Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 3: The Well

Morning! I’m continuing to take advantage of watching DW on iPLayer (from 8am, UK). I was a little later to the screen today, mainly due to picking some sort of ‘cold-but-not-Covid’ earlier this week (from goodness knows where). I’m only really now coming out the other side, although I’m still feeling a tad lethargic – and coughing like I smoke 50-a-day!

As usual, I won’t post this until after tonight’s episode at 8.05pm, to avoid any spoilers.

Trailer

I’ve really enjoyed both episodes so far in this series, especially last week’s – “Lux” and wonder if this week’s (the third of eight) will maintain the quality?

• 
  Two for Who!Saturday, 18th October, 2025 @ 12:05 pm
• 
  Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 8: The Reality WarSaturday, 31st May, 2025 @ 9:00 pm
• 
  Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 7: Wish WorldSaturday, 24th May, 2025 @ 7:36 pm

Here we go, it’s 10.30 on Saturday morning, and I’m going in!

Synopsis

“5000 years into the future, on a tough, brutal planet, a devastated mining colony has only one survivor.
To discover the truth, the Doctor and Belinda must face absolute terror”.

Any Good?

This was a creepy one with the ‘tensometer’ registering 11.5 (and in this house, it only goes up to 10!). A few faces will immediately look familiar – Rose Ayling-Ellis (EastEnders & Strictly) and Christopher Chung (Slow Horses) play key roles in tonight’s tale.

There’s no doubt that the pairing of the Doctor and his new companion, Belinda shows chemistry. Both are intelligent, both confident, but occasionally plagued by self-doubt, and it’ll be interesting to see how they integrate the previous companion, Ruby Sunday, back into the narrative in next week’s episode.

The story hangs together well, there’s a genuine sense of dread where no-one is really sure who (and where) this week’s foe is located (literally). Elsewhere, our hero surely gets this year’s award for the ‘longest stare’ in one scene – and very emotional it is too!

Within 30 minutes, the majority of the assembled supporting cast are ‘no more’, rapidly turning this one into something akin to a John Wick homage! . Perhaps the ‘big bad’ could have found a more imaginative way to dispatch the cast other than throwing them around the room? . The climax comes quickly, maybe too quickly, whilst the ending is somewhat predictable.

Overall, the storytelling keeps you guessing helped along with some very powerful scenes, with just about the right amount of talking and running about! The acting remains top-notch with a special mention for Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss, who was clearly wasted in EastEnders and has proved herself here to be a VERY expressive performer.

How Dark?

Those who know me know that I like my DW stories on the darker side. This one heads in the right direction.

And so…

With all these positives, I expected to come out the other end feeling that this one HAD continued the quality of this latest series. However, it wasn’t to be! The more I thought about what I’d just seen, the more I felt that it was a bit formulaic. In fact, I’m pretty sure if you’d changed the two lead characters, it could have been any creepy sci-fi short story. In short, despite the excellent performances, scripting, sfx and soundtrack, it all felt a bit, well, ‘ho-hum’. Would I watch this episode again? Nope, unlikely!

So, imagine my surprise that some are quoting this one as ‘one of the best episodes’. Did I miss something? Probably! . This story is being strongly linked to an episode called ‘Midnight‘ (from the David Tennant era – Episode 10, series 4. I don’t recall that one, but maybe I would have been more generous with my stars, if I had. I think I ought to rewatch that episode Luckily, these days, it’s on iPlayer, and then this one again.

PS. last week’s episode – “Lux” – has apparently hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Although I gave it four stars, there is clearly not enough of us around! The episode saw overnight ratings of a rather pathetic 1.58m. I think it’s the lowest figure Doctor Who has ever had. Slightly more positively, it was BBC One’s fourth most-watched programme of the day and the seventh most-watched title of the day across all channels. OK ‘overnight ratings’ aren’t the major measure these days as a lot of fans (he said, optimistically) watch on catch-up or repeat, but I do get a sense that there are hushed whispers at BBC Towers

EDIT: Sunday, 27th April – Well, that’s a first! I took some of my own advice! Having seen more and more online comments today about the connection of this episode with the older episode Series 4, Episode 10 ‘Midnight’, I fired up iPlayer and watched David Tennant playing our hero from Saturday, 14 June 2008. Then I watched yesterday’s again.

What a difference NOW in my perception of last night’s Who tale! I can see now why many are saying ‘it’s the best episode yet’ and it’s the new ‘Blink’ (generally considered by most fans as being the best Who episode of all time!).

So, what does that all mean?

For a start, they should have made ‘Midnight’ essential pre-watching as it would have put this one in context. Next, I missed the direct reference to Midnight in yesterday’s story first time around (in my defence, it was only a second or two long!) – and that would have piqued my interest. ON reflection, I re-rate ‘The Well’ as

For me then, not quite as captivating as ‘Blink’ (watch the whole episode HERE), but it was close. Like many, that’s still my fave!

Next Episode?

Next week’s episode is entitled: Lucky Day where we see the return of previous companion Ruby Sunday.

See you then!

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 Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 3: The Well appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Yes, it’s that time again – my Birthday!! . We usually try and get away somewhere to celebrate, but this year is a little different!

Last year, we were in Greece, whilst the year before it was Switzerland – but in 2024, we’re celebrating here at home! It’s a full 12 years since we last had my Birthday at home. With our mega-break to New Zealand coming up later this year, getting away today/this week, just all felt a bit unnecessary!

Still, it’s what you make of the day isn’t it, and we’re looking forward to a Birthday Lunch with our great friends Paul & Sue later. The weather? Totally unpredictable as it turned out! The day began with rain (which has been a regular feature this week) then, out came the sun before returning to the wet stuff for the rest of the day!

Surrounded by cards and gifts today makes me feel a lot younger on the inside. Everyone has been so generous! – some great gifts, helped these days by the obligatory (heavily distributed) ‘birthday list’ around family and friends who asked for inspiration (apparently, I’m a nightmare to buy for! – surely not!)

Actually, even before my special lunch, the morning turned out to be a busy and very pleasant one! We planned to sit down and watch episode 1 of the brand-new series of Ludwig on BBC1, but instead, Janet dropped by, followed by neighbours David and Valerie and then Paul. All armed with gifts and cards – and in D & V’s case, Sausage Rolls too – it was a much better alternative than watching the box! . Needless to say, the Sausage Rolls didn’t last long!

Well, that was all a very welcome surprise and a great start to my day of celebration!

Birthday Lunch – Pig & Waffle

Paul & Sue drove over to ours and after a quick ‘hello’ and the sharing my birthday gift (chocolate!), we made our way to the Pig and Waffle in nearby Grafton Underwood. I’m not sure why we’ve never been here before – they’re on our doorstep and part of the Greedy Gordon’s group (who also manage the Snooty Fox in Lowick, the Red Lion in Cranford and the The Buttery Cafe in Woodford – all very well-respected watering holes).

For the size of the establishment, it sported an extensive and varied menu. There was outside seating (but not today, unless you were very brave!). If you like Gin, there was also a great selection and plenty of continental beers too! Food-wise, it didn’t disappoint and a yummy overall experience. Whilst Paul and Sue opted for the Tapas (again, lots of choices!), Ann for the ‘Breakfast Bap’, I was as predictable as ever – tackling their ‘Greedy Burger’. It was to be one of the best burger-combos I’d had in a long time – those red onions and the onion chutney made all the difference! . The Tapas were also well-received where the generous portions almost beat us… Almost! – and I was happy to assist! . None of us could manage a Dessert (even me!) and with the bill settled, it was back to ours.

With Coffees all around, back at base, we spent a couple of hours chatting about nothing in particular and it was all very chilled and very enjoyable. Perfect! A couple of hours later, we said our goodbyes and Paul and Sue headed home. It had been great to share my birthday lunch with our good friends!

Briefly, it was back to the TV and after finishing watching Ludwig (good wasn’t it!?), we had a quick tidy-up in readiness for Dave and Rosi who arrived early evening. Another card and another gift were sandwiched between plenty of chat, catching up with all their news from their recent holiday to Mallorca. Well, they certainly had the better weather than here, right now! The rain today, has been biblical, where it had been chucking it down since Paul and Sue‘s left.

And that’s how it stayed for the rest of the evening. In fact, by the time, we turned in for the night, it was STILL hammering it down! Yuk!

Still, weather aside, it had been a very memorable day for all the right reasons – just how I hoped it would be! We may not have enjoyed good weather, but it was more than made up for by the legion of friends popping in and showering me with gifts and good wishes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

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 Birthday Boy (2024) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A Bank Holiday Street Party in nearby Berwick Way for no other reason than ‘because we could’!

Well, the weather wasn’t exactly ‘glorious’ – a cool and breezy 17°C – but that didn’t prevent around 20 of us from getting together at the foot of Berwick Way.

With Mick, the Burger King on BBQ duties serving up some excellent burgers and sausages, Janet and Ann on Mains and Jo and Sam on Desserts, we forgot the weather (for a while anyway!) and tucked into some excellent food. By popular request, Ann’s home-made Cheese Straws made an appearance!

If burgers and sausages weren’t enough, collectively, we’d assembled a massive list of additional junk food that included all the usual suspects – pizzas, peanuts, sausage rolls and crisps. The variety of processed food was only outdone by the array of alcohol on offer – we even had an ice-bucket! Let’s not say we don’t do these things half-heartedly!!!

Jo reproduced her Coronation Trifle from June 2022, which was supported by individual Lemon Drizzle Cakes and a Cheesecake, in case we were bored! (err, we weren’t!)

And, in a rare display of ‘healthy options’ (sort of!) we enjoyed Sam’s ‘double-decker’ part-of-our-five-a-day Fruit Meringue!

Momentarily, we were guilt-free!

Wow! What a great turnout, especially given that the weather didn’t really co-operate! Still, it could have been worse, at least it wasn’t raining. Afterwards, it was easy to see that we all did the food (and drink) justice! The sound of popping corks was only interrupted by the obligatory Amazon delivery driver’s reversing beepers, doing his best to get to his destinations without running us over!

If there was a single thing that was a (slight) disappointment, it was, as expected, the weather. It began breezy (as we frequently ‘rescued’ paper plates, cups, tablecloths and hats all heading in the direction of the next county!) and turned increasingly cloudy and cool. By around 3.30 it was just bordering on ‘yuk’ but that may have been because we ran out of food and drink!

We all agreed that overall, it had been a very worthwhile get-together and there was even talk of making it a regular event! Sounds like a plan!

Best news of all was that after taking the cost of the food and drink into account, we had money left over in the shape of £60. We donated that to Cransley Hospice. .

Same time next year then!!!

Steve Palmer

I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!

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

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

The post Bank Holiday Street Party 2024 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Headed off to Toddington in Dunstable this morning to catch up with long-time friend, Angela C.

The journey there took longer than expected – it should have been around an hour, but with the M1 near Flitwick being dug up in both directions, it made my progress VERY slow!

We made good use of time catching up with each other’s news and rolling in some techy problem-solving relating to Angela’s phone and her laptop.

The food offer was ‘simple fare’ and where the service was as good as remember it when we first discovered the place last August for a similar get-together! . It was a very productive morning, where all-but-one of the issues were solved, leaving ‘why no spell checker in Outlook?’, something for me to do some more research on.

At just after 1 o’clock, the final task of the day was successfully bluetooth-ing Angela’s phone to her car – and it worked a treat! Thankfully, it was a much smoother journey heading north for home (even though the roadworks were still slowing things down) and I was home just after 3.

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 Job Done in Dunstable! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We headed off to Welford today – it was our first visit to The Wharf Inn.

We met up with fellow ‘Northants Nutters’ – Paul & Sue and Richard and Nicki – for lunch.

It was already buzzing when we arrived just before 1pm. After getting some drinks from the Bar we were shown to our table. It may not have been the most attractive Pub we’ve ever been to, but the food was to turn out to be delicious!

The portion sizes were probably the most memorable – especially for those who chose the Steak (Ann and Sue)!

Not only were the portions very generous, they all had a very ‘home-cooked’ feel about them (they were!). I was the only one to opt for a Dessert (and it didn’t last long!) . It turned into a very long lunch and we didn’t leave until just before 3.30pm – surely a good sign! In fact, by the time we paid the bill (just £50 per couple) we were the last to leave.

Another fine eatery to be added to our list!

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: The Wharf Inn, Welford appeared first on Steve's Blog.

You know that old saying? “Fit as a Butcher’s Dog!” – well, that’s pretty much me!

I’m hardly ever ill (apart from a bout of COVID back in 2021 and my, so-good-I’ve-had-them-twice, Kidney Stones).

So, 2023 turned into the year when this old dog had multiple trips to the vets!!

Deaf in Paradise

It all began back on March 14th. I woke up to a whistling/whooshing sound in my ear. I assumed it was ‘nothing’ and would disappear as quickly as it arrived. Err, No! After multiple visits to our ‘good old’ NHS, it turned out to be Tinnitus (although no-one’s really 100% sure). There’s no cure, just techniques for managing it. Once you’ve got it, you’ve got it… and its volume, over the years, only goes in one direction!!

Oh, joy!

Of course, it’s not a life-threatening illness, thankfully, and I should be grateful it’s nothing more serious – BUT it is a major annoyance, especially when I’m in quiet environments. Next stop? Having hearing aids fitted that push out a sort of ‘white noise’ to ‘fool my brain’. Fooling my brain has never been an issue, so that’ll be easy! Not sure that I like the idea of hearing aids though!!!

Next..!

2.30

Back in December LAST year, I had a problem with one of my wisdom teeth. Rumours that it was because it hadn’t been used much over the years were unfounded, but the Dentist said that a filling would sort it out. It didn’t. I then spent the best part of the next 12 months battling with the local dental practice to get it fixed. Multiple cancellations/postponements of my appointments by them only added to my frustration in getting it fixed. I could live with the pain – just! – but my love of food was seriously hampered because the left-hand side of my mouth was out of bounds!

Finally, a few weeks back, on November 27th, after an agonising period where the pain over the two prior weeks increased so much, that I almost ODed on painkillers, the offending molar was removed. Ouch! Of course, it wasn’t straightforward! . After the obligatory two injections, I could still feel the twists and turns of the Dentist’s mole-wrench! Cue another jab… and then another… and yet another! We stopped at SIX (I think they ran out of ‘juice’!) where finally, after a bit of twisting and turning, I was now wisdom-less. Well, at least I now have a space to hide Ann’s Christmas pressies!

But there’s more…

No Pressure

Well, lots of pressure actually! . In previous years, for as long as I can recall, my blood pressure has been spot-on. In fact, I’ve always been complimented at my annual medical checks, on how ‘text book’ my numbers were. Recently, a chance opportunity to have a free blood pressure test revealed…

Actually, nothing at all!

Literally!

They couldn’t get a reading on their machine. I didn’t understand (and nor did the Tester). My question to him: “Am I dead?” missed his funny bone by about a gazillion miles, and I was asked to ‘test it myself’ when I got home (as you do!).

After much self-testing, more self-testing and even more measuring… the readings WERE on the high side (in between the BP monitor getting no readings at all!). Not ‘OMG high’, but enough to confirm the results with the professionals. So, now I’m coping with my third surprise of my ‘medical year’! Not what I expected at all!

Could things become more challenging? Of course they could!! . This time, nothing to do with illness, it was simply attempting to get an appointment at my local Practice to discuss my figures. In short, the stuff of nightmares!

How so? Who knew that recording my own BP readings for a week on my own paper was unacceptable? Having presented these at the Practice, I was advised that I needed to record the figures on THEIR form! Simples! I’ll just copy over the figures. Oh no, that would be far too pragmatic – I was informed that I had to do ANOTHER week of testing! Commenting to the Receptionist that I might be ‘dead by then‘ proved that the Practice obviously shared the same funny bone as my first Tester!

How we laughed! . Not!

Although not directly comparable, I also now realised that I’d outlived my Dad by about two weeks (who had sadly keeled over with a massive heart attack back in the 90s!) – not really conclusive at all, but it did play on my mind.

Finally, after much more bureaucracy, I arranged an appointment with my Doctor. And so, to bring this tale fully up-to-date, we are now in a period of (ahem!) experimentation to get the tablet mix right for my condition. Initially, it’s 5mg of Amlodipine – the smallest dose offered for relaxing the blood vessels and then, every four weeks, they’ll test and then tweak, maybe introducing additional tablets or changing them. Eventually, I’ll be on the right combo of magic pills. Oh, in a final twist to test my resolve, the statins I’m on for cholesterol (that I’ve been taking for over 20 years – Simvastatin) that work a treat in trimming my bad cholesterol figure, apparently don’t play nicely with the heart tablets, so they’ve been replaced by 20mg of Atorvastatin.

And so it begins! I guess it’s “Welcome to getting old”!!

Off now to have a word with the Butcher for a rewrite of my Job Description!

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 “Butcher’s Dog” Report appeared first on Steve's Blog.

First, there were five of us (Philip, Angela, Antoinette, Carey and me) – the ‘5ive’… then we welcomed both Rick and June to the group, screwing the Maths and demanding a rebrand. After a bit of head-scratching, we became ‘The Magnificent 7even‘. Oh! Such originality! .

For those new here, we’re a group of like-minded ex-business-buddies now enjoying a deep personal friendship. It began in 1999 when we all met and collaborated on a massive project for the (then) ‘World’s Favourite Airline’.

Since ’99, we’ve got together regularly for a meal (usually in London) at least twice a year, which morphed into our first weekend away over ten years ago in Stratford-upon-Avon. It worked really well with no casualties and no arguments! Surely a good sign! .

Regular annual getaways followed until, like for many, Covid got in the way, and we lost our rhythm for a while!

The 5ive do Stratford-upon-Avon
(October 2012)

The 5ive do Bath
(October 2013)

The 5ive do Birmingham
(October 2014)

The 5ive do Liverpool
(September 2015)

The 5ive do Bristol
(I missed that one in 2016!)

The 7even and Turkish Delight
(November 2022)

The 7seven hit the Gym
(June 2023)

That all changed earlier this year when we met in London – The Gymnasium Restaurant, near Kings Cross/St Pancras – to get back into the groove. The result? A weekend in Cambridge planned for November! .

Day 1 – Hello Cambridge!

Sadly, as we got closer to the date, Angela, Carey and Rick couldn’t make it, leaving Antoinette, June, Philip and yours truly to take in the sights and sounds of this fine city. What we lacked in numbers, we hoped would be partly made up by us cramming in as much as we could during our stay. The most important thing, of course, was that ‘the band’ was (mostly) back together again, and we were feeling adventurous, despite the lack-lustre weather forecast

So, here we are, all staying at the Premier Inn for the next few days. Philip and June arrived yesterday, followed by Antoinette and lastly, me. As a group, we attempted to ‘go with the flow’ and not over-organise ourselves, but we did have a list of Cambridge attractions to consider (in no particular order)…

Kettles Yard – modern art!
Mill Road – full of independent shops
Great St Mary’s Church
Fitzwilliam Museum
Jesus College
Stem and Glory Restaurant
Varsity Hotel for a rooftop drink
Botanical Gardens
University Arms Hotel
Magdalene College and Pepys Library
The River Cam

And of course, it was Bonfire Night too, so maybe there was a chance of fireworks too! One location from our list that was already booked was the Stem and Glory restaurant – a Vegan eatery in the city – and this would be my very first experience of eating in a completely meat-free environment! . More about that later, when I fully plan to immerse myself in the whole ‘Vegan Thing‘ (well, at least for tonight!).

2.05pm: With Ann dropping me off, the next task was to track down my friends who were all ahead of me (some say: in every sense). After dropping my bags and making the call, we agreed to meet up at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

2.45pm: It only took me around 20/25 minutes to walk to the Museum. Light rain was in the air, but it was still quite mild for November. Perfect timing too, as I arrived – the others had only been there for around 10 minutes. . After initially spending some time in the Museum’s shop, exchanging greetings and catching-up, we discussed our plans for the weekend before chatting to one of the helpful Museum staff for an idea of what to look at in the Museum.

There’s a lot here from ‘pop-up’ exhibitions to furniture, paintings, sculptures – you know, the usual Museum stuff sensibly spread across multiple floors. We started with their temporary exhibition ‘The Family’ celebrating – you guessed it -the family unit in all its shapes and sizes. I think we all thought it was a good job it was temporary! It didn’t do anything for us at all, even though the paintings of family members were sometimes startling (and I now can’t UNsee the one of the young guy in his underpants!!). There were a few memorable displays though (see below) – I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder!

We ended our visit looking around their ‘Black Atlantic‘ exhibition. Its purpose? “…exploring some new stories from history – stories that help us to separate fact from fiction and history from myth”. Some very powerful images and testimonials, that somehow felt quite depressing!

Impressions? I’m sure a lot of work has gone into selecting and displaying the exhibits, but I actually think I preferred the architecture of the actual Museum itself! OK, there were a couple of ‘Wow!’ exhibits (such as those two above), but otherwise, it all felt a bit ordinary.

All-in-all, we spent just over an hour there and as we left, it began to rain. Next stop? The nearby University Arms Hotel for a sit-down, a much longer chat and maybe a glass of fizz too!

Maybe????

4.35pm: Gosh! I hadn’t sat here in the Library here since the 80s (when I was running management courses here as part of my day job for Sainsbury’s). Although in recent months it had completed its mega-makeover, the Hotel felt as familiar as ever. It was popular too and we managed to get the last remaining table!

We enjoyed catching up on old times and reflecting on how we first met each other. The two bottles of fizz went down a treat, and we stayed until just before 7pm.

Steve, the Vegan!

7.15pm: For tonight only, I went fully Vegan at the Stem and Glory restaurant in Station Road. Being a confirmed Carnivore, this was a challenge in every sense! Imightbeen a partial Veggie for a while, but tonight meant going the ‘whole hog hyacinth‘.

We arrived at the Restaurant pretty much bang on our booked time of 7.15, but it was an unassuming entrance, and we nearly missed it. Already about half full when we arrived, it got very busy, and it was clear this was a popular destination for eating. Our Server was very helpful and we were soon working our way through the varied (and in my case VERY unfamiliar) menu.

Being my first time, I wasn’t really sure what was a good choice and what wasn’t, but in the end, Philip and I settled for the Patatas Bravas with the Kimchi Pancakes (small plate) followed by the Royal Hyderabadi Dum Biryani (mains). Meanwhile, June and Antoinette tucked into their Traffic Light Curry. What a mouthful (and that was just ordering mine!) but what a meal!

Packed with flavour from beginning to end! And nicely presented too!

None of us could really manage a Dessert but we all liked the look of one of the desserts – Black Forest Torte (containing avocado!). We shared one between four as a compromise, and it went down a treat!

For my first time in a Vegan restaurant, it had been a fantastic experience! Thanks, Antoinette, for finding this one!

9.25pm: We called it a night, paid the bill (very reasonable at just over £30 per head – especially for Cambridge!) and took the short walk to the bus stop. Having waited for 40 minutes, it wasn’t to be, despite the arrival time being clearly displayed on the shelter’s LED panel. At arrival time, the bus time simply disappeared – and no bus either!! . We headed back to the station and grabbed a cab, and we were soon back at the Premier Inn.

What a fantastic day, in every sense. More of the same tomorrow, I hope!

Tomorrow…

St Mary’s Church
Varsity Hotel (for a rooftop drink)
Magdalene and Pepys Library
Evensong
…and possibly more! or less… or different!

Nighty Night!

Day 2

Morning all! Good grief! A dry day ahead – that’ll be welcome.

We all met up at 9.30 for what would turn out be a really busy one (for all the right reasons!) . Ready? Set? We were off!

9.36am: Walk along the River (Cam)

It was a chilly one, but a lot of people (some in shorts! Eeek!!!) were doing the same as us – just taking the air and soaking up the sights! One of those ‘good to be alive’ mornings!

Along the way, we took in so many sights including (just past Jesus Green) Cambridge’s famous Lido. It was enjoying a lot of mad fools enthusiastic swimmers taking advantage of the crisp outdoor temperature and the luxury of an early morning swim.

All that activity was giving me quite an appetite (I’d ‘gone with the flow’ and not had breakfast), so our next stop was perfectly timed!

10.46am: Fitzbillies

A Cambridge institution, Fitzbillies is famous for its Chelsea Buns and its many variations on a theme! It was established in 1920 and those well-known buns are created right here in the city. They have two outlets here – the other is in Bridge Street.

12.12pm: Cambridge Market

Cambridge’s famous Market was buzzing! (as it is, every time I visit here. From street food to clothing to jewellery to cheese to, well, pretty much everything in between! It was great to see a Street Market in 2023 doing so well!

12.33pm: The Varsity Hotel and Spa

The rather posh 4 star Varsity Hotel was next on our list. We weren’t particularly fussed about the Hotel nor the Spa, we were simply there to take advantage of their rooftop Bar and enjoy the views across Cambridge.

It wasn’t to be, as the roof-space was temporarily closed, but we did manage the next best thing, albeit one floor lower. The Cocktails tasted just as good and we grabbed ourselves a comfy table in the corner, offering the promised views across the City, chatting away for almost two hours!

1.52pm: The Pepy’s Library/Magdalene College

The Pepy’s Library is a well-respected building from an architectural perspective and an example of a private library. It dates back to 1792. It is open to the public for guided visits on Friday mornings so it was a pity that today was a Sunday! It was good to see something so old, looking in such good shape, but it will undergo major renovation from 2024.

We then looked a little further into Magdalene College itself… Some impressive sights awaited us here too!

Impressive stuff!

2.10pm: Kettles Yard

These days, Kettle’s Yard is primarily an Art Gallery plus a House (and the obligatory cafe and gift shop|). Purely because our desire to climb the steps at our NEXT venue (and where those opportunities were limited ‘by the clock’, we declined the House Tour here and instead just browsed their shop. One for next time maybe??

2.25pm: Great St Mary’s Church

We had originally intended doing this earlier in the day, but one of their Services over-ran and without any signage to explain what and why, we temporarily abandoned the mission. But here we were, albeit a little later (it didn’t matter, but if you’re following in our footsteps, check your timings for this experience as they’re limited). After paying our fee (£6) Instructions for the climb were short but clear. ‘Mind your head’ (obviously), ‘stay off your phones until you get to the top’, and ‘at the summit, enjoy the view, but wait to be called down’. Simples! Well, for most of our fellow travellers – but not all!

For me, this was the highlight of the day! An opportunity to climb the (123!) spiral steps of Great St Mary’s and enjoy some (more) spectacular views across the City.

Wow! It was worth the climb (but the ascent did have me pausing for breath on the way. There was even the opportunity to look at the Bell Tower around halfway up. For Bell fans, four of them were installed as early as 1515 with the remainder, during the 17th century. So glad we did this as the views are unrivalled!

3.15pm: St Michael’s Church/Michael House Café

After our climb, it was back down to earth (literally) and a quick cuppa and a nibble at St Michael’s Church in their Café. Again, this was another establishment that was ‘buzzing’ with business. As I sat there, enjoying the conversation and surroundings (that date back to the 11th century) I had a feeling I’d been here before. I couldn’t remember when though. Nothing in my Blog, since I began writing it in 2024, and so I put it down to one of those ‘spooky’ experiences!

4.05pm: The Eagle Pub

This looked, felt and sounded like a good ol’ fashioned English boozer. It was! The beer went down a treat, but the noise… not so much! . The nearby table were clearly enjoying themselves, but in the end, we left for somewhere quieter. We took a slow leisurely stroll around the local shops before arriving at Jesus College for Evensong.

5.25pm: Evensong – Jesus College

We arrived just before 5.30 and that gave us plenty of time to look around the College before phones were switched off for Evensong.

What a lovely place, especially now that it was almost dark. The combination of the shadows and the lighting in general, gave Jesus College an ‘other worldly’ feel (or was that just the after-effects of my earlier beer?) .

We took our seats for Evensong (my second – or first, I can’t quite remember) together with a sizeable group of others as we nestled amongst the Choir. It was a full-on affair with hymns, chants, readings and a guest speaker – Professor Tina Beattie – who enlightened us (sorta!) on the subject of ‘Adam’s Curse? Androcentrism and Ecology’. I must admit, I got lost in the middle somewhere and never found my way out, but she was clearly very knowledgeable, and I’m sorry that I didn’t get more from it. I enjoyed the singing though (although, my closest neighbours may NOT have enjoyed mine!) .

All-in-all a great experience, but I’d be the first to admit it was a serious affair and it was a good job the leaflet was very clear who said what and when, when we stood, when we sat and when we kneeled! As they say: “Intense!”. Yes, a very moving experience, but I think we all deserved some light relief.

7.30pm: Aromi Pizza

Our final stop for the day – and that light relief mentioned earlier – was lovely little Sicilian Pizza restaurant in Benedict Street called Aromi.

The service was quick and friendly (just what we needed) but more importantly, the food was delicious – such a pleasant change from the big pizza chains. At the end of the meal, they even called us a taxi and we were soon back at the Premier Inn. It had been another GREAT day exploring Cambridge, where the weather turned out to be perfect all day.

9.05pm: Phew! Back in the room and reflecting on my step-count for the day – a bit of a record for me for a single day! – and the mileage I walked. A great day! We’re all meeting up tomorrow morning at Breakfast to say goodbye and head off in different directions – until the next time!

10.15pm: Knackered! See you tomorrow!

Day 3

Good morning! I slept VERY well (maybe it was simply pure exhaustion and all that fresh air?)

So, what of this latest get-together by The Magnificent 7even? Again, it goes without saying that we continued to enjoy each other’s company (we always do!). Location-wise, I certainly feel that we got beneath the surface of Cambridge and I, for one, now know it even better now than I did before. The weather, especially for this time of year, served us well (mostly!) making our walks even more enjoyable. Looking back at our original list of intended visits, we didn’t get around to see the Botanical Gardens, wander along Mill Road.

Any standout moments? Two for me – the views from the top of Great St Mary’s Church and (for completely different reasons) last night’s Evensong – a powerful experience (even if I wasn’t always sure ‘where it was going’).

We’ve already given some thought about NEXT year’s get-together, and it’ll be good to see everyone again once we’ve set the date. Roll on 2024!

9.50am: Time to say our final goodbyes and head in the direction of our preferred transport. For me, it was easy! Ann picked me up in EVie whilst my three co-explorers headed for the railway station.

See you on the other side!

All our Cambridge photos
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 7even in Cambridge (Almost!) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, I think that’s a record (even for us, as big Tom Cruise fans!).

We first saw Top Gun – Maverick with Jo & Janet just after it first came out (June 2022).

Next, it was at one of our TV Dinners with David & Valerie (February 2023) and more recently, at Boughton House (May 2023) with Jo, Janet & Carol – where we also ran into Rosi and David.

So, tonight made it our fourth viewing, this time with good friends Trish & John – their first watch – all helped along with one of Ann’s superb TV Dinners!

We’re pleased to report that the combination of Tom Cruise, Lasagne & Salad, followed by Cheese and Biscuits plus a cheeky Rhubarb Crumble all went down a treat! . There was also some Prosecco, a bottle of Rosé and a Shiraz in there somewhere too! . It seemed strange doing all this in the MIDDLE of a week (rather than the usual Friday or Saturday), but we soon got used to it! .

It turned into a relatively late one for us – for all the right reasons – and I eventually dropped J&T back at theirs just before 11pm. We all agreed that we’d do something similar again where the challenge will be to find a movie that we all like. My suggestion is Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part 1) that we saw at the cinema back in July.

Nighty-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 Winner, Winner! TV Dinner! – Top Gun: Maverick (again!) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Well, the weather certainly is improving! It’s a Bank Holiday too! Surely that’s a mistake!!!

Friday (26th)

It got off to a good start trotting off to nearby Boughton House for an outdoor showing of Top Gun: Maverick.

Saturday (27th)

A lazy start to the day but with some last-minute preparation ready for great friends Ralph & Karen who are spending the weekend with us.

R&K arrived just before 11.45 and we were soon exchanging notes on what we’d all been up to since we last saw each other.

After a quick salad for lunch, we continued to take advantage of the fine weather and headed for nearby Wicksteed Park.

Not surprisingly, it was busy! Even Wicky’s Boating Lake, where I’ve never seen more than a few people showing off their models, was busier than I ever remember it – yachts, submarines, old galleons, and steamships were all fighting for position with… the resident swans who were also more used to a quieter environment!

We’re so lucky to have this on our doorstep! When Covid was rife, our daily walks here helped to keep us sane!

We didn’t get home until just before 5. It had been VERY warm walk, but so nice to enjoy a Bank Holiday in the sun! (a rare experience!). It was then back into the garden, with a cold drink to discuss our next joint holiday together – Jordan. After evaluating several options, we now had a broad plan and Ann is going to take it all to the next level of detail.

In the evening, we headed off to nearby (ish) Braybrooke and The Swan for dinner. This is a bit of a hidden gem that we discovered a few years ago back in January, 2019.

Ralph acted as ‘designated driver’ and we were soon at the Pub – but as usual, finding to space to park was our first challenge.

Initially, the area immediately outside the entrance was full, forcing us to park on the (very narrow) adjacent road. But, just a few moments later, a departing local freed up a space! Perfect!

Just after 7pm, we were soon seated and looking through the Menu. There were plenty of imaginative offerings to tempt us, and although we sat inside, their patio doors had been opened giving us a cool breeze and the last of the evening sun.

The portion sizes were generous and so Ann opted for two Starters whilst Karen skipped the first course altogether. Meanwhile, Ralph and I dived in. I almost chose their mega-burger, but Ralph took on the challenge! (the biggest, widest and tallest I’ve seen in a while) – and made a valiant effort to clear his plate, but it narrowly beat him! All-in-all, it was a good experience, although the dessert (above right) that Ralph and I opted for whilst the girls looked on was heavy going – but still delicious. Heading home, the roads were almost deserted, and we were soon indoors, catching up with today’s news and sipping hot chocolate!

Phew! It was now 10.30 and time to crash out. Nighty night! . It’s a(nother) lazy day tomorrow. A (very) light breakfast is planned, followed by a full-on Sunday lunch where Nick & Celina are joining us.

Sunday (28th)

Well, the weather is holding and it looks like a gorgeous day ahead. Nick & Celina are heading our way for 12.30, so that’s six hungry mouths to feed later. Roast Chicken is on the menu and we’re planning to eat outside.

Nick & Celina arrived just after 12.30. We were expecting them to arrive in Nick’s Porsche – ‘Waspey‘. Instead, a slightly more sedate mode of transport…

What a machine! Fondly known as Margot Magenta and it oozed character! With a four-speed manual box and retro-fitted seatbelts, they don’t make them like that anymore!

After a quick catch-up, we tucked into Lunch, where by now, it was turning into another gorgeous day!

Desserts consisted of homemade Profiteroles and Summer Fruit Brulé with everything washed down with copious amounts of ‘grape and hop’ in all its various guises! .

‘Whoosh’ went the afternoon! The next time we looked at the time it was just after 5! Surely a sign of a good time? We said our goodbyes a little later to the sound of Margot Magenta’s 1098cc engine and single SU carb working overtime! After a bit of a clear-up in the kitchen we settled down for the evening. No need to think about food as Lunch had done its job!

With the kitchen under control and in the safe hands of the dishwasher, we fired up the DVD player and watched Tina Turner – Live in Amsterdam (from 1996). Some cracking tunes… Private Dancer, Theme from GoldenEye, River Deep, Mountain High, Thunderdome and pretty much all of her many other big hits. I’d quite forgotten what a powerful voice she had, and the music scene is a far emptier place without her in it.

Our chosen movie was Dead Shot a ‘Sky Original’ that turned out to be quite good. It starred Mark Strong and Colin Morgan (aka ‘Merlin’ in the long-running 2008-2012 BBC series), the latter in a much, MUCH grittier role as an IRA member out for revenge for the murder of his partner. Plenty of tension, and being set in the 1970s, it was good to see London faithfully recreated for that era – all those Routemaster buses!!!

We turned in just after 10pm.

Bank Holiday Monday (29th)

Ralph & Karen slept over, and we enjoyed a late, later breakfast this morning. The weather ‘returned to form’ for a Bank Holiday – although it was dry, everywhere was very overcast and nowhere near as warm as we’d seen it over the previous few days. Our friends said their goodbyes just before 11, Ann went swimming and I washed-up!

It had been a great Bank Holiday and good to catch up with friends – the weather (mostly) made it even more enjoyable!

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 Late May Bank Holiday 2023 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Today we said goodbye to Cousin John De-Winter at Beckenham Crematorium. The last time we were here was in April 2014 for (my) Mum’s passing and whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to look at the Rose that we planted in her honour in their Remembrance Garden.

Given the travelling distance, we opted to drive down the afternoon before and stay over. The Bromley Premier Inn did us proud, where we were able to bag a room and breakfast for around £80. A bargain!!!

I recall (just about) Cousin John’s first wedding to Joyce back in 1966 – a gloriously sunny day where, as young sprogs, my brother and I spent most of the time after the Service running around outside enjoying the good weather! Over the years. I’d lost touch with John apart from exchanging Christmas Cards that on reflection, was a shame. John’s passing had been a bit of a surprise to us all in the family, John being in his late 70s and in reasonably good health.

Details of the funeral itself were a bit on the sparce side, but we did learn that was to be buried next to his second wife, Anne (who he lost to Cancer a long while ago).

RIP John!

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 RIP: Cousin John appeared first on Steve's Blog.

On a chilly Saturday evening, we headed to the Salvation Army Citadel in town for 7pm and their annual Carol Service. Due to COVID and other commitments, we haven’t done this for quite a few years!

I can’t think why we didn’t go to this event back in December 2019 (their last one before you-know-what).

To put tonight into perspective, the town’s mood was sombre to say the least. Kettering doesn’t often make the national news, but it had earlier in the week (for all the WRONG reasons). We were all still reeling from the news of a horrific murder of a woman and her two young children that took place literally 400 yards from where we were all standing! Horrible!!!

As I mentioned, the last time there was a Christmas Carol Concert here was back in 2019 (as usual, on a SUNDAY) and there were THREE performances. This year, there was just the SINGLE event tonight – Saturday – and one tomorrow. Consequently, tonight’s competed directly with the Strictly Come Dancing Final on TV. So, maybe that was a factor as to why attendance was pretty low. Looking around, sadly, it was probably the lowest we’d ever experienced, since 2014 when started coming here. Whether that was down to the TV competition or another reason, I’m not quite sure, but it did feel somewhat lacking as a result. A real shame!

Led by Major Nigel Govier, Kettering’s Citadel’s head-honcho, tonight had all the great ingredients of past performances (sans nativity scene) – including the Kettering Citadel Brass Band, The Children’s Band, The Songsters (their in-house choir) and the Children’s Choir. As in previous years, there was an opportunity for us to sing along to some well-known Carols. And, in spite of the technology providing the words on-screen having some minor wobbles along the way, it all sounded really good, especially given the lower turnout.

Nigel did a great job in hosting the evening. From past experiences, he has always been great at getting the audience ‘onside’ with his humour and empathy, but I did feel tonight, we was having to work harder than usual to involve us all.

In addition to the singing, we had a selection of pertinent readings from the scriptures together with a summary of the great work Kettering Salvation Army has done locally for those who are struggling – eating , heating and paying their bills.

For us, the standout performance was from Ella Clark, one of the younger members of the Army who had a gifted voice as she gave us her interpretation of Who is He? Ella is certainly destined for (even) greater things.

The lower numbers tonight meant that the traditional collection didn’t quite pull in the pound of years past – c£385 – but every little helps doesn’t it?

As we head towards the Big Day, it was great to be part of another festive event to get us in the mood for Christmas!

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 Salvation Army Carol Concert (2022) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

We met with good friends, Dennis and Sandra today at Chatsworth House as part of our semi-regular catchups. We’re building up quite a list now, having started these get-togethers back in 2017.

The growing list…

Belvoir Castle (August 2022)
Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)
Hardwick Hall (August 2020)
Castle Howard (December 2019)
The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)
Bolsover Castle (October 2018)
Belton House (May 2018)
York (February 2018)
Burghley House (October 2017)
Hull (May 2017)
Leeds (February 2017)

Rather than rely on my (increasingly) appalling memory, I checked, and the last time we were here, was at Easter with Ralph & Karen back in April, 2009.

Before I start, let me say that the above photo of Chatsworth House is not mine! For a start, it looks like quite a nice day when that was taken! Today, certainly WASN’T one of those days. It was pouring with rain when we got up and still pouring when we left just before 9am! Well, at least it wasn’t foggy like yesterday!

And just in case anyone ‘up there’ thought we weren’t wet enough, it rained all the way there, resulting in some of the worst driving conditions I’ve experienced in many a year.

Guess what? When we arrived just around 11am, it was still bucketing down. As a result, the various makeshift car-parks were turning into marshland. In the appalling weather, the staff were doing their best to manage the traffic, but attempting to smile with the cold and wet conditions was a challenge! As we left the car and headed for the entrance, the rain had done its job, and we could feel the squishy mud under our shoes as we struggled to walk from the parking area.

Did I mention it was raining?

Not only that, we now had gale-force winds on the short walk to the visitor entrance. Oh joy! Not a great start to our day ehh???

The very courageous welcoming staff were out in force and putting on a brave face, but it was one of those days when the elements were the clear winners. We waddled under the Arch where Dennis & Sandra joined us a few minutes later. After a quick natter, we were soon queuing with the rest of mankind to get into the House for the 11.15 tour.

Boy, they market this place well! So much so, that you needed timed-ticket to get in because of its popularity (luckily, we had ours) and to discourage ‘day-trippers’, there were notices encouraging those who HADN’T pre-booked to ‘abandon hope’ and turn around!

The place was packed! And good old Chatsworth seemed to be buckling under the pressure. Good news for the guys in that one place that WASN’T crowded was our loo, but the ‘Ladies’ had a wait that was twenty visitors deep!

There were people everywhere – possibly too many! But once inside, at least the queue moved at some speed. It was just that with so many bodies juxta-positioning to take the best photos, it all felt a bit claustrophobic!

This year’s theme here at Chatsworth was ‘A Nordic Christmas’. We weren’t sure what that meant, but we were about to find out!

We followed the masses that took us upstairs and down. I’m not sure we really ‘got’ the Nordic vibe (well, apart from Christmas trees originating in Norway!), although it was fair to say that although it was somewhat festive, some of the Nordic displays looked a bit IKEA-esque.

Some of the more traditional Christmassy decorations were stunning, but we still weren’t getting the ‘Nordic-thang’.

It (only) took about an hour to get around (quicker than we thought!) and where predictably, the tour finished in the Gift Shop. Oh joy! There were already another gazillion people milling around there in every direction, in a room that held only about 50! It was tricky to browse without having to buy them a meal first, so we didn’t bother!

OK, with the Gift Shop avoided, we headed for the exit – and the possibility of some lunch. As we left, guess what? It was bucketing down! The good news was there was a Christmas Market boasting a whole range of yummy stuff! Instead though, with the wet stuff on overtime, we decided to head for one of the official INDOOR eateries. After wading through puddles that would have made Noah feel right at home, we assessed the length of the queues (‘very long’ and ‘quite long’) and naturally picked the ‘quite long’ option.

Did I mention it was raining?

The queues were outside the eateries, meaning that we were all forced to stand around and not only try and keep warm, but dry too! Yes, of course, we had umbrellas, but this was the sort of rain that defeated the most robust of constructions. After about ten-minutes of extreme patience (and our queue of 23 moving the grand distance of about half a metre) we decided on a ‘Plan B’.

Plan B was to try the on-site Christmas Market instead, and buy something from one of the vendors. But of course, we also had to find somewhere undercover to consume it all. It seemed like most of Derbyshire was here today and to make matters worse, many of those also had a ‘Plan B’ – and it was identical to ours. . Squeezing in under one gazebo, we were suddenly serenaded by a small band consisting of a tuba and a ukulele playing murdering a selection of Christmas Carols. Time to move on and in doing so, we found another nearby gazebo (sans murderers!). Fortunately, this one had wooden benches but unfortunately, they were all soaking wet.

This was turning into one of those days where ‘rain stopped play’. And although we’d had a good natter over our coffees, teas, sausage baguettes and pasties, we were all starting to feel our visit was coming to an end. A word about those sausage baguettes! Clearly, the poor sausage harvest or Covid or Brexit or something had forced prices up – but at £8 each, they felt expensive. They were delicious though!

And that’s how our get-together ended! It had been shorter, and we were wetter than we’d planned, but it HAD been good to catch up! As far as Chatsworth fared, overall, I think we all felt it was a bit ‘lack-lustre’ with its Christmas theme. It was all very nice, but nothing particularly memorable. The staff were doing a great job though!

All we had to do now was walk to the car and head for the motorway. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, plenty actually!

When we had originally parked the car in the makeshift parking area, it was already super-muddy. Then imagine what another few hours of constant rain would have done to the ground? Yes, it was now super-boggy! Combine the soaked terrain with the torque of an electric car -and the next ten minutes were, shall we say, ‘interesting’. In truth, I think if we hadn’t been near the plastic ‘temporary entrance road’ (that we aimed the car at) we might still have been there!

Did I mention it was (still) raining?

In spite of the weather, we had a trouble-free journey home, taking only 1 hour 50 minutes. All-in-all, a disappointing day, not helped by the rain and an over-subscribed venue.

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 ‘Christmas at Chatsworth House’ with Dennis and Sandra appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A pivotal moment today! It’s official – I’m OLD!

I received my VERY FIRST State Pension payment overnight!

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 It’s official – I’m OLD! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Nothing to add that hasn’t already been said.

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 RIP HM Queen Elizabeth II appeared first on Steve's Blog.

They say: ‘Every day’s a School Day’, and for us, the past five days was to be taken literally. It had been time for our first visit to Marlborough College and its annual Summer School. The popular event had been cancelled for two years in a row because of Coronavirus, but at last, we were finally on our way!

It was a five-day educational affair where Ann had chosen ‘Improvers Italian’ and ‘Painting Doors & Windows in Watercolour‘ whilst I opted for ‘Piano for Beginners‘ and ‘Archery/Clay Pigeon Shooting/Rifles‘.

There’s an amazing range of Adult Education courses on offer at Marlborough College and you can see the full list for 2022 HERE.

Oh, one other important point with learning potential in mind: our week in question coincided with potentially the hottest week on record with Monday/Tuesday heading for the upper 30s, maybe even the 40°C mark!!

Getting there… (Click!)

As the week unfolded, it seems that temperature records were definitely about to be broken! The previous hottest day was eventually beaten by 1.6 degrees, according to the Met Office with a high of 40.3°C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, becoming the hottest temperature recorded in the UK. So, with records broken, it wasn’t the best time, perhaps, to be in a classroom for five days or out shooting in the open!!!

On our way there on the Sunday before, we dropped into National Trust’s Buscott Park for a look around, and a picnic.

We’re not sure why we didn’t visit when we were last staying this way over Easter back in 2012. – it would have been an obvious choice for us and we have a theory that it might not have been under the stewardship of NT back then!

We learned that although National Trust now own the bricks and mortar, the house is still lived in by the family, hence, no photography was allowed inside. We deduced that back in 2012, the NT may not have been involved. Further proof of a recent(ish) acquisition is that there’s still no NT branding anywhere. The parking arrangements were very relaxed and with the temperature now touching the low 30s, we began with a picnic under the (very welcome) shade of a tree.

Time to introduce my guest Editor for this Post – Ann – who knows a thing or two twenty about our latest find.

Buscot Park

The House

The first Lord Faringdon, Sir Alexander Henderson (1850-1934) was a financial titan, who was a major investor in the railways and a canny stockbroker. He entered Parliament in 1898 and continued to grow his fortune and collect art. Successive generations of the Faringdon family have invested in paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Graeme Sutherland, Van Dyck and Burne-Jones – and many of them are on show here, where the collection is beautiful and elegantly displayed. Overall, this was a little gem, and although we weren’t sure what to expect, it really ‘hit the mark’. One of those houses that looks like a HOUSE and not a MUSEUM. Go visit!

The Gardens

Beautifully maintained gardens with not a stray weed in sight, so they must have a battalion of gardeners on the payroll. It was good to see it in such good condition (especially, given the current dry weather conditions).

With our visit completed it was off in the direction of the Premier Inn in Marlborough taking in a quick pitstop at Three Trees Farm Shop with its FOUR CCS chargers (four!!!!) for a top-up of leccy, courtesy of Instavolt.

Checking-in at the Premier Inn just up the road was blindingly efficient, and we were soon settling into room 307 for our five-day stay. Thankfully, with temperatures outside hitting the 30s, our room was air-conditioned with easy-to-use controls – Bliss!

All that was left to do was to re-read the joining instructions for tomorrow (pencil – check, eraser – check, folder – check) – and we’re ready to re-enter the world of education!!! . Now where’s that cool drink and my apple for Teacher?!

Every Day a School Day ehh! (Click!)

Monday
A roastingly hot day was forecast, but fortunately (at least for now) we were under cover for the initial welcome. Registration was simplicity itself, thanks to Marlborough being a well-oiled machine at this sort of stuff. They’ve been running these Summer Schools since the early 70s – and it showed! First impressions of the College? It was truly massive, sprawling in all directions with its own Chapel and a gigantic man-made mound where Merlin is supposed to be buried. Signage was minimalist, so it was a good job the Tutors were on hand to lead the way! . Ann is studying Italian for Improvers and Painting Windows & Doors in Watercolour and I’m channelling my inner toff and covering Archery, Clay Pigeon Shooting and Rifles together with Piano for Beginners (not at the same time!)

Archery and Clay Pigeon Shooting: Sid was our lead instructor with Ed as his able assistant. Sid was an ex-Met Copper and certainly knew his stuff about firearms! One of the group had read that in a previous life he had also been a Close Protection Officer too! ‘Nuf said!!!

Boy! It sure was hot, but the class was small, meaning that we had plenty of opportunities to get involved providing a welcome distraction to the blistering temperatures! Expert instruction from all parties meant we were soon hitting the archery targets rather than any passers-by!!!! – and that’s always a good start! . The archery brought back the time Ann and I spent as members of the local Archery Club in Kettering, but I’d say that the personal attention here was greater and the lessons better structured overall. I found it amazing how much I’d remembered from those local Club lessons, resulting in me only missing the target twice in 30+ shots. I was also told I had a good technique!

The clay pigeon shooting was a first for me as I don’t think I’ve handled anything more serious in my life than a spud-gun and a water-pistol as a sprog (plus a .22 and a .303 rifle as part of my stint in the Army Cadet Force and Air Training Corps (714 Squadron, since you asked) at school back in the early 70s). I learned a lot about the several types of guns and cartridges available for clay pigeon shooting as well as an appreciation of the evolution of the guns themselves. I also learned how easy it was to bruise your shoulder (despite the ‘kick’ from the guns being quite gentle).

Rifles tomorrow!! . 12.30 and time for our sit-on-a-bench-in-the-shade lunch! The College does provide an excellent in-house restaurant that we would sample later in the week.

Tinkling the Ivories: Concealed in the newer buildings of Planet Marlborough was my Piano class. We were another small group – just 6 of us – where Trish was our coach with Kerry as her assistant. I think we were all about the same level – complete novices – but some had studied music at school/college/uni. I was therefore probably the real rookie in the group! Hats off to Marlborough College though for its facilities, as after the initial group session with Trish we were all given our own room AND our own piano! Trish had a great teaching style – best described as musically gifted and (when coaching us) quietly assertive! Kerry was very hands-on and provided lots of practical advice during the numerous 1-to1 sessions.

The main group sessions included all the essentials: scales, playing specific notes, general musical notation, signatures and the piano’s pedals (first error: the left one is NOT the clutch!). Butmostly it was about ‘having a go’ and it was great fun! It was still only a one-handed affair (the right hand) for me, but we were all going to learn Bass Clef tomorrow and maybe using BOTH HANDS with each playing something different at the same time! . Slow progress for me, but despite my somewhat frantic fingerwork, at least there was no chance of further bruising my gun shoulder! . Verdict? This afternoon had felt good!

Tuesday
Rifles: Air rifles to be exact! Again, plenty of time for practice. We were introduced to Zak (another of Sid’s team) who looked about 12 but was a seasoned shooter (having been schooled by his farm-owning Mum & Dad, presumably in between bottle feeds). He took charge of the session and really knew his stuff. First, we shot at metal targets resembling ducks (with very dented heads), and then it was ‘proper’ targets (see below!!). We finished the session by picking off spent cartridges scattered around the range! The air rifles had telescopic sights and that made for some impressive results for all of us – especially me!

We also did some more clay-pigeon shooting with Sid – this time we had a choice of guns! I went ‘old school’ and chose one with ‘twin hammers’. This meant it was all manually primed – an intensive task including: inserting the cartridges… cocking the (two) hammers… aiming… firing… ejecting the two spent cartridges… and finally, nursing my shoulder..! None of this new-fangled safety-catch mechanism either! Much to my surprise, I hit five out of the six clays. In the end, I was beaten by colleague Phil, who just happened to be a Farmer and who just happened to know quite a bit about shotguns (he owned four) – Consequently, he shot six out of six!!!

Tomorrow it’s more archery (with sights!) and more rifle shooting (proper rifles – probably a .22).

Tinkling the Ivories: More music theory today from Trish – the BASS Clef and its relation to the treble clef. Again, plenty of time for practice on a real piano. Today, we tried more attempts using the LEFT hand and then more practice with the right hand. Finally, combining the two. I really struggled with this (but I knew I would, but Trish was confident I’d be fine by Friday). I began to compose my ‘Flying Pig’ symphony as I was slightly frustrated that I couldn’t crack the ‘hands thing’

Tomorrow, more left and right hand working in perfect harmony!

Wednesday
Shooting: We started with Archery today – this time with sights! Bizarrely, in spite of the expert tuition (Cheers Ed!), it’s fair to say we all did marginally worse than without sights! How strange! . After eventually locating our arrows close to the A4, Ed also gave us a really interesting talk on the evolution of both the ‘bow’ and the ‘arrow’. Fascinating stuff, where I hadn’t realised there were arrows used in past wars that had a whistle built-in (designed to spook the enemy horses during a cavalry charge).

Then it was offsite to shoot with proper rifles – first a 306 calibre and then a .22 rifle. We all did much better!

Tomorrow’s activity? Even more rifle shooting.

Tinkling the Ivories: More practice for all of us, where I attempted to get my left hand to work independently of my right – an epic fail! . In truth, I was about as effective as the rest of my classmates, so that made me feel better! Trish reminded us that we’d only been doing this for three half-days, and we shouldn’t expect too much at this stage.

Tomorrow will bring even more practice!! But I’ll remember today as it was the day that I ended my morning and afternoon sessions completely exhausted! . Who knew that learning could be so draining? (Well, I did actually – and this had been a full-on reminder!!)

At around 6.30pm, we headed back to the College to try out their evening meal service. Great value at just £28 for a full four-course meal and tea/coffee. I might need a new shoulder though as the bruise is coming out!

Thursday
Shooting: Actually, no shooting today! Not a mistake, just part of the whole bigger picture ‘gun’ lesson plan. We visited a Gun School in Barbury – imaginatively entitled the Barbury Shooting School – where we met a lot of the staff. We enjoyed a detailed discussion about the different sorts of guns used, how the Club was formed, why it exists, and how it functions as a business.

We were also allowed into the on-site Gun Shop (cue: ‘kiddy in a sweet shop’ visual!) that contained a wide range of ‘toys’ from a gun suitable for beginners like me, to a rather larger ‘beast’ designed to cripple Land Rovers and similar moving vehicles. I’m not sure why anyone would need those, but obviously, there’s a demand from someone, somewhere! Looking at the type of guns we used, I was astounded to hear that the (very) rich and famous can pay up to £100K for a custom-made shotgun!! I’m not sure it makes much difference to the poor live targets, especially when a typical £800 equivalent model would dispatch them just as quickly!

We said goodbye to the Shooting School and headed for something much calmer! We dropped into a couple of Farms to understand more about how Grouse and Partridge ‘Shoots’ are organised. I also got up-close-and-personal to some organic wheat, some organic oats and a roebuck deer (well, within 200 metres)!

Tomorrow, it’s the ‘big competition’ where we all fire everything – and where we’re scored along the way for the big prize. This exercise includes conventional Bows, Compound Bows, Longbows, Bows suited when riding a horse, Rifles and two types of shotgun. Talk about the ‘Big Bang’ where Marlborough had them all (apart from the horse!)

Tinkling the Ivories: More practice today mainly to try and continue to teach us all to once more get our left hand playing something different from the right. For me, shall we say it was still ‘work in progress’. I tried my first duet with Ian, a fellow delegate – Elton John need not bother to call, but we got there, and the tune was recognisable. I really found this difficult… but on the plus side, so did everyone else!!!

Tomorrow is our final day, and it’s more of the same!

Friday
Shooting: The day of the Competition! .

We kicked-off with target practice using a variety of bows, followed by ‘Archery Golf’ (where the objective was to get the arrow nearest the hole, some 80 metres away). Next, was an hour of Clay-pigeon shooting (with the added challenge of twin clays!) using 12-bore and 20-bore shotguns. My shoulder felt the pressure again (literally!)

Finally, target practice using cartridge-driven .22 air-rifles. All-in-all, this was a gruelling (but enjoyable) morning and when the winner was announced I came joint 3rd. No surprise to any of us that Farmer Phil won by quite a margin.

Tinkling the Ivories: The day of the public performance! (well, in front of the rest of the group anyway!) . Ian (who had sat next to me throughout) and I turned out a repeat duetted performance of a mournful piece entitled “Mysterious Procession”. Safe to say, we won’t be releasing it (even) as a (very) limited edition single, but it wasn’t bad! . As the afternoon came to a close, we were given more music theory (notations of speed) and more practice followed.

The end result? After five half-days I was told I’d made great progress, but I am disappointed that I couldn’t seem to separate my left and right hands, as they still insist on only playing together – not independently!!!

Meanwhile, How had Ann got on? We, she easily managed to take her watercolour painting skills up another level this week, learning more techniques whilst specialising in doors and windows. Mrs P also enjoyed her Italian Class that built on her use of Italian verbs, tenses and vocabulary. By comparison, she certainly found her sessions less physically demanding than mine.

I think the results below say it all! Eccellente!

Worth going?

A resounding ‘yes’ from both of us on many levels. At its most obvious, it was good to be in ‘learning mode’ after usually being the other side of the desk. For me, mentally, it was a real stretch and I did find it all very tiring (Ann, less so!). The quality of teaching was excellent, and I especially liked the ‘hands-on’ approach. More broadly, meeting new faces and enjoying the good food made it even more pleasurable! OK, the legendary (free) ‘Marlborough Doughnuts’ were nowhere to be seen in my groups, but that’s surely one reason (of many) to return at some point in the future.

A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying week! Thanks to Marlborough College and all the Staff!

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 Summer School 2022 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

I’ve done lots of things in my life – but as far as the more ordinary pursuits are concerned, I’ve never been ten-pin bowling!!

Today, I ticked that box, meeting Paul & Sue for my inaugural match at the local ‘Rock n Bowl Tavern’ in town. Tuesdays turn out to be the best value day to bowl. For just over a tenner, you can stay as long you like (or as long as your bowling arm remains operational – as I was to find out!)

We were allocated our lane and after typing in our names on the consoles we could see the scoreboard above us on the screen. No manual scoring required – the computer did it all, leaving each of us free to perfect our technique. In my case, ANY technique was welcome!!!

I didn’t do too badly during the first frame (for a virgin)! ‘Beginner’s Luck’ or ‘A Natural’. No-one was quite sure how (or why!!) — most of all me!

Then, I think I started to take it all too seriously!

…and my performance plummeted! Mind you, we did have the rails down for this frame – and that affected ALL of us! My additional excuse was that my left shoulder was feeling the extra workout!

By the third, and final frame, I’d improved slightly (go figure!) where I finished in a respectable second place!

In spite of the varying performance levels, we all agreed that it had been great fun. And as a first-timer, I’m pretty sure it’s something we’ll return to later this year! The activity that followed was much less strenuous: We decamped to nearby Miller & Carter for a late and lazy lunch. The food and service was great! We were in no hurry and spent much longer there than we planned (for all the RIGHT reasons) not getting home until around 5pm!!

What a fab day with our friends!

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 Bowling Virgin! appeared first on Steve's Blog.

How was your Christmas? For us, as I begin penning this during the week leading up to the big day, I really didn’t think we would STILL be worrying about Coronavirus! Why worry? The dreaded Omicron variant was spreading and there was the potential for the Government to lock us all down again! Almost ‘right up to the wire’ it was one of those “I hope not” moments!

Away from politics, and on a very personal note, it was our second year where there we didn’t have parents to visit!

Then on the Tuesday before Christmas, some good news! (ish) – the PM promised no further restrictions over Christmas, as well as a financial support package for the hospitality industry to offset their loss of trade. It could have been worse… we might have been Scottish! – The PRS (aka The Peoples’ Republic of Sturgeon) had gone one step further and cancelled Hogmanay and also put a limit on social gatherings! There were similar restrictions promised across Wales and Ireland too!

However, best not to get too smug for us ‘south of the border’ as things might be different here after Christmas and into the New Year!

Meanwhile, back in a cold Kettering, thanks to any absence of restrictions (for the moment!), we could now confidently start to pack for our Chrimbo-break with Ralph & Karen at the Oulton Hall Hotel near Leeds.

December 23rd

1.25pm: With pretty much everything sorted for our Christmas break, we decided to have lunch at The Old Forge. By complete coincidence, Jo and Janet were there too!

3.35pm: We’re all packed and the car had been cleaned within an inch of its life. Just time for a final vacuum around the house and a bit of washing – and we’re all ready for our Christmas getaway!

6.34pm: Time for a local walk with Jo in the spirit of healthy living before we abandon all restraint with food and drink over the Christmas break!

December 24th (Friday)

6.43am: A quick cuppa in bed, followed by breakfast – and we’re ready for our journey north!

10.29am: We’re off! It was about a two-and-a-half-hour journey to the hotel plus we needed to allow time for a quick charge for EVie on the way, with us planning to check-in around 2ish.

12.39pm: A quick stop at McDonald’s in Castleford for a few electrons, courtesy of InstaVolt…

…plus a few calories for us..!

We planned to meet Ralph & Karen at the hotel but when we touched base during our journey by phone, they were just a few miles from McD’s too! So, we met up there for a quick chat before heading off to our destination.

The Hotel’s History

2.10pm: The Hotel has had an interesting history – and the document below is worth a read. It’s not your average ‘Old house becomes a Hotel’ yarn!

Download the history (pdf booklet)

We arrived pretty-much bang on schedule – and what a lovely place! First impressions were VERY favourable – a quick check-in, lovely staff and a beautiful room too! Oh, and there was a bottle of Port waiting for us!

It was a sign of things to come! Our stay was pretty-much food, more food and then even more food, frequently punctuated by alcohol and occasionally by some much-needed sleep! These days, we have plenty of experience with the latter, but for the former, the calorie potential here for the next few days is beyond enormous!!!

Afternoon Tea

3.05pm: After a rapid unpack, our first ‘forced-feed’ was Afternoon Tea in the hotel organised by staff members Robbie and Youssef. As expected, it was wall-to-wall scones, jam with double-cream, plus mountains of sandwiches, chocolate eclairs, mini–Victoria Sponges, plus loads of other sweet treats! Bottomless pots of tea complemented the calorific values! It was clear they had a great Pattiserie Chef here!

It would have been rude not to try out a little of everything (but we did try!). Somehow though, we also needed to try and pace ourselves as we had Dinner scheduled in the Hotel’s Grill in around four hours! Yes, I know, it’s a tough life!!

We even had time to pull a few crackers! We really enjoyed our first couple of hours here. More of the same was on the cards!!!

Dwinkies in Ralph & Karen’s Suite

6.30pm: But before the next round of food, we headed off to Ralph & Karen’s room for some pre-dinner drinks!

Well, that was a good start to the festivities! With Carols from Kings on the TV in the background, we increased our fluid intake even before heading for the restaurant! Looks like we missed the Hotel’s Carol Service (and free glass of bubbly), but we claimed the fizz later!! sparing the rest of the guests from our singing talents – we’re considerate like that!

Dinner in the Calverley Grill

7.30pm: Food again! We were soon at our table for just us four – and that’s how it would stay for our time here – Perfect!

Crackers, Party Poppers, and those long thin balloons that are designed to fly, were all part of the table decs, and we were soon in the festive mood! – and soon irritating our neighbours with unwanted and unstable balloon flights!!! Yo-Ho-Ho!

We didn’t have to wait long for our meal, and it didn’t disappoint! Three courses, packed with flavour and well presented too! The service was also excellent where our Waiter, Oliver (from Romania) kept us entertained throughout! He even taught us some Romanian!! (specifically, why some innocent Romanian phrases, that when translated, sound like English swear words!)

Yummy! It was all delicious and piping hot (except for the ice-cream!)!

8.57pm: We’d just enough stamina left to visit the bar and order some nightcaps – Bailey’s for Ann and for me, whilst Ralph enjoyed a beer and Karen adding a touch of class sipping a glass of Prosecco.

9.45pm: Well, I was first to admit to needing my bed. There’s another full day tomorrow – eating, drinking, completing the quiz – and somehow squeezing a post brekky walk in. Nighty-night!

Christmas Day (Saturday)

Merry Christmas!!!

6.33am: Old habits die hard and we were both awake at our normal time – no alarm required! Merry Christmas dear Reader!

After a quick cuppa in bed and exchanging some of our smaller gifts (the larger ones were still at home), we were ready for our first breakfast in the Hotel! Note to self: “eat lightly, there’s a lot of food being forced on us today, and we don’t want to go bang do we?”

Breakfast in the Calverley Grill

9.05am: We dropped into Ralph & Karen’s and headed for breakfast.

Certainly, the staff had entered into the spirit of the occasion! Vibrant colours and OTT suits were de-rigeur!

And just like the staffs’ dress-code, there was plenty of variety (and colour) on offer – cereals, toast, fresh fruit plus the traditional ‘Full English’. And for me, aiming to ‘eat something light’, started so well with muesli and yoghurt... (Christmas IS the time for miracles isn’t it!)

…and then it all fell apart! FIVE sausages?????

10.24am: Time for a walk I think, if only to ease the guilt!!!!

It wasn’t the warmest of days – certainly NOT the 11℃ promised, but it did feel very Christmassy!

For most of the walk, we didn’t see another person and where the views across the golf course were pretty spectacular! Chilly though and very muddy underfoot!

We even stumbled across the local Church – Saint John the Evangelist. All the signs were that it was deconsecrated, but a quick look on the interweb revealed it was in rude health!

We didn’t cover a massive distance, but it WAS good to get some fresh air – albeit very cold air!

11.25am: Well, that certainly cleared the cobwebs away. Next stop? Ralph & Karen’s for a mid-morning cuppa and a general catchup…

…including the completion of the Hotel’s two quizzes… ‘Trivia’ and ‘Christmas Songs’.

Christmas Lunch in the Calverley Grill

1.30pm: In spite of a hearty breakfast (and then some!) we were all ready for the main event – Christmas Lunch! It came with a free Santa Claus (and perhaps more importantly) a free glass of bubbly!

and to finish…

…a perfect end to a perfect Christmas lunch! The Hotel worked its socks off – and it showed!

3.52pm: We missed Her Majesty’s Christmas message on TV as well as the Hotel’s Treasure Hunt because we were still busy piling on the calories. Eventually, we waddled out of the restaurant and found a comfy set of chairs, chilling-out for a while and comparing waistlines!

6.57pm: Waistline comparisons over, Ralph & Karen came round to ours to help reduce our stock of pre-mixed G&Ts. Thanks guys!

We spent the next hour-and-a-bit in the company of Morecambe & Wise courtesy of the BBC. The first episode was their Christmas Special from 1971…

…and the second, more importantly, was a ‘lost tape’ not seen for over 50 years, recorded in 1970 and colourised for transmission tonight! Brilliant! They don’t write them like that anymore!!!

Buffet Supper

8.45pm: With the laughter still echoing around the room, we decided to pay a visit to the Buffet. When we got there, it was ‘last orders’ although there was still some goodies left. Honestly, we ate lightly!

The Hotel’s Big Quiz

9.37pm: We were one of the last groups to leave the restaurant and as we chewed our final mouthful we were reminded of the ‘Big Quiz’ by one of the staff (I think it was a subtle hint for us to leave the restaurant, so they could clear up!).

By now, we were all a bit neutral about taking part in ANOTHER quiz, but we had a go. We do like a challenge, but it was difficult to hear the quiz handler and some of the early questions turned out to be duplicates of the written quiz we’d handed in earlier, leading to a bit of confusion in the audience. It all settled down and overall, it was good fun, but a bit disorganised.

10.32pm: Thirty questions later, I think it was now the wrong end of the day for me – and the over-use of my six brain cells combined with an excess of grape was having its revenge! I wasn’t alone! Ann retired first, and after we three did our duty and marked a neighbouring group’s answer sheet, we called it a night too. It was unclear if they were going to announce the results there-and-then, but we’d had it!

10.48pm: Well, that’s the big day over for another year! Personally, I’m amazed I lasted this long! It was all very memorable for all the right reasons! We ate (a lot), we drank (a lot), we laughed (a lot) and we walked (not a lot!). We also met Santa and we gave our brains a stretch! A fantastic time where I felt very Christmassy all day.

Boxing Day (Sunday)

6.14am: I didn’t sleep too well! Perhaps it was down to a simple case of over-eating yesterday. I wonder? Tonight was the Gala Ball where we all dressed up (photo later!) – but before then, the Hotel’s Boxing Day breakfast awaits!

Boxing Day Brekky

9.10am: Bizarrely, us two were very hungry this morning! You’d think with all the food we’ve already consumed, we’d feel like a couple of stuffed piglets – not so!

Awaiting us, the good news was, that as a team, the four of us won the written quiz, that we handed in yesterday. Apparently, we were the only group that got ALL the questions right! A bottle of Prosecco awaits us! (Oh no, more booze!)

10.34am: All round to Ralph & Karen’s where it was tempting to crack open the fizz but we settled for a cuppa.

11.39am:  We probably should have walked, given the amount of food and drink we’ve been packing away, but instead, we took the short seventeen-mile round-trip drive back to Castleford to see the 12.10 performance of the just-released film: The King’s Man. It was good to get out! For my review of the film, click HERE.

3.15pm: Arriving back at the hotel, we enjoyed another collective cuppa at ours before putting our feet-up for a couple of hours.

7.00pm: Round to ours again to finish up the remaining Champagne and Beers in our fridge!

Black Tie Gala Ball

7.25pm: Off to the highlight of the weekend – the Black Tie Gala Ball. More bubbly and more food!

The food was, just like every other meal, was delicious!

9.07pm: Not only was there fine food laid on, there was entertainment too! The Hotel provided a DJ and a modern ‘Swing’ trio. The former was fine but the trio, although clearly talented, had set their amp too loud, resulting in us having to leave our table (and we were at the back!) for somewhere quieter. Maybe a sign of our age, but it was far too loud!!! It seemed we weren’t the only ones, with a few others seeking refuge away from the trio in the main part of the Hotel. It was a real shame as they had fine voices, were well choreographed and had real stage presence!

We headed for the Lounge area, and on our way, asked Reception to take a photo of the four of us as a memento…

10.46pm: That’s it! We’re done! Again, the Hotel had done a very fine job. It can’t be much fun having to watch others enjoy themselves whilst serving and clearing up the aftermath, but they did us proud and we can’t praise them enough! Nighty-night!

Christmas Monday (27th)

We checked out after breakfast – happier but heavier! It was a great stay at the Hotel where all the staff worked really hard to make it a success. We’ve got a lot of unforgettable memories from our short time here. Thanks Oulton Hall, you were fantastic!!

See you on the other side! Just over 100 miles until we’re home, where we’ve still got a load of gifts to open and some Christmas TV to catch-up with including…

The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast, Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise, EastEnders, A Very British Scandal, La Boheme, Dancing the Nutcracker, Anything Goes – The Musical, Around the World in 80 Days, A Ghost Story for Christmas, All Creatures Great and Small, Royal Carols Together, Carols from King’s, Sean the Sheep – The Flight Before Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Amazing Mr Blunden, Christmas at Holkham Hall, Not Going Out – Christmas Special, Last Train to Christmas, A Boy Called Christmas, Spitting Image Christmas Special and The Great Christmas Bakeoff.

Phew!

Christmas Past

2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

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 Christmas 2021 appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A bittersweet day today! ?

We said goodbye to my most loved car to-date – the Jaguar XKR. It was back in July 2014, when I first located the car of my dreams and subsequently parted with £33,220 for a car that was just five years old and had just 30,340 on the clock. OK, I had to take the train all the way to Sheffield to the dealer – sport’s car specialist, TopCars, but my extensive research into selecting this car proved it was a bargain, and well-worth the train journey there! Hey! They even picked me up from the station!! – and I got to drive it all the way home via the M1. 30,340 on the clock with only two previous owners – what a ride!!

Well, that was then, this is now! – Thursday, November 25, 2021!

We’d always knew we probably wouldn’t keep the car forever, although the romantic side of me, always hoped, this particular model would become a ‘collectable’ – and I’d maybe even get my purchase price back. Really? Maybe a bit too much of a romantic notion for sure! Over the seven years of ownership (the longest I’d ever owned a car), I saw the price gradually drop and drop. No great surprise there then (it’s a car!) and the reality of recovering my purchase price was becoming a fantasy.

And then along came a thing called Coronavirus. It changed the world in every possible way – even (and maybe quite bizarrely) the value of used-cars. Long-story-short: A lack of availability of NEW cars (caused by a lack of chips for those cars) pushed everyone towards buying used, sending demand through the roof and supply through the floor. As every economics student knows, that only pushes prices one way – UP!

For the record, when the car was informally valued some 15 months ago, I was informed it was worth, typically, £14000… maybe £15k…and at a push with the right buyer £16k. It’s very much a niche car, and given its planet UNfriendly credentials, finding the right buyer was going to add to the challenge if I ever wanted ‘top dollar’.

We let things slip (well, I did) preferring to focus on our next electric car for Ann. That research confirmed that prices generally, were DEFINITELY on the rise for used cars, which in turn, prompted me to revisit the XKR prices.

I’m glad we did. Monitoring them for the past year-or-so confirmed what we all now know, they were (still) on the rise! More specifically, the XKR’s value had risen significantly.

Time for some serious legwork into the potential for selling! For reasons that I can’t quite recall, we didn’t act on this particularly quickly. Having seen prices rise and then rise, they now appeared to be dipping downwards. OK, difficult to know whether this was just a blip or a general trend, but I wasn’t prepared to wait to find out.

From a suggestion just over a year ago of £14k, the market now suggested ‘early 20s’. Time to strike! I trawled the various websites that offer cash-for-cars, and although I’d put WeBuyAnyCar towards the end of my preferred purchaser (not sure why!), they did initially offer the best price. But we all know how they work: they offer a top-end estimate-price and then beat you down on the day, because of various ‘jobs’ that need ‘sorting’. In my head, the closer to £20,300 I get (allowing for their various admin fees), the happier I’ll be!

I was confident enough that because of the immaculate paint job, a very recent service and an MOT pass, that it was probably going to be the best car they’d seen all day… week… month… maybe even, year!

10.02am: Here I am (early for my 10.10 appointment) at Kettering’s rather lack-lustre WBAC’s ‘office’. Time for the valuation! As it turned out they offered: £19700.25. Being the THIRD owner brought the value down a smidge and a minor imperfection on the driver’s door also contributed to a lower-than-I-anticipated-figure. Still, all-in-all, that’s a good result in my book! Just over a year ago, I wouldn’t have got anywhere near that – and probably never would again! Like so many things in life – timing is everything!

So, in less than 30 minutes, it was all over! I’d covered just 6759 miles in those seven years or ownership, and the car had been cherished at every point . 37,099 miles on the clock, 7 years, 4 months, 22 days (386 weeks or 2702 days) of ownership, there was my once pride and joy waiting for its next journey…

Indeed, a bittersweet day!

Surprise, surprise! On Thursday 9th December, 2021, the XKR first appeared for sale in AutoTrader HERE, and then a few days later the same advert appeared on eBay for £26,995.

The seller was ‘Blackrock Motor Company Limited‘ based in Rochdale.

Update: On January 18th, 2022, the car was still for sale, but had been relisted HERE – The price had now been reduced to £26,495.

Update 2: On February 11th, 2022, the car was still UNsold, and the price had been reduced again – this time to £25,995.

Update 3: On March 9th, 2022, the car was reduced again to £25,495.

Update 4: On or around March 30th, 2022, the car advert disappeared from both eBay and AutoTrader – looks like it had finally been sold!

Four months later then, this really IS goodbye!!!

Update 5: On 14th November, 2022 a quick valuation by WBaC revealed its current value… just £13,435! Ouch, that’s quite a drop (and makes me even more sure that I sold it at the right time!) and I really feel for the poor sod who now owns it

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 Boys and their Toys: Bye-Bye Jaguar XKR appeared first on Steve's Blog.

Off to the flicks again, this time to see the remake of Dune.

A Word about the Original… (1984)

I recall seeing the original when it was released back in 1984 (Odeon, Croydon, I think!) and came out feeling a tad disappointed – and also thoroughly exhausted having endured its what-seemed-endless-at-the-time, 2 hour 17 minute duration. On the positive side, it did attract a star cast of: Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sting, Linda Hunt and Max von Sydow, amongst others.

And it seems that others who saw it may have felt the same… or worse! Why? It turned out to be a box-office disaster, grossing just $30.9 million from a $40 million budget! On release, David Lynch, the Director, disowned the film and even in 2021, the debate continues as to whether it was truly a disaster or just ‘misunderstood’.

OK, back to the here and now, let’s see if this version hits the spot!!!

To me, just like the original, the cast is impressive (but no Sting!) – Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgård, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Chen Chang, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling and Babs Olusanmokun.

The Story

Dune follows Paul Atreides, who, with his destiny foretold as a young innocent, travels to the most dangerous place in the universe to ensure the future of his home planet. You’ll never look at a sandy beach (or your spice rack) in the same way ever again!

So, here I am, with Jo and Janet at the local Kettering Odeon – and in the Premium Seats too (?) for the 1.30pm performance. The movie is 2 hours 35 minutes long but having been used to Marvel Blockbusters (and the recent Bond outing) this’ll be a breeze and my bladder has been briefed!!!!

Yes, I liked it! In my eyes, a cross between Game of Thrones and Star Wars – and that’s not a bad combo in my world. Dune was epic in scale, scope and ambition – and certainly, a movie to pay attention to. It began in a confident mood with ‘Part One‘ as a sub-heading under the main movie title! Maybe it was a bit ‘talk-ey’ in the first Act, but isn’t that always the way when scene-setting in the movies these days? Fear not, Acts Two & Three knitted together a really good yarn!

Filled with great cinematography, superb acting, and just the right amount of SFX, this was an enjoyable romp to another galaxy far, far away. Although a bit light on ‘action’ scenes, the narrative was intelligent but also complex – Overall, it was definitely more of a talker than a laser show! (and all the better for it). As a consequence, in spite of the bladder-busting length, it’s not one where you should consider ‘popping to the loo’ partway through!

By the closing scenes, the story was now perfectly set for a sequel, and maybe two – it even felt like (possibly) a long franchise-in-the-waiting.

I think I’m now going to re-watch the 1984 original, to see if that leaves a more positive impression than through my younger eyes as a twenty-eight year old!

It works well as a standalone, even if you’re not particularly into SciFi and/or haven’t seen the original. Highly recommended! Go see!

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Music: Hans Zimmer
Production Year: 2020
Release date: 22/10/2021
Genre: Science Fiction
Sound Mix: 12-Track Digital Sound (IMAX 12 track)/Sonics-DDP/DTS (DTS: X)/Auro 11.1/Dolby Surround 7.1/Dolby Atmos/Dolby Digital/IMAX 6-Track (Yummy!!!)
Aspect Ratio: 1.43 : 1 (IMAX Laser: some scenes)
1.78 : 1 (Blu-ray release: some scenes)
1.90 : 1 (Digital IMAX: some scenes)
2.39 : 1
Certificate (UK): 12A
Runtime: 2h 36m

Full details here (courtesy of IMDB.com)

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 Film: Dune (2021) appeared first on Steve's Blog.

A couple of years back, we discovered some cousins (on Ann’s side) we didn’t know we had – Chris and Alison!

Between then and now, we’ve got to know them quite well – and this weekend, Chris and his partner Kate came to stay for a long weekend.

Friday

A very relaxed day began with a light lunch, followed by a walk around Wicksteed Park. Then it was off for our ‘curry blowout’ at our fave Indian restaurant – Exotic Dining in town.

And then back to ours for ice cream, a very large G&T in preparation for…

…a late night DVD! – a perfect choice with its sequel No Time to Die, just released!

Saturday

A very lazy start to the day! We didn’t rise until after 9 (I think that’s a record!)

The weather was the horrid sort (rain, rain and more rain!) but we managed to squeeze in a local walk.

Ann and Kate began to prepare the feast for tonight.

Then it was movie time again…

…which we didn’t quite get time to see all the way through – with about an hour left!

Jo and Janet arrived just after 6.30, joining the four of us for a Roast Chicken dinner…

A great evening followed! Lots of laughs, wine… and of course, Chicken!

But by 11pm, we called it a night!

Sunday

Another relaxed start to the day (with a ‘Full English’ for energy) followed then by an extended chat about previous generations of the family.

Our newly discovered cousins said their goodbyes just after midday.

What a fab weekend. I think we felt we’d known Chris and Kate all our lives!

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 It’s all about family! – Cousins appeared first on Steve's Blog.