Easter Monday, 10th April: San Francisco Morning all! 😀 Here we are in San Francisco (population: c815k spread across 232 sq. miles) – and it’s our first full day having arrived at the 252-room Argonaut Hotel last night, after an 11-hour flight from Heathrow. The Hotel is in a good location – Fisherman’s Wharf – …
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Pacific Paradise – Day 1/28 (Extra)
Sunday, 9th April: Hello San Francisco! For a quick summary of our holiday plans, click on ‘Paradise Found!’ above 👍 At last, hello San Francisco! It’s 2.30pm local time and we’ve just arrived! Our plane landed 40 minutes early too! It seems like only a few hours ago, we were queuing with the masses (and …
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Pacific Paradise – Day 1/28
Sunday, 9th April: Next stop? San Francisco! For a short summary of our holiday plans, click on ‘Paradise Found’ above 👍 Heathrow on Easter Sunday! Morning all! Well, here we are at Heathrow Airport on Easter Sunday. When we made the booking we hadn’t spotted that our travel was over the Easter period, and as …
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Pacific Paradise – Day 0/28
Paradise Found! Well, this is the BIG one! Probably the most varied and lengthy holiday we’ve ever taken! As you can guess from the title of this Post, our 28-day jaunt, near and around the Pacific Ocean, involves land, air and yes (a lot of) sea! We had originally planned to do this one a …
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Sedgebrook Hall Revisited!
A long overdue catchup with ‘old mucker’ John Cullwick at Sedgebrook Hall to discuss the marketing of his latest book: ‘Our Hannah’. The last time we saw each other was, I think, five years ago also here at Sedgebrook Hall! Today, I had the opportunity to meet his daughter Ellie too! We had a really …
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Film: John Wick, Chapter 4 (2023)
Off to the local Odeon this afternoon with Jo and Janet to see the fourth (and final?) Chapter of the John Wick movie franchise. Imaginatively titled ‘John Wick Chapter 4‘, it stars ‘man of few words’ Keanu Reeves who we’d last seen in Matrix Resurrections back in January, 2022. (and what a pile of pretentious …
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Southwell with Dennis and Sandra
It was another one of our cultural days out with good friends, Dennis & Sandra today (our 13th!). We’ve built up quite a list since 2017, and today we added Southwell and National Trust’s Workhouse (above). Chatsworth House (November 2022)Belvoir Castle (August 2022) Kedlestone Hall (May 2021)Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries …
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Thunderbowl 3
Today was our third visit to Kettering’s Thunderbowl to show-off our Bowling talents. Paul and Sue joined us to add to the competitive atmosphere! In spite of the very wet weather, a lot of other people had the same ideas as us today, and it was a lot busier than we remember it. In fact, …
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Birthday Girl 2023
Another year and another Birthday – as Ann celebrated her special day today! It was a day with friends, food, cards and gift! 8.35am: After a quick ‘Birthday Bacon Sarny’, Ann began opening her presents and cards. Soon after, the ritual was briefly interrupted (in a good way) by a surprise video call from Nicki …
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Holt! Who Goes There? (Day 2)
Morning all! 👍. It’s Day 2 of our short break, staying in Holt, Norfolk. Click to catch up with yesterday’s Post 5.55am: Well, it’s still dark outside, but judging by the sound of traffic passing the Pub, it’s going to be a wet one here today! But maybe we’ll be lucky elsewhere? After breakfast, we’re …
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Holt! Who Goes There? (Day 1)
Who goes there? Well, actually, quite a few people, it seems. Holt isn’t a very large town (pop. c4000), but it IS very popular – and it was certainly worth the two-hour drive from ours! 👍. Holt is a Georgian Town full of independent shops and even sports a few 22kW EV chargers too! The …
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The Pulse of Kettering!
There was a time when our home town of Kettering always seemed to be the LAST to get any tech innovations. Well, that’s just changed! Why? How? A few days ago, we learned about something here that’s put us ahead (currently) of any other town in the UK. And no, for once, I’m not talking …
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65, not out!
It was John C’s 65th Birthday last Monday – a perfect excuse for a belated neighbourly get-together tonight! We picked up Paul & Karen and arrived just before 6.30. Everyone else was already there by the time we arrived – and we were all soon in a party mood! 👍😁 Yes, pretty much a full …
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Scones, Trains, and Automobiles!
Well, that’s a first! We’re off for Afternoon Tea in a railway carriage that doesn’t go anywhere (No! NOT another rail strike day!!!) 😁 In another first, we had snow today! The first for two years!! Our visit to ‘Carriages of Cambridge‘ was a Christmas gift from our great friends, Jo & Janet, and we’d …
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Buckden Bound – The George
We drove over to The George in Buckden today. The reason? A celebration of brother-in-law Roger’s ‘significant’ birthday! The last time we were here was in April, last year, with Roy & Susan for a lunchtime catchup – and it was good to be back! After a slightly torturous journey (the Sat-Nav) had a bit …
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Winner, Winner! TV Dinner! – The Banshees of Inisherin
Another of our ‘dinners round the box’. Tonight, it’s 2022’s ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ that did very well at The Golden Globes and has been tipped to do well at the forthcoming Oscars. What’s not to love? Cast Colin Farrell as Pádraic SúilleabháinBrendan Gleeson as Colm DohertyKerry Condon as Siobhán SúilleabháinBarry Keoghan as Dominic KearneyGary …
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Boys and their Toys (Part 23) – Samsung S23 Ultra
Temptation of the Tech! After a lot of dithering by me over the past few years, I finally succumbed to the temptation of the tech! Yes, time to upgrade my phone. I didn’t need to, as my current beast, the very reliable Samsung Note10+ 5G (bought back in 2019) has easily been the best phone …
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Film: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
It’s been a while, but Marvel Studios is back to kick off ‘Phase 5’ with their 31st super-hero cinema release. If SciFi/Sci Fantasy isn’t really your thing, look away now! For the rest of us, here’s a spoiler-free review of the latest blockbuster from Marvel Studios! But hang on a minute, Phase 5..? 31 movies..? …
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Party Animals
We headed off to our old stomping ground of Peterborough tonight for long-time friends Mick and Jane to celebrate their 60ths! Our Party invitations seem less frequent as each year passes, but we were especially looking forward to this one, as we’ve known Mick and Jane for what seems like forever! We last saw them …
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ATMs Reunited
A timely reunion today (again) for three ex-Sainsbury ATMs (that’s ex Area Training Managers!) — Paul, Geoff and yours truly! Today, given our pensionable status, the eatery of choice was the geographically convenient for all of us (and wallet-friendly) ‘Hobson’s Choice, just off junction 9. Boy! It was busy and for the first time ever, …
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The Late, Late Christmas Dinner!
We don’t need much of an excuse to catch up with friends (as many of these Posts here will confirm!). “The Late, Late Christmas Dinner!” put a convenient label on today’s proceedings, brought about because we weren’t able to see Nicki over Christmas last year. Jo, Janet and Carol joined us, making it six for …
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Winner, Winner! TV Dinner! – Top Gun: Maverick
Towards the end of last year, we decided that in the new year, every so often, we’d invite friends round, cook something and enjoy a film together! – We’re calling them… “Winner, Winner! TV Dinner!” So, for 2023, our first of these get-togethers was having David & Valerie here with Top Gun – Maverick ready …
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RIP: Cousin John
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 …
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Catford Charge
These days, long-distance driving for us is reserved for holidays only – no longer any 100 mile-plus jaunts to chase down the next big job for either of us! So, today was a bit of an exception. It was family-related as we were going to Cousin John’s funeral tomorrow at Beckenham Crematorium. Plan A was …
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Fibre is good for you!
Those that know me, will be very aware that I have an ‘enthusiastic’ (read ‘slightly obsessional’) interest in Internet speeds around these parts! It probably began just over 30 years ago when I was in the first few years of running my business from home. The Internet was just becoming a thing and the ‘big …
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Thank Cod – it’s Curry Night!
Those that know us, already know that we’re partial to a curry (or 10!) on a Saturday night. Tonight, we invited long-time friends and neighbours: Paul & Karen and Dave & Rosi round to put the poppadums through their paces! We also tried something new tonight, where amongst the usual spicy staples – Curried Cod …
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The George (again and again!)
We’re off to one of our top-three eateries around these parts – The George in Great Oxendon. This was our fourth visit here, having been introduced to it by Paul & Sue back in November, 2021. Today, it was our three-monthly catchup with Ian & Ann and Alan & Mags. We arrived in good time …
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Bev’s Pizzeria!
If you live in Kettering, then you’ll know of the legendary Frank’s Pizzas! But watch out, Frank, because there’s a new Pizzeria in town! Well, not in town! Just down the road from us at our friends – Bev & Jules! Bev had invested in his own Pizza Oven and has become a bit of …
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Second Visit: The Swan at Braybrooke
We met up with Paul & Sue for Lunch today at The Swan at Braybrooke in Market Harborough. We were there to celebrate some accumulated techy work I’d done for them. The original title of this Post was First Visit but as soon as we pulled into their (rather compact) car-park, I realised we’d been …
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Mick & Jane – Lunch at ours
Today was a very enjoyable catch-up with long-time friends Mick & Jane. Ann took on cooking duties at ours. According to this Blog, the last time we did this was back in August 2006! – in between times we’ve met numerous times at Pubs and Restaurants roughly halfway between us, but cooking at home for …
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