Cor, that was scrummy – a home-made shepherds pie for lunch!!!
A Tasty Bird…
Thanks to John, our driver, who battled through the elements to pick Mum up from Biggin Hill this morning, we’re (mostly) all here. Lee joined us at 11 and Ann’s Dad and step-Sister, Bev, will be with us for Christmas day – perfect, just perfect! All that was left to do was to secure a …
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Snow, Ice and Computers
Bah! the overnight snow forced Ian and I to cancel our techy get-together today. Still, we’ve rebooked it for January – hopefully, the weather will be a bit kinder then!!!
Test Drive: Vauxhall Insignia – Day 2
Day 2 of the 3-day test drive with the Vauxhall Insignia. It was slightly warmer in the morning (only minus 3C!!!) and the roads were a lot better. This gave me an opportunity to push the car a bit harder and take a closer look at the toys. It’s still a bit early to determine …
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Test Drive: Vauxhall Insignia
With a frighteningly cold night (-11C when I got up this morning), it probably wasn’t the best time to have the Vauxhall Insignia for a three-day test drive. By the time the car arrived, it was almost lunchtime, but worth the wait! Even though they couldn’t supply me with my first choice (an ‘Elite Nav’), …
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A Christmassy Sunday
It’s been a great day – and a chrismassy one too! We finished putting up the decorations round the house, popped down to ASDA to top-up the champagne stock (no luck though – they were out of stock!), had carols playing on the iPod all day and generally got the house ready for Christmas day. …
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Christmas TV 2010
I feel Christmas has truly arrived once I can see what’s on the box!!! (oh, and once the tree’s up!) These are the covers for the Radio and TV Times for this year. Hhhmmm, Wallis and Gromit again! 2009 Christmas covers 2008 Christmas covers
RIP – Mae Gambles
Ann’s step-mother, Mae lost her battle against cancer today – Thursday, December 16th, 2010. She had been moved to the Hospice just a week prior, and we’d all been to see her last Saturday.
Ooh err Missus (literally!)
I read this in the Daily Telegraph, so it MUST be true! 🥰😀
Lounge Wizards
We turned into Lounge Lizards Wizards today, and stripped it all out ready for Honor’s decorating skills next Thursday and Friday. I think we were both amazed at how dirty everything had become since we last gave everything a good clean!!!
Visiting Mae at the Hospice
This has been one of the less-cheerful Saturdays of the year as we headed towards Lincoln to visit Mae at the Hospice. When we were advised a few days ago, to visit her ‘sooner rather than later’, we knew it was serious. So, as the Gambles clan – Denis, Roger, Ann and Bev…and me, gathered …
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Pussy Patrol
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Yes, it’s that time again where we attempt to get Biscuit and Bon-Bon into the cat carriers for their journey over to Rushden and their six-weekly ‘wash-and-brush-up’ with Patsy. It’ll be a stressful event, with fur-flying and Elastoplast at the ready, …
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The Cecilian Singers’ Carol Concert 2010
Click on the Programme for a larger version We’ve been going to this concert in Leicester for a few years now and it really gets us in the ‘christmassy mood’. It was being held at the rather splendid Church – St Philip’s, in Evington Road/Evington Lane in Leicester. I left around 5.30 and picked-up Val …
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New and Blue!
The new (blue) carpet was laid yesterday evening in the Dining Room, so we spent an hour-or-so tonight shifting everything back in. I can now see the TV now it’s not obscured by the dining-room table!
Han Job and DiCaprio
Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr Nick and Celina joined us for the weekend. In spite of the appalling weather and icy driving conditions during the day, by the evening, it was just raining as we drove over to our fave Chinese Restaurant – Han – in Market Harborough. We haven’t seen Nick and …
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Holiday – Day 9: Gibraltar
False alarm – the promised storm didn’t materialise…or was it that I was so tired I slept through it all? Anyway, first stop, is the shop to get my money back on the rope we used to lash ourselves to the mast over-night! 7.00am: We were up early today as for some bizarre reason, the …
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Holiday – Day 8: Cartagena
Well, here we are, it’s 7.45am and we’re just slipping into the port of Cartagena. Until we booked the cruise, I hadn’t heard of it, as part of the itinery of cruise-ports. So, for people like me, here are the headlines – It’s a Mediterranean city and naval station, located in the Region of Murcia, …
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Holiday – Day 7: Barcelona
One of the GREAT things about cruising is that you get to see lots of different countries – and only have to unpack once! The downside (and it doesn’t happen too often) is that you are at the mercy of mother-nature, and in particular, the bad weather at sea when you’re between ports – and …
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Holiday – Day 6: Monte Carlo
“Been there, done that…” – It’s a fine day (better than at home, where we hear that the white stuff has arrived!) but as we’ve been up and around Monte Carlo a number of times on previous cruises, there wasn’t much point in getting off the ship today. Also, Ann didn’t sleep too well, so …
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Holiday – Day 5: Port of Civitavecchia, Italy
The Atrium – Queen Victoria 10.40: The first part of our holiday is over and we’ve left Rome behind. For the final part, we taken the train from Rome to Civitavecchia station. The journey took just over an hour and on arrival, we shared a cab with another couple who were also bound for the …
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Holiday – Day 4: Rome (final day)
It’s our final full-day here. On the plus side that means there’s only another two juices to try out at breakfast! On the down-side , we’ll be sad to leave Rome, because of its people, manic drivers and architecture! So, breakfast beckons, and having drunk (and survived) yesterday’s juice-of-the-day, ‘Tropical’ (aka Domestos Forest-Fresh), it’s time …
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Holiday – Day 3: The Vatican
The highlight today is our visit to the Pope’s condom-inium, the Vatican – we’ve got a timed tour at 10.30, so that gives us plenty of time to look around the local area and walk-off breakfast (just two-steps then!). Talking of breakfast, with some reservation, we gave it a second-chance, hoping that yesterday’s fiasco was …
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Holiday – Day 2: Rome
We both slept deeply – the double-glazing helped and also because there were no cats jumping on-an-off the bed! A quick peek through the curtains revealed that it’s very grey out there, so I think umbrellas will be the fashion accessory of choice together with warm coats. And so, to breakfast. Trip Advisor reviews had …
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Holiday – Day 1: Rome
After landing, we took the train from Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) Airport – thirty minutes, 28 Euros and a fifteen minute walk later we arrived at the Hotel Augusta Lucilla Palace – find it on Google Maps HERE. The weather is cold and rainy and we’ve discovered how high the kerbs are and how many …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 – OFFICIAL
…And this is the official trailer
Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 (Fake!)
This one is doing the rounds on YouTube. It’s actually a fake…but it’s a good one!!!
PPPPPP!
You know what they say: Proper Preparation Prevents P**** Poor Performance! In that case, our holiday should be fantastic, as we’ve been preparing for ages! We’re nearly all packed…just need to get the sink and the fridge-freezer in the case, and that’s the house completely empty!!! Yesssss…! Italy, here we come!!!!
Visiting Mae
We drove up to the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston today for our first visit to see Mae, Ann’s Step-mum. We met Denis (Ann’s dad) and Bev (Ann’s step-sister) there and as we were all a bit early for visiting hours, we headed for lunch in the hospital restaurant. Mae was admitted a few weeks ago …
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The Saxon Mill
I took the short drive over to The Saxon Mill on the Coventry Road, near Warwick. It’s my three-monthly get-together with Ian and Mags – time for a catch-up on each others’ activities. It was also our ‘Christmas do’ the nearest we’ve scheduled it to Christmas for many years. Unusually, 🙂 I was first to …
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Another ‘full-on’ day
Here we are then – Sunday – where I’m trying to cram three-days of work into just this morning!!! (cue: Mission Impossible theme!!) We’re on holiday from next Saturday, (Lee is house-sitting), and I’m out for most of this week too! We’re also out later today with Lee to take her for her birthday lunch …
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