Morning all! It’s ‘Day 9’ – our last full day here. We’re exploring the east of the Isle, taking in the sights and sounds of Godshill, Bembridge Windmill, Bembridge, the Gin Distillery, Ryde (and its Pier) and finally Fishbourne – where we’re also going to charge the car for the trip home tomorrow. Here’s what …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 8
Welcome back, loyal Reader! A change of pace today, as we skipped our breakfast. Instead, a cuppa in our room. We also abandoned our daily ‘let’s leave sharp, whilst it’s cool’ plan! Anyone would think we had a late night last night!!! What a couple of lightweights ehh? 😉 The plan today is to forego …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 7
Morning all! We’ve three days remaining on the Isle before we head home and the weather so far has been fantastic! Today looks to be much the same, maybe even warmer!! 😎😎 A packed programme sees us heading north to Newport, then southwards to Carisbrooke Castle, followed by a visit the Isle’s famous garlic farm, …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 6
Today, we’re heading West along the coast road, taking in The Needles, English Heritage’s Yarmouth Castle together with the town of Yarmouth and finishing at National Trust’s Mottistone Gardens. Phew! 9.15am/21°C: We decided to set off sharp today. Why? The weather forecast is promising a scorching 24°C by lunchtime, and it’s already 21°C. After enjoying …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 5
So, it was goodbye to Portsmouth today, as we headed for the Ferry Terminal in Southampton and our 11am crossing to the Isle of Wight. For the remaining days of our holiday, we’re staying at the quaintly named Wight Mouse Inn in Chale, located in the south of the Isle (more about that later). For …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 4
Hello All! Yes, it’s Monday and the forecast is rain!! – and no, I’m definitely not going to comment on last night’s soccer result! There’s an air of gloom around the hotel this morning! ☹️ We’re now four days into our break – here’s what you’ve missed… Blog – Day 1Blog – Day 2Blog – …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 3
Morning Reader! Ahh, that’s more like it on the weather front- only a very slight chance of rain! I plugged the car in for a top-up without any drama and we headed for breakfast. For our main event, today, we’re off to where The Repair Shop is filmed, located in the… Weald & Downland Living …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 2
Hopefully, a less stressful day today, after yesterday’s various ‘challenges’. The weather looks a bit disappointing though! 9.25am: We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with plenty of variety on the menu. It was also very quiet, which was somewhat surprising after hearing herds of sprogs screaming in the corridor last night and earlier this morning (it’s …
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Holiday: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – Day 1
10.07am: It’s just after 10am and our journey begins! We’ve got ‘Robert‘, our EV, fully charged with 245 miles of range, and we plan to get to our first stop by lunchtime. With our overseas foreign travel on the back-burner, we’re taking time to visit – and revisit – places on our doorstep (ish). Our …
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Return (of the return) to Saxon Mill
We returned to the Saxon Mill in Warwick today to meet up with Alan and Mags (Ian & Ann couldn’t make it). This is now becoming our most-visited out-of-Kettering eatery. To date, the food and service has always been top-notch – but today was a little different. It was certainly very busy when we sat …
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Worth a Visit to Shuttleworth
We haven’t been to Shuttleworth since September, 2017 with Chris and Gill. Today, we met up with Roger, Jane, Oliver, Chris, Kate, Ali, Alison, Jake, Zidane and Sami – a family affair! We started out from nearby Biggleswade Sainsbury’s at around 11.30, before heading off, in convoy, to our destination. The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant, …
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Euro 2020 Get-together
Ahh, that’s more like it! It felt like ‘pre-Covid days’, socialising with our neighbours over a meal!! 👍 With all the necessary COVID rules strictly adhered to, Paul and Karen invited (just) a few of us round to theirs tonight for a meal and to watch the soccer – we were there to see England …
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George Gorge!
After taking a trip up to Heckington to visit Denis and Mae’s grave (our first visit since Denis’s funeral back in April last year), we dropped into The George Hotel in Stamford for one of their legendary Afternoon Teas (courtesy of Dennis and Sandra’s Birthday pressy to Ann!) What a surprise – it was delicious! …
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Tring Thing!
I caught up with Angela today at the King’s Arms in Tring. The venue was chosen because it was roughly halfway between us. I thought I knew Tring, but as I approached the town, it all felt very unfamiliar! What a lovely town though! – very leafy, a nice parade of shops and where the …
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The JS Gang Reunion 2021
Nicki’s Here! 😍
Nicki (sans Richard) joined us for the weekend. We haven’t seen her (properly) since October last year and it was great to catch-up. Saturday Today was all about celebrating (last) Christmas where we would have got together under normal circumstances, but didn’t, because of you-know-what! Ann planned a full Christmas Dinner and we invited Jo …
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Coronavirus – Return to Normality!
Normality? Err, not quite! 😮 Next Monday – June 21st – was supposed to be ‘Freedom Day’, the day that everything returned to normal. No restrictions to indoor gatherings, retail and theatres fully re-opened and no facemasks required anywhere etc etc – perfect! 🙄 But it obviously wasn’t meant to be – all because of …
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Social, Social!
Today, was one of those days where things were ‘full-on’! 😏😏 All good things though, as it was 100% social!! The Clark’s (Roy, Susan and Lauren) visited us for lunch where Ann had produced miracles in the kitchen with a choice of two starters, two mains and two desserts. Unusually for me, I didn’t take …
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Pilgrimage to the Palmers
Postponed from just before Christmas last year, today, we made the pilgrimage, 113 miles south, to my Brother’s. In a change to the normal travel arrangements, we took Robert, instead of making the journey by train. There were really two main reasons for this! First, neither of us are totally comfortable with jumping on public …
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The Look of… Kilworth
It was a welcome return to Kilworth House this evening to see Dusty Springfield in concert. It wasn’t THE Dusty (obviously!) but a darn good impression! The event had been postponed from October last year, then again in April, because of you-know-what, but tonight was (finally!) the night!!! The performance was called: Delightfully Dusty. Tonight, …
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HP Source
Yes, it’s that time again! Time to source a replacement for my now-ancient ‘Lenovo Ideapad 305‘ Laptop. It’s served me well for well over four years, accompanying me around the world helping me to keep in touch with the mother ship! It’s going to a good home – a TA friend of mine becomes its …
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Kedlestone Hall with Dennis and Sandra
We drove up to Kedlestone Hall, near Ashbourne today, to meet up with fellow lovers of ‘days-out’, Dennis and Sandra. We’re building up quite a list of destinations since we started this with them back in 2017. Hardwick Hall (August 2020)Castle Howard (December 2019)The Royal Armouries Museum (March 2019)Bolsover Castle (October 2018)Belton House (May 2018)York …
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Normality! – Dinner INSIDE in a Restaurant!
With David acting as chauffeur, the four of us (David, Valerie, Ann and I) made a welcome return to The Palmichael tonight. Last time we were there as a foursome was back in December last year although back then, the Coronavirus restrictions meant we couldn’t all share a table and had to make do with …
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It’s a Hugs life!
A significant day and hugging is back on the menu! Why? Today, we entered Step 3 of the Government’s roadmap out of Lockdown. 😁 …and talking of menus, Jo and Janet picked us up and we headed off to the newly revamped Beckworth’s Emporium for one of their legendary breakfast experiences. The girls ate light, …
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More Pi anyone?
As all of us (in the UK, anyway) escape the clutches of the pandemic restrictions, I’m in the mood to re-stimulate my grey cells (cellS?) 😁 and get my brain back into gear! I’m going to dive into the world of the Raspberry Pi! For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the …
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Jab Done too!
After BoJo’s Press Briefing yesterday (promising, amongst other things, the return of legal hugging next week) it was off to Moulton for me this morning to get my second COVID-19 jab. Related PostJab Done! Just like my first, back in February, the whole experience was a model of organisation. I was in and out in …
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Ann’s 60th Birthday Celebrations
What could be more enjoyable than giving me an opportunity to plan a big ‘do’ of some sort! I love the nitty-gritty, with all the twists and turns, that lead up to the event itself! (But for this one, I didn’t expect things to be as ‘twisty-turny’ as they were!). Planning Ann’s 50th was much …
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Coronavirus – A Year Later!
Welcome back! Did any of us think we would be writing about the Coronavirus a full year on? I began penning my experiences about the dreaded Covid-19 back on 21st March 2020 (just two days before the first official lockdown) and catalogued my first 100 days; then again after 200 days, and finally – or …
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Jab Done!
On the day that the PM was going to announce his plan for the exit route out of Lockdown in England, I drove over to Moulton to get my first vaccine jab. All the Covid-related numbers seem to be pointing in the right direction, and the details behind the PM’s message were widely leaked before …
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Coronavirus – 300 Lockdown Days later 😮
It’s Sunday, the 17th January and we’re 300 days into the official announcement of the pandemic. When I wrote my initial post about the first 100 days of Coronavirus back in June last year, I assumed (and hoped!) it would be a one-off… …then in October, 200 days in, I found myself penning another, wondering …
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