6.30am. I was up with the sound of birds and the faint sound of a hovercraft! A bright blue sky outside suggests today might be a fine day weather-wise. 8.30am. Breakfast calls, so it’s a short walk across the road (!) and in through the back-door to the breakfast-room. It wasn’t a very big room, …
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Category:Days-out
Short break: Portsmouth (Day 1)
We’re off to Portsmouth for a few days. We left around 8.30 and popped into Central Garage on the way out to have a look at their used and new car stock as part of getting a car for Ann. After much discussion with Paul, we narrowed the selection down to possibly a new Fiesta…but …
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Ahoy-there Ship mates…
Just call me Captain Pugwash – yes, it’s Ann and me on a boat! David and Val’s boat to be precise – the good ship Carusa. We nearly didn’t go at all because of the weather – but it started to brighten up and after packing a few provisions, we left around 1pm for Buckden …
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Oundle Festival: The Bootleg Beatles
Nicki drove up to us in the morning and got to us around 11. The weather was a bit unpredictable, but hey, as Jo said: “what’s the worst that can happen?”. Mum decided to stay at home, because of the threatened bad weather. So, Jo, Janet, Nicki, Ann and I, stocked-up with enough food for …
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Tolethorpe Hall – Midsummer Night’s Dream
Tonight we three drove to Tolethorpe Hall to see ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. David and Val did to, but we needed to take separate cars because of the number of people and the amount of food! The weather was perfect so we’d planned a picnic. The secret with getting a good picnic spot at Tolethorpe …
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London for the weekend – Sunday
We were knackered! Although we didn’t get up until about 8ish, last night’s events meant we only got around seven hours’ sleep – it should have been enough…it obviously wasn’t! 🙂 We headed for breakfast and fortunately it was less busy than yesterday so we were seated quickly. After chasing tea and coffee – twice …
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Wow! – The O2
Well, what a surprise The O2 turned out to be! We haven’t been there since it was called The Millennium Dome back in 1999 – 10 years ago! The interior has been completely transformed. It now houses dozens of restaurants; a cinema; a theatre and major concert arena. Not to mention the dodgem cars!! It …
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London for the weekend – Saturday
Today’s the day when we head to The O2 to Jeff Wayne‘s, The War of the Worlds 30th Anniversary concert tour. The tour, updated for 2009, will feature a 3d hologram of Richard Burton and a 30ft Martian fighting machine descending from the ceiling – more details later on… We had a rare lie-in. …
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London for the weekend – Friday
We left for London this morning. We’re staying in London overnight because we’re going to The O2 on Saturday night to see Jeff Wayne live in concert performing The War of the Worlds. We took the 11.25 train out of Kettering (it arrived early – shock horror!) getting into St Pancras International at 12.35. We …
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Nick and Celina here…
Nick and Celina are joining us today – they’re here all day today and are leaving after brekky tomorrow – we’re really looking forward to seeing them again. Just after 1pm they arrived in their shiny new Honda. What a gorgeous looking car! We caught up with all their news including Celina’s ‘little project’ involving …
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Saturday at Nicki’s
I was up first at 7.15. Although I slept well, I seemed to be suffering from sort of sinus problem (which began earlier this week), so I was totally bunged-up. Nicki was up next, closely followed by Ann. It was a gorgeous day here and so we still planned to go to Windsor Castle. We …
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Chelsea Flower Show 2009
We went to the Show today. It’s been a few years since we last went, so we weren’t sure what to expect! All the omens were against us! Firstly, just as we parked at the station, the heavens opened – good job Ann packed an umbrella! Next, the train was late leaving Kettering because it …
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The London Marathon 2009
Our good friend Roy, is running in the Marathon this year and our plan was to get some really good pictures of him by placing ourselves at strategic points along the route. We got up early to ensure we were away by 8.15. It looked like it would be a fine day for the Marathon …
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Visit to London
I took the early train to London with Ann this morning. I met up with Anthony from A2O to discuss display stands for the OCA (err, that’s enough abbreviations!). We kicked off early and were finished by 11.15. I then jumped on the Tube and headed for London Bridge to meet Keith from the OCA – …
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Anniversary Weekend in Manchester – Saturday
We woke to a cold, wet day. We tried the hotel’s café for breakfast and it was pretty good. Banana and Honey smoothie, Danish pastries and pro-biotic yogurts rubbed shoulders with more traditional sausage and bacon baguettes and haddock and poached egg, toast and preserves. We had a bit of each! We then headed into …
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Trip to Lincoln to see Bev
We took a drive to Lincoln today to meet up with Bev, who we haven’t seen for a while. We arrived at 12.30 – after a frustrating journey that diverted us via Oundle. After a brief introduction to ‘Smokey’, Bev’s rabbit we headed for the Wharf for lunch. Bev suggested we tried ‘The Ultimate Burger’ …
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Charity event
Last night’s event on behalf of the United Foster Carers’ Association was great! – Sharon’s on the Committee. We met Pete and Diane, who were part of our table and we had a good laugh for a worthy cause. The event was based around a three-course meal (good food for 12 quid!) and a disco. …
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Trip to Worthing
We drove to Worthing today too have lunch with Ian and Sharon and to attend a ‘charity do’ that they’re involved in. We didn’t visit Mum on the way through as she’s got some sort of bug and so have we. None of us wanted to share! We stopped off at Pease Pottage Services at …
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Jeff Wayne’s: War of the World’s Tour 2009
Lucky us, we were able to get tickets for Jeff Wayne’s 2009 War of the Worlds Tour. We’re seeing it at the O2 Arena in London! There’s a good animation/video doing the rounds that’s worth a watch. It later appeared on YouTube. To coincide with this Tour, ‘The Spirit of Man’ single and video were …
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Trip to Downtown, Grantham
We drove to Downtown Superstore today – we haven’t been there for ages and it gave us an opportunity to look out for ideas for Christmas pressies. It’s been almost a year since we were there last and since then they’ve changed the road layout as you approach the roundabout — big-time! They’ve diverted the …
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Nick and Celina for the Weekend
Nick and Celina joined us around 12 and after lunch outside (it was momentarily quite warm!), we took a trip to Kirby Hall. We got back about 5pm and chilled-out reading the papers over a nice cuppa! We then watched ‘Atonement‘ (2007) starring Keira Knightley that we’d recorded on Sky the week before. Wow! Talk …
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A Trip round Gothenborg
The Workshop finished on time, so Barrie took us on a trip around Gothenburg by boat. Afterwards, we headed for a few bars, but I ducked out at around 6.45 to recover!!! The picture above, is of the Opera House. It’s been a gorgeous day, weather-wise. It’s so hot!!! We were out again at 7.30 …
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Meal in London
Took the train to London to meet up with Antoinette and Angela at Green Park for lunch. Plan A was to have a picnic in Green Park but it rained! So, we took a short walk to Berkeley Square and found a small restaurant called ‘Babble’ in Berkeley St. The food was good – we …
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Stamford with David and Val
We met up with David and Val and headed off to Tolethorpe Hall to see an open-air production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Plan A was to take a picnic, but the weather forecast was predicted to be lousy so we decided instead to go to The George for a bite. Trying to book a table …
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Church Music – St Mary’s Church, Everdon
After the meal, we drove from Fawsley Hall to St Mary’s Church, Everdon to see and hear ‘England’s Baroque’ by Foiri Musicali (Grace Davidson – soprano). The event started at 6.30 and finished around 8.45. Overall it was a good event, but the acoustics were sometimes poor, and the orchestra drowned out the singers, making …
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Fawsley Hall
We took a drive to Fawsley Hall with David and Val for a pre-arranged afternoon tea. It was a big disappointment for all of us. The service was slow and pretty lousy, there was a noisy wedding in full swing, and we didn’t think the food was all that special. Add to that, the fact …
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Family Meal
Mae, Denis, Roger, Jane and Oliver came round for afternoon tea. Bev couldn’t make it because she was at a Wedding. The reason for the celebration was that it was Mae’s Birthday yesterday The weather looked a little grey, and we had planned to all go the Wicksteed Park. However, Roger rang to say that …
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Meal with Mum, Neil, Debbie, Frankie and Alfie
We were both up around 8 this morning and headed for breakfast at the B and B at 8.30. By 9.15 we were on our way to Mum’s and by 10.30 we were sitting in her lounge. We headed off for The Crown around 12.30 and Neil, Debbie and the family arrived a few minutes …
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Blood-bath in Worthing
Well maybe not a bath…more like a shower! I got up as normal, washed my hair and then blew my nose. Next moment, blood gushing from my nose and no way to stop it!!! Ann called the owner of the B and B – Brian… and he arranged for Paramedics. Just a few minutes later, …
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Journey to Worthing
We set off around 9.15 and dropped Ann’s leather coat off in Northampton. Then, began the great trek southhwards! Actually the traffic wasn’t too bad, but me missing the turning for the M25 from the M1 didn’t help! So, we thought we’d drive through London and out the other side towards the A23. Surprisingly, London …
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