With the weather forecast promising Sahara-like temperatures here today, the priority was to get all the chores out of the way, as quickly as possible, and then take up permanent residence on a sun-lounger! So, it was over to Peterborough first thing to put some distance between my eyebrows and my fringe (a haircut in …
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Category:Weather
Weekend with Roger, Jane and Oliver
FridayRoger, Jane and Oliver arrived around 8.30. Lee joined us too, so we’re all set for a great weekend. The weather looks like it’s finally switched to ‘summer-mode’ and the only thing that’s tainting the enjoyment is the fact that Bon-Bon is still missing. SaturdayThe Sun came out as promised – big time! It looks …
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Amazon Rip-off (in a good way!)
Many years ago, I discovered that it was possible to convert my CD music files so they would play on my PC. It was a slow process, but over the period of years that followed, I managed to convert ALL my existing CD collection – over 150 albums, and I now convert all my recent …
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Cote and Coat
I travelled down to London this afternoon, catching the 4.30 out of Kettering. It was a beautifully warm day and I travelled light – not even a coat! My destination was Cote in Charlotte Street where I met up with Angela, Philip, June and Antoinette. We had lots to catch-up with, and the time just …
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Market Harborough
Nicki stayed overnight and with a complete change in the weather compared to yesterday (today – hot & sunny, yesterday – rain, rain and more rain!), we decided to head over to Market Harborough to look for some more bits and pieces for the office/bedroom conversion. Result! We managed to find some suitable glasses, two …
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All at Sea
Well… ‘river’ anyway! We picked up Val and joined David, Nick and Celina at Buckden Marina to spend a day on D and V’s boat – Osprey One. It was unusually good weather for a bank holiday – sunshine… and more sunshine! – and the plan was to sail to the nearest pub and have …
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Sea-Dogs, Cider and Elbow Grease
Having practised my ‘poirate’ accent all week, David and I took the short drive to Buckden Marina to spend the morning cleaning and preparing Osprey One (David’s boat) for the sailing season ahead. It was a gorgeous day, probably the warmest so far this year, and that made the morning even more enjoyable. We met …
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Voucher!
David and I drove over to Market Harborough for lunch. In common with most of mankind, lunch at Pizza Express was financed by vouchers, courtesy of Mr Tesco! The food and service was spot-on and we even had a chance to wander around the town in the sun, sans jackets and pullovers – cor! what …
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Scarify and Convert!
Probably the only disadvantage of the now, lighter evenings, is that it’s a lot easier to see how much work there is to do in the garden! With the sun (almost) shining, and no sign of snow, we spent significant time in the garden today, picking-off the jobs. The big one was to scarify the …
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Rothwell 2 Turkey 0
I don’t go to Rothwell that often – it’s only normally to eat with friends. Strange then, that somehow I managed to eat there twice in the same day! My first trip was with David at lunchtime. Now that we’re ‘gentlemen of leisure’, we decided to do lunch at The Old Bakehouse. The food and …
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Holiday in Rotterdam (Wednesday)
It’s our last full day here in the f-f-f-freezing weather until we return to the err, freezing weather of the UK. Although it looked a lot a lot warmer through the hotel bedroom window than previous days, we dressed-up as if we were heading for the North Pole! With our new found confidence mastering the …
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A Snowy London
It’s not often that the capital is colder than Kettering – but today was an exception! David was good enough to taxi me down to Kettering Station and I jumped on the 9.27 down to St Pancras International and met up with Sally B for lunch. On arrival, the view from the station was like …
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Roast Lamb – Shaken not Stirred!
“The name’s ‘Lamb’, ‘Roast Lamb’”. Nick and Celina joined us this afternoon, together with David, for a food ‘n’ film evening. Ann prepared Tagliatelle with Prawns and Romano Peppers to start, followed by Roast Lamb infused with garlic & rosemary – we finished with Red Plum Amoretti Pots – a sort of exotic trifle in …
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Quattro to Prezzo
As I’m now sans-car, Ian and Mags drove over to ours for our three-monthly catch-up. Our destination was Prezzo in Kettering, the town’s newest restaurant sited (spookily) in the recently developed restaurant quarter. Ann was able to join us after a bat-out-of-hell drive back from Sheffield. In convoy, we headed into town and parked in …
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Cuts, Cats and Wellingtons
Biscuit Bon-Bon It’s another of our action-packed Saturdays after a relatively quiet week (I’m sure that should be the other way around!). First, I drove over to Peterborough, to reveal my ears and more of my forehead. Second, I handed over the car-keys and Ann to take the cats in for their six-weekly wash-‘n’-brushup with …
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Snow is like a Suntan
Honestly, we DID have snow here yesterday, but today it’s hard to tell. Just like a hard-earned suntan, snow seems to disappear much faster than it takes to appear! Today was actually a really nice day weather-wise – I WOULDN’T have predicted that as I tried to free Ann’s car from the snow and ice …
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True Grit
Some things are meant to go together: Bananas and Custard, Morecambe and Wise and of course, Ann and me! Conversely, some things should never, ever, EVER be within a planet of each other! My story began at around 6.45 this morning as I headed off to Peterborough, driving Ann’s car (for the first time). It …
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Ann’s New Car
After almost three years to the day of faithful service, it was time to retire Ann’s ‘Fiesta – ‘Maj’. Now we’re down to one car and with Ann’s new job and position, we really needed something a little bigger and a better for long drives up-and-down motorways. Ann’s car on 24 January 2010 And so, …
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Fire and Ice
We woke to find that we’d had around 3-4 inches of snow overnight – all that on top of the ice from yesterday! Nice!!! The house felt freezing, so we fired up the err, fire and were soon ‘toasty-warm’. We postponed our drive over to Peterborough preferring to stay in and catch-up with stuff on …
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Snow!
First snow of 2013! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few …
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Christmas Day 2012
We were at home this year for Christmas. The weather is atrocious around the UK (although dry here) – rain, rain and more rain – and some have been flooded-out. Denis and Bev are due down later and Lee is staying with us until after Boxing Day. Even though we’ve got over our jet-lag, we …
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Garden Blitz!
It’s now that time of year, where the garden is shouting for attention to get it ready for Winter! Luckily, the sun was shining, making the task a little easier. Ann took on the cutting back back/cutting down part, whilst I repainted the side garage …
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The Last Day of Summer?
Cor, what a(nother) scorcher! Surely today, with temperatures hitting 30 degrees, this must have been the last day of the really good weather. A busy and important day ahead. We set off early – around 8.30 – Lee stayed behind as her back was playing-up, and dropped into Neil and Debbie’s first for a catch-up. …
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Almost a Full House!
Getting the family together is always a logistical challenge – and this weekend we managed to fill the house with most of the Gambles clan. Bev arrived on Friday night around 7.30, and whilst we gossiped, we devoured one of Ann’s cheese-boards (and a rather tasty 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from Mr Sainsbury ‘Coolwater Blue’ from …
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Chatham Dockyard – Scorchio!!
I think today was one of the sunniest days this year. It was pushing 24 degrees by the time we got to Chatham – perfect! Chatham Dockyard has a proud history, starting with building the famous Victory there! It was a pretty good journey there to including my first trip on the High Speed train …
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Paul and Sue’s 25th
We drove the short distance to Rothwell this afternoon, arriving around 5pm to join the celebrations for Paul and Sue’s 25th Anniversary Party. It was an outside event and mercifully, the rain had stopped – and that got the whole thing off to a great start. I guess …
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Tea anyone?
All this rain we’re getting, does at least have one advantage: by not being able to get out, it allows me to get on with other stuff. The stuff in question this time has been to design a web-site for a long-standing friend and business colleague for his recently purchased Tea-Room in Stratford-upon-Avon. …
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Terrific Tapas
It’s a fact: There’s ‘food’, ‘very good food’ and ‘food round at Karen and Paul’s’. Tonight was ’Tapas’ – and a real treat for our taste-buds. Add to that, Rosi’s ‘Toblerone cheesecake’, and dinner-dates don’t get much better! ‘Yummy’ with extra yumminess!!! Combined all of this with drinks on the patio under a perfect blue …
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Lunch with Karen and Ralph
We drove up to The Queen’s Head in Belton today for lunch with Karen and Ralph. We haven’t been back there since 2010, and it’s a good ‘halfway-house for us all. It was good to catch-up, as we haven’t seen them since the Wedding! The weather was atrocious, going there and coming back (will it …
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Out and A Grout
A rather satisfying day here. As we waited for Noah and his Ark to turn-up :-), we passed the time by refreshing the bathroom – the major part being the re-grouting of the shower cubicle. Knowing my natural ability with DIY, this was a surprisingly good result! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in …
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