Today, the 22nd May 2011, is a very special day in my motoring diary. It’s the first day for about 35 years, where technically, I no longer have any points on my driving licence! From that pants-moistening day back in 1975, where I was caught in Catford, South London, doing 52 in a 30 (eeek!), …
Read More
Another manic Saturday
Here we go then… deep breath… 7. 45am – Lee to the local Parcels office to pick up mystery parcel. CHECK 10.00am – Front path and side path pressure washed. CHECK 11.15am – OCA Magazine final design, final proof read and signed-off for printing. CHECK 12.00 noon – Truckloads of little jobs to sort relating …
Read More
Photo Shoot
I was up with the lark this morning (what a surprise!). I picked up John W and we headed to Burton Latimer for a photo shoot featuring my new car. We wanted to make best use of the natural early-morning light. More piccys to follow, but here’s one that makes it look really eco friendly …
Read More
Packing-up (Part 2)
Ann went round to Lee’s to help her pack-up her stuff before she’s evicted in just over a week’s time! I was planning to help, but I seem to have come back to the UK with truckloads of paperwork to sort out. I started on it at 5.30am and was still buried in the stuff …
Read More
DVD: The King’s Speech
Ann and I had seen The King’s Speech at the cinema back in January – but Lee hadn’t, so we had the perfect excuse to watch it again – this time on Blu-Ray DVD.
David and Val’s for a Feast
We popped around to David and Val’s tonight for our regular monthly food-fest. On this occasion, we ate-in, Val provided the mains and Ann provided the desserts. Yummy all round! Delyth was there, so we had an opportunity to catch-up with her too! By 10pm, my week in Sweden had caught up with me and …
Read More
Packing-up
We spent most of the day round at Lee’s helping to pack up her things into boxes. This is in preparation for her her eviction in a few weeks. It´s just not right that because the person letting the property gets behind with their mortgage, that the innocent tenant is punished and thrown out -and …
Read More
Another trip to ‘Ireland’
What a spooky coincidence! I’d already to planned to catch-up with Denise for lunch in London, but due to a change in both our schedules, we realised we didn’t need to travel that far! Instead, we went to the village of Ireland, in Shefford, and The Black Horse, a lovely Pub/Restaurant – the coincidence being …
Read More
Another Brick in the Wall…
Ralph’s been here this week from Tuesday to Friday making excellent progress with the wet-room. This week he’s positioned the towel rail and the loo and also fitted the wooden frame for the false wall. Nice one Ralph – we appreciate your expertise and fantastic attention to detail!
Next Week’s ‘Doctor Who’ episode
This looks good: “The Curse of the Black Spot”
Bank Holiday Weekend with Ian and Sharon – Arundel
Another fine day down here and we’re going to make the most of it and drive over to Arundel. Shops first, then the Castle! But not before we visited our fave posh ‘greasy spoon’ here: The Moat house in the town centre, and enjoyed a full-English brekky!!! Then it was a mooch round the …
Read More
Bank Holiday Weekend with Ian and Sharon
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr The day began early – earlier than planned – Neil rang to say that the M11 was closed in both directions, so we left around 7.30. Lee is cat-sitting for us and looking after the numerous ironing duties – thanks Lee! The plan was to drop into Mum’s, …
Read More
The Royal Wedding
I’m not an avid Royalist – I never felt the urge to wave the Union Jack today, but I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed the whole of the BBC’s TV production – in HD of course! Splendid camera work, a good-day weather-wise (although it started off a bit grey), and I loved Kate’s dress. …
Read More
Easter Sunday (2011)
It’s a gorgeous day here again today – not quite as warm as yesterday but just right for doing stuff around the garden! …and more stuff! …and more stuff!! …and more stuff!!! Of we go then – I pressure-washed the back-garden patio, then I did the same to the front pathway, then I removed the …
Read More
Easter Day (2011)
After dropping into Central Garage to have the locking wheel nuts changed on Ann’s Fiesta, we headed up to Denis’ for lunch. It was another fine day here and even hotter there – 27 degrees – another scorcher! After a full-scale roast chicken lunch followed by Ann’s ‘plums cooked in red wine and served with …
Read More
Easter 2011 (Good Friday)
Well, the great surprise this year, is that weather has been (and is forecasted to be) SUPERB – mid 20s round here, which suits us perfectly. Whereas the rest of mankind is getting away from it all, we’re staying-put and doing some jobs around the garden. The new pressure-washer that I bought yesterday has already …
Read More
Spring..and a man’s thoughts turn to…
…tidying-up the garage! Yes, it’s that time of year again, the sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky – so we’re going to give the garage some love and attention! The target in previous years has always been to try and clear it sufficiently to get both of our cars away. …
Read More
Lent Boy – Revisited
OK, so today’s the end of Lent, and with a slightly smug look on my face, I can say that I managed to more-or-less* stick to my list of banned substances during the Lent period. Beer, Biscuits, Cake, Cheese, Chinese, Chips, Chocolate, Cider, Coke, Crisps, Crunchy-nut Cornflakes, Curry, Custard, Guinness, Ice-cream, Pastry were all banned. …
Read More
Nicki joins us
Nicki joined us today. The weather seemed to get better and better, so we decided to pop down to Kelmarsh Hall for their annual Game and Country Fair. Apparently it’s been running for over 20 years and yet, we’d never heard of it! By the time we got there, it was a proper Summer’s day …
Read More
It’s chilli round here…
David, Val, Jo, Janet and Lee joined us for one of our infamous ‘chilli-nights’. I’d created the chilli a couple of days ago and left it to germinate fester improve, and then popping it into the sloooooow-cooker just after 2 this afternoon, for five hours of simmering – yum yum! All that was needed was …
Read More
Pipe Dreams
Ralph’s been here this week progressing our wet-room project. This week he turned his attention to connecting-up the water supply to the wall-mounted loo, the shower and the new basin. Next phase: the framework for the false-wall and the fitting of the gulley. Wet Articles Wet, wet, wet (week 1) Wet, Wet, Wet …and the …
Read More
..and so, ‘Bye-Bye Mr Mondeo’
And so, with just a few days until its three-year anniversary, my trusty Mondeo is leaving today for a new home. I’ve always had a close relationship with my cars – maybe it’s a bloke thing or maybe it’s just me but and I WILL be sorry to see it go. It has to be …
Read More
Mrs T’s PC Sorted!
Popped round to Julie’s today to finish the job on her that I started a while ago on her PC. I also managed to sort out a small problem she was having with her email diverts. Job done!!!
‘The George’ – Buckden
We met up with Roger, Jane and Oliver at The George in Buckden today for lunch. It was our first visit and the fact that Buckden is about half-way between us, made the journey a lot easier. The food and service was fantastic, and we had a good time – we’ll certainly be going back …
Read More
Cats in… Shorts and Carnuba Wax out!
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr What a glorious day! it has to be the warmest day of the year so far – 23/24 degrees C! So, after Ann and Lee dropped off the Biscuit and Bon-Bon for their six-weekly spit-and-polish with Patsy, it was time to …
Read More
Squeeze my Box (Part 2)
I picked up a bargain on Amazon this week in the shape of the Logitech Squeezebox Radio. It’s a neat device that looks and behaves like a radio except that it gets its signal via your router – so no dodgy reception issues, even with our very s-l-o-w internet connection. It also receives Internet-only radio …
Read More
Ralph and Karen here for the Weekend
FRIDAYRalph and Karen joined us tonight – they’re here until just after breakfast on Sunday. The plan is that Ann and Karen will take the train to London on Saturday for shopping (now there’s a surprise) whilst Ralph and I waited news of my new car. SATURDAYGood news to start our day then! At around …
Read More
…and finally, the new car is here
After many months of indecision, and a false dawn yesterday, my new car is finally here. More photographs to follow… Another Boy and his Toy!!!!
Doctor Who – New Series
I’ve heard that the new series begins on Easter Saturday. Full length trailer started to appear this week – up until then, there had been a short 5 second teaser.
The Maiming of the Shrew
…or a vole…or a dormouse*. At around 9pm, Biscuit and Bon-Bon had been in the back-garden as normal, exercising their routine Gaddafi-like control over the local residents there. Their reign-of-terror generally includes holding some of the locals hostage and controlling the size of the population through their zero-tolerance policy to foreign visitors. Previously, their most …
Read More