We Palmers don’t live in each other’s pockets, and so we don’t get together like this all that often. When we do, it’s always an extra special occasion meaning there’s plenty of news to catch up with!

Living on opposite sides of the capital doesn’t help much in choosing a convenient location, especially for us, where previous journey times by car over the years has gone from a fairly pleasant 100 minutes-or-so to more like 150 minutes! So, in a blinding attack of the ‘bleeding obvious’ we’ve decided to try and meet halfway BY TRAIN for this one. A route into London that works out to be about an hour for both parties. Happy days then, and I can’t figure out why it’s taken us this long to arrive at this solution

So, here we are in St Pancras International Station – and one of the few remaining Carluccio restaurants.

Having caught the Train just after 11am, it turned out to be very busy going down to the capital meaning we had to stand all the way. Thankfully, it was ‘first stop, St Pancras’ and we arrived inside the hour including the obligatory ‘issue’ (a ‘track inspection’) that added a further 10 minutes to our journey.

Still, it wasn’t as if we had to walk far! Five minutes later, we were negotiating with the Duty Manager of Carluccio’s for the best position for our table of six. Neil, Debbie, Alfie and Frankie arrived shortly after, and we were soon seated and catching up with all that had been going on in our respective worlds since we last did this three years ago!

That long period didn’t matter, and we were soon ‘gassing away’ testing the waiter’s patience, who just wanted to take our order!

There was plenty of choice on the menu, although I was quite surprised that it wasn’t busier. Last time I was here, about five years ago, it was heaving (but that was a weekday).

Actually, I’m surprised that we had any time for the food, as the conversation was in full flow most of the time – where the chewing just got in the way!! . I’d say the food was ‘OK’ rather than anything further up the ratings scale, but it was delivered with a mile and the service was efficient.

The time flew! One minute we were giving each other welcome hugs and next, we were checking the bill. It had been a great catch-up, and we tentatively agreed to do it all again later this year, with the excuse of my significant birthday as the reason – not that we needed one! .

We said our goodbyes and headed off to our respective platforms. For us, it was a better and faster journey north to Kettering on one of EMR’s newer rolling stock. Unlike our journey in, it was a hassle-free trip out, and we were soon arriving into ‘first-stop’ Kettering Station, meaning we were home by 4.45pm. On reflection, the travel arrangements (by train) had proved to be a smart decision for both parties, and this could well be the solution that makes it easier to see more of each other – if that’s the case, “Happy Days”

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 Palmers Reunited appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Here’s my annual jottings for Christmas week, 2025…

After what seemed a manic period taking us up to this week, we somehow managed to get ourselves really well-organised this year, where in the week before this one, it all seemed very relaxed – just what retirement should be about (but it seemed to have eluded us in previous years)! I’m not sure what we did differently, but long may it continue!

Monday, 22 December

5.25am: Up with the birds this morning!

8.45am: A early start on the road and probably our final business-type get-together, as we headed for the opulence of the Holiday Inn Express near Oxford! The reason? Our annual review with our IFA, Chris.

10.05am: As the traffic was light, we enjoyed as hassle-free journey, and meant we arrived in record time.

2.31pm: The journey home was uneventful, and although ‘Doris’ took us on a different route home – via Buckingham – adding about 20 minutes to our overall journey time, we were soon indoors and tucking into cheese & biscuits. With the grotty weather outside (cold and wet!), we caught up with some jobs inside the house.

4.55pm: Heard from Jo, my walking buddy, and we took a quick walk around the immediate area.

5.35pm: Curry Night, thanks to some additional bits from Jo and Janet

6.25pm: Slumped in front of the TV watching Beyond Paradise and then the finale of The War Between Land and Sea.

Tuesday, 23 December

5.30am: Another early rise!

6.20am: Ann’s off to the Spool

10.35am: A busy morning followed! First job? Brief the Plasterer who will be sorting out our bedroom ceiling as part of the decorating project in early 2026. Then a shed load of ironing and a thorough vacuuming of the house. Ann got stuck into the packing for our few days away, whilst David and I pursued more manly challenges! That challenge began my first foray into installing the new TV bracket in the Bedroom.

It looked like a simple task, but turned out to be more complex than we thought (don’t they always!). Why? Just our luck that one of the support brackets that screwed into the back of the TV (that would eventually attach to the bracket shown above) was impeded by the various sockets on the rear of the TV. Cue some serious hacksawing! Thirty minutes later, it was mission accomplished, thanks to David’s superior hacksawing skills!

Thanks David! Now all we needed to do was to work out the exact positioning on the wall for this serious piece of metalwork, that somehow also needs to conceal the Sky mini-box and other vital componenets – definitely a two-person job! . Well, we made serious progress, but it’s definitely NOT a job I’m going to complete this side of Christmas, as I need to give some serious thought to the fact that the bracket sits on a plasterboard wall. Stay tuned, as they say, more DIY news to come!

12.45pm: After a quick Lunch, Ann headed off to Sue’s for her last piece of voluntary work before the big day. Meanwhile, I pottered about, attempting to complete some bits and pieces that seem to have been hanging around for ages – mostly paperwork.

4.45pm: Ann arrived back from Sue’s just as I was on my way out.

4.55pm: Walkies with Jo!

5.45pm: It was a cold one out there, much colder than Monday. Fortunately, Ann had prepared Dinner, and we were soon tucking into Bangers, Mash with Cauliflower Cheese. Yummy!

6.30pm: A night in front of the TV – Cadfael, (S1, Ep 1) and Madame Blanc Christmas Special.

Christmas Eve

5.25am: Up before the birds again this morning for no other reason than (unusually) neither of us slept very well! .

6.15am: Ann headed off to the Pool whilst I prepped Brekky and then caught up with tonight’s EastEnders on iPlayer – a worthy cliff-hanger for Christmas Eve! Who is she?

9.35am: Being Christmas Eve meant that today was mostly about cleaning – cars, house, bathroom… and even US! . Weather-wise, it wasn’t the best day for sprucing up the cars, but needs must, as they say – and I dug out my thickest coat and a pair of fashionable Marigolds! It wasn’t a good look, but it was a practical one

Midday: With the cars sorted, it was time to revisit our Bedroom TV bracket project! Having spent some valuable time with David yesterday working out what is going where, today was about precision. With the need to not only accommodate the TV, AND the new TV bracket, I also needed to fit in the Sky Q Mini-Box and my Amazon Firestick. That meant in addition to all that hardware, I’ll also need to factor in three mains sockets. I hate visible cabling, so it all has to fit behind the Telly, so that only the TV is visible from the front. Yikes! A real challenge – where even now, I’m not sure it’s all going to fit! Still, a bit more measuring, where at least on paper (or more accurately, wallpaper) it seems it might all work.

And then there’s the additional challenge of choosing the right fixings given that the bracket sits on a plasterbaord wall. Those who know me, know that I love a challenge (but also that any DIY job is NOT how I prefer to spend my time!) . Enough of this for today.

1.15pm: A well-earned Lunch for us two, having cleaned the house within an inch of its life!

Some TV followed – a catch-up with the national and international News followed by the film: Babe. THEN, whilst Ann took a short siesta, I watched(for the umpteenth Christmas) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – excellent, harmless fun for a time when humour was a lot simpler!

5.35pm: Let the celebrations begin! We took the short walk down to Jo and Janet’s for pre-Christmas nibbles! What a perfect way to start things off before the big day!

A couple of generous glasses of G&T got things off to a great start where the pre-nibble, err, nibbles got a hammering. Thanks, girls, you remembered I like ‘Bugles’

…followed by the main event!! Yum yum!!

The M&S novelty chocs raised a festive smile. As you opened the lid to plunder the contents, it played a Christmas tune (thus preventing any secret pilfering at a later date!)

The good food and plentiful drinks allowed us to easily put right all the world’s problems! . Our various ramblings discussions resolved topics as broad as: the pros and cons of Tattoos; the trustworthiness of Facebook and also answered two key questions: ‘Why Botox?’ and ‘Who will replace Tess & Claudia on Strictly’?. Lofty stuff, ehh?!

Christmas Day

Morning all! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

6.05am: A lie in this morning!

6.30am: Today, I am mostly being a taxi!

7.17am: I dropped Ann off at the Park Hotel for her daily exercise.

8.20am: Mrs P safely retrieved from the Hotel!

8.55am: This year, the unwrapping of gifts was a game of two halves! We exchanged pressies and cards to each other, and left the remaining gifts for when we get back tomorrow.

9.50am: Later, we taxied down to Roger, Jane & Oliver to spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day with them.

11.20am: Unsurprisingly, there was hardly anything on the road today as we headed south – and we arrived in just under 90 minutes.

After ‘hellos’ and hugs all round, we were soon tucking into some traditional Christmas fare and catching up with everyone’s news.

12.45pm: Nice touch! . Roger served up some Pre-Lunch bubbles!

2.10pm: Christmas Lunch 2025! Wow! What a feast! You just can’t beat Christmas Lunch with the Gambles organising things!! . Super-tasty!

Absolutely delicious and we’re stuffed! The Cheese Course can wait!

5.10pm: Present swapping with an open fire and a cuppa! – Perfect!

Let the paper ripping begin!

6.05pm: A great selection of gifts – thanks folks!

Unwrapping presents was thirsty work! Time for a liquid break. Roger introduced me to the Palmer’s range of Ales (brewed in Dorset). I’d not sampled their wares before, and the Dorset Gold went down a treat. Even Mrs P liked it! . Ann? Beer? Surely some mistake!?

7.35pm: More food in the shape of the ‘paused’ Cheeseboard from Christmas Lunch was now on offer, and I somehow managed to squeeze some in.

7.45pm: Film Night!!! Paddington 2.

A good choice and perfect for this over-full, somewhat lethargic audience! I don’t think I need to eat for another week (yeah, right!)

After the film ended, we spent the rest of the evening just chatting. This and that, but in the end, our conversations turned to an extended natter about EVs and the current market.

10.55pm: A late one for us, but it had been a really enjoyable day just catching up with, and enjoying the whole ‘family gathering’ tradition – surely that’s what Christmas is for! . We made some brief plans for tomorrow, including a walk around the local area punctuated by, as usual, some really good food.

11.10pm:

Boxing Day

7.55am: Morning all! We both slept well and didn’t get up until just before 8 – it must be Christmas!

10.00am: We decided to take a walk before any more food passed our lips!

We wandered in the direction of The Maltons (‘Ware’s finest Gastro-Pub’) – but didn’t stop – and then onward to the iconic Hanbury Manor with its stunning views out across the countryside.

10.55am: Phew! That was a cold one! Colder than it looked

11.15am: Brunch is served!

12.25pm: Is there such a thing as ‘Boxing Day’ presents? There is, in our world, and we followed the tradition!

As always, some useful gifts to us all – from us all!

Before we said our goodbyes to our Hosts, there was just one last ritual to enjoy. This was the unveiling of Jane’s Christmas Cake (always a yummy treat!)

1.05pm: With a generous slice carved from this year’s festive masterpiece to take home, we then said our goodbyes and headed home.

Saturday, 27 December

A lazy-ish day today with Ann playing to her strengths and busy in the kitchen, and me doing some odd jobs around the house. As I sat down to complete this Christmas Post, I realised that technically, something was wrong! . Adding text was fine, but for reasons unknown, I now couldn’t upload any new images (images already uploaded were fine!). I spent a significant amount of time attempting to resolve it, but nothing seemed to help. And, with my web host’s technical support team not available until January 2nd, things were unlikely to improve in the short term

I decided to give it all a rest and have another go tomorrow.

3.05pm: Elsewhere, with most of the domestic tasks now completed, we decided to have a marathon ‘Festive TV’ catch-up session, watching as much as we could that had been recorded over the Christmas period.

9.15pm: By the time we went to bed, our eyes were completely square! . Still plenty left though!!

Sunday, 28 December

Morning all! . With our eyes returning to their normal shape, the day unfolded. Jo & Janet are joining us tonight for a TV Dinner, so there are things to do.

Disappointingly, absolutely no progress at all in resolving the technical issue with this Blog, so I decided to abandon writing the Post completely and publish what I have, as-is. It was hardly ideal, as I do like to keep a detailed record of these occasions, but my options were limited – pictures tell a thousand words, ehh? I may back-fill Friday’s content using the photos I took on Boxing Day once this all gets resolved, but for now, I’m not adding any new content other than what is already penned. On a positive note, this Post was due to be published at the end of today anyway, so there’s minimal ‘loss’.

In all the years I’ve been blogging (since 2004!), this is a first, and it’s very frustrating! . I’ve got a big Post planned for early in January to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and I do hope it can all be resolved by then.

6.00pm: Jo and Janet popped round for one of our ‘Winner, Winner, TV Dinner’ get-togethers (like, we need even more food!) . Tonight’s choice? F1- The Movie starring the ever-youthful, Brad Pitt.

Christmas TV 2025

As usual for us, Christmas TV played a large part in our Christmas celebrations. Our Sky Q box was therefore kept pretty busy – even whilst we were away.

= Don’t bother
= Only if there’s nothing else to see!
= Not bad!
= Worth a watch!
= Loved it!

A Ghost Story for Christmas . Top stuff, Mr Gatiss!

All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special . Aww! A real festive one!

All Creatures Great and Small (Behind the Scenes) . A bit of a ‘Luvvie Fest’ for me, but it gave some interesting facts about the series

Amadeus (new series from Sky). Still to watch

Beyond Paradise Christmas Special . A bit cheesy, but quite watchable

Call the Midwife Christmas Special . Disappointing! Would they really send Nuns all the way to Hong Kong?

Carols from Kings. Still to watch

Death in Paradise Christmas Special . Lost a tick for the uber-complex plot making it feel a bit daft.

EastEnders Christmas Episodes . Higher production values these days. ‘Nigel’s’ dementia storyline, nicely handled. The Queen Vic continues to be the most dangerous Pub in the UK

Festive Pottery Throwdown. Still to watch

Gone Christmas Fishing . Excellent! Simple format but so watchable!

Good Ship Murder. . Only if you’re desperate. So bad, it’s actually, err,… VERY bad!

Great Festive British Sewing Bee. Still to watch

Great Peep Show Festive Bake Off . Better than we thought it would be!

Madame Blanc Mysteries . Even better than usual. Slight deviation from the usual ‘whodunit’ storyline

Return to Paradise Christmas Special . Still not sure about this as an ongoing part of the ‘Paradise’ franchise, but this episode was quite watchable

Royal Institute Christmas Lectures. Still to watch

Royal Carols – Together at Christmas . Very festive!

Stuffed (One-off comedy drama) . Oh dear! I was really looking forward to this – an original comedy-drama with a Christmas theme. Really disappointing given the acting talent involved.

The Apprentice Christmas Special . Dire! Gave up a quarter way through episode 1 (of 2)

The King’s Christmas Broadcast . Short and to the point, it was well presented

The War Between the Land and Sea (finalé) . Not quite as good as I was expecting. A bit clichéd and the ‘message’ as subtle as a sledgehammer

What We Were Watching . Good nostalgic fun! They don’t make ’em like this any more (shame!)

Christmas Would I Lie to You? . Very good!

Films
Double Indemnity . A great film!
F1 – The Movie. Still to watch
Invitation To Murder – A Death in Cairo . Better than we thought it would be
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. Still to watch
Stargate Continuum. Still to watch
The Count of Monte Cristo. Still to watch
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation . Brilliant! Chevy Chase at his best

Plenty still to plough through, but for the first time ever, I think we were both underwhelmed with 2025’s Christmas TV offerings. Maybe it’s because we’re older and ‘we’ve seen it all before’, but there was a serious lack of originality for 2025. What we saw was mostly good, but it was ‘the same old, same old!’ . Hopefully, 2026 will be better!!

Christmas Past…

2024
2023
(Christmas mostly cancelled
due to my hand injury!)
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

…and so, probably for the last time in 2025…

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 Christmas 2025 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It’s that time of year again – time to catch up with our recently discovered cousins and nephews. In fact, these get-togethers are turning into a regular (and very enjoyable) ‘gathering of the clans’.

Gathering of the Clans!

2024 – Windsor
2023 – Hatfield House
2022 – Hampton Court
2021- Kew Gardens
2021 – Shuttleworth Collection

This year, it was the iconic Knebworth House with the added bonus of back to Roger and Jane’s afterwards for a light nibble.

These days, the House is probably best known as a venue for mega-musical performances, but for those wanting a less noisy backstory, there’s a good (and short) history lesson HERE on their website.

We all met up there just after 11.30. This year, Chris and Kate couldn’t make it (Chris was working!) Whilst nephew Oli was in University-land, leaving the clan more of a ‘clanette’ today, starring Ali, Alison, Jake, Zidane, Sami, Roger, Jane and us two.

The weather couldn’t make up its mind – one minute, sunny and the next minute, chucking it down (the first significant rainfall for a good few weeks!). After a lengthy chat in the refuge of Knebworth’s Café, we were ready for the culture! £20 each for admission (with a small discount for us ‘oldies’) and cheap to book online ahead of your visit – their website is HERE.

Ann and I reckon it’s been 30 years or more since we were last here, and although it’s not unusual for me to remember none of the details of our days out – nor could Ann! . So, everything today felt like a new experience!

The House felt lived in (it is!) and there were plenty of Guides on hand to answer our questions – and based on just MY questions and queries, they certainly knew their stuff!

Good to see a place in such good condition inside, with a wide variety of ‘stuff’…

…even a first edition of A A Milne’s ‘Winnie the Pooh’ signed by the author (a long-time family friend, apparently) and his son, Christopher Robin.

Good to see they have a Preservation Trust too!

With our tour inside over (it took around an hour) we headed outside for the ‘Watchman Tower’. The tower was originally used by the night watchman, but had been out of use since the 1950s. It was re-opened in 2020 following extensive restoration. Visitors can climb the staircase (so we did!), which is made from oak from the Knebworth Estate, in order to reach the top viewing platform where you can enjoy stunning views of the local area.

The experience had been great so far (and the weather remained ‘kind’!). So, it was just the Gardens to look around? No, not quite! We almost missed it, but there was a further treat in store! It was a small exhibition – On Location – documenting Knebworth House and its extensive use across the film industry. And there was more! How about memorabilia of the many (many) pop concerts from here?

That was impressive and deserved more space! Now it was time for the Gardens…

In truth, the flowers were probably past their best, but it didn’t prevent us from enjoying a very relaxed Sunday stroll around a quaint English garden! Then it began to rain!! How English!

We probably stayed longer than we imagined we would, but it had been really worth it – even with the ‘variable’ weather. It was then back to Roger & Jane’s for a whopping great Afternoon Tea. Great food followed – and so did the rain, forcing us all indoors to finish our feast. The gifts of Baklava went down a treat too! (Thanks, Ali and Alison!)

As our early evening came to an end, thoughts turned to our next clan collective! After much debate and discussion, we shortlisted: ‘Tower of London’, ‘Greenwich’ and a few other London-centric locations.

A longer-than-usual journey home followed, due the Black cat roundabout remodelling (‘Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet Improvements’ to give it its full title), meaning the A1 was shut northbound – cue a much longer journey north involving the A10!

Thanks everyone! Great to catch up – see you on the next one!

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 Cousins Catchup 2025 – Knebworth House appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Merry Christmas! After last year’s aborted efforts to celebrate due to me seriously lacerating my left hand on the Friday before Christmas (and subsequent operation on Christmas Day, 2023) we’re looking forward to this Christmas, even more so than usual!

As the week leading up to Cbig day began (Christmas Day was on a Wednesday, this year), it was to be a week of catching up with friends and family…

Sunday, 22nd December

A very relaxed day. Time to catch up with our reading and to schedule all the Christmas programmes into the Sky Q box. We were looking forward to the Carol Concert later.

See my separate Post HERE for this year’s Carol Concert.

Monday, 23rd December

A super-chilled day where we invited Conor over to ours for Lunch He’s on leave from the Army until well into the new year, and it was great to catch up with all his news. It wasn’t a traditional festive meal – pizza and chips, but at least the napkins had a festive feel to them!

The rest of the day was spent on the mammoth task of wading through our Sky Q ‘festive’ recordings that have been growing over the past few weeks!

5.02pm: In the evening, I met up with Jo and we continued our daily walk routine. It felt good to be able to keep up the walking routine!

Tuesday, Christmas Eve

In the morning, Ann baked a cake and I cleaned the car! (living the dream, ehh!?)

2.20pm: More eating and more catching-up with friends today! This time, in the afternoon, it was over to Rosi and Dave’s for an extensive Buffet with our friends.

4.50pm: A brisk walk back to ours followed, attempting to work a few of the calories from the Buffet. . After a quick cuppa and some thorough testing of Ann’s cake, that she had made earlier. The only ‘serious’ job of the day? – we sorted out what we needed to pack for our two days away at Roger & Jane’s, tomorrow.

7.15pm: We finished the day watching the Doctor Who Proms. Much better than I imagined it would be having heard the same audio-only version earlier this year with Catherine Tate bloopering her way through her MC duties. Very disappointing back then, and she ruined the overall feel of the performance, IMHO.

Fast-forward to tonight and luckily, the bloopers seemed to be mostly tidied up in the edit suite (the character name is Ruby SUNDAY, not Ruby TUESDAY! Doh!!!) and tonight made for a very watchable and listenable concert, especially soprano Aida Garifullina whose voice was chilling and moving in equal measure (even if you’re not a fan of Who!)

9.05pm: Early night!

Wednesday, Christmas Day

5.47am: Merry Christmas! We were both awake early for no apparent reason! After a cuppa, Ann headed for the pool whilst I headed for breakfast!

9.15am: After Ann returned and after her light breakfast, we opened our presents.

Then it was off to Roger’s to be waited on hand-and-foot for the rest of the day and Boxing Day too!

10.52am: We’re off. I was expecting the traffic to be quite light being Christmas day, but the A14 (and especially the A1) were both quite busy. No hold ups though, and an hour-and-a-quarter later we’d arrived.

12.08pm: As we pulled in to the drive, the weather had remained mild and not a sign of rain! We were soon exchanging hugs and handshakes and getting unpacked.

We were soon settled in the Lounge and putting in our orders for drinks! . Whilst Ann opted for a sensible cuppa, I re-acquainted myself with an old friend – a bottle of Black Sheep Ale – a great start to the Christmas celebrations.

After a quick natter ‘righting the world’ (our first attempt today – more was to follow), it was lunch-time and we all headed for the kitchen – and a traditional Christmas Lunch.

1.25pm: What a feast! You really can’t go wrong with Roger & Jane on cooking duties and with Oli taking charge of drinks, the perfect Christmas Lunch unfolded…

Crackers completed the picture (with the jokes as corny as they come – but just how we like them!)

…but I was hopeless at assembling the ‘build your own Santa’ kit!

2.53pm: At just before 3, it was all over for another year, well almost. By a slim majority, we all decamped to the Lounge to watch the King’s Christmas Speech (on their rather excellent one-month-old 48″ OLED Samsung TV) accompanied by the Cheeseboard and a rather smooth 2019 Port. Perfect!

4.20pm: After the Speech, we returned to ‘putting the world right’ over a cuppa.

5.20pm: And then the highlight of the day (for me anyway!) – unwrapping our Christmas gifts to each other… From Oliver: 2 Guinness Tankards and 4 cans of Guinness to test them out! . From Roger & Jane: Tiptree Strawberry Gin, a Prisoner Graphic Novel and the DVD ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ (that completes my MCU 4K collection of DVDs) – until the next release! Thanks everyone! Spot-on gifts!

6.10pm: Forget the (heavily hyped) Gavin & Stacey finale, what we were all looking forward to was the latest Wallace and Gromit outing…

…and it didn’t disappoint! Superb animation, witty script and very ‘British’. Hat’s off to actor, Ben Whithead who has replaced the Late Peter Sallis as the voice of Wallace – an uncanny similarity!

7.20pm: More food in the shape of gammon sandwiches and a clever G&T that included frozen plum juice. Sounded strange, but tasted delicious!

9.35pm: With Ann flagging, we called it a night, leaving our hots to party on. What a great day!

Thursday, Boxing Day

7.01am: As usual, I was up first, catching up with the national news and writing this. Given the very pleasant conditions outside (well, it’s NOT raining) we’re all planning a walk later after breakfast.

10.25am: Boxing Day Breakfast awaits…

11.30am: As threatened planned – Boxing Day walkies!! A wander through and past Hanbury Manor in a loop and then down the hill to Thundridge Village.

Onwards to Thundridge…

We planned to get the annual family photo taking advantage of the good (ish) weather, but we never did!

12.55pm: Well, that certainly blew the cobwebs away! It had been the perfect weather for walking – but even nicer to return to a roaring fire!

As pleasant as it was outside, it was good to be back indoors! . We caught a little of the Boxing Day footy courtesy of Amazon Prime where we saw Fulham take on the mighty Chelsea – and win! 2-1!! We weren’t expecting that! Oli, (these days, an ardent Chelsea fan) was shocked!

3.14pm: Time for a late Lunch featuring the traditional cold-cuts complemented by a some yummy hot party food.

4.35pm: An excellent Lunch, but no Christmas would be complete without one of Jane’s Marzipan-laden Christmas Cake! Yes please! (twice!)

5.15pm: Time to catch up with some Christmas TV in the shape of 2024’s ‘Ghost Story for Christmas‘ from Christmas Eve. As usual, it was a creepy tale, again for this year, produced by Mark Gatiss entitled: ‘Woman of Stone’. A good 30 minutes of nerve-tingling story-telling.

5.50pm: Gosh! We nearly forgot! Boxing Day/Tree pressies! For me this year? A giant Toblerone from Ann and some beard moisturiser courtesy of R, J & O. Excellent!

6.26pm: With the traditions of Christmas fading fast, we ended the evening watching: ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare‘. A film by Guy Ritchie on Netflix that rivalled the John Wick franchise for body count (but was still surprisingly watchable and tastefully done, if that were possible!). Apparently, it was based on a true story! Ann retired early, feeling that she was going down with something horrible!

9.43pm: I turned in after the film ended to find Ann, upstairs, fighting-off the bugs! That didn’t bode well!! . It was our final sleepover tonight as we’ll be heading home after breakfast tomorrow.

Friday, 27th December

Good morning! A yummy breakfast was on the cards…

After breakfast, and after saying our goodbyes we headed home. It had been a great time at R, J & O’s for Christmas. Great food, great conversations and the weather even behaved itself too! Just a pity that Ann suffered towards the end.

11.58am: We were home around midday, after a slightly frustrating journey due to the ongoing improvements (of the improvements!) at the legendary ‘Black Cat’ roundabout. Ann went straight to bed whilst I headed for the local Aldi to pick up some essentials.

Saturday, 28th December

With Christmas almost over for another year (in our heads, anyway!), it was a day of clearing up and making room for all the gifts we received this. If, after reading this, you have the impression that all we did was EAT – you’d probably be right, so I was pleased that I only put on a couple of pounds over the festive period this year. I hear the words ‘Diet’ being suggested – yes, probably!

I’ve listed our usual annual Christmas TV watchlist below, and buried in it towards the end was an accidental discovery whilst browsing through Amazon Prime today (that was also shown at cinemas in November, but I somehow missed it). It’s an action comedy called Red One. If you like stories about Santa Claus, then this one, made this year – and still on at the cinema as I write this – it’ll give you that warm Christmas glow! Official reviews vary from ‘really poor‘ to ‘an enjoyable romp’, and it was certainly no classic, but if you fancy something a little different this year, it’s an enjoyable watch, whilst you finish off the last of the leftovers!

Just one last job… I popped round to John & Trish’s to set up their digital photo-frame, and then it was back home and feet-up for a short while.

4.40pm: I caught up with Jo for our evening walk. Drizzly and getting colder, but we both knew we needed to burn off some of those festive indulgences.

5.45pm: Back to watching Christmas TV! We finished the evening with the Chelsea Detective Christmas Special.

Christmas TV

As usual for us, Christmas TV played a large part in our Christmas celebrations. Our Sky Q box was therefore kept pretty busy – even whilst we were away.

= Don’t bother
= Only if there’s nothing else to see!
= Not bad!
= Worth a watch!
= Oh yes, very Christmassy!

All Creatures Great and Small – 1983 Christmas Special
All Creatures Great and Small – 2024 Christmas Special
A Christmas Carol (The Mark Gatiss Stage Production)
Beyond Paradise Christmas Special 2024
Call the Midwife Christmas Special (two-parter) (Is this running out of steam? It’s certainly not running short of graphic depictions of childbirth! Sugary sweet in a BAD way. Bah! Humbug!!)
Carols from Kings 2024
Christmas Ghost Story 2024 -Woman of Stone
Death in Paradise Christmas Special 2024 (New Copper!)
Doctor Who – The War Games (90-minute remastered episode). More information on my Blog HERE (Hats of the team for creating the ‘new’ regeneration scene!)
Doctor Who at the Proms 2024
Doctor Who Christmas Special 2024 – Joy to the World (Ultimately disappointing and I’m NOT warming to the new ‘Who’ character)
EastEnders Christmas Episodes (Even more tension than usual, but a well-put-together plot)
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale – Still to watch (but only to see what we missed – never really ‘got’ the attraction of this one)
Good Ship Murder Christmas Special (How did this get commissioned for another two series?)
Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas Special (Good story!)
Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Christmas Fishing (Simple and entertaining)
Outnumbered Christmas Special 2024 – Still to watch
Swan Lake – Still to watch
The Chelsea Detective Christmas Special 2024
The King’s Christmas Speech, 2024
The Red One (A surprisingly enjoyable Christmas Film)
Wallace & Gromit – Murder Most Fowl (Best programme this Christmas!)

So, that’s it for another year! My reindeer slippers are nearing the loft hatch and we’re planning to take down the decorations early new year – it seems to take so long to arrive, but is over in a flash! . Hope yours was a good one!

Christmas Past…

2023
(pretty-much ‘cancelled’ due to my hand injury!)
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

…and probably for the last time in 2024…

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 Christmas 2024 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It’s that time of year again! It’s our annual get-together with our cousins (from Ann’s side of the family).

We try and meet as a family group at least once a year around this time, where for 2024, we’ve picked the iconic Windsor Castle as the destination. Last time we were here was way back in May 2009 with Nicki, but we’re not expecting it to have changed very much!

Previous ‘Cousins Catchups’…
Shuttleworth (July, 2021)
Kew (October, 2021)
Hampton Court (July, 2022)
Hatfield House (June, 2023)

Windsor, as a destination, is a bit of a hike for us by car, and so we made a long weekend of it, staying in nearby Eton at the rather unassuming, Christopher Hotel.

Saturday

10.47am: We left home just after 10.45am. We had the route all mapped out, but the car sat-nav had other ideas as we approached the A43, as it took us on a scenic route avoiding the first five miles or so of our usual route! We put it down to a glitch associated with me updating the car’s maps yesterday, but that wasn’t it! We should have had more faith in the tech because as we emerged back onto the A43 some twenty-five minutes later, now on the other side of Towcester, we could see that the A43 ‘behind us’ was closed in both directions! Phew! Clever old sat-nav!

Hello Marlow!

12.55pm: From then on, it was a straightforward journey and just before Eton, we made a ‘pitstop’ of sorts – we stopped off in Marlow – about 30 minutes NW of our destination – or as we like to call it: ‘Poshville’. Being a Saturday. parking was a real challenge, but we eventually found the Sainsbury car-park and allowed ourselves two hours’ parking.

Everywhere in the town was busy! Clearly, ‘Poshville’ had got it right, and there was no sign of the oft-quoted line: ‘The High Street is dying!’

Why Marlow? Ann had never been here, whilst the last time I was here must have been the mid-80s for a client meeting. It seemed like a good place to stop and kill some time before we could check into our hotel in Eton after 2.30. But before all that – some Lunch! We chose ‘The Cedar’ for a light-bite. Another busy place but we found a table for two in the corner (right next to the loo!) – classy huh?!

A couple of Paninis later, we were all sorted and ready to explore Marlow’s High Street and the surrounding area.

It became obvious pretty quickly that this place attracted wealth. I saw more personalised number plates today that probably in my whole life – even two taxis were sporting them!! . We also saw at least three Art Galleries on our quick wander up and down the main drag – surely a sign of money?Kettering, this ISN’T! We therefore weren’t too surprised to NOT see a Primark and whilst looking at the prices of properties in a few of the Estate Agents confirmed that only the rich live around here! How does £2950 per week grab you as a rental or almost £3m for a house???

Wealth aside, Marlow is very picturesque – especially down by the river and there were plenty of people doing exactly the same as us, just wandering about, enjoying the scenery.

2.25pm: We said goodbye to ‘Poshville’ and headed towards Eton and our bed for the night via Slough – what a contrast!

2.57pm: It was a pretty straightforward journey to the hotel, with the only challenge being how narrow the hotel’s entrance was. Just our luck then, that as we passed through the arch, an Audi A4 was heading towards us. After probably the shortest ‘Mexican Standoff’ ever, he reversed, allowing us to drop into a parking space on the right. As luck would have it, it was OUR space for the next few days!

We were soon ‘plugged-in’ and checking in too!

After the short climb of a few stairs, Room 23 awaited us…

Our room was very well appointed! With a TV almost the same size as our bed and a bath so large, it should have had a lifeguard notice, we had all we needed for our short stay here – and more! A coffee machine, plenty of electrical sockets, a sizeable wardrobe, a dressing table, a decent electric shower and modern lighting throughout completed the picture. At around £170 per night including breakfast (and free EV charging too) we felt that it was great value, given the area (we found it via Booking.com)

4.15pm: With the unpacking completed (of which I played NO part) we decided to go exploring around Eton.

We turned right out of the hotel entrance and just 60 seconds later, we seemed to be crossing the small bridge (the Windsor-Eton Bridge aka Windsor Town Bridge aka Eton Bridge read all about its rich history HERE) across the Thames and were now actually in Windsor! I hadn’t realised how close to Windsor, Eton actually was. Some eateries, a few bookshops, a few Pubs and that was pretty much it! . Perhaps tomorrow, we’ll turn LEFT towards the famous Eton College to see what else this quaint town has to offer?

Certainly, Windsor’s main drag seemed a lot more familiar from my days working with clients in the area. Had it changed much? Well, YES! Based on (just) today, it seemed far busier, much noisier, a bit tatty in places and a lot more culturally diverse.

It certainly had a buzz about the place where just like Poshville Marlow, property seemed to be VERY expensive!

4.45pm: Whilst we were out and about, we decided to eat early. Windsor is certainly blessed with plenty of choiceS, but in the end, we chose The Ivy opposite Windsor Castle.

A good menu, great service and above all, our choices were DELICIOUS and well presented! Two courses later and with change from £75 (including drinks and a service charge) it all felt very reasonable!

5.55pm: We took the very pleasant short walk back to the Hotel where in the relatively brief time we’d been in the restaurant, the town had quietened down quite a bit. It was a beautiful evening too – pleasantly warm with a hint of a cool breeze! Also, whilst we’d been ‘refuelling’, Evie had been doing the same where in an example of perfect timing, as we approached the Hotel, the car pinged our phones to tell us it had fully charged!

7.05pm: A relaxing evening in front of the TV! Tomorrow we storm the Castle!

Sunday

6.45am: Morning! Up with the lark this morning! Well, not actually a lark…. but it did have wings! Possibly one of the few downsides of living in this area is that from 6am each day… every day… the sound of aeroplanes heading for Heathrow provides a natural alarm clock. I suppose the locals just ‘tune it out’ but if I was paying what they’re paying for their properties, I’d insist on a quieter start to my day! . As an American tourist once said: “How come they built Windsor Castle on the flight path to Heathrow Airport? Isn’t that kinda dumb?”

Ah, bless!

9.20am: We enjoyed the fullest of a ‘Full English’ to start our day before heading back to the room. Even during the short 10-metre walk to and from breakfast, we could already feel it was going to be a hot day ahead – cue plenty of lotion and a good job we packed hats!! . We had a bit of time to kill before meeting the family, so we turned LEFT out of the Hotel (towards Eton College) for an idle wander around. Not surprisingly, buildings related to the College dominated the skyline together with some truly ‘olde worlde’ shops.

10.45am: Next stop was the now familiar walk across the Bridge, across the road and up the hill towards Windsor Castle.

As we headed towards the Visitor Entrance, it looked as if we’d all arrived around the same time. After the quick hugs, kisses and ‘hellos’, we assembled for the obligatory group photo…

11.02am: With Kate taking temporary charge of us all and after canvassing views on what we wanted to see first – the votes were in! Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and then the State Apartments. Some of us picked up the free mobile-phone sized audio guides and these turned out to be extremely useful if you required a deeper level of detail about what was to come.

11.19am: Based on the length of the queue, it was clearly a popular choice! We debated whether to come back later, but in the end, decided to queue with the rest of mankind (a good decision, as it turned out, as by the time we were got to the front, the queue was three times as long!). Disappointingly, there was no photography allowed once inside (in spite of some people attempting to bend the rules!). So, in the absence of any pictures, long story short, Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House was built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924, for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. It’s 1:12 scale where everything has been crafted to an astonishing level of detail. I’m not an expert in such matters, but the attention to detail was phenomenally high and you can read more about it here.

Next, was the State Apartments. Again, no photography was allowed, and again, there were a few who tried (but were quickly and politely discouraged at lightning speed by the staff). As their title suggests, the State Apartments are a series of connected rooms. Visually, they have to be seen to be believed! Shiny and very blingy! Overall, this was an abundance of ‘obvious wealth’ featuring weapons, paintings, furniture, paintings, crockery and cutlery etc. In the absence of any pictures, take a look here for a sense of the size and scale. For that reason alone, it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it was very well presented and there was plenty to demonstrate ‘how the other half live’.

There is plenty to see, and you should allow at least an hour – maybe longer, if you’re a true Royalist!

12.45pm: As we took the gentle walk down the hill towards the exit, the day was now at its hottest. Pity the poor guy above then! , who didn’t move a muscle in spite of nuisances like me, trying to ‘get the shot’. It might have been distant thunder, but it was more likely to have been our tummies rumbling. Consequently, we then made plans for lunch. Some of us had brought picnics where the nearby River Thames beckoned (and was an obvious choice) whilst a few of us preferred somewhere cooler instead. Roger, Jane, Ann and I were in the second group and we headed for the nearest Pub in the shape of The Carpenter’s Arms, nearby.

1.05pm: Thankfully, it was beautifully cool inside, and we were soon seated and looking through the menu.

After this morning’s enormous breakfast, Ann and I opted for sharing a Starter (that’s a first!) – and it went down a treat! . Roger & Jane made it their treat and it was good to be in the cool, just chatting about ‘this and that’. After lunch we went off in search of the rest of the family. After a short period of confusion about their location, we all met up near the River for a walk.

2.10pm: It really was the perfect day for it, but where most of Windsor, it seemed, had the same idea! . After a while, thoughts of walking quickly turned to thoughts of ice-cream! and we went in search of such a place (that if we were lucky also had seating inside AND air-conditioning). We nearly gave up and having now wandered back across Eton Bridge and past our Hotel! We were almost about to give up as we got closer and closer to where Ann and I began our day – near Eton College. Luckily, we saw a family walking towards us enjoying the elusive item! A quick conversation followed, and we were soon quickening our pace towards ‘Tudor’s’.

2.28pm: Apparently Tudor’s is a bit of an institution (well, at least in Eton). Today it serves Burgers, Milkshakes and most important of all – Ice-cream – as well as other fine refreshments such as Haribos and Slush Puppies. It reminded me of a sophisticated school Tuck Shop where nutritional value wasn’t high on their Mission Statement! The shop apparently opened in 1799 and has been proud to serve the local community for all those years, including Eton College. All we knew was that we were quickly running out of options and there seemed to be enough different flavours of ice-cream for each of us to have something different AND inside was beautifully cool! In other words PERFECT – and we spent the next hour putting the world to rights!

3.35pm: Wow! What a day! We said our goodbyes on Eton Bridge and Ann and I wandered back to our Hotel after picking up some cold drinks along the way.

3.45pm: Back at The Christopher, we took advantage of the Hotel’s ‘free drink voucher’ and settled in the Bar, reflecting on the day, over a beer and a G&T!

4.05pm: Back in the room/feet up and absolutely no more food in any form for the rest of the day/An evening in front of the TV! . Tomorrow, after breakfast, we’re heading home!

What a fantastic long weekend!

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 Cousins Catchup 2024 – Windsor Castle appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Saturday the 17th

Time to meet up with our cousins (on Ann’s side) for another of our cultural days out! . Afterwards, we’re heading back with Roger, Jane and Oliver for a sleepover.

Today we met up at Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Sadly, Chris and Kate couldn’t make it as Kate had injured her leg whilst on holiday. The last time we all met up was at Hampton Court back in July, last year. We’d all planned to arrive for 11am, and just as we did, it began to rain!!!! . Luckily, just a spit!

Inside the House

We were last here in September, 2011, where for some reason, I’d noted that photography wasn’t allowed inside (so, no photos were taken inside, back then!). On reflection, that was surely an error on my part, as apparently, the only restriction today was NO FLASH.

I was so pleased to be able to take photographs inside! That ceiling was beautiful as were the rest of the exhibits.

Even the kitchen kettles were super shiny!

The Gardens

It was the perfect day for enjoying the Gardens here. Everything looked in great shape and complemented the house perfectly.

It was now close to 2pm and time for a quick bite! Attempting to get a table (for 10!) proved to be impossible and in the end, we just grabbed some sandwiches and a soft drink and commandeered an empty table a short distance from the restaurant.

The Woodland Walk

Our group walk was somewhat frustrating (although still enjoyable). We chose the ‘Yellow Route’ and headed in the direction of the first yellow chevron. Well, we thought it was the right direction. It clearly wasn’t! .

We retraced our steps, but in truth, that didn’t help much! In the end, we just turned around and headed back in the direction of the start of the route. We certainly wouldn’t have won any awards for our collective and individual navigation skills – but it was all good fun!

Worth mentioning that there’s a famous tree nearby. This is the one that Elizabeth I was sitting under, when she first heard she was to be Queen. In truth, the tree was a sorry affair and not very regal at all (to me, it looked almost dead!) with just a sprig of green foliage!

In a cross between mild frustration and mild exhaustion, we called it a day – and what a great day it had been. The initial rain, when we first met up, turned to nothing leaving us to enjoy a glorious sunny day (all part of a really hot week!). At just after 3, it was time to say our goodbyes, until the next get-together. We agreed to think about where we might go, and before we left, narrowed it down to Windsor Castle or maybe even Buckingham Palace!

Saturday Evening

We were back at R, J and O’s around 4.15. A chilled-out evening followed, beginning with a cuppa (with a small tub of ice-cream) – followed by a pint – whilst admiring the work they’d done on the front and the rear of the house.

Jane served up her homemade Cottage Pie followed by Strawberry Cheesecake – and as expected, it all went down a treat!

After our meal, we sat chatting, putting the world to rights, before crashing out around 10.30pm (these days, that’s late for us!)

Sunday the 18th (Father’s Day)

Heading for Hertford

We slept well and enjoyed a quick breakfast of Croissants, Toast and Jam before heading off to nearby Hertford.

Our destination? Hertford Brewery aka McMullen’s & Sons. Our hosts treated us to a tour around the Brewery. It was a popular event! Our 10am tour was now full, and it was the only one where they had any spaces.

The main man himself introduced the event – Fergus McMullen (soon to step down from his MD role and hand over the barrels to his son, Tom!). Fergus was probably the best speaker I’d heard in a long time – engaging, humorous and (obviously) very knowledgeable. We were shown around the factory itself, finishing with a free McMullen’s Tipple of Choice (I chose A&K 3.7%).

Lunch in Hertford

After the tour, we headed out into the town for a gentle wander around the shops, remarking on how much it had changed. The fine weather, together with today being Father’s Day, had certainly brought out the crowds – no sign of ‘death of the high street’ here!

Our next stop? Lunch at The Old Barge located at the head of the River Lea. Slightly oddly, it didn’t open until midday – and we were about 15 minutes early. We picked our table (Table 40) outside, with an umbrella, giving us the best of both worlds.

Whilst Roger and Ann chose the Sunday Roast, Oli, Jane and I opted for the Barge Burger. All delicious and served piping hot – and quickly! We declined desserts! .

Oli chauffeured us back to theirs before we said our goodbyes and we then headed home. It was a trouble-free journey and we were indoors by 3pm. Just in time too, because at 4.25, the heavens opened and it absolutely chicked it down. Looked like we made the most of the great weekend weather!

Roger, Jane & Oliver: Thanks for treating us – we had a great time!

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 Family Get Together – Hatfield House appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We drove over to The George in Buckden today. The reason? A celebration of brother-in-law Roger’s ‘significant’ birthday! The last time we were here was in April, last year, with Roy & Susan for a lunchtime catchup – and it was good to be back!

After a slightly torturous journey (the Sat-Nav) had a bit of a wobble, we arrived pretty much on the stroke of 1pm literally followed by Roger and Jane who were just a minute behind us arriving in the car-park.

The Restaurant was already pretty busy, but we were soon seated and looking through the menu. Service was efficient (and with a smile) and after placing our drinks’ order, we were catching up with each other’s news.

We soon picked from the menu and whilst the girls opted to go alcohol-free, Roger tucked into to an ‘Apple Pie’ cocktail whilst I was slightly more traditional -and hit the Stout. Starters all round, where three of chose the Prawns and Roger had the Goat’s Cheese & Caramelised Onion Tart. Mains were also an easy decision: Roger & Jane – Angus Roast Sirloin of Beef; Ann, the Garlic & Lemon Roast Chicken, whilst I tried the Pork Belly.

Only two of us made it to Dessert, with Roger tucking into their Chocolate Delisse with yours truly going for the Almond Tart with Toffee Ice-Cream. A great experience today with lots of time to chat surrounded by plenty of great good and great service – in other words, perfect! .

It was a long lunch too, and we didn’t leave until just after 3.30! — a good sign! . Thanks, The George, you were as good as we remember from last year! Great to see Roger & Jane too!

On the way home, we dropped into John & Trish for a quick catchup and to drop off John’s birthday presents.

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 Buckden Bound – The George appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Today we said goodbye to Cousin John De-Winter at Beckenham Crematorium. The last time we were here was in April 2014 for (my) Mum’s passing and whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to look at the Rose that we planted in her honour in their Remembrance Garden.

Given the travelling distance, we opted to drive down the afternoon before and stay over. The Bromley Premier Inn did us proud, where we were able to bag a room and breakfast for around £80. A bargain!!!

I recall (just about) Cousin John’s first wedding to Joyce back in 1966 – a gloriously sunny day where, as young sprogs, my brother and I spent most of the time after the Service running around outside enjoying the good weather! Over the years. I’d lost touch with John apart from exchanging Christmas Cards that on reflection, was a shame. John’s passing had been a bit of a surprise to us all in the family, John being in his late 70s and in reasonably good health.

Details of the funeral itself were a bit on the sparce side, but we did learn that was to be buried next to his second wife, Anne (who he lost to Cancer a long while ago).

RIP John!

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 RIP: Cousin John 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.

Hope you had a good one! This was our first Christmas, for a few years, without the threat of any Covid restrictions – and it felt good to be back to some form of normality. Yes, the dreaded virus is still around, but at least it appears, in the most countries, it’s under control. Not so in China though (where it supposedly all began) and where the Omicron variant has taken hold.

So, in keeping with tradition for the past ten-or-so years (in this house anyway), here’s our summary of our Festive activities over the Christmas period.

Unusually, given our penchant for travel, we had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here at home – just the two of us – a rare treat! Then, it was down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for Boxing Day plus a sleepover, returning home on the 27th after breakfast. All of that against the background of crippling strikes that reminded me of the 1970s – and NOT in a good way!!! .

Here we go…
(See you on the other side!)

December 23rd
(Friday)

After a thorough clean-up around the house, we rewarded ourselves with a slice of Jane’s excellent Christmas Cake! – thanks Jane! I’m amazed that we restricted ourselves to just a single slice!

5.05pm: Our evening walk – and a trip along Kettering’s Powell Lane to ‘appreciate’ one of the more brightly decorated properties in these parts!

A not-too-shabby 2.95 miles (4.75 km) that allowed us to feel marginally less guilty about tucking into a portion of M&S trifle on our return!

Christmas Eve
(Saturday)

7.42am: Morning! A Christmas miracle – It’s NOT raining!

Quite a few years in the making, but I learned that our current fave musical artiste – Ivan Torrent, released his latest Album today – Christmas Eve. I can’t recall the last time an Album was released at this time of year.

It’s an Album full of ethereal tracks using a full choir and big orchestra. Definitely, a piece best suited for those reflective moments in life – so maybe today WAS a suitable day for release!

8.32am: Briefly, an opportunity to catch up with a few of the Christmas TV programmes on SkyQ.

10.14am: Pain au Chocolat for brekky!

11.49am: A practice walk to the Church for tonight’s Service – and an opportunity to burn off some of that pastry! . Part of the walking route had been closed for a few weeks whilst they laid electricity cables, but it looks like they completed the work on time and the path was open!

1.05pm: A very relaxing afternoon listening to classical music, courtesy of Spotify.

2.23pm: Christmas Eve lunch!

It was really a dress-rehearsal for tomorrow’s Christmas Lunch – Roast Turkey Crown Pigs in Blankets, Cabbage, Brussels, Carrots, Potato Dauphinoise, Stuffing and homemade Cranberry Sauce – delicious!

3.45pm: A short siesta!

7.01pm: We watched ‘Royal Carols: Together at Christmas’ on the ITV and that added to our festive mood.

8.20pm: Then we toddled off to Jo and Janet’s for some nibbles…

9.04pm: This was lovely! Janet had laid on a good spread and Jo assumed the role of Bar-Keeper and assembled a wide range of drinks – including a number of unusual Gins. Helen (Jo’s Mum) and Sharon (Jo’s Sister) arrived shortly after us and we were soon all snuggled down in the Conservatory chatting about this-and-that punctuated by the coming and going of Oscar and Archie doing what cats do best – seeking out warm human laps, and hoping for scraps of food (err, ‘yes’ and ‘no’!).

Food-wise, the piece-de-resistance was Dessert (where there was no resistance whatsoever!!!). Courtesy of Mr Sainsbury, their Chocolate Tiffin Cracker went down a treat, but even I conceded that I couldn’t have manage more than a single piece! (and that’s rare for me if it contains chocolate!).

10.55pm: With the anticipation of the Church being busy (and parking being somewhat restricted because of the location) we decided to set off with time to spare. Janet and Helen left by car whilst Ann, Jo, Sharon and I decided to walk. En-route, we commented there was no-one around (but maybe not surprising, given the time). Then, it suddenly changed. As we continued our walk, we heard a group of voices just in front of us! Coincidences of coincidences in one of those ‘what were the chances?’ moments as we got closer, it turned out to be our next-door neighbours – Paul & Karen together with friends Bobby & Stella. They’d been out to celebrate Bobby’s birthday at the nearby Vines. What made it unusual, was that when we first saw them, they were coming from a house that we didn’t know, that wasn’t there’s!

In a true Christmas moment, they’d come across a poor soul, worse for wear in a semi-collapsed state in a bus-shelter and had escorted him to his home to ensure he got there safely! A lovely gesture

11.03pm: Arriving at St Botolph’s Church for their Midnight Mass, on the strength that we’d attended one of their Carol Services last year for the first time, and it was a really enjoyable event! We were surprised therefore to see that there was no issue with parking as there didn’t appear to be any extra traffic at all. Worse still, there didn’t seem to be many people (other than us) either!

11.10pm: OK, we were still quite early for the 11.30pm start, but things didn’t bode well – a complete absence of people! Just us, one other local, the pianist and the Vicar! Eeek!

11.30pm: By the time the Service started, attendance, thankfully, had picked-up, but it was disappointing to see only around 30 people in total. As the event progressed, it soon became clear that this wasn’t simply a Carol Concert – it was a full-on Mass (I don’t recall seeing that explained in any of the blurb). What we experienced, therefore, was an awful lot of praying, indispersed with some well-known Carols (rather than the other way around). The Vicar (please introduce yourself next time!) led us in prayer, but it was all a bit too ‘full on’ for me! The symbolic breaking of bread and the taking of wine certainly wasn’t my thing (even though I consider myself reasonably spiritual), so I stayed put, as did some others.

All-in-all then, the hour was a bit too heavy for me and although I think we’ll certainly come again next year – it’ll be an earlier ‘typical’ Carol Concert.

12.33am: It was now officially Christmas Day and as the Vicar concluded the evening, we left the Church to be welcomed with a fine drizzle! We wished each other ‘Merry Christmas’ and whilst Ann chose to head home in the warmth of Janet’s car, Jo, together with her neighbours opposite and I, took the short hop back to home on foot!

12.53am: Cripes! A late one for us. According to the Santa Tracker, the big man was due in around an hour, and it was tempting to stay up – but we didn’t!

Nighty night!

Christmas Day
(Sunday)

8.03am: Unusually, I didn’t get up immediately. We both stayed in bed, reading today’s Telegraph.

9.10am: Now that’s what I call a lie-in (for me anyway!). With Ann’s homemade Smoked Salmon & Prawn Blinis on the menu for breakfast, it felt like a good start to the day!

10.25am: We postponed pressy-opening for a while, and instead, watched The Snowman on TV!

11.06am: Pressy opening! . An amazing range of gifts again this year. Thanks everyone!

2.14pm: Christmas Lunch! Roast Turkey with all the Trimmings, but we held off Dessert until later – Christmas Pudding and/or Sherry Trifle (‘or’?)

3.00pm: We settled down for the King’s FIRST Christmas Speech. In my opinion, a natural and authentic style with an uplifting message (and we need plenty of those right now!). For factoid fans, this was the very first Christmas TV transmission of a male UK monarch on Christmas Day. . Missed it? Watch it here.

3.27pm: An ‘opportunity’ to walk off some of our Lunch! We only saw a few other walkers – and the majority of those were exercising their dog. Everywhere was spookily quiet.

I still hadn’t got room for Dessert, but maybe that was a good thing!? . So, with just the two of us to entertain this year, time for a classic movie! The original Miracle on 34th Street. They don’t make them like that anymore (although they did remake the movie in 1994, starring Richard Attenborough!)

6.25pm: Well, we did eventually manage to squeeze in the last of the M&S Trifle – but the Christmas Pudding remained safe (for now!)

We spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV. 2008’s ’39 Steps’ and ‘Call the Midwife Christmas Special’. I left the SkyQ Box to take care of the one-hour episode of Eastenders tonight.

It’s been a GREAT day, just the two of us – it’s something we haven’t done for quite a few years! It made every pleasant change for charging about here, there and everywhere and the washing-up was a lot lighter too!

Tomorrow it’s off to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for Boxing Day plus a sleepover.

Christmas Day TV

What was the most popular Christmas Day TV programme? – BBC 7 ITV 3!

9.30pm: Nighty-night!

Boxing Day
(Monday)

6.40am: What? I can’t hear the sound of rain – I think that’s TWO days in a row!

7.25am: No rest for the wicked! After a quick cuppa in bed, I was up first, closely followed by Ann who was heading for the nearby swimming pool for 8am. Meanwhile, I began catching-up with last night’s BIG EastEnders episode -something dramatic is going to happen, but at this stage, I’m not sure what?

10.38am: We left for Ridge House – and the whole of Boxing Day with Roger, Jane & Oliver. The roads were busy, but at least we didn’t hit any jams. As we got closer to theirs, the sat-nav diverted us OFF of the A1 South via the A602N – instead of the later (and usual) A602S – and we could see some serious congestion up ahead. Even closer, there was another diversion helping us to avoid our usual route along Anchor Lane

12.08pm: Given the number of diversions, we arrived in good time and it was great to see everyone again. We were soon catching up with each other’s news over a cuppa! It was good to see the progress they’ve made in the continued remodelling of the house – foundations are down for the workshop and the guest bedroom has been completely redecorated

1.02pm: Pressy swap time!

1.44pm: Next stop? Cold Cuts! No better lunch on Boxing Day ehh? It was all, absolutely delicious, with copious flagons of alcohol to wash it all down! In a slight reversal of courses, we went all continental and tucked into the Cheeseboard next followed by Roulade and Fruit..

2.45pm: Yes, it’s that time of day again! Time to work off some of the good food!

3.35pm: Well, that was refreshing, and it was good to see Hanbury Manor again but said to see that it didn’t seem to have had much spent on the exterior since we last did the same walk back in 2015.

6.06pm: We spent the evening around the TV where we were introduced to the new ITVX series: A Spy Amongst Friends starring Damian Lewis, Guy Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin. It centres around the infamous spy, Kim Philby but isn’t your usual run-of-the-mill narrative. It was certainly a powerful series delivered by the stellar cast where the myriad of twists and turns left us all ‘spied-out’ after watching just two episodes. We’ll definitely be watching this when we get home – but in small doses as it does require a lot of concentration to keep up with the plot.

9.40pm: The day seemed to catch-up with me really quickly (or was that the alcohol?) and I came over very tired, very quickly, and so we crashed out just after 9.30pm.

27th December
(Tuesday)

7.25am: Old (new) habits die hard, and I was up just before 7.30am. Shower , Download the Telegraph , Make tea Update this Post . I do like a routine in the morning!

10.32am: A hearty breakfast to set us up for the rest of the day. Saffy joined us, and it was good to catch up with all her news since we saw her last.

Ahh, what better way to start the day than with a cooked breakfast together with plenty of time for us to have a long natter and put all the world’s wrongs right! In between us collectively solving the NHS crisis and revealing the secret of excellent customer service, Ann had thoughtfully brought some small tree presents too!

12.20pm: Time to say our goodbyes and hit the road. Although it was dry, it wasn’t the best of journeys for two reasons: Again (just like our journey here) the A1 between the two A602 junctions was crawling along – for no apparent reason. Further north, the infamous Black Cat roundabout. In spite of significant modifications together with extra lanes, it was still as congested as I remember it when I was working. The result? Another 15 minutes on the journey!

1.57pm: Home (at last!!!!) to a cosy afternoon and evening, where we ended where we’d begun the Festive celebrations – just the two of us

4.38pm: And in spite of the pouring rain, we managed to squeeze in a short stroll!

Christmas Over…

This was our THIRD year of being without parents to visit (or visit us) and so, in spite of being (mostly) ‘just us two’ over Christmas this year, we certainly felt very Christmassy. Based on the number of houses NOT adorned in lights in the immediate area, it didn’t look quite as festive when we went for our walks. It’s been a very tough year, financially, for many families and maybe that was simply because of electricity prices? But I suspect that the reasons run deeper as there seemed to be a lot of bad news about this year. On the plus side, as always, it was great to catch up with family and friends and we have lots of lovely gifts to enjoy! We certainly ate and drank a lot – but maybe not as much as in previous years! Honest! . Jane’s excellent Cake lasted us until the 28th!

Christmas Future…

One aspect of Christmas that was very noticeable, was the lack of Christmas Cards where I think we received only about half/two-thirds of the usual amount. Maybe it’s a trend or is there something we should know? . For us, it prompted us to make 2022 the final year of sending ALL our cards through the post. There will still be a few we send, but the majority will now be e-cards from 2023. Why? Well, mainly down to the cost of a stamp (we normally send around 200 cards each Christmas); the cards’ green footprint and (hopefully, for just 2022) the unreliability of the postal system due to industrial action! Like so many of our friends who have already made the decision, we’ll be making a donation to charity. A big shift for us, but it feels like it’s the right time!

Well, that’s it for another year – just time to mop us the final cake crumbs and to catch up with what’s left to watch on the SkyQ Box! . Roll on Christmas 2023!

Blogs of Christmas Past

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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 Christmas 2022 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We never turn down an opportunity to visit The Ashmolean (having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013, March 2014, May 2018 and August 2021).

Yes, it’s no surprise then, that this Museum is probably our favourite out of any of those we’ve visited ANYWHERE! .

On this occasion, it was to meet up with Cousins, Chris and Kate and grab lunch on the rooftop restaurant too!

We had a trouble-free journey there and after parking at Peartree Park ‘n’ Ride, we arrived just before 11am. Our Cousins arrived shortly afterwards and we were soon soaking up what the Ashmolean had to offer!

There’s always an exhibit that surprises its visitors, either because of its uniqueness, its age or its value – and today was no exception! How about the actual clothing worn by T E Lawrence aka ‘Lawrence of Arabia’?. It was in such good condition too! Wow!

Lunch in their rooftop restaurant turned out to be a delight (contrary to many of the recent posts online) – great food that was very tasty with great service to match!

After Lunch, we had a further (quick) look around the Museum and then said our goodbyes. Our journey home was also trouble-free and we were indoors with a cuppa my 4.35pm. Today had been a great day out with our cousins!

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 Ashmolean (again!) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We drove to Belvoir Castle today to meet up with mates (and newly retired) Dennis & Sandra. We’ve built up quite a portfolio of venues over the past five years for our ‘days out’ together.

Venues past…

Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)
Hardwick Hall (August 2020)
Castle Howard (December 2019)
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)

As per normal, with the help of my incredible (shrinking!) brain, I was certain we’d been there before, but again, as usual, I had no idea when! Nothing in any of my past blog posts to say we had ever been there, but Belvoir (rhymes with ‘fever’) rang a bell – albeit faintly!!

Cue ‘Annipedia‘ who recalled that we had visited this impressive Castle, back in the early 90s when we lived in Peterborough. We didn’t go inside during that visit – as it was closed – instead, we were there to watch a jousting competition with Ann’s brother and then, current muse, Hilary. Ahh! As it was PRE Blog days (I didn’t start blogging until May 2004) – that’s my excuse for not remembering the detail!

Back to here ‘here-and-now’! It was pretty much the A1 north all the way, but first, we had to get to the A1! Normally, no problem at all, but today? A pain in the a***! They had decided to shut the A43 (but there had been no advanced communication) and that meant we had to find another connecting route having encountered numerous ‘road closed’ signs everywhere, as we attempted to ‘miss out’ the ’43’!

What would normally take us about 75 minutes, eventually took us closer to 100! . We eventually got there, a little frazzled, but already thinking of how the journey home would play out? . Anyway, time to put that to one side and enjoy Belvoir and catch up with our friends’ news!

The Castle

And, not only a day of culture, but we’d also planned to try out their Afternoon Tea (purely in the name of research, you understand! )

Today’s factoid? Belvoir Castle was the last piece of work that the world-famous Capability Brown undertook before his death in 1783.

Factoid No2: The current owners: The 11th Duke and Duchess of Rutland – the Manners family – are separated (but not divorced) and live in different parts of the Castle!

There were plenty of signs of wealth here and each room did NOT disappoint!

Time to look ‘below stairs’…

…and back ‘up top’, the view from the castle was spectacular!

Time for Afternoon Tea! It turned out to tick all the boxes (apart from the plastic table cloth rubbing against my legs throughout – it was like getting engulfed in a shower curtain!). Excellent sandwiches, flavoursome tea and a good selection of cakes and scones (plus, they came round with seconds!!!). At £25 each, it was great value!!

The Gardens

There was plenty to see in the Gardens, but we probably didn’t do it justice because of the time running out on our car-park tickets. It features the ‘Spiral Walk’, ‘Rose Garden’, ‘Japanese Woodland’, ‘Duchesses Garden’, ‘Duke’s Walk’ and ‘Hermits Garden’. Not enough? Add to that: ‘The Dairy’, ‘Stumpery’, ‘Tufa Grotto’, ‘Lord Granby’s Cave’, ‘Mausoleum’ and the ‘Root and Moss House’ (more of that later!). All-in-all, plenty to look at INSIDE and OUTSIDE too! Today, the weather was ideal for the latter!

…and the famous ‘Root and Moss House’ where we sat and planned our next get-together this year – a trip to Chatsworth House in November.

With our next trip pencilled-in we headed for the exit and said our goodbyes. It had been a great day (apart from the journey there!), good to catch up with friends and enjoy this continuing heatwave!

Just one more responsibility – a trip to Denis’ and Mae’s graves in Heckington to pay our respects! .

Thankfully, we successfully navigated around the A43 problems going home, and were indoors by 6.15pm.

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 Belvoir Castle with Dennis and Sandra appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Yes, it’s that time again when we have a day out with Ann’s side of the family. Last time, last year (back in October, 21) the venue-of-choice was Kew Gardens and before that, Shuttleworth in July, 2021. This year’s venue? Hampton Court Palace! Just a few of us MiA this time around – Chris & Kate plus Ali.

We set off just before 8.20am and had a smooth journey there – arriving just after 10.30. We parked just a ten-minute walk away but with the weather in full ‘scorchio’ mode, it still felt like a full-scale sweatfest, taking the walk to the Palace!!

By just after 11, we were all assembled in the Tiltyard Café. Time for some brief nibbles and a drink before taking on this massive Palace!

Logic would have suggested (given that the outside temperature was increasing by the minute) seeing the Gardens first and then the Palace. However, for reasons that weren’t clear, we all headed for the Palace! . It was now about 11.45am and the outside temperature was 31 degrees! In fact, it was so hot, my phone-camera gave up saying it was too hot to use (that was a first) severely limiting the amount of photos that I took today.

Inside…

I originally thought that I hadn’t been here since I was about 12, but Ann recalled us visiting around 20 years ago. Whatever the year, it all looked very unfamiliar! – but two words immediately sprang to mind describing the interiors of the various rooms – lavish and plentiful. There was certainly plenty to see as we travelled around what seemed like dozens of rooms. It all felt like really great value for our £20 entrance fee. It was clear to see, eyeing the numerous tapestries, paintings and fireplaces, that no expense had been spared on making ‘Henry’s House’ an impressive place – and we hadn’t looked around outside yet!

Outside…

It was back to the Café for a light lunch before exploring the exterior of the Palace and the Gardens.

With my phone overheating, the limited number of shots (above and later) didn’t really do justice to the scale of the Gardens. It seemed to be the perfect location for a gentle stroll, a picnic, a spot of sunbathing – or just soaking-up the beauty of the manicured-within-an-inch-of-their-life trees and the various floral planting schemes.

By about 3.15, we were melting and we also only had around 30 minutes left on our ticket in the car-park. Our last stop was the ‘Great Vine’ – the largest in the world, apparently!

And just a quick ‘thanks’ to our mates Roy & Susan who introduced us earlier in the week to surely the best invention ever for these unprecedented weather conditions – the portable neck fan!. Available from all good fan shops, but we got ours from Amazon HERE. An absolute godsend today!

It had been a great day, and good to catch-up again with the family. I think we could have easily spent another five hours there learning even more about this impressive location but it was maybe a little too hot for us two, and that slowed us down quite a bit. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the car, this time using the trees en-route as shade for our return walk.

It wasn’t a bad journey home with hardly any congestion anywhere, and we were indoors by about 5.50pm.

Next family outing? Hatfield House in 2023.

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 Family Outing – Hampton Court (2022) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

How was your Christmas? For us, as I begin penning this during the week leading up to the big day, I really didn’t think we would STILL be worrying about Coronavirus! Why worry? The dreaded Omicron variant was spreading and there was the potential for the Government to lock us all down again! Almost ‘right up to the wire’ it was one of those “I hope not” moments!

Away from politics, and on a very personal note, it was our second year where there we didn’t have parents to visit!

Then on the Tuesday before Christmas, some good news! (ish) – the PM promised no further restrictions over Christmas, as well as a financial support package for the hospitality industry to offset their loss of trade. It could have been worse… we might have been Scottish! – The PRS (aka The Peoples’ Republic of Sturgeon) had gone one step further and cancelled Hogmanay and also put a limit on social gatherings! There were similar restrictions promised across Wales and Ireland too!

However, best not to get too smug for us ‘south of the border’ as things might be different here after Christmas and into the New Year!

Meanwhile, back in a cold Kettering, thanks to any absence of restrictions (for the moment!), we could now confidently start to pack for our Chrimbo-break with Ralph & Karen at the Oulton Hall Hotel near Leeds.

December 23rd

1.25pm: With pretty much everything sorted for our Christmas break, we decided to have lunch at The Old Forge. By complete coincidence, Jo and Janet were there too!

3.35pm: We’re all packed and the car had been cleaned within an inch of its life. Just time for a final vacuum around the house and a bit of washing – and we’re all ready for our Christmas getaway!

6.34pm: Time for a local walk with Jo in the spirit of healthy living before we abandon all restraint with food and drink over the Christmas break!

December 24th (Friday)

6.43am: A quick cuppa in bed, followed by breakfast – and we’re ready for our journey north!

10.29am: We’re off! It was about a two-and-a-half-hour journey to the hotel plus we needed to allow time for a quick charge for EVie on the way, with us planning to check-in around 2ish.

12.39pm: A quick stop at McDonald’s in Castleford for a few electrons, courtesy of InstaVolt…

…plus a few calories for us..!

We planned to meet Ralph & Karen at the hotel but when we touched base during our journey by phone, they were just a few miles from McD’s too! So, we met up there for a quick chat before heading off to our destination.

The Hotel’s History

2.10pm: The Hotel has had an interesting history – and the document below is worth a read. It’s not your average ‘Old house becomes a Hotel’ yarn!

Download the history (pdf booklet)

We arrived pretty-much bang on schedule – and what a lovely place! First impressions were VERY favourable – a quick check-in, lovely staff and a beautiful room too! Oh, and there was a bottle of Port waiting for us!

It was a sign of things to come! Our stay was pretty-much food, more food and then even more food, frequently punctuated by alcohol and occasionally by some much-needed sleep! These days, we have plenty of experience with the latter, but for the former, the calorie potential here for the next few days is beyond enormous!!!

Afternoon Tea

3.05pm: After a rapid unpack, our first ‘forced-feed’ was Afternoon Tea in the hotel organised by staff members Robbie and Youssef. As expected, it was wall-to-wall scones, jam with double-cream, plus mountains of sandwiches, chocolate eclairs, mini–Victoria Sponges, plus loads of other sweet treats! Bottomless pots of tea complemented the calorific values! It was clear they had a great Pattiserie Chef here!

It would have been rude not to try out a little of everything (but we did try!). Somehow though, we also needed to try and pace ourselves as we had Dinner scheduled in the Hotel’s Grill in around four hours! Yes, I know, it’s a tough life!!

We even had time to pull a few crackers! We really enjoyed our first couple of hours here. More of the same was on the cards!!!

Dwinkies in Ralph & Karen’s Suite

6.30pm: But before the next round of food, we headed off to Ralph & Karen’s room for some pre-dinner drinks!

Well, that was a good start to the festivities! With Carols from Kings on the TV in the background, we increased our fluid intake even before heading for the restaurant! Looks like we missed the Hotel’s Carol Service (and free glass of bubbly), but we claimed the fizz later!! sparing the rest of the guests from our singing talents – we’re considerate like that!

Dinner in the Calverley Grill

7.30pm: Food again! We were soon at our table for just us four – and that’s how it would stay for our time here – Perfect!

Crackers, Party Poppers, and those long thin balloons that are designed to fly, were all part of the table decs, and we were soon in the festive mood! – and soon irritating our neighbours with unwanted and unstable balloon flights!!! Yo-Ho-Ho!

We didn’t have to wait long for our meal, and it didn’t disappoint! Three courses, packed with flavour and well presented too! The service was also excellent where our Waiter, Oliver (from Romania) kept us entertained throughout! He even taught us some Romanian!! (specifically, why some innocent Romanian phrases, that when translated, sound like English swear words!)

Yummy! It was all delicious and piping hot (except for the ice-cream!)!

8.57pm: We’d just enough stamina left to visit the bar and order some nightcaps – Bailey’s for Ann and for me, whilst Ralph enjoyed a beer and Karen adding a touch of class sipping a glass of Prosecco.

9.45pm: Well, I was first to admit to needing my bed. There’s another full day tomorrow – eating, drinking, completing the quiz – and somehow squeezing a post brekky walk in. Nighty-night!

Christmas Day (Saturday)

Merry Christmas!!!

6.33am: Old habits die hard and we were both awake at our normal time – no alarm required! Merry Christmas dear Reader!

After a quick cuppa in bed and exchanging some of our smaller gifts (the larger ones were still at home), we were ready for our first breakfast in the Hotel! Note to self: “eat lightly, there’s a lot of food being forced on us today, and we don’t want to go bang do we?”

Breakfast in the Calverley Grill

9.05am: We dropped into Ralph & Karen’s and headed for breakfast.

Certainly, the staff had entered into the spirit of the occasion! Vibrant colours and OTT suits were de-rigeur!

And just like the staffs’ dress-code, there was plenty of variety (and colour) on offer – cereals, toast, fresh fruit plus the traditional ‘Full English’. And for me, aiming to ‘eat something light’, started so well with muesli and yoghurt... (Christmas IS the time for miracles isn’t it!)

…and then it all fell apart! FIVE sausages?????

10.24am: Time for a walk I think, if only to ease the guilt!!!!

It wasn’t the warmest of days – certainly NOT the 11℃ promised, but it did feel very Christmassy!

For most of the walk, we didn’t see another person and where the views across the golf course were pretty spectacular! Chilly though and very muddy underfoot!

We even stumbled across the local Church – Saint John the Evangelist. All the signs were that it was deconsecrated, but a quick look on the interweb revealed it was in rude health!

We didn’t cover a massive distance, but it WAS good to get some fresh air – albeit very cold air!

11.25am: Well, that certainly cleared the cobwebs away. Next stop? Ralph & Karen’s for a mid-morning cuppa and a general catchup…

…including the completion of the Hotel’s two quizzes… ‘Trivia’ and ‘Christmas Songs’.

Christmas Lunch in the Calverley Grill

1.30pm: In spite of a hearty breakfast (and then some!) we were all ready for the main event – Christmas Lunch! It came with a free Santa Claus (and perhaps more importantly) a free glass of bubbly!

and to finish…

…a perfect end to a perfect Christmas lunch! The Hotel worked its socks off – and it showed!

3.52pm: We missed Her Majesty’s Christmas message on TV as well as the Hotel’s Treasure Hunt because we were still busy piling on the calories. Eventually, we waddled out of the restaurant and found a comfy set of chairs, chilling-out for a while and comparing waistlines!

6.57pm: Waistline comparisons over, Ralph & Karen came round to ours to help reduce our stock of pre-mixed G&Ts. Thanks guys!

We spent the next hour-and-a-bit in the company of Morecambe & Wise courtesy of the BBC. The first episode was their Christmas Special from 1971…

…and the second, more importantly, was a ‘lost tape’ not seen for over 50 years, recorded in 1970 and colourised for transmission tonight! Brilliant! They don’t write them like that anymore!!!

Buffet Supper

8.45pm: With the laughter still echoing around the room, we decided to pay a visit to the Buffet. When we got there, it was ‘last orders’ although there was still some goodies left. Honestly, we ate lightly!

The Hotel’s Big Quiz

9.37pm: We were one of the last groups to leave the restaurant and as we chewed our final mouthful we were reminded of the ‘Big Quiz’ by one of the staff (I think it was a subtle hint for us to leave the restaurant, so they could clear up!).

By now, we were all a bit neutral about taking part in ANOTHER quiz, but we had a go. We do like a challenge, but it was difficult to hear the quiz handler and some of the early questions turned out to be duplicates of the written quiz we’d handed in earlier, leading to a bit of confusion in the audience. It all settled down and overall, it was good fun, but a bit disorganised.

10.32pm: Thirty questions later, I think it was now the wrong end of the day for me – and the over-use of my six brain cells combined with an excess of grape was having its revenge! I wasn’t alone! Ann retired first, and after we three did our duty and marked a neighbouring group’s answer sheet, we called it a night too. It was unclear if they were going to announce the results there-and-then, but we’d had it!

10.48pm: Well, that’s the big day over for another year! Personally, I’m amazed I lasted this long! It was all very memorable for all the right reasons! We ate (a lot), we drank (a lot), we laughed (a lot) and we walked (not a lot!). We also met Santa and we gave our brains a stretch! A fantastic time where I felt very Christmassy all day.

Boxing Day (Sunday)

6.14am: I didn’t sleep too well! Perhaps it was down to a simple case of over-eating yesterday. I wonder? Tonight was the Gala Ball where we all dressed up (photo later!) – but before then, the Hotel’s Boxing Day breakfast awaits!

Boxing Day Brekky

9.10am: Bizarrely, us two were very hungry this morning! You’d think with all the food we’ve already consumed, we’d feel like a couple of stuffed piglets – not so!

Awaiting us, the good news was, that as a team, the four of us won the written quiz, that we handed in yesterday. Apparently, we were the only group that got ALL the questions right! A bottle of Prosecco awaits us! (Oh no, more booze!)

10.34am: All round to Ralph & Karen’s where it was tempting to crack open the fizz but we settled for a cuppa.

11.39am:  We probably should have walked, given the amount of food and drink we’ve been packing away, but instead, we took the short seventeen-mile round-trip drive back to Castleford to see the 12.10 performance of the just-released film: The King’s Man. It was good to get out! For my review of the film, click HERE.

3.15pm: Arriving back at the hotel, we enjoyed another collective cuppa at ours before putting our feet-up for a couple of hours.

7.00pm: Round to ours again to finish up the remaining Champagne and Beers in our fridge!

Black Tie Gala Ball

7.25pm: Off to the highlight of the weekend – the Black Tie Gala Ball. More bubbly and more food!

The food was, just like every other meal, was delicious!

9.07pm: Not only was there fine food laid on, there was entertainment too! The Hotel provided a DJ and a modern ‘Swing’ trio. The former was fine but the trio, although clearly talented, had set their amp too loud, resulting in us having to leave our table (and we were at the back!) for somewhere quieter. Maybe a sign of our age, but it was far too loud!!! It seemed we weren’t the only ones, with a few others seeking refuge away from the trio in the main part of the Hotel. It was a real shame as they had fine voices, were well choreographed and had real stage presence!

We headed for the Lounge area, and on our way, asked Reception to take a photo of the four of us as a memento…

10.46pm: That’s it! We’re done! Again, the Hotel had done a very fine job. It can’t be much fun having to watch others enjoy themselves whilst serving and clearing up the aftermath, but they did us proud and we can’t praise them enough! Nighty-night!

Christmas Monday (27th)

We checked out after breakfast – happier but heavier! It was a great stay at the Hotel where all the staff worked really hard to make it a success. We’ve got a lot of unforgettable memories from our short time here. Thanks Oulton Hall, you were fantastic!!

See you on the other side! Just over 100 miles until we’re home, where we’ve still got a load of gifts to open and some Christmas TV to catch-up with including…

The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise, EastEnders, A Very British Scandal, La Boheme, Dancing the Nutcracker, Anything Goes – The Musical, Around the World in 80 Days, A Ghost Story for Christmas, All Creatures Great and Small, Royal Carols Together, Carols from King’s, Sean the Sheep – The Flight Before Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Amazing Mr Blunden, Christmas at Holkham Hall, Not Going Out – Christmas Special, Last Train to Christmas, A Boy Called Christmas, Spitting Image Christmas Special and The Great Christmas Bakeoff.

Phew!

Christmas Past

2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

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 Christmas 2021 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We’re off to Kew Gardens for a family reunion!

The gathering is from Ann’s side of the family – Brother Roger (with Jane and Oli); Cousins Chris (with Kate) and Alison (with Ali, Zidane, Sami and Jake).

We left at 8am and had a pretty good journey there (but an even better one coming home). It’s been a while since we travelled that far south on the M1 and into west London. Not much had changed where the North Circular, South Circular and Hangar Lane were all just as we remember them – busy! Still, we got there in under two hours!

Kew Gardens was very popular – even today, on a Sunday! After grabbing what was probably the last parking space at Brentford Gate, we then joined the pedestrian queue to get in!

We all agreed to meet up at Temperate House and then explore the Gardens as a group.

For late October, the weather was glorious! Maybe a bit nippy when the sun went in, but luckily for us, it was out for the majority of our time there.

We weren’t expecting to see a tree-top walkway, but there it was!

…with some splendid views…

A bit wobbly in places though! Not for those who suffer with either vertigo and/or sea-sickness!

Next stop: The Glasshouse…

We enjoyed the lunch together, and then made our final stop, the Princess of Wales Conservatory…

Phew! I think we’re all kewed-out!! It had been a great day and a beautiful place to catch up with the family!

We took a quick look at The Hive (but declined the invitation ‘to look inside’. Ann and I then said our goodbyes just after 2pm in order to beat the traffic.

I think for the first time ever we had a jam-free journey home arriving indoors just before 4.45pm.

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 Cue the family at Kew! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A couple of years back, we discovered some cousins (on Ann’s side) we didn’t know we had – Chris and Alison!

Between then and now, we’ve got to know them quite well – and this weekend, Chris and his partner Kate came to stay for a long weekend.

Friday

A very relaxed day began with a light lunch, followed by a walk around Wicksteed Park. Then it was off for our ‘curry blowout’ at our fave Indian restaurant – Exotic Dining in town.

And then back to ours for ice cream, a very large G&T in preparation for…

…a late night DVD! – a perfect choice with its sequel No Time to Die, just released!

Saturday

A very lazy start to the day! We didn’t rise until after 9 (I think that’s a record!)

The weather was the horrid sort (rain, rain and more rain!) but we managed to squeeze in a local walk.

Ann and Kate began to prepare the feast for tonight.

Then it was movie time again…

…which we didn’t quite get time to see all the way through – with about an hour left!

Jo and Janet arrived just after 6.30, joining the four of us for a Roast Chicken dinner…

A great evening followed! Lots of laughs, wine… and of course, Chicken!

But by 11pm, we called it a night!

Sunday

Another relaxed start to the day (with a ‘Full English’ for energy) followed then by an extended chat about previous generations of the family.

Our newly discovered cousins said their goodbyes just after midday.

What a fab weekend. I think we felt we’d known Chris and Kate all our lives!

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 It’s all about family! – Cousins appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We haven’t been to Shuttleworth since September, 2017 with Chris and Gill. Today, we met up with Roger, Jane, Oliver, Chris, Kate, Ali, Alison, Jake, Zidane and Sami – a family affair! We started out from nearby Biggleswade Sainsbury’s at around 11.30, before heading off, in convoy, to our destination.

The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant, but these past few weeks, we’ve come to not rely on it at all!

Today, it’s Shuttleworth’s annual Military Drive-in Air Show – with something for everyone!

Military Drive-in Air Show

10:00 – Gates open
10:00 – 17:00 – Swiss Garden and playground open
10:00 – 18:00 – Collection Hangars open
10:00 – 13:30 – Flightline Tours
10:00 – 13:00 – T6 Harvard Pleasure Flights
10:15 – 13:30 – Flightline Tours
11:00 – 14:30 – Shuttleworth House open
13:30 – Pilot Chat on the Sea King – via Shuttleworth 87.8 FM
14:00 – Main flying programme starts
17:30 – Main flying programme ends, followed by Edwardian aircraft, weather permitting

Individually, we’d all taken a picnic and the ‘drive-in’ part of the title meant we all got a ‘space’ with room to spread out our food next to where we parked.

By the time we arrived, just before noon, the car-park looked like we were last to arrive – the event was clearly well-supported and as a result, it was packed! We maintained our convoy status thanks to some help from the car-park staff and ended-up next to each other just three rows from the runway!

After a quick natter, our first stop was the short walk to the Swiss Garden…

Then it was off to the Workshops…

Lunch was next, and we created a space between the cars that accommodated us all – together with our picnic chairs and tables. Perfect!

With immaculate timing, we’d just finished eating when the main event started: a fly-past of various vintage aircraft and helicopters!

The weather turned out to be ‘variable’ (the polite version!) … a few short showers, one downpour but plenty of sun in between!

It was also Zidane’s 15th birthday – and Alison had brought a cake…

…and what a cake it was! Enough for everyone – and some! It tasted delicious!!

We really enjoyed the air-show. It included a Spitfire, a Hurricane, a Messerschmitt, a Chipmunk, a Typhoon, a Lysander and dozens of others – as well as a couple of dancing helicopters (yes, really!) and a glider doing acrobatics with smoke trails!

We stayed until about 4.30, preferring to leave before the end to avoid the ‘mass exodus’. Exiting the parking area was challenging, but we did eventually find the queue to leave the site. We needn’t have rushed, as our route OUT turned out NOT to be the route IN as the local roads were closed (because they were so close to the runway) meaning we had to double-back on ourselves adding to the congestion.

As a result, It took a bit longer to get home than we planned, but we eventually got in just before 6pm – an extra 15 minutes on our journey.

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 Worth a Visit to Shuttleworth appeared first on Steve's Blog.

After taking a trip up to Heckington to visit Denis and Mae’s grave (our first visit since Denis’s funeral back in April last year), we dropped into The George Hotel in Stamford for one of their legendary Afternoon Teas (courtesy of Dennis and Sandra’s Birthday pressy to Ann!)

What a surprise – it was delicious! — and I ate far too much!!! A perfect day weather-wise too! We sat outside in the revamped courtyard and just soaked up the Sun. Good to see The George looking so busy too! We stayed for just over an hour and then headed home.

It had been good to visit the graves today and spend a bit of chill-time sampling the delights of The George Hotel again.

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 George Gorge! 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.

How was your Christmas? Even if you exclude the dreaded Coronavirus, we knew Christmas for us would be very different in 2020. For a start, it was our first one without Denis (where visiting him on Christmas Day had been a regular part of the festive break for the past few years).

Christmas Day was therefore just the two of us. Once you factor-in the COVID-19 restrictions, the isolation continued, as we had to postpone a few ‘Christmassy’ get-togethers too. This included a reunion of the ‘Northants Nutters’ (planned for the 23rd) and then Roger, Jane and Oliver visiting us on Boxing Day and staying-over.

At least we managed to get to our ‘local’ on Christmas Eve – The Olde Victoria – which gave us a sense of both normality and celebration!

December 23rd

9.00am: My first ‘festive job’ was to drive over to M and S in Corby and pick up the Turkey. The journey took around 20 minutes and finding a parking space took another 20! I have never seen the shopping area here so busy! And M&S wasn’t much different – absolutely packed! It looked like even a pandemic wasn’t going to get in the way of the annual festive stuffing (in every sense!)

9.55am: Home with that feeling of ‘mission accomplished’. All that was needed now was to make room for it in the fridge!

11.45am: Just to add to the lack of opportunity to see family and friends, today’s weather forecast was truly atrocious meaning going outside was a no-no. All-in-all making it feel like it wasn’t a day for any sort of celebration!

So, instead, we spent it catching-up with various TV recordings and setting the Planner for our festive-faves. The first of which was the highly anticipated ‘All Creatures Great and Small Christmas Special’ from last night. It certainly got our vote!

Shock horror! The crappy weather continued and it meant we didn’t even get our daily walk in (apart from me ‘floating’ down to Bobby’s to drop-off his birthday card!)

2.15pm: A late lunch, where Ann created for the very first time: ‘Venison in a Black Cherry Sauce’. It was absolutely delicious, and will probably become one of our staple menus!

2.40pm: Trish dropped by for a doorstep chat – another human being to natter with… Fab!!!

3.07pm: Oh no! Matt Hancock appeared on TV at very short notice with another Coronavirus Press Briefing. In these uncertain times, it could only mean one thing: more bad news resulting in even more restrictions. The outcome? More of the UK has gone up a tier, and here in Kettering, we’re now in Tier 3, beginning one minute into Boxing Day. Looking at the bigger picture, another six million Brits are now in the top tier, and if that wasn’t bad enough, scientists have uncovered a THIRD variant of the virus originating in South Africa, with two people already infected in the UK.

4.15pm: Well, that was all very depressing! I’m sure that if there’s was an option to ‘make like a bear’ and hibernate for a few months, many of us would now be heading for the nearest cave!

5.55pm: Can you believe it! It’s still raining! It’s now been like this ALL day – and now there are reports of local flooding! Plague and now floods… What next?

7.10pm: Well, luckily, no sign of locusts or famine (but Tesco’s are limiting customers buying toilet rolls, eggs, rice, soap and hand-wash!) Yes, really!

7.30pm: Ahh, quality TV entertainment – The Repair Shop at Christmas! All the restorations were (as usual) amazing! – especially the Polyphon and the Santa Sleigh! Oh, and the doll and the nativity set! We learned later that this was the 2017 Christmas episode – 2020’s is on Boxing Day.

8.30pm: Next! Another in this year’s ‘Alumni’ episodes of University Challenge.

9.00pm:  …and in complete contrast, we finished the evening of marathon TV-watching with Roses v Quality Street – Chocolate Box Wars which actually turned out to be a fascinating documentary about the history of these two Christmas staples.

As we headed for bed, it was still raining!

Christmas Eve

7.15am: A very lazy start to our day! A quick peek out of the window revealed that, at last, it had stopped raining! However, the effects of all that water meant there were flooded fields and some major roads were closed.

I read online that you can now track Santa on your TV. All you need is a Sky Q box and the command: “Where’s Santa?” Or, try the same on your Amazon device!

12.10pm: Just checked and Santa is over New Zealand

We managed to deliver some of the Christmas presents, but not all of them are sorted, so I guess that’s a job for the new year… sometime!

1.15pm: Lunch at The Olde Victoria! We may not have been able to see friends yesterday, but by complete coincidence, Geoff and Rhonda (part of our ‘Northants Nutters’ group) were there with a table booked just 15 minutes after us!

2.15pm: Just like the Christmas Turkey, we were stuffed and so we avoided the temptation of Desserts!

2.45pm: Santa’s in Japan!

2.55pm: Due to the appalling weather yesterday, we missed our daily walk, so we joined a socially distanced Jo today for three-miler-plus yomp.

During our walk, the effects of the torrential rainfall yesterday, were clear to see!

4.15pm: Back home and time for a lie-down!

4.30pm: Some GOOD news! The PM announced that the Brexit Trade Deal has, at last, been agreed with the EU. Not sure how he’s pulled that off, so it’ll be interesting to learn more as the 2000-page document is dissected-to-death in the days and weeks that follow!

4.45pm: Time for some previously recorded TV! First up: A Wartime Christmas from last night. This was a three-episode documentary series that plunged a modern family – the Dekkers – into experiencing Christmas celebrations during the 39-45 War.

…assisted by Jo’s rather yummy homemade Mincemeat Cake!

5.30pm: Next, Carols from King’s.

7.15pm: Then, Christmas at Chatsworth House.

8.15pm: Followed by my guilty pleasure: EastEnders. This year’s cliff-hanger? Who’s got it in for Ian Beale?

8.30pm: Final check for the evening – Santa’s heading for Turkey (seems appropriate!)

9.00pm: Last one for tonight: Worzel Gummidge – Saucy Nancy. A heart-warming second outing for McKenzie Crooke as the titular hero. It was one of those programmes that leaves you with a warm glow inside and very family friendly – just right for this time of year.

Nighty-night!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!

8.00am: Tea and Biscuits in bed, listening to Radio 4 (Cliff Richard on Desert Island Discs). In past years, we’d be heading off to parents later today, but Heaven and the Coronavirus meant we were on our own today – the first time for many years!

9.15am: A simple breakfast of bacon rolls (to make room for the banquet yet to come), including a rather delish Christmas Cake made by Jane!

10.05am: Time to unwrap our presents (well, some of them anyway – COVID has delayed a few!) to the background sounds of Spotify. Great gifts, as always, and once again, everyone was so generous.

11.00am: In the absence of having family around, we did the next best thing and enjoyed a good natter with Roger, Jane and Oliver via WhatsApp.

11.35am: The weather was so much better than yesterday, so we joined Jo and Carol for a socially distanced walk in the sunshine (it was only 1℃ though).

12.40pm: We said our goodbyes to the girls and headed home to clear up the lounge (that looked like a bomb had hit it) before starting to prepare lunch.

2.50pm: First Course: Homemade Butternut Squash Soup. Yummy!

3.00pm: Time for Her Majesty’s Christmas message. For the first time, it was accessible via Smart Speakers too!

Just time between courses to crack open a cheeky bottle of Liebfraumilch!

3.25pm: Channel 4 has always presented an alternative Christmas message, and this year was no different. Historically, it’s given by an individual or group with a different spin on things. For 2020, things were slightly different. They used ‘deep fake’ technology to use ‘The Queen’ to present something that had never been done before – a worryingly convincing ‘fake’ Queen Elizabeth II talking candidly and then performing her TikTok dance (yes, really!). As expected, it ruffled a few feathers within the establishment. It was either brilliant or deeply disrespectful/disturbing, but either way worth a look on YouTube.

3.55pm: Back to our Christmas Lunch. This year it was Three-Fish Roast followed by a mini Christmas Pudding and a Mince Pie! All accompanied by the obligatory cracker contents!

4.45pm: TV time! It had to be the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.

6.05pm: Another from the Sky Q Planner – The Great British Bake off – The Winners.

7.00pm: Another live-watch: the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ Blankety Blank. University Challenge this WASN’T!

7.40pm: We watched Call the Midwife Christmas Special live too. Good to see TWO obligatory umbilical-cord-cutting scenes after all this time! (NOT!)

9.10pm: And to finish the evening – EastEnders. At last, we found out who was planning to kill Ian Beale! Forget Brexit and Covid, the nation breathed a genuine sigh of relief!

10.15pm:

Boxing Day

8.20am: Another lie-in! This is becoming a habit!!! Happy Boxing Day and welcome to your new Tier!

10.45am: As the weather was forecast to deteriorate this afternoon, we took our walk in the morning – again with a socially distanced Carol and Jo.

11.45am: Netflix time, and the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery

12.35pm: A bit late getting to this one! A bunch of Doctor Who super-fans got together virtually under the masterful direction of musician Borna Matosic (another Who super-fan). Uploaded a few days ago, it’s a reworking of Katherine Jenkins’ solo piece from Who’s 2010 Christmas Special ‘A Christmas Carol’ entitled ‘Abigail’s Song’. Fantastic!

12.55pm: One from the Sky Planner: Have I Got 30 Years For You. We really enjoyed this affectionate look back at the history of the show – almost 500 episodes!!!

2.30 pm: A late lunch for us! We’ve decided to eat a bit lighter today

3.05pm: More from the Sky Planner: The Great Christmas Bakeoff!

4.30pm: Time for a family Zoom with Roger, Jane, Oliver and cousins Chris and Kate.

6.45pm: Time for a bit of live TV in the shape of this year’s Repair Shop Christmas Special. Yikes! That was a real tear-jerker!

7.50pm: I don’t normally follow this series but watching the celebrity/Christmas edition of the Great British Sewing Bee was great fun – and no tissues required!

8.45pm: It was the final showing of EastEnders for the weekend. Last night’s cliff-hanger had Ian Beale just about to be poisoned by his new wife, Sharon! Just an everyday story of ordinary folk from E20!

9.30pm:

Christmas Sunday (27th)

Well, that’s it for another year! Hope you had a great one! I guess 2020 will always be the Christmas that everyone remembers – for all the WRONG reasons – and hopefully, this time next year, things will be back to normal. Who knows??

For us, not seeing parents at this time of year was a massive shift for us – we’ve done it for as long as we can remember. As a result, we thought Christmas Day (especially) might all feel a bit flat, but do you know what? we both agreed it had been a good day. Maybe it’ll be the pattern going forward?

On a personal note, it was also the Christmas I discovered Jack Daniels Honey Whiskey – and I loved it!

…and my 20-year-old+ Christmas Slippers got a retread!

One of the upshots of the complete lack of seeing people – was more telly! I think I watched even more over Christmas than in previous years, and there is still a stack of recordings that we’ve not touched yet. But I guess with our new year plans for getting away scuppered, it’ll give us something to do heading for 2021! For me, the movie I really enjoyed (tucked away on More4) was “The Man Who Invented Christmas”. Starring Christopher Plummer and Dan Stevens plus a stellar supporting cast. It tells the story of Charles Dickens attempting to write A Christmas Carol. Delightful!

See you on the other side!

Christmas Past

2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
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2013
2012
2011
2010

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

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