What was going to be a pretty straightforward Saturday: ‘Meet-up-with-Mum, Neil and Debbie-for lunch-and show-off-the-wedding-pics’ rapidly turned into a completely different day! WEDNESDAY: It all started when Mum rang and announced that she’d tripped over her shopping bag and hurt her back. FRIDAY: Mum rang to tell me that “because Doctors at her surgery don’t …
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Sky Gods
We love our TV, and more especially, all the ‘stuff’ that the ‘Sky-Gods’ provide – the excellent sky-box (that consistently wins all the design awards when pitched against everyone else’s), the mobile app, and the ability to set-the-box using my phone – these all make watching our fave programmes a breeze. Something we’ve got very …
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Tea anyone?
All this rain we’re getting, does at least have one advantage: by not being able to get out, it allows me to get on with other stuff. The stuff in question this time has been to design a web-site for a long-standing friend and business colleague for his recently purchased Tea-Room in Stratford-upon-Avon. …
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DVD: The Artist
<img src=”https://lh5.ggpht.com/-c11sv_f0oRg/T98buwwq76I/AAAAAAAAJVU/vmTZ0pBPr6g/videoe074ce59ea53%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800″ style=”border-style: none” galleryimg=”no” onload=”var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById(‘ee855012-2e83-479b-bfdf-e9991baa3150’); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = “ https://www.youtube.com/v/OK7pfLlsUQM?hl=en&hd=1“;” alt=””> The Artist–November 2011 David was away singing in a Salvation Army choir tonight, so Val joined Lee, Ann and I to watch The Artist on DVD (after devouring one of Ann’s superb Lasagnes!) A hit when it was released back in …
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Meal with David and Val
David and my starter – pork pie, cheeses, chutney, biscuits, ham, warm crusty bread and something green We went to The Lamport Swan tonight for our monthly meal with David and Val. It must be our fifth or sixth visit there – a first visit for D and V – and it seems to get …
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Are Friends Electric?
I met up with Ralph for lunch today at the Toby Carvery at Enderby (we know how to live!). It was the first time I’d seen his new car – the rather spectacular Vauxhall Ampera. I was even more impressed when I got inside. DVD player, Sat Nav and reversing camera are all standard equipment. …
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London Calling – 2
..and down to London again today to meet up with Nigel and Denise from The Career Practice. Looks like we might be able to do some business together! We had lunch at the Spaghetti House just down the road, and then a quick spell at their offices before heading back to St Pancras International to …
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London Calling – 1
I headed for London this afternoon, to meet up with Carey, Antoinette and Angela. We’ve booked a table at one of our favourite haunts – ‘EV’ (part of the Turkish ‘TAS’ restaurant chain) near Waterloo. Well, it was great to catch-up, and seemed like ages since we’d done this (it wasn’t that long ago!). The …
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Cats in/Back out
Biscuit and Bon Bon – November 2007 (Photo credit: Steve Palmer (UK)) Ann (with Lee) dropped the cats at Patsy’s for their six-weekly wash-n-brush up. The plan was that I’d pick them up a few hours later, as normal – but that didn’t happen. When I woke up this …
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Jubilee Holiday: Thursday
After breakfast we all decided to head into Ripon as planned. Just as we arrived, it started to rain and that’s how it stayed for most of the day. We had a quick look round the city before heading for the Cathedral – and it was worth the visit – probably the best one we’ve …
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Jubilee Holiday: Wednesday
The weather was looking as unpredictable as ever, so we played it safe and headed for the city of York by way of the park-and-ride and the Shopping Outlet. Roger navigated – and we ended up taking the slightly more (ahem!) scenic route! Eventually, we arrived and we soon parked-up at the Park-and-Ride, then grabbed …
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Jubilee Holiday: Tuesday
With the breakfast (routine running like a well oiled oily thing from oily town) over, we did separate things today. Roger, Jane and Oliver went off to ride on a steam train, whilst Ann and I slipped into castle-mode. First stop was Richmond, where the quaint town was also entertaining a fun-fair (as if the …
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Jubilee Holiday: Monday
Crikey, what is that yellow circular thing in the sky? With the sun shining, today, we’re off on the 20ish mile drive to Harrogate. Roger did the driving and we were soon there, looking for a place to park. How appropriate, the first we saw was the Jubilee multi-storey!! All parked-up we headed for the …
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Jubilee Holiday: Sunday
A long lie-in punctuated by Oliver invading our bed-space at around 7.30 – time for a sharp exit into the shower!!! The weather for the Jubilee looks atrocious, as it looks like it’s been raining all night. A quick look at the TV news, confirmed that it was just as bad in London too. We …
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Evening at Fountain’s Abbey
One of the benefits of staying at National Trust cottage is that there’s normally extra access rights to the property they’re near. So I took advantage of the opportunity and visited Fountain’s Abbey after hours. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but at least it was dry!
Jubilee Holiday: Saturday
We all slept well. I was up first (what a surprise!), followed a nano-second later by an excited Oliver. The remote controls for the TV/DVD combo had confounded all of us adults last night, but in Oliver’s hands, the problem was solved in seconds and the DVD was entertaining us in no time! Perhaps …
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Jubilee Holiday: Arrival
Here we are within spitting distance of Fountain’s Abbey, and as expected, not a mobile signal in sight! (Yes, Vodafone and O2, I’m looking at YOU!). We’re spending the Jubilee Weekend/Bank Holiday plus most of next week here with Roger, Jane and Oliver taking in the local attractions, including of course, next door: National Trust’s …
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There be Dragons!
Well, maybe! But all I need during our week away (Lee’s house-sitting), is a mobile phone signal! Apparently the properties around Fountain’s Abbey, have ZERO bars, even though it’s one of the most visited of National Trust locations. No phoning, no email, no blogs, no Twitter, and no Facebook! Eeeeekkk! Maybe the thought of ZERO …
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Website Makeover
I spent some time this week giving my personal website a bit of a makeover. Nothing too drastic, but I haven’t touched it since June 2010, and it deserved a bit of a tidy-up. The major changes included: adding links to my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts removing some crappy graphics enlarging the page …
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Terrific Tapas
It’s a fact: There’s ‘food’, ‘very good food’ and ‘food round at Karen and Paul’s’. Tonight was ’Tapas’ – and a real treat for our taste-buds. Add to that, Rosi’s ‘Toblerone cheesecake’, and dinner-dates don’t get much better! ‘Yummy’ with extra yumminess!!! Combined all of this with drinks on the patio under a perfect blue …
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Wedding Photographs
We dropped into Nigel’s this afternoon to pick up the Wedding photographs. It’s been a long wait, but definitely worth it – thanks Nigel, they’ve brought back some very happy memories of our special day. Friends and Family: Take cover, you know what’ll be the topic of conversation next time we …
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Sunday Lunch: Chris, Gill, Steve, Denise and Lee
It was our turn to host some of the ‘old Sainsbury gang’, so everyone came round for Sunday Lunch. Great conversation and great food all round!!!
DVD Blu-Ray: Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows
Well, this one will be going straight onto that small pile I own, categorised as: “crap”! If you like your films loud and brash – this one is for you. Explosions, hand-to-hand combat, fancy fight moves, guns, violence and chase scenes were all in evidence – a sort of ‘Die Hard with a Deer-Stalker’ (OK, …
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Lunch: Cox’s Yard
I drove over to Stratford-upon-Avon today to meet up with my good friend, Ian McLean. Trying to get into the town centre on a Friday AND park the car, was always going to be a problem, so we walked from Ian’s to Cox’s Yard, and found a watering-hole that overlooked the river. Initially, a good …
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The Palmichael
We had a great time last night at The Palmichael. We can’t believe we’ve been in Kettering this long and haven’t been there before now. Burton Latimer has always had a great selection of eateries, and this one sits ‘right-up-there’ in our book. Fantastic food, good service and although it’s quite pricey – you get …
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DVD: The Iron Lady
David and Val popped round. Together with Lee, and equipped with Val’s Shepherd’s Pie on our laps, followed by Ann’s rice-pudding, we settled down to watch The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent. A host of other well-known faces appeared in the film too including John Sessions, Richard E Grant and Anthony Head …
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Meal at ‘Exotic Dining’
Well, we tried it out back on 10 March, and this time we had the extra incentive of the infamous ‘2for1’/’4for2’ Card! After a slightly chaotic start where they took our orders and then five minutes later, asked if we wanted poppadums (err, twice!), we were rewarded with what was probably the best Indian food …
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Meal with Ian and Mags
Our three-monthly catch-up saw us frequenting The Swan at Lamport (or is it the Lamport Swan?) tonight. We haven’t been there since the last time we three got together back in December 2008 and I think we’d all forgotten how good the food was. I arrived around the same time as Mags and Ian followed …
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Lunch with Karen and Ralph
We drove up to The Queen’s Head in Belton today for lunch with Karen and Ralph. We haven’t been back there since 2010, and it’s a good ‘halfway-house for us all. It was good to catch-up, as we haven’t seen them since the Wedding! The weather was atrocious, going there and coming back (will it …
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Out and A Grout
A rather satisfying day here. As we waited for Noah and his Ark to turn-up :-), we passed the time by refreshing the bathroom – the major part being the re-grouting of the shower cubicle. Knowing my natural ability with DIY, this was a surprisingly good result!