Biggles? More like Giggles! as I took control of a real aeroplane courtesy of last year’s birthday pressy from Ian and Mags – a 45 minute flight over the skies of Northamptonshire! Ian & Ann, Ralph and Karen and my Ann were there to witness my performance as just after 11am, I ‘took the stick’ …
Read More
Category:Birthday
Happy 12th Birthday Moggies!
The Moggies turned 12 today – that makes them around 64 in ‘human years’. Habits-wise, they’re very much the same – they still wake us up at whatever time suits them (2.45am seems favourite at the mo’) to let them out; they still prefer dry cat food to wet; they’ll do anything for Dreamies and …
Read More
John C’s Birthday
It’s been a while, but we caught up with the neighbours tonight in celebration of John C’s birthday on Monday. It’s probably the first time we’ve all got together since Christmas – and there was plenty of news to catch-up with. In fact, there wasn’t enough time for us to be properly sociable, and chat …
Read More
My 60th: Final Supper
It was round to Denise’s tonight for my final (honest!) Birthday celebration meal. We arrived just before 7pm where Denise had pulled out all the stops all by herself (Denise’s Steve didn’t quite make it, as he was still on his way home after a mega-sailing expedition!) We began with nibbles round a real fire …
Read More
My 60th – Curry Mop-up
My Birthday celebrations continued last night with Paul, Karen, David and Rosi. They couldn’t make the original get-together back in September at The Exotic Dining, so it was the perfect excuse to do it all again, as a ‘mop-up’ exercise, tonight at the same location. The service and food was, as always, superb! and I’d …
Read More
My 60th – Black-Tie Curry Buffet
…and the celebrations continue (with still quite a few to go!) with a Black-Tie event at ours for a few friends. Nick & Celina, Ralph & Karen and David and Valerie joined us for my Curry Banquet – with Ann doing most of the legwork in the kitchen and me contributing just by making the …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Singapore Stopover – Day 15 and 16
Written: Sunday, 23rd October Day 15 – Saturday So it’s goodbye to Celebrity Solstice and hello to dry land in Singapore. We’re here for two days before we fly home on Sunday. It’s our fifth visit and we love the place! We first came here 30 years ago (or thereabouts) so we thought we’d revisit …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Brisbane – Day 3
Written: Monday, 10th October. Our day began early as we still haven’t got into a regular sleep pattern just yet. This meant we were at the Gym (for the second day running) by 6am. I stuck to my standard 30 minute ‘walk’, whilst Ann did all this and more! Then it was off for a …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Final Two Days On-Board– Day 13 and 14
Written: Friday, 21st October Day 13 –Thursday Somebody must have spiked my iced-water last night! I didn’t wake-up until 7.45! – so much for the Gym at 7 then!!! If we were to get a prime position on Deck this morning, it was a good job we’d ordered breakfast in our room, because by the …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Arrival in Benoa, Bali – Day 12
Written: Wednesday, 19th October We slipped into Benoa, Bali at around 7.30 this morning – we watched the arrival from the treadmill in the Gym! Strangely (and unlike yesterday) the Gym was deserted and we were able to ‘do our thing’ much more easily. Then, as usual, we headed for breakfast in Blu that was …
Read More
Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 10 and 11
Written: Tuesday, 18th October Day 10 – Monday The Sea was like a mill-pond We’re now at sea for two days on our way to Benoa, Bali. We skipped the Gym today, in favour of a quick breakfast in order to gain some time and secure a suitably warm/shady spot on the Deck. Being on …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Darwin – Day 9
Written: Sunday, 16th October Either we’d both been kidnapped and hidden in the glass-blowing ovens overnight – or we’d arrived in Darwin. The lack of glass around us proved it was the latter! Cor! What an absolute scorcher – and it’s only 7am!! So the main challenge today was about how we (or more specifically, …
Read More
Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 7 and 8
Written: Saturday, 15th October Day 7 – Friday We’ve now got two days at sea, arriving in Darwin on Sunday. We’ve got no plans for today apart from seeing the conclusion of the glass-blowing demo that started last night. After breakfast in the Blu Restaurant, it was up onto the Solstice Deck for a comfy …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Cairns – Day 6
Written: Thursday, 13th October After a decadent lie-in until 6.30, we hit the Gym for our daily punishment around 7am. Then it was off to the Blu Restaurant for brekky. I might be tempting fate, but with last night’s steak meal and this morning’s offering, that’s two in a row where the food has been …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Airlie Beach, Great Barrier Reef – Day 5
Written: Wednesday, 12th October The big excursion today! The Ship’s blurb said… “Climb aboard a catamaran and sail to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Your destination is a large off-shore platform offering easy-to-operate semi-subs. Choose one and enter a world teeming with colourful fish, exotic creatures and brilliant coral. Afterwards, enjoy lunch on-board and lounge on …
Read More
Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 2
Written: Sunday, 9th October We’re all at sea today! Although we slept well, we were both awake from the early hours. So what to do? Most normal couples would go back to sleep, but we headed for the Gym at 6am! Wow! It’s probably the largest Gym we’ve ever seen on a Cruise Ship with …
Read More
Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 1
Written: Saturday, 8th October After a substantial breakfast close to our Apartment, we grabbed a taxi to take us to the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal). Well, getting the taxi-bit sounded OK in theory, but in reality, it seemed the rest of New South Wales had the same idea, and we were diverted away from our …
Read More
Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 4
Written: Tuesday, October 11thAnother day at sea today as we head in the direction of Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.A perfect opportunity to test-drive the room-service breakfast!Breakfast sorted! 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
Australian Cruise: Day 3 – Last Day in Sydney
We were up earlier than yesterday – not sure why – so we had breakfast in our room before taking the shortish walk down to Darling Harbour.We planned to catch the Ferry to Parramatta (as every Australian school-kid knows, is west of Sydney and one of their major business districts. It’s also one of the …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Day 2 – Exploring Sydney
After a really good night’s sleep, today we were ready to take on the rest of what Sydney had to offer! But the first job was to seek out breakfast – and we found somewhere very near the David Jones Department Store… Suitably stuffed, and after our daily dose of retail therapy in the rather …
Read More
Australian Cruise: Day 1 – Arrival in Sydney
After the flight out of Birmingham, courtesy of Emirates, stopping off at Dubai and Bangkok, we eventually arrived in Sydney – I think it’s been our longest flight-to-date, at around 23 hours. We’re staying at the Wyndham City Resort Hotel in the Harbour area of the City. We arrived around 11am and that was far …
Read More
My 60th – Birthday 2016
So apparently, this is the ‘big one’ – ‘60’ – but luckily, I’m only 23 on the inside! This year, because of the ‘bigness’ of the event , I’m having quite a few separate celebrations (mainly based around food). They already started on the 21st with Sally and Shirley from Juno L and D treating …
Read More
The Canterbury Rails
Wednesday, 23rd: ArrivalIt’s Ann’s birthday on the 25th, so we thought we’d slip away for a few days. The destination of choice this time was Canterbury – and we did it all by train! (me, on a train, what, for ALL of the journey? – some mistake surely!). Actually it was a bit of no-brainer. …
Read More
Catty Birthday!
The Cats turned 11 today. Various advice seems to suggest that makes them around 65 in ‘human years’ – One of us here is catching them up though! Biscuit at 11 Bon-Bon at 11 Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! …
Read More
Lee’s 80th Birthday
Lee spent the week with us, and today was her Afternoon Tea Party (her birthday was last week). Lee invited a few people round and we laid on the banquet with Ann performing some culinary miracles in the kitchen. It’s fair to say, she had a really good time – Lee received some great presents, …
Read More
Birthday Weekend 2015 – Corby/Harrogate/York
Saturday Celebrations began with a lie-in until the ridiculously late hour of 7.45! Then, we headed out for a bit of retail therapy, descending on the rejuvenated Corby assisted by a greasy-spoon breakfast. After a short walk around the shops, we headed home. Tom and Julie had left a pressy for me, and not long …
Read More
Denis at 86
Lee had double-booked herself, so Ann and I drove up to Heckington for a celebratory lunch for Denis, who was 86 today! Happy Birthday Denis!!!! Bev had done all the hard work, and we tucked into a chicken salad – enough to feed the whole town – and it was all delicious! Ann sorted out …
Read More
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 …
Read More
Holiday in Dublin – Day 1 (arrival)
The day of Ann’s Birthday started at ‘silly-o’clock’ – no, scrap that – SUPER ‘silly o’clock’! Even by our standards, setting the alarm for 2.45AM, in order to get to East Midlands Airport in time for our 6.30 flight to Dublin did seem a touch pessimistic – it’s only an hour away after all! Actually, …
Read More
A Furry Happy Birthday!
In that famous Victor Meldrew voice: “I don’t believe it!” Hard to believe that today, the cats reached the age of 10. From what I’ve read, that means according to the official calculation/conversion they’re about 57 years old in human years. Actually, I’m surprised Biscuit has made it this far with all her recent Steve …
Read More