Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: With the ‘Monday Class’ ending earlier than expected just before Christmas (due a drop in numbers), I’m going to be carrying-out some individual coaching for two C of E staff during ‘the gap’. This will fill the diary nicely until the new Monday Class starts in March/April. Filed under: …
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New Year’s Eve 2016
This year, we drove up to Matlock to share New Year’s Eve with Ralph and Karen. We set off from ours just after 1pm and arrived just before 3 – a straightforward, hassle-free journey (and the longest so far in Ann’s new car). The venue tonight is the Peak Edge Hotel where we’re going to …
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London: New Year Fireworks 2016
We weren’t there, but thanks to YouTube, here is the next best thing! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Curry with the Costellos
A bit of a milestone this one: we invited the whole Costello family around tonight for a mega-curry night. I picked up John and Trish for 7pm and Sean and Conor arrived around 8.30. For the main event, Ann prepared Chicken Tikka, whilst I prepared a Pork and Apple Madras and also Bombay Potato. To …
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Palmers Reunited
Our second foray into travelling down to my brother’s by train meant that we didn’t need to leave at the crack of dawn to get there. Unusually though, the ticket prices weren’t so advantageous and we weren’t able to get our pair of tickets for around £40 (as usual) – it was closer to £80! …
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Christmas 2016
I picked up Lee on the 23rd as she’ll be staying with us over the holiday period. The weather forecast for today was atrocious (the tail end of ‘Hurricane Barbara’) meaning ferocious winds and rain after 3pm, so I did the deed earlier. As things turned-out, the forecast was spot on, so smugness prevailed once …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016 – The Return of Doctor Mysterio
The whole Doctor Who ‘thing’ has now become such a significant event at Christmas, that this year’s episode, for the first time, got a gala launch at the National Film Theatre. Apparently, there were Santa-shaped bouncers on the doors and fake snow too! This was the seventh festive episode written by showrunner Steven Moffat – …
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Tablet Coaching: Skype
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we discussed how to use Skype. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: System Tray Icons
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: 1-to-1s and Certification
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: It was the final Class for the Monday group today and so we carried out some 1-to-1s and finished the day presenting their Certificates. Filed under: Certification, Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Christmas Carol Concert 2016 – The Citadel
It was off to The Citadel in town tonight hosted by Kettering’s Salvation Army, for our annual Carol Concert. As usual, we picked up Lee and parked in Sainsbury’s car-park. On arrival, it seemed much busier this year, but we were still able to bag our normal seating. David and Valerie were singing in the …
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Bye-bye Marco!
On March 1st, 2014, not long after retiring, Lee gave me her car – a VW Polo. She had decided that, in spite of her love for cars and motoring in general, the stress of driving on modern roads had become too much. Wow! what a gift! I was wheel-less at the time, and it …
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My 60th: Final Supper
It was round to Denise’s tonight for my final (honest!) Birthday celebration meal. We arrived just before 7pm where Denise had pulled out all the stops all by herself (Denise’s Steve didn’t quite make it, as he was still on his way home after a mega-sailing expedition!) We began with nibbles round a real fire …
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Our Anniversary 2016
The 14th Well, here we are in Amsterdam for our 5th Anniversary (or ‘32nd’ in old money). After driving over to Birmingham Airport, we caught the 10.10 courtesy of Flybe to Schiphol and then jumped on the train for a short journey to Amsterdam Central. There we grabbed a 48 hour tourist ticket and boarded …
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Tablet Coaching: Core Apps
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we began to look at some of the Apps common to all Android-based Tablets. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: What is Windows 10?
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we began a series of classes discussing the features and benefits of ‘Windows 10’. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: The Perfect Password?
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today we discussed how to create a virtually uncrackable password! Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Neighbours’ Festive Get-together 2016 – John and Trish’s
You can’t really go wrong with one of John and Trish’s traditional Christmas meals! They’ve been a regular event these past few years and we love ‘em! Not only is the food fantastic, but it’s another great opportunity to get together with the neighbours for a chat and catch-up – well, we haven’t done that …
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Christmas Begins (2016)
We’ve all got different prompts for when Christmas celebrations officially begin – is it when the Supermarkets start putting out their Christmas lines?, your first Christmas lunch?, the BBC Christmas ident being seen for the very first time? …or when the Sales start being advertised on TV? For me, it’s when the Christmas TV Times …
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Boys and their Toys (Part 9247)
My new toy! Replacing my rather crappy ‘Linx 1010’ that became totally unreliable – the last straw being it refused to hold a charge, even after being plugged-in overnight. Its the ASUS Transformer Book T100TAM-DK005T 10.1-Inch Convertible Notebook. Already, this device seems to be more solid – and faster too!
Brekky at Bekky!
After the past few days where it’s been REALLY cold, it was good to wake up to a morning without frost – although it was damp. Perfect weather then for the legendary breakfast at Beckworth’s Emporium with David and Valerie.
Tablet Coaching: Play Store
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we introduced the group to the Google Play Store so they could download their first ‘App’. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: Keyboard Practice
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we looked at more of the features of a typical PC keyboard and introduced the new Windows 10 virtual keyboard. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: Google Maps
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we looked at the features of Google Maps. Filed under: Delivery, Salvation Army, Skills Development, Volunteer
Neighbours’ Birthday Get-together 2016 at Tom and Julie’s
Tonight was a double celebration with both Julie’s and Paul’s birthdays coming up in the next week. Tom took on taxi duties and picked us up around 7.15 and luckily, we were able to travel light, as Karen and I had dropped off a lot of the prepared food earlier in the afternoon. By 7.30, the …
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Great Vines
It was off to The Vines tonight with Jo and Janet. The normal Friday night fixed menu of ‘Fizz and Chips’ had been suspended and replaced by their Christmas Menu. Suited me! Plan A was to walk there, as it’s only 10 minutes away, but the contra-forecasted shower of rain combined with our chosen umbrella …
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Laptop Coaching: Grand Tour
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we present the agreed Lesson PLans and continued our ‘tour’ around the outside of a Laptop. Filed under: Volunteer
Tablet Coaching: Lesson Plans
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: Today, we presented the agreed Lesson Plans and continued explaining the screen layout of a typical Android Tablet. Filed under: Volunteer
Laptop Coaching: Mopping-up
Auto cross-posted from my WordPress Blog: With only about 10 lessons left, today we continued with the Lesson Plans agreed last week. Filed under: Volunteer
Stanford Hall
We drove over to Stanford Hall this afternoon. We’d had an invitation from the Jeweller – Tarratt – who made our wedding rings and they were having a ‘do’ here. And what a posh event it was, judging by the cars in the car-park! We parked up and headed for the Hall. Tarratt had taken …
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