Aye Up, Part Deux!

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(NOTE: May take a bit to download ... patience is a virtue!)

OUR-A CULPA

Apologies for the static on the podcast! Dunno what happened, but at least you can pretend you're listening to AM radio! :-D  We'll remedy the situation by next week's podcast, fer sure.

In the second part of our England show we start by recording in the car heading up to the Yorkshire Dales (a dale is a valley ... and yes, actual space on the web was used just to keep these typed words). Imagine both of us with mics in our hands chatting like it's nothing. We went up to see Simon's brother & sister-in-law.

We did do some re-capping before we got to the house, though ...

Betty's Tea Shop, York

Vodafone

National Railway Museum

Fortress Wall Gate, York

While we didn't actually record at Simon's bro's house, we did spend a couple nights there. The house is older than America (but beautifully updated inside ... looks totally modern), and even had a "presence" -- some guy who'd died 100 years ago and didn't know he was gone yet. Naturally, Greg freaked out about this, but Simon spoke to the erstwhile dude and gave him an out which he apparently took!

On our day in the Dales, guess where we went? :-)

Wensleydale Creamery

Swaledale

Morrit Arms Hotel (& Pub!)

We then went back to Simon's bro's place where Greg got really acquainted with scotch. Lots. :-) Naturally, this didn't help when the ghost guy was brought up.

The next day, we continue podcastin' in the backyard of Simon's grandparents' family home, omplete with songbirds chirpin' like maniacs. We'd already left Simon's bro's place and checked into Suddaby's Inn in "downtown" Malton. Simon jammed with a few friends of his, and even let Greg up on stage to rock the crowd with his loungy "Mack The Knife!" Good thing we didn't record that, haha!

Suddaby's Crown Hotel

That day, we went back into York and picked up Ashok, our regular contributor, who was in town to do some things up in Scotland (he'll update on that next time we have him on the podcast). So The Three Amigos enjoyed the evening at Suddaby's, where they hosted a local beer festival. During the festival, Greg & Ashok were approached by a really cool guy called Hugh. When he left, other locals in the pub let us know that he owned over 7,000 acres between Malton & Whitby. When Hugh came back, he invited us to his estate! Simon couldn't make it, but Greg & Ashok sure as heck went. Greg had the foresight to bring the recorder, and our recording (though somewhat staticky) is here for your listening pleasure. :-) You'll have to imagine the area he spoke of, because Greg doesn't have the pics up yet. Still, Greg found this pic online:

Wintringham

Also, type in "Place Newton" in Google Maps/Earth, and you'll find it!

We continue our chat about all kinds of things, from silent wrens to bumblebees (freaking Greg out) to the state of military affairs. We'll see if we can connect with Hugh on Skype sometime, if not head back over for another visit.

And with that, we wrap things up in the bakyard of Simon's grandparents' place and call it a vacation in Yorkshire!

Aye Up Lad!

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This week the podcast is waaaay different from normal. Sometimes we record podcasts out of the studio. This week, we are very far away from the studio, in Yorkshire, England.


After a nightmare landing Verizon global Android phone not working, Sixt rental car being in a different terminal and not having the car booked and Greg and Simon arriving in different terminals...we managed to get organized and over to York. Not wanting to rest, we immediately blasted off and headed into York and Greg was shown York Minster, an 800 year old Cathedral, replete with Roman foundations,  Clifford's Tower, and the Shambles. 


We then drove across the rural countryside (avoiding main roads) to see Castle Howard (from the outside, across the lake), into Malton, Simon's home town, and eventually back to York, via Bulmer and Sheriff Hutton.


Phew.


Next day, it was into Castle Howard properly, to walk around the spectacular grounds and tour the main house. We ate at the Worsley Arms hotel in Hovingham, a tiny village, and it was gorgeous. After that, it was into Malton to hang out with some very cool people, had dinner in Malton (Greg said it was one of the best Italian meals he's ever had) and then hung out at Suddaby's pub in Malton....where Greg of course, got invited to see the beer cellar. A brilliant day.


Phew again.


Next day, we headed off to Whitby. This is a coastal town, built in an estuary, and has several claims to fame. It is where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, after being inspired by several events that happened there. (Greg explains in the podcast). It is also where Captain Cook siled from to discover places like Hawaii, New Zealand etc, etc, etc. It is also the location of a very spooky ruin....Whitby Abbey, founded in 657. It lasted until 1538, when Henry 8th had his falling out with the Pope and shut Catholic Abbeys down. We then went back into York in the evening to view the Minster at night (gorgeous), grabbed a quick bite in Betty's, which is a fabulous tea shop in York. Greg was exposed to Curd tart...which is gorgeous. We also went into the Guy Fawkes Inn, where the aforementioned baddie was born, and Greg continued his exploration of local brews. (The Inn's web site.)


Stay tuned as we'll be recording more on the trip for release next week (after we're back, but who cares). Later in the week, we're heading north to the Yorkshire Dales, and plan to visit Wensleydale....then Ashok will be joining us later in the week too...how freakin' great is that?!?!?!


OK, later.....BMSMA.


G&S

Pay attention....Ve Vill Be Asking Qvestions later.

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We cover a lot of ground today. Loads, so hope you're paying, as we will be giving a pop quiz at the end!

We start by talking about the Masters golf tournament, which was going on this week, and Greg was watching avidly....at the Cohiba store, where else! (We divert onto Barry Bonds and Martha Stewart...now there's a segway!)

Simon was busy this weekend too, with a photo shoot and a fancy schamcy dinner party (Roast pheasant no less...yummy.)

We do talk about our upcoming trip to northern England (Yorkshire) and the fact that we're going to be recording like crazy when there, for upcoming podcasts.

This week is the 150th anniversary of the start of the US Civil War.

Yuri Gagarin....the first man in space. The Russians have finally released the text of his exchange before he blasted off. His main concern was having enough sausage to eat in space.

We talk about the US government shut down, closely averted, but still.....good grief.

And when you thought things couldn't get any stranger. Holy crap....the FBI released a memo stating the a UFO did in fact crash in New Mexico in the 1950's. Holy crap.

4G network baby.....Simon just got it on Verizon. It's 7 times faster than his broadband (DSL). 7 times faster. The podcast took less than 2 minutes to upload this week. It usually takes 20 minutes on the DSL. Bloody amazing. Verizon rules.

Next week, the podcast comes from York, England. It might be Monday, as usual or it may be Tuesday. it depends how it goes.

BMSMA

G&S

It's crazy out there man!

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This week we play catch up. Last week we had to re-release one of our favorite ye olde podcasties due to Simon being late from a flight and not being back in time to record :-(


SO, this week Greg regales us with stories of fun times at, you've guessed it, the Cohiba store, where he seems to have taken up semi permanent residency....wonder if they give out citizenship for regular visitors?


Simon fills us in on his most recent flying exploits, of which there have been several due to actually having a week of decent weather. 5 weeks off due to a semi perpetual down-pouring of heavenly waters, lead to being grounded. On Thursday, he had to fly his wife to South Los Angeles...Yikes. So, this led to him doing that flight on Monday, since LA is some of the nation's busiest airspace, as he wanted a practice run. That was done in an old, but fast Cessna Turbo 182RG. That thing moves pretty decently, but since it's old, it's loud, vibrates quite a bit, courtesy of having only a 2 blade propeller, and it's cheap....it's a good choice for a practice run. Here's the video footage. The shaky stuff was when the camera was mounted on the side window directly. The non shaky stuff was hand held. The clouds and snow capped mountains were gorgeous, esp from 11,000 feet. Since there was not a cat in hell's chance of him taking his wife down in that plane, he needed to re-acquaint himself with the one he would be using since he hadn't flow it since Christmas! It was a relatively new Cessna T182T, with full Garmin G1000 glass cockpit. Tuesday, he nipped down to Hollister with a couple of buddies and did just that. Thursday, the big day, Simon flew his wife and a colleague for a meeting at UCI. The sky was clear and the flight was just about 2 hours, with lots of vectoring around LA airspace. Here's the footage. The flight was into John Wayne Orange County. Yes, that's right....they names an airport after John Wayne!


Then we get grumpy, talking about the lousy drivers we've both been experiencing this week, and question what the hell has been happening with Transocean......huge bonuses being given out to their top executives for exemplary safety in 2010? So, that BIG accident in the Gulf of Mexico didn't happen then did it?


Then we ask, why is there a record hole in the Ozone layer? Didn't we solve that problem 25 years ago? So what the hell is going on here?


OK, so curmudgeonly grumblings over for the week. Catch you all next week.


BMSMA


G&S