After last night’s takeaway, we kept the Chinese theme going by heading off first thing to Bicester, with David and Valerie – apparently, Bicester is the third most visited UK location by Chinese tourists, after Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. I’m not sure if I believe this factoid, but looking at the gazillions …
Read More
Author:Steve Palmer
I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 - well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I'm no Samuel Pepys! If you're looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you've arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it's all done with love!
I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!
Eat-for-a-£1-a-Day (2014) – How did we do?
The Ingredients (minus the Tea-bag!) The Result – Spicy Meatballs & Pasta Bake Well, David and I have just finished our last meal at the end of our seven day: Eat-for-a-£1-a-Day Challenge. Actually, we’re quite pleased with ourselves – we had more-or-less the right amount of food. I say ‘more-or-less’ because we ended up with …
Read More
Chilli with a Chance of Sausage!
The Table Awaits…In what my be considered by some to be an example of poor planning, we hosted a dinner party tonight for Jo, Janet, Valerie and David – whilst David and I were on Day 2 of our Eat-for-£1-a-Day-Challenge! Talk about temptation!!!!! Whilst the girls tucked into Nachos & Dips, followed by my homemade …
Read More
£1-a-Day (2014)
Whilst we are lucky enough to have a very comfy standard of living, many don’t – and with that in mind, David, my neighbour, and I, decided that we would try and live on just £1 a day for food, for the next seven days – starting tomorrow – with the money we’re ‘saving’ going …
Read More
Film: The Imitation Game
I thought it was a really good film, and Lee and Ann felt the same. Possibly the best film of the year for me! A truly impressive performance by Benedict Cumberbatch with a great supporting cast really carried it, and I was glued from start to finish. Before we went in, I was wondering why …
Read More
And the Beet Goes On!
We travelled to Heckington today to see Denis – probably our last visit before we see him again on Christmas Day. We took a slightly different route via the nearby villages to try and locate a suitable nearby Pub for lunch. We decided we wouldn’t go to the Fortescue Arms in Billingborough (our normal haunt …
Read More
Wine, Fine, Dine, Mine!
An unusual evening tonight – but it did include our three favourite subjects: wine, food and chocolate!! Gill and Chris’s daughter, Francesca, is off to Tanzania in the new year for three months (as you do!) to work with some of the poorest communities there. The deal is that in return for her travel and …
Read More
Film: Mr Turner
– for Timothy Spall– for optimism If you’re a fan of Painter, Turner’s life and work, or equally a fan of Timothy Spall, this is a good film to go and see. It’s a bit of both with us, so what’s not to like? You certainly have to give Timothy Spall credit for his …
Read More
Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 12: Death in Heaven (Series Finale)
Excellent! Just how a series finale should be! – action, humour, sadness, death, old faces, new faces, familiar faces, hidden faces, old mysteries resolved, new mysteries begun. Phew! what a ride!!!! Bit of a bleak ending though – get the Kleenex ready! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first …
Read More
Short Fat Hairy Legs!
As part of their UK tour, we saw ‘Eric and Little Ern’ at The Royal Theatre in Northampton. Almost a full-house – and what a performance! The physical, visual and aural similarities to this iconic comedy duo were amazing – almost bordering on creepy. They had the all the mannerisms, the ad-libs and the rapport …
Read More
John Lewis Christmas Advert (2014)
For many, this will signal the start of Christmas – the John Lewis Christmas TV Ad. This year, the star is Monty the Penguin, and like last year’s, comprehensively stirs up the emotions ! Kleenex at the ready then… #MontyThePenguin Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until …
Read More
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 …
Read More
Doctor Who Series 8, Episode 11: Dark Water
So, here we are – the penultimate episode of Peter Capaldi’s first foray as ‘The Doctor’. This episode, entitled ‘Dark Water’ was a two-parter and brought back the Cybermen to a contemporary London. Being a two-parter, the pace of the story was a lot slower, but typically for a Steven Moffat script, it was tight, …
Read More
Weekend with Ralph and Karen
We set of for Matlock quite early for a Saturday – 7.30am. Hopefully that would give us a good journey and get us there for 9.30. We’re staying over until Sunday when we have to get back for the Plumber! (I seem to have single-headedly destroyed the flushing mechanism in the wet-room loo!) We had …
Read More
Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night
A very unusual episode this one – think of the main ‘Who Premise’ (saving the Earth from invading monsters) …and turn it on its head! – and although it did feel like an episode aimed at CBBC rather than mainstream BBC One, there was a certainly a lot going on for kids and adults alike! …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 8) – Final Day
It’s our final day of our holiday in Germany today. We’re travelling to Lübeck – another old town, as well as the home to some massive marzipan manufacture! The weather is the worst we’ve had so far – absolutely chucking it down, and VERY cold too – with the forecast for the rest of the …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 7)
Today’s adventure takes us to the ancient (and we do mean ancient, it was first mentioned in 994 AD!) town of Stade. We’re not sure what to expect, but it looked very nice in the photographs. After another quick breakfast with what seemed like the rest of Germany in the Holiday Inn Express, we took …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 6)
We both enjoyed a good night’s sleep at our new home for the next three days – The Holiday Inn Express, Hamburg. Breakfast was continental or continental – and that suited us fine – although the traffic-light system posted in the lifts for regulating the flow to-and-from breakfast, seemed to have imploded, as it seemed …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 5)
Today, we said goodbye to Berlin and took the train to our next destination – Hamburg. It was the perfect day to leave as the weather was truly atrocious – rain, rain and more rain. If we stayed in Berlin, I’m not sure how we would have spent the day! Getting soaked I reckon!!!! The …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 4)
It’s our last full day here today, before we take the two-hour train journey tomorrow, to Hamburg. The weather forecast is cloudy but at least dry, and we’ve got a few cultural places to visit, so we’ll probably spend most of the day inside. As the day turned out, the weather held, and we did …
Read More
Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 9: Flatline
Another one of those very creepy episodes, on par with ‘Listen’, earlier in the series. Once again, some fine acting from all concerned, with the twist that Clara and The Doctor swapped roles. But was it any good? Well, I enjoyed it, although I suspect that the internet will probably be buzzing more about the …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 3)
Today’s Blog is brought to you by the colour grey and dark grey! The weather forecast says: cloudy this morning and rain this afternoon – and with that in mind, we decided to explore Berlin on the inside wherever possible. As soon as ventured outside, it looked like it was about to p*** it down …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 2)
Yay! A great night’s sleep. No doubt helped by yesterday’s combo of German wine and what seemed like a very long and exhausting journey getting here! One thing we immediately noticed about our rented city-apartment is how very quiet it is round here. OK, it may be because it’s a Sunday, but there’s not a …
Read More
Holiday – Germany (Day 1)
We were up with the birdies to ensure we got a good run to Birmingham Airport – leaving the house at 5.30am. Weather was atrocious (so, a good week to be leaving the UK), but being a Saturday, at least the roads were fairly quiet. We checked-in at Brum without any problem, but as boarding …
Read More
Lunch with Alison W
Time for my twice-yearly catchup with Alison W, so I drove over to Peterborough heading for the Fox and Hounds. Last time I was there back in September 2013, it was a real challenge actually getting to the Pub itself, because of some very complex roadworks and poor diversion signage (well, that’s my excuse anyway!). …
Read More
Always a Trainer
A very pleasant morning over at Gill’s today, discussing good web design and SEO tactics. Nice bacon sarnies too! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness …
Read More
Messing about in Boats
I just got back from Buckden Marina, after helping David with the process of ‘winterising’ Osprey One. A nice day weather-wise and I even got watch a chemical toilet being emptied! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love …
Read More
Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express
I’m just not getting into this series at all – and that surprises me! This was a good story, with some great performances, including fan-boy, Frank Skinner, who, acted his socks off, and was believable throughout – and would maybe make a good future companion! I’m not sure what it is, I just feel something …
Read More
“To Infinity and Beyond…”
After last month’s aborted installation of my broadband upgrade from BT, due to “a routing issue”, today is the day when Tynan Close gets its first superfast broadband customer, – that’s me! Finally, after most of us round here suffering for what feels like forever, with crappy internet speeds (1.5 Mb/s on a good day), …
Read More
Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 7: Kill the Moon
Grand in concept, and publicised and a pivotal episode for the Doctor and Clara, this episode promised much. Science and Fiction – what’s not to like!? Actually, all it gave me was a headache, trying to figure out wtf was going on (I must pay more attention in future!). Some of the special effects were …
Read More