When it rains, it does it in style here – and it was evident, looking out of the window first thing, that they’d had a bucket-load overnight. And yet, minutes later, it was 14 degrees outside – that’s Dublin weather for you!!! Up until now, we’d avoided the hotel’s buffet breakfast offering, not because of …
Read More
Holiday in Dublin – Day 3
It’s our penultimate day in Dublin and it’s a rare treat today, as no rain is forecast until 6pm! However, having learned that the predictions here can be a bit hit-and-miss, we dressed accordingly – and that included an umbrella each! We decided to make today, a day of culture, but not before we found …
Read More
Holiday in Dublin – Day 2
After a great night’s sleep, we were both ready to take on the World – but maybe NOT Dublin’s changing weather! Looking out of the window suggested that we were going to enjoy a blue sky, but 5 nano-seconds later, having emerged from the hotel looking for breakfast, we had the unique combo of: heavy …
Read More
Holiday in Dublin – Day 1 (arrival)
The day of Ann’s Birthday started at ‘silly-o’clock’ – no, scrap that – SUPER ‘silly o’clock’! Even by our standards, setting the alarm for 2.45AM, in order to get to East Midlands Airport in time for our 6.30 flight to Dublin did seem a touch pessimistic – it’s only an hour away after all! Actually, …
Read More
Bye-bye Buckden
Buckden Marina David and I went over to Buckden Marina today. It was probably my last visit to David’s boat, as he has decided to sell Osprey One, and treat himself to a new car. It was initially quite a cold day (the eclipse didn’t help!), but it soon warmed up and we gave the …
Read More
Film: Kingsman – Secret Service
After a quick Fish and Chips and David and Val’s (Fish and Baked Potato for me!- smug Lent Boy alert), it was off to the Odeon in Kettering to see Kingsman – The Secret Service. It seems to have been on for ages, and I was pretty sure the Screen would be empty. Wrong! it …
Read More
Trainers 3 – Elm 1
The One Elm – Stratford Whilst petrol-heads from around the globe went into collective shock over the news of the suspension of the iconic Jeremy Clarkson for punching a BBC Director (allegedly!) – Mags, Ian and I opted for something far less controversial, and got together for our regular three-monthly catch-up and gossip-fest. I parked …
Read More
A Furry Happy Birthday!
In that famous Victor Meldrew voice: “I don’t believe it!” Hard to believe that today, the cats reached the age of 10. From what I’ve read, that means according to the official calculation/conversion they’re about 57 years old in human years. Actually, I’m surprised Biscuit has made it this far with all her recent Steve …
Read More
Family Visit
Ann and I drove up to see Denis today. It was the first time we’ve seen him since his three separate operations involving a pacemaker, two stents and finally a heart valve. He was in pretty good spirits, all things considered, but did look a bit frail. We took him to The Fortescue Arms in …
Read More
The SA and PCs
Today, I started my first volunteer PC-coaching session for the Salvation Army in Rothwell. It felt great! Four delegates came to today’s inaugural session, and we spent our time working out what everyone wanted in terms of help, confidence and guidance. There was also plenty of ‘hands-on’ too using the SA’s on-site PCs. The session …
Read More
Mega-Social
‘The Weekend…’ as they say, ‘starts here!’ This weekend was one of the busiest ‘socials’ for, us for a long while (ohh, the stress!). So, not a great time, to be trying to stick to my Lent regime – but I managed it! FridayThe weekend started early on Friday night, where we met up with …
Read More
Stalag Pemberley
Biscuit, our chocolate Persian cat has decided that in spite of her pampered life style here, she also needs to randomly scale the fence and go ‘walk-about’. Sometimes it’s for a few hours, sometimes longer! She always comes back though! Before – As things used to be She’s quite canny – she jumps on the …
Read More
Lent Boy 2015
Yes, it’s that time of year again where I frustrate the hell out of those around me, and try to stick my self-enforced ‘Lent diet’. Depending on what you read, and where you read it, Lent seems to FINISH on different days. I’m working with the Ash-Wednesday-to-Holy-Saturday version, and although technically, I can give myself …
Read More
Lock up your Saucepans!
David and I decided to collaborate on cooking a meal for our respective other halves tonight – today being Valentine’s Day! We kept it mostly a secret, having planned the nitty-gritty earlier in the week. The plan was to offer three courses plus a cheese-board, and then finish with a movie to round off the …
Read More
Incurable Romantic?
If you’re an incurable romantic like me, then how’s this for a cheeky gift for Valentine’s Day? Courtesy of those very nice people at Boomf, simply upload a maximum of 9 of your most romantic pics, relieve yourself of £15, and they’ll ‘print’ them onto marshmallows, pop them in a nice box and send them …
Read More
Erotic?
There’s a lot of talk about this at the moment, so I went to Homebase and B & Q today to find out more, but they couldn’t explain it either. Am I missing something?
Weekend with Roger and Jane
With Oliver away on a skiing trip in France, it was the perfect weekend for Roger and Jane to spend the weekend with us. In fact, it was the first time they’d been away – just the two of them – for around 11 years! First port of call was Stamford. It was a trouble-free …
Read More
Film: Mortdecai
Nice! We got another of those ‘Two Tickets for a Tenner’ emails form Odeon yesterday. Looks like they’re shareable too! So, we joined David and Valerie at the local Odeon to see Mortdecai. If you love Johnny Depp and/or are possibly old enough to remember Terry Thomas, you will love this film. From its predominantly …
Read More
Steve’s Culinary Tip No. 277
Tip No. 277: “When cleaning the food processor, do NOT try and remove debris from the blade using your thumb…” Today’s tip was sponsored by Elastoplast and Steri-Strips …and brought to you by the colour, red!
Film: Paddington
A gentle surprise in my inbox today, in the shape of an Odeon deal promising 2 Adult tickets for a tenner – result! But what to see, with so much showing at the moment. Jo and Janet invited us to The Theory of Everything (the life of Stephen Hawking), but we fancied something a bit …
Read More
Bye-Bye Bush!
We’ve never been very lucky with Washing Machines! We seem to go through them like others go through, err washing powder!Well, at least the washing now smells ‘outdoor fresh’! Today, we pensioned-off the Bush – donated to us by Lee back in May 2011, when she moved house. The Bush was a washer-dryer combo, but …
Read More
Retyre? – No pressure!!!
I came across something really useful for my car yesterday – and for once, it wasn’t a new car polish!! I wanted to share the good news, as for some of you out there – especially those of you that cover quite a few miles, it’ll bring a big smile to your face! It’ll only …
Read More
Trainers Unite – Saxon Mill
Ian, Mags and I met up at the rather pleasant Saxon Mill restaurant in Warwick tonight. They say that people aren’t eating out anymore, but the place was packed! This was a good sign and the food didn’t disappoint. Duck for Mags, and Venison for Ian and me, meant we all enjoyed a tasty bird, …
Read More
Meals on Wheels
Lincoln Cathedral from Bev’s Lounge Window We drove up to Lincoln to see Bev today. The reason? My ever-so-slight ‘senior moment’ on Christmas Day at Ann’s Dad’s, where I unpacked all the presents and then somehow re-packed Bev’s back in the car – and took them home!! Doh! (Bev couldn’t join us on Christmas Day …
Read More
A Perfect End to Christmas – 2014
It’s our turn to host ‘a little something’ for the neighbours – perfect timing then as we’re coming to the end of the Christmas festivities for another year. We’re going out on a high (or should that be heavy?) with a full-on menu for Paul, Karen, David, Rosi and John and Trish. Tom and Julie …
Read More
New Year’s Eve – 2014
Lucky us! This year, we’ve been invited to two celebrations. The first is at The Kettering Park Hotel to join Jo, Janet and Carol. The second, an even more local affair – Karen and Paul’s, next door! The evening began at the Hotel at 7.30pm with Champagne and Canapés. First impressions were a little concerning …
Read More
Keep Taking the Tablets!
My new(ish) Windows Tablet developed a fault last night, that even I couldn’t solve – the firewall turned itself OFF and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to start again. My AV program refused to run properly (so I couldn’t check to see if I had any ‘nasties’!), and what’s more, …
Read More
Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014 – Last Christmas
I always approach the Who Christmas Specials with some trepidation – it’s nearly always a broader audience watching (in this family at least), and the expectation is so high, given the frequency of trailers on TV leading up to the day. In recent years, I’ve taken to recording it, and then watching it on my …
Read More
Christmas 2014
It was our first Christmas without Mum and it did feel a little hollow. Christmas Eve A mild day weather-wise – no frost, no snow, no rain – just mild, although it did turn cold when we went for our afternoon walk around 2pm. The day began early, as I drove to M and S …
Read More
Roulade!
It was good to see Jo and Janet tonight – they helped us with another test-drive of the recently-decorated Dining Room, by attacking a rather ginormous Lasagne followed by an even larger cheese-board. The Pineapple Roulade, courtesy of Mr Asda, was particularly tasty, and I might need to get another, if we are to survive …
Read More