It’s our second day here and we’re off on a conducted half-day tour of Abu-Dhabi.We don’t know much about the place, so it’ll be good to see the ’bigger picture’ given that our first impressions of the people, customs, climate and food have impressed us both in equal measure. So, it was an early breakfast …
Read More
Holiday – Abu Dhabi (Day 1)
Well, here we are at the Shangri-La Qaryat Al Beri Hotel in Abu Dhabi. We’re here until Monday morning and then we fly to Oman. Now. we’ve had a good night’s sleep, we’re going to take a walk around the hotel. First, inside our room: After breakfast and the briefing from the Tour Guide, …
Read More
Delayed Flight!
Our flight to Abu Dhabi had been delayed, but at least we’re on board! Reason given: ‘ice on the runway’ 🙁
Holiday – We’re on our way
It’s ‘silly o’clock’ (also known as 3.20 am – yes A.M.!) here in the UK and the ever-reliable ‘John le Taxi’ has arrived to speed us to Heathrow. Next stop is Abu Dhabi and the rather splendid Qaryat Al Beri hotel. Lee is cat-sitting, so all is right with the world! We’re here until Sunday, …
Read More
Cross-posting test
This is a test to see if my Blogs are automatically cross-posted to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you’re reading this on one of those three, then it’s all back to normal and working!!!
Test Cross-post
Hhhmmmm, I think my blogs aren’t cross-posting to my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages – something needs fixing. If you are seeing this post on any of those sites, I’m WRONG!
Website Makeover
The last time I gave my website a makeover was in 2010 – so it’s time for a rethink. Hard to believe, I’ve been working on it since Christmas – and it’s still not quite finished! 😲 Anyway, with the major structure and content now completed (apart from my ‘photography’ page where I still haven’t …
Read More
Theatre Trip – ‘Hello Sailor’
As part of their Christmas present, we took Lee and Denis to see HMS Pinafore at the Royal Auditorium at the Derngate. First stop though was ASK (the Italian restaurant chain), just round the corner. It was pretty busy when arrived just before 1pm, but as we’d pre-booked, we had no trouble getting a table. …
Read More
Film: Twelve Years a Slave
And so, as planned, it was off to the local Odeon this evening to the must-see-film-of-the-moment: 12 Years a Slave. Directed by Steve McQueen (no, not that Steve McQueen, that Steve McQueen) and starring Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt (who was also part of the production team) – and the not-so-well-known-but-ultimately-the-main-star: Hiwetel Ejiofor. The film …
Read More
Catching up
This was a weekend of catching-up with old(er) friends. Steve and Helen Humphrey joined us (all the way from France) and their holiday-let business on Friday evening and Chris and Gill A joined the four of us on Saturday evening – and together we tackled one of Ann’s super-scrummy three-coursers! (bang goes the diet -and it’s …
Read More
HSL Project – Completed
The HSL (Hall, Stairs and Landing) Project is now completed, and here are some before and after photographs. The Old… Strip away! The New… Sorted!
Education, Education… Curry!
I met up with Angela C at King’s Cross and we headed to the Barbican and the Museum of London. This was the first part of our ‘educational’ day in London.The Museum was fab – I haven’t been there for a good 10 years and it’s changed a lot. It was good last time…. but …
Read More
Film: The Railway Man
Ann and I took a rare trip to Kettering Odeon today to see The Railway Man. I say rare as it’s been ages since we both went together – the last time was when we saw Skyfall back in October, last year. The Railway Man was the true story of Eric Lomax, who was one …
Read More
A Tough Month Ahead
Warning! Smug comment alert!!! Looks like a tough month ahead as I try and wade through all the DVDs from Christmas!!!
A Fine Fox
Our annual pilgrimage to meet up with Jane and Mick S for pressy-swaps took us back to The Fox Inn in Thorpe Waterville. We’d only been there once before back in April last year, but were so impressed with the food (and the size of the portions), we thought they deserved a return visit! We …
Read More
The Year of the DoDO – 2013
Warning: This blog contains overt references to Doctor Who – those of a nervous disposition should hide behind the sofa! The recent 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who – ‘The Day of the Doctor’ – may have been a global hit, but much more important to me was my first year in retirement – The …
Read More
New Year’s Eve 2013
The Wheatsheaf We drove over to The Wheatsheaf at Titchmarsh for their celebratory NYE meal. We got together a party of ten – Carol, Jo, Janet, Lee, Nick, Celina, Ralph, Karen, Ann and me – and made an evening of it! The food was superb and although we got their relatively early – 8pm – …
Read More
Christmas 2013
Mum arrived on Christmas Eve (she’s here until Saturday) and Lee had stayed over from the weekend. So, this year was about a close as it gets to a family Christmas. With all the pressies under the tree and the three-bird-roast awaiting its fate, we were all set. Lee and Mum were in fine form …
Read More
Lunch in a Hurry
Roy, Susan, Janine and Lauren, joined us for lunch. It was a little hurried as they got held up and we were destined for the annual carol concert later in the evening at the Salvation Army in town. Luckily, Ann had done most of the food preparation the day before, so there was very little …
Read More
Family Boot Sale and Pressy Swap
Tempted? Me neither!We drove up to Denis’ today for lunch and the mega-pre-Christmas-present-swap. Those present: Bev, Roger, Oliver, and Ann. Jane was working and Lee didn’t feel too well (so she stayed at ours). We had a great journey there – where was everyone? – the A1 was deserted! We stopped-off at Mae’s grave in …
Read More
Anniversary Lunch and a Long Screw
No, not the effects of the wine – that IS a tree hanging from the ceiling! It was good to revisit The George in Stamford today – we haven’t been there since November 2010). We’d arranged for a celebratory lunch there for our second anniversary – for us, it’s the perfect venue. After struggling to …
Read More
Amazing Special Effects!
Click on the pic to go to the YouTube link We’ve all become used to awesome special effects in films and TV these days, but this is soooooo clever! How did they do it? Even cleverer when you learn that it wasn’t made by the BBC, but a very talented individual!! – Remember, this scene …
Read More
Anniversary 2/29
So, here we are – our second wedding anniversary (or 29 years together in ‘old money’!) ..and we’re still talking! …and sometimes to each other! But seriously, some things just work well together, and I’d put us up there with other ‘perfect combos’ such as Morecambe & Wise, grated cheese & baked beans and Cameron …
Read More
Christmas has Begun…
When does Christmas officially start for you? For us, it’s when we’ve bought the Radio and TV Times… …blown the dust off my reindeer slippers! Classy ehh? …put the tree up …decorated the fireplace! and sampled a few Christmas wines!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Tech Alert: No. 831
Technophobes, look away now! This is a handy piece of kit – it’s the tongue-twisty Huawei Mobile WiFi E5776. The device gives you your own wireless network wherever you are using the 3G/4G network – so no more rip-off fees from hotels to use the internet!!! It’s about the size of a cigarette packet (remember …
Read More
Android’s ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ Update
My Galaxy S4 got a hefty 700Mb+ auto-download today to update it from ICS v4.21 to ICS v4.3.
Christmas Stuffing
We invited Chris and Pete & Jo, Janet and Carol over for a pre-Christmas get-together and lunch today. Lee joined us too – a ‘full-on’ pre-Christmas stuffing awaited us! Ann had worked hard in the kitchen on Saturday preparing it all – creating a choice of two starters, roast chicken for mains and two desserts. …
Read More
Double Birthday – Fondue Frenzy
Yummy! Our favourite – a rather cheeky sweet redWe walked (yes, unbelievable I know!) the quarter-of-a-mile to Julie and Tom’s tonight. Trish and John were there, and so were Karen and Paul, Rosi and Dave. Rosi had arranged a surprise double-birthday-meal (for Julie and for Paul), complete with a visit from a local wine expert. …
Read More
Be More DoGGGG!
I travelled down to London today to catch-up with Sally B and Diana D. Mostly social, but we did talk a bit of business too! Thanks for lunch Sally – Carluccio’s was scrummy. Whilst I was in St Pancras International, I took the opportunity to slip into ‘geek mode’ and see if the phone would …
Read More
Full-on Saturday
The Vines, Barton Hall, Kettering Even though we’re smug enough to say that all the Christmas shopping is finished, today was one of those ‘not-a-moment-to-breathe’ days – there just seemed to be hundreds of little jobs that needed sorting. In spite of an early start, we didn’t get back from town until almost lunch-time – …
Read More