This year, we drove up to Matlock to share New Year’s Eve with Ralph and Karen. We set off from ours just after 1pm and arrived just before 3 – a straightforward, hassle-free journey (and the longest so far in Ann’s new car). The venue tonight is the Peak Edge Hotel where we’re going to …
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Category:Car
Bye-bye Marco!
On March 1st, 2014, not long after retiring, Lee gave me her car – a VW Polo. She had decided that, in spite of her love for cars and motoring in general, the stress of driving on modern roads had become too much. Wow! what a gift! I was wheel-less at the time, and it …
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Essex Girl (and Boy!)
WEDNESDAYWe took a few days off and headed back to where it all began – Essex! Ann has a job interview in the area on Thursday, and we decided to make this pilgrimage to where we’d spent a big chunk of our life working for Mr Sainsbury. The time was the 80s, and it seems …
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Pre-Christmas Get-together with the Neighbours
Sometimes, all the signs are that it’s probably best to stay under the duvet. This morning was one of those times! We retrieved the Polo from five-days of ‘intensive care’ at the garage, only to find that after taking it for a spin, the exhaust system fault light re-appeared. Then, just as we were heading …
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Gambles in The Feathers
A family day today, as Ann and I blew the dust of the XKR and drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for lunch and to catch-up with Denis, who had been staying over. A very reasonable 28.8mpg on the way down including some lead-footed ‘magic moments’ to check that the car still accelerated as …
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Friends for the Weekend
This is what it’s all about! Having time to spend lots of quality time with friends! This weekend we played host to Nick & Celina and Ralph & Karen. Everyone arrived together and after a fab lunch (seafood risotto followed by lemon trifle) courtesy of Ann, we boys (together with Celina) disappeared to play with …
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The Future of the Petrol-Head
We, I think this self-confessed petro-head will soon be changing his name – to electric-head! As part of this weekend with friends, Ralph and Karen introduced us to their latest acquisition – the all electric Tesla P85D. The rather boring sounding name, hides the fact that this is the most advanced electric car to date. …
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Rutland Walkabout
What better way to spend the 1 year anniversary of acquiring the XKR, than by taking it on a slow drive round the county of Rutland? – more specifically, we planned to almost circum-navigate Rutland Water clockwise, and take in as many of the sights as time allowed. It was a gorgeous day – just …
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Goodwood – Festival of Speed 2015
So, here I am on Friday at the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed with Ian H and Paul S. It’s my first visit here to the acknowledged mecca for petrol-heads! Ian and Paul are here Saturday and Sunday too, but my diary hasn’t been quite that generous this year – so maybe next time! It’s a …
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Swanning in Lamport
Ian, Mags and I met up for our regular three-monthly catchup at The Lamport Swan tonight. I’d quite forgotten how good the food is here, and tonight didn’t disappoint. The service was spot-on too. In spite of us keeping in touch, we seemed to have more-than-usual to catch-up with in terms of each others’ news. …
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Bank Holiday Rush
I picked up Lee on Sunday and Nicki joined us today for a lazy Bank Holiday. We’d quite forgotten that Nicki still had our Christmas presents so that got the day off to a great start! I’ve now have some high quality cleaning products for the XKR, so they’ll be put to good use in …
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A Tale of Two Shuckburghs
In the morning, I popped over to The Olive Grove – a Garden Centre in Oundle, to catch-up with Alison W, a colleague from my days in the 90s at Nokia. This was our first visit, since it opened its expanded eatery – and it didn’t disappoint: great food, great menu and very (very!) pleasant …
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Sun, Seagulls and Castanets
Ahhh, a rather late start of us two – 7.30am – and it was off to Eastbourne (to check out a Hotel) then Worthing (for a birthday party) and then finally to our overnight stay in Arundel (a return to the aptly named Comfort Inn). This was possibly our longest trip so far in the …
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Retyre? – No pressure!!!
I came across something really useful for my car yesterday – and for once, it wasn’t a new car polish!! I wanted to share the good news, as for some of you out there – especially those of you that cover quite a few miles, it’ll bring a big smile to your face! It’ll only …
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Trainers Unite – Saxon Mill
Ian, Mags and I met up at the rather pleasant Saxon Mill restaurant in Warwick tonight. They say that people aren’t eating out anymore, but the place was packed! This was a good sign and the food didn’t disappoint. Duck for Mags, and Venison for Ian and me, meant we all enjoyed a tasty bird, …
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Car Roots
The rather odd-looking XJR – not sure about the colour either! That’s more like it! – a rather sexy looking XFRSNeil stayed over last night, as today, we’re heading for the spiritual home of many Jaguars – Castle Bromwich, home the XE, the XJ and of course my fave, the XK. The Spitfire and Lancaster …
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Birthday 2014 – Steve Serenaded/Men with Pikes/High Points/Low Points/Swans on the Bed/Pigeon Paranoia/East v West/Wow Factor 11
As the title suggests, this year’s birthday celebrations have been especially memorable. Loyal reader, read on… Even before the celebrations began today, I had a rather unexpected birthday-call the previous evening. The phone rang, and I didn’t recognise the number that came up, nor the voice at the other end. The mystery voice immediately sprang …
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Sister! Horse is the Word!!
Our busiest weekend of the year so far – in a good way! FRIDAYFirst stop was our return visit to the hidden gem of outdoor theatrical productions – Kilworth House Theatre Group in err, Kilworth – and their production of Sister Act. Jo, Janet, Carol, Nick and Celina joined us for an evening of superb …
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Pussy Galore
After our cats, Biscuit and Bon-Bon, went over to Patsy’s yesterday, for their regular ‘wash ‘n’ brush-up’, it was now time to show another cat some attention! The XKR needed a little TLC at Marshalls Jaguar, Peterborough – nothing major, mainly blown bulbs and four-wheel tracking – and they were good enough to pick it …
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Jaguar
It’s fair to say, (and easy to spot) that we, the Palmers, love our Jaguars. We’ve both owned s-types, and today, Neil took delivery of his latest – a rather good-looking XF-S Portfolio. It’s a stunner with it’s ‘black pack’ option – and him being the more sensible one in the family, one that’s a …
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Family Weekend – August Bank Holiday 2014
Roger, Jane and Oliver joined us for the Bank Holiday weekend followed by Nicki C. I’d also picked up Lee earlier in the day, and David and Valerie joined us for the evening meal – so it was a proper ‘full-house’. It was also the first week where we ‘test drove’ the new (almost finished) …
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Sports, Soccer and Sausages!
Bev’s New Business Venture I took the XKR up to Lincoln to meet up with Bev and help her with a photo-shoot for her new Sports Massage business based at Lincoln City FC. I managed to take a variety of shots for Bev – some wide angle and some for Instagram, but all suitable for …
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Sleepy Swinford gets a Bang!
A lads’ lunch today! I picked up Geoff B (a colleague from my Sainsbury days) in Irthlingborough and we headed off towards the sleepy village of Swinford – and The Chequers Pub. I haven’t seen Geoff for almost a gazillion years, and the drive to the Pub gave us chance to catch-up with each other’s …
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Fish and Sips
My First Proper Car c1975 – more of my cars HERE We headed for Chris and Gill’s tonight for a get-together of culinary excellence . And to complete the family, Francesca and Abigail were there too! – we haven’t seen all four of them since last August when we last visited. Denise and Steve were …
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Let the Chaos Begin!
Sooooo last century! And so, this week sees the start of ‘kitchen chaos’ as it gets a well-deserved makeover. Stage 1 includes smashing the s*** out of all the tiling, together with the removal of two doors (to the dining room and utility room), to create an altogether more cleaner, more modern look. On Wednesday, …
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Boats, Blow-outs and Biryanis
It was off to Buckden Marina today with David and Val for a day-out on the boat – Osprey One! The weather looked a bit rubbish, but as the day wore on, it got warmer and warmer! All Aboard Osprey One We took the hour-and-a-half punt up to Godmanchester and had lunch on-board before taking …
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Boys and their (Blue) Toys!
OK, here, as promised, are the first shots of my new toy – the rather splendid Jaguar XKR. It took my brother and I quite a while to locate the right model as there are plenty of grey ones (boring!!) or black ones (slightly less boring) out there – but we both felt that blue, …
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Lazy Day
A lazy (ish) day today! – which is very unusual for us, even though it is a Saturday! I took Ann’s car to Richards in for its ‘A’ Service – it only took just over the hour, but they did spot a balding back tyre and front brakes that will need replacing in a few …
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Track Day – Jaguar f-type
Neil and I were lucky enough to secure a couple of tickets for an invite-only track day for the new Jaguar f-type at Millbrook. What fantastic day! Perfectly hosted by Jaguar with an opportunity to try-out all the variants of this gorgeous car! There were 25 of us – and rather spookily 25 cars. So, …
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Lunch with Alison W
Dessert! I drove over to Peterborough today in Marco – its first long(ish) journey since taking ownership a few weeks ago. It’s running a lot faster now I’ve added red car mats! Putting fuel in it was like going back in time – 25 quid and the tank is now three-quarters full! (that’s a big …
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