D’you know, I’ve never been as busy as I’ve been lately – and I’m retired! So, today, was a special treat!

I took the short drive over to techy-mate Chris and we motored on to Gtechnic’s HQ in Upper Heyford, The reason? A half-day ‘hands-on’ Car Detailing Workshop organised by Alex, one of their experienced Detailers.

Tom was our Guide, explaining the art (and science) of looking after a car’s bodywork – and he did a thorough job! There was about 20 of us there, and we all had one thing in common – how could we spend LESS time on making our cars look the best? There was plenty of advice to be shared by Tom!

It began with a classroom presentation of Gtechniq’s products, where it was good to NOT be on the receiving end of a hard sell! In fact, it was all VERY educational, but the best was yet to come – the practical side of things.

Moving from the classroom to the outside revealed a rather mucky Golf GTi – but not for long. Tom initially demonstrated some of their wash products before letting us loose with the more specialist stuff. For me, the show-stopper was the Bug Remover that literally dissolved insects before our eyes and the Ceramic Sealant that certainly brought out the best in the paintwork. Also the hydrophobic effect of their Glass Cleaner was amazing!

A brilliant morning! We finished the session helping ourselves to the free samples and purchasing some of their products!

Thanks Alex and thanks Tom, for enlightening us! Chris and I left around 12.30 and I was home by 1.35, just in time to watch Doctor Who ahead of tonight’s episode.

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Boys’ Day Out appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Technology waits for no man – but I do try and keep up!

Way back in June 2019, we took the plunge and bought our first BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle). At the time, one of the attractions was a sizeable financial subsidy from the State to buy the car AND a Grant to have a Charger fitted on the side of the house. In 2019, there was really only one major player for BEV Home Chargers – ‘BP ChargeMaster’ (who later became BP Pulse). It did the job… just… but became quite temperamental in terms of how it shared its data such as costs and energy delivered. So unreliable, in fact, as of today, we were on our THIRD Unit from BP.

Coincidence (or otherwise), BP withdrew from the Home Charger market a while ago, so it was time to shop around for something better and maybe something smarter. ‘Better’ should be easy, but ‘smarter’??

For a while now, ‘smarter’ Chargers have been a thing. How so? The best ones out there now talk directly to your energy provider rather than relying on the car itself to initiate the communication. Why’s that better? Well, the car industry generally makes reliable EVs but their in-car technology, shall we say ‘varies a bit’. Kia is a perfect example! – our current car. On the one hand, it’s the best we’ve ever owned, but the inbuilt ‘charge manager’, recently, without warning, stopped communicating with our energy provider! Permanently!!

Time for some serious research, and after quite a few hours of online activity, I found that there were a just few contenders out there who ticked all the required boxes for us. In the end, I opted for the ‘Ohme Home Pro‘. (Ohme pronounced, perhaps not how you think… it rhymes with ‘Oh me‘ – who knew? ). £600 lighter, I placed the order online a few days before Christmas, and the package arrived on Christmas Eve. .

Installation

Today was the day for installation. It was mostly straightforward because we already had all the cabling in place from retiring the BP Unit – or so we thought! In theory, it was just a case of removing the BP Pulse Unit, and replacing it with the Ohme plus a bit of configuring. Well, I say ‘straightforward’ especially as I got our local and long-time competent ‘Sparkies’, Mick and Ash, to do the hard work.

Although it mostly went to plan, there was an additional unforeseen cabling challenge. Because we were ‘early adopters’ of home charging, it meant our existing outdoor cabling did NOT have the necessary ‘CT clamp’ wires built-in. Apparently, this is a highly recommended safety feature these days (why?), so it couldn’t be ignored. A temporary fix was put in place, whilst the required length of CT cabling was ordered.

Now, all that was left to do, was to test everything. I’d already set up my new Ohme Account and linked it to our existing Octopus account, so, again, in theory, once the device was powered up, it should live up to its ‘smart’ credentials.

After a couple of false starts – including a visit to ‘Installer mode’ – requiring a few twiddles, it all seemed to be working. Success! …and here’s the proof…

Note how the Charger has worked out the best times to charge the Car (for the Grid) today, and as a result, Octopus has given us various slots at the super cheap rate of just 7p per kWh – and that applies to the electricity FOR THE WHOLE HOUSE, NOT JUST THE CAR! .

Today, I LOVE technology!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Ohme, Sweet Ohme! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A boys’ day out for me! John C and I took a drive to the Mini production line in Cowley!

These days, early departures for me are rare, so leaving ours at the unearthly hour of 7.30am felt like a bit of a stretch. It was going to be worth it though!

We arrived just before 9am after a reasonably good journey, but we did get caught in some roadworks just before the Silverstone Bypass (note to self: If the sat-nav says ‘don’t use the A40’, it’s normally right!)

On arrival, we parked in the Cowley Plant car-park and headed for the Mini Welcome Centre. There, we were introduced to Graham, our Tour Guide.

We were given around half-an-hour to look around their ‘Mini Museum‘ where there were examples of the various incarnations of this iconic brand – dating as far back as 1959.

Next were two short videos explaining the H&S requirements and finishing with an explanation of the factory’s philosophy of how they build their cars. All very interesting stuff, but the Germanic tone of voice did make the latter sound like more of an ‘order’ than simply an information exchange! . Let’s not forget that BMW own the Mini brand though!

Sadly, after the Museum, we were required to hand in our camera phones (not surprisingly, I guess!) and the Tour began. I’ve been on a few of these type of Tours before (Volvo, Jaguar and Ford), but even I was surprised to see how much of it is now automated. In fact, during the first part of the tour where were saw the chassis being welded, I think there were around 40 robots… and just two people! It all felt very spooky!

Happily, in the next part of the Production, the car began to look like the familiar Mini, and there were a lot more staff around, busy ‘doing their thing’, but we did wonder how long before that part isl automated???? Quirky fact of the day? They use ostrich feathers to remove all traces of dust prior to painting the cars – I’m pretty sure a robot can’t do that as it seems we can replace humans, but not ostriches!

Two-hours later, it was all over. A great experience, if a bit rushed – and we could have done with a coffee-break or an opportunity for something to eat at the end. Thankfully, the journey home was jam-free, but we were ‘trapped in Burger King‘ for about half an hours (poor sods!) when the heavens opened, making it impossible to get back to the car. I dropped John back at his, and I was home just before 2pm. As there seemed to be so much going on at home this week, I was grateful to have clawed a few hours back!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post A Mini Adventure appeared first on Steve's Blog.

There was a time when our home town of Kettering always seemed to be the LAST to get any tech innovations. Well, that’s just changed! Why? How?

A few days ago, we learned about something here that’s put us ahead (currently) of any other town in the UK.

And no, for once, I’m not talking about internet speeds!

Step forward, BP Pulse, one of the first providers of non-Tesla public EV charging and currently the UK’s largest EV charge-point provider. In the past week, they’ve proudly opened their shiny new Kettering ‘Hub’, featuring 10 of their most technically advanced 300kW units offering the ability to serve 20 vehicles at 150kW all at once.

Officially, these are known as Ultra-Fast chargers and no doubt, they’ll have ‘ultra’ prices to match. For non-EV peeps, at the time of writing, this news is really ‘quite a thing’! . Realistically though, there aren’t many cars that can take advantage of ‘150kW’ currently. But, if you’re an Audi eTron, a Porsche Taycan or a Kia EV6 owner, and you live in/near Kettering, you’ll be mighty pleased about this news, as it’ll get your pride-and-joy to 80% in around 20 minutes!

Their CEO Akira Kirton commented: “It’s our largest and most powerful EV charging hub yet”

The Hub is located at the intersection of the A14 and the A43 on Cransley Park. Technological advances, as we know, wait for no-one, and BP Pulse are due to open their next one, somewhere in the West Midlands, featuring a whopping 15 double-chargers!

At last, Kettering enters the 21st Century!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post The Pulse of Kettering! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

These days, long-distance driving for us is reserved for holidays only – no longer any 100 mile-plus jaunts to chase down the next big job for either of us!

So, today was a bit of an exception. It was family-related as we were going to Cousin John’s funeral tomorrow at Beckenham Crematorium. Plan A was to travel down on the day of the funeral, but even though we weren’t expected until 12.30, it was always going to be a rush from this end, if we factored in the potential traffic congestion – even if we left at ‘silly o’clock’!

So we opted for Plan B, and travelled down the day before. Actually, the last time we did a similar journey was way back in December 2021 when we were on our way to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary and we dropped in on my brother’s to exchange Christmas presents.

Although technically, we could have done the round trip of 220(ish) miles without charging at all, we wanted to try out the new Charging Hub that’s been built in Catford, courtesy of Shell and MFG. It sports 8 CCS Chargers (the new 150kW type) and that tends to suggest we won’t have to queue 1. At all 2. Only a short while. We’ll see!

We arrived just before 3.45 and there were plenty of bays free! We were soon plugged in and charging (albeit at 83p/kWh!). . It’s still cheap, but £26.60 for just 33.67 kW felt like it had made a massive dent in our fuel kitty!

Just before 4pm, we arrived at our bed for the night – the Premier Inn in Bromley. Bromley has certainly changed since the last time I was here! The area where the hotel stands used to be a multi-storey car-park!

In the evening (just like the last time we were this way) we dropped in to see Neil, Debbie, Alfie & Frankie, just a short walk away, and where we sorted out all the world’s problems over a pizza or five! . We also exchanged Christmas presents from 2022. A great get-together! It had been good to catch up with the Palmer side of the family tree – something we don’t do often enough!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Catford Charge appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A bittersweet day today! ?

We said goodbye to my most loved car to-date – the Jaguar XKR. It was back in July 2014, when I first located the car of my dreams and subsequently parted with £33,220 for a car that was just five years old and had just 30,340 on the clock. OK, I had to take the train all the way to Sheffield to the dealer – sport’s car specialist, TopCars, but my extensive research into selecting this car proved it was a bargain, and well-worth the train journey there! Hey! They even picked me up from the station!! – and I got to drive it all the way home via the M1. 30,340 on the clock with only two previous owners – what a ride!!

Well, that was then, this is now! – Thursday, November 25, 2021!

We’d always knew we probably wouldn’t keep the car forever, although the romantic side of me, always hoped, this particular model would become a ‘collectable’ – and I’d maybe even get my purchase price back. Really? Maybe a bit too much of a romantic notion for sure! Over the seven years of ownership (the longest I’d ever owned a car), I saw the price gradually drop and drop. No great surprise there then (it’s a car!) and the reality of recovering my purchase price was becoming a fantasy.

And then along came a thing called Coronavirus. It changed the world in every possible way – even (and maybe quite bizarrely) the value of used-cars. Long-story-short: A lack of availability of NEW cars (caused by a lack of chips for those cars) pushed everyone towards buying used, sending demand through the roof and supply through the floor. As every economics student knows, that only pushes prices one way – UP!

For the record, when the car was informally valued some 15 months ago, I was informed it was worth, typically, £14000… maybe £15k…and at a push with the right buyer £16k. It’s very much a niche car, and given its planet UNfriendly credentials, finding the right buyer was going to add to the challenge if I ever wanted ‘top dollar’.

We let things slip (well, I did) preferring to focus on our next electric car for Ann. That research confirmed that prices generally, were DEFINITELY on the rise for used cars, which in turn, prompted me to revisit the XKR prices.

I’m glad we did. Monitoring them for the past year-or-so confirmed what we all now know, they were (still) on the rise! More specifically, the XKR’s value had risen significantly.

Time for some serious legwork into the potential for selling! For reasons that I can’t quite recall, we didn’t act on this particularly quickly. Having seen prices rise and then rise, they now appeared to be dipping downwards. OK, difficult to know whether this was just a blip or a general trend, but I wasn’t prepared to wait to find out.

From a suggestion just over a year ago of £14k, the market now suggested ‘early 20s’. Time to strike! I trawled the various websites that offer cash-for-cars, and although I’d put WeBuyAnyCar towards the end of my preferred purchaser (not sure why!), they did initially offer the best price. But we all know how they work: they offer a top-end estimate-price and then beat you down on the day, because of various ‘jobs’ that need ‘sorting’. In my head, the closer to £20,300 I get (allowing for their various admin fees), the happier I’ll be!

I was confident enough that because of the immaculate paint job, a very recent service and an MOT pass, that it was probably going to be the best car they’d seen all day… week… month… maybe even, year!

10.02am: Here I am (early for my 10.10 appointment) at Kettering’s rather lack-lustre WBAC’s ‘office’. Time for the valuation! As it turned out they offered: £19700.25. Being the THIRD owner brought the value down a smidge and a minor imperfection on the driver’s door also contributed to a lower-than-I-anticipated-figure. Still, all-in-all, that’s a good result in my book! Just over a year ago, I wouldn’t have got anywhere near that – and probably never would again! Like so many things in life – timing is everything!

So, in less than 30 minutes, it was all over! I’d covered just 6759 miles in those seven years or ownership, and the car had been cherished at every point . 37,099 miles on the clock, 7 years, 4 months, 22 days (386 weeks or 2702 days) of ownership, there was my once pride and joy waiting for its next journey…

Indeed, a bittersweet day!

Surprise, surprise! On Thursday 9th December, 2021, the XKR first appeared for sale in AutoTrader HERE, and then a few days later the same advert appeared on eBay for £26,995.

The seller was ‘Blackrock Motor Company Limited‘ based in Rochdale.

Update: On January 18th, 2022, the car was still for sale, but had been relisted HERE – The price had now been reduced to £26,495.

Update 2: On February 11th, 2022, the car was still UNsold, and the price had been reduced again – this time to £25,995.

Update 3: On March 9th, 2022, the car was reduced again to £25,495.

Update 4: On or around March 30th, 2022, the car advert disappeared from both eBay and AutoTrader – looks like it had finally been sold!

Four months later then, this really IS goodbye!!!

Update 5: On 14th November, 2022 a quick valuation by WBaC revealed its current value… just £13,435! Ouch, that’s quite a drop (and makes me even more sure that I sold it at the right time!) and I really feel for the poor sod who now owns it

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Boys and their Toys: Bye-Bye Jaguar XKR appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It was one of those fantastic weekends where we spent 99% of the time eating, drinking and enjoying the company of good friends! It’s a tough life!!!

Saturday

The morning was spent preparing stuff and having a final tidy-up in readiness for our guests.

Just after midday, Ralph and Karen joined us, and after a quick natter (and a pizza or two) we all went out for a short walk showing our guests the new development that is Seagrave Manor. Weather-wise, it began OK, but about halfway round, the heavens opened, and we were thoroughly soaked! Karen probably escaped the worst of it as she had a hood!

Once we were home and dry, we nattered away the afternoon combined with getting the evening meal prepared (Cottage Pie with a Sweet Potato & Cheese Topping).

With pretty much everything then sorted for the meal (and with a bit of time on our hands) we settled down to watch a movie – courtesy of Netflix.

Our choice? The remake of The Magnificent 7 (2016), that Ann and I last saw on my 60th birthday celebrations back in 2016. We’d completely forgotten how good the movie was (and in Ann’s case, unusually, she’d forgotten seeing the film at all!

Just before 6pm, Jo and Janet arrived, and after an alcohol-fuelled catch-up we sat down for the meal.

As usual, Ann had performed miracles in the kitchen – and so had I for Dessert! I created a ‘Kit-Kat’ cheesecake, which, at least visually, got a lot of attention.

Judging by the empty plates, it seemed to taste as good as it looked…

…although if I being picky (me?) next time, I’m going to make the base a bit thinner (a bugger to cut through), sweeten it up a bit and cut down on the amount of dark chocolate content and replace it with milk chocolate! Oh, and maybe add some choc-based liqueur! It did taste good though, but you wouldn’t have managed a second slice!

Jo and Janet called it a night just after 11pm and we stayed up to see the end of the film. We hit the pillows just before midnight!!!

SUNDAY

We were all up before 8. It had been a warm night (surprisingly!) and none of us slept particularly well. Still, time waits for no-one – even if we were suffering from lack of sleep!

We had Nick and Celina (plus their new toy – Nick’s Porsche) arriving at lunchtime, so it was all hands in the kitchen for the Sunday Roast.

On today’s menu? Roast Chicken with all the trimmings followed by Fruit Pavlova, Fresh Raspberry Bakewell Tart... plus a final appearance of yesterday’s Kit-Kat Cheesecake!

…all washed down with a couple of bottles of Red and a selection of Ales (no, we didn’t drink ALL of them!)

After Lunch, our collective minds turned to some initial planning for our Party in December. By 5pm, with some really good ideas in place, we said our goodbyes.

It had been a really good weekend catching up with some of our closest friends – now all we had to do was clear up!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Super Sociable Saturday and Sunday! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It’s been a while since we last went to the cinema (December, last year, when we saw Wonder Woman 1984). That visit was to the local Odeon, but it’s been even longer (August, 2020 – almost a year) since we went to the shinier, newer, Cineworld, here at Rushden Lakes to see Christopher Nolan’s mind-boggling Tenet.

Today, we’d pre-booked the 2D, 2.50pm performance of Marvel’s latest blockbuster: Black Widow. the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film series – and it was good to be returning!

I say latest blockbuster, but this Marvel ‘origin story’, was actually due for release last May! Since then, its rollout has been delayed three times. Thanks Covid!!!

We picked up Jo and Janet just before 2pm as that would give us a bit of breathing space for Janet to drop into the Wildlife Centre, and for us to (sign-in and then) plug-in to take advantage of the Lakes’ free EV charging. We needn’t have bothered with the latter as the Lakes were heaving! Hardly a parking space to be found – and no charging bays available either, as they were all full too!

Actually, going out to see a film still felt like a real treat, and Cineworld always feels extra special. The film has been out for a few weeks now, so I suspected, we were one of the last to see it. It certainly felt like it, judging by the empty seats when we arrived!

Now that the ‘House of Mouse’ own Marvel Studios, we could have, instead, streamed it at home via Disney+ (a first in the UK) for £19.99, but there’s nothing like the ‘big screen’ is there? Nerdy fact: Disney netted $60m on the opening weekend via the Disney+ app, prompting some are blaming this strategy on a poor cinema attendance.

THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT

Starring Scarlett Johansson as the titular hero Natasha Romanoff and directed by Cate Shortland, it was finally here on the big-screen, and as a self-confessed MCU fan, I knew I was in for a treat! Marvel fans will not need reminding that chronologically, the film follows the timeline between 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War – both Phase 3 – although because of the film’s three postponements, it’s become the first film in MCU’s Phase 4 release schedule.

Co-stars Florence Pugh (as Yelena Belova), Ray Winstone (Dreykov), Rachel Weisz (Melina) and David Harbour (Alexa) ALL did a great job in supporting roles, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Yelena Belova character re-appears in later MCU adventures. Full cast list is HERE

I wouldn’t worry too much about the plot – it’s pretty simplistic (bad guy tries to control the world!) but that leaves more brain-cells free to enjoy the stunts and the amazing special effects. In other words: Marvel Studios at their best!!!

Verdict

Excellent! Even though it has a running time of over two hours (134 minutes), it never felt like it, with plenty of action delivered scene after scene. Think of the Jason Bourne or the Bond franchises, but with added spandex!

And if you’re not really into Marvel and/or all this superhero stuff in general, it works pretty well as a standalone spy movie.

The fate of our heroine is old news these days, but it didn’t spoil the narrative; if anything, adding to the significance of Black Widow’s final appearance in Marvel’s 2019: Avengers: Endgame.

Oh, and don’t forget to stick around for the now-familiar Marvel-post-credits scene. It’ll reintroduce a character last seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and leave you scratching your head about another Marvel character.

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Film: Black Widow appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Postponed from just before Christmas last year, today, we made the pilgrimage, 113 miles south, to my Brother’s.

In a change to the normal travel arrangements, we took Robert, instead of making the journey by train. There were really two main reasons for this! First, neither of us are totally comfortable with jumping on public transport at the moment – even though we’ve been double-jabbed! Second, and maybe more practically, we had all the Christmas pressies to pass on – that, in itself, would have been almost impossible to do by train, because of the number of gifts!

We left just after 9am and decided to use the Blackwall Tunnel (rather than the Dartford Bridge) simply based on the recent reports of extreme congestion near the latter. ETA, courtesy of Google Maps, suggested an arrival time of 11.18.

Our journey went well, but it’s fair to say we’ve got out of the habit of experiencing traffic congestion in general. As we approached the Tunnel, we joined the queue! And that’s where we sat for a good 20 minutes, with the remaining 10 miles of our journey, taking almost 40 minutes!!!

We arrived on time and were soon catching up with the family. Neil had laid on a superb Curry (all home-cooked).

Wow! What a lunch!! Superb, in every respect.

With lunch out the way, Neil and I discussed CCTV cameras (as we’re about to invest in a high-end system on the house) and I’m 99% sure based on his experience together with excellent advice from good mate, Ralph, we’ll go for the Arlo setup.

We left just before 2.30 in order to beat the traffic (famous last words!) and to take our first drive over to Gridserve – a new purpose-built charging forecourt near Braintree that sported 30 chargers (yes, 30!) and 6 Tesla Superchargers.

We had a hassle-free journey there and were soon plugged in and whilst we enjoyed a brief ‘pit-stop’ at the integrated Costa, Robert was on a full charge using one of Gridserve’s 350kW chargers. In truth, we probably could have made it home without charging, but even with the eNiro’s superb range, it would have been tight!

We were home just after 5pm. It had been a great day, and in spite of the congestion, it was a pleasant drive – and surprising to see how much the London landscape had changed since we last were in the area. It’s always good to see my brother and especially so, given how long it’s been since we last saw each other – back in August, 2018, by my reckoning.

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Pilgrimage to the Palmers appeared first on Steve's Blog.

7.00am: Morning!

The latest weather forecast suggests that it’s not going to be as bad as we thought, but we still need our weekly dose of ‘retail therapy’! So, we’re NOT packing the sun cream, instead, we’re heading for Swindon Designer Outlet. Last time we were here was back in March 2012 during Ann’s birthday break/Easter week when we were staying at the National Trust’s property on the Coleshill Estate.

It was only a short drive to the land of bargain-shops, and after topping up with electrons, courtesy of InstaVolt* in Swindon, for the journey home tomorrow, we were ready to splash some cash.

*InstaVolt was a new experience for us, and from our charging session today, they are the simplest, most straightforward Chargers to use.

Ten minutes later, we were parked at the Outlet, and warming up our plastic!

Opened in 1997, this particular Outlet has been built on the site of Swindon’s Great Western Railway Works. It’s easy to get to, and is located off junction 16 of the M4. As you might expect, there’s plenty of parking and quite a few places to eat (although given the current coronavirus, many had restricted eating arrangements).

11.05am: Everyone likes a bargain, but our experience with ‘Outlets’ is that they can be a bit ‘hit or miss’. Sometimes there’s plenty to tempt the shopper, whilst at other times there are hardly any bargains at all. Happily, today, it was the latter for us! M&S did well from our patronage with prices so low they even surprised seasoned shoppers like us!

Given the Outlet’s heritage, it’s great that they’ve respected the past and blended the old with the new. They also have a regular rotation of ‘chuff-chuffs’ in the entrance on long-term display. If you like your steam locomotives, there are more details HERE on past and present exhibits.

12.45pm: All that bargain-hunting sharpened our appetite, and just before 1, we looked for somewhere to eat. Not everywhere was open (or didn’t look like they were!) so we chose Wagamama, who seemed to be doing a reasonable trade…

There’s a lot of talk at the moment about how restaurants are suffering from the impact of lockdown – happily Waga’s business doesn’t appear to be one of them (looking at how full they were and the growing queue outside). Somewhat paradoxically, if you know Waga’s format you’ll also know that their standard seating arrangements doesn’t really lend itself to these socially-distanced times – they’re just too communal!

Ingeniously however, they’d installed table-mounted moveable partitions to create a degree of separation between neighbouring tables. They could be adjusted to accommodate different group sizes and from our time there, it seemed to be a good solution to every restaurant’s nightmare.

The place was really buzzing and our food and service was excellent – in fact, apart from the partitions, it all seemed very ‘old’ normal’. They were doing a healthy trade, and the staff seemed to be enjoying themselves. No waiting around to pay the bill either, instead, we paid by mobile during our Dessert!

1.45pm: This hadn’t been the day for lots of serious walking (we only covered just over a mile) so we drove back to the Hotel to gloat over our bargains – and to begin the process of packing. We’re home tomorrow by about lunchtime.

Click HERE to see all the photos (and none of my waffle) from this week’s adventure

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Marlborough – Day 5 (of 5) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

6.30am: A bit of a lie-in this morning!

According to the forecast, it’s another warm one today, so we plan to make the most of it. We’re heading out to Heale House and Gardens in nearby (ish) Middle Wooton and then onto NT’s Cherhill Downs – armed with a picnic of course!

Actually, the day would turn out to be one of those where we covered a lot of miles (75!), but didn’t feel we’d done that much! So, let the day begin…

9.05am: Breakfast without a hitch again today! That’s a good start! Yummy sausages too!

10.55am: An hour charging the car, and we were then 96% full and had an extra 100 miles in the tank – all for less than £9! Happy days!

Heale House & Gardens

11.45am: As planned, our first stop was Heale House and Gardens. It covers eight acres of beautiful gardens and lies beside the river Avon at Middle Woodford, just north of Salisbury. Those that know me, know that history is not my specialist subject but I’ve learned that much of the house is unchanged since King Charles II hid here in 1651 before taking a hovercraft to Calais riding to Shoreham and taking a ship to France. The House and Gardens are now privately owned and judging by how full the tea-room was (with plenty of socially-distancing outside) when we arrived, it’s a popular destination. I don’t think the loo will win any prizes though – shall we say functional rather than attractive?

More about Heale House and Garden HERE

As pretty as it all was, we’re not sure where the advertised eight acres were! We’d covered it all in about 25 minutes. Visually, the flora was a bit past its best and in truth, we were disappointed with what was on show. The upper lawns were very neglected and the roses needed dead-heading – and that looked like a few days’ work in itself, given the quantity. It all felt a bit unloved and probably not worth the £6 each to get in. A real shame! Maybe, seasonally, we just timed it badly…

…and the fact that the House was closed (as expected) limited our options!

Thus far, it was all a bit lack-lustre, but at least the kitchen garden had some colour and variety in it…

1.05pm: After being slightly underwhelmed, we reverted to something much more predictable – our picnic lunch – so we set up the chairs and table next to the car and enjoyed the food and the local sunshine!

1.35pm: Well, at least the picnic impressed us! Whose turn for the washing-up?

Cherhill Downs

Next stop, the ‘biggy’ for the day – Cherhill Downs. It’s a vast area owned by The National Trust and features the Cherwill White Horse, Lansdowne Monument and Oldbury Castle.

More about Cherhill Downs HERE

With these on the to-do list, we knew we were in for a treat! I’ve never seen any sort of horse-on-a-hill before and we’d both commented how interesting the Lansdowne Monument looked when we saw it on the horizon earlier in the week.

2.40pm: As things turned out, all three were out of our reach (literally!). The first challenge was actually locating the three attractions (and they’re apparently all pretty close to each other). Why? A combination of inaccurate sat-nav co-ordinates online put us down a road that was definitely lacking in any horses of colour – instead, a row of houses and a guy clipping his hedge. A quick check online gave us another post-code to follow, some 12 miles away. WTF!!!!

We took off, hopefully in the right direction this time. 25 minutes later… and success!… as we got close, we could see the Monument in the distance. As we counted-down the miles to the sat-nav location, it became one of those times where it was ‘blink-and-you-miss-it’ – AND WE DID! Fortunately, the roads are pretty quiet down here at the moment, so we u-turned half-a-mile-or-so later and re-traced our steps. We just couldn’t figure out where we’d gone wrong.

It turned out that the official stop-point was actually just a lay-by (capacity, three cars, with two already there). We parked-up and looked around us – and there were the two out of three! The Horse and the Monument, both in the distance, with a makeshift path that would have challenged the best of the SAS! As we didn’t have a rope, a walkie-talkie (mobiles don’t work down here!) and only enough food for two days, we (ahem) ‘declined the opportunity’.

…and before you say ‘they don’t look that far away in the photos’, the pics above were taken on 10x zoom!

2.55pm: So now all we needed to do was work out where the ‘Castle’ was – and based on our performance so far, we didn’t hold out much hope! Ten minutes later, we gave up, only then to see a single damaged (small!) sign on the same side of the road around 100 metres BEFORE the very same lay-by! But by then we were driving in the opposite direction!!

3.05pm: We love the National Trust and everything they do, but this was a big disappointment for us. Apart from the sat-nav error, a bit of obvious signage on BOTH sides of the road would have made all the difference! And how about a decent footpath? We’re not all mountaineers!

We headed back to the Hotel feeling that today hadn’t been one of our most enjoyable ones. It’s all pretty desperate when the highlights are 1/ a successful car-charge and 2/ the sausages at breakfast.

7.00pm: We took an evening stroll around the local area taking in the Stonebridge Wild River Reserve.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is atrocious, so we’re heading INSIDE and for the Shopping Outlet in Swindon to bag some bargains.

See you tomorrow!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Marlborough – Day 4 (of 5) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

6.10am: I certainly slept better than yesterday and if they can get the service right at Breakfast after yesterday’s fiasco, then all will be right in the world!

7.55am: It’s breakfast time and I’m happy to report that it all went very smoothly and there was no visible wounds showing on the staff from where the ‘pointy stick’ had been inserted! Amazing!

Guilty as Charged!

8.45am: We’re off to Salisbury and our first stop will be the iconic site – Stonehenge. But not before we’ve made a quick pit-stop at a whizzy new EV charger located on Solstice Park Industrial Park near the town of Amesbury. It all started very well – the bay was empty! We plugged in and were soon charging Robert courtesy of the unit’s CCS plug. Thirty-five minutes later we’d added another 40-60 miles to the tank and were ready to leave. Total cost? £3.33!

Then things got tricky! As all EV owners will know, you normally cannot remove the charging cable from your car until the charge is switched off. In our case, the instructions on the Charger said ‘present debit card to cancel the charging process’. I dutifully did this, but it made no difference – the car continued to charge and I therefore couldn’t remove the cable. I tried a few more times – no change! Drastic measures were called for and it was time to press that emergency red button located on the front of the machine. I did this, the charge stopped and I released the charging cable. Success!

Now ordinarily, that would have been the end of it, but this process was to return and ‘bite us on the bum’ later… Read on…

Stonehenge

10.15am: We arrived at Stonehenge in good time. You can see it from the road as you drive towards the Visitor Centre – and even at a distance, it looks impressive. Once we’d parked and had our tickets checked, there was a 1½+ mile walk to the actual stones. Not for the faint-hearted, and there is a courtesy bus both ways for the ‘less inclined’.

There’s really nothing to say about Stonehenge that hasn’t already been said, except to suggest that seeing it ‘up close and personal’ was impressive. Given that it was my first time and Ann hadn’t seen it since she was at Primary School, made it all the more jaw-dropping. More information about this fantastic piece of engineering can be found on Wiki HERE. Definitely worth a visit if you’re this way, but start saving, as for non-NT/English Heritage members it’s a mighty £21.50 each to get in!

How the heck did they build this????

Salisbury

12.02pm: We arrived in Salisbury with just under an hour to kill before our 1pm ‘ticket’ for the Cathedral. The sun was shining, it was lovely and warm and a walk around this old town was on the cards!

Neither of us had been here before and I think we both fell in love with the place immediately! But it was sad to see so many shops in the shopping area either closed or struggling and I guess at the moment that’s the new ‘normal’. Architecturally speaking, it certainly had a lot to offer – even ex-PM, Edward Heath had a house here (the white one above) and the NT have got Mompesson House – an old town-house dating back to 1701 (currently closed because of the virus). I’m sure we’ll be back for a more detailed look around sometime soon.

Salisbury Cathedral

12.25pm: The main purpose of the visit was, of course, the Cathedral, and it looked glorious in the sun, against the deep-blue sky. We’d arrived slightly early for our ‘1pm timed-ticket’ but it didn’t seem to be a problem and were soon looking around inside, 35 minutes ahead of schedule.

Sadly though, this was another location where it lacked a bit of atmosphere due to an absence of people. It was all lovely to look at, but somehow sad that it only had around 20-30 visitors inside.

What I WASN’T expecting to see was the world’s oldest working clock (above right) dating back to 1386! It was fully restored in 1956 and it’s amazing to see it working after so many years!

Ironically, it was good to have the space to look around and to be able to take photographs without having to wait for people to move!

1.05pm: We finished our shortish visit to Salisbury with a look at Salisbury’s famous Poultry Cross (dating back to the 14th century). It did look somewhat out of place amongst the much newer retail units surrounding it though!

Bum Bitten!

Then things turned a bit weird! As we’d made such good progress today, we decided to revisit the EV charger that we’d used at the start of our day. Within an hour of arriving there, we wished we hadn’t! Remember that earlier I said it was going to “bite us on the bum” – this was that time!

It all started so innocently…

We pulled up at the charger to see that there was a Tesla already plugged-in and another EV driver, cable in hand, next to the Tesla with a Kia Soul looking very perplexed. I did my ‘Good Samaritan’ bit and showed her what to do, but the problem was that none of us could charge anything until the Tesla had finished. Whilst we waited for Mr tesla to return, they got stuck into their lunch and so did we. Thirty minutes later, the Tesla driver returned to unplug.

So far, so normal…

You’ll recall earlier that I’d had trouble getting the EV charger to err, stop charging – so did our Tesla colleague. I advised him to do what I’d done during our first visit and hit the red emergency button. He was a bit reluctant to do so, but with ‘next door’ and us in the queue for charging, he felt a bit under pressure. He duly hit the button and the good news was that it released the cable. With a big grateful smile on his face, he said thanks and drove away…

Our ‘neighbour’s’ needs were greater than ours, so we let them charge next. Only at that point, we realised that hitting the red button had caused the Charger to completely crash – so NONE of us could use it. Our new neighbour jumped on their phone to ChargeMaster, who then reset the machine from their end (more waiting around). Success (eventually) and their car was put on charge. We waited for theirs to finish, but the combined impatience of Ann and me meant waiting 25 minutes was too long and we departed…

In the end, we ‘lost’ about 75 minutes faffing about. If only we HADN’T gone back to the Charger this afternoon!

Pewsey

Our next stop was the quaint town of Pewsey. We’d picked it because it sounded sweet and had a canal basin (Pewsey Wharf) to look round. On arrival, it was clear Pewsey was a ‘one-horse-town’ where the said ‘horse’ had left years ago. I’m sure it’s a very nice place to live, but there wasn’t much going on – but bizarrely it did have a railway station (Nearby larger Marlborough hasn’t!). We parked in the town’s Co-Op car-park and started to explore…

After a quick wander around the almost-deserted town, we discovered a pathway to a wood…

…and it turned out to be the high point of Pewsey (so far) – a gorgeous walk with some beautiful views of nature doing what it does best!

More about Pewsey…

From Country Life magazine: Although architecturally not award-winning, this large Wiltshire village, which lies to the south of Marlborough, comes up trumps in terms of amenities. ‘The reason is because it serves all the nearby hamlets,’ says Gill Sharpe of Carter Jonas. It has a butcher, a baker, a post office, a large supermarket and a good florist (China Rose) plus other independent shops lining its small high street. The village also hosts a monthly farmer’s market and the annual Pewsey Carnival. ‘It’s a popular location as house prices are lower than nearby Marlborough and it’s a great alternative for those seeking a village rather than town life’.

4.05pm: Our final stop was the previously mentioned Pewsey Wharf. If the fullness of the car-park was an indication of popularity, we were onto a good thing as we got the final space!

It was no indication at all! I don’t know who owned all the cars, but hardly anyone was around. We started to walk along the canal tow-path but after nearly tripping over an abandoned sink and looking at the general state of the area, we turned around! The whole area looked a bit unloved even though there were plenty of barges moored along the way.

4.40pm: We returned to the car and back to the hotel.

Phew!

Today felt like a busy day! Stonehenge was not to be missed, whilst the town of Salisbury was beautiful. Our double-dabble with the EV charger put a bit of a downer on it all (but as experienced EV drivers will already know, it’s all part of the EV-owner learning curve!). Pewsey was slightly disappointing, but at least it allowed us to keep up our daily walking routine where we covered FIVE MILES

Tomorrow we’re heading out to Heale Garden and the Cherhill Downs.

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Marlborough – Day 3 (of 5) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

6.45am: Morning all!

Strangely, I didn’t sleep too well, waking up at 2.30am (!!!) accompanied by a head that felt like I’d overdone it on the shandies! Disappointingly, I hadn’t!!! I popped a few pills and tried to get back to sleep. My pounding head (like my hairline) receded quickly, but I never really returned to the land of slumber – so that’s not a great start to the break!

I was up before 7am (why, I’m not sure; I guess I’m a creature of habit!) thinking about what we might do today. We don’t know the area too well, so a sense of wonderment awaits…

The weather is slightly improved on yesterday’s forecast for today – so that’s a plus!

8.55am: Breakfast in the hotel was an unforgettable event – for all the wrong reasons! I’ll leave it at that and put it down to the effects of coronavirus and its impact on managing the process of getting food-to-table! Hopefully, it’ll be better tomorrow (it could hardly be worse!!)

9.45am: Let our morning walk begin! First of all we took a wander down Marlborough’s very long and very wide high street – and it was very pretty in an ‘olde worlde’ sort of way…

…then a short walk down towards George Street attempting to find the town’s EV charging points for future reference. We’d located it on the map before we travelled – and it said it was broken – but we wanted to check. Drat!, it was still sporting a flashing red light (not a good sign) and its neighbour wasn’t sporting any lights at all! Good job we weren’t desperate! Onwards and upwards (downwards actually, towards the River Kennet).

10.45am: Next stop was the next charging point on the map – the local Tescos. Great news (at last) in that it was working AND it was FREE – just a short drive too from our hotel. It was only a 7-watter though!

11.10am: Then it was our turn for a ‘bit of posh’ and we headed to the local Waitrose in the town centre to stock-up for picnic later. There was strict queuing to get in and the Fascist guy on the door was taking his responsibilities VERY seriously! If he’d been 60 years younger, we think he would have been part of the Hitler Youth!

11.55am: With the car’s suspension suitably strained with our provisions, we took the short drive to West Kennet Long Barrow a 5,000-year-old burial chamber close to the famous Silbury Hill (I know, just call me an ol’ romantic!). As we got closer, it all felt very familiar, but Ann’s normal forensic memory for these sort of things convinced me I was wrong. From parking in the nearby lay-by to the actual site itself, I just knew we’d seen it all before (but my long-term memory is normally appalling).

Even after Ann had been inside, it was all still very unfamiliar to her, whilst I was getting an even stronger feeling of its familiarity!

In fact, it wasn’t until we got home and I checked back through these blog-posts that I found it! We’d both been there in April 2012. If smugness was a colour, it would be the brightest of reds by now!

12.35pm: Luckily, for marital harmony, we both remembered going to our next stop back in November 2011 – Avebury (jointly looked after by both The National Trust and English Heritage). It’s a sort of ‘Stonehenge Lite’ in terms of the stones’ size, but it trumps Stonehenge in terms of how many stones and how spread-out they are. There were originally around 100 stones built roughly between 2850 BC and 2200 BC and it’s an impressive location. As the notice in the entrance boasts ‘The largest stone circle in the world’. There is also the Manor House that has been renovated and was subject of a short documentary featuring Penelope Keith entitled To the Manor Reborn also back in November 2011.

1.45pm: You could tell that the sprogs were on holiday – it was packed… and noisy too! Thankfully, we found a shady spot free of screaming urchins for our picnic (sponsored by Waitrose)

Our final stop for the day was another shortish drive, this time into Devizes. Specifically, we were looking for the famous multiple lock-gate construction called Caen Hill Locks – a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over 2 miles with a 1 in 44 gradient! It promised a jaw-dropping site!

More information HERE.

I’ve got to say, its location was pretty well hidden (note to self: look on their website next time for a detailed map and parking arrangements). We drove through Devizes and almost out the other side before Ann spotted a small sign on the opposite side of the road. We were soon parked and took the walk alongside the canal with the famous locks in the distance.

Looking at it ‘for real’ rather than in a photograph really amplified the architectural genius of its construction and therefore seemed only right to stop off at the nearby Caen Hill Café and enjoy an ice-cream in celebration!

4.30pm: This place really wowed us. Brilliant engineering that took a real-world problem and solved it!

5.15pm: Wow! what a day! The weather was on our side, and we saw a lot more than we thought we would. We did plenty of walking too and covered over 7 miles!

Stonehenge tomorrow!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Marlborough – Day 2 (of 5) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

10.00am: Well, here we are back in ‘holiday-mode’ where we’re spending six days in and around the beautiful town of Marlborough.

11.35am: Our first stop though was to drop in on our (recently-discovered-long-lost-cousins) Chris & Kate in Maidenhead for a quick hello and a cuppa! Then it was off to the nearest EV charging area to our destination – Chieveley Services just off the M4. A quick review of the options at this unglamorous (but necessary) location revealed a mix of plug options. The guy next to us in his eMini advised us to wait until he’d finished and we could use the one he was using. The benefit? It was a 50kW ‘CCS’ variant (rather than the 7kW ‘Type 2’ of the one we were parked in front of). And after his departure, we re-positioned the car, plugged in and put 31.2 kW in the tank. This gave us over 120 extra miles and at ‘just’ 30p per kW (totalling £9.36) we were ready to go within the rather unhelpful auto-disconnect time of 45 minutes! (just giving us time for a quick something to eat). Perfect!

Stay awake at the back!

Just be aware that parking is limited to just two hours here and after that, it’s an extortionate fee of £25 to stay any longer!

4.35pm: Next stop was our final stop – and temporary home for the duration – the Castle and Ball Hotel just off the town’s very wide thoroughfare.

Check-in was pretty straightforward and after some initial issues trying to connect to their wi-fi, we were soon in room 15, unpacking, and all set for what the area had to offer!

The weather forecast for the rest of the week here is dry, with the temperature in the low 20s. It therefore looks like the perfect conditions for a bit of walking and I’ll post more details about that over the coming days!

More news tomorrow…

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Holiday: Marlborough – Day 1 (of 5) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It’s another cultural day-out with our friends, Dennis and Sandra, this being our eighth adventure.

Together, we’ve previously enjoyed:-

The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)
Bolsover Castle (October 2018)
Belton House (May 2018)
York (February 2018)
Burghley House (October 2017)
Hull (May 2017)
Leeds (February 2017)

Castle Howard is a private residence, north of York and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. It’s probably best known though for Granada Television‘s 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and 2008’s remake for the cinema. You can read more about this stunning home on Wiki HERE.

Getting there was pretty straightforward, with part of our journey by car, and part by train. It was an early start from home though, leaving just before 7am in the dark and the damp to join our York-bound train from Peterborough at 8.18. Gosh, it reminded us of our working days! …and maybe not in a good way!

As things turned out, our journey was about as good as it gets! In spite of joining the rest of mankind on the A14 heading east, we had a straightforward journey… no queues… no jams.. in fact, it was all perfectly normal! A text-book travel experience, with only the ‘car park full’ sign at Peterborough causing a momentary ‘wtf?!’ moment (before ignoring it altogether and finding plenty of spaces!).

All aboard from platform 4, and we were soon looking for our seat for the 80-minute journey. The rail-franchise was previously operated by Virgin Trains, but they’ve fallen from grace in recent months and LNER has picked up the baton.

Ann had bagged us a bargain and bought 1st Class seats for just a few extra shekels. Super-comfy seats, a ‘proper’ full English breakfast/Bacon Butty with attentive staff were all part of the deal – OK two-out-of-three isn’t bad I suppose where the most difficult decision for me was whether it’s ketchup or HP*???

*HP obviously!

Our train slipped into York just two-minutes late, and we headed for our pre-arranged meeting point, the rear car-park, where we met up with Dennis and Sandra and their new family member — a BMW i3. Ahh, another experienced motorist joins the EV revolution!

Twenty-five minutes later, we were parked and heading for the entrance. It’s clearly a popular destination (based on how full the car-park was, even at 10.15!) and although this was my first visit Ann had been here some 40 years earlier! The extra attraction for the Christmas period in 2019 was that the House had been decorated using the theme ‘A Christmas Masquerade‘. It’s running from 16 November until 5 January 2020, and as we were to find out, it wasn’t to disappoint…

Wow! What an experience! If you like your colours, vibrant and varied (we do!) and complemented by the ‘olde worlde’ charm of an old House, this is THE place to spend time. Each room was drenched in colour either though the displays themselves or a range of cleverly positioned lighting.

Sunglasses should have been an optional extra, but it all worked beautifully! Take a look at the pics below…

It was real assault on the eyeballs (in a good way) where every successive room seemed to be bolder and brighter than the previous…

The old and the new working very well together…

…and no Christmas theme would be complete without err, a tree would it..?

…or the table set for Christmas..?

…and even in places where there wasn’t a Christmas theme, it was still very beautiful!

We were all impressed by how lavish the House looked. After a well-deserved coffee break we headed outside….

It was a cold day, and were all glad we’d packed gloves – it was VERY muddy too where we found ourselves constantly checking the ‘road ahead’ to avoid sinking!

Having said all that, it was a lovely day to wander round with the winter sun, a bright blue sky and occasional breeze.

Bracing but beautiful!

It was now approaching 1.30, so we decided to have lunch at the Courtyard Café on-site. After a short wait for a table, we were soon served and tucking-in. The food was delicious and a perfect end to our visit.

We finished our visit with a brief look round their Garden Centre and then it was back to the i3 and the short journey returning to York station. We said our goodbyes and located our train back to Peterborough. Toasty-warm on the 16.03, we arrived back at Peterborough station just after 5.30, and we were soon on our way home.

It had been a great day. The House had impressed us all – inside and out – and it was good to see Dennis and Sandra again!

All the photos and none of my chat HERE

Merry Christmas!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Brideshead Visited appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, we haven’t done this in a while! It’s fair to say that many of our immediate circle of neighbours have all had significant things to ‘deal with’ these past few months, so tonight was the perfect opportunity to get together.

We played to our strengths, Ann weaving her magic in the kitchen and creating a couple of cheesecakes and me – washing the car!

With our strengths played-to, we picked up Paul and Karen and headed off in the direction of long-time friends, Tom and Julie (Georgina was celebrating her birthday today – and we’d all been invited!).

At the last minute, Trish and John couldn’t make it, but it still felt like a house full with aound 40 people there!

Safe to say, Ann’s cheesecakes went down a storm!

We stayed until around 10.30 leaving everyone else to finish the food and drink! It had been a really good ‘do’ although Eileen – Tom’s Mum – did manage aggravate her her knee along the way resulting in some much needed TLC – and an extended period on the sofa!

I’m tempted to say tonight was a great ‘knees up’ – but that would be sooo corny!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Party, Party! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Ann and I drove over to Cambridge today. I say ‘drove’ as ‘sailed’ would have been more appropriate I think! – so much rain! ? And add to that, the mega-roadworks as they transform the A14, meant slow progress!

Still, we made it in around an-hour-and-ten!

Gone are the days where I used to drive into the city itself and take pot-luck with parking! It’s all too stressful in 2019, and so, instead, our destination was Trumpington’s Park and Ride!

And whilst Ann then jumped on the bus and headed for the city in full shopping-mode, I took the gentler approach and met up with Sal for Lunch!

Sal and I took the bus to right opposite our destination – Brown’s in Trumpington Street – in fact, it was such a quick journey we arrived too early for lunch!

A perfect excuse then, to try out their coffee area and begin our catch-up until lunch began at midday!

Twenty minutes later, having no doubt bored Sal rigid with news of our China trip, we then grabbed a table in the restaurant.

We haven’t been here for a while, and we both wondered if the food and service would be as good as we remember it! We needn’t have worried as Brown’s easily maintained its reputation for good-value food that was delicious, together with service that was efficient and friendly! Top marks!!

After our excellent Lunch we wandered back to John Lewis to meet up with Ann, before catching the Park-and-Ride Bus back to where our day began. It was still raining!

We said our goodbyes in the car-park, and as the weather deteriorated further, we headed off towards the M11 – Sal heading south whilst we headed north!

We’d all had a great day – Ann bagged some bargains whilst I caught up with Sal, who I haven’t seen in a while. Ducks would have also enjoyed the day!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Cambridge-sur-Mer appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We headed over to Cineworld at Rushden Lakes this evening to catch the latest cinematic incarnation of ‘The Lion King‘.

Featuring the voice-talents of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (as well as James Earl Jones reprising his role from the original film) the movie is directed by Jon Favreau.

But more about the movie itself a little later!

And what could be better than seeing a movie in a spanking new(ish) cinema? Well, seeing it in 3D… And what could be better than seeing a movie in 3D..?
…seeing it in 4DX of course (whatever that is!).
Everyone knows that 3D is a well-worn tactic for getting people to go to the Cinema, but what about this new fangled ‘4DX’?

This was our first experience of this technology to augment a film, and we roped-in good friends Jo and Janet to share the experience! Ahh! that’s what friends are for!

And after our now familiar routine of plugging-in ‘Robert‘ for some free ‘leccy’, courtesy of Pod-Point, we headed for the special ‘4DX Screen’. Given the promised reality of this ground-breaking multi-sensory experience, I noted they don’t provide sick-bags!

But what about the Film?

Much has already been written about this new release – and it’s only been out for a few days! After all, it was as recent as 1994 that Disney released ‘the all new The Lion King Animated Movie’. So, is the world ready for another remake so soon? Well, if they can do it with SpiderMan, and pull in new audiences, surely something as cuddly as a lion-cub is going to be easy! With visuals touted as ‘hyper-real‘ and ‘photorealistic‘, we’re going into this with high expectations!

And we weren’t to be disappointed! With those two particular adjectives ringing in our ears, and just when you think animation can’t get any more real, along comes this movie, that blurs the lines between ‘real’ and CGI.

OK, I think everyone knows the story, so I won’t re-tell it here. Instead, let me concentrate how it all felt...
Breathtaking is an under-statement – and that would have been our view without the addition of 4DX. With every hair of the lions clearly possessing a life of their own, you have to wonder what the next big jump in screen animation will be like. At times it really was impossible to tell that none of these animals were actually real (apart from the fact they talked!) With the addition of the 4DX effects (strobe lighting, vibrating and pivoting chairs, scents and smoke), it made a brilliant movie totally unforgettable!

Go see!

PS…

Even if the movie doesn’t break records, the weather is heading that way! Up here in Northamptonshire we’ve got it cooler (relatively) than those in the south-east, and across Europe, where temperatures are promising to hit the high 30s!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Film: The Lion King appeared first on Steve's Blog.

The first outing for my XKR this Summer as we took the short drive to The Pheasant in Keyston.

It was a beautiful evening – a very warm 23 degrees. Pity then, the car decided that this was the moment for the AC to fail! We may have looked cool in a classic Jaaaag! but with its five-litre beating heart, the interior was a lot warmer than it was outside! Phew!

Since I last blogged about it back in August 2015, this well-known award-winning Pub/Restaurant looks like it’s changed hands (again!) and they’ve now (re)introduced ‘themed evenings’. Tonight was their Thursday Curry Night – and it didn’t disappoint! At £16.95 for Mains, it was good value too!!

And clearly, many others felt the same, as by the time we left, the place was packed! What a great way to spend a Summer evening!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Pheasantly Spicy appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It was a welcome return to one of our favourite towns today – Uppingham. Being a Friday, it’s Market Day too, so there was even more to enjoy! Last time were here was back in February 2018 – and that was Market Day too!

…and me being me, it wouldn’t be a normal day without squeezing a bit of tech into the experience! So, we took Robert for a spin, with a plan to try out Uppingham’s one-and-only EV Charging Point, with its two ‘Type 2, 7kW’ charging bays – all courtesy of the mighty Polar Network. Somewhat weird then, that a town so small would have any charging points at all, especially as the device is located in the town’s equally small public car-park.

Recent chatter on Zap-Map suggested that the chances of finding the point available were very slim – all down to a combination of it being the only one, as well as a bit of hogging on multiple occasions by a PHEV owner, who parked his in the EV space and didn’t bother to charge it for three hours!

However, we were in luck today, no sign of any VW ‘ICEing’ (explanation HERE) as both charging bays were empty. We were soon plugged-in – and getting juiced! This one’s not free though, and we spent a whole £2.81 topping-up! (Actually, at 35.4p/kWh, it’s on the dear side, compared with other charging points we’ve experienced).

Pit-stop for us humans was for breakfast, courtesy of Don Paddy’s Brasserie. Although the whole experience was a bit lack-lustre, it went down very well, simply because this was our very first meal of the day – and it was already past 10am!

Next, we picked up some flowers and veg in the Market and went on the search for a suitable ornament for the Bathroom window-sill. On the plus-side, we saw some pieces that confirmed that we knew what we wanted, but on the down-side, nothing really jumped out at us! Oh well, onwards and upwards, and I’m sure we’re find something before too long!

Back to Robert, who by now had received just over an hour’s charge gaining around 30 miles range. We headed home by way of a short diversion to nearby Weekley…

…and our diversion was well-worth it. In spite of this Church being on our doorstep for over 20 years, we’ve never looked round it! The nearest we ever got, was looking in the Almshouse next door, a few years back.

Well worth it – especially the tombs! A day of charging and churching – with breakfast too! For me, a great day out!!

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Charging towards Uppingham! appeared first on Steve's Blog.