Yay! It’s our 8th. Anniversary (or 35th. in ‘old money’). Today was unique, in that it coincided to the day, with neighbour Trish’s legendary Annual Christmas Dinner get-together. So, for this year, in celebration, we were surrounded by our neighbours (who are also our friends)! In part, it was just like our wedding all over …
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Christmas TV (2019)
We’ve all got different ‘triggers’ for when ‘Christmas’ officially begins — for many, the first reminder is when the Supermarkets start displaying their Christmas lines! But that’s obscenely early, so how about……your first Christmas lunch?…maybe it’s when the John Lewis Christmas Ad appears?…or receiving your first Christmas Card? For TV lovers, it’s probably when the …
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Oliver – Live in Concert
We drove down to Roger, Jane and Oliver’s this afternoon. The weather was horrendous, but it was well worth it as we were going to see Oliver playing flute in the East Herts Concert Band at their Christmas Concert. The venue was the delightful St Mary’s Church in the village of Standon, a Grade 1 …
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Yummy Mummy
11.30am: I’m off to the capital today with Ann to meet up with Janet and Carol. We’re all visiting the recently opened Tutankhamen Exhibition at the Saachi Gallery and whilst we’re in the area, home of the ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ too — the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. For the King Tut Exhibition, it’s £24.50 for the young …
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Bulbs for Banstead
An early start for us today as we spent Saturday and Sunday with Richard and Nicki at their place in Banstead. Saturday We left home just after 7.30 and drove over to Huntingdon station. Why not take the car? Well, it’s not the getting there, it’s the getting home part. Last time we tried it …
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Avengers: Assemble Lasagne!
Jo and Janet joined us for a night of munchies and a movie… Oh, and some G & Ts! Whilst I prepared the DVD player, the lemons and the limes, Ann got busy in the kitchen. Our movie of choice tonight – Avengers:Endgame. There isn’t much that hasn’t already been written about the final film …
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Party, Party!
Well, we haven’t done this in a while! It’s fair to say that many of our immediate circle of neighbours have all had significant things to ‘deal with’ these past few months, so tonight was the perfect opportunity to get together. We played to our strengths, Ann weaving her magic in the kitchen and creating …
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John Lewis Christmas Advert (2019)
It’s 8am on the 14th and the John Lewis Christmas advert has finally been revealed! Back in 2010, JL were the first of the retail giants to release ‘mega’ adverts for the festive season. It started a trend that continues to this day, and now anyone who’s anyone, makes them – yes, Argos and Aldi, …
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Tech Alert (No. 1211)
Yes, it’s that time again! – technology marches on, and I’m looking to replace my ageing BT router – the ‘Homehub 4’. It might only be around 6 years old, but that’s a lifetime these days for this sort of tech! Why change? Well, normally, it would be simply down to more whistles and bells, …
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Cambridge-sur-Mer
Ann and I drove over to Cambridge today. I say ‘drove’ as ‘sailed’ would have been more appropriate I think! – so much rain! ? And add to that, the mega-roadworks as they transform the A14, meant slow progress! Still, we made it in around an-hour-and-ten! 👍 Gone are the days where I used to …
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China – By the numbers!
Welcome to my second – and final – piece reflecting on our recent holiday in China, (the first was posted HERE yesterday). Our 19-day adventure included shiny modern cities, smaller towns, rural locations, large retail malls, small local shops – and pretty-much everything in between! We saw the uber-rich, the rich, the poor and the …
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China – What we learned!
After almost three weeks immersing ourselves in ‘the Chinese way’, here’s the first (of my two-part) light-hearted look at our experiences. Part 2 is tomorrow. The People With a population of around 1.4 billion, in the big cities it certainly felt like it. In the more rural locations, however, you’d never know! Families used to …
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Holiday – China (Day 18): Scrutiny On The Buses
Our penultimate day in Hong Kong – and the holiday! Gosh, it feels like we’ve been out here forever! After my recent episode – On the Buses – we’ve now scrutinised our Big Bus sightseeing tour from yesterday, and whilst we didn’t cover everything we planned, we did pretty well! 😁 I therefore feel a …
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Holiday – China (Day 17): Hong Kong – On the Buses
Well, hello there my Reader, thanks for stopping-by. It’s Day 2 for us in Hong Kong – day 17 of our 19-day adventure in China. 😁 We’re sight-seeing today by Bus today taking in the sights of Hong Kong, courtesy of the Big Bus Tour. We’re attempting to cover as many of their routes as …
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Holiday – China (Day 16): Hello Hong Kong!
Evening all! We’re now on the final leg of our Chinese adventure – we’re in Hong Kong! 🙂 We landed around 4.30 local time (09.30 KMT) and headed for our home for the next four days – The Kerry Hotel. Ralph and Karen are here in HK for the first time, whilst it’s the fourth …
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Holiday – China (Day 15): Shanghai Lights
Greetings reader! 👍. It’s a rare no-official-tour day today! No pagodas, no squirrels posing as fish (or vice-versa) and most of all, no mad Chinese motorists to worry about! 😉 Today’s Post, therefore, is about just one thing – the spectacular light show here in ‘The Bund‘ area of Shanghai city that wows the crowds …
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Holiday – China (Day 14): Suzhou on a Choo-Choo!
Morning! 😊(Sorry it’s late again!) Today, we’re on the train heading for Suzhou! But before all that, what could be better than meeting a new Tour Guide? …it’s meeting TWO new Tour Guides. First up, there’s Mark who’s looking after us in Shanghai, and later we were to meet Stephen, for our Tour around Suzhou. …
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Holiday – China (Day 13): Shanghai Surprise!
Afternoon all! 😎After yesterday’s temporary suspension of my blogging activity (I blame me ‘OD-ing’ on pagaodas!) I’m back; and since you last looked, we’ve moved to the right, and up a bit – travelling north-east to Shanghai, city of finance. Getting there though, meant a scarily-early alarm call! I think we’re competing with our friends …
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Holiday – China (Day 12): Lazy Day on the Li
This is the Post I should have written on Friday (the 18th), but it was such a full-on day, I ran out of time! 🙄 A super-early breakfast at 7am today and we’re thankfully, checking-out of this very disappointing Sheraton. A tired hotel, desparately in need of a makeover with a complete lack of organisation …
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Holiday – China (Day 11): Sightseeing in Guilin
Morning all! It was breakfast at 8am this morning, in preparation for Jeremy, our Guide, and his half-day walking-tour of Guilin at 9! Techy note: Connectivity here in our room in Guilin is a nightmare, with even the VPNs refusing to connect. Worst of all, it’s random. 😮😮 Although the weather doesn’t look too promising, …
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Holiday – China (Day 10): Guilin for Guinness!
We checked-out of the Hilton Hotel in Xi’an this morning. Next stop is Guilin – a two-hour flight courtesy of China Southern Airlines. We said goodbye to Nina (our Guide) and Mr Su (our Driver) and headed for check-in. After a delayed take-off, we arrived in Guilin at around 1.45pm. We were now 874 miles …
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Holiday – China (Day 9): Sightseeing in Xian
Morning all! Another day, another Temple! Pagoda Mad Chinese motorist sight-seeing opportunity! 😁. Here we are in Xian (or more correctly, Xi’an) cultural capital of China. Xi’an has a population of 9 million (and most of those seem to be on the road (or IN the road, trying to cross) at any one moment in …
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Holiday – China (Day 8): Tour of Ancient Pingyao City
Evening all! We have just a single day here in Pingyao, so we’re making the most of it with a walking tour of the ancient city tour hosted by our Guide, Mona. Later this afternoon, we’re on the ‘bullet-train’ taking the 302 mile journey to Xi’an. Today, we welcome guest-blogger, Mrs P as I’m all …
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Holiday – China (Day 7): In Search of Temples
Morning all! It’s Sunday and I feel the need for some Temples! We have a plan!! 😁 After breakfast (at the far more reasonable hour of 7.30) we checked-out and met Mona and Mr G in Reception. It’s cold today (although I didn’t really notice – but that’s normal!). The locals are all dressed-up in …
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Holiday – China (Day 6): A Date with Datong (Eventually!)
It’s Saturday! No chance of a lie-in though as we were all up at the ridiculous hour of 3am! 😮Why? We needed to get the first flight to Datong – the CA1119 courtesy of Air China at 6.20am – what could be simpler! We met Michael and Dung in the hotel lobby and took the …
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Holiday – China (Day 5): Summer and a Nest!
Out and about in Beijing again! It’s our final day here as tomorrow, we take the short internal flight at ‘silly-o’clock’ to Datong – the next leg of our Chinese adventure! On today’s travel plans… We’re getting into a bit of a routine now! Just like yesterday, we met Michael and Dong Dung (Ooops! I …
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Holiday – China (Day 4): Wonder Wall
Morning Reader! 👍 It’s Thursday and whilst we’re here in China, we just had to visit The Great Wall! (or at least, part of it!) We met our guide, Michael, and our driver, Dong, in the Lobby for 8.30am and headed north from the Hotel. It would have been a two-hour drive to this iconic …
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Holiday – China (Day 3): Imperial China
We’re in full tourist mode today! So it was up at 6.15, breakfast at 7 and meet our tour-guide Michael, at 8, in the hotel-lobby! 👍 On today’s itinerary… Tiananmen Square Monument to the People’s Heroes Tiananmen Gate Mao’s Mausoleum Great Hall of the People The Forbidden City Tea tasting session! Beer tasting session …although …
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Holiday – China (Day 2): Arrival in Beijing
We’ve landed! It’s Tuesday morning here in Beijing! ..and the weather is just perfect for a gentle stroll… And when I say ‘gentle stroll’, I mean an accompanied two-hour walking tour of Beijing’s local neighbourhood – the ‘old town’. It was delightful! We checked in to the Hotel around 2pm and were soon unpacking! As …
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Holiday – China (Day 2): Extra
An extra Post showing-off some of the architecture in our first hotel – The Grand Millennium Hotel, Beijing. Boy, they certainly know how to impress! Click on any of the miniatures for a larger view! Wow!