After a great night’s sleep, we were both ready to take on the World – but maybe NOT Dublin’s changing weather! Looking out of the window suggested that we were going to enjoy a blue sky, but 5 nano-seconds later, having emerged from the hotel looking for breakfast, we had the unique combo of: heavy …
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Category:Holiday
Holiday in Dublin – Day 1 (arrival)
The day of Ann’s Birthday started at ‘silly-o’clock’ – no, scrap that – SUPER ‘silly o’clock’! Even by our standards, setting the alarm for 2.45AM, in order to get to East Midlands Airport in time for our 6.30 flight to Dublin did seem a touch pessimistic – it’s only an hour away after all! Actually, …
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Keep Taking the Tablets!
My new(ish) Windows Tablet developed a fault last night, that even I couldn’t solve – the firewall turned itself OFF and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to start again. My AV program refused to run properly (so I couldn’t check to see if I had any ‘nasties’!), and what’s more, …
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Day Two – 30th Anniversary Holiday (Anniversary Day)
ANCIENT HISTORYWell, today is THE day, when, back on the 14th December 1984, we first got together as a couple. We disguised the fact by separately attending one of my staff’s leaving ‘do’. I say ‘disguised’, but I think most of our friends knew what was really going on – and that was in the …
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Day One – 30th Anniversary Holiday
We were both awake at 7am local time (creatures of habit!), and after peeking through the curtains, it looks as though it’ll be bright and sunny. First stop was somewhere for breakfast. The town was quite deserted and we spotted a McDonald’s, and so, for a hassle-free and predictable experience, we dropped-in. It was all …
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Arrival – 30th Anniversary
It’s super-silly o’clock and we’re off to Birmingham Airport, and onwards to Malta for a long weekend. We flew with Ryanair and managed to secure return tickets for the both us for around £90 – and that included bagging those leg-friendly seats up the front too! At just after 11am local time, following a short …
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Tech Alert No. 1379
Twenty months is a long time in the world of technology – especially when it comes to Tablets. Back in February 2014, I spent a King’s Ransom on the (then) all-singing-all-dancing Asus Transformer – a sort of Tablet/Laptop hybrid running on Android. Fast forward to now and this shiny bit of tech is being donated …
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Chilli with a Chance of Sausage!
The Table Awaits…In what my be considered by some to be an example of poor planning, we hosted a dinner party tonight for Jo, Janet, Valerie and David – whilst David and I were on Day 2 of our Eat-for-£1-a-Day-Challenge! Talk about temptation!!!!! Whilst the girls tucked into Nachos & Dips, followed by my homemade …
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Wine, Fine, Dine, Mine!
An unusual evening tonight – but it did include our three favourite subjects: wine, food and chocolate!! Gill and Chris’s daughter, Francesca, is off to Tanzania in the new year for three months (as you do!) to work with some of the poorest communities there. The deal is that in return for her travel and …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 8) – Final Day
It’s our final day of our holiday in Germany today. We’re travelling to Lübeck – another old town, as well as the home to some massive marzipan manufacture! The weather is the worst we’ve had so far – absolutely chucking it down, and VERY cold too – with the forecast for the rest of the …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 7)
Today’s adventure takes us to the ancient (and we do mean ancient, it was first mentioned in 994 AD!) town of Stade. We’re not sure what to expect, but it looked very nice in the photographs. After another quick breakfast with what seemed like the rest of Germany in the Holiday Inn Express, we took …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 6)
We both enjoyed a good night’s sleep at our new home for the next three days – The Holiday Inn Express, Hamburg. Breakfast was continental or continental – and that suited us fine – although the traffic-light system posted in the lifts for regulating the flow to-and-from breakfast, seemed to have imploded, as it seemed …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 5)
Today, we said goodbye to Berlin and took the train to our next destination – Hamburg. It was the perfect day to leave as the weather was truly atrocious – rain, rain and more rain. If we stayed in Berlin, I’m not sure how we would have spent the day! Getting soaked I reckon!!!! The …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 4)
It’s our last full day here today, before we take the two-hour train journey tomorrow, to Hamburg. The weather forecast is cloudy but at least dry, and we’ve got a few cultural places to visit, so we’ll probably spend most of the day inside. As the day turned out, the weather held, and we did …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 3)
Today’s Blog is brought to you by the colour grey and dark grey! The weather forecast says: cloudy this morning and rain this afternoon – and with that in mind, we decided to explore Berlin on the inside wherever possible. As soon as ventured outside, it looked like it was about to p*** it down …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 2)
Yay! A great night’s sleep. No doubt helped by yesterday’s combo of German wine and what seemed like a very long and exhausting journey getting here! One thing we immediately noticed about our rented city-apartment is how very quiet it is round here. OK, it may be because it’s a Sunday, but there’s not a …
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Holiday – Germany (Day 1)
We were up with the birdies to ensure we got a good run to Birmingham Airport – leaving the house at 5.30am. Weather was atrocious (so, a good week to be leaving the UK), but being a Saturday, at least the roads were fairly quiet. We checked-in at Brum without any problem, but as boarding …
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Lunch with Alison W
Time for my twice-yearly catchup with Alison W, so I drove over to Peterborough heading for the Fox and Hounds. Last time I was there back in September 2013, it was a real challenge actually getting to the Pub itself, because of some very complex roadworks and poor diversion signage (well, that’s my excuse anyway!). …
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Holiday – Domaine de Peyrecaty, Belves, France (Day 4)
It’s our last day here in this most beautiful part of France and whilst Steve and Helen are concentrating on getting ready for their new guests for the coming week, that leaves us to do some more exploring of the surrounding area. We’re off to Villefranche-du-Perigord and then onto the Castle at Bonaguil. Even though …
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Holiday – Domaine de Peyrecaty, Belves, France (Day 3)
It was another very warm night that included a short visit by the resident mossie in the early hours attempting to interrupt our alcohol-infused sleeping pattern. It’s amazing how useful a folded map can be when the need arises! SPLAT! and back to sleep! We re-awoke around 7am, and after switching on the Tablet, learned …
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Holiday – Domaine de Peyrecaty, Belves, France (Day 2)
What a warm night! – even with all the windows open, and because there was no breeze, it just stayed sweaty! It’s only 8am (ish) and just look at the temperature below. As the Sun rose, surprisingly, it actually got a bit cooler, but we could hear thunder in the background. The updated forecast for …
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Holiday – Domaine de Peyrecaty, Belves, France (Day 1)
After getting up at ‘silly-o’clock’, we jumped in the car and headed for East Midland’s Airport, and our flight at 7am to Bergerac Airport, courtesy of Ryanair. On arrival, the airport was heaving – much busier than I remember it back in my working days! In turn, and this added to the pressure at Security. …
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Holiday in Denmark – Day 9 (Last full day)
The forecast was for another day of ‘iffy’ weather, so we decided to continue our exploration of Denmark – but by staying under cover as much as possible. First stop of the day was Helsingor by train – and to make us feel at home, the journey was punctuated with engineering works requiring about three …
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Holiday in Denmark – Day 8 (Even More Sightseeing)
Up until yesterday, the weather throughout our holiday had been almost tropical. Today however, it felt more like temperatures that we’re used to – damp with a just a hint of sunshine! Still, it’s early morning, so there’s plenty of time for it to perk up. As a quick aside, I see that my conspiracy …
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Holiday in Denmark – Day 7 (More Sightseeing)
Today’s Blog is brought to you by the colour ‘grey’ and the number ‘5’. We certainly saw a contrast in the weather here today – it’s been threatening to rain all day and the sky has been mostly a yukky grey/blue colour. It’s been cold too – a real gust blowing all day, especially close …
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Holiday in Sweden – Day 6 (Returning to Denmark)
We said goodbye to Sweden and caught the train to Helsingborg. This was us acting spontaneously as promised yesterday! What we did was instead of taking the reverse of the journey we took when we first arrived on Monday, we got off about two thirds of the rail journey back towards Malmo and became foot-passengers …
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Escape from Stalag 25
We just checked with the Escape Committee. and we’re getting out at 9.46 disguised as ‘guests checking out’ (Theme tune from ‘The Great Escape’ playing through my headset). In order to blend in, we’re currently mingling with guests at breakfast, in order not to draw attention to ourselves. #WheresMyMotorbike Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite …
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Holiday in Sweden – Day 5 (Gothenberg)
After yesterday’s discovery that our accommodation here at the ‘Scandic 25’ resembled more of a prison cell, than a hotel room, the Scandic prison guards have been very clever overnight. In order to ‘break us’, they’ve cleverly switched the standard mattress for an ultra comfortable one, and they also did something to the room, so …
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Holiday in Sweden – Day 4 (Gothenberg)
We caught the 12.05 train to Gothenberg, saying goodbye to Malmo. It’s was a two-and-a-half hour silky smooth journey in one of the most comfortable trains I think we’ve ever travelled in – reaching 202 kph at one point. Bye-bye Malmo – hello Gothenberg! On arriving at Gothenberg, we attempted to find our next hotel …
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Holiday in Sweden – Day 3 (Ystad)
England 1, Italy 2! What a great headline to wake up to!!! The weather forecast is about the same as yesterday, but with the possibility of the train service being restricted, we’re only going as far as the seaside town of Ystad today. It’s home to the country’s oldest cinema (Biografteatern Scala), a production studio, …
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