If you are ever in the vicinity of Westerham in Kent and fancy a curry in very posh surroundings, look no further than the imaginatively titled ShamPan 4, cunningly located in what used to be the rather mediocre Spinning Wheel restaurant. We took Mum there tonight (thinking it was still the ‘old’ Spinning Wheel’). From …
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The School Re-opens
In my capacity as Chairman of the ex-pupils association, ‘The Old Croydonians’, I was invited with many others, to see the official re-opening of the school, now reborn as: The Crescent Primary School. It was a well supported event, with the pupils singing their school song and the head-teacher recounting how the school reinvented itself. …
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2013: Birthday Trip to London
57 on the outside, 19 on the inside! Well, that’s my ‘take’ on things! Ann took the day off and we headed for London. We set off on the 8.59 from Kettering which we caught with minutes to spare because of some congestion on the way there! Phew! On arrival, the main attraction was …
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A Dent in Derngate!
I haven’t been to the Derngate Theatre since November, last year, so it was good to make the return journey for a couple of reasons: First up, they were showing a performance of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Live and second, it starred my good friend, Susan Sheridan, who played the part of the …
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Vines Dine – Fine!
Ann had been working in Sheffield for most of the week, so we decided to celebrate the end of her manic week and take the short walk to The Vines. Yes, I know, us WALKING!, hard to believe, but it’s true! Well, that was the plan, until Ann got caught in a really bad traffic-jam …
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Job Done!
I wasn’t anticipating that after the difficulty of removing the cabinet front from the old fridge door a couple of days ago, that attaching it to the new fridge was going to be any easier! However, after some words of guidance from my brother, it all went very smoothly! The fitting kit was a doddle …
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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 2)
As planned, the replacement fridge arrived today – and after yesterday’s fiasco (in Who Moved My Cheese? – Part 1) attempting to remove the cabinet door (that I needed to keep) from the fridge door (that I didn’t!), I was hoping that installing would be a far more straightforward job than removing! Probably the hardest …
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Who Moved My Cheese? (Part 1)
..but more to the point, who moved my fridge? As all good people-developers know, ‘Who Moved my Cheese? is the title of a very successful book & video by Spencer Johnson. It illustrates how to cope with change. Dealing with change seemed wholly relevant as I ventured into the murky world of ‘DIY’ – specifically, …
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Small is Beautiful!
Out with the white in with the black! You know me – if it’s ‘tech’, “I love it!”. Finally after what the Sky installer estimated was at least a 10-year-old piece of kit, our white ‘Sky160-box’ in the bedroom finally gave up (after slowly ‘losing’ most channels one-by-one over the past few weeks). In spite …
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Queen’s Greatest Hit?
Today, we’re heading for the capital to take a look round Buckingham Palace! It’s our second visit, but a first for Roger, Jane and Oliver. Roger has organised everything – food, taxis and rail tickets. So we just needed to take the short drive to Harlow Town railway station to get us to Liverpool Street. …
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Non-Techies, look away now!
I’m posting this so that others needn’t go through the same steep learning curve as me, trying to sort out (deep breath!) ”Blogger posts’ visibility using a sub-domain, after a change of domain host”. I spent about 5 hours in all, trawling the net and ringing support-techies for the answer. Lucky I’m retired with nothing …
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The Burger and the Politician
Those of a superstitious nature might have felt that today’s lunch was never meant to happen! I’d agreed to meet up with Alison W in Peterborough for our normal twice-yearly get together. We’d met back in February at The Granary and although the lunch there was ‘OK’ we decided that this time we’d try somewhere …
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DVD: Star Trek – Into Darkness
An exciting start with the pre-credit scenes in this second outing for the rebooted Star Trek franchise – and for the seven people in the world who have 3D TVs, there’s even more to enjoy – especially in the first 10 minutes. The major characters all looked and sounded like their ‘originals’, although ‘new’ Kirk’s …
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Sally gets an iPad Mini
I took the train to London today to meet up with Sally B. She’s treated herself to a shiny new iPad Mini – so that was a perfect excuse for me to immerse myself in a fruit-based OS (part of my ‘five-a-day’), catch up with all Sally’s news, and use up my last Pizza Express …
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Oxford/Silver Party
We started the day by driving over to Oxford to meet up with Nicki C. We did the smart thing and took the Park-and-Ride, both arriving there at about the same time. Oxford was fab. The weather turned out to be better than forecast – hot! and we had a great meal in the roof-top …
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Heard the one about an Italian and the Mexican?
David and I slipped into ‘pensioner-mode’ and then into Kettering Prezzo’s for a voucher-sponsored lunch. After a quick look through the menu, we both opted for the Calzone – the ‘lovechild’ of a pizza and a Cornish Pasty! Despite its doubtful heritage, we both opted for the Carne Picante variant, consisting of chicken, meatballs, chillies …
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The (Bank Holiday) Weekend Starts Here…
FridayDenis joined us in the afternoon. He’s staying until Sunday. He’d had a good trip down and was already at ours when I got back from Trish and John’s after sorting out a few bits & pieces with Trish’s phone and tablet. Ann was working from home and after a(nother) frantic week at work, we …
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Hidcote Manor Gardens
We drove over to Ian and Ann’s this afternoon. We had lunch at theirs before taking the short drive to National Trust’s Hidcote Gardens. Apparently, we haven’t been there for around 15+ years, but I don’t recall any of it at all – but it was DEFINITELY worth the visit (even though the weather was …
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The Mexican and a Tablet
After our disastrous visit to the new Turkish restaurant with Paul and Sue back in April, we decided to play it safe and cook it all ourselves this time!Paul and Sue came to ours, and with me in charge of the kitchen (a rare event in itself!), ‘Mexican’ was the menu of choice! Even the …
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Return to Kushboo
We haven’t been to Kushboo since what feels like ages! (it was actually December 2008), but it was the perfect venue for my regular three-monthly meet-up with Mags and Ian. Ann was also back in good time and was able to join us! For a Monday, it was already quite busy when we got …
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Galaxy Minis
I spent a very productive couple of hours today helping Trish and John get their heads round their two shiny new Galaxy S Minis. They’re a great phone, packed full of features and ideal if you want a screen that’s not too large – and don’t fancy an iPhone!
Pussy Galore
We popped over to Wootton to Chris and Gill’s for a meal tonight. Steve and Denise were also there, but the added surprise was Wootton’s now acquired three additional cats in the shape of Evie, Archie, Hattie. They join Charlie – and the ageing Carmen (20 years young) to complete the ‘set’ Two minutes later, …
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Wilting Spinach!
Trish – where are you? We were due to pop round to our good friends Trish and John this evening for a meal. However, Ann’s boundless energy rebounded, after a particularly busy week at work, and so I did the socialising whilst Ann recharged her batteries at home. Tom and Julie were there, as were …
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An Alternative to PowerPoint?
A lot of my friends and colleagues have grown-up using PowerPoint for their presentations. Nothing wrong with that, but the trouble is, EVERYONE seems to use it for EVERY presentation these days! – and it can be hard to make yours stand out. I came across PowToon this week, and it looks like fun – …
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Two for the O2!
I met up with Angela C at Waterloo station and we headed off in the direction of the O2. To make it a bit unusual, we took the cable-car ride from Victoria Dock – it’s only about a 10 minute ride, but you do see some spectacular views across London. So, not a great day …
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A Celebration in Worthing
FRIDAY We headed off to Worthing, as tomorrow is our good friends’ Ian and Sharon’s 10th wedding anniversary. The event has come round really quickly – it seems like only yesterday, we last roasted in sun-drenched Worthing. Because of the National Bowls Tournament, accommodation had been difficult to book, but we eventually located a small …
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The Clans are Stuffed!
Today was one of those rare family events – we got together the majority of the two clans around at ours for a communal lunch. With one eye on the weather forecast and the other on our stock of washing-up liquid, we prepared for the three-course meal – and ten hungry mouths. Unfortunately, Lee cried-off, …
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The Alan Parsons Project – The Final Remaster?
Alan Parsons fans rejoice! The final remaster – I, Robot, is being released on September 16th.
‘History Live!’ at Kelmarsh Hall
With cracking good weather promised, we decided to take the short drive to where we got married – Kelmarsh Hall – to see English Heritage’s annual Historical event. Now renamed ‘History Live!’ it promised all the good stuff we’d seen in previous years, so we knew we were in for a treat. As things turned …
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Knuckles Rapped and Bubble Wrap!
Bummer! Why was it that today, the only recycle-bin in our street that wasn’t emptied, was ours? Simples! (apparently!) I’d put bubble-wrap in the bin and as every schoolboy knows, that’s not recyclable. So, I had to empty the bin and remove the bubble-wrap before ringing the Council to arrange a separate pick-up ‘sometime soon’. …
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