Category:Holiday

Well, here we are, it’s 7.45am and we’re just slipping into the port of Cartagena. Until we booked the cruise, I hadn’t heard of it, as part of the itinery of cruise-ports. So, for people like me, here are the headlines – It’s a Mediterranean city and naval station, located in the Region of Murcia, …
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“Been there, done that…” – It’s a fine day (better than at home, where we hear that the white stuff has arrived!) but as we’ve been up and around Monte Carlo a number of times on previous cruises, there wasn’t much point in getting off the ship today. Also, Ann didn’t sleep too well, so …
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The Atrium – Queen Victoria 10.40: The first part of our holiday is over and we’ve left Rome behind. For the final part, we taken the train from Rome to Civitavecchia station. The journey took just over an hour and on arrival, we shared a cab with another couple who were also bound for the …
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It’s our final full-day here. On the plus side that means there’s only another two juices to try out at breakfast! On the down-side , we’ll be sad to leave Rome, because of its people, manic drivers and architecture! So, breakfast beckons, and having drunk (and survived) yesterday’s juice-of-the-day, ‘Tropical’ (aka Domestos Forest-Fresh), it’s time …
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The highlight today is our visit to the Pope’s condom-inium, the Vatican – we’ve got a timed tour at 10.30, so that gives us plenty of time to look around the local area and walk-off breakfast (just two-steps then!). Talking of breakfast, with some reservation, we gave it a second-chance, hoping that yesterday’s fiasco was …
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We both slept deeply – the double-glazing helped and also because there were no cats jumping on-an-off the bed! A quick peek through the curtains revealed that it’s very grey out there, so I think umbrellas will be the fashion accessory of choice together with warm coats. And so, to breakfast. Trip Advisor reviews had …
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After landing, we took the train from Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) Airport – thirty minutes, 28 Euros and a fifteen minute walk later we arrived at the Hotel Augusta Lucilla Palace – find it on Google Maps HERE. The weather is cold and rainy and we’ve discovered how high the kerbs are and how many …
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You know what they say: Proper Preparation Prevents P**** Poor Performance! In that case, our holiday should be fantastic, as we’ve been preparing for ages! We’re nearly all packed…just need to get the sink and the fridge-freezer in the case, and that’s the house completely empty!!! Yesssss…! Italy, here we come!!!! Steve PalmerI got into …
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Which is nicer: Wine or chocolate? Can’t decide? How about a wine bottle MADE of chocolate? – Perfect, just perfect!!! Thanks girls!!!! 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 …
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Just a test 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 the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words …
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If you’re a fan of Facebook and you have the official ‘app’ from Windows Marketplace on your smart-phone, you will no doubt be cursing the fact, that recently it’s developed a fault and stopped automatically updating changes to your friends’ status. The work-around has been to log-out of the app and then log-in again. Hardly …
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All-in-all, the installations went well, but I do believe that there is an unwritten ‘law’ – probably called ‘The Law of Sod’, that kicks-in just when you are least expecting it!!! Our story begins…I downloaded the 2011 version of the new AVG Security Suite with a view to sequentially installing it on all the PCs …
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I finally got around to re-organising and tidying up the holiday photos that I have on my web-site. IN later years, I switched to using Google Photos. You can view them at: https://www.StevePalmer.com/pics.html Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My …
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I decided to upgrade my Samsung N130 NetBook today from the rather basic Windows 7 Starter Edition  to the more substantial Windows 7 Home Premium. It was a bit of a gamble as the spec on the NetBook was a bit below that recommended by Microsoft. I did it because the networking capabilities with non-Win7 …
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Here we are then, approaching the end of the holiday – with just one more day to go! The weather forecast is for a hot day (again!), something like 20-21 degrees, so we’re going to drive south, down to Newry and then onto Kilkeel on the coast and then follow the coast road up to …
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After what felt like yesterday’s circumnavigation of the globe, we’re taking it a bit easier today!   So, we’ll spent most of the morning at the apartment, catching-up with our reading. 10.45am: It’s the warmest day so far – 19 degrees – so we’re heading out to National Trust’s Rowallane Gardens. What a beautiful place …
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Up at 7, as it’s pay-day and I wanted to square the money before we went out today. It’s the great trek northwards today, hopefully to include a  scenic route offered by Peter at The Cuan last night. We’re planning to visit The Giant’s Causeway. As things turned out though, it was a day of …
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A lie-in… unbelievable. Until 8.30… even more so!!! Weather-wise, it looks like a fine day although there’s a strong wind blowing that gave it a wintery feel every so often. 10.15am: Today, we decided to explore the ‘south-eastern’ corner from where we are. So, after a quick breakfast, we set off heading off in the …
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Trish popped round and we worked on a flyer today for John. 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 the art of writing seemed to …
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This program looks quite cool – Spotify. It’s a small program that’s free. You install it on your PC and it allows you to search for music online and listen to it (with a occasional adverts). Best thing of all, it lets you share your music (including any music you have on your PC already) …
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Excellent! – My new 45-200 zoom lens turned up today courtesy of Amazon. 45-200 in digital terms makes it a 90-400 in ‘normal’ camera lingo – that’s l-o-n-g!For its zoom capability, it’s incredibly small, and I’m going to use the next few days whilst I’m at home to test it out. Steve PalmerI got into …
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Mel and Johnny joined us today for the weekend. We haven’t seen them since we were down in Portsmouth in July last year. Before that, it was April 2007 when they stayed with us last. Johnny had had a ‘store visit’ so they didn’t get to us until around 7.15pm (the original plan was for …
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Well, I was looking forward to my new router turning up today.It was destined to replace the ageing one that’s become increasingly unreliable over the past few months – dropping connection to the ‘net without warning. Having done my research, I settled for the Netgear dgn3500 Router Modem. A shiny beast with lots of flashing …
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I took Lee up to Woodland Hospital, for her appointment with the specialist. After a thorough set of tests, he can’t yet determine whether Lee’s shaking is caused by the early stages of Parkinson’s or it’s just, as he called it, ‘a tremor’. We’re assuming the latter, and Lee starts on a course of medication …
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