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Sparkle #366photos2020

I don’t travel too much for work. I have to stay overnight maybe once a
Month of that. When I do I prefer to stay in character hotels rather than bland chains. This was the first time I had booked the Haley’s Hotel. Rather nice on the outside and quite nice on the inside.

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The Ministry of Magic

The first time I went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour was in 2015, just after they had added the Hogwarts Express and Kings Cross set to the tour. At the end of November 2019 we made a return visit, mainly to see how different it was dressed for Christmas and with snow.

The Ministry of Magic always looked huge on the big screen, all done via the clever use of CGI. However they did build some physical sets to complement the virtual ones.

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Drawer #366photos2020

Drawer #366photos2020

No matter how many times I tidy this drawer, it never looks tidy, It has a range of kitchen utensils and cooking equipment in there. Tongs, wok tools, roast holders, cheese graters, wooden spoons. I do keep my knives separate so they stay sharp.

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The Burrow

The first time I went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour was in 2015, just after they had added the Hogwarts Express and Kings Cross set to the tour. At the end of November 2019 we made a return visit, mainly to see how different it was dressed for Christmas and with snow.

As you can see not too much Christmas stuff in the Weasley’s home The Burrow. I think that may have been a real opportunity.

The Weasleys’ home, known as the Burrow, is located outside the village of Ottery St Catchpole,. The Burrow was used as the Order of the Phoenix’s headquarters, due to the compromised Fidelius Charm placed on 12 Grimmauld Place, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows until it lost its given protection. The Weasley house has seven floors. It is also quite dilapidated, managing to remain standing only by magic. Despite the house’s rundown appearance, Harry remarks on his first visit that it was the best house he had ever been in and it becomes his second favourite place in the world (after Hogwarts). The well-hidden orchard nearby doubles as a Quidditch pitch for the Weasley boys and Ginny Weasley. A multitude of garden gnomes infests the garden of the Burrow. There is also a small hangar located there that Arthur Weasley uses as a workshop to tinker with muggle items that he brings home (much to Mrs. Weasley’s chagrin).

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Carol Singer #366photos2020

Carol Singer #366photos2020 #366photos

This is one of a set of resin carol singer tree decorations. We bought these tree decorations over ten years ago from a now defunct Christmas shop in Weston-super-Mare and we have never seen them ever again in any other retail outlet. No idea who manufactured them or if they are still available.

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Santa Kiwi #366photos2020

Santa Kiwi

As it is not yet twelfth night, our decorations are still up. This tree decoration of a festive Kiwi was a souvenir from a trip to New Zealand ten years ago. I bought a few and they still adorn our tree every year.

I have done a photo a day before in 2012, 2014and 2016. I did try in 2018 but i has a few technical issues so stopped after a few weeks. This year I am trying again. The photos will be posted to Instagram and then I will blog the photo too. Hopefully with more detail.

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Three #366photos2020

Three

I have done a photo a day before in 2012, 2014 and 2016. I did try in 2018 but i has a few technical issues so stopped after a few weeks.

This year I am trying again. The photos will be posted to Instagram and then I will blog the photo too. Hopefully with more detail.

This metal three was seen in Uphill where our local scout group was undertaking an easy New Year stroll.

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My top ten tweets of 2019

GWR HSTLast year I posted my top ten tweets for 2018 and I did the same in 2017 and 2016 which was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular.

The top tweet back in 2016 was this one for #WednesdayWisdom

Whilst top tweet for 2017 was this one from the 2017 ALT Conference and it was my sketchnote of Bonnie Stewart’s keynote on openness.

The top tweet back in 2018 was this one about the newly revamped WHSmith at Bristol Temple Meads complete with storage cage!

So in 2019, my tenth most popular tweet was this one about my son appearing on BBC Points West whilst working at Bristol Temple Meads as a GWR Apprentice.

In ninth place was a nostalgic tweet about a steam train visiting Weston-super-Mare ten years ago in July.

I did tweet a lot about the past this year, and will do less of it next year.

At number eight was a tweet about the phrase “digital detox” which gets bandied about a lot when people feel they need to take a break from services such as Twitter. If you feel you need to take a break, you probably do, but is it necessary to tell everyone about it?

Seventh was about about an incident at Oxford Circus. The tweet was picked up by some news outlets and my photo appeared on a news website.

The sixth tweet was about WHSmith in Bristol being covered in plastic last February.

I did find this reply amusing….

The reason was less worrying, it was because they were putting the Post Office into WHSmith.

The tweet at number five was one about  great women in edtech from March for International Women’s Day.

Fourth was another nostalgic tweet about the #140conf Twitter Conference  I attended in 2009 and was on a panel session with some great people.

And now the top three, with the third tweet was an early morning tweet celebrating that GWR were now using old HSTs as commuter trains, so we had more seats and faster trains.

At number two was a tweet about the revamped WHSmith in Weston-super-Mare.

So the most popular tweet of 2019 was this one about keeping the old Twitter.

So what does this tell us? Very little.