I’ve just learned that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is coming to the big screen on December 9 – just in time for Christmas. That’s excellent news, as I thought the first two big-screen adaptations were simply brilliant!! Written in 1950, by C S Lewis, and published in 1952, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie together …
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Category:Christmas
Chichester for the day
Morning reader! After last night’s lack-lustre meal in the hotel’s restaurant, we were hoping for an improvement at breakfast. It wasn’t to be! Ann opted for poached eggs and bacon, whilst I went for the Full-English. Mine wasn’t bad, but Ann’s bacon meant we didn’t need a trip to the shoe-repairers! Still, at least we …
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Christmas Cards – The Sequel
I’ve been like a man possessed here today. I’ve finished writing all the business cards (around 150), AND, I’ve begun to write the personal ones too (I found some non-business designs in the loft from last year). The only thing that’s stopped me being a real sad-s**, and finishing those off as well, is that …
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Christmas Cards
Well, if Tesco’s are selling their Christmas stuff already, surely it’s OK to start writing my Christmas cards isn’t it? I reckon just like last year, we’ve got around 250-300 to write, so maybe it’s good to try and get ahead. In fact, thinking about it, I think I’m slightly later this year getting started!!! …
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Lunch with Steve S
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Steve popped over for our normal three-monthly get-together and we went for lunch at our standard haunt: Hobson’s Choice. Actually, it’s been slightly longer than three months, as I noticed we last saw each other back in March. Steve brought a selection of wedding pictures with him showing-off …
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Long Weekend Away – Day 3: Final day, shopping
For our final day in Chester, we took a drive to Cheshire Oaks, a massive out-of-town designer shopping outlet about 15 minutes from the hotel. It’s massive – certainly the biggest we’ve ever visited. Ann thinks it’s the largest in Europe. Literally hundreds of shops and even some more outlets at the Coliseum just down …
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Long Weekend Away – Day 2: Four go shopping in Chester
We slept-in (ish!). I was up at 7 and Ann followed shortly afterwards. Time for a shower. The bathroom had been stocked with high quality toiletries, so it was a an opportunity to indulge ourselves fill our suitcases indulge ourselves! We got down the breakfast around 9 – and the place was already busy. A …
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Christmas meal with Ian and Mags
After a few attempts to try and get together, we finally managed it and met at Baraset Barn in Alveston near Stratford-upon-Avon for our 2009 Christmas Meal. It was great to catch-up and the restaurant did us proud. Great food and superb service, plus Mags knew the front-of-house manager too! I got home around 11.30 …
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Nicki here for the weekend
Nicki joined us tonight – she’s been on holiday this week and staying ’til late Saturday night and then driving home. I’d quite forgotten that we hadn’t ‘done’ Christmas pressies with her (as we didn’t see her over the Christmas period) and it felt really strange doing this in February! She also bought us some …
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New Year’s Eve 2009 – Martinique
7.00am local time. It looked a bit cloudy as we anchored in Fort de France, Martinique on the west side of the island. (Historical note: Martinique is not a colony, but actually part of France. Those living here are considered French and it’s one of the few islands in the Caribbean that has always belonged …
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St Vincent and Bequia
We both slept well, although Ann woke with a pretty bad head – must have been the alcohol last night! Another day, another island! Well, actually, we get two for the price of one today – St Vincent and Bequia (later today). As normal, we had a lazy breakfast and then took the Tender ashore. …
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Tobago Cays – Lunch on the Beach
We had a later breakfast and then took the Tender to the beach. It was another gorgeous day, although thankfully, slightly cooler than yesterday – only 26 degrees! The beach was your typical ‘Robinson Crusoe’ type, sand, sand, palm-trees and more sand. Perfect!!! “South of Canouan and west of Mayreau lie the Tobago Cays islands, …
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The Island of Grenada
We woke just after 7, to a cloudy-ish sky – I wonder if it’ll rain? The Ship docks in Grenada today around 12 noon – it’s the smallest independent country in the western hemisphere and is home to 160000 residents. St Georges is the capital and home to The Carenage, noted as ‘the most beautiful …
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Union Island, Grenadines
Overnight (and for much of the morning) we headed for Union Island – Grenadines arriving at Noon. We avoided the rush to get off the ship by spending time soaking-up the sun and then having lunch on-board. We then jumped on the Tender (only a short wait) and headed for the shore. The beach area …
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Christmas Presents 2009
As we’re away this year, we only took a few of the pressies with us. Mum Vouchers – John Lewis Vouchers – Boots Jo and Janet Odeon Cinema Vouchers Carol Incense Burner Mae and Denis Blue-Ray DVD: ‘Snow White’ Blu-Ray DVD: ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince CD – Carpenters Ultimate Collection Bev Spicy Sauce …
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Christmas Day 2009 – Barbados
I was up about 6.30 and took a shower. It’s already getting warm here – very UN-Christmassy!! 🙂 We started phoning round the family (UK is four hours in front of Barbados)…Mae and Denis first…then Roger, Jane and Oliver. At his stage, we’re not sure of our plans today. We’ve only bought just a few …
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TV: Doctor Who – “The End of Time (Part 1)”
Tomorrow at 6pm… (Part 2 is on New Year’s Day). 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 …
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Barbados – we’re here!
After landing at the Airport we were confronted with 400+ people in front of us all trying to get through Immigration. It was due to a flight being late and us all turning up at the same time. We must have been there for about an hour…just queuing and queuing… Luckily, us Brits are used …
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Christmas TV
TV at Christmas is always a highlight for me, although in recent years, there seems to be less stuff worth watching (or is that me, just getting older?). Here is our short-list. Whilst we’ll be away over the festive break, suffering 30 degrees of sunshine (!!!), the SkyPlus box is also getting hot, hopefully doing …
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No TV Times and two types of Radio Times – ehh?
I usually like to buy a copy of both the Radio Times and TV Times and compare how they’ve covered various programmes during the festive season. I didn’t think I’d left it too late this year, but obviously I did, (in fact, looking back to last year, I bought them during the first week …
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The Packing continues/Salvation Army Concert/Ice Age
We spent part of the morning continuing to pack. It all seems to fit (but the kitchen sink was a bit of a problem!!) – so we should get away with being under the weight limits for BA. Job done! We’re all packed apart from a few last minute bits and pieces. We’re ahead …
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Cats in/Holiday Prep
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr This is our final weekend before the holiday, so there is plenty to do – not least the packing! We had a productive morning, mostly cleaning and generally tidying-up. Additionally, we took the cats to the Vet for their final injections. We decided to get to there slightly …
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BA Strike deemed “illegal”
Good news… I think! Judges have declared the BA strike to be illegal, and so things are back to normal and there won’t be a strike over Christmas. Phew! 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 …
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“Someday I’ll Fly Away…”
…or maybe not. After believing that we would probably be OK to fly on the 23rd because the Gatwick staff are on different working contracts, (and therefore the BA strike wouldn’t impact on us) when we spoke to BA‘s PR department they said our flight had been ‘flagged for cancellation’. They advised us to ring …
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The 5ive get together for Christmas
My ‘eat-fest’ continues. I headed down to London for 12 o’clock to meet up with some of the ‘gang-of-5ive’, Well, actually there was only four of us this year. Antoinette, Angela, Philip and I met for coffee at ‘Les Pain Quotidien’ before trying out ‘des Pain’ just a few units along – a bad …
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The Cecilian Singers’ Carol Concert 2009
We drove over to Leicester to see David singing in the Cecilian Singers Choir. Val couldn’t join us this year as she’s in America visiting her sister. We’ve been going annually for a few years now, but the format this year, was slightly different as they’d changed the venue to St Philip’s Church in Evington Road. …
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The wrapping begins…
We started wrapping the Christmas presents tonight. It’s always a sizeable task made even more challenging by the cats’ permanent interest in the bows, ribbons and wrapping paper being scrunched! We didn’t get it all done tonight, but at least we’ve started! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my …
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TV: Doctor Who – A Familiar Face…?
© BBCChristmas TV wouldn’t be Christmas TV these days without the festive Doctor Who episode. This year, it’s David Tennant’s final stint as the Time Lord in an episode entitled, ‘The End of Time’. It’s a two-parter, showing on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day Some familiar faces are back – some welcomed, some less …
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Cats in…
I took the pussies over to Patsy‘s this morning for their routine ‘service’. Actually, it was slightly ahead of schedule (they were due to go this Saturday) primarily because Bon-Bon’s winter coat has now arrived – she’s now five times as fluffy and difficult to groom (what’s new!) – and Biscuit’s ‘exploding bottom’ incident last …
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Christmas Cards sorted…
Phew! That’s the last of the Christmas cards written today. We’d cracked 99% of them by last weekend, but I’d got a bit behind with so much going on in the Business compared to last year. We’ve sent fewer this time round – around 250. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not …
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