Another first today for me, as David & I travelled over to Leamington to visit the Annual International Model Boat Show for 2018 at the Warwickshire Events Centre. Today was the first day, and the event runs until Sunday. Programme and more information HERE (.pdf) We arrived just before the doors opened at 10am – …
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Category:Days-out
Bolsover Castle with Dennis & Sandra
We headed for Bolsover Castle today to meet up with our friends: Dennis and Sandra. We haven’t seen them since we all visited Belton House back in May, and it was good to catch-up. 9.20am: ETA was 11am, so we left just before 9.30 and had a trouble-free journey there (although the traffic on the …
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Sunday Scramble 2018
Another first for us today! We met up with Chris A and Gill’s brother, Andrew, at Bicester’s ‘Sunday Scramble’. Hosted at RAF Bicester, it was conceived in 2014 for a meet-up for car enthusiasts involved in car restoration. It’s ‘moved on’ a bit since then and were told it would be well-supported. We left relatively …
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Camel: Moonmadness Tour 2018 (Royal Albert Hall)
What a treat! I haven’t seen these guys in concert for quite a few years – and tonight was the final gig in their 2018 World Tour. I’ve seen only them twice before, live – once in the late 70s at Fairfield Halls, Croydon and more recently, at some point in the 90s (where I’m embarrassed to …
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Worthing or Rust!
Thursday Well, here we are in Worthing, having enjoyed the best journey-here-by-car ever! (maybe an over-statement) – but it was completely incident-free! We left at 8.10am, dropped into the Health Centre at home to leave a prescription; popped-in to Peter J’s for a cuppa in West Wickham and still managed to arrive at our destination …
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Lottie Time
It was a return visit to ‘Lottie the Lotus’ today to give Chris a hand in its rejuvenation. Specifically, the passenger side-door window was mis-behaving, and needed a very close inspection! We made excellent progress and by 2pm we’d even managed to strip the Driver’s door too. 😉👍 Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late …
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Modern Men!
I met up with Stuart and Stephen today at the Tate Modern. I haven’t visited here for a good few years and it was great to be reminded of its extensive collection. OK, it had the obligatory weird stuff – Lobster on a Telephone anyone? ☹️ … but there was plenty of more traditional stuff …
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The Wedding Belle
It was off to Janine’s Wedding today. Her husband-to-be, Chris is from Ohio, USA, so it’s going to be a true Anglo-American event. The event is at Hedingham Castle (so that’ll please our friends from across the Pond!) and we’re making a few days of it, as the big day isn’t until tomorrow – Friday. …
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Boughton of Youth
So, here we are again – Boughton House – and what’s become a regular event these past three years: it’s one of LunaFlix’s many outdoor cinema events. Our first visit to this novel form of cinema-going was back in 2016 when we saw Pretty Woman, and in 2017, it was La La Land. This year, …
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Beer Diary…
..by Steve P (aged 61-and-a-bit). Well that’s a first – a visit to a Beer Festival – my first ever, and a boys’ day out too! The venue? London’s Olympia and to give the event its full title: The Great British Beer Festival. This is a superb opportunity for a piss-up taste of fine ales. …
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Picnic at… Sulgrave Manor
Another scorching hot day here and so we decided to make the most of it and met up with Ian and Ann McL at Sulgrave Manor. It’s a Tudor Manor House, home to (and built by) George Washington’s (deep breath!) great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Lawrence, in the mid-1500s. We’ve not been here before – can’t think why …
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Wimpole Hall
Chris and Gill parked at ours and we all made our way to Wimpole Hall. We haven’t been there since June 2011, when we went with Lee and Nicki. Today’s visit was our ‘Plan B’ – Plan A was originally to visit somewhere for a picnic, but the weather this week has been so hot …
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Highclere Castle
I’ve always wanted to visit here, not just because it happens to be the set for the Downton Abbey, but simply because it’s a beautiful bit of architecture. It was our gift to Nicki for her forthcoming, (ahem!) ‘significant’ birthday! Sue J joined us for the journey, arriving at ours just before 8am, whilst Nicki …
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Bank Holiday in Matlock
Saturday It was a very pleasant drive up to our good friends Ralph and Karen (Best Man and Maid of Honour back in the day). This time though, with a small difference – they’ve moved house, literally just down the road! It was good to be catching-up again, as the last time we were at …
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Return to The Ashmolean
We’re great fans of The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013 and March 2014! As usual, we drove to Pear Tree Park & Ride, parked up and took the Bus into the town… …so much less stressful than attempting to park in the centre of town – …
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London Calling (again!)
It was off to London as ‘tourists-for-the-day’ and to meet up with our good friends Roy and Susan. We had a full day planned, beginning with the Tower Bridge Exhibition and ending with a Soho Restaurant! Perfect!!! Well, almost perfect, in that the weather was forecast to deteriorate from lunchtime onwards, turning to showers! It …
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A Belter at Belton!
Wow! That’s two days in a row where the weather has been glorious! Luckily, we’d already planned a while ago to meet up with Dennis and Sandra for a day-out (plus a picnic!) at Belton House – and the great weather was now an extra bonus! Last time we were here, back in July last …
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Day 3: Singapore – The Singapore Flyer and Lunch at The Sands SkyPark
Yes, another hot sticky one today – and our last full day here before joining the Ship tomorrow! We’re off to take a ride in The Singapore Flyer and then Lunch at the Sands SkyPark that takes in some spectacular views of the Bay. This is an interesting and newish attraction (opened in 2008), standing …
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Day 2: Singapore – Gardens by the Bay/Afternoon Tea
Ahh, good news for the citizens of Singapore! The removal of the Kevlar from my side of the mattress made all the difference, and unlike yesterday, I slept well. No more ‘Mr Grumpy’! ..and it looks like another hot, sticky one is on the cards today! Today, the main events are: first – the Gardens …
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Day 1: Singapore – Singapore Zoo
One of us slept well, the other is Mr Grumpy (because they didn’t!) It was either the time-zone change, the Kevlar-coated mattress, or a mixture of both! Back to the itinerary! Today, it’s Singapore Zoo for us – luckily, as visitors!! We haven’t been here since our first visit to Singapore, 32 years ago! and …
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Passport to SOMEWHERE
It was a day-out with a difference today, with our good friends, David and Valerie. The location was known only to them, and all we were told was: “Be ready for 8am, wear outdoor clothes and bring your Wellingtons. Oh.. and your passports”. The reason? To celebrate Ann’s Birthday and mine (well in advance). Lovely …
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A Bunch of Amateurs
The Stratford Players desperately need King Lear to be a success or it will be their last ever production, and their theatre will be demolished for redevelopment. Maybe a big box office star can help? Enter from stage-left, one Jefferson Steele: Hollywood action hero, currently between his film-franchises and encouraged to play his very first …
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Rail Watching
It’s been about two-and-a-half years since we last visited York – my Birthday weekend in 2015 – so it was good to visit this fine City again today. As an extra bonus, we met up with Dennis and Sandra who acted as our ‘tour guides’ for the day!We drove over to Peterborough Station to catch …
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All Things Brighton Beautiful
Sorry! The title was Ann’s idea! I’ve clearly got competition!!! Another one of our long(ish) weekends! This time, it’s a return to Brighton, where we haven’t visited for over ten years! The plan is to do as much as possible over the next few days, taking in as many of the local attractions as our …
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St Albans 2017
We drove over to Bedford today and planned to hop on the train for the short ride to St Albans. However, Fate had other plans for us as the car-park was completely full and we couldn’t find anywhere else nearby with a long enough parking period. Instead we braved the M1 and drove to St …
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Long Weekend with Ralph & Karen
Ralph and Karen are staying with us until Sunday! Yay!!! Thursday Ralph and Karen arrived just before lunch and after a quick nibble, it was off for a sight-seeing afternoon around picturesque Stratford-upon-Avon… …we dropped into Rick’s place – Hathaway Tea Rooms for a quick nibble, but no sign of Rick though! (That, unbeknown to …
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Museum Piece
Time for a bit of education today and to catch-up too with a good friend from my work-days! Stuart and I collaborated on quite a few video projects ‘back-in-the-day’ and we always had a lot in common – more especially our love for anything Gerry Anderson! Today, was our mutual love for anything to do …
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London Calling!
It’s been a while since we did this – and we’re certainly packing it in – a short two-day break to the Capital! Deep breath, and here we go! …Train from Bedford… …a brief meeting with Chris, our Financial Adviser… …dump our bags at the Hotel… …Champagne Lunch at the Ritz (thanks Roger, Jane and …
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Two Burghley Blokes
…and two gorgeous gals! We met up with Sandra & Dennis today. Having previously met them on their turf in Hull back in May, today, it was our turn to give them a taste of our neck of the woods – and so we met in Stamford. We arrived around 9.40 and they arrived just …
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Shuttleworth Heritage Day 2017
We love Planes! So, meeting up with Chris and Gill today at Shuttleworth for the Shuttleworth Heritage Day was a great idea! I can’t believe that we’ve never been here before – it’s only a 45 minute drive away! The weather wasn’t up to much, but that didn’t dampen our enjoyment of the event. There …
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