Here we are in Long’s Park Castle south of Melksham – we’re here until Monday. We were last to arrive (around 8pm), but we had a great journey from home. Leaving around 5.30, we covered 165 miles in under two-and-a-half hours averaging just under 40mpg. Because we were so late leaving, we reckon we missed most of the congestion.

We missed the entrance first time round (but apparently, so did everyone else!) Luckily, Rosi came and stood in the entrance, so it was a lot easier on the second pass.

It’s a unique property with tons of character – a convincing plastic suit of armour, a baronial dining hall,a  large lounge and a cosy feel to it all. Good food and friends meets quirky design and decor! …and what a food spread! The girls had been busy: two types of lasagne, trifle and a couple of variations on an Apple Strudel – all helped down with plenty of wine!

After the meal, it was ‘all-hands’ to the kitchen, and with 13 of us, it made light work of the chores!

After the big clear-up we all crashed out in the lounge with BBC’s Children in Need on the widescreen TV in the background. Out came the chocolates which finished off the meal perfectly.

Predictably, we were first to flag, and stumbled off to bed around 9.30. We’re in the cottage away from the main building, and although it sleeps four, it looks like the other couple aren’t coming – so we have the whole place to ourselves.

Nighty-night – We’re probably going to go into Bath tomorrow.

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Friday appeared first on Steve's Blog.

It was an early morning – even by my standards (3.45am!) – and the plan was to take some more shots of the car and make the most of the summer, specifically to catch the Sun rising. God  and the BBC weather-team, however, had other ideas – and it was a misty start, and no sign of the Sun!

So John and I drove around looking for inspiration, and found a couple of spots, but we both felt a bit disappointed with the way the weather screwed the event.

We’ve decided that for the future, rather than plan ahead, we’ll take the decision on-the-day.

A few more photos on Facebook

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Photo shoot II – Insignia appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Whoever you are – thanks for driving off and not leaving a note when you pranged mine. Come the revolution, you’re one of the first in the queue!!

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post TLC for Ziggy appeared first on Steve's Blog.

My original Road Angel was upgraded to the ‘plus’ version a few years later, and at the time, it was one of the best devices on the market. Fast forward to 2011 and we now have the sleek-and-shiny ‘Road Angel Connected’. The significant part of the name is the last word – connected. This means that I don’t have to remove it from the car and connect it to the PC to update the databases on it – it does it, automagically via an in-built sim-card. Add to that, it’s got a colour screen and a tracking function (so it’s possible to pinpoint me on a map – or the car, if it gets stolen), it’s a real overdose of super-tech. Lovely!

I’d considered other makes and brands, but in the end, I settled for this beauty! Best of all, I was able to haggle the price down direct from the manufacturers from an eye-watering £294 (eeek!!) to a much more reasonable £169.

Yummy!

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post I Believe in Angels! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

I was up with the lark this morning (what a surprise!). I picked up John W and we headed to Burton Latimer for a photo shoot featuring my new car. We wanted to make best use of the natural early-morning light. More piccys to follow, but here’s one that makes it look really eco friendly (although a bit unstable!!!)

Later, I drove down to St Neots to meet up with Ian H. He’s up this way on business and I wanted to see his new speed camera detector gadget that he’s just installed. We ate at The Highwayman, the pub/restaurant next door, feasting on chicken-burgers under their ‘two-for-a-tenner deal and put the world to rights along the way!

I got home around 4ish.

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Photo Shoot appeared first on Steve's Blog.

What a spooky coincidence! I’d already to planned to catch-up with Denise for lunch in London, but due to a change in both our schedules, we realised we didn’t need to travel that far!

Instead, we went to the village of Ireland, in Shefford, and The Black Horse, a lovely Pub/Restaurant – the coincidence being that we’d done the same almost three years ago to the day!

The other coincidence was that back in 2008, I just got my new car – the Mondeo – and wanted to show it off. This time it was the Insignia’s turn!

Good to see you Denise!

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Another trip to ‘Ireland’ appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr

The day began early – earlier than planned – Neil rang to say that the M11 was closed in both directions, so we left around 7.30. Lee is cat-sitting for us and looking after the numerous ironing duties – thanks Lee!

The plan was to drop into Mum’s, meet Neil there (to give him our redundant pressure washer) and then head off towards Shoreham Airport to meet Ian and Sharon there for lunch.

The problem with the M11 was that there had been an horrendous crash where a lorry had ploughed into a coach that was parked on the hard shoulder. They had closed the motorway in both directions – and it was to remain that way for most of the day. We therefore used the A1, and although it was a longer route, we arrived at Mum’s in good time.

Neil had already arrived and Mum was waiting in the conservatory. It was then that we learned that Debbie’s Dad had passed-away last night after a long illness.

We headed up to Mum’s flat, caught up with bits and pieces over a cuppa and then headed off south.

We arrived at the Airport just before 12 – the car averaged 40mpg –  and after a quick de-bugging of the windscreen, we headed inside to get a table.  It was a lovely warm day and the forecast is for the same tomorrow. It’s a very popular place for lunch – not surprising really, good quality food at very low prices!.  Ian and Sharon arrived not long after. Initially, we sat inside as it can be a bit windy out near the runway, but we eventually braved it and it wasn’t too bad. We had originally planned to go to Shoreham village for a look round, but instead we headed for Worthing town. After a bit of confusion with finding the flat car-park that we always use (I thought I’d transferred the location from the Mondeo to the Insignia’s sat nav, but we ended up in completely the wrong place), we eventually arrived in the right place.

We had a quick look round the shops and then headed for Beale’s department store for a pit-stop. It was all a bit lack-lustre there, and we didn’t stay long.

We headed off to our hotel – the Premier Inn at Littlehampton, grabbed a bit of shut-eye before getting ready for the main event this evening – a visit to the ‘Istanbul’ a Turkish restaurant near to the sea-front in Worthing.

We picked-up Ian and Sharon at theirs just before 6.45 and took the short drive to the sea-front. The restaurant area was already busy and it took us a couple of circuits to eventually find a parking-space (I’m still avoiding multi-storey car-parks in case I dink the alloys!). We were given a warm welcome on arrival and were soon perusing the menu. After some indecision, we settled for a mix of hot and cold starters which we shared and then did our own thing for the mains. Ann had Moussaka, Sharon – salmon, Ian – the mixed grill and I tried the Turkish Meatballs. All-in-all, it was a fantastic meal, and predictably, we were all completely stuffed by the end – but some of us did manage a dessert! A nice touch at the end was that the waitress had over heard us talking about Sharon’s birthday, and delivered us a dessert with a few candles in the top. The accompanying sparklers set off the smoke detector and they were quickly taken outside!!

We waddled back to the car, dropped Ian and Sharon off along the way at theirs and headed back to the hotel.

On arrival, we noticed that the hotel was covered in kids – and we do mean ‘covered’ – dozens of the little angels. That now explains why the hotel had called us last week.  They’d noticed that we were child-free and wanted to alert us to the prospect of some potential noise at the hotel. Top marks, Premier Inn!!

Actually a herd of elephants could have been staying here, and we wouldn’t have heard a thing! I think we got off to sleep as soon as our head touched the pillows!!

Arundel tomorrow…

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Bank Holiday Weekend with Ian and Sharon appeared first on Steve's Blog.

After dropping into Central Garage to have the locking wheel nuts changed on Ann’s Fiesta, we headed up to Denis’ for lunch. It was another fine day here and even hotter there – 27 degrees – another scorcher!

After a full-scale roast chicken lunch followed by Ann’s ‘plums cooked in red wine and served with a creamy ricotta cheese mousse’ (phew!), we were all stuffed, so we did a bit of lizarding in the back-garden, and caught up with the papers. It actually got too hot for me, so I retreated indoors.

We left around ten past four as we arrived home just before five-thirty – a good journey back and if gave me an opportunity to see how the car performed with a boot half-full and three adults inside. Not bad!, it’s certainly comfortable, and there’s plenty of oomph under the hood. Better still, the return journey gave 38.4mpg.

Once home, there was just time to de-bug the windscreen and front bumper – the car seemed to have attracted all manner of livestock – it was covered! before settling down to watch the new series of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who – Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the opening episode. The hype surrounding Doctor Who can sometimes do it an dis-service, where the episodes (for me) then fall below expectation.

Well, I needn’t have worried, as lead writer, Steven Moffat had once again penned a masterpiece! (right up there with Blink! his first) Whether you are a Who-addict, an occasional watcher, or were just tuning in for the first time to see what all the fuss was about – you wouldn’t have been disappointed. The acting was a good as ever, and Matt Smith seemed to have settled into the role. and made it his own – as I’ve blogged before, he’s got a touch of the Patrick Troughton’s about his character – mysterious and a bit manic. A nice touch also, right at the start where there was a short tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, (who played Sarah Jane Smith) who died earlier this week.

I liked the tone of the whole thing and the storyline had plenty to get you thinking – astronauts, the death of a key character, and a pregnancy – not bad for a 45 minute episode.  The newest Who monster delivered the goods and was scary, creepy and haunting in equal measure – a few nightmares for some kids tonight, I think! Well done BBC – this is what we pay the Licence fee for!!

Part 2 next Saturday!

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Easter Day (2011) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

And so, with just a few days until its three-year anniversary, my trusty Mondeo is leaving today for a new home. I’ve always had a close relationship with my cars – maybe it’s a bloke thing or maybe it’s just me but and I WILL be sorry to see it go. It has to be up there in my list of ‘most enjoyable motors’, not based on any ONE feature, just the whole ownership experience. 10.24am – the man from the lease company arrived today, to no doubt drop it into an anonymous car-compound somewhere in the UK whilst it awaits its fate new owner!

It’s been 100% reliable during its time here, apart from a minor glitch with an dashboard error message when I first owned it – so just perfect then!! 

But, as they say, ‘onwards and upwards’ and my new Vauxhall  Insignia, will, for the next three years, be taking pride of place on the drive (but mostly tucked away in the garage) as our main transport. Thank-you Mr Ford and thanks to Paul, neighbour and friend from Central Garage, who sold it to me back in 2008. They’re nice people there!

Related Stuff

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post ..and so, ‘Bye-Bye Mr Mondeo’ appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr

What a glorious day! it has to be the warmest day of the year so far – 23/24 degrees C!

So, after Ann and Lee dropped off the Biscuit and Bon-Bon for their six-weekly spit-and-polish with Patsy, it was time to use this fine weather to give both cars a real good clean. I picked the cats up and then it was all (my) hands to the wash bucket. Actually, I don’t think mine really needed it – but hey, it’s a new toy! I think it’s actually another half inch wider and taller because of all the wax I’ve put on it in last few days!!!

Whilst I was spitting and polishing the cars, Ann and Lee battled with the back garden – I think I chose the more enjoyable option!

Steve Palmer

I 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 to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Cats in… Shorts and Carnuba Wax out! appeared first on Steve's Blog.