Category:Holiday

Our day started with our 6.30 pickup by taxi to Birmingham Airport. Then, after what was possible the worst cooked breakfast I’ve ever tasted (thank you Wetherspoons!), we were soon on board our flight to Kastrup in Denmark. A smooth flight courtesy of SAS landed us five minutes ahead of schedule. We yomped to the …
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Received a Kit-Kat today! No, it wasn’t me ignoring my Lent List, instead, it was the rather bizarre name for the latest OS update to my Android phone, the Galaxy S4. A rather chunky 354.88Mb download showed that it was going to take around 20-30 minutes to grab the update file – but that was …
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A rare (ish!) ‘pure’ techy blog for my readers, who are interested in ensuring their websites are well-ranked in Google’s search engine results. I can’t claim authorship – it’s from those very clever guys and gals at seosherpa.com – and definitely worth a read! Click on the graphic for a version that’s easier to download. …
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Our last day here and we’re planning to sun-worship for as long as we can (before the boring, but necessary task of packing begins this afternoon). But still one last opportunity for indulgence in the shape of a half-price (I am a pensioner!) back-and-shoulder massage in the fully equipped Spa. Actually, it was a smart …
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Well, 25C is the coldest day so far – but I guess we’ll cope! It’s day 4 of 5 here and we plan to do no planning at all! We took a quick look around the ‘recreated’ heritage village next door and that was a bit disappointing in term of content. It was fun trying …
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Sometimes difficult decisions need to be made – even on holiday – so here we are in the gym at 8am!!! Some mistake surely??? Death in Paradise? Even by my standards (very low), this is a well-equipped gym – and better still, it was empty, so no fear of embarrassment either as I fumbled with …
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Another ‘silly o’clock’ start with the car picking us up at 6.30am to get us to the airport for our 8.50 flight. So, it was Rice Al-Krispies at 5.45am and goodbye to what’s been possibly the best hotel we’ve ever stayed at. The journey to the airport was incident-free and we were soon joining the …
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  Those that know me, know that I don’t do ‘lie-ins’ – as soon as I’m awake, and the brain kicks in (more slowly these days!), I’m normally up and doing stuff. So, it was quite a surprise that we didn’t get up until 9.30 this morning! Eeeek! that’s nearly lunchtime for me!!! It’s our …
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It’s our second day here and we’re off on a conducted half-day tour of Abu-Dhabi.We don’t know much about the place, so it’ll be good to see the ’bigger picture’ given that our first impressions of the people, customs, climate and food have impressed us both in equal measure. So, it was an early breakfast …
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Well, here we are at the Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri Hotel in Abu Dhabi. We’re here until Monday morning and then we fly to Oman. Now. we’ve had a good night’s sleep, we’re going to take a walk around the hotel. First, inside our room:   After breakfast and the briefing from the Tour Guide, …
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Our flight to Abu Dhabi had been delayed, but at least we’re on board! Reason given: ‘ice on the runway’ 🙁 Steve PalmerI 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 …
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It’s ‘silly o’clock’ (also known as 3.20 am – yes A.M.!) here in the UK and the ever-reliable ‘John le Taxi’ has arrived to speed us to Heathrow. Next stop is Abu Dhabi and the rather splendid Qaryat Al Beri hotel. Lee is cat-sitting, so all is right with the world! We’re here until Sunday, …
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This was a weekend of catching-up with old(er) friends. Steve and Helen Humphrey joined us (all the way from France) and their holiday-let business on Friday evening and Chris and Gill A joined the four of us on Saturday evening – and together we tackled one of Ann’s super-scrummy three-coursers! (bang goes the diet -and it’s …
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Technophobes, look away now! This is a handy piece of kit – it’s the tongue-twisty Huawei Mobile WiFi E5776. The device gives you your own wireless network wherever you are using the 3G/4G network – so no more rip-off fees from hotels to use the internet!!! It’s about the size of a cigarette packet (remember …
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My Galaxy S4 got a hefty 700Mb+ auto-download today to update it from ICS v4.21 to ICS v4.3. Steve PalmerI 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 …
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We invited Chris and Pete & Jo, Janet and Carol over for a pre-Christmas get-together and lunch today. Lee joined us too – a ‘full-on’ pre-Christmas stuffing awaited us! Ann had worked hard in the kitchen on Saturday preparing it all – creating a choice of two starters, roast chicken for mains and two desserts. …
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It’s our final day in Bath today – and ironically, the brightest, sunniest and warmest day of our break so far! Our plan was to cover a few more sights, including the American Museum at Claverton Manor and Castle Combe, but things didn’t quite work out that way! First of all, we drove all the …
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Today, Ann and I switched to ‘full tourist mode’. Lee stayed behind to catch-up with daytime TV, whilst we headed for Bath town centre. After the obligatory visit to M and S for some foody-essentials, we then took a slow stroll around the town taking in the sights. After a pit-stop at Jolly’s department store, …
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The Thermae Spa in Bath Today was another wet day, but for all the RIGHT reasons. We drove into Bath and headed for the Thermae Spa (after a brief visit to M and S). We came here a few years ago, and just like last time, even for a confirmed NON-swimming-pool addict like me, it …
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After yesterday’s downpour which seemed to last most of the afternoon, it was good to see the sun shining today. On today’s itinerary, it’s Tetbury and Cirencester. The day is very much Lee’s, as these two towns are very much ‘old stomping ground’ for her. Cirencester in the freezing Sun After the statutory late breakfast, …
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Another lazy breakfast followed by a check on the weather forecast that indicated that unless we managed to buy an ark, the morning was going to be a  better choice than the afternoon for being outside. So, it was off to Wells and to begin, a visit to its famous Cathedral. Scenes inside and outside …
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The View from the Kitchen A lazy lie-in this morning! A rare treat meaning we didn’t have breakfast until 9am!! – A unusual event – and wonderful in equal measure! We’re not sure what to do with ourselves today. It looks cold and foggy outside so that sounds like a perfect day to attempt to …
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Phew! Here we are then at The Coach House in Batheaston. It’s 5.30 and we should have been here by 4! Just our luck that this was the day when (according to the local news) a 48-wheeled monstrosity of a transporter also decided to also make its journey along the M4 and off at the …
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Possibly the corniest blog title ever! I’ve been with O2 for what seems like forever, and I always seem to end up on a good tariff from them. However, I’ve also found it helps to ring every so often to see whether I’m still getting the best and latest deal. Today was no exception, as …
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I’m posting this so that others needn’t go through the same steep learning curve as me, trying to sort out (deep breath!) ”Blogger posts’ visibility using a sub-domain, after a change of domain host”. I spent about 5 hours in all, trawling the net and ringing support-techies for the answer. Lucky I’m retired with nothing …
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Trish – where are you? We were due to pop round to our good friends Trish and John this evening for a meal. However, Ann’s boundless energy rebounded, after a particularly busy week at work, and so I did the socialising whilst Ann recharged her batteries at home. Tom and Julie were there, as were …
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A lot of my friends and colleagues have grown-up using PowerPoint for their presentations. Nothing wrong with that, but the trouble is, EVERYONE seems to use it for EVERY presentation these days! – and it can be hard to make yours stand out. I came across PowToon  this week, and it looks like fun – …
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