Summer

Today is mid summer's day, so we go downhill from hereon in until January. Days  gradually become shorter and nights longer. I like British Summer Time but wonder if we would all be better off with BST  throughout the year?

Possibly the Scots would prefer GMT for the whole  year. However I recall an experiment for two or three years back in the 1970s when 12 months of BST was tried. Presumably the experiment was unsuccessful, as the UK reverted to the current BST/GMT mix after some three years. 

 

Walking on Wimbledon Common this morning even earlier than the usual 6:30 am was enjoyable. Almost empty trailer paths though there was much wildlife about including foxes and despite the former, some  rabbits. The shade of the trees was welcome and there was much cooing and screeching of birds. 

Yet come December and January, a torch will be needed for walking on the Common at that hour. 

What goes round comes round. 

.

National Physical Laboratory

Youngest sister suggested that we visit the NPL in Teddington as this was about to have its annual day when ordinary members of the public could  enter and look around the site for the princely fee of £3 each. Accordingly my youngest brother, his wife, youngest sister, mrs maytrees and myself all agreed to accompany youngest sister to look at the NPL.

Years ago when I was still at Beaumont College as a schoolboy, our physics teacher, Father Michael Ross SJ  used to go to the NPL on occasion as did my father when some years prior to that he had been a Royal Air Force officer. I recall he had been working on the long since  cancelled British rocket known then as Blue Streak. 

In those days the site's buildings were all rather older than they are now, with the site having been established in c. 1900. The current buildings were apparently erected in the 1980s and to my eye at least are not unattractive.

  

Traveling to the NPL was easy enough. Train directly from Raynes Park to Teddington for some 12 minutes, then a walk of 20 minutes or so to the NPL. Mrs maytrees was in the event, unfortunately unable to come, but might have enjoyed the visit including as it did, use of the scientists' subsidised refectory and cafe.

Most of the scientists seemed to be young, highly qualified and skilled. They were excellent too in explaining the many features at the site, including liquid nitrogen,optical atomic clocks, quantum light and electronic reliability in harsh environments. 

Photography was generally not permitted but one young technician was pleased to photograph me near to an atomic clock:

 

She told me that Greenwich Mean Time measuring,  has long since been replaced by atomic clocks, though GMT based at Greenwich is still used for example for the annual switch to British Summertime, BST.

For me the most interesting aspect of the visit was the lecture entitled How Long is a Piece of String which was given to quite a number of people, including yours truly, in a large comfortable lecture hall.

The half an hour lecture covered such topics as black holes, the possible beginning of our universe, different types of  burning and flames. The excellent speaker took a number of questions at the end of his talk.

 Overall an unusual and interesting day. 

 

In Praise of Love - Orange Tree Theatre

 

A birthday treat from youngest sister was the matinee performance of Terrence Rattigan's  play In Praise of Love. The play was put on at The Orange Tree Theatre Richmond.

Traveling to Richmond was straightforward enough on newly renationalised South Western Railways from Raynes Park to Richmond though nationalisation appears to mean fewer train carriages presumably to save costs.

Mrs maytrees and I decided to travel early to have lunch before walking to the theatre for the play. Rather than attend a cafe or restaurant near to The Orange Tree we walked away from the theatre to a Pret cafe where mrs maytrees often meets a friend with whom she goes shopping. The Pret unlike the cafes close to the theatre, was not full and we had a leisurely lunch together during which youngest sister joined us, 

The theatre was full when the play commenced, with not a single untaken seat that I could see.

The play directed by Amelia Sears was excellent. We were seated upstairs in the tiny theatre which was fun. 

Dan Rebelleto a South London dramatist and academic reports that:

"In some respects, the play ...(is) ... extremely personal. After a decade of being dismissed for the supposed emotional repression of his plays, and sly implications of his own sexual dishonesty, this is a play that speaks to the expressive emotional intensity of what is unsaid. At one point Lydia declares 'Oh damn the English!' Sometimes I think that their bad form doesn't just lie in revealing their emotions, it's in having any at all'.

"...In  Praise of Love is developed well beyond its source material and it deliberately complicates our judgments about the characters..."

One of the national newspapers, The Times as I recollect gave the production three *s. A little stingy I thought, as our view was that the production, which enrapped our concentration for around three hours, was interesting as well as absorbing. 

A 4* production in my view. 

AFC Wimbledon at Wembley

 

 

AFC Dons did well to reach the League division 2 play off final, the winner of which would be promoted to the heights of Division 1. Walsall FC the other finalist, was at one stage of the football season, 12 points ahead of the pack in division 2 but then began to tire. AFC Wimbledon had been fading too  towards the end of the season and my expectation was that Walsall would just about clinch it.

In the semi finals, the Dons won both their home and away match in the semi finals 1-0 against Notts County so appeared to be gaining momentum just as that was needed.

From a supporter's viewpoint, buying tickets for the Wembley match proved very difficult. AFC Wimbledon had declined to appoint agents so sold tickets directly on line with an initial two days being reserved for season ticket and debenture holders (the club unusually for a football club is mainly supporter owned). 

By the time  ticket sales were opened to the wider public, all of the best seats had been sold. However after queuing in their well organised system I managed to buy three tickets in the cheapest seats. Having last been to Wembley for the 2012 women's football final I recall how good the view was really wherever one was seated and so it proved,

Traveling to Wembley on the Bakerloo underground line was not ideal so we traveled home  via Euston on the much  more comfortable and speedier Lionesses Line.

Some pictures from the match: 

a

 

 

As it happened I walked to AFC Wimbledon's  HQ with a view to buying some kit for the game. A number of other supporters were trying the same but the supporters kit for the finals was sold out. I managed to buy a Dons' hat and scarf though.

After the match whilst walking to Wembley Central Station, a Walsall fan came up to us to congratulate AFC Dons though expressing disappointment that his team was to spend a seventh year in Div 2.

The overall atmosphere both before during and after the match was excellent  and as I told one of our   grandchildren later, there were many young people including girls her age in attendance also.

Aberdeen - People and Places

Having blogged last week about the sleeper train travel from London to Aberdeen and return, this week a word about the city, its people and environs is apt.

We stayed at a family run hotel near to Aberdeen railway station, which had the advantages of being near to the station and more importantly not being part of a chain of hotels. 

 

Having  arrived in the morning at about breakfast time and being too early to check into our

hotel, we opted to have some breakfast and then took an open top bus tour of the city where we were the only passengers. Later after checking in we began to explore the city. 

 

The nearby museum was small but free and interesting. There was for example, a  scale model of one of the Scottish North Sea oil rigs.

 

 

People in Aberdeen seemed remarkably friendly, possibly as a result of the years of many oil workers and other visitors from the rest of the UK and beyond. 

 

The Aberdeen Douglas Hotel had attached, a popular cafe/restaurant so we ate most of our meals  there. The food was enjoyable and fairly inexpensive.

 

mrs maytrees tends to enjoy her lie ins most mornings whereas being an early riser, I tended to go off for long pre-breakfast walks including to the docks which were nearby and the sea shore which was quite a trek away.

 

Interestingly one can just make out from the picture below an oil rig in the distance as well as wind farm propellers. 

 

The walk to and from the deserted beaches was long and I passed several rather run down streets. There was an old London Eye type wheel and what presumably had been a holiday fairground but they were now largely derelict.

Both the harbour and the sea shore had in my view seen better days and possibly as a result of the government actions, oil drilling in the North Sea, for both Scotland and the UK is winding down too fast in my opinion.

 

After early morning walks I tended to have a coffee and read The Times newspaper before returning to the hotel to meet with mrs maytrees.

 

 

 

An interesting trip we took on a local bus was to Balmoral which the Royal Family use as their Scottish hideaway. We both enjoyed that trip and the food and drink at the Balmoral cafe were largely local, We had a great lunch there. 

 

Other sights of Balmoral included the castle which we did not visit as it was undergoing major repairs of some kind, and a store for pheasant or perhaps deer that was killed for eating later though the interesting looking store house see right, is not currently in use.

A final picture before we left the extensive grounds and garden of Balmoral is that of mrs maytrees at the entrance gate.

 

 

Overall our brief stay in Aberdeen was excellent especially as everyone we met was most welcoming.

 

We both enjoyed a single malt whiskies  on the train back to London - a fitting end to the Scottish break.

 

Aberdeen by Caledonian Sleeper

 

 

Mrs maytrees and myself decided  to take a short break in Aberdeen before the schools broke up for the summer holidays. 

A few years ago in 2007, we took the  sleeper train to Inverness for a Valentine's  day holiday in February. 

We traveled then on the old Caledonian sleeper and enjoyed a  surprisingly sunny break in the snow; see Old Caledonian. On the current occasion in May 2025, the train was much newer and the dining menu had been spruced up. 

However many readers of The Daily Telegraph newspaper recently posted online comments moaning in respect of the new Caledonian Sleeper, about this and that, though I posted my own comment by way of contrast. For example I said:

My wife and myself traveled Euston to and from Aberdeen on this train returning today. Staff were friendly, train was fine and journey far better than plane or car. Whisky on board was excellent too. Food with real cutlery rather than plane plastic.

 No cattle truck type experience as on planes, nor traffic jams as on roads.

Whereas as indicated earlier, nearly all the other comments were critical, for example a longer one reading:

When the new Caledonian Sleeper carriages were introduced in 2019, they included en-suite rooms and other upgrades. However, these features came at the cost of reducing space elsewhere in the train, the berths and corridors are claustrophobically narrow.The new Caledonian Sleeper carriages are noisier and less comfortable, made from lighter modern materials with less effective suspension, and poor acoustic insulation compared to the old sleepers. Worn out tracks, maintenance problems exacerbate rattling and vibrations, loose fittings inside carriages add to the noise. The older trains were heavier and better tested for smoother travelling, making them quieter and more enjoyable. The current carriages prioritise efficiency and capacity over passenger comfort, which might explain why fewer people choose to travel on this train again.

Possibly many today moan more about many things, than did the generation born  before, during or just after  after WWII when there was eg still food rationing in the 1950s.

For the remainder of this blog post there are posted pictures of the Caledonian Sleeper. 

Details of our very interesting and enjoyable stay in Aberdeen will hopefully,follow next week.

 

 

To the left  is picture of the dining car, with a picture of my bunk bed    in   the comfortable cabin  above and above left, which cabin also had   its own private shower room with a loo. 

 

Below is  a picture of mrs maytrees enjoying a glass of 12 year old single malt Scotch on the journey back to London Euston.

 

The crew were very helpful. Our meals which they served, were as below with breakfast being included in the fares:

The sadness apart from the break in Aberdeen being so brief, was the fact that there were so few other travelers. Train travel is far less polluting than travel by air or car yet some roads on the route back were jammed. The train journey fare is a factor but bearing in mind the comfortable sleeping arrangements on board, the train costs are not much more expensive than a combination of car petrol and overnight stay costs would be. 

 

Of course a car driver would be ill advised en route, to enjoy the malt whiskies we both enjoyed.

 

 

Pope Leo XIV

The election yesterday by the Cardinals in the Vatican of the Augustinian Cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost as  new Pope Leo XIV, following the death of the late Jesuit Pope Francis who was a  man who really focused on the poor, see Pope Francis may he RIP is surely excellent news for mankind and the Church.

 

 

Pope Leo XIV is the first USA Cardinal although he lived and worked in Peru for some twenty years before being appointed by Pope Francis to work in  Rome some two years ago. I believe that he took Peruvian nationality also.

Mary, the youngest sister of mrs maytrees, was married many years ago to Eamon. Eamon's uncle was an Augustinian and he undertook the wedding ceremony in a  Dublin church. 

My late parents who came over to Ireland for Mary's wedding, got on really well with Eamon's uncle. For many months afterwards I recollect that  the Augustinian uncle and my mother emailed each other about current affairs and the Church. Sadly both Mary and Eamon have long since died as indeed have my parents.

Pope Leo XIV is reputedly likely to be similar in his leadership role, to the late Pope Francis. This in my view will be good for the Church in these difficult times. 

There seems to have been more interest in the conclave gathered together to elect the new pope than in previous papal elections. Perhaps that results in part from the excellent film Conclave  based on the novel of the same name by  Robert Harris. The film was only comparatively recently released, 

I recall Robert Harris being interviewed on GB News. he signified I recall that he had been sceptical of the papacy or Catholicism or perhaps both but having been given full access to the Vatican he became less so.. 

In any event the film was excellent and may even have assisted some of the cardinals in the Conclave this week.

At the age of 69 there is surely a possibility that  Pope Leo will head the Church for many years to come. God willing, may he assist all in the world during these difficult times and subsequently.