Nicki joined us today. We started off by doing nothing much at all, just chilling-out before staying local and looking for a possible replacement car for Ann. Nothing wrong with the Fiesta, but as we’ll be down to just one car from next week – and for the foreseeable future – we wanted to try …
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Category:Days-out
Review: Jeff Wayne’s ‘The War of the Worlds’
We drove over to the NIA tonight to see the new re-scored performance of the War of the Worlds album by Jeff Wayne. Background Since the Album’s launch in 1978, it had become a big hit for fans ‘of a certain age’ who also enjoy concept albums (that’ll be me then!). If you liked Albums …
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Stamford – Here we come
We picked up David and Val and headed for Stamford. We’re spending today and Sunday morning with Nick and Celina. Weather looks horrible, but I’m sure we’ll make the best of it. Luckily for us, the weather brightened up and after a few circuits of the car-park, we all met-up and headed for The Crown …
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Christmas Shopping: Milton Keynes
Today we’re on a mission – a mission to finalise the Christmas pressies. We picked up Lee just after 8am (!!!) and headed for Milton Keynes, where we joined Nicki for a joint operation. We arrived in good time – just a few minutes before John Lewis opened and huddled outside until the shutters went …
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5ive Go To Stratford
Can it be 10 years since we collaborated in the British Airways training project? Err, no! The anniversary was actually last year, but trying to get all of the core Trainers together in one place, on a specific date, was as challenging as herding cats! So, after a few exchanges of emails, five of us …
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“Ahoy there!”
We drove down the Roger, Jane and Oliver’s last night in preparation for our trip to see the newly restored Cutty Sark at Greenwich today. After breakfast on Saturday, we took the short drive to Harlow Town station and that took us to Stratford Station where we jumped on the DLR to Cutty Sark. The …
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Can you see us?
Just before the BBC transmitted the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday at 9pm, there was a short (two minute) ‘countdown’ programme. Ralph just alerted me to the fact that if you look closely, you can see us gearing-up for the celebration. The programme is currently available on iPlayer and our fifteen (milli)seconds of fame is …
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Olympic Weekend – Sunday
Well this is THE main reason we’re in London – the Olympic Closing Ceremony which starts at 7.30 tonight. 09.30am: The day started well with us heading down to the restaurant to be greeted by about the most positive and energetic person I think I’d ever met (at breakfast anyway !) Dwayne, clearly was …
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Olympic Weekend – Saturday
We caught the 9.56 from Kettering into St Pancras International for our once-in-a-lifetime Olympic weekend. We were lucky enough to secure four tickets for the Closing Ceremony and we’re meeting Ralph and Karen as soon as we arrive . The train arrived on time and as we trundled into St Pancras, we only waited a …
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London Calling
I met up with Keith (an ex-committee member from the OCA) for our annual get-together today. We met at London Bridge station (which seems to have changed out of all recognition, since I was last there). With the Olympics going on, the station was heaving, but luckily there was plenty of Olympic Volunteers on hand …
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Coughton Court
We drove to Ian and Ann’s for lunch today. The weather had been a bit mixed but we were lucky enough to eat outside. Alice was there and later, Dermot and Caroline arrived complete with the twins. After lunch, the four of us took the short drive to National Trust’s Coughton Court, about a 10 …
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Chatham Dockyard – Scorchio!!
I think today was one of the sunniest days this year. It was pushing 24 degrees by the time we got to Chatham – perfect! Chatham Dockyard has a proud history, starting with building the famous Victory there! It was a pretty good journey there to including my first trip on the High Speed train …
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Derby Day
Nicki joined Lee, Ann and I today and we took the 10.30 train to Derby. Weather started off pretty bad – rain, rain and more rain – but then cleared-up to leave a bright sunny day. We arrived into Derby station (after a quick change at Leicester) around an hour later. The shopping area was …
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Pre-Easter Break: Day 5 (Tuesday)
A beautifully bright morning that seemed to contradict the general weather forecast – lucky for us!!! It’s our penultimate day here at the Cottage, so we’re going to cram in as much as we can into our day. To start with, we’re off to Marlborough. Parking was easy as it was literally in the centre …
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Pre-Easter Break: Day 4 (Monday)
A frosty night here, but it looks as though it might warm up later. We’re off to Cirencester today- it’s only a short drive away and hopefully it doesn’t include any mega-complex roundabouts like yesterday! On the way there, we stopped off at the Barn in Great Coxwell – a 13th century, err Barn that’s …
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Pre-Easter Break: Day 3 (Sunday)
Today it’s Cardiff, by train. And what a bargain – £6.50 return each from Swindon! Heading towards Swindon Station was an interesting challenge! First, there was the infamous ‘magic roundabout’ – a mini-roundabout surrounded by five err, mini-roundabouts to navigate around. Good job it was a Sunday, as it took me a few revolutions to …
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Pre-Easter Break: Day 2 (Saturday)
We woke-up to a very misty morning here although the forecast is for a dry but cold day. And cold it was – f-f-f-f-freezing!!! As we boarded the Park and Ride it felt like Winter! After the short trip into Oxford, we got off the bus right opposite the Westgate Centre – perfect! After a …
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Pre-Easter Break: Day 1 (Friday)
Here we are staying at The Old Stable Lodge on the Coleshill Estate, Oxfordshire, courtesy of The National Trust. We arrived just after 11, quickly unpacked, had a quick look round the place and then headed out to Faringdon for lunch and a bit of exploration. We took a short walk around shops there and …
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Cambridge with Nicki and Lee
Nicki joined us for our day in Cambridge. As it turned out, the weather was just perfect – probably the warmest so far this year – 22 degrees – lovely!!!! We left around 11.30 heading for one of the Park-and-Rides. This was our first use of the service and we didn’t have to wait long …
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Lunch with Denis and Bev
There’s cool weather, cold weather, freezing weather and TODAY! When Ann, Lee and I left for Lincoln, Ann’s car was saying it was –8C outside – it certainly felt like it and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so cold. As we drove a few miles through Weekley, the gauge plummeted to –11C. That’s right …
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Nut Cracked and Balls Busted!
OK, a straightforward Saturday then. Drive to Kettering station, park the car, grab the train to London, get a cab to the Royal Opera House, see The Nutcracker. Job done! Err, no! We got the station in good time, to see around 200 people waiting for a train to London on platform 3! Something was …
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Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Monday
We were up fairly sharpish this morning as it’s check-out day, and we need to be away by 9.30. As we’re down this way, we dropped into Jonathan and Mel’s who live in Devizes for a cuppa before we see them at the Wedding. The it was ‘hammer-down’ heading home as Ann’s got a wedding …
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Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Sunday
I woke up to sound of loud thumping – then realised it was just my head! Predictably, the lethal cocktail of fruit gin and fruit vodka had wreaked its revenge and all I could think about was ‘steamrollers’, ‘hammers’ and ‘paracetemol’!! Note to self: These drinks are NOT a smart way to get your ‘five-a-day’!!!! …
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Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Saturday
After a good night’s sleep and a beautiful sun-rise, we’re ready to take on the world – well, the City of Bath anyway! But first of all, breakfast: Toast, home-made jams, Scrambled egg, tea, coffee, juices – a perfect start to the day. Then it was off to Bath. The journey started well enough but …
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Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Friday
Here we are in Long’s Park Castle south of Melksham – we’re here until Monday. We were last to arrive (around 8pm), but we had a great journey from home. Leaving around 5.30, we covered 165 miles in under two-and-a-half hours averaging just under 40mpg. Because we were so late leaving, we reckon we missed …
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Ralph and Karen’s for Lunch
We drove up to Matlock today to join Ralph and Karen for lunch. On the way to lunch, we visited the Leawood Pumphouse between Cromford and Lea – and it was one the few days it was actually operational – super stuff especially as it’s maintained and staffed by volunteers. We tried The Bear in …
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Saturday in London – Ann’s Night at the Opera (Part 2)
After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we headed off towards the Tube switching into tourist mode (sharpening elbows and deleting ‘excuse me’ from our personal dictionary). Weather-wise, it’s a lovely warm day down here – perfect! First stop was the V and A. We haven’t been there for quite a few years, and it …
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The Long Weekend starts here…
We took the 1.30 out of Kettering and got into St Pancras just after 2.30. The weekend has started well as we checked into the St Pancras Grand Hotel (and blagged a free upgrade!). We’re in room 425 with a view of the British Library from our window – nice! We decided to jump on …
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Babies and Ronseal! – Ed Byrne at The Castle
We drove over to The Castle in Wellingborough with David and Val and met up with Jo and Janet there. We haven’t seen Ed Byrne since the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2008 – he was great then, and he was great tonight. I’ll never forget (and I don’t think the audience will ether) his story …
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Birthday Weekend – Aborted!
SATURDAY Well, the weekend started very well – a sunny day, and we’re almost in October. David, Val, Lee, Ann and I are all ready for a bit of a celebration with David and my birthday within a day of each other. Everything was planned, and all we needed to do was to enjoy what …
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