Lunch...

Autumn's Granny has come down from Norwich for a visit and took us all out for lunch. We went to our local Toby Carvery

I had my own little plate......roast beef, peas, carrots, roast potatoes, a giant Yorkshire pudding and some pork crackling. My little tummy was fit to bursting after all this. 

The beer wasn't mine, I had a Fruit Shoot, I was just cooling my forehead

After my meal I met Steve and we chilled for a while before dessert. 

Autumn's ice cream was rather large so I did the honourable thing and helped her out. Autumn chose lemon sauce which was very refreshing

We had a lovely meal and a very relaxing afternoon. I'm hoping Granny comes and visits again soon.

Tracking my travels

Autumn had a casting on Thursday so we headed off to London, the weather was lovely when we left but decidedly grey when we arrived, we were hoping it wouldn't rain as we couldn't find the umbrella anywhere

Having fun on the train colouring myself in.

We caught the train from Colchester and got off at Stratford International. We headed for the underground, also known as the Tube, and got on the Central Line

 Autumn and I trying to guess what the next station would be. 

Autumn held my hand as it's really dark down there and sometimes the lights go out.

Me feeling brave enough to sit on my own.

We got off at a station called Bank and had to find the next line to catch another Tube to our destination. It was quite busy with lots of people heading here and there. We got on the Northern Line and headed for Elephant and Castle.

We met a famous dog out for her walk. Her name is SweetPea Smith, she lives in London but is originally from Auckland in New Zealand. She's been in quite a few commercials. She's very clever as she has her own Twitter account and a Facebook page

After we had finished in Elephant and Castle we decided to catch a bus instead of getting back on the Tube and see where it took us. Autumn's favourite building in the whole of London is The Gherkin so when we spotted it we all decided to jump off and find our way to see it close up.

We saw a really, really tall building that looked like it reached the clouds

We spotted The Gherkin reflected in the glass

Hurrah, the real thing

When we arrived we found the base of The Gherkin had been invaded by Dinosaurs!! 

Not real dinosaurs, thank goodness, but made from steel and part of an outdoor exhibition taking place in London this Summer. They are The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.....You can find out more about Sculpture in the City here

I got a little stuck and had to be helped down by Autumn

Me touching The Gherkin

Around the other side from the dinosaurs we found a little shop full of cakes and nice things - Konditor and Cook

Autumn's Mum bought some surprises for us . I couldn't wait to get the box open and see what there was.

They were totally scrumptious as you can see and all washed down with some traditional lemonade

We loved them so much we took some home for everybody. 

On our way to catch the train home we found a big shiny sculpture

It's was created by Ryan Gander and is called "More Really Shiny Things That Don't  Mean Anything"

This is also part of the Sculpture in The City 2013

Autumn and I having a closer look

Very shiny indeed

It measures a whopping 275cm in diameter and looks like a giant magnet has attracted lots of lovely shiny things.

We managed to get on the bus just as it started to rain and got to Liverpool Street Station to catch our train home without getting soaked.....next time we will remember the umbrella just in case we're not so lucky.

I had a little jaunt to Cromer in Norfolk a few weeks back with Autumn's brother Stanley. Although the weather wasn't what we had hoped for we had great fun. 

Stanley's Granny took us for lunch, I even had my own plate of chips which I enjoyed very much

Afterwards we took a walk along the promenade, as you can see it was quite a blustery day and the sea was quite fierce so we weren't able to have a paddle.

We found a giant Hot Dog but we were still full from lunch so didn't get try one

 Stanley gave me my first experience on a Helter Skelter....it was really scary and fast at first but quite exciting so we did it 3 more times. Granny said we could have a ride on the roundabout and I chose the motorbike, not as fast as the Helter Skelter but still fun.

 To finish off we all had ice cream

We had a lovely day but when we got home Autumn asked us all about Cromer. We told her about our day out and the things we saw. She was interested to find out more so did some research and wrote a little report.

Cromer is a little seaside town located on the North Norfolk coast. It's famous for fresh crabs and the theatre at the end of the pier. The church has the highest tower in the county of Norfolk at just over 160ft. There are 171 steps and in the summer you are able to climb to the top for a small fee. Although  it seems to date back to the 14th Century the church fell into disrepair and was restored/rebuilt in the 18th Century.

A lot of the streets are narrow and unchanged from the Victorian era. While small they are crammed with shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes. 

The pier has had many forms dating back to 1391 but the current pier is dated around 1901. It has suffered damage over the years and been repaired numerous time. Storms caused considerable damage in 1949, 1953, 1976 and 1978. In February 1990, gales destroyed the amusement arcade and, on the 14th of November 1993, a 100 ton rig crashed into the pier, which left the theatre and lifeboat station stranded from the rest of the pier

The theatre sits on the end of the pier and has 510 seats. It can be quite spooky as while the performances are in full swing you can sometimes still hear the sea rolling around beneath you.

Cromer has a shingle beach which is patrolled by the RNLI . There is a museum that tells the history of the lifeboats and about Henry Blogg, a famous lifeboatman who received 7 medals for his heroism. Admission is free  and very popular with school children.

Cromer has a carnival which brings lots of people to the town. This year it is being held across the week of 17th to 23rd August. Lots of entertainment and events, there's something for everyone

I love meeting new people. Here I am receiving a head massage from Baby Jack

Baby Jack is going to be a pirate when he grows up

Last week we travelled to Norfolk to visit Granny. Along the A140 we spotted some wind turbines which looked very exciting. I've never seen these before so Autumn's Dad stopped the car so we could get out and have a closer look. They are really big. We expected the wind turbines to be making lots of noise but they were really quiet

When we got home Autumn decided to do some research so we could learn more about them and what they do.

These particular wind turbines are located in a place called Eye in Suffolk and stand 130 metres tall. The 2.5 mega-watt turbines should be able to generate enough electricity to power approx. 3000 homes.

It seems people have different opinions on how they look and whether they are worth the money.

Some people think they are ugly and spoil the scenery of the countryside. If there is no wind then the turbines can't generate any power so the energy produced won't be consistent and that they are noisy. 

These turbines are placed on Eye Airfield behind an industrial estate and we couldn't hear them.

"I really like them and the idea to produce clean energy. I think that if we use more wind turbines to produce electricity instead of the old methods that have been around for a long time there will be less pollution. Some people think they are ugly but I think they are really cool, like the windmills you get to put in the garden or to run along the beach with. Maybe in the future there will be a possibility to make them less obvious in places where people live. I think electricity pylons are ugly, you can see them all across the countryside but no one seems to complain about them. Hopefully more people will learn to live with wind turnbines and appreciate what they can do for the environment"

Autumn Parker

Autumn has 4 sisters and 2 brothers which means I'm having lots of opportunities to travel here and there. Last week I went to the recording studio with Autumn's older sister, Holly who is 12.

We travelled to Walton on the Naze, Essex where Wave Break Production is based. It's a lovely little seaside town with a nice sandy beach....unfortunately it was quite grey and windy so we didn't get a chance to have a stroll.

Me and Holly listening to the recordings

It was a really interesting experience. I sat in the mixing studio with Paul who works all the magic whilst Holly went into another room to sing.

When she's done she comes back into the studio to have a listen to the song to see if she's happy with the results.

Paul was really helpful explaining different equipment, such as the new dual valve compressor and what effect it has on the sound. I learnt about reverb (reverberation) which is all about echoes and enclosed spaces. There were lots of dials and switches which made it look very complicated but Paul knows what he's doing and before we knew it Holly had 2 songs in the bag.

During a break I had a quick warm up on the drums. Lots of fun but I don't think Ringo has anything to worry about just yet.

Here's me talking to Paul about the different pieces of equipment. The dual valve compressor is very impressive.

Here I am having being shown the ropes and having a little dabble at laying down some choons.

I was hoping to maybe record a little song of my own but we ran out of time. Maybe next time. Below are 2 of the 5 songs Holly recorded....hope you enjoy them.

Believe sung by Holly Parker

Holly is a big Dr Who fan and maybe an even bigger David Tennant fan. The video seemed apt for the song

One Short Day sung by Holly Parker

A song from the musical Wicked. Autumn and Holly are going to London to see it in October and have promised to take me with them

It's been an exciting and very busy week for me. I have so much to write about....from Comic Con and being in the presence of Sir Tom Baker to work experience in a real live recording studio (Thanks to Wave Break Studio) and exploring my new home Town of Colchester.

Today was pretty awesome too. The postman knocked with a parcel, yes a parcel, addressed to little ol' me.

 A package!!!

So carefully wrapped...

 Three spiffingly awesome jumpers, lovingly hand knitted by the wonderful Caroline O'Neill

Looking forward to my first real holiday

'T' is for Teddy

Tracking my travels

Next week is June but the weather still hasn't decided if it's summer yet. One lovely, lovely lady has voiced concern at my lack of clothing and has offered to knit me a jumper. Here I am being measured up.