At 2pm today, we said our final farewell to our good friend, Lee. David and I led the Service at Averil Phillips and Family’s Offices in London Road, where we’d invited all those that she was really close to:- David and I kept the event light with more a ‘celebration of life’ than perhaps a …
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Category:Family
Lee’s Movie Collection
Today, was a bitter-sweet experience. Ann and I (ably assisted by David) moved Lee’s two bookcases full of Movies over to the ‘Library’, just off Yeoman’s Court Community Hall in Burton Latimer. We reckon there is over 500 movies in her collection, and Lee has bequeathed them all (as well as all her CDs) to …
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Lent Boy 2018: How Did I Do?
WARNING! Please read responsibly. This Blog contains large amounts of smugness! So, that’s my ‘Lent thing’ over for 2018. What began in 2010 as a small challenge, has now grown into a much bigger event! Some of you have asked how I got on, so here’s a short summary. Thanks to all my friends and …
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Gambles Reunited for Ann’s Birthday Celebrations
Well, I think that’s a first (not sure why though!) – the Gambles family reunited here for Ann’s Birthday!! Denis, Roger, Jane, Oliver and Bev batting for the Gambles, whilst Lee and I were in the other corner! A little like that odd tradition where the person whose birthday it is, provides cakes, Ann provided …
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Christmas 2017
Christmas EveIt’s Christmas and we’ve got a busy (and very enjoyable) schedule. As normal, for us, it’s all about the ‘Four Fs of Christmas’ – Family, Friends, Food and Films! We set off for Denis’ just before 10am. Lee remained at ours (she’s not been so good travelling these days), and we arrived just after …
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Black Friday 2017
For most of the population, Black Friday is that time of year to grab a bargain somewhere. For me, this year’s event was where something grabbed me! It was the culmination of a really bad week, health-wise – and I’m hardly ever ill! Somehow, I’d picked up a bug that came out during our Brighton …
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82, not out!
Not content with enjoying ourselves at Ian’s 70th birthday celebration yesterday, today, we laid on a birthday lunch for Lee’s 82nd! Pick up from Yeoman’s Court was just after 11am (carefully avoiding the planned Armistice celebrations in Burton Latimer) and then we headed back to ours for the birthday lunch. But, before lunch, there was …
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Dahlia Express!
Another small garden project today in the shape of lifting Denis’s Dahlias! Gosh, we don’t hang about, we left home pretty early and were on Denis’s doorstep by just after 10am! Bev arrived not long after which gave us all the perfect excuse for a coffee-break! …and boy, has Denis got a lot of Dahlias! …
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Top Haturday & Sunday
Another family & friends get-together today as we headed for Kilworth Theatre and their final performance of Irving Berlin‘s Top Hat. It was obviously a popular choice, having run for a whole month – 16th August until 17th September. Roger, Jane and Oliver are with us for the weekend and joined us for the event, …
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Gambling on a Bank Holiday Weekend
Here we are then, all set to enjoy a Gambles Weekend… and then some… SaturdayThe extended weekend began with us travelling down to Stevenage Station for 11am to pick up Denis. Then it was off to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for the Bank Holiday weekend. Bev was unable to join us because of her nursing …
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Victoria and the Chinese
It was off to our favourite City today – London – to catch-up with the Palmer side of the family and to meet Connie (Dad’s ex-work colleague) for our annual Summer get-together (a bit late this year – June in 2016). We drove over to Bedford and arrived just before 10am. We managed to get …
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Palmers Re- assembled!
We jumped on the train from Bedford today and headed for Bromley South where we met up with Neil, Debbie, Alfie and Frankie. Armed with vouchers, we walked up the High Street to the Ask restaurant in Bromley (where we’d met up last August) for lunch and a good catch-up. A lot has happened in …
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Term Ending/Birthday Spending/D-Day Landing
Thursday – School Term EndingIt’s a Gambles-Get-Together! We travelled down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s on Thursday for lunch and then an overnight stay and then catching-up with Denis and Bev tomorrow. After a quick bite, we watched part of the 400th Anniversary celebration on DVD of Oliver’s school – Richard Hale – that took …
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Lent Boy 2017: How Did I Do?
WARNING! Please read responsibly. This Blog contains large amounts of smugness!So, that’s my ‘Lent event’ over for 2017. What began in 2010 as a small challenge, has now grown into a much bigger test of will-power! Some of you have asked how I got on, so here’s a short summary. Thanks to all my friends …
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Weekend Ware
We drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s on Friday night for a weekend of all sorts of things! These days, I’m never far away form a technology projects – and happily, this weekend was no different! First job was to reset Oliver’s Tablet and re-install everything because it had become slower and slower over …
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It’s Saturday, it’s Stamford!
(Oliver turned 13 today!!!) We set off for Stamford early to do some shopping for the various ornaments and other bits & pieces in readiness for the Lounge makeover in March. Someone was smiling on us, as we had a very productive time and picked up something in virtually every shop we visited! Then it …
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Late Lunch
Having picked up Lee yesterday, We drove up to Denis’s today, to meet Bev and then onto the unusually titled ‘Shrub and Grub’ Eatery just down the road from Heckington at Thorpe Latimer Farm in err, Thorpe Latimer. It was an excuse to get together for a (very) late ‘news year’s lunch’, as we hadn’t …
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Palmers Reunited
Our second foray into travelling down to my brother’s by train meant that we didn’t need to leave at the crack of dawn to get there. Unusually though, the ticket prices weren’t so advantageous and we weren’t able to get our pair of tickets for around £40 (as usual) – it was closer to £80! …
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Christmas 2016
I picked up Lee on the 23rd as she’ll be staying with us over the holiday period. The weather forecast for today was atrocious (the tail end of ‘Hurricane Barbara’) meaning ferocious winds and rain after 3pm, so I did the deed earlier. As things turned-out, the forecast was spot on, so smugness prevailed once …
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Film: Jack Reacher – Never Go Back
We drove up to Denis’ today. Ann had made him lunch – a rather tasty Lasagne and we stayed until about 2pm. It was an excellent journey there and back – in fact probably the best we’ve ever had in terms of lack-of-traffic – and the sun was shining too (and that’s rare whenever we …
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A Few Gambles
ThursdayJane and Oliver stayed over for a few days – a rare treat! They arrive mid-morning on Thursday and after a belly-busting lunch where Jane brought homemade apple crumble and some homegrown marrows (large enough to be mistaken for Zeppelins!) we all headed off to Wicksteed Park. Zeppelin Alert! Not surprisingly, with the school holidays, …
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Ask – The Family
A bit of a travel experiment today! We travelled down to my Brother’s by train. We left just before 8.45 and after a short drive to Bedford (dropping-in on Steve and Denise), then grabbing the train at Bedford, and finally, changing at Farringdon. Three hours later, we were at Bromley South – a tad quicker …
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87 Not Out!
It’s been a Sunday/Monday sleepover at Roger, Jane and Oliver’s as part of Denis’s 87th birthday celebrations and we picked up Bev on the way through from Stevenage station on Sunday. We certainly had the weather for a celebration, and mostly ate outside! That makes a pleasant change!! There was even time to soak up …
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End of Term – Oliver
We drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for Oliver’s end-of-term musical concert at his new school: Richard Hale. The past few days have been roasting – and today was no different with temperatures in the mid 30s. I feel like I’m getting old! ☹️ Oliver’s solo piece was entitled: ‘Nobody Knows’, and he certainly …
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Project: Forest Mushroom
It was up to Bev’s new place today to help her with a boring but necessary job – not that we minded! It was to give her fences their first coat of fence paint with the colour of choice: Forest Mushroom. With three of us on it, starting at just before 10 (with a short …
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Fathers’ Day 2016 – The Gambles Assemble
We drove up to Denis’ today to share Fathers’ Day with him. A great view of the windmill from the gardenWith Chefs Bev and Ann in the kitchen, we were assured of a fab lunch. With Bev on Mains and Ann on Desserts it didn’t disappoint – Roast Chicken, Yorkies and a shed load of …
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Mid-week Break in Worthing
WednesdayWe set off just after 8.30 and decided to go via the A14, the M1 and the M25 via Heathrow (rather than our ‘normal’ A14-M11-M25). Distance-wise there wasn’t much in it, but Google Maps suggested it would probably be quicker – at just under three hours. Well, even though it didn’t seem like it at …
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Host with a Roast!
It’s Sunday, so the perfect excuse for a roast… and a catch-up with a few friends!The table was at capacity today – Jo, Janet Carol, Chris and Pete and Lee helped us do justice to Ann’s cooking! It was a full three-courser too! Yummy! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my …
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Frankie Goes To… St Pancras
Our very talented Nephew, Frankie, accompanied by my Brother Neil, headed for St Pancras International yesterday afternoon, to try out the piano that Elton John had recently donated. In case you’re wondering, the piece is: Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Welcome to the Pleasuredome! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in …
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Our Nephew Frankie: Live!
Not sure which side of the family he gets it from, but he’s very talented on the ivories! https://youtu.be/AWX8ktun92Y ..and I just realised he’s not reading it from a music-score either. Not bad for just an – almost – 17-year-old. At that age I think I was ‘skilled’ in changing spark-plugs on my first car! …
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