The new (blue) carpet was laid yesterday evening in the Dining Room, so we spent an hour-or-so tonight shifting everything back in. I can now see the TV now it’s not obscured by the dining-room table! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into …
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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!
Han Job and DiCaprio
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Nick and Celina joined us for the weekend. In spite of the appalling weather and icy driving conditions during the day, by the evening, it was just raining as we drove over to our fave Chinese Restaurant – Han – in Market Harborough. We haven’t seen Nick and …
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Holiday – Day 9: Gibraltar
False alarm – the promised storm didn’t materialise…or was it that I was so tired I slept through it all? Anyway, first stop, is the shop to get my money back on the rope we used to lash ourselves to the mast over-night! 7.00am: We were up early today as for some bizarre reason, the …
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Holiday – Day 8: Cartagena
Well, here we are, it’s 7.45am and we’re just slipping into the port of Cartagena. Until we booked the cruise, I hadn’t heard of it, as part of the itinery of cruise-ports. So, for people like me, here are the headlines – It’s a Mediterranean city and naval station, located in the Region of Murcia, …
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Holiday – Day 7: Barcelona
One of the GREAT things about cruising is that you get to see lots of different countries – and only have to unpack once! The downside (and it doesn’t happen too often) is that you are at the mercy of mother-nature, and in particular, the bad weather at sea when you’re between ports – and …
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Holiday – Day 6: Monte Carlo
“Been there, done that…” – It’s a fine day (better than at home, where we hear that the white stuff has arrived!) but as we’ve been up and around Monte Carlo a number of times on previous cruises, there wasn’t much point in getting off the ship today. Also, Ann didn’t sleep too well, so …
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Holiday – Day 5: Port of Civitavecchia, Italy
The Atrium – Queen Victoria 10.40: The first part of our holiday is over and we’ve left Rome behind. For the final part, we taken the train from Rome to Civitavecchia station. The journey took just over an hour and on arrival, we shared a cab with another couple who were also bound for the …
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Holiday – Day 4: Rome (final day)
It’s our final full-day here. On the plus side that means there’s only another two juices to try out at breakfast! On the down-side , we’ll be sad to leave Rome, because of its people, manic drivers and architecture! So, breakfast beckons, and having drunk (and survived) yesterday’s juice-of-the-day, ‘Tropical’ (aka Domestos Forest-Fresh), it’s time …
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Holiday – Day 3: The Vatican
The highlight today is our visit to the Pope’s condom-inium, the Vatican – we’ve got a timed tour at 10.30, so that gives us plenty of time to look around the local area and walk-off breakfast (just two-steps then!). Talking of breakfast, with some reservation, we gave it a second-chance, hoping that yesterday’s fiasco was …
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Holiday – Day 2: Rome
We both slept deeply – the double-glazing helped and also because there were no cats jumping on-an-off the bed! A quick peek through the curtains revealed that it’s very grey out there, so I think umbrellas will be the fashion accessory of choice together with warm coats. And so, to breakfast. Trip Advisor reviews had …
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Holiday – Day 1: Rome
After landing, we took the train from Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) Airport – thirty minutes, 28 Euros and a fifteen minute walk later we arrived at the Hotel Augusta Lucilla Palace – find it on Google Maps HERE. The weather is cold and rainy and we’ve discovered how high the kerbs are and how many …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 – OFFICIAL
…And this is the official trailer 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 for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 (Fake!)
This one is doing the rounds on YouTube. It’s actually a fake…but it’s a good one!!! 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 for the art …
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PPPPPP!
You know what they say: Proper Preparation Prevents P**** Poor Performance! In that case, our holiday should be fantastic, as we’ve been preparing for ages! We’re nearly all packed…just need to get the sink and the fridge-freezer in the case, and that’s the house completely empty!!! Yesssss…! Italy, here we come!!!! Steve PalmerI got into …
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Visiting Mae
We drove up to the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston today for our first visit to see Mae, Ann’s Step-mum. We met Denis (Ann’s dad) and Bev (Ann’s step-sister) there and as we were all a bit early for visiting hours, we headed for lunch in the hospital restaurant. Mae was admitted a few weeks ago …
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The Saxon Mill
I took the short drive over to The Saxon Mill on the Coventry Road, near Warwick. It’s my three-monthly get-together with Ian and Mags – time for a catch-up on each others’ activities. It was also our ‘Christmas do’ the nearest we’ve scheduled it to Christmas for many years. Unusually, 🙂 I was first to …
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Another ‘full-on’ day
Here we are then – Sunday – where I’m trying to cram three-days of work into just this morning!!! (cue: Mission Impossible theme!!) We’re on holiday from next Saturday, (Lee is house-sitting), and I’m out for most of this week too! We’re also out later today with Lee to take her for her birthday lunch …
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London bound
We met up with David and Val today and drove to Bedford station to catch the train for London – nothing wrong with Kettering station, just a lot cheaper from Bedford!!! We’re making a day of it, including a matinee performance of ‘Yes Prime Minister’ at 2.30 at The Gielgud Theatre and then a bite …
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DVD: Shutter Island
It’s another ‘fish-chips-mushy peas-and-a-film-night’ here tonight. Jo, Janet and Lee popped round (it was Lee’s birthday too!) and the consensus for which film to watch was Shutter Island starring Leo Di Caprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. Actually, the choice was pretty easy, as it was the only ones in my new batch that was …
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Lunch with Steve S
It’s that time again, and it was my turn to drive over to Steve’s to catch-up with bits and pieces in his life. We last saw each other not-so-long-ago in August, and with both of us being so busy, we’ve done well to squeeze another get-together in before Christmas! We took the short walk from …
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Cats in
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Yes, it’s that time again – time to dig out the protective eye-wear, arm-wear, gooley-wear, and virtually every other ‘wear’, as we attempt to get the cats – Biscuit and Bon-Bon – into their cat carriers for their regular trip to the ‘pussy-parlour’ for their wash and brush-up. …
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Boiler in the Bag
Thanks our good friend Tom who recommended Scott, we’ve been able to replace our ageing boiler with a nice shiny new one. It’s infinitely more efficient and should pay for itself with about four years. As part of the upgrade, we’ve got a new digital seven-day timer that will allow us to set a different …
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Boys and their Toys (Part 283)
When we visited Ralph and Karen last week, we were mighty impressed with their new PC monitor. It looked enormous and the screen clarity was just… amazing! I couldn’t resist! and today, courtesy of eBuyer, mine arrived – the Samsung SyncMaster P2450H – and all for less than 180 notes. It was easy to set …
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Honor amongst Decorators
Honor popped round tonight to give us a quote for ‘freshening-up’ the dining-room and lounge. Ideally, it’ll all be done whilst we’re away on holiday when Lee cat-sits for us. Nice! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love …
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The Butler didn’t do it!
We’re off to join Karen and Ralph for the weekend in Matlock, then tonight, we’re going to Hardwick Hall to solve one of their murder mysteries.We left about 9am and got to theirs just after 11 – a good journey! We had a lazy lunch of Indian nibbles and then whilst the girls went off …
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The Shuckburgh Arms, Stoke Doyle – yum yum!
We’d all had very busy weeks, so it was great to be able to meet-up with D and V for a meal. This time, we chose The Shuckburgh Arms in Stoke Doyle near Oundle. David had had it recommended to him, so we thought we’d give it a try. On arrival, we noticed it was …
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Laptop sorted!
Trish popped round with her (very nice) laptop. I managed to sort out her Facebook access problems, delete a phantom account, sort out her email address and generally have a tidy-up. All-in-all, it went very well. I loves compooooters! 😁 Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until …
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Another busy Sunday!
Remember when Sunday was the day of rest? No, me neither! More’s the pity! 🙁 Ann spent most of the day in the garden trying to rescue us from the ever-invasive weeds and then planting out bulbs for the Spring. Meanwhile, I was in the office trying to get ahead for the week because I’m …
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TV: ‘The Event’ (Channel 4). What the..?
If you liked TV series such as: ‘X Files’ and more recently, enjoyed ‘Lost’, (before they padded out the series too much and spoiled it with such a c*** ending), then take a look at Channel 4’s new series, ‘The Event’ (which started last night – 9pm). A passenger plane that disappears just as it’s …
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Wine or Chocolate?
Which is nicer: Wine or chocolate? Can’t decide? How about a wine bottle MADE of chocolate? – Perfect, just perfect!!! Thanks girls!!!! 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 …
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