It was off to nearby Northampton to see another in the series of Concerts by Candlelight that are all the rage at the moment. Last time for us was in September, 2023 at Peterborough Cathedral to hear the music of The Eagles. This time it was ‘two for the price of one’ with the sound of Coldplay and Ed Sheeran for one night only at (of all places) Northampton Museum & Art Gallery (famous, of course, for its shoe collection).

I was designated driver, and we picked up Jo and Janet just before 6.30 on a strangely warm evening (for September) – a whopping 19°C! A trouble-free journey meant we were soon in the cultural quarter. We haven’t been to this part of Northampton (just up the road from the Derngate) for a good few years, and we anticipated parking being a challenge. We left in good time assuming we’d need to ‘circle the wagons’ a few times.

What a pleasant surprise! . Actually, for once, parking was easy, and after just a single lap of the area, we managed to grab a spot that was less than two minutes’ walk from the venue.

We were soon sipping drinks and testing our strength, undoing the caps on their bottled water in the Museum’s Café, but still leaving us plenty of time to spare and admire the interior! .

Back to the music! As things would turn out, the Concert was to be nothing like the candle-lit Concerts we’d previously experienced – in a good way!

Brought to us by ‘Fever‘ (nope, me neither!) the whole marketing effort relating to this event had been somewhat lacking in detail. The result? I’d assumed that it was going to be a similar format to The Eagles by Candlelight event we’d been to, around two years ago – band/vocalists/big event and, of course, candles!

Well, I got the last bit right!

Oh yes, there were plenty of candles! It looked like a power cut from the 70s. Janet and I did a rough count and made it over 600 – mostly at the front, but to the sides, at the back and under the seats too! And, just before we checked that we had the number of the local fire service, we realised they were all LED versions! . I wonder who got the job of switching all those on!!??

So far, so normal then! The performance space was fairly dark – and that’s how it stayed – just dark enough to show off the lighting, but light enough so it was fairly easy to locate our seats, although we were shown to our seats (just three rows from the front) by a very polite, well-dressed young man (there, that’s it, I’ turned into my Grandfather!). Whereas The Eagles event was a large performance space (Peterborough Cathedral), this was almost an intimate arrangement, seating only around 150 people. It was a full house, but ‘intimate’ did feel like the correct description, especially with the subdued lighting

As we settled down, we immediately spotted that there were only four chairs for the musicians and no signs of ANY electricification. To our right was a space for MORE candles with a curious ‘u-shape’ cut out of the middle. Maybe a space for the drummer???

Nothing quite so musical, as it turned out – more about maximising their profit from the evening! The space was for photographs taken by the support staff of anyone who wanted a memento of the event.

At just after 8pm, the performance began, but not before we were reminded that no photography was allowed until the final tune. It was, therefore, especially irritating to see that one individual to our left, in front of us in the second row, (and thankfully for him, he was too far away for a poke), who felt it was OK to film the event at regular intervals on his phone. Come the revolution, brothers and sisters, he’s in the first group against the wall! .

As the stage seating dictated, there were just FOUR performers. Sporting two violins, a viola and a cello as their instruments of choice, this was to be a ‘stripped back’ musical evening. But would it work as I’m not sure the music of Coldplay lends itself to string instruments, but maybe Ed Sheeran, more so?

Wow! We needn’t have worried. The sound they produced was sublime. The smallish room probably helped the acoustics, but with no amplification, it was just the pure sound of traditional instruments played by an extremely talented group. They covered about a dozen numbers, equally split between Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. All the hits and a single encore piece. They played with confidence and enthusiasm and punctuated each batch of 2/3 songs with a short commentary in turn from each of the group to explain what they were about to play, including a little history of the songs themselves.

All in all, a very polished performance where they didn’t just regurgitate the tunes, they had all been re-orchestrated to bring out the best in the instruments and the players’ musical talents! ‘Candlelight’ titled concerts are a bit over-used (and popular) at the moment when looking online, and I think we’d all assumed they were all ‘the same’. Thankfully, this one was a very different style. Together with the lighting, the performance space, the small(ish) numbers and the choice of music, it all came together perfectly to create a very chilled-out experience

Any downsides? Well, apart from our film-making friend from the row in front needing a good kicking, the marketing of this was somewhat lacking. I think it would have been helpful if somewhere in all the communication, they’d mentioned it being a string quartet rather than a ‘Band’. OK, it was a pleasant surprise, but it wasn’t what we thought it was going to be. Ultimately though, we were impressed with tonight and quite taken with the talent on display! However, looking online afterwards, there wasn’t much at all about ‘Ensemble M’ apart from their YouTube Channel HERE – and I’m not sure that was even the same group! Based on tonight, they deserve to be better known!

Collectively and individually, they’re sure to do well if this is their chosen career – a fantastically talented bunch of young players who played like they’d been doing it for years, giving us a ‘big sound’ that betrayed their group size!

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 Candlelight Concert: Coldplay and Ed Sheeran appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We drove over to Huntingdon today for our first visit to the Cromwell Museum.

Neither of us could remember when we last visited Huntingdon, so we weren’t sure what to expect from the town. Parking was certainly challenging and it wasn’t helped by EVie’s Sat-Nav having a complete fit in mis-identifying the road that SHOULD have led us to the nearby car-park. We eventually found a space and wandered off into unknown territory.

What a pretty town! . Even with rain threatening to spoil our visit, it all very well looked after! No litter anywhere, everywhere clean and tidy, plus there were plenty of people shopping (another case of the High Street NOT struggling!).

After a quick look around the shops, we headed for the Museum itself. It wasn’t the largest of spaces, but they’d packed a lot in. it’s free admission, but there’s an opportunity to donate just £3 per person, if you feel so inclined.

The two staff on duty were super-friendly and gave a good overview of what we could expect. We were then left to look at the varied exhibits at our own speed.

The space itself is located in the old school in Huntingdon – attended by Cromwell himself back in the day. It’s hard to pick a favourite exhibit but for me, one of Cromwell’s sword (complete with initials) is up there probably together with ACTUAL New Model Army ‘uniforms’.

PLenty of interactive stuff for the sprogs too! (well, and ME! )

You’ll probably only need around 30-45 minutes to see everything, but where it scores highly is the level of detail on show. This was a real find!

You can read more about the Museum HERE.

We really enjoyed the Museum and Huntingdon town too! I’m not sure we’ll need to visit the Museum again, but the retail scene in the town is most definitely worth another trip (Sat-Nav, take note!!!)

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 First Visit: Cromwell Museum appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A return to Silverstone Museum for me, this time with super-techy-mate, Chris A. The reason? Well, nothing specific, we just fancied going there, and it’s only a short drive away!

I was last here back in December, last year with John C for exactly the same reason!

With today’s weather looking and feeling like Summer had well and truly vanished, our first stop, on arrival, was the Café! Great coffee! And looking through the window we could see it was also a Track Day and wondered if we’d be able to get closer to that a little later? (assuming the weather improved!).

With refreshments over, it was a short flight of stairs to enter the Museum. First impressions were excellent! With more staff on-hand than during my previous visit, it was all felt a bit more ‘joined up’ and also had more of a ‘buzzy’ atmosphere here today! We declined the offer of the opportunity to try out the simulators (an extra £25 each) – maybe next time? – but at least being upstairs, we got a better view of the ongoing Track Day. So, a great start to our visit!

Once through the double-doors it was a short AV presentation presented in a thin ‘tunnel-like’ area that began the story of historic Silverstone as an iconic race venue (September, 1947). Cue lots of famous racing cars on-screen! It was only about 5 minutes long, and it set the scene nicely for what was to come. Once we exited the ‘tunnel’, we discovered that it was a controlled route around the exhibits, beginning with a history of the Silverstone circuit area itself. I guess not many people know that it was originally an airfield used for training Wellington Bomber crews – and before that, a country estate… and before that, an Abbey!

There was certainly a wide range of exhibits here – it’s NOT all racing cars – so even for the NON car fancier, there’s plenty to enjoy!

Having said that, once the history lesson was over, there was a significant amount of space (over two levels) devoted to the love of ‘performance on four wheels’ – from all angles. It was all well laid out with plenty of background information. Obviously for car-nerds, this is a dream destination, but even those with just a casual interest will find something to love.

The level of detail (and the clear love for the exhibits) on show was clear to see, where for many, this is the closest they will have ever got to actual racing cars! Brilliant!

Given that the whole Museum is about SPEED it wasn’t too surprising that this is the second fastest location I’ve ever visited for mobile phone connectivity. How’s that for lateral thinking? Given that most of us make do with anything up to about 50 Mbps, the following numbers were impressive and perfectly in keeping with Silverstone’s raison d‘etre!

885 Mbps down! – that’s only a tad lower than the Tower Bridge area from a few year’s back when I clocked 900 Mbps whilst travelling UNDER Tower Bridge on a Thames Clipper! – back then, the fastest I’ve ever experienced in the UK. It’s still not as fast as home though!

Anyway, back to Silverstone…

…and if the whole ‘racing car thang’ isn’t your bag, then there’s a fascinating section that looks at the ‘science’ of it all… engine technology, suspension theory, tyre construction etc – a fascinating series of exhibits with many of them, very ‘hands-on’.

Our visit finished with a visit to the Imax-esque cinema putting us literally in the driving seat, allowing us to take part in the ultimate Grand Prix (featuring champions of car and bike across the years). This all felt very realistic, and I certainly experienced a little motion sickness as I ‘took the racing line into the bends’.

No visit to this iconic venue would be complete without a visit to the Gift Shop. Prepare to take out a second mortgage though as even the baseball caps were over £40 each!! Kerchinnnnggggg!!!

As I mentioned earlier, today was also a Track Day – an opportunity for your car insurance company to squeeze even more money out of you by charging a premium to take your own car on the Silverstone circuit. There were plenty of would-be ‘Hamiltons’ out there, and even the sun came out! Today’s event had around 20-30 cars taking the opportunity to put their pride and joy through its paces, both in terms of speed and tactical driving. Plenty of Porches, BMws, a few electric cars and an Vauxhall Insignia too! From what we saw, some were doing better than others, and the sound of the occasional screeching of tyres suggested that some might be stopping off at Kwik-Fit on the way home! It looked like great fun though! .

All in all, a GREAT day! We covered all we wanted to see in under two hours, but we could have easily added another hour if we’d succumbed to the temptation of the sims and studied the exhibits in even more detail. If you’ve not been before, allow yourself two hours, maybe half a day if you fancy a ‘light bite’ from their Café

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 Return to Silverstone! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We never turn down an opportunity to visit The Ashmolean (having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013, March 2014, May 2018 and August 2021).

Yes, it’s no surprise then, that this Museum is probably our favourite out of any of those we’ve visited ANYWHERE! .

On this occasion, it was to meet up with Cousins, Chris and Kate and grab lunch on the rooftop restaurant too!

We had a trouble-free journey there and after parking at Peartree Park ‘n’ Ride, we arrived just before 11am. Our Cousins arrived shortly afterwards and we were soon soaking up what the Ashmolean had to offer!

There’s always an exhibit that surprises its visitors, either because of its uniqueness, its age or its value – and today was no exception! How about the actual clothing worn by T E Lawrence aka ‘Lawrence of Arabia’?. It was in such good condition too! Wow!

Lunch in their rooftop restaurant turned out to be a delight (contrary to many of the recent posts online) – great food that was very tasty with great service to match!

After Lunch, we had a further (quick) look around the Museum and then said our goodbyes. Our journey home was also trouble-free and we were indoors with a cuppa my 4.35pm. Today had been a great day out with our cousins!

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 Ashmolean (again!) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We drove to Oxford today to meet up with long-time friends Chris & Louise – it was a suitable halfway house for all parties. Being great fans of The Ashmolean (having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013, March 2014 and May 2018) we agreed to meet at Peartree Park and Ride and head straight for this famous Museum.

Oh, and being serious foodies, we’d booked a table for a light lunch at their rooftop restaurant too!

Most memorable exhibit for me? Amongst the various Stradis and other really impressive stuff is Guy Fawkes’ lantern! Fab!!

A great day out! Fab friends, fab lunch and of course, this fab Museum – and the sun shone too! It wasn’t such a good journey home though, as I think we caught the beginning of the ‘rush-hour’ traffic. We eventually arrived home around 6.40pm!

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 Days Out: The Ashmolean Revisited appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We always like to do something a little special for the August Bank Holiday – and this year was no different as we’d planned a two-day break in London.

The weather forecast promised a scorcher (especially in the capital) where temperatures are predicted to hit the low-thirties! Apparently another temperature-record will be broken today according to the Tabloids! (Actually, it was – we learned later that it had hit 33.2°C in London!)

Bank Holiday Monday

We’re travelling light! Just two bags between us (and one of those is purely ‘tech’!), so it’ll be interesting to see how we get on…

Being a Bank Holiday, we guessed that the train schedule would be somewhat messy. In fact, there had been announcements over the previous fortnight about NOT travelling AT ALL over the bank holiday! We knew Kettering station was affected, so we drove to Bedford and travelled to St Pancras from there. Arriving for the ticket queue at just after 10 (after a bit of a wrestle with the car-park ticket machine that required an ‘AS’ level to use!), where it seemed the rest of Northamptonshire was already there – and the station was heaving!

10.13am: With our queuing for our tickets over, the journey was happily, a trouble-free experience to the capital. It was our first trip on the new franchise that is East Midland Railways and not much has changed, but what had, was good including totally free wi-fi throughout on a train that arrived out of nowhere (based on its arrival time).

11.00am: We were soon joining a different hoard – on the Tube to our destination to Gloucester Road! And the tabloid promise was coming true – a scorcher was in the making for sure!

If it was warm above ground, imagine the joy of the Tube. Ahh, the Piccadilly Line – super-busy and every passenger (apart from the three Aussies next to me), getting more moist by the minute – there was more air coming out of the loudspeaker grille than the AC duct – what a way to travel on a Summer’s day!!!

11.30am: But before the Museum visits, it made sense to dump our bags. We’re staying at the (very) modestly-priced IBIS Styles in Gloucester Road (more about that later), and after losing some weight we headed for the Museum region, a five-minute walk around the corner.

The Science Museum

11.45am: First stop was the Science Museum. We haven’t been here for a while, but we’d heard it had had a makeover courtesy of the National Lottery.

Wow! What a change! One of the first exhibits celebrated the age of steam…

…followed by plenty of exhibits of cars through the ages…

Next, examples of how machines were powered after the steam generation, including…

There was also a big section on the future of transport – very thought provoking!

1.10pm: The highlight for us though was the GCHQ Exhibition on the lower-ground floor. There wasn’t that much to see, but what there was, was fascinating! It was a little like the exhibits at Bletchley Park, but in addition, it included more recent accounts of modern code-breaking.

An excellent exhibition and worth seeing even if you HAVE been to Bletchley Park. All-in-all a fascinating visit with much more than we expected! Well worth a visit!

1.45pm: Next stop was a fifteen-minute bus-ride away (on the No. 23) to the Design Museum, next to one of the entrances to Holland Park. In all our travels in London, we’d never come across this Museum before – and amongst all the other buildings in Kensington High Street, it stood out a mile, architecturally speaking! The Museum is open daily 10 until 6 and open late on the first Friday of every month until 8pm.

The Design Museum – Stanley Kubrick Exhibition

2.15pm: Unfortunately, we’d narrowly missed an exhibition from our old employer ‘Mr Sainsbury’ (that had closed the day before) ‘From Corn-Flakes to Cola’ – or so we thought. It was still advertised… and still running!

Located around the perimeter of the first floor was a wide range of label-designs, packaging ideas and typography from ‘back in the day’ (probably best NOT to be too specific) – but it certainly brought back memories!

For those of you who read my Blog and also have a connection with ‘good ol’ JS’, there’s some great memories to wallow in here!

2.45pm: Back to the main event then – the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition. We had to pre-book, but on arrival, after a quick pit-stop, we got in about an hour before ‘our slot’. We knew we were in for a treat as the media hadn’t given it a five-star review and Steven Spielberg has sung its praises too!

The Exhibition commemorates Kubrick’s life, twenty years after his passing, and is as comprehensive as it comes. Luckily for the curators, Kubrick seemed to keep everything – and his notes captured the minutiae of his profession perfectly: from camera angles, casting and story-boarding, it was all here. In short, the Exhibition comprehensively tells the story of this icon of a film-maker, exploring his unique command of the creative design process of film-making, from storyteller to director to editor.

The Exhibition illustrated how Kubrick created genre-defining worlds for his films and relived iconic scenes and memorabilia from The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Odyssey and more. In all, there were over 700 rare objects, films, interviews, letters and photographs – fantastic!

This had been one of the most comprehensive Exhibitions we’ve ever seen. The level of detail that Kubrick had recorded in the process of his film-making was simply amazing! And it was so good that someone had had the foresight to pull it all together for this exhibition.

4.00pm: We were all cultured-out by now and having been ‘spoilt’ by the Museum’s air conditioning, we certainly felt the heat when we came out. It was now (at least) the promised 31 degrees. We made for the nearest bus-stop – fortunately just a short walk away – where we only waited around 10 minutes for the number 49, that took us pretty much straight to our hotel! After a quick perusal around the local Waitrose for our evening meal, we checked into Room 309.

5.30pm: We were glad to be out of the heat, but there’s a full-day ahead tomorrow!

Tuesday

The Victoria and Albert Museum

10.15am: After our quick breakfast at the Hotel, we walked our first stop of the day: The Victoria & Albert Museum. It was already 22 degrees outside, so it was good to enjoy the relative coolness inside!

Spread across five floors, there’s plenty to see here and the gift-shop is home to plenty of quality merchandise that punches well above its weight in terms of range.

Plenty to see on the 1st floor, modestly entitled ‘Britain’. it covered the years from 1500 through until 1900 and showed-off a wide range of home interiors, where there were even complete recreations of whole rooms! Lovely!

11.15am: Lunchtime at the V and A, with a particularly enjoyable view – The John Madejski Gardens…

…albeit with London prices!

Our final stop was the area of the Cast Courts containing an amazing range of replica statues!

This had been an impressive Museum. It was quiet, mostly sprog-free and (given today’s heatwave) a comfortable temperature. Our next stop however, would turn out to be the complete opposite!

The Natural History Museum

12.35pm: I can’t recall the last time I visited the Natural History Museum, but it seemed to have changed a lot (based on my memory!).

There is a lot to see here and for the reasons that follow, we didn’t really do it justice. First of all, it was packed! Second, it was very noisy, thirdly, there were gazillions of sprogs in attendance (the main source of the noise!) and it was much hotter than its neighbour. Why all these kids – it’s a boring Museum after all? Well, if anyone says that the craze for dinosaurs has died-down, it certainly wasn’t in evidence here. The enormous section of the Museum devoted just to Dinos was where most of the human-traffic was heading – and it was heaving!

But we had to see what all the fuss was about.

Impressive doesn’t begin to describe what was on show. Anything, and probably everything, you ever needed to know about dinosaurs was covered here. But, forget the facts, because most of the attention (and noise) was from around the life-size dinosaur exhibit that moved and roared! Literally scores of people all squeezing into the (smallish) space to grab a shot of this animatronic marvel – including me!

The other major attraction here was ‘Museum of the Moon’ – and the area surrounding it was rammed with onlookers! It featured an inflatable installation artwork by Luke Jerram – a spherical replica of the Moon, with a diameter of 7 metres. Several copies tour the world for temporary exhibitions, often accompanied by music. There are also copies in museums in Barcelona and Sydney. Ann liked it, but because I’d seen the word ‘interactive’ somewhere in the promotional material, as clever as it was, I was expecting it to ‘do’ more than just ‘hang there’ accompanied by ethereal music. Beautiful though!

1.30pm: Although there was still plenty to see here, it (‘it’ being the noise and the heat) was all a bit too much for these two old codgers (a sign of our age?), so we retreated back to the safety of the now familiar Waitrose, Gloucester Road (opposite our hotel) for the bits-and-bobs for our late lunch.

2.30pm: With Lunch sorted, there was just time for a short siesta before getting ready for tonight’s main event…

The Royal Albert Hall

6.20pm: Now refreshed, we took the short(ish) walk direct to the Royal Albert Hall. It only took us about 25 minutes from the Hotel.

7.00pm: The highlight was seeing our favourite Opera, Mozart’s The Magic Flute where tonight’s performance is part of the 2019 BBC Proms season (‘Prom No. 51’, if you’re counting!) The last time I was at the Royal Albert Hall was for a very different kind of the music: the culmination of Camel’s World Tour in 2018 back in September last year – and the last time we enjoyed the Magic Flute in London was almost six years ago in April 2013 at the Royal Opera House. We love this Opera!!

Well, seating-wise, we couldn’t have got much higher, and to say our ‘backs were against the wall‘ for this performance was literal. Any higher, and we would have needed a parachute – and oxygen! Still, the seats were comfy, but we also felt the temperature rising with all the bodies from a (near) sell-out performance (I only saw four empty seats). Ann had thoughtfully packed a fan, whilst other less fortunate souls were frantically waving their Programmes to create a breeze!

But what of the 155-minute Glyndebourne performance itself? In a word: ‘Superb’. Everyone (see the full cast below) was at the top of their game tonight, and even at the distance we were from the stage, combined with the RAH’s challenging acoustics, the sound travelled well – and sounded fantastic. More especially, Caroline Wettergreen who sang her heart out as ‘Queen of the Night’, judging by the enthusiastic applause completely wowed this audience.

Creatively, it was a visual treat. It’s probably the only time you’ll see rubber babies, LED-powered chefs’ hats and where a Bake-Off based backdrop completed the picture!

The Cast

10.10pm: As we exited the RAH and followed the other 5538 heading for the Tube, we smiled as we knew we only had a short walk back to a comfy bed, whereas the crowd were heading for a bake-off of their own in the shape of the Tube!

10.50pm: Back in our room, all that was left to do was to lighten our load going home by emptying the half-bottle of Pinot before crashing-out!

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 August Bank Holiday 2019 – West London appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Our very first visit to The Black Country Living Museum!

9.30am: We picked-up David and Valerie and headed by car for ‘the smoke’.

Located in Dudley, the journey took us a lot longer than we planned, (due to some serious congestion on the A14 in the direction of the M6). So, after some inspired diversionary tactics courtesy of David (with only a tiny bit of help from Robert‘s Sat-Nav), we were soon back to normal motorway cruising speed!

11.45am: In spite of the early hold-up, we arrived just before noon and we were soon queuing for tickets. Ooo, that’s a bonus, a single purchase grants you unlimited visits on that ticket for a whole year – and they’re only £18.45 each! I’m liking this place already!

Looking at the car-park, this was clearly a popular destination, and once we’d got inside, we could see why! After a short AV presentation about the history of Black Country, we were on the Bus soaking up the VERY authentic atmosphere. It was busy everywhere – a really good sign surely!?

12.05pm: All that realism made us hungry, so we headed for the ‘local’ Fish and Chip shop – Hobbs & Son. initially, it looked like everyone else had the same idea as there was quite a queue sprawling out into the street.

The Menu was simple… Fish & Chips or Fish or Chips – and the Chips were cooked in beef dripping (surely the best only way!). No Pies, no Kebabs, no oversized bottles of fizz, just traditional fare!

…and it tasted all the better for it. We took advantage of the excellent weather and pitched-up on a grassy bank nearby. Val and I went back for extra salt and vinegar, which was somehow all the more appropriate, as I had to assist Ann with her volume of Chips!

Now all that was left to do was to soak up the authenticity of our surroundings – and they’d done a fantastic job here… Shops, a Chapel, a Pub, various Dwellings, a Mine, lots of old vehicles …and of course, plenty of coal on show! Any disappointments? Just one – the Cider served in the Pub. Called Rosie’s Pig, and it tasted like a home-brew gone wrong, and then watered down. Yuk!

It was really like travelling back in time…

…and with Actors on-hand in period dress, it all added to a very immersive experience!

By 2pm, after a cuppa, we called it a day. It had been nothing short of a fantastic experience. It’s another one of those attractions where it’s impossible to ‘take it all in’ in one visit – so I’m sure we’ll be back.

We concluded our trip with a brief visit to the Gift Shop. Plenty there to temp us, with some very unique mementoes for sale.

2.45pm: Into the car-park and back to 2019 with a bump! A quick check of the traffic showed some heavy congestion on our planned route. David and Ann compared notes and decided to head in the opposite direction on the M5, then the M42, then the M6, and finally, the A14. It worked well, and we were home by 4.30.

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 The Black Country Living Museum appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Off to the Capital today – and a return visit to the Tower of London and more specifically, the Crown Jewels.

Ann and I last visited back in February 2016 but we met good mates Roy, Susan, Lauren and Loki there today, who’d never been before! It meant an early start (for a Saturday) for us, catching the 9.02 out of Kettering. Predictably, the monopolistic Midland Mainline was running late – but only by a few minutes meaning that we arrived at St Pancras International just after 10.05.

It was then just a short Tube journey round to Tower Hill. Roy, Susan, Lauren  and Loki were just ahead and we could see them as we arrived at the Tower’s Ticket Booth.

With tickets in hand, we made our way to the Tower. It was slightly chilly, with a bit a rain in the air and as a result, it wasn’t too busy. We passed through the security check in a matter of seconds and were soon at our first stop: Traitors’ Gate listening to the Beefeater Yeoman Warder do his thing!


Next stop: a short spell in ‘reverse gear’ and we were at The Medieval Palace…

Then it was a walk round the Battlements (which we DIDN’T DO last time we were here) and into the cold air and the rain…

..taking in the sights along the way!
Back inside and some impressive exhibits followed…
 
Then it was back into the elements…


…before taking a well-earned pit-stop to warm up!

With coffees, cakes and conversation behind us, it was back to the history…






A lot of people moan about the entrance fee being too high (£25 for Ann, £19.50 for the ‘oldie’) but we used a two-for-one offer associated with our rail ticket, so it made it even better value. More two-for-one offers HERE – but even without the offer, there is shed-loads to see here and even if you only have a passing interest in history, it’s worth the trip.
..and finally, it was the main attraction – the actual Crown Jewels…

…but unfortunately, once inside, all photography was forbidden. But take it from us, if you like a bit of bling, this is the place to see the ultimate collection. Astounding!

We finished up in the same place as everyone else who visits here – the gifte shoppe! The Beefeater bears were tempting, but I resisted!


Wow! What a day! We’d spent almost three hours there and still didn’t manage to see everything. Our timed rail ticket meant that Lunch was going to be a bit late – and we only had around 45 minutes to find somewhere, eat and then get back to the Station. We love a challenge (especially when we’re hungry!)

Luckily, the local Wagamama’s just round the corner came to the rescue, and we were soon seated and placing our order. After a quick scoff we said our goodbyes leaving our friends to enjoy their meal at a more leisurely pace.


It was a great day and with all our connections running to time, we arrived back at Kettering around 5pm. After a quick pop into Aldi for some essentials, we were soon home, reflecting on the day.

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 Return to the Tower appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Friday, 14th (Our Anniversary)
It’s our 7th Anniversary (or 34th in ‘old money’) and we’ve a busy few days ahead. There was just enough time to open our cards and presents before we left, heading north. Thanks for your kind words everyone!
  

  
Ann bought we a very classy watch!

These days, we normally go away to celebrate – and today was no exception. Ultimately, we’re heading for Pink Panther’s favourite town – Durham (groan!), and finishing at The George Hotel of Stamford. But first, as part of the celebration, we’re taking a slight detour to Beamish. If you’ve not visited (and we haven’t, for over 30 years) Beamish is a world famous open-air museum, telling the story of life in Northeast England during the 1820s, 1900s & 1940s.

9.10am:  We left home after the main nine-to-five rush, and enjoyed a jam-free journey. This was helped by a newish part on the A1 from Wetherby to Scotch Corner. Wetherby Services saw us take our first pit-stop where we tucked into a bucket of homemade sandwiches and some piping-hot coffee.

11.30am: After a fifteen-minute pitstop, we’re almost halfway to Beamish.

13.05pm: We arrived in good time. Wow! This place now seemed so unfamiliar (it was over 30 years ago, so that’s my excuse!). The first thing we noticed was how larger it had become – and consequently, there was so much more to see. Additionally, the (very) cold day added some extra character to the place and together with the period-dressed staff interacting with visitors, this made the whole thing feel very alive and authentic.


  







It was all excellent.. and that was just the Town/High Street part.
We took a walk to the nearby Railway Station…



I definitely don’t recall this last time!
It was now turning colder, so our pace was quickening. Next stop was was the Home Farm set in the 1940s.





Last stop for us was the School. This was rescued from demolition in the late 1980s, and had been tastefully restored to whisk us back to a bygone era of 30s schooling, Apparently some class sizes were in the nineties!


Good job OFSTED wasn’t around then!
3.15pm: By late afternoon, it was turning even colder, and so we decided to call it a day. A quick check of the sat-nav put us one junction (and just 20 minutes) away from our final destination – The Victoria Inn – and after some faffing-about finding a parking space, we were soon fighting our way to the Bar to check-in. This was the local’s local and it was packed! A traditional ‘old-style’ Pub… no food… no satellite TV – just half the population of Durham in the Saloon Bar quaffing ale!
4.05pm: Our four-poster bed for the night (two nights actually) is the attached B&B with just SIX rooms – and the building is Grade II 2 listed. The reason we chose it was that it put us within easy walking distance of the City centre… and the parking (as challenging as it was) was completely free (pretty rare round these parts!).. and the room itself was a steal at just £87 per night!

4.45pm: Our Anniversary meal was booked at Zen, a Thai Restaurant. Being the penultimate Friday before Christmas, booking a table (as we did a few week’s back) at a time to suit, was impossible. We were offered 5pm or 8.30pm – so we settled for the former. Luckily the Restaurant was just a short walk from the Pub – in fact, we were there in less than 10 minutes. Initially it was fairly quiet, but 5 minutes after being shown our table, it started to fill-up. And that continued all the time we were there. By the time we left, it was heaving!


Service was pretty swift given how busy they were – and it all turned out to be delicious. Ann loved her peanut sauce with her Lamb and my Red Thai Curry was probably the best I’ve tasted in a long, long while.

6.35pm: 90 minutes and £55 later, we were done. We’d skipped Desserts and minimised the alcohol, so we considered it all good value. As we left,  it was now even colder than when we arrived (and that had been really cold!) Still, it didn’t stop us taking the short walk over the Elvet footbridge and up to the Cathedral.

A beautiful building, even in the darkness! As we shivered our way back and passed the gazillion of Eateries beginning one of their busiest Fridays of the year, it looked like they’d got off to a good start! Every one was really busy – and just like Zen, some were already full…
…and it was only 7pm!
Back to our Room, Ann had put-by a small bottle of Champers and a box of chocolates – what an excellent way to continue our Anniversary celebrations!

10.15pm: zzzzzzzzzzz!

Saturday, 15th
8.15am: Our day began with a rather superb full English Breakfast, courtesy of the Pub/B&B.
Suitably stuffed, we were ready to take on the day (and the freezing weather). The highlight of the weekend was our planned visit to Durham Cathedral this evening to see the performance of The Messiah by the Durham Cathedral Choir helped along on period instruments by The Avison Ensemble. Ann was even able to get us a couple of seats in the Cathedral’s Restaurant – The Undercroft – for the pre-event meal. Perfect!
But first, we wanted to look round this rather wonderful construction during the day, before the really bad weather arrived.

10.15am: We took the short walk back into the City heading for one of Durham’s main attractions. As per the weather forecast, it was cold… very cold – or, as we overheard one local describe it: “Colder than a frozen pizza…”. Apparently, it’s all down to Storm Deirdre and even the hardy locals were wearing hats and gloves – it made these two southern-softies feel less, err, soft!


On arrival at the Cathedral, the first thing we noticed was the splendid Norman Arches (conveniently NOT shown in the photo above! Doh!)

…And as we wandered into the main part of the Cathedral, we were reminded that no photography was allowed. A real shame, because the interior was beautiful!

So beautiful in fact, I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures on my phone!

Yep! Very impressive! Next, we booked some tickets for other main attraction – Durham Castle for the 12.15 Tour. To to kill a bit of time before our slot, we headed into the City to have a look round. There are lots of small shops here, and it didn’t take long to get a sense of the shopping scene. The famous Market Square was buzzing and freezing in equal measure!

11.25am: It was getting even colder (if that were possible!) and so we probably didn’t spend as long looking in the shop windows as we planned – there’s a shopping centre here somewhere, but we didn’t get round to finding it! In fact, after almost 5 miles of walking, we took refuge from the biting wind in the Palace Green Study Library, whilst we waited for our Tour Guide.

11.45am: The Library also had some free exhibitions to wander around and (because it was the nearest) we chose Catch your Breath that outlined the ‘life of breath’ (yes, really!). It wasn’t really our sort of thing, but it gave us an opportunity to improve our daily step-count (slightly) – and it was warm too!

12.15am: Our Tour Guide arrived and introduced himself as Rupert, who had been in residence at the Castle as a Student the previous year. He was a confident and competent speaker and we learned a lot about Durham Castle (including the fact that it’s now owned by Durham University).

Rupert kept us interested for the whole of the Tour, but unfortunately, just like the Cathedral, no photography was allowed inside…
  
But unlike the Cathedral, it wasn’t possible to sneakily snap any photos, without being spotted. Just take our word for it then; if you like castles with very interesting histories, if you’re this way, then this is is a must-see!

We really enjoyed the Tour, and as we finished in the Dining Room, Rupert wished us well and we headed back to base-camp…

..and the warmth of room 6! It was time for ‘feet-up’ for a few hours before heading out, back the Cathedral, for the Dinner and evening Concert. A quick re-check of the weather forecast for later showed: freezing rain forecast from 3pm onwards running into the evening.
4.15pm: A ‘quick lick’ and we’re ready for all that the weather can throw at us! (Actually, NO, not really, as it could have been very tempting to stay in the company of the piping hot radiators helped along by the electric fire we found in the wardrobe). The sound of splattering on the window ledge outside meant that the weather forecast had (unfortunately) delivered on its promise. As a result, not only were coats, hats and scarves the order of the day, but the addition of an umbrella too!

5.30pm: After a battle with the elements as part of the walk back into town, we were now safely seated at our table for the evening meal at the Cathedral.



We joined a Table of around a dozen and were soon chatting. The Meal turned out to be absolutely delicious, and after a quick trip to the loo, we headed back to the Cathedral to get our Pew (A poet and I didn’t know it!)

It was well supported and we were around 25 rows from the front (with another 20 rows behind us, and another group to the side) – all in all, we reckoned it was a congregation of around 600+.
7.35pm: The Concert began five-minutes late, but they were soon into full swing. I’d quite forgotten how long The Messiah piece was and although the top-half of me was enjoying it, my bottom-half was suffering – specifically, my TWO bottom halves! Those wooden pews were a real pain in the a** literally! Thanks goodness for the interval at around 8.35.
For me, Part two dragged a bit, but my bottom had helpfully switched into auto-numb mode – and that helped the time pass more quickly. The part that most people know – Hallelujah Chorus – was delivered with energy and enthusiasm. Everyone stood as per protocol (my bottom thanked King George 2nd for establishing this tradition!)

10.05pm: Part 3 followed and 35 minutes later, it was all over, to hearty (and well-deserved) applause from the appreciative audience. It was time to leave – and as we headed outside, we could see, and feel, the weather had now deteriorated to snow-turning-to-slush-with-a-strong-wind. It made our short walk back to the Pub more than a little treacherous, but we arrived back without injury or embarrassment!

10.30pm: With every radiator taking on two roles: heating and drying clothes, we reflected on the recent performance (the music not our walk back!). We concluded that it was excellent, but the acoustics were variable. Many of the solo-males’ voices hardly made it back to row 25, and that, together with a slightly dominant orchestra, robbed us of some of the male vocal qualities of the choir.
All that was left now was to heat the room to a satisfactory temperature and then call it a night.

Sunday, 16th
8.20am: The day began as yesterday, with a full-English – Yummy!
9.30am: As we left Durham (and Storm Deirdre) behind, we headed south for the final part of our anniversary celebration – the quaint town of Stamford and The George Hotel. We haven’t stayed here for many years and it’ll good to experience the oldey-worldly charm of this fine establishment again.
But first a 45-minute diversion to visit Boyes Museum was in order. Ann had visited over 30 years ago, but I’d never been before… or even heard of it. Plenty of information on their website, but here’s a potted history…
It’s located in Barnard Castle, a town in County Durham, and looks like it’s landed from the Loire Valley in France. The building was never designed as a house, the philanthropist John Bowes and his wife Josephine, decided they wanted to build a museum, stuff it full of pictures and art, and then give it to the people of the North East. Very generous, even by Victorian standards. They clearly had deep pockets and enjoyed shopping on a monumental scale.

Its most famous piece though, is probably the mechanical swan… (see video at the end)

10.15am: As we arrived, with the weather improving, it made the Museum look even more stunning in the morning light…

With the building built specifically to house Bowes’ collection, this was an impressive sight. And once inside, it didn’t disappoint! Today, it also housed their Christmas Market – and that added to the vibrant feel of the place, as carol singers were chirruping away up on the second floor..





  



First impressions were excellent. A wide range of collectables from paintings to pottery, carved altar panels to catwalk creations through the ages – there was something for everyone! Add to that, a choir singing live, a Santa’s Grotto and a Merry-Go-Round in full-flow – and there was even more for everyone!
An excellent experience and I’m sure we’ll be back again before too long!

11.30am: As we left, the weather improved further and it was now a blistering 5 degrees! Next stop was Downtown, on the A1, for a quick pitstop and a look round the shop. Then it was off to our final destination.
2.55pm: We arrived at The George Hotel with perfect timing! Check-in was from 3pm and we parked in the car-park at 2.55! We were soon shown to our room, which being an old building and full of old staircases, needed Sat-Nav to find your room!


This is our home for just tonight and we’re taking advantage of the great food here and eating in the Garden Room later.
7.00pm: Garden Room here we come for our final celebratory meal…

Blade of Beef for me…

…followed by Peanut Parfait


8.55pm: We staggered back to the room having eaten and drunk too much – in other words: An evening of perfection!
As we attempted to find our room along the identical corridors and staircases, we reflected on the past few days.
It’s been a varied, busy and very enjoyable celebration, but because of the way the dates fell this year, if there is a downside, it’s that it stopped us catching up with some close friends and also to attend the local annual Salvation Army Carol Concert. However, we’ve got plans to put that right next year.
We’re home tomorrow, after another big Hotel breakfast.

Some more photos and none of the chatter HERE

Previous Anniversaries
2017 – Spain
2016 – Amsterdam
2015 – The Crown, Stamford
2014 – Malta
2013 – The George in Stamford
2012 – Thailand
2011 – Married (Australia)
2010 – Engaged!
2009 – The Wheatsheaf in Titchmarsh
2008 – Manchester
2007 – Home
2006 – Home
2005 – Indian Takeaway

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 Our Anniversary Weekend 2018 (34/7) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Day 3: TUESDAY

Morning loyal follower! Today’s Blog is sponsored by the letter ‘M’!

It’s a day of Mooching, Museum, Mates and a Meal, here in a slightly overcast Dubrovnik.

We’re mooching around the City, seeking-out the best of the local Museums to understand more of the history and culture here. The Museums vary a lot in  quality, so it’s worth a Google search first to pick the best.

We’re still making the most of our Three-day Dubrovnik Tourist Pass (that gets us in to some Museums completely free – but finishes today) and we’ll recommend a Museum later.

In the evening, we’re catching up with mates for a meal, Mick, Jane, Phil and Karen H, who, by complete coincidence, are also in Croatia (What are the chances ehh?! – we normally meet in Peterborough!)

8.45am: Our breakfast included Yoghurt – so that’s our first experience of some of Dubrovnik’s culture for the day (arf-arf!).

The trusty, No. 6 Bus

9.30am: It was now the well-trodden route to the Bus-stop to board the familiar ‘No. 6’ into the City. In a change to previous journeys, although the Bus was packed, today, someone had thoughtfully located the AC button. So, apart from the Driver driving like Ben Hur, the journey was very pleasant!

10.15: Hitting the ground running (almost) we were soon through the official entrance to the Old City, and heading counter-clockwise round the City Square (can’t say that we don’t ‘live on the edge’)

Mooching (1)…

First stop was Church of the Holy Annunciation…

Click on the map for directions from the City Walls

A stunning interior…

Next stop was St. Ignatius Church (now a little more famous as it’s located at the top of THE steps from the ‘Walk of Shame’ scene from Game of Thrones). It’s also known as The Jesuit Church.

Again, another stunning interior.

At this point we were all ‘churched-out’, so we slipped now onto ‘M number 2’…

Museum…

10.30am: Of all the Museums in Dubrovnik that we researched online, this one got a series of good ratings. Many had not though – so this was easily our first-choice for learning more about the City – Pomorski Muzej – The Maritime Museum of Dubrovnik.

Click on the map for directions from the City Walls

Spread over two floors (18th & 19th century downstairs, 20th century upstairs), although not particularly large, it had a lot of ‘stuff’.

It was scrupulously clean with its exhibits twin-signed including English and all sensibly spaced-out…

All-in-all, a very worthwhile visit! Another M coming right up…

Mooching (2)…

11.45am: Our second Mooch of the day led us to the Harbour…

This was a very popular destination for Tourists, helped no doubt, by the high number of pleasure boats (of all shapes and sizes!)…

…arriving and leaving at regular intervals!

This seemed like the perfect place to put everything n hold and just watch the (sea) world go by! For a moment, I was tempted by the inky-blue water…

…but after watching a Mother and her young daughter take on the waves – and then struggle, I’m glad I didn’t! Thanks to everyone who offered advice on Facebook as to whether I should or I shouldn’t dive in! I think in the end it was a slight majority for me “to do it” (thanks for that!)

I didn’t!

Actually, the more we watched the numerous pleasure-boats leaving the Harbour, the more we were glad we were firmly on dry land (at least today). Boy! these vessels all seemed to be struggling with the strength the waves!

We spent a while watching the boats and soaking up the Sun before heading inland for some liquid refreshment!

12.30am: Off in search of the No. 6 Bus back to base. It was perfect timing as we exited the Walls, there was our Bus just arriving. We were soon on board and 10 minutes later, we were walking back into the Hotel.

A lazy afternoon followed! Then it was our final ‘two Ms’ for today…

Mates and a Meal…

6.45pm: It was a welcome return to Peppers but this time, it was a table for six. Our friends Jane and Karen H from our Sainsbury days together with their other halves, Mick and Phil, who were also in Croatia. It was a coincidence too good to pass-by!

It was a great meal, spoilt only by the sudden rain (we were outside!) – but we coped!
     

Tomorrow, it’s off to the island of Lokrum (a UNESCO Protected Nature Reserve).

9.30pm: Night-night!

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 Dubrovnik (Croatia): Day 3 – M&M&M&M! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We’re great fans of The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, having been there in November 2011, March 2012, September 2013 and March 2014!

As usual, we drove to Pear Tree Park & Ride, parked up and took the Bus into the town…

…so much less stressful than attempting to park in the centre of town – even on a Sunday!

An extra treat too, as we were meeting up with good friend Lynn R.  – our friendship goes back to the 90s and my working time with Nokia as a Consultant – and we haven’t seen each other since November 2011!

We made good time and arrived in town around 11.15. That gave us time to look round the shops, but sad to see that many of the known names (including Next) had given up and closed down. We learned later that a new shopping centre – Westgate Oxford – had recently opened, with 100 outlets (including Next), so maybe things are quite as bad on the retail front here as we thought!

We took in the sights on this glorious day…

…before heading for The Ashmolean…

It’s all been spruced-up a bit since we were last here, including a re-positioned ‘front-desk’ in its new home, straight ahead and on the left, after passing through the main entrance. Lynn was already there, so after a quick chat, we headed for our Table in Ashmolean’s Rooftop Restaurant.

Even if you’re not particularly a ‘museum person’, The Ashmolean probably has something for everyone: Guy Fawkes’ lantern, the last ‘old-style’ five-pound note, an impressive collection of rings, paintings, sculptures and musical instruments! It’s certainly different each time we go there – and toady was no different!

Wow! There was certainly plenty to see!

After about an hour, we said our goodbye to Lynn and headed back to the Bus-stop – and the return journey to Pear Tree Park & Ride. We stopped off at Lee’s on the way home (she’s not too well) before soaking up more of the good weather over a cuppa when we got home.

It’s been a great day – and this continuing good weather is very welcome!

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 Return to The Ashmolean appeared first on Steve's Blog.

The Blue Mosque and The Hagia Sophia are right here on our doorstep, but every day we’ve passed them, the queues have been far too long.

As it’s our last full day here in Istanbul, the plan today is to have an early breakfast and try and get to them both ahead of the crowds.

We’re also going to squeeze in a local Bazaar near the Blue Mosque and the Cistern Baths.

It seemed to be a good plan as there were no queues at all at The Hagia Sophia. Here are a few facts about the Mosque/Cathedral…

• One of the largest Cathedrals in the World
• Over 1500 years old
• Great examples of Byzantine Art and Architecture
• Has also been a Mosque
• Now a Museum

There is plenty to see here, and it runs to TWO floors…

…with some stunning mosaics…



…and as you would expect, it’s a pretty big place.

Currently though, there’s a lot of scaffolding in place as extensive renovation work continues, so it was best to look UP rather than ACROSS!

Next stop was Cistern Baths (Basilica Cistern). It was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian and is an underground chamber filled with columns partly submerged in water. Back in the day, this is where the locals collected their fresh water supplies.

We steered ourselves round a horde of oriental tourists all armed with the obligatory selfie sticks and headed for the ticket booth. Moments later, and for just 20TL (£3.75), we were soon heading down some very wet stairs into the darkness. It was more-or-less pitch black down there save for a few strategically placed downlighters.

There were plenty of signs up to warn visitors NOT to use flash, but that wasn’t stopping the hoards of camera-phone users regularly lighting-up the whole place. Clearly some enforcement was required here, if the relics weren’t to suffer! It was only the fact that our ‘proper’ camera was able to function (to a degree) in the dark that we got any pictures at all!

Whilst I recognise to need not to flood the place with lighting, it could have done with some ‘smarter’ type of lighting – it was almost impossible to see the settings on the camera and I think we ended up deleting far pics more than we kept.

Film fans will be pleased to hear that a James Bond film has been shot here (From Russia with Love) as well as one of the recent Dan Brown novels (Inferno). Worth a look, but watch your step, as it’s very slippery.

Continuing our Mosque Mania tour, next on our list was The Blue Mosque. Here come those factoids…

• Built between 1609 and 1616 years, during the rule of Ahmed I
• Erected on the sight of the old Royal Palace
• Sedefhar Mehmet Aga was the Project Manager
• The Mosque its name from the blue tiles on the interior
• Also known as ‘Sultan Ahmed Mosque’

Once again, there were no queues and after removing our shoes (placing them in the handily supplied plastic bags) and Ann ‘scarfing-up’, we were in! Good to see that the officials on duty were suitability-checking head-gear – I saw at least one disrespectful ‘twatty’ trying to get in by using her ‘hoodies hood’ as a head-covering’ – and it obviously failed because later, inside, she was wearing a brown scarf!

Being an active Mosque, it was a lot busier, but somehow, it all felt a bit lack-lustre

We’ve seen quite a few Mosques on our travels and I think all-in-all, although impressive, it wasn’t quite as ‘Wow!’ as some we’ve seen elsewhere. Still worth a visit though!

Then it was off to the local Bazaar – not so many Spice Shops though these days, mostly Jewellers and Carpet/Cushion retailers! – Oh, and quite a few obligatory cats too!

This led us to the entrance to imaginatively titled Mosaic Museum – not surprisingly, a museum full of ancient mosaics (from the site of the Emperor Justinian’s Palace).

Most of the 6th century finds were from excavations in the 20s, 30s and 50s, these were a great collection from times-gone-by – and all in pretty good condition too!

Impressive stuff and so much variety too! – Eagles, Deers, Snakes, Ducks and a horned, winged Tiger-ey thingy!

Our final morning stop was due to be the Carpet Museum but (as we discovered later) some little funster had turned the road sign round and consequently we headed-off in completely the wrong direction. We didn’t quite end up in Syria, but it felt like we’d travelled about the same distance!
 

On re-treading re-tracing our steps, we did eventually find it, but by then, we’d lost the Wilton will to live and headed back the Hotel for some well-deserved R and R!

Into the afternoon, and a trip to nearby restaurant territory – just across the road from the Mosques. We settled on Sura Restaurant (but there were loads to choose from) and it turned out to be outstanding, both in service and food quality and quantity.

Then it was back to the Hotel to pack, update the Blogs, ready for the taxi tomorrow morning. We finished the day with a Netflix Binge:- ‘Designated Survivor’.
    

Wow! It’s been a great break in the old part of the City and we feel we’ve got a real measure of the land, the people and the culture. It has been cold though, and I think that ‘took the shine off it’ a little. Still, I’m sure we’ll be back!

“Güle güle” Istanbul!

All the photographs from our short trip to Istanbul can be viewed HERE

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 Turkish Delight: Day 3 – Istanbul (Mosque Mania) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

With Istanbul’s ‘call to prayer‘ meaning there was no need for an alarm clock, we woke at around 7.15! Eeek! that’s 4.15am back at home! Oh joy!

And to add to the challenges, the weather forecast doesn’t look that good either – but on a more positive note, at least it’s going to be dry.

First task of the day was to sample our first Turkish breakfast!

There was plenty of variety – cheeses, cold meats, olives, yoghurt, corn flakes, fresh fruit, cheese-filled pancakes, spicy scrambled egg with peppers and chillies – an maybe most surprising of all, Soup-of-the-day!??

With our bellies now full, we planned our day, and after a quick look at the local map, we decided to visit nearby Topkapi Palace and the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Best of all, they’re both within walking distance of the Hotel! However, although our two planned visits were on our doorstep, it’s very hilly in the old city, and together with the cobbled streets, it took a tad longer to arrive than we thought.

First stop, as planned, was Topkapi Palace and with us being slightly ahead of the masses, we only queued for a few minutes (a lot different from when we left about an hour later – the queue was snaking almost beyond the barriers). We opted for the ‘Museum Pass‘, that for a paltry 85 TL (£17) each you gained access to a whole range of cultural stuff in Istanbul. Well, that’s what we expected – and the massive poster on the wall next to the ticket booths suggested the same. Not according to Captain Turk from the good ship Enter Prize (geddit!?), he insisted on 125 TL – in spite of Ann pointing to the 5 metre-tall sign next to his booth. He was having none of it, and so, to preserve Anglo-Turkish relations, we let him off! pic Whatever the price, it was worth it! There was so much to see here and it’s all been very well looked after…

Beautiful and colourful architecture…

…Stunning exhibits…

…and plenty of decorated walls and ceilings.

Before leaving, I just had to take a snip snap of this…

Next stop was Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

This was just as impressive and included the largest collection of sarcophagi sarcophagusses sarcophaguses sarcophagi we think we’ve ever seen – and fantastically well-preserved too. Spooky and impressive in equal measure! Wow!

The Museum seemed to be endless (in a good way)…

…with a wide variety of exhibits…

…across multiple floors…

…a lot of it un-earthed when they were excavating the ground for the new Metro system here in Turkey..!

…a few paintings too

…and even a replica boat

…more decorative archways too…

…and totally OTT interiors…

All-in-all a very welcome experience and well worth a LONG look! On our way out, we immediately noticed that the 85TL five metre sign had been replaced with one now proudly displaying 125TL! Captain Turk must be feeling more confident now!

It was now getting on for 2pm, so we looked for a quick bite. This meant passing through the main area by the Blue Mosque and the Suleymaniye Mosque (photo below)

Being a Friday, it was packed! And as we manoeuvred our way through the crowds, we headed further into the old city, looking for a restaurant that was more on the authentic side rather than designed for tourists (with prices to match!). Our search didn’t take long as we eventually stumbled over Akbiyik Balik Evi where our decision to eat there was ‘helped’ by the guy on duty outside whose job was clearly to encourage potential customers like us to ‘make the right decision’. He proceeded to recite every item (over 75) from the menu.

After giving in ‘making the right decision’ we were escorted inside where it was clear the staffing levels hadn’t been arranged by Sainsbury’s! – it seemed there was a waiter for every item on the menu!!

We were soon seated and helpfully (given the temperature outside) an electric fire was placed within scorching distance. We opted for the Mezé selection and it turned out to be delicious. The mackerel was so delicious, it was eaten before I took this photo!

£15 went a long way and we were soon attempting to leave having politely declined dessert and tea/coffee. It had all been a great experience (although I’m sure the Owner wanted us to spend more) – In hindsight, it’s a good job we hadn’t read many of the online reviews then, because this place came out with an average of 2.2 out of 5!

We headed back to the Hotel for a short siesta before deciding to try out the Hotel’s restaurant – Matbah. Unlike Akbiyik Balik Evi the reviews here were that it was one of the best places to eat in Istanbul!

Well, the restaurant punched well above its weight. The presentation was fantastic and it all tasted delicious. Just a pity it lacked atmosphere as we were the only two eating there! What did make us smile though was that it only cost 200.70 TL (£37.73) and that included a glass of wine and a service charge!

We finished the evening with a walk down to the Mosques and back. pic Mosque at night Tomorrow, we’re on the Bus enjoying a sight-seeing tour around Istanbul.

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 Turkish Delight: Day 1 – Istanbul (Topkapi Palace and More) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Time for a bit of education today and to catch-up too with a good friend from my work-days!

Stuart and I collaborated on quite a few video projects ‘back-in-the-day’ and we always had a lot in common – more especially our love for anything Gerry Anderson!

Today, was our mutual love for anything to do with the World Wars and so I caught the train from Bedford and met Stuart at the Imperial War Museum. I never been here, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I arrived just before 11am, but Stuart’s train was delayed, and he didn’t arrive until around 11.15.

…and boy, was the Museum busy! Maybe it was something to do with half-term, and it was packed! We had a good look round all the floors. For us, the displays on the lower floors were all just a bit ‘average’, although upstairs, there was a great display all about Military Intelligence (‘5’ and ‘6’ as well as the SOE) – ‘The Secret War’. There was also a very moving exhibit about the Holocaust and a great illustration of how wicked Humans can be, in the pursuit of so-called ‘perfection’.

With the Museum sorted, next stop was lunch at a Pub – and we found The Three Stags just down the road. This too was packed with sprogs (much to the angst of the various waiting staff), but we were served fairly quickly – and with a smile too!

With lunch over, Stuart and I walked down to Lambeth North and travelled one stop down to Waterloo, where Stuart got off for his train, whilst I stayed on until Oxford Circus and jumped on the Victoria Line back to St Pancras International. I caught the 15.06 to Bedford and was home by 5pm.

It was great catching-up with Stuart today, but that sad that overall, the Museum didn’t really ‘float our boat’

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 Museum Piece appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Day 1 (Thursday)



Dolphin House Serviced Apartments

So, here we are at the Dolphin House Serviced Apartments in Pimlico, London, for a short break. It’s an opportunity for us to be tourists for a few days, and take in the sights and sounds of the Capital. Wow! the Apartment provides everything – a spa, a grill …and a gym (bugger!) What we hadn’t realised when we booked this was that it was also the weekend of the Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations – cue a VERY busy London!

First impressions of our Apartment were good. It’s a sizeable space with a separate bedroom, a small kitchen (with two rings, a fridge and a microwave), a lounge and a bathroom (with a full-sized bath!)

Superb Spec!

After unpacking followed by a quick cuppa, we slipped into FTM (full tourist mode) and headed off to Tate Britain. It’s not my first choice of Galleries – but it was good to look round and see the variety of exhibits on show. And what a mix! from the weird to the wonderful: dancers dressed in red, prancing along a white line painted on the floor, and in a room not far away, the massive Turner Exhibition. No prizes for guessing my preference, but ‘each to their own’ as they say!

Typical Range of Exhibits!

Not only were we in FTM, we were doing it all on foot, attempting to avoid lifts and wheeled transport whenever and wherever we could. And so the great yomp began and we trekked past Millbank… Houses of Parliament and then into Haymarket, all in the general direction of Piccadilly Circus – and our final destination: The Criterion Theatre.
 

We were a bit early for the Theatre, so we looked for somewhere to eat and stumbled upon Byron. We’d not heard of this burger-chain before, but the menu looked very un-McDonald’s, it wasn’t that busy, and the decor looked comfortable. Once we were seated, the place quickly filled-up. Obviously, this place is a ‘known’ and we weren’t to be disappointed – yummy food, fuss-free with a happy-smiley waiter too! All-in-all, a perfect start to our evening.

Byron Burger!

But we were still too early for the Theatre, so we headed off for the ultimate in retail therapy: Fortnum and Mason’s in Piccadilly. Posh or what!? with prices to match. It’s the only shop I’ve ever been to that sells TWO shades of Lime Marmalade! There’s posh!

Retail is (definitely) Detail!

Having kept a firm hold on Ann’s purse, we were off (finally) to the quaint 588-seater Criterion Theatre to see ‘The Comedy about a Bank Robbery’. I haven’t been here since Angela and I saw The 39 Steps back in April 2014. It’s a very unique building with beautiful tiling on the inside walls and it has a really small scale feel to it. Lovely!

The Criterion Theatre

Well, what about the Play itself? It came with plenty of good recommendations from the newspapers, but that’s sometimes not a guarantee is it?! We needn’t have worried though: the audience were giggling within minutes of the first scene – and it just got better, and better (and better!). I thought at one point I was going to wet myself (sorry Mum!) – it was hilarious… but it didn’t stop there! Everything about it was entertaining. They acted their hearts out – and some! They sang, they danced and changed their own scenery.  The creative use of the acting-space was just amazing and I think they really pushed the boundaries of what can be accomplished on a three-dimensional stage. Spoiler alert! Go to the loo BEFORE it starts, you’ll thank us for it later – especially the scene with the jug! ‘nuf said!

If you like your humour ‘obvious’, a bit corny and very visual, this has to be the best Play you’ll ever see (unless you get to see their first – ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ – and their next: ‘The Pantomime that Goes Wrong’). I won’t give away the overall plot here to tonight’s performance, but I guarantee your jaw will be on the floor once you’ve seen it. British Comedy Theatre at its best – and quirky too!

And, at just before 10pm, it was all over – and the cast (and us, the audience) looked exhausted – for all the right reasons. Wow!

We headed out of the Theatre and walked all the way back to the Apartment, retracing our inbound walk more-or-less step-for-step. London was buzzing – as it always is – but the very overt presence of armed police looked, on the surface at least, to be something to be concerned about. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as we first thought though as we realised that there had been a ‘Beating Retreat’ event a little earlier and everyone was clearing up – including the Police and their rifles.

By 10.30 we were back at the Apartment… knackered!

More London-fun tomorrow!

Day 2 (Friday)

After a late, late Breakfast, it was off in search of the sites in the direction of Victoria.

Look what we found on the way to Breakfast!

Westminster Cathedral (RC)

First stop, was the rather splendid Westminster Cathedral. Unfortunately based on the ‘hand on my shoulder’ after we sat down to listen to the man-in-cloth up the front, no photography was allowed! Today’s sermon was on the ancient act of a man writing down ‘I divorce you’ three times if he wanted to re-marry. Powerful stuff, but to me, his voice was all a bit depressing and down-beat. We left for a look round the shops nearby before doing some people-watching in the very busy Victoria Station.

Busy Busy!

Then it was off to The Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria (the location of my first blog on the 23rd May, 2004 –  Back in the day, I was there on business and whilst waiting for the client, I attempted to get my head around this new thing called ‘blogging’). Back to 2016 and we were here to meet up with Connie, Dad’s ex-work colleague and who we’ve kept in touch with since his passing.

The Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria

Connie was in good spirits (as always), unfortunately, the restaurant staff were not! and although the meal itself was excellent, the indifference of the waiters coupled with the table next to us allowing  their three monsters little cherubs to literally ‘run amok’ and test their lungs for screaming volume, rather took the edge of the experience. I took the opportunity to demonstrate the  infamous ‘Palmer-Stare’ at their mother who, a few minutes later, got up and left! More likely a coincidence, but it felt good. We said goodbye to Connie just before 2.30 and then took the rather longish walk to Oxford Street.

Scenes along the way to John Lewis

We took in Buckingham Palace along the route as well as Bond Street (no, we can’t afford THAT!). We got the impression that you’ve got to be rich to even DRIVE down this road based on the number of personalised number plates and, wait for it… the GOLDEN (not gold) Range Rover parked outside one of the gazillion jewellers!

Our final stop for the day was Oxford Street’s John Lewis. We haven’t seen it since its revamp and it looked splendid! Every department was at least twice the size of our nearest branch in Leicester – and everything was dressed within an inch of its life!

Someone loves Cushions!

The TV department was simply massive – as were the TVs themselves and it’s the only store I’ve seen with a separate ‘smart home’ section – the freezer with the built-in Tablet caught my attention as well as the rather gorgeous J-series Samsung 4k UHD HDR TV (three-letter acronym translation available on request!)

A quick stop in the basement food-hall and we were all set for our carpet picnic tonight.

4pm and our feet were now killing us. So (even though we’d promised to walk everywhere) this was a perfect opportunity to jump on one of the new Routemaster buses to take us back to Victoria Station. From there, we hobbled back to the Apartment just in time for the six o’clock news.

Knackered again – but for all the right reasons!

Tomorrow, we’re heading for Woolwich Arsenal for a look round and then we’re meeting up with our friends Rosi and David who are also staying in London.

Day 3 (Saturday)

After a quick breakfast we were out the door by 8.45 and heading ON FOOT TO the first Thames Clipper of the day from the London Eye. We were heading for Royal Arsenal (the final stop on the Clipper’s route) and the Armaments museum called Firepower.

The Most Scenic Way to get Across London


We’re Here…

The journey took just under the hour (longer, but it’s much more scenic than the Tube). On arrival, the place was already buzzing with people and there was a local market there too.

Inside the Museum, it was all very impressive, and well worth the trip.

Very Impressive Exhibits

However, the saddest news of all was that in spite of the impressive range of exhibits, we learned that the place is due to close in a month to make way for a dance studio! It’s been re-located to Salisbury and therefore removing the link with the local area.

After a quick look round the local Woolwich Market in Beresford Square, it was a short walk to Woolwich Arsenal DLR where we took the shortish ride to Tower Gateway. Our plan was to hopefully get a good vantage point of the Queen’s 90th celebrations on the River. We didn’t hold out much hope, but we thought we’d give it a go anyway! We headed for the Tower of London and looked for a suitable place to position ourselves. As luck would have it, we found the perfect view of Tower Bridge and and had a reasonably good view of the flotilla accompanying the Royal Barge, Gloriana.

 

God Bless you Ma’am!

…and if that wasn’t a stroke of luck, we also managed to get a table for two overlooking the River at a Bistro called Coppa Club

Prime Position

Great food, blisteringly fast service, a perfect temperature and a first-class view of the River proceedings! – it doesn’t get any better than this.

Then it was off to catch-up with our friends Rosi and David, who, quite by chance, were also in London to see the Flypast over Buckingham Palace. After a quick phone-call to establish the best place for a meet-up, we took the Tube back to Victoria and headed for their location – The Rubens Hotel. We had a small bite to eat and caught up with all their news before taking the walk up to Covent Garden. Luckily, we’d missed the rain shower that did its stuff whilst we were inside the Hotel. Highlight of the walk for me was the big screen at Piccadilly Circus and also the shock of seeing a dozens of cyclists completely NAKED, (yes you read that correctly!) biking their way in protest of car-drivers – much to the delight of the Police and public alike. I think the only people who might have NOT enjoyed it would have been cycle-clip manufacturers! No photographs unfortunately!! as it took us all by surprise and they were gone in a flash! (see what I did there!?)

Piccadilly Circus (Honest!)

After a quick look round, Covent Garden, we decided to rest our feet at the nearest place that had seats, beer and chips (in that order!).

Corny Name or What!?

Step forward the pun-laden Rock and Sole Plaice where, in spite of the waiter’s initial reluctance to let us have any chips WITHOUT fish, did us proud and ticked all our three boxes!

5.30: Time to call it a day and we all headed off in the direction of Covent Garden Tube – together with the most of mankind it seemed! We didn’t have to wait long and we were soon back at the Apartment totting-up the number of miles we’d walked today. It turned out to be a total of NINE miles – that’s a new daily record for us and our feet confirmed it!

It’s been a great few days – and confirmed our liking for Apartments over Hotel rooms (especially when they’re the same price): superb location, lots of walking, good food and a chance to catch-up for some quality time with friends. Now it’s back to reality as we need to pack as, we’re checking out tomorrow first thing.

I finished off the evening by watching the most appropriate film for our stay – Passport to Pimlico!

Passport to Pimlico (1949)

Bye-bye London – until the next time!

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 Passport to Pimlico appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We headed off to London today, and the British Museum. Originally, Lee was planning to join us, but she hasn’t been feeling too well, so she stayed home. The train was very busy (with seating arrangements not helped by the automatic seat reservation system having a ‘day off’!), but at least we arrived on time – into a sweltering London.

As we came out of St Pancras, we decided that it was a perfect day for NOT using the Tube, but walking instead – and I don’t say that very often! The city was packed, and it seemed the whole place had now switched to summer-mode – shorts and t-shirts were the order of the day, with the obligatory ice-cream van on every street corner.

I’m obviously out of touch with London and its prices these days – a ‘99’ now costs £3!!! (but it’s an essential part of Summer isn’t it?)

We were specifically going to see the much-publicised Viking Exhibition, ‘Life and Legend’ – and what an Exhibition! Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed, but take our word for it, it was VERY comprehensive. If you think you’ve seen Viking Longboats, check out the one on show here – LONG doesn’t even begin to describe it!

Here’s a few things we learned about the Vikings

– ‘Viking’ in old Norse means ‘Pirate’
– Bluetooth technology is named after one of their Kings, Eric Bluetooth
– Most Vikings converted to Christianity within a generation of settling here
– They weren’t that great at fighting – they won about as many battles as they lost

An hour later we were all vikinged-out and so it was a quick look round the Sutton Hoo exhibition, before taking a very pleasant walk back to St Pancras.

Not a Viking Helmet! (Hoo knew?)

We got home about 3.00, which gave us just enough time to grab a cuppa and for Ann to prepare a couple of dessert, before popping next door to Paul and Karen’s, for one of their legendary BBQs. All the gang were there – Julie, Tom, Trish, John, Rosi , David together with Mark, but no Paul, (who was ‘trapped’ in a golf tournament).

Marinated Pork and Lamb – Yummy!


Fruity creamy thing!

The food was great (as it always is). The meat had been marinated to perfection, whilst Ann’s ‘fruity creamy tower’ tasted as good as it looked, but proved a real challenge to carve!

Such is the power of social media, that within three seconds of its arrival, a lot more people found out about Ann’s excellent desserts!

A great day – especially the BBQ. Thanks for hosting it all Karen!

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 The Pillage People and a BBQ appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A packed day of activities today!

We picked-up David and Valerie and headed off in the direction of the Oxford’s Peartree Park and Ride for a day out in – you guessed it – Oxford.

First stop was the Ashmolean Museum – a place we just can’t seem to get enough of,  having been there in November 2011, March 2012 and September 2013!

Then, after a quick pit-stop in the Ashmolean Cafe, (Lea & Perrin’s flavoured popcorn anyone?), it was off for a mooch around the town whilst the weather stayed dry before heading back to Peartree and home.

We got in around 4pm and started to get things ready for the evening meal – David and Valerie joined us at 7, and we tucked into a rather tasty Chicken Casserole followed by Lemon Tart and/or Apple Crumble (Lent List alert! – I had the Apple Crumble!) courtesy of David and Val with a little help form Mr Waitrose!

After the meal, with the dishwasher at full-tilt, we settled down to watch one of the DVDs I got for Christmas – Now You See Me – In a complex plot that demanded that loo-breaks were always accompanied by a judicial press of the pause button, the story unfolded – and there were a lot of folds! Overall it was a very entertaining film and we all enjoyed it, although I did feel that Michael Caine could have done with more more to do. It’s a whodunit – and even a HOWdunit – but neither in the traditional sense. I won’t spoil the ending here, save to say: it’s worth a watch, to see if you can stay one-step-ahead of the stars, staying one-step-ahead of the cops!

Magic!!!

It’s been an action-packed day! Thanks D and V, we had a great time – and now we’re exhausted! Nothing new there then!!!!

Another fun-filled event tomorrow, as I whisk Ann up to the Fortescue Arms in Billingborough to meet the rest of the family for a surprise pre-birthday lunch.

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 Day Out in Oxford appeared first on Steve's Blog.

After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we headed off towards the Tube switching into tourist mode (sharpening elbows and deleting ‘excuse me’ from our personal dictionary). Weather-wise, it’s a lovely warm day down here – perfect!

First stop was the V and A. We haven’t been there for quite a few years, and it was good to go back there. The highlight was the Private Eye exhibition – truly excellent.

Then it was off to Science Museum. Once again, it had totally changed since our previous visit about 50 years ago! An excellent experience all round with lots to do, especially for kids (so I was alright then!)

Next? By bus to Harrods for a quick look round and then onto Johnson Lewis and finally the House of Fraser. Mission accomplished, as Ann managed to find some ear-rings and a short jacket for the wedding!

Then, back on the bus (yes, me on the bus!) back to the hotel for a bit of a chill-out before the opera tonight – La Traviata at the Royal Opera House.

We got to the Opera House in pretty good time and left us enough space to order drinks for the interval and get our seats in good time. The performance was a sell-out and when the curtain went up just after 7, we were now in ‘opera-mode’ and reminding ourselves of the story-line (well, me actually, as Ann knew anyway!!!)

As you would expect, it’s a love story. And as so often happens in operas, the ending wasn’t pleasant for the heroine! 35 minutes to die was pushing it a bit, but she did so with great style – and song!

So, what’s the story?

Boy meets Girl. Girl is a serious party animal, but Girl is also ill with something or other. Boy falls in love with Girl. Girl wrestles with the party-scene vs nice-comfy-slippers dilemma. Girl chooses slippers. Boy’s father turns up after they’re married to confront her about her debts (too much catalogue shopping!) and forces her to leave Boy without explaining why. Boy thinks she’s run off with another Boy and so follows her to a party. Boy confronts other boy and shoots him (as you do!) much to the disappointment of the guests. Boy is ridiculed and flees the country.

OK so far? Girl health deteriorates and just as she’s about to die, Boy turns up and it looks like a happy-ever-after. A quick dance around the floor and she pegs it. Cue gallons of tears on stage – as well as off. Curtain comes down, sobbing audience heads for Tube.

Moral of the story? Stay off the Catalogues … be careful about your Father-in-law …Don’t follow girls to parties …Take out private medical insurance

On a more serious note – the performance was excellent. A girl with a ‘good pair of lungs’  can mean many things – in this case it meant just that – what a voice!!! I reckon she could have knocked down walls at 100 paces!!!!

Marina Poplavskaya played Violetta (she of the large lungs)

James Valenti played Alfredo Germont (saw him in Madama Butterfly too!)

Robert Poulton played Baron Douphol (a voice so deep he’d get a job in Richer Sounds – geddit!!! …as a sub-woofer)

The performance finished around 10.15 to fantastic applause all round. We headed back to the hotel by way of the Tube deliberately avoiding Covent Garden because of the gazillions of people there. We walked back to Piccadilly Circus and were soon heading to the Bar at the Hotel. A couple of glasses of Vouvray, pork pie and chips set us up nicely and we crashed out around 11.30.

We’re on the 10am out of St Pancras International tomorrow and should be home by 11.30ish.

It’s been a great weekend! – we especially loved the St Pancras Grand Hotel for its architecture and how easy it made it for us to and from our destinations

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 Saturday in London – Ann’s Night at the Opera (Part 2) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

I got up at 7 so I’d have time for a shower before heading up the road to get a ticket for the car that we couldn’t park near the hotel last night.

Ooooo…I’ve noticed I’m a bit pink this morning after all that exposure to the good weather yesterday – they’ll be no chance of that today though, it looks very grey out there.

Mission accomplished – we’re parked for three hours for the reasonable sum of £3.

We hit the breakfast scene around 9 and then headed for Gunwharf Quays. We’re going to catch the Gosport Ferry to meet up with Steve and Denise.

First stop though was the excellent D-Day Museum just up the road in Southsea. It was a really comprehensive museum and the most stunning (and unexpected) part was probably the ‘Overlord Embroidery‘ – a bit like the Bayeux Tapestry… only longer – telling the story of Operation Overlord. 

After leaving the Museum,  we headed into town and jumped on-board the 11.30 Gosport Ferry, and rang Denise to let us know we were on our way. The weather by now, was deteriorating!
Denise met us at the Terminal in Gosport and after a short walk, we were on board the good ship ‘Touché’. Wow, what an impressive boat! Denise and Steve are sailing to Alderney tonight and the weather is definitely getting worse!!

After leaving Steve and Denise at the Marina, we decided to visit the Royal Marines’ Museum back in Southsea. This was also an impressive place including probably the biggest collection medals we’d ever seen. We spent over an hour there and as we left the weather was worse – such a change from yesterday. We jumped straight back in the car and headed back to the Hotel.

Time for ‘feet-up’ and bit of TV before getting ready to see Ian and Sharon in Chichester at The Cider House Restaurant, Chichester. It’s their Anniversary tomorrow and we’ve got them a cheese-knife set from John Lewis.

The Cider House menu is

  – and what a menu! The food was nothing short of excellent and the service was spot-on too! One of the owners (Julia Dent) was serving and the place was packed! We must drop her a line to compliment her on the whole experience – superb!!
We said our good-byes and had a smooth journey back to the Hotel, getting in around 10.45pm. We even got a a parking space nearby, which was an improvement on last night!

Well, it’s been a GREAT break and we’ve been so lucky with the weather (apart from today!). We’re leaving straight after breakfast tomorrow, so we should be home by lunchtime.

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 Short break: Portsmouth (Day 4) appeared first on Steve's Blog.