Our Christmas movie! With Ralph and Karen, we headed off to Cineworld in Castleford to see The King’s Man. SPOILER-FREE! Any good? Well, we’d seen both the original Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: the Golden Circle (2017) – and they were quite entertaining and loosely based around the comic book series that debuted …
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Category:Friends
The Costello Christmas Meal (2021)
What with our 10th Anniversary Party still ringing in our ears from last Saturday, tonight we headed off to John & Trish’s for their annual Christmas meal! As usual, most of our close neighbourly friends were invited – and we all had a great time! Sean & Kellie and Conor were also able to join …
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Film: West Side Story (2021)
It probably wouldn’t have been my first choice, but all the reviews suggested that Steven Spielberg had done a fantastic job with this production. So, we headed off to the local Odeon (with masks!) and Jo and Janet to catch the 1pm performance. Based around the 1961 version, it was slightly longer, clocking-in at a …
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Rosi’s 60th Birthday Celebrations
We headed off to Rosi’s tonight to help her celebrate her 60th Birthday. We arrived for 6.30 (Paul and Karen gave us a lift after the weather deteriorated in the afternoon, meaning we didn’t fancy the walk). The gang was all there – Tom, Julie, Trish, John, Paul, Karen with Dave on Bar Duties! 👍👍 …
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First Visit: The George, Great Oxendon
We took a drive to The George, Great Oxendon today, picking up Paul & Sue along the way. They know it well, but for us, it was our first visit. Wow! First impressions were excellent. The unassuming entrance gave way to a very tasteful interior. It all looked very tasteful without being too over-the-top – …
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Film: Dune (1984)
It’s Monday Movie Night here! 👍👍 Having seen the new production of ‘Dune’ at the cinema recently, we all agreed it would be good to go back and watch the original that hit the cinemas back in December 1984. I recall seeing it (somewhere!) when it was first out, and by the end, came out …
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First Visit: King’s Head at Wadenhoe
It was off to the King’s Head in the village of Wadenhoe (population 244) to catch up with long-time friends, Mick & Jane. We’ve not been here before and in kinder weather, there are some nice walks nearby, so we might try that when it’s a lot drier underfoot and a bit warmer! We were …
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Film: Bond 25 – No Time to Die
It’s movie time for us again! 👍👍 Ahh, “No Time to Die“ (aka “Bond 25”), we’ve been expecting you (for quite a while, actually!). After five postponements because of you-know-what, it was finally here! I don’t intend to give away the details of the film here, it’s more of a reflection, so you’re safe to …
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First Visit: Shires Inn
It was a drive into unchartered territory for us two today as we headed with neighbours David & Valerie for the village of Peatling Parva (population 181) and The Shires Inn and Restaurant. The occasion? A belated birthday lunch for David and me! It was Ann and my first visit, but our dining companions knew …
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Ten for a Bank Holiday Lunch!
This was ambitious, even by our standards! Ten of our neighbours here for a full-blown three-course Sunday long lunch! In addition to Ann’s legendary skills in the kitchen, I had a go at ‘something’ (always worrying when I’ve got a whisk in my hand!). Motivated by my mantra: chocolate in everything, I created a ‘mystery …
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Exotic Dining in Kettering
To be honest, you don’t often see the words: exotic, dining and Kettering in the same sentence, but on this occasion, the title should be read literally! Cunningly concealed above the vacated town-centre Argos is: The Exotic Dining – the perfect location if you fancy a REALLY good curry! (Pedantically speaking it’s actual Indian and …
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Days Out: The Ashmolean Revisited
We drove to Oxford today to meet up with long-time friends Chris & Louise – it was a suitable halfway house for all parties. Being great fans of The Ashmolean (having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013, March 2014 and May 2018) we agreed to meet at Peartree Park and Ride and …
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Warner Weekend 2021
We’re off on our annual Warner Weekend with our ‘Northants Nutter’ friends, Paul, Sue, Geoff and Rhonda. This is our third visit to Warner’s since 2019, and they’ve all been great fun, with plenty to keep us occupied and offering great value for money. This year, our destination is Warner’s Gunton Hall nestled between Great …
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Pub Addict!
Well, not really! But visiting the same Pub – the Olde Victoria – within the same week does sound kind of excessive! OK, we weren’t there for the beer, but we were there for the food and company! 😀 On this occasion, catching up with friends, Richard and Pauline (who we haven’t seen since December …
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Saturday (Stuffed!)
I don’t think we’ve ever had a Saturday like this! It was pretty much wall-to-wall eating for the whole day! Tough life ehh!!! 👍 First stop was a celebratory lunch at Rushton Hall with our good friend Chris A in honour of his recent birthday. It looked like the weather was going to stay dry, …
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Lunch: Northants Nutters Reassemble at The Olde Victoria
It’s been quite a while since we were last here! Ann and I met the rest of ‘The Northants Nutters’ aka Paul, Sue, Geoff, Rhonda at The Olde Victoria for lunch today. And good to see that the Menu was as enticing as ever! 👍 The food and service, as always, was spot-on, and we …
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Theatre: “Memories of the Musicals”
It’s theatre time again for us! Today, we headed to Kilworth and their outdoor Theatre to see a very special production called: Memories of the Musicals. Billed as… “a full-length show featuring the very best songs from every one of the nineteen musicals produced at Kilworth House Theatre since the theatre opened in 2007. Six …
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Pub Lunch: Queen’s Head at Bulwick
Super Sociable Saturday and Sunday!
It was one of those fantastic weekends where we spent 99% of the time eating, drinking and enjoying the company of good friends! It’s a tough life!!! 😀 Saturday The morning was spent preparing stuff and having a final tidy-up in readiness for our guests. Just after midday, Ralph and Karen joined us, and after …
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Film: Black Widow
It’s been a while since we last went to the cinema (December, last year, when we saw Wonder Woman 1984). That visit was to the local Odeon, but it’s been even longer (August, 2020 – almost a year) since we went to the shinier, newer, Cineworld, here at Rushden Lakes to see Christopher Nolan’s mind-boggling …
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Theatre: The Importance of Being Earnest at Tolethorpe Hall
We headed for Tolethorpe Hall near Stamford today to see the latest production of The Importance of Being Earnest by the Stamford Shakespeare Company. We haven’t been to Tolethorpe since July, 2015, where we saw Henry V – quite a while! And going further back in time, we last saw a previous production of the …
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Return (of the return) to Saxon Mill
We returned to the Saxon Mill in Warwick today to meet up with Alan and Mags (Ian & Ann couldn’t make it). This is now becoming our most-visited out-of-Kettering eatery. To date, the food and service has always been top-notch – but today was a little different. It was certainly very busy when we sat …
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Euro 2020 Get-together
Ahh, that’s more like it! It felt like ‘pre-Covid days’, socialising with our neighbours over a meal!! 👍 With all the necessary COVID rules strictly adhered to, Paul and Karen invited (just) a few of us round to theirs tonight for a meal and to watch the soccer – we were there to see England …
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Tring Thing!
I caught up with Angela today at the King’s Arms in Tring. The venue was chosen because it was roughly halfway between us. I thought I knew Tring, but as I approached the town, it all felt very unfamiliar! What a lovely town though! – very leafy, a nice parade of shops and where the …
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The JS Gang Reunion 2021
Nicki’s Here! 😍
Nicki (sans Richard) joined us for the weekend. We haven’t seen her (properly) since October last year and it was great to catch-up. Saturday Today was all about celebrating (last) Christmas where we would have got together under normal circumstances, but didn’t, because of you-know-what! Ann planned a full Christmas Dinner and we invited Jo …
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Social, Social!
Today, was one of those days where things were ‘full-on’! 😏😏 All good things though, as it was 100% social!! The Clark’s (Roy, Susan and Lauren) visited us for lunch where Ann had produced miracles in the kitchen with a choice of two starters, two mains and two desserts. Unusually for me, I didn’t take …
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The Look of… Kilworth
It was a welcome return to Kilworth House this evening to see Dusty Springfield in concert. It wasn’t THE Dusty (obviously!) but a darn good impression! The event had been postponed from October last year, then again in April, because of you-know-what, but tonight was (finally!) the night!!! The performance was called: Delightfully Dusty. Tonight, …
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Kedlestone Hall with Dennis and Sandra
We drove up to Kedlestone Hall, near Ashbourne today, to meet up with fellow lovers of ‘days-out’, Dennis and Sandra. We’re building up quite a list of destinations since we started this with them back in 2017. Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)Bolsover Castle (October 2018)Belton House (May 2018)York …
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Normality! – Dinner INSIDE in a Restaurant!
With David acting as chauffeur, the four of us (David, Valerie, Ann and I) made a welcome return to The Palmichael tonight. Last time we were there as a foursome was back in December last year although back then, the Coronavirus restrictions meant we couldn’t all share a table and had to make do with …
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