Holiday: Devon in Seven! (Day 2)

Just when you create a title for your blog-post that works perfectly, along comes something to ruin it! After BoJo’s announcement last night, it looks like ‘Lockdown 2.0’ will require us to pack up early here in Totnes, and return home on Wednesday! – two days short!! “Devon in Seven!“ – now, what rhymes with …
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Holiday: Devon in Seven! (Day 1)

With our foreign holiday plans in tatters (for this year at least) due to you-know-what, we’re still travelling, but instead, we’re staying closer to home and re-discovering the UK. Recently, we spent a brilliant time in Scotland and for this latest trip, we’re the opposite end of the country – in Devon. But first we …
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Tiers Before Bedtime!

As the second spike of this dreaded Coronavirus continues to take hold, today, the Government spoke to the nation. In what turned out to be one of those typically ‘worst kept secrets’ (the media was headlining it all three days ago!) the State announced a ‘tiered system of restrictions’ – in reality, a revised set …
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Coronavirus – 200 Days and Counting! 😮

Crikey, I can’t believe we’re now 200 days since they announced the first Lockdown! When I wrote about this after (just!) 100 days, I don’t think anyone imagined we’d still be trying to cope with the reality of the coronavirus nearly 7 months on!! In fact, as I type, it looks like things are going …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 8, Seven Days a Highlander!

Well, we’ve just spent the past seven days in Scotland. The first half was a bit ‘off the beaten track’ with friends in Gartly, Aberdeenshire and then we drove to Inverness’s largest hotel – The Kingsmills – for the remainder. Not sure if that makes me a (temporary) ‘Highlander’ or not!? Although we’ve been to …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 7(8): My Birthday 2020

Thanks for all your good wishes, cards and gifts! They’re mostly all back at home and I’ll enjoy them when we’re back tomorrow! Here we are then, in Bonnie Scotland, on the occasion of my 64th. It’s another day of discovery today and we’ve got two locations in mind:- Nairn – a well-known seaside town …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 6(8)

My last day of ’63-ness’ today, and we’re off to Loch Ness! Given our complete failure to spot any dolphins during this trip, I don’t hold out much hope for an encounter with Nessie! KEY FACTS ABOUT THE LOCH22 miles longAverage depth of 433 feetMaximum depth of 744.6 feet1.8 cubic miles of water1 monster We’re …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 4(8)

Well, that’s the first half of our Scottish break over – and it passed really quickly! After a relaxing and VERY enjoyable few days with Richard and Lynn in Gartly, we’re off to our next (and final) ‘home’ for the final four-days – the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness. In some respects, our leaving was perfect …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 3(8)

It’s our last full day here before we drive to Inverness tomorrow – and we’ve a busy one planned (nothing new there ehh?!) After yesterday’s adventure that took us to the rather beautiful areas of Banff, Portsoy and Cullen (ending with a drive through next-door Buckie) today, we’re soaking-up more of the area to the …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 2(8)

I was up early, mainly down to me setting the clock an hour fast! The weather forecast looks promising (although not quite as warm as it predicted yesterday) and so on Richard’s advice, we’re heading for the Moray Coast about a 40 minute drive from base-camp. 11.15am: First stop was Banff, a small town and …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 1(8)

We always go away for my birthday and this year is no exception. Although the official celebration is still a week away, we thought we’d start early! What a difference a year makes! Twelve months ago for my celebration, we were in central London, shoulder-to-shoulder on a sweaty tube-train! This year, we’re heading in completely …
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Film: TENET

Here we are then, my first visit to the cinema since before lockdown. And what better movie to blow the cobwebs away than Christopher Nolan’s latest epic – TENET? Nolan is famous for his dislike of green-screen and CGI, so we were looking forward not only to the story, but the ‘set pieces’ too. Apparently, …
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Return to Kelmarsh

Well, I haven’t been here since the 14th of December 2011! – for my wedding! 😍😍😍! Click on the button below for a trip down memory lane… Wedding Pics (Unofficial) Welcome back to 2020! The reason for today’s visit was an invitation to a private tour around Kelmarsh’s well-known Gardens (where Mrs P is a …
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Hardwick Hall with Dennis and Sandra

9.55am: We drove the (just under) 90-mile journey to Hardwick Hall today, to meet up with fellow lovers-of-old-buildings and all-things National Trust, Dennis and Sandra. We last visited here back in October 2010 for a Murder-Mystery evening with Ralph and Karen (BTW, the Butler DIDN’T do it!). Hardwick is a spectacular Elizabethan house filled with …
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Weekend with Ralph and Karen

Friday 11.35am: Ralph and Karen arrived after a trouble-free journey from theirs. With hardly a moment to catch their breath, we whisked them off to The Old Forge for a pre-arranged lunch at 12.20. We hadn’t been here for a while (July 2012 according to my Blog, but I definitely think we’d been more recently), …
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Super Saturday

Today was dubbed ‘Super Saturday‘. It was the first day with the slightly relaxed lockdown in force, where some (not all) businesses were now allowed to re-open, trying their very best to make up for their lost trade over the past three months. Examples included Pubs and Hairdressers who were allowed to trade from one-minute …
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The Corona Chronicles – My First 100 Days

It’s Saturday, the 21st March, and as the ‘new normal’ unfolds and the virus begins to dictate our lifestyle, I guess we’ll all look back on this in years to come with that wonderful gift of hindsight – and (hopefully!) draw some important lessons! This blog, that I’ve penned on and off since 2004, tends …
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Warner Weekend 2020

Yes, it’s that time of year again! We’ve got our annual long weekend planned with our Warner ‘Brothers and Sisters’ – Geoff, Rhonda, Paul and Sue – aka ‘The Northants Nutters‘! Last year – our first get together – took us to Warner’s Littlecote House, this time, we’re in Herefordshire and staying at Warner’s rather …
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Celebrating Sainsbury’s!

A short tale of how, many years ago, one person influenced the career paths of three others – and today’s reunion! 👍👍👍 The Back-story In 1972, I joined Sainsbury’s at their flagship store – Central Croydon as a Saturday Student – working Friday nights and all-day Saturday. By late 1974, I was still uncertain as …
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The RSC: King John

This afternoon was a unique opportunity to see Shakespeare’s rarely performed production of ‘King John’ at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. We met Chris and Gill at theirs and headed over to the Theatre in time for a spot of lunch followed by the performance at 1.30pm. (The lunch incidentally, was superb!) I wasn’t familiar with …
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China – By the numbers!

Welcome to my second – and final – piece reflecting on our recent holiday in China, (the first was posted HERE yesterday). Our 19-day adventure included shiny modern cities, smaller towns, rural locations, large retail malls, small local shops – and pretty-much everything in between! We saw the uber-rich, the rich, the poor and the …
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China – What we learned!

After almost three weeks immersing ourselves in ‘the Chinese way’, here’s the first (of my two-part) light-hearted look at our experiences. Part 2 is tomorrow. The People With a population of around 1.4 billion, in the big cities it certainly felt like it. In the more rural locations, however, you’d never know! Families used to …
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London Mini-Break – Day 1 (of 3)

We’re on a three-day mini-break in London that’ll incorporate my birthday celebrations tomorrow. Last time we visited the capital was back in August when we stayed ‘up-west’. This time though, we’re on the opposite side (literally) and heading for east London where Stratford will be our home for the duration. 9.35am: OK, the weather forecast …
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Long(bow) Story Short!

So, with Friday here again, it’s time for our weekly Archery Lessons courtesy of Kettering Archers. For me, tonight is extra special as I’ve traded-up to a proper English Longbow! – and it came with some expert coaching from one of KA’s experienced Bowmen, Dave. Although it’s perfectly possible to use the Longbow for target …
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