Thanks for all your good wishes, cards and gifts! They’re mostly all back at home and I’ll enjoy them when we’re back tomorrow! Here we are then, in Bonnie Scotland, on the occasion of my 64th. It’s another day of discovery today and we’ve got two locations in mind:- Nairn – a well-known seaside town …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 6(8)
My last day of ’63-ness’ today, and we’re off to Loch Ness! Given our complete failure to spot any dolphins during this trip, I don’t hold out much hope for an encounter with Nessie! KEY FACTS ABOUT THE LOCH22 miles longAverage depth of 433 feetMaximum depth of 744.6 feet1.8 cubic miles of water1 monster We’re …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 5(8)
We have a grand plan today! We’re off to the large land-mass to the north of us that is the Black Isle – perversely named because it’s actually not an island and not particularly black! We won’t have time to cover it all, but we want to give it a damn good thrashing! Surrounded on …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 4(8)
Well, that’s the first half of our Scottish break over – and it passed really quickly! After a relaxing and VERY enjoyable few days with Richard and Lynn in Gartly, we’re off to our next (and final) ‘home’ for the final four-days – the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness. In some respects, our leaving was perfect …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 3(8)
It’s our last full day here before we drive to Inverness tomorrow – and we’ve a busy one planned (nothing new there ehh?!) After yesterday’s adventure that took us to the rather beautiful areas of Banff, Portsoy and Cullen (ending with a drive through next-door Buckie) today, we’re soaking-up more of the area to the …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 2(8)
I was up early, mainly down to me setting the clock an hour fast! The weather forecast looks promising (although not quite as warm as it predicted yesterday) and so on Richard’s advice, we’re heading for the Moray Coast about a 40 minute drive from base-camp. 11.15am: First stop was Banff, a small town and …
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Holiday: Scotland – Day 1(8)
We always go away for my birthday and this year is no exception. Although the official celebration is still a week away, we thought we’d start early! What a difference a year makes! Twelve months ago for my celebration, we were in central London, shoulder-to-shoulder on a sweaty tube-train! This year, we’re heading in completely …
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Film: TENET
Here we are then, my first visit to the cinema since before lockdown. And what better movie to blow the cobwebs away than Christopher Nolan’s latest epic – TENET? Nolan is famous for his dislike of green-screen and CGI, so we were looking forward not only to the story, but the ‘set pieces’ too. Apparently, …
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The IKEA Experience
As part of our regular dose of ‘retail therapy’, we headed over to IKEA in Bletchley today. Trish and Sean joined us, with a view to them getting some ideas for Sean’s new place in Burton Latimer – and maybe bag a bargain! I can’t remember the last time we shopped here, but judging by …
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Return to Kelmarsh
Well, I haven’t been here since the 14th of December 2011! – for my wedding! 😍😍😍! Click on the button below for a trip down memory lane… Wedding Pics (Unofficial) Welcome back to 2020! The reason for today’s visit was an invitation to a private tour around Kelmarsh’s well-known Gardens (where Mrs P is a …
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Hardwick Hall with Dennis and Sandra
9.55am: We drove the (just under) 90-mile journey to Hardwick Hall today, to meet up with fellow lovers-of-old-buildings and all-things National Trust, Dennis and Sandra. We last visited here back in October 2010 for a Murder-Mystery evening with Ralph and Karen (BTW, the Butler DIDN’T do it!). Hardwick is a spectacular Elizabethan house filled with …
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Weekend with Ralph and Karen
Friday 11.35am: Ralph and Karen arrived after a trouble-free journey from theirs. With hardly a moment to catch their breath, we whisked them off to The Old Forge for a pre-arranged lunch at 12.20. We hadn’t been here for a while (July 2012 according to my Blog, but I definitely think we’d been more recently), …
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Holiday: Marlborough – Day 5 (of 5)
7.00am: Morning! 😁 The latest weather forecast suggests that it’s not going to be as bad as we thought, but we still need our weekly dose of ‘retail therapy’! So, we’re NOT packing the sun cream, instead, we’re heading for Swindon Designer Outlet. Last time we were here was back in March 2012 during Ann’s …
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Holiday: Marlborough – Day 4 (of 5)
6.30am: A bit of a lie-in this morning! 💤 According to the forecast, it’s another warm one today, so we plan to make the most of it. We’re heading out to Heale House and Gardens in nearby (ish) Middle Wooton and then onto NT’s Cherhill Downs – armed with a picnic of course! Actually, the …
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Holiday: Marlborough – Day 3 (of 5)
6.10am: I certainly slept better than yesterday and if they can get the service right at Breakfast after yesterday’s fiasco, then all will be right in the world! 7.55am: It’s breakfast time and I’m happy to report that it all went very smoothly and there was no visible wounds showing on the staff from where …
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Holiday: Marlborough – Day 2 (of 5)
6.45am: Morning all! 👍👍 Strangely, I didn’t sleep too well, waking up at 2.30am (!!!) accompanied by a head that felt like I’d overdone it on the shandies! Disappointingly, I hadn’t!!! I popped a few pills and tried to get back to sleep. My pounding head (like my hairline) receded quickly, but I never really …
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Holiday: Marlborough – Day 1 (of 5)
10.00am: Well, here we are back in ‘holiday-mode’ where we’re spending six days in and around the beautiful town of Marlborough. Marlborough is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. The town boasts a population of between …
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Calke Walk
We took a picnic to National Trust’s Calke Abbey today. Our last visit was back in May 2011 when the weather was truly atrocious! Luckily, today, it was a little kinder. What makes Calke a bit different from most other NT properties is that its name doesn’t reflect the building itself! As any local will …
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DVDs sorted
For the umpteenth time, I’ve tidied-up my DVD collection. It should have been one of those jobs that was completed during the early days of ‘lockdown’, but you know what they say about that Round Tuit??? 😁 We now have ‘classics’ on the left (far too many to fit in the cabinet!) and Blu-rays, front …
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Super Saturday
Today was dubbed ‘Super Saturday‘. It was the first day with the slightly relaxed lockdown in force, where some (not all) businesses were now allowed to re-open, trying their very best to make up for their lost trade over the past three months. Examples included Pubs and Hairdressers who were allowed to trade from one-minute …
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The Corona Chronicles – My First 100 Days
It’s Saturday, the 21st March, and as the ‘new normal’ unfolds and the virus begins to dictate our lifestyle, I guess we’ll all look back on this in years to come with that wonderful gift of hindsight – and (hopefully!) draw some important lessons! This blog, that I’ve penned on and off since 2004, tends …
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Warner Weekend 2020
Yes, it’s that time of year again! We’ve got our annual long weekend planned with our Warner ‘Brothers and Sisters’ – Geoff, Rhonda, Paul and Sue – aka ‘The Northants Nutters‘! Last year – our first get together – took us to Warner’s Littlecote House, this time, we’re in Herefordshire and staying at Warner’s rather …
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Return to The Saxon Mill
The Saxon Mill is rapidly becoming our most regular restaurant-of-choice when meeting our friends ‘from the West’ – and today was no exception! (Either there or The Lamport Swan). The last time we met up with ‘the Westerners’ (Ian, Ann, Mags and Alan) for one of our regular three-monthly catch-ups was back in September last …
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Doctor Who – Series 12, Episode 10 – “The Timeless Children”
It’s the season finalé and there are a lot of unanswered questions! Hopefully, they’ll all be dealt with in tonight’s extended episode of 65 minutes! 😁 The Interweb on fire… Predictably, the Interweb has been on fire this week, full of theories, counter-theories, rumours and counter-rumours about how it’s all going to turn out! But, …
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First Visit – Salvatore Ristorante Italiano
Bev and Julie recommended we take a trip over to Finedon to sample the delights of Salvatore Ristorante Italiano. It opened in May, 2019, but we’d not heard of it. We picked-up our dining-chums just after 7.10pm for our 7.30 booking and battled though the pouring rain heading for nearby Finedon. If the restaurant was …
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Doctor Who – Series 12, Episode 9 – “Ascension of the Cybermen”
The penultimate episode for this series – and it’s a two-parter! There’s been plenty of anticipation online for this one, so it was a bit of a bummer that I wasn’t able to watch it live – I’m writing this, the day after, having successfully avoided any spoilers online. SYNOPSIS: It’s the aftermath of the …
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Doctor Who – Series 12, Episode 8 – “The Haunting of Villa Diodati”
Another pre-credit sequence – after last week’s, that’s two in a row! 🤔 SYNOPSIS:Lake Geneva, 1816. Lord Byron and the Shelleys prepare for a night telling ghost stories, but their villa proves to have ghostly presences all its own. This episode was written by (newcomer to Who) Maxine Alderton. A great story tonight with an …
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Valentine Meal 2020
It’s Valentine’s Day!! Usually, either I cook the meal, Ann cooks the meal, or we share cooking duties with David and Valerie and get together as a foursome. So, with cards, flowers and gifts on display, by way of a change for this special day, the four of us left our kitchens behind and headed …
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Mival-lous
A boys’ get-together today! 👍 I drove over to Stamford to meet up with ex-business colleague and film producer: Eric Mival. We’ve kept in touch ever since Eric shot a corporate video for Sainsbury’s (that I was responsible for) back in the late 80s. Our venue of choice was, of course, the iconic George Hotel …
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Doctor Who – Series 12, Episode 7 – “Can You Hear Me?”
I found last week’s episode – Praxeus, had a lot of potential, but its oh-so-predictable ending and the not-so-subtle message about the environment spoilt it (although most of the critics seemed to disagree with me, so it shows how much I know!). So, with only two more episodes to air this season, there’s a lot …
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