We caught up with Paul and Sue at The Swan in Lamport tonight. I haven’t been there for a few years (when I met up with Ian and Mags for our Christmas do in December 2008) and Ann hasn’t for about 20 years when she and I last went there together! We left around 7.20 …
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Category:Weather
Ely Ely Oh!
The three of us (Ann, Nicki and I) took a drive to Ely today. I haven’t been there for a gazillion years. Parking was pretty straightforward – a dedicated car-park for the Cathedral, our first stop. As we walked from the car, we suddenly realised how cold it was – but worse was to come!! …
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Barbados, here we come…
Having dropped the hire-car back at Paul’s last night gave us both a bit more time this morning. Ann had a productive morning and so did I – we were ahead of schedule. 10:59:59. We logged on to the BA website, and chose our seats (the system only allows us to do this, 24 hours …
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The Packing continues/Salvation Army Concert/Ice Age
We spent part of the morning continuing to pack. It all seems to fit (but the kitchen sink was a bit of a problem!!) – so we should get away with being under the weight limits for BA. Job done! We’re all packed apart from a few last minute bits and pieces. We’re ahead …
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Cats in/Holiday Prep
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr This is our final weekend before the holiday, so there is plenty to do – not least the packing! We had a productive morning, mostly cleaning and generally tidying-up. Additionally, we took the cats to the Vet for their final injections. We decided to get to there slightly …
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Han or not to Han
Our original plan was to pick up Jo, Janet and Carol and head over to Han, our favourite Chinese restaurant in Market Harborough for a final pre-Christmas gorge-fest. However, the atrocious weather here put paid to that and we decided to have everyone round to ours. As it turned out, Carol wasn’t able to make …
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The snow has arrived…
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Well, they forecasted it…and the white-stuff has arrived in great quantities. When I looked out the window at around 5am this morning, it didn’t look too bad, but it’s been snowing ever since on-and-off (mostly on!) and I reckon we’ve got two inches lying in the road here. …
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Lunch with Sally B
My gorge-fest continues. At this rate, I’ll be classified under ‘excess baggage’ when we (err, ‘if’ – see yesterday’s blog) go away on holiday!!! Oooo, a flutter of snow in the air. I drove over to Cambridge to meet up with Sally B for lunch. We haven’t seen each other since June and it was …
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The Cecilian Singers’ Carol Concert 2009
We drove over to Leicester to see David singing in the Cecilian Singers Choir. Val couldn’t join us this year as she’s in America visiting her sister. We’ve been going annually for a few years now, but the format this year, was slightly different as they’d changed the venue to St Philip’s Church in Evington Road. …
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Roger, Jane and Oliver here for the Weekend
Saturday The day didn’t start well weather-wise with rain, rain and more rain. Good news though, by the time they arrived at just after 11, it was starting to clear-up. Ann had already rushed down to Waitrose for 8am to get in the food for the weekend and we sat down to pizza and salad …
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Germany calling…
Well, here I am at the Bauer Hotel and Gastof in Munich – a rather sweet little hotel about 20 minutes from the airport. I’m here for three-and-a-bit days for one of my clients. It’s about 21 degrees at home but they seem to be having a mini heat-wave here – phew! it’s 3.45 in …
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Tolethorpe Hall – The Tempest
We went to Tolethorpe Hall tonight to see The Tempest and we planned to see Chris and Pete M there too. The weather has been a little unpredictable this week (ahh, the irony…weather…tempest…geddit!?), so rather than risk a picnic, we ate at The George Hotel, Stamford. Janet picked us up at 5.15 and together with …
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Burghley House with Ian and Ann
We had antipasti for lunch and then drove over to Burghley House. The drive there was very pleasant and the weather was gorgeous – 24 degrees. When we got there, the car-park was packed but after a couple of drive-rounds, we secured a space. It was great to return to Burghley – we haven’t been …
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Busy, Busy!
Another busy Saturday, but for all the right reasons!. First, off to car-wash to get the car cleaned, then onto Central Garage to drop Ann’s personalised number plates off; sign the hire-car paperwork; pick-up the hire-car; then back home to tidy-up and do some cooking before Ian and Ann join us for the rest of …
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Short break: Portsmouth (Day 4)
I got up at 7 so I’d have time for a shower before heading up the road to get a ticket for the car that we couldn’t park near the hotel last night. Ooooo…I’ve noticed I’m a bit pink this morning after all that exposure to the good weather yesterday – they’ll be no chance …
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Short break: Portsmouth (Day 3)
I didn’t get up until 8am!! Looking out the window, the weather looks good at the moment although the forecast is cloudy. We plan to primarily use today to take photographs and try out our new camcorder. 9.00am. We got down to breakfast and found it a lot quieter than yesterday. The service was still …
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Short break: Portsmouth (Day 2)
6.30am. I was up with the sound of birds and the faint sound of a hovercraft! A bright blue sky outside suggests today might be a fine day weather-wise. 8.30am. Breakfast calls, so it’s a short walk across the road (!) and in through the back-door to the breakfast-room. It wasn’t a very big room, …
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Short break: Portsmouth (Day 1)
We’re off to Portsmouth for a few days. We left around 8.30 and popped into Central Garage on the way out to have a look at their used and new car stock as part of getting a car for Ann. After much discussion with Paul, we narrowed the selection down to possibly a new Fiesta…but …
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Angela’s 60th Birthday Party
We travelled down to Isleworth today for Angela’s 60th birthday party – yes, I know, her birthday was in February! It’s quite a long drive from home, so we arranged to pick-up Denise and Steve in Bedford who’d also been invited – it would have been daft them doing the journey too as they’re so …
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Ahoy-there Ship mates…
Just call me Captain Pugwash – yes, it’s Ann and me on a boat! David and Val’s boat to be precise – the good ship Carusa. We nearly didn’t go at all because of the weather – but it started to brighten up and after packing a few provisions, we left around 1pm for Buckden …
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Travel to Mum’s/OCA Summer Reunion
We set off for Mum’s this morning after Ann signed-on. Wed had a really smooth journey down – just under two hours. It had been a hot week – in the thirties – but today, thankfully, started off much cooler. Mum fed and watered us and around three-ish I set off for the School, leaving …
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David round for Supper
Val is working away so Ann invited David round for supper. Ann created one of her home-made pizzas. The weather was so warm, we ate outside – it was a beautiful evening. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong …
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Ralph and Karen – here for the weekend
Saturday We drove down to Bicester Shopping Village to meet R and K. The girls did a little some shopping, (but didn’t buy much) whilst Ralph and I pursued more manly activities by like heading to the BOSE shop to see the latest kit. Ralph and I then headed back to ours to chill-out and …
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Party Party!
The neighbours came round for our ‘Italian Evening’. Tom and Julie; Jo and Janet; John and Trish; Stefan and Debbie; David and Rosi and Paul and Karen were all there. We hadn’t got together like this round here for quite a while! Ann had spent most of the week getting prepared for today by scouring …
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Brown’s for lunch
I met Sally B today at Brown’s in Cambridge for lunch. Because we’ve both been busy, we haven’t done this since September last year! It was great to catch-up and Sal is certainly enjoying her work at the moment. We chose to sit outside as the weather was so good, but an hour later it …
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Bosworth’s
We dropped in to Bosworth’s to choose some pots and plants for the back garden. Cor, what a scorcher!…it must be mid/upper 20s today! 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 …
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Downtown to meet up with Denis and Mae
Nick and Celina left after breakfast; we had a quick clear-up and then headed up the A1 to Downtown. It was another gorgeous day here – just like yesterday – and it seemed to keep the roads pretty empty, so we were there in no time. It’s Mae’s 65th today and we met there because …
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Our new Blu-Ray DVD Player/Great Shopping Trip
It’s time to pension-off our trusty Sony DVP-S735D DVD player which is now more than 15 years old. Technically, there is nothing wrong with it – it still attracts good reviews on-line, but technology marches on!! After lots and lots (and lots) of research, step forward the snappily titled Panasonic DMPBD80, the most technologically advanced …
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Journey back from Nicki’s
We left around 10.30 after a great breakfast (although we postponed the ‘big fry-up, because were were all still stuffed from last night’s curry!) We took the route towards London on the M4, turned off at the next junction and picked up the route through to the M40 via Maidenhead. In spite of me going …
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Chelsea Flower Show 2009
We went to the Show today. It’s been a few years since we last went, so we weren’t sure what to expect! All the omens were against us! Firstly, just as we parked at the station, the heavens opened – good job Ann packed an umbrella! Next, the train was late leaving Kettering because it …
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