We’re all at sea today, so that gives us plenty of time to get our head around the itinerary for Alaska. Sunday (tomorrow): Ketchikan (bottom right on the map) Monday: Icy Strait Point (not shown, but just left of Juneau) Tuesday: Juneau (Alaska’s capital) Wednesday: Skagway Thursday: At sea – the highlight will be sailing …
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Category:Weather
Canada and Alaska – Part 1, Day 4: Thursday in Vancouver
What a deterioration in the weather compared to all the other days we’ve been here! ‘Chucking it down’ doesn’t begin to describe the amount of rain falling! So, the perfect cue for a ‘Plan B’ of some sort! – somewhere that’s going to put us INSIDE, in the dry, rather than outside! As it’s our …
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Canada and Alaska – Part 1, Day 3: Wednesday in Vancouver
Neither of us slept too well and consequently, we were awake early – drinking tea at 5.30am! On the positive side though, it meant we were one of the first down to breakfast at 7am which meant we got first pick of the pastries! Today’s weather forecast… Scorchio! Given this rather excellent forecast for today …
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Canada and Alaska – Part 1, Day 2: Tuesday in Vancouver
We slept well and by morning, we were fully refreshed and ready to take on the Apartment’s continental breakfast! We arrived just as they were refreshing the stocks of pastries – and I’m pleased to report that they lived up to expectations! After breakfast, our first stop, was a bit of instant retail therapy – …
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First Visit: The Marquess of Exeter
We headed off to The Marquess of Exeter in Lyddington tonight to meet up with Mick and Jane S. The Pub/Restaurant/Hotel boasts: “One of the finest restaurants, pubs and hotels in Rutland” – so expectations were high! On one of the hottest days of the year so far, what could be better than taking the …
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Biggles Flies Again
Biggles? More like Giggles! as I took control of a real aeroplane courtesy of last year’s birthday pressy from Ian and Mags – a 45 minute flight over the skies of Northamptonshire! Ian & Ann, Ralph and Karen and my Ann were there to witness my performance as just after 11am, I ‘took the stick’ …
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Retail Therapy in Leeds
A relatively early start for us today as we were bound for Leeds. That meant we were in the car and heading for Peterborough Station just after 7.30 this morning aiming for an 8.50 Virgin East Coast train direct to Leeds. Even though the weather looked challenging (overnight frost accompanied by a wafer-thin layer of …
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Christmas 2016
I picked up Lee on the 23rd as she’ll be staying with us over the holiday period. The weather forecast for today was atrocious (the tail end of ‘Hurricane Barbara’) meaning ferocious winds and rain after 3pm, so I did the deed earlier. As things turned-out, the forecast was spot on, so smugness prevailed once …
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Brekky at Bekky!
After the past few days where it’s been REALLY cold, it was good to wake up to a morning without frost – although it was damp. Perfect weather then for the legendary breakfast at Beckworth’s Emporium with David and Valerie. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until …
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Bonfire Night
Janet and Jo got us tickets for Boughton House and their Bonfire Night event. Brrrrrr! Not so much “Gunpowder, Treason and Plot..” and more “Horlicks, Chapsticks and Ice !!!! But before that, it was a perfect excuse to drop into nearby(ish) The Red Lion in Cranford for a spot of nosebag. Yummy! Starters at The …
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A Few Gambles
ThursdayJane and Oliver stayed over for a few days – a rare treat! They arrive mid-morning on Thursday and after a belly-busting lunch where Jane brought homemade apple crumble and some homegrown marrows (large enough to be mistaken for Zeppelins!) we all headed off to Wicksteed Park. Zeppelin Alert! Not surprisingly, with the school holidays, …
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End of Term – Oliver
We drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s for Oliver’s end-of-term musical concert at his new school: Richard Hale. The past few days have been roasting – and today was no different with temperatures in the mid 30s. I feel like I’m getting old! ☹️ Oliver’s solo piece was entitled: ‘Nobody Knows’, and he certainly …
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Go Stowe!
We met up with Chris, Gill, Denise and Veronica for a trip to Stowe House. Wow! If you were going to have a place to impress your friends, this would be a pretty good contender! The weather had been very disappointing this week and we were hoping for a bit of sunshine – and as …
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A Short Walk Gets Long
The weather was looking dry so we drove over to Pitsford Water – with the aim of a short walk. Our ‘short walk’ turned into a five-mile trek as we headed for Brixworth Country Park and back. The scenery was beautiful and initially, there was quite a bit of sunshine – but it wasn’t to …
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George and the Flagon
Another day and another flagon of Guinness! This time it was the Garden Room at The George in Stamford where we met up with Nick and Celina for lunch. It was great to catch up as we haven’t seen them since our anniversary do last year. Well, maybe not a ‘flagon’ – but does ‘three …
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John Lewis – Birmingham
Having retail in our DNA meant that a visit to the new John Lewis in Birmingham was too hard to resist. It took us a while to get round to it, but todayo was the day! A short drive to Rugby Station and then onwards to Birmingham New Street courtesy of Virgin Trains – and …
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Walkies!
Another perfect day for sitting having a beer and generally doing nothing – so we met up with David and Valerie and went for a mega-walk. And when I say mega, I use the term in a relative way – it was mega for me!!! We started by walking down across the meadow, passed The …
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A Very Pheasant Evening!
After what felt like a very busy week (not bad for a retiree and a senior manager ‘between projects’), it was a perfect evening or a quick drive to one of our fave and local(ish) pub/restaurants – The Pheasant at Keyston. It was a beautiful evening and we even managed to bag a table outside. …
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Resurfacing the A14
We met up with Geoff, Rhonda, Paul and Sue today for lunch at The Vines. Unusually, the place was nearly empty when we arrived just before 12.30 but I guess it’s that time of year and lots of people are away on holiday. The weather was gorgeous – so much so, that Ann and I …
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Denis at 86
Lee had double-booked herself, so Ann and I drove up to Heckington for a celebratory lunch for Denis, who was 86 today! Happy Birthday Denis!!!! Bev had done all the hard work, and we tucked into a chicken salad – enough to feed the whole town – and it was all delicious! Ann sorted out …
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Planned Spontaneity!
Those that know us, know that we don’t ‘do’ last minute – but this week was an exception! The original plan was that Ann was due to attend her five-day Prince2 Course in Northampton beginning on Monday (yesterday) through until Friday, but 3 hours later she was back home! The reason? they’d cancelled the Course, …
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Life’s a Breach
Lee, Ann and I travelled up to Tolethorpe Hall today and met Jo, Janet and Carol there. Nothing like a bit of Shakespeare to send you to sleep stir the soul, and the ‘band of sisters’ bought tickets for a solid dose of culture – an ‘outdoor’ production of The Life of Henry V. Perfect …
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BBQ Time
Believe it or not, this was our first official BBQ of 2015. And you can’t go wrong if Paul and Karen are organising it! All the ‘usual suspects’ were there – Dave, Rosi, Tom and Julie, but John and Trish had to cry-off due to a family emergency. It was the perfect evening for it, …
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Rutland Walkabout
What better way to spend the 1 year anniversary of acquiring the XKR, than by taking it on a slow drive round the county of Rutland? – more specifically, we planned to almost circum-navigate Rutland Water clockwise, and take in as many of the sights as time allowed. It was a gorgeous day – just …
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London – Scorchio!
With the media headlining: ‘country on meltdown’, it probably wasn’t the best day to have planned a visit to central London! Our reason for this madness was to catch-up with one of Mum and Dad’s best friends, Connie, and have lunch together. The added bonus was that with Ann between jobs, she was able to …
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Life’s a (Kettering) Beach
It was a lovely day here today, so Ann and I met up with David and Val where our plan was to have lunch at The Vines after a walk round Wicksteed Park. Costa del Kettering Considering Wicksteed Park is on our doorstep, we don’t take advantage of its facilities perhaps as much as we …
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5ive’s Indian Summer
‘5ive’ is the name we gave ourselves – a group of Trainers from ‘back in the day’ when we all did work for British Airways, and dinosaurs walked the Earth. There were originally FIVE of us (hence the name), but now we are SEVEN (don’t ask!). We’ve kept in regular touch for over 10 years …
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Swanning in Lamport
Ian, Mags and I met up for our regular three-monthly catchup at The Lamport Swan tonight. I’d quite forgotten how good the food is here, and tonight didn’t disappoint. The service was spot-on too. In spite of us keeping in touch, we seemed to have more-than-usual to catch-up with in terms of each others’ news. …
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Downtown with Newton
What a lovely day! The sun is, at last, shining for more than a few hours – so it was time to make the most of it! With the dust blown off the picnic cutlery (and the XKR!), we assembled the essentials and headed off in the direction of NT’s Woolsthorpe Manor.Woolsthorpe Manor As every …
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Early May Bank Holiday 2015
The forecast suggests that the weather is all over the place this weekend, but we’re hopeful it’ll be good for our trip to Roger, Jane and Oliver later today (Sunday) and our postponed visit (from last year) to Eltham Palace on Monday. SUNDAYWe left home around 11am and arrived just after noon. True to form, …
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