Ok..the busy Easter weekend begins… Left home at 9 and arrived at Mum’s for 11. Took Mum out for a Chinese and then off to Worthing for the weekend. We had a goodish run to the guest house ‘Edwardian Dreams’ and arrived around 3.30. We checked in and then took a short ten-minute walk to …
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Film ‘300’
We went to see ‘300’ with Jo and Janet. A very violent piece adapted from the Frank Miller book of the same name. He also co-directed it. Visually the style was just like his comic books – lots of vivid colours and striking back-drops. The film ancient Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans …
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Denis, Mae and Beverley for lunch
Denis, Mae and Bev came for lunch. We haven’t seen them in ages, mainly due to various illnesses since Christmas. Although Bertie and Lee had met Denis and Mae before, they hadn’t met Bev…
Meal with David and Val
We met up with David and Val and had a great meal at the Montagu Arms in Barnwell, near Oundle. I swear their ‘Monty Pie’ is getting bigger!!! We also gave them a small pressy by way of a thank-you for alerting us to the fact that we might be paying too much Council Tax. …
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Doctor Who – Series Three
The new series starts tonight!
Holiday Blog Day 7 – Fly home from Nice
The taxi picked us up to take us to the airport. It took longer than expected due to the extensive roadworks. Although technically we were too early for breakfast at the ‘hutch’, the owner made one specially for us – nice! We also grabbed a coffee and pastry at the airport. Forgot to mention yesterday …
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Holiday Blog Day 6 – Nice
Took the ten o’clock train to Nice today. The weather is slightly cooler than yesterday, but it’s a good temperature for the twenty-five minute walk to the station! The day got warmer. Sitting by the sea-front at Nice in the blazing sun was gorgeous! Then off for lunch at ‘Buffalo Grill’ – very French!!! – …
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Holiday Blog Day 5 – Nice
We ate at ‘Le Romarin’ last night. It was a short walk from the ‘hutch’ we’re staying in. The food was excellent! The ‘hutch’ is growing on me even if it’s not growing in size. The guys who are running it have a fantastic eye for detail. At breakfast we had freshly squeezed juice from …
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Holiday Blog Day 4 – Fly to Nice
The taxi picked us up at 6am to take us to the airport – just a short 20 minutes drive. No time for breakfast at the hotel, so we opted for the ‘big’ petit dejeuner at the airport. The plane boarded at 8.15 – we were just about awake by then! We landed safely in …
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Holiday Blog Day 3 – Bordeaux
Ahh that’s more like it! Up at 7am for an early breakfast. We then plan to take the tram to the station and then jump on the ultra-punctual 09.23 TGV to ‘Agen’. Agen is the French capital for rugby and prunes! (According the guide-book though, ‘Prunes D’Agen’ don’t comes form Agen). Looks like I’ll therefore …
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Holiday Blog Day 2 – Bordeaux (Birthday Girl!)
We ate an Indian last night. ‘Punjab’ – it was packed!! Not a patch on ‘Mazzas’ though, and it was strange to experience a French man looking and sounding Indian! Ann’s Birthday today! Lots of nice cards. I bought her three DVDs ‘Casino Royale’, ‘Elizabeth I’ and ‘The Queen’. I also bought her a subscription …
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Holiday Blog Day 1 – Fly to Bordeaux
We left around 7.15am (hooray, a lie in!) and had a really good journey to Birmingham Airport. Parked easily and got a bus straightaway. We checked in and were air-side by 8.50. We were surprised to learn that those little Ambrosia rice pots were not allowed onboard – there goes breakfast! I wonder how much …
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Holiday prep/Furniture renovation
We’re away on holiday tomorrow… yippee!!! Val T came to pick up the dining room table and sideboard for renovation. Should be back next Friday.
Escaped Biscuit – almost!
Biscuit has been eye-ing up the fence with a plan to jumping up and over it. She’s been up there a few times, but up until now she has just sat on the top. Today, she took the next step – literally! In spite of me removing the plant-pot that she was using as a …
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Snow Patrol
It’s the 22nd March and we woke up to snow!
Jaguar Blog/Furniture delivered
Picked up the Jaguar today – looks like they’ve managed to fix the air-con. Touch wood they’ll be no more problems, although the clock is still losing time even though it’s supposed to be connected to the GPS circuit. Strangely, the s-type diesel I had out on loan performance-wise was so much better – almost …
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XDA – Here We Go Again..
That’ll teach me to get smug about the alarm problems sorting themselves out on my PDA. Today, for no reason, the alarms stopped working again. The last time this happened was on the 30th January and I was convinced that the original problems had been down to my faulty PDA back-up program. Obviously not! Still, …
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Lebanese Blog
Met up with Ian at Coventry University today. We decided to try out the local Lebanese restaurant just up the road for lunch ‘Aqua’ – excellent food!!
Musical War of the Worlds DVD
This has to be the about the best music DVD I’ve ever seen! Live orchestra, actors, big screen back projection and a 3D reconstruction of Richard Burton doing the narration. filmed in HD and DTS sound last year at Wembley Arena. Well done Jeff Wayne – truly outstanding!!!! I thought the Album was good, but …
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Lee returns from hospital/New bedroom furniture
David our neighbour was kind enough to drive all the way to the hospital (200 miles round trip)today to bring Lee back. What a super guy! Although Lee is a bit frail, she was happy to be back ‘home’. We now have to feed-her-up to help her gain weight. We popped into town to begin …
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Birthday Blog – The Cats, Two years old
Biscuit and Bon-Bon celebrated their second Birthday today. Although, unlike us humans at the equivalent age (24), they aren’t living in their own place, ‘going steady’, thinking of getting married nor pressurising their parents for money! They are, however, still using Mum and Dad as a taxi service!! Biscuit tends to be the more sociable …
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Rick and Sam’s new place
We held the LNG at Rick and Sam’s new apartment in Bermondsey. Nice place! We could see Tower Bridge and ‘The Gherkin’ from the front room. It cost them somewhere in the region of 300k plus 100k for renovations and improvements.
Fish and Chips Supper/Knackered Jaguar
David and Val came round for a fish and chips supper. A busy day all round for all of us. I ran late, Ann ran late and David’s brand new car broke down! Phew! I’ve got trouble with the Jag again. This time, the heating system has decided to go into meltdown – well, it …
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Oven Clean
Kevin from OvenU made his regular yearly visit to our encrusted oven today. An excelent job. Looks better than brand new! OvenU uses a non-toxic formulation that is just amazing! No fumes, no fuss, just a bright and shiny oven inside and out!!!
“Loadsa Money!”
Well that’s a pleasant surprise! Thanks to our neighbour, David. He alerted us a month-or-so ago that it is now possible to check your Council Tax banding online and compare it against similar properties. When we logged on, we found that our house was a band HIGHER than similar properties in the area. You can …
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Chinese Blog/Lee goes to Hospital
Joined Ian and Mags at ‘Han’ in Market Harborough for our normal three-monthly get-together. It was good to catch-up! Lee was admitted yesterday for her small operation. A very stressful morning waiting for the hospital to ring to let her know if they had any beds!!!
Film: – The Good Shepherd
Jan and Jo invited to the local Odeon to see ‘The Good Shepherd’ starring Matt Damon, Robert de Niro and Angelina Jolie The GOOD Shepherd?…more like the most boring shepherd in the world…ever! What a rubbish film! Strange really as the cast was good but the film lacked structure and was far too l-o-n-g at …
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Roasted Jaguar
On the way to the clients this morning, I noticed the temperature inside the car was a little warm. It was a cold day, so I didn’t think much about it. However, on the way back, the interior turned into an oven. None of the temperature settings seem to work, and putting it on ‘Lo’ …
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Book Blog
I’m not a great book reader (for pleasure that is), but I’ve just finished reading Robert Sellers’ 288 page paperback on ITC’s cult TV series of the 50s/60s/70s and early 80s. The man behind all these was of course, the late, great Lew Grade. If you remember and liked series such as ‘Danger Man’, ‘The …
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Stamford for Tea
We took a drive up to ‘The George’ in Stamford with Lee and Bertie. We also had a quick look round the town. The service in The George was very poor, but it was good to chill out!