinet!!!

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Mach Storm is an air combat simulator with a cockpit-style cabinet to sit in; the unique dome screen gives players an almost 180 degree view of the high definition action in the sky.

Players have five different missions to choose from and all are set in real cities around the world. Each city has a set difficulty. 

The huge screen really pulls you into the game and the fast pace makes the game a truly immersed experience; not only do players see the action all around but they also feel the action through the force feedback in the joystick as well as the thundering bass installed in the flight seat.

I absolutely loved how old school Mach Storm felt, retro gameplay with state of the art projection.

Well worth a couple of quid!!!

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You can be my wingman!!!

Guardians Of The Galaxy

Guardians Of The Galaxy is a breath of fresh air when it comes to comic book super hero movies; I absolutely love the Avengers and their individual films, but there is something truly epic and unique about Guardians

Well, lots of somethings actually.

I watched the film in glorious IMAX format, utterly transfixed as the eye popping visuals took me away to a very weird but familiar Marvel galaxy.

Throughout the film, I kept thinking “if Star Wars Episode 7 is half as good as this, it’ll be amazing”.  It has that kind of feeling about it, I say again, EPIC.

In the year or so that lead up to the films release, I often wondered how they would pull off bringing cult favourites Rocket Racoon (a furry, talking rodent Han Solo) and Root (an Ent-like tree version of Cheebacca) to life.

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The answer, they absolutely smashed it.  I loved every second of Groot and Rocket on the screen; Bradley Cooper’s voice acting is a perfect fit to the CGI and Groot’s animation is phenomenal?!?

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I thought Drax was hilarious, Dave Bautista was the surprise package in this film for me; his deadpan delivery was priceless and I love how he brought one of my favourite characters to life.

Zoe Saldana was an inspired choice for Gamora, not many actresses could portray her with such a rich mix of masculinity and femininity.  She kicks arse.

Saving the best for last, Chris Pratt IS Star Lord.  Wow.  The ‘child of the 80’s’ retro character theme brought a smile to my face, every time he swaggered around on the screen. 

I still have my Walkman and awesome mix tape 😉

The ‘dance off’ with Ronan The Accuser was hilarious, great to see the director taking risks like that to bring something unique to the film. 

The casting is excellent throughout, great villains and supporting characters truly bring the Marvel galaxy to life. 

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I must say, it was utterly cool NOT hearing the usual wannabe comic geeks pretending like they were familiar with the characters; nor did I hear any regurgitated Wikipedia facts about the characters during the credits like I often hear during Marvel films. 

When Howard The Duck popped up in the credits scene and everybody around me were saying “who the fuck is that?!?”.  That was a great moment.  Fuck you mainstream!

I’m looking forward to seeing how they weave the Guardians into the Avengers 3rd movie along with Doctor Strange.  I actually think I may wet myself with excitement when I see them all on screen.

Josh Brolin will be excellent as Thanos.  When that chair turned around and Thanos appeared in full…..wow?!!

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As for Guardians of the Galaxy.  More please!

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Abinger Hammer Revisited

Abinger Hammer is a lovely town situated on the A25 near Guildford in Surrey; it was my first time back for 30 years.

My godparents often brought me here to sit in the Tilling Bourne river and watch the cricket; the stream divides the village green from the cricket club and this beautiful corner of England is absolutely the reason why I am so fond of the sport.

Abinger Hammer is a time capsule in every way that I remember it.

The village green Post Office still sells fishing nets for the kids to catch sticklebacks, the clockwork blacksmith still hammers on his anvil to ring in the hour; still makes me grin!!!!

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Oaks Park, Surrey

I take Chico to Oaks Park a lot lately; it’s an oasis of grenery just off the Banstead Road between Wallington and Banstead in Surrey.

The park features a rolling hill with long grass and is surrounded by woods with a dozen or so well-marked trails to follow for a bit of shade.

I planted a tree over here after the hurricane in the 80’s; it’s hard to believe that this is just 5 miles from smoggy Croydon.

There’s a cafe here where you can get decent snacks and the best bit about it is that the park is not accessible via public transport, which means an absence of push chairs and rowdy little oiks.

Cheeks loves a walk here and so do I.

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Star Wars Ice Cube Trays From Lakeland

I was rather chuffed to find these very cool (ho de ho de ho) Star Wars ice cube trays in Lakelands last week.

£6.99 for each tray, bargain!!?

You can currently get two different trays, ‘Ships’ (Millennium Falcon, Star Destroyer, AT-AT and Death Star) or ‘Characters’ (Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, R2-D2 and C3PO). I grabbed both!

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/18662/Star-Wars-Ships-Ice-Cube-Tray

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/18661/Star-Wars-Characters-Ice-Cube-Tray

They are very well made and I think you could probably use them to mould jelly and chocolate as well; I thought it’d be fun to freeze orange squash to show off the details, no, it’s not my own urine.

Badolina revisited

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So impressed with my food yesterday; I returned today for a second helping!!!

Today I opted for the boneless middle eastern chicken thigh, served in a container without the pitta.  

The container is an extra quid compared to the pitta option; but You get more salad, humus and meat.  

Delicious, look at the chilli sauce!   Bring that shit on!

Badolina – Bishopsgate, London

BadolinaI’m on a course today up in town; just so happened to find ‘Badolina’ off of Bishopsgate (where it meets Middlesex Street) during my lunchbreak.

Badolina is a Middle Eastern take away shop; or, as they call them south of the River Thames, a fancy kebab shop.

That’s not to take anything away from Badolina; the good quality meat (minced lamb ‘patties’) was charcoal grilled to perfection and stuffed into a very large round pitta bread (white or brown available) with some really delicious salad.

£5.95 was a fair price too? Considering you need to get a mortgage up here just to buy a cup of coffee!

The Lego Movie

Just home from the cinema having seen ‘The Lego Movie’; I can honestly say I’ve not seen such a crazy and enjoyable film for ages!?

The animation is fantastic, as is the vast array of voice talent on offer throughout the film; Liam Neeson as ‘Bad Cop’ was hilarious.

It’s a non-stop ride from start to finish and the film genuinely took me back to my childhood once I clapped eyes on the retro Spaceman and the original knights.

I don’t normally watch ‘the making of’ documentaries that comes with a dvd release, but I think I’ll make an exception when this film comes out on blu-ray.   How the hell did they come up with it?

There must be some very, very talented people behind this film, most of whom were probably dropping acid from start to finish??

Go and see it!