It’s another cultural day-out with our friends, Dennis and Sandra, this being our eighth adventure. Together, we’ve previously enjoyed:- 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) Castle Howard is a private residence, north of York and has been the home of …
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Category:Friends
Our Anniversary 2019 (8/35)
Yay! It’s our 8th. Anniversary (or 35th. in ‘old money’). Today was unique, in that it coincided to the day, with neighbour Trish’s legendary Annual Christmas Dinner get-together. So, for this year, in celebration, we were surrounded by our neighbours (who are also our friends)! In part, it was just like our wedding all over …
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Yummy Mummy
11.30am: I’m off to the capital today with Ann to meet up with Janet and Carol. We’re all visiting the recently opened Tutankhamen Exhibition at the Saachi Gallery and whilst we’re in the area, home of the ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ too — the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. For the King Tut Exhibition, it’s £24.50 for the young …
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Bulbs for Banstead
An early start for us today as we spent Saturday and Sunday with Richard and Nicki at their place in Banstead. Saturday We left home just after 7.30 and drove over to Huntingdon station. Why not take the car? Well, it’s not the getting there, it’s the getting home part. Last time we tried it …
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Avengers: Assemble Lasagne!
Jo and Janet joined us for a night of munchies and a movie… Oh, and some G & Ts! Whilst I prepared the DVD player, the lemons and the limes, Ann got busy in the kitchen. Our movie of choice tonight – Avengers:Endgame. There isn’t much that hasn’t already been written about the final film …
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Party, Party!
Well, we haven’t done this in a while! It’s fair to say that many of our immediate circle of neighbours have all had significant things to ‘deal with’ these past few months, so tonight was the perfect opportunity to get together. We played to our strengths, Ann weaving her magic in the kitchen and creating …
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Cambridge-sur-Mer
Ann and I drove over to Cambridge today. I say ‘drove’ as ‘sailed’ would have been more appropriate I think! – so much rain! ? And add to that, the mega-roadworks as they transform the A14, meant slow progress! Still, we made it in around an-hour-and-ten! 👍 Gone are the days where I used to …
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Holiday – China (Day 18): Scrutiny On The Buses
Our penultimate day in Hong Kong – and the holiday! Gosh, it feels like we’ve been out here forever! After my recent episode – On the Buses – we’ve now scrutinised our Big Bus sightseeing tour from yesterday, and whilst we didn’t cover everything we planned, we did pretty well! 😁 I therefore feel a …
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Holiday – China (Day 17): Hong Kong – On the Buses
Well, hello there my Reader, thanks for stopping-by. It’s Day 2 for us in Hong Kong – day 17 of our 19-day adventure in China. 😁 We’re sight-seeing today by Bus today taking in the sights of Hong Kong, courtesy of the Big Bus Tour. We’re attempting to cover as many of their routes as …
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Holiday – China (Day 16): Hello Hong Kong!
Evening all! We’re now on the final leg of our Chinese adventure – we’re in Hong Kong! 🙂 We landed around 4.30 local time (09.30 KMT) and headed for our home for the next four days – The Kerry Hotel. Ralph and Karen are here in HK for the first time, whilst it’s the fourth …
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Holiday – China (Day 15): Shanghai Lights
Greetings reader! 👍. It’s a rare no-official-tour day today! No pagodas, no squirrels posing as fish (or vice-versa) and most of all, no mad Chinese motorists to worry about! 😉 Today’s Post, therefore, is about just one thing – the spectacular light show here in ‘The Bund‘ area of Shanghai city that wows the crowds …
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Holiday – China (Day 14): Suzhou on a Choo-Choo!
Morning! 😊(Sorry it’s late again!) Today, we’re on the train heading for Suzhou! But before all that, what could be better than meeting a new Tour Guide? …it’s meeting TWO new Tour Guides. First up, there’s Mark who’s looking after us in Shanghai, and later we were to meet Stephen, for our Tour around Suzhou. …
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Holiday – China (Day 13): Shanghai Surprise!
Afternoon all! 😎After yesterday’s temporary suspension of my blogging activity (I blame me ‘OD-ing’ on pagaodas!) I’m back; and since you last looked, we’ve moved to the right, and up a bit – travelling north-east to Shanghai, city of finance. Getting there though, meant a scarily-early alarm call! I think we’re competing with our friends …
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Holiday – China (Day 12): Lazy Day on the Li
This is the Post I should have written on Friday (the 18th), but it was such a full-on day, I ran out of time! 🙄 A super-early breakfast at 7am today and we’re thankfully, checking-out of this very disappointing Sheraton. A tired hotel, desparately in need of a makeover with a complete lack of organisation …
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Holiday – China (Day 11): Sightseeing in Guilin
Morning all! It was breakfast at 8am this morning, in preparation for Jeremy, our Guide, and his half-day walking-tour of Guilin at 9! Techy note: Connectivity here in our room in Guilin is a nightmare, with even the VPNs refusing to connect. Worst of all, it’s random. 😮😮 Although the weather doesn’t look too promising, …
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Holiday – China (Day 10): Guilin for Guinness!
We checked-out of the Hilton Hotel in Xi’an this morning. Next stop is Guilin – a two-hour flight courtesy of China Southern Airlines. We said goodbye to Nina (our Guide) and Mr Su (our Driver) and headed for check-in. After a delayed take-off, we arrived in Guilin at around 1.45pm. We were now 874 miles …
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Holiday – China (Day 9): Sightseeing in Xian
Morning all! Another day, another Temple! Pagoda Mad Chinese motorist sight-seeing opportunity! 😁. Here we are in Xian (or more correctly, Xi’an) cultural capital of China. Xi’an has a population of 9 million (and most of those seem to be on the road (or IN the road, trying to cross) at any one moment in …
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Holiday – China (Day 8): Tour of Ancient Pingyao City
Evening all! We have just a single day here in Pingyao, so we’re making the most of it with a walking tour of the ancient city tour hosted by our Guide, Mona. Later this afternoon, we’re on the ‘bullet-train’ taking the 302 mile journey to Xi’an. Today, we welcome guest-blogger, Mrs P as I’m all …
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Holiday – China (Day 7): In Search of Temples
Morning all! It’s Sunday and I feel the need for some Temples! We have a plan!! 😁 After breakfast (at the far more reasonable hour of 7.30) we checked-out and met Mona and Mr G in Reception. It’s cold today (although I didn’t really notice – but that’s normal!). The locals are all dressed-up in …
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Holiday – China (Day 6): A Date with Datong (Eventually!)
It’s Saturday! No chance of a lie-in though as we were all up at the ridiculous hour of 3am! 😮Why? We needed to get the first flight to Datong – the CA1119 courtesy of Air China at 6.20am – what could be simpler! We met Michael and Dung in the hotel lobby and took the …
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Holiday – China (Day 5): Summer and a Nest!
Out and about in Beijing again! It’s our final day here as tomorrow, we take the short internal flight at ‘silly-o’clock’ to Datong – the next leg of our Chinese adventure! On today’s travel plans… We’re getting into a bit of a routine now! Just like yesterday, we met Michael and Dong Dung (Ooops! I …
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Holiday – China (Day 4): Wonder Wall
Morning Reader! 👍 It’s Thursday and whilst we’re here in China, we just had to visit The Great Wall! (or at least, part of it!) We met our guide, Michael, and our driver, Dong, in the Lobby for 8.30am and headed north from the Hotel. It would have been a two-hour drive to this iconic …
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Holiday – China (Day 3): Imperial China
We’re in full tourist mode today! So it was up at 6.15, breakfast at 7 and meet our tour-guide Michael, at 8, in the hotel-lobby! 👍 On today’s itinerary… Tiananmen Square Monument to the People’s Heroes Tiananmen Gate Mao’s Mausoleum Great Hall of the People The Forbidden City Tea tasting session! Beer tasting session …although …
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Holiday – China (Day 2): Arrival in Beijing
We’ve landed! It’s Tuesday morning here in Beijing! ..and the weather is just perfect for a gentle stroll… And when I say ‘gentle stroll’, I mean an accompanied two-hour walking tour of Beijing’s local neighbourhood – the ‘old town’. It was delightful! We checked in to the Hotel around 2pm and were soon unpacking! As …
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Holiday – China (Day 2): Extra
An extra Post showing-off some of the architecture in our first hotel – The Grand Millennium Hotel, Beijing. Boy, they certainly know how to impress! Click on any of the miniatures for a larger view! Wow! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into …
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Holiday – China (Day 1): Travel Day
We’re off! From home, we took the train (1 hour) into St Pancras International and then the tube to Heathrow T5 (65 minutes and 25 stops!). It was all a bit of a challenge with four suitcases, two carry-on bags, two handbags, a back-pack and a laptop case – but at least they saw us …
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The Great (Fire)Wall of China!
It’s our big holiday-of-the year soon – to China – with our long-time travel companions, Ralph and Karen. But this trip is going to be a little different from our previous adventures together in terms of how we keep you up to date. Why? In China, most western-based social media activity is completely blocked or …
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First Visit: The Old Pheasant, Glaston
Our first visit tonight to The Old Pheasant in Glaston where where we met up with long-time friends, Mick and Jane for one of our regular catch-ups. We last got together at The Fox back in April, so it’s been a while, and there was plenty of news to catch up with! Tonight, our location-of-choice …
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Noshing with the Neighbours
Well, we haven’t done this in a while! – a mega-neighbours’ get-together! Whereas last year, during the World Cup, we were in each other’s homes for most of the matches, enjoying endless food and drink – in 2019, not so much! Still, Ann and I soon remedied that with an open invitation to 16 of …
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A Touch of the Exotic
Gosh! It’s been a while since we were last here! – November 2016 actually! We journeyed to the centre of Kettering town with Julie and Bev for a Curry at the excitingly-named (and once oft-visited) The Exotic Dining. The food has always been excellent here and I’m not sure why we’ve been away so long …
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