Steve's Blog...

DVD: Black Swan

2012-02-11T22:15:00.000Z

First of all, ‘hats-off’ to Natalie Portman, who carried off the lead role in Black Swan very convincingly. It can’t have been the easiest of parts to study for, and she looked very credible in all the dance scenes.

Now to the story: Those expecting to see that nice girl from Star Wars as a ballet dancer, would have been surprised... very surprised! The similarity (and there weren’t many) was that this film, like Star Wars, explored the battle between the dark and the light in us all. It certainly wouldn’t have been a film that passed my ‘Granny test’ (would Granny have enjoyed it?). If this film was a colour, it would have been the darkest of blacks. Gratuitous sex, drugs, self harm, blood (plenty of it), lesbianism were all part of the storyline – a Royal Opera House performance this wasn’t!

Did I enjoy it? Well, not really! Although the acting was superb, it just made very uncomfortable viewing for me. I won’t reveal the details of the storyline here, as it’ll spoil it for those who’ve yet to see it on DVD or TV, but prepare for the unusual. Think ‘Ballet Dancer on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ and don’t watch it with anything hot in your hand – there are a number of shocking moments.

Scary stuff!!!

Lunch with Denis and Bev

2012-02-11T17:15:00.000Z

There’s cool weather, cold weather, freezing weather and TODAY! When Ann, Lee and I left for Lincoln, Ann’s car was saying it was –8C outside – it certainly felt like it and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so cold. As we drove a few miles through Weekley, the gauge plummeted to –11C. That’s right –11C!!!!! I think that’s the coldest day this year – maybe ever!!

We think the freezing temperature must have scared drivers off the road – they were deserted. Either that, or it was the Rugby on the TV!

The almost deserted roads meant a fast journey to Bev’s and we arrived in Lincoln in the record time of an hour-and-a-half. On arrival, Denis had arrived just minutes before and we were soon catching-up over tea and home-made cake (Nice cake Bev!). We also met Einstein, Bev’s rabbit, for the first time.

And then it was into town for the main mission – to pick up some new shoes for Ann. It was straight to Ann’s fave shoe shop, and after a quick peruse, the shop shock was two pairs lighter! Mission accomplished!!!!

Then after a quick look round the House of Fraser (almost empty), we headed for Pomodoro E Basilico, where we’d eaten the last time we came to Lincoln. It was amazing value at around £6 for two-courses and it was obviously a well-known fact as within 30 minutes the place was heaving! Unfortunately that meant that although the food was good, the service was a bit sloppy and we seem to wait ages between the starter and the main. When it did arrive, we sent our chips back straightaway because they were undercooked. It seemed that there weren’t enough waiters and the chefs were under pressure. Still, it didn’t affect the get-together and the bill of under £50 for five people including drinks brought a smile to our faces.

Then it was back to Bev’s for another round of tea and cake before heading home. Another hassle-free journey on the roads meant that we were back indoors by 5pm.

A lazy evening followed catching-up with the papers!

Tech Alert: No. 1123: “I Hate you Butler!”

2012-02-09T06:45:00.000Z

You wait for ages for one to come along…

..and then possibly the most useful Android app for a long while makes its appearance! If you live in London, or work there, or travel to the Capital once in a while. and have to get a bus from A to B, (that’s me!) this app is definitely for you – and it only cost £2.

Take a bow then: London Bus Checker from FatAttitude Ltd (now there’s a company name to be proud of!)

Think of Google maps with the added convenience of EVERY London bus route marked – that’s 20000 of them. And if that’s not enough, zoom in on ANY bus-stop to see what time the next bus is due – and that’s a live ‘due time’ (ie what’s really going on) rather a theoretical printed bus timetable. You can even search by bus number to see a particular bus route

– Stan from ‘On the Buses’ would hate this App – ‘Blakey’ would love it!!

Snow = ??

2012-02-05T11:30:00.000Z

Overnight, we had some significant snowfall here. As always, the roads are already chaos, some trains are cancelled and so are around 30% of flights out of Heathrow.

So, it was good to see we took the situation seriously - and made a snowman!!!

Snow Patrol

2012-02-05T08:30:00.000Z

After 2-3 inches of snow that fell during Saturday evening, we were debating the disadvantages of owning a WHITE cat! :)

First snow of 2012

Tech Alert No. 977: “Phone me some music”

2012-02-03T12:25:00.000Z

OK, so here’s the challenge. You’ve got a lovely up-to-date smartphone and you’ve managed to put a load of MP3s on it. Up ‘til now you’ve been very happy listening to your tunes through some ear-buds or headphones. For many, that’s all that’s required for a great musical experience.

Trouble is, some of us (of a certain age), have probably also got a good sound system at home with some nice speakers attached. Now, wouldn’t it be good if you could connect up your smartphone to your hi-fi and play your tunes that way – wouldn’t that just be the perfect marriage of old and new technology working seamlessly together?

As Thomas Magnum used to say: “I know what you’re thinking...”. ‘A degree in Electronic Engineering’, ‘miles of ugly cabling’ and ‘an afternoon behind the amp trying to recall what-goes-where’. Err, No!

Step forward the rather tongue-twisty: Logitech Wireless Speaker Adaptor for Bluetooth Audio Devices available from those nice people at Amazon and costs just £25. It’s a small black-box about the size of an iPod Classic. It has just three audio sockets on the back – twin phonos and a jack-plug. It’s mains powered and has a single button on the top. That’s it... very minimalist.

Getting it working was ‘simples’. Set the smartphone’s Bluetooth setting to ‘discoverable’, plug the black-box into the mains, press the ‘connect’ button on the top and within 30 seconds or so, the two should be taking to each other. In fact, I didn’t even need to add in the suggested four-digit pin to pair them – they just connected.

Last of all, use the connecting cable to plug the black-box into your sound system. It doesn’t have to be a hi-fi, it could be anything that’s got an external sound input socket on the back.

The result? A very convenient way to control music with the added convenience that the volume button on the phone controls the volume of the music coming out of the speakers. A couple of of sticky pads on the back and the device is now conveniently out of sight in the lounge.

Best £25 I’ve spent this year!

No Pressure Then!

2012-02-03T11:00:00.000Z

When the Wet-Room was completed a few months back, we soon realised that the whizzy-tap-with-no-knobs-on-you-just-hold-your-hands-near-the-tap-and out-comes-the-water was going to be a pain in the a** to live with! The problem? Unbeknown to any of us, it was only suitable for high pressure systems, and being upstairs where the water pressure is very low, the water just trickled out!

We sourced a more traditional sort this week and it was installed today by those very nice people from S and R Plumbing this morning.

Great! Now I can have a wash!!!! :)

Great App for Android Phones

2012-02-01T20:59:00.001Z

If you need to find the cheapest price for something, this is a great app.

...and it's. FREE!

Check Out "Idealo"

“I have a Dream (Weaver)”

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000Z

Well, that’s sorted Julie’s web-site out nicely. The site is already up and running but I’ve I’ve now put all the source files onto her PC so that she can use Dreamweaver to update it all more easily

Job done!

Meal with Ian and Mags: The Encore

2012-01-30T22:15:00.000Z

I drove over to Stratford-upon-Avon to meet up with Ian. He’d asked for my help with a thorough review of all his technology. We aimed to determine what he needed to integrate his music, data files, photographs in the most efficient way in preparation for his retirement – we also talked about the best sort of smart-phone to meet his needs.

Then we jumped in the car and drove into town for our normal three-monthly catch-up with Mags. Mags has chosen The Encore just on the corner of the High Street. We were well impressed – great service, an imaginative menu (I had chorizo sausage blended with Mash with a poached egg on top smothered in hollandaise sauce. Sounds mucky – tasted DELICIOUS!!)

As is usual with us three, we were all done by 9pm and after agreeing the date for our next get-together – The Lamport Swan in err, Lamport, I jumped in the car and headed home. Traffic was light and I got in just after 10pm. Looks like snow tonight, either that of a very thick frost.

Oliver’s Birthday/Get together with Gill and Chris

2012-01-28T23:45:00.000Z

It’s Oliver’s birthday today and we drove down to Duxford Air Museum to meet-up with the Jedi-Knight himself with Roger & Jane.

Wow! the Museum has changed – we haven’t been there for 20 years or more and there was so much more to see and do – simply brilliant!

We started off in Hangar 1 which now housed a Concorde together with dozens for other aeroplanes. Then we stopped for a break before heading off into the newer areas – more hangars, a recreation of some of the aircraft and machinery from the battle of Britain. Then it was a longish walk (brrrrr! it’s very cold today!) along the old runway to the newer American Hangar containing even more planes.

After around three hours there, we said our goodbyes in order to get home and have a bite to eat, a chill-out and a read of the papers before heading off to Gill and Chris’s tonight. Well, that was the plan – that’s before we noticed they’d closed the A14 near Huntingdon and diverted all the traffic off towards the A1198. That should have been OK, but that was congested too! and in the end, it took us around two-and-a-half hours to get home (should have taken 50 minutes!)

In the evening, we drove over to Gill and Chris’s. It was good to see them all again after the last time - at our Wedding; and with their girls at Uni, it was strangely quiet!

As always, Chris demonstrated his skills in the kitchen and served up butternut squash soup, followed by steak. Gill sorted dessert and we tucked into fruit strudel.

Having sorted out the world’s problems and debated the state of the training industry, we said our good-byes and head home. The roads were strangely empty, given that it was only around 11.15pm – where were all the Saturday-night ravers?

Thanks Chris, thanks Gill – it was great to see you both – our turn next time!

Moving Tenerife!

2012-01-25T18:00:00.000Z

A bit of a ‘tech’ afternoon here today. I spent a hour-or-so ‘moving’ a friend’s website files from their temporary home (a sub-folder on my website) to their very own shiny new web-space, courtesy of those nice people at 1 and 1.

So, if you want to test-drive it, (oh, and book a holiday in sunny Tenerife!) go HERE!

I Luv Technology - Part 994

2012-01-23T20:44:00.001Z

Got an Android phone? Got a Wi-Fi printer too? Want to print photos, emails, appointments and more?

Check Out "PrinterShare"

Brilliant!

Cats in/Oundle Mill

2012-01-21T23:00:00.000Z

Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr

Did you hear the screams? Attempting to get Biscuit and Bon-Bon in their respective cat carriers, so we can take take them for grooming, seems to becoming a more stressful event. They obviously associate the site of the cat-carriers as something painful (vets, injections, brush, hair driers etc) and they struggle to escape the ‘opportunity’ - as if their life depended on it. So much aggression – and in the case of the groomers – so much BLOOD! (Last time, Bon-Bon attempted to amputate one of the groomer’s thumbs!). This time, in an attempt to balance things up a bit, Biscuit went for her other thumb!!!

Still, sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind – but I’m not sure the cats see it that way!

In the evening, we drove over to Oundle Mill, a Mill in err, Oundle that’s now a thriving restaurant – and a boutique hotel. I haven’t been there since, well, I don’t know when, as there’s no references in any of my previous Blogs, so it’s got to be before 2003. Since then, we’re told it’s had a makeover – three years ago, so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like!

Wow! what a transformation! Driving down the dimly lit driveway to the car-park (they could do with some extra lighting here!), the extent of the makeover became obvious once we were inside. I seem to recall steps on the outside that led to the old Bar – they’ve disappeared. Instead, we have a spacious entrance area (now the hotel reception) with a glass panel showing off rushing water, thus retaining ‘the Mill’ experience. We were warmly welcomed and shown upstairs to the Bar area. Another massive transformation awaited us – now we have a chic environment, with comfortable sofas to chill-out on. And we did!

The drinks service was efficient, professional and polite, but a shame there was no Guinness. There was however, an extensive wine list and a very imaginative a-la-carte menu to select from. Everything was explained clearly and we were left to ponder the imaginative menu choices.

Our only initial concern was the place was a little quiet (but it was only 7pm). That soon changed, and by the time we were seated, the place was filling up nicely. Sean our Waiter looked after us in the same professional manner and the whole experience exceeded our expectations on every level. The food was simply delicious! and cooked to perfection – Mike and the girls had steak, whilst I went for the open-top venison pie - best pie I’ve tasted in a long time… so rich and tender - but enough of Ann! :)

All-in-all, a fantastic first experience and we’ll certainly be going back again in the not-too-distant future.

#oundlemill

Sherlock Holmes: Where Fact and Fiction Collide…

2012-01-15T22:45:00.000Z

How weird..!

Film: War Horse

2012-01-15T14:00:00.000Z

I didn’t think this was going to be my kind of film, but you can’t really go wrong with Steven Spielberg can you? – He’s a great story-teller and the cinematography in this film was just stunning!

So, even if you don’t like wars…or horses, go see this – it’s fantastic!!!!

War Horse Trailer 2011( Official Trailer )
- YouTube

Nut Cracked and Balls Busted!

2012-01-14T21:00:00.000Z

OK, a straightforward Saturday then. Drive to Kettering station, park the car, grab the train to London, get a cab to the Royal Opera House, see The Nutcracker. Job done!

Err, no!

We got the station in good time, to see around 200 people waiting for a train to London on platform 3! Something was wrong, seriously wrong! It turned out that there was a major signalling problem and there were no trains up from, and down to, London.

’Plan B’ then. Back to the car, and if I busted my balls and drove like a loony, we could get to Bedford Station, park up, and then grab a train from there into St Pancras. Even then, timing would be tight.

Someone was smiling on us and we got to there in good time, deposited the car and jumped on the next train south. It arrived at St Pancras just after 1.40. That left us with just 20 minutes to get to the Opera House. Mission impossible? Quite probably! but Ann briefed the taxi driver and emphasised our deadline. Seconds later, we were breaking the sound barrier hurling through the back streets of London on a promise from the taxi-driver that “we’ll make it, in plenty of time...”

He was true to his work and we were going through the front door of the Opera House at 1.53 – with a generous 7 minutes to spare!

We took our seats, surprising Roger, Jane and Oliver (who didn’t know we were going there as well) and settled down for a bit of Christmassy escapism.

Just slightly later than advertised, it was curtain-up. It was a full-house and we were treated to a fantastic production – lavish sets, superb dancing and (for the girls) large cricket-boxes!

When the production finished around 4.20 we grabbed a cab, and at a more leisurely pace, headed for St Pancras International and something to eat. We settled for the St Pancras restaurant and their afternoon tea. There was plenty to go round – even for Oliver!

An hour-or-so later, we said our good-byes and headed for the train home. As we got close to the concourse at about 6.15, we realised there was still a problem. The train timetable was still ‘to-cock’ and there were hundreds waiting for a connection. Luckily for us, our timed-train, the 19.00 was running to time, and as it turned out, we were unaffected. Picking the car up from Bedford Station, we hurtled home, and were indoors by 8.30.

It’s been a great day, but that initial problem with the trains did threaten to screw things up!

Tech Alert No. 237!

2012-01-09T17:00:00.000Z

Just took delivery of this handsome beastie! It scans, it copies, it prints.. and it’s wireless too!

Best news of all? It was cheaper than the printer it replaces (that one suffered a coronary just before Christmas).

It’s still less than £150 those very nice people at Amazon

Flight confirmed

2012-01-04T09:22:00.001Z

My flight’s status: SCHEDULED. Emirates 37 from DXB (14:55 GMT+04:00) to BHX (18:45 GMT)

Honeymoon Day 19: 3rd January (Tuesday) – Dubai: Our last full day before home!

2012-01-03T13:30:00.000Z

A very lazy day today – our last full day here before flying home tomorrow. What better way to spend it than doing nothing around the hotel pool. Temperature was just right – an occasional cool breeze and 27 degrees!

In the afternoon, we got packed for our return (always a depressing task!), especially as we know the weather is atrocious back in blighty!

For our final meal here in Dubai, we chose Asha’s, a well-known Indian Restaurant about 25 minutes away by cab. The restaurant was in a shopping mall that emulated Egypt, the Pharaohs and the Pyramids – very weird and somehow surreal to see how much it looked like the real thing.

It was a good meal in very plush surroundings. The journey back felt like it only took around 10 seconds! The cab driver felt he was in competition with the rest of the traffic in Dubai and this allowed him to attempt to set a new personal land-speed record!!! As a result, neither Ralph nor Ann enjoyed the trip back.

An early night for us – we’re more-or-less packed, with just a few bits to get together tomorrow.

By-bye Dubai! Next stop is Birmingham airport around 7pm tomorrow night. Back to reality ehh!!!

Honeymoon Day 18: 2nd January (Monday) – Dubai

2012-01-02T14:00:00.000Z

After the 14 hour flight courtesy of Emirates, after a short taxi-drive, we’re now at the Dubai Shangri-La hotel. It’s 6.45 in the morning here and the city is just coming to life.

The view from Room 3613
A good start to our stay was spotting the cake the hotel had put in our room! Yum-yum!

After checking out the free snacks and coffee option, we decided to spend the day looking around Dubai. Our first stop was Ralph and Karen’s friend’s place here, so Karen could pick up her ring that she’s left to repair last time they saw each other. Then it was the short walk along Jumeira Beach where we wandered along admiring the white sand the blueness of the sky.

Time for a coffee or four, so we were lucky and stumbled onto our first Starbuck’s, since we’ve been out here. As it was Karen’s birthday today, Ralph was scheming to try and get us into the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world – and star of the new Mission Impossible film). This was proving to be a real challenge, but in the end, with help of the Concierge at out hotel, we bagged a space in the Atmosphere Lounge there for 7pm tonight.

After our coffee, the weather was getting even hotter, so we jumped in a cab and headed for The Old Souq. The place was packed with people going about their business – from spices to ironing boards, the place to seem to have it all – except a cash machine! (which was now becoming urgent). We wandered up and down the harbour near the Souq, but we didn’t have any luck. In the end, we concluded that if we headed for the nearby metro station, that was bound to have one. At the station, we quickly learned how wrong we were, and after sussing out how the rail system worked and buying some tickets, we headed towards the nearest and next form of civilisation - the Dubai Mall. As we exited the metro station, there was a cash machine!

We then took the short walk to the Mall and discovered it was massive! Not just huge, but huger than huge! The girls went off to the department store, whilst Ralph and I sought refuge on the second floor – one dedicated to electronics and gadgets – marvellous! Panasonic were there, and so were Samsung, Bose and Olympus.

It was now 4pm and we re-joined the girls and headed back to the Shangri-La hotel. Ann and I were knackered and decided that we’d just put our feet up for a few minutes once we got back to the room. We had about an hour-and-a-half before were going out to the Burj Khalifa – what could possible go wrong? – well, plenty as it turned out!!

The next thing we knew, was the phone was ringing. It was Ralph reminding us that it was 6.30. Maybe it was just that we were tired, or maybe it was the jet-lag, but we’d dropped off into a deep sleep ever since returning from our walk. New personal records were broken as we both got ready in under 10 minutes : ) Ralph and Karen had gone on ahead and all we needed to do was grab-a-cab and head for the destination. Er, ‘no’. The cab driver hadn’t heard of the Atmosphere Lounge!

Anyway, we finally got to the building, but the cab-driver dropped us off a the wrong point, and after a bit more walking, another cab and then more walking – and finally what seemed like the mother of all multiple security checks we finally made it to the Atmosphere Lounge (or as it’s trendily know round here ‘At.mosphere’) housed on the 122nd floor. Wow! what a poncy place, further confirmed with the rather large notice displaying ‘minimum spend for gentlemen’ of Dh450 (around £90). It was good to go there – the views were simply stunning – especially the fountains that put on a stunning show), but the prices were just silly - £9 for a bottle of beer and service was at best, mediocre (how is it a cheese board takes longer to prepare than a hot meal?)

When we left around an hour later, Ralph and I had enjoyed a burger (the tallest building in the world serving the smallest in the world – accompanied by just 11 just chips), Ann had the cheese board and Karen had ‘posh chicken nuggets’ – ours for the bargain price for around £90. Lucky we didn’t have the full meal then!
We eventually found our way out of the building foolishly thinking that the way OUT was the same as the way IN! – thanks for that Reception Staff!!! We headed back to our room to eat our cake and open the bottle of bubbly we’d been given at a previous hotel.

Time for a proper night’s sleep now!!!

I luv Technology!

2012-01-01T11:45:00.000Z

Why would a holiday across half the world get in the way of watching a good TV show? Well, under normal circumstances it probably would, but with a bit of tech jiggery-pokery, here I am in the Emirates Lounge watching this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special on my NetBook! How is that even possible?

...answers on a postcard please! : )

Honeymoon Day 17: 1st January (Sunday) – New Year’s Day in Sydney

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000Z

We checked-out around 11am and then took the short walk to Darling Harbour, where spent most of the day. The weather was glorious – not a cloud in the sky. It was also the day that I added to my weird-ciders-of-the-world quest! Today, it was Strawberry and Lime – sounds terrible, looks awful... but tastes very nice (pity about the girly colour though!!!)

We then returned to the hotel for a quick wash-and-brush-up, ready for the limousine service to transport us to the Airport. By 6.30 pm, we were stuffing our faces in the Emirates Business Lounge, waiting for the flight.

Next stop – Dubai – 14 hours later!

See you on the other side!!!

Honeymoon Day 16: 31st December (Saturday) – New Year’s Eve in Sydney

2011-12-31T15:59:00.000Z

Here we are then – new year’s eve..and we’ll be one of the first to see it in as we’re 11 hours ahead of home : ) According to the local news, ove3r 1 million people are going to be heading for the immediate area to see the firework display – and there are signs everywhere illustrating the massive task of ‘locking-down’ Sydney to ensure it’s a safe and secure place to be. Apparently, they stopped people entering the city as early as 3pm today!

For us, no such worries as we were lucky enough to get tickets for Sydney Opera House that included:

A meal
An Opera show
A private view of the firework displays at 9pm and at midnight
A private party

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE FROM SYDNEY!

Tomorrow will be a bit of an anti-climax. We’re checking-out around 11am and doing nothing in particular until the chauffeured limousine picks us up and takes us to the airport around 6pm. We’re then flying to Dubai and spending the last few days of our honeymoon there – It’s a tough life!!!!

Honeymoon Day 15: 30th December (Friday) – Exploring more of Sydney

2011-12-30T14:00:00.000Z

Another day in paradise! We woke late and headed for a leisurely breakfast on our floor. Our Butler had already told us that breakfast time would be especially busy today on our floor, but as it turned out, it wasn’t! So, another very relaxed breakfast came our way!

After brekky, Ann and Karen went shopping whilst Ralph and I discussed a work proposal.

That took us all through until lunchtime when we headed out for Hyde Park Barracks and then onto the Botanic Gardens via some of the older buildings in Sydney. We finished off at Circular Quay (again!) for some drinks (again!!)

Did we mention bats in the Gardens?

For eats, we tracked down a good Mexican Restaurant Baja Cantina that was only 15 minutes away by taxi. Apparently, Mexican dining isn’t very popular in Oz (Factoid: apparently Italian is! The food was superb, and the cheapest since we’ve been out here

Tomorrow is a planned leisurely morning in preparation for our mega new year’s eve event! It will be a three-course meal, a load of live entertainment, two firework shows AND a private party, all at the iconic Sydney Opera House

Nighty-night!

Honeymoon Day 14: 29th December (Thursday) – Taronga Zoo/Mission Impossible

2011-12-29T14:00:00.000Z

All together now: “We’re going to the zoo.. zoo... zoo... Would you like to come too... too... too...”

After breakfast we decided to each do our own thing. Ralph and Karen headed for the Botanic Gardens for a revisit, whilst we did some quick shopping for essentials and then took the short ferry-journey to Taronga Zoo. Once again, we seemed to have chosen a place where the rest of the country was visiting too! It was packed. Even one of the locals mentioned they’d never seen it so busy! The temperature was perfect too –not quite a hot as yesterday, with a slight breeze – but still in the mid-twenties! Perfect!

The Zoo was FANTASTIC! It was well laid out, and the animals looked very comfy in their surroundings. For us, the highlight of the day was the Bird Show. How they managed to choreograph all the birds to tie-in with the live commentary, we don’t know, but it was nothing short of superb – and worth the entrance fee just for that! Not too mention the choreographed rats too! Brilliant!!!!

I think we managed to cover the whole zoo – tiger cubs, giraffes, elephants, gorillas, koalas and red hairy kangaroos – you name it, they had it!

..and not to mention the stunning views of Sydney Harbour

We decided the take the cable-car on the way back to the Ferry. Stunning views of Zoo from above!

And if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, after tucking into the free food at the hotel, we headed for Darling Harbour to see the latest Mission Impossible film on the ginormous iMax screen there! The film was great and the larger screen took some getting used to, but it was worth it – fantastic!!!

Honeymoon Day 13: 28th December (Wednesday) – Exploring around Sydney Harbour

2011-12-28T14:00:00.000Z

Today was the day for wearing out shoe leather – we must have walked miles!

After breakfast, we took the short walk to The Rocks tour office. This was an organised walking tour for around two-hours around the OLD parts of Sydney. Our tour-guide Sally, knew her stuff and we were shown the origins of Sydney and Australia itself – fantastic stuff!

We then had a short pit-stop in the Lord Nelson pub before heading off to Sydney Observatory.

We then found a street cafe for lunch and then off to Sydney Opera House to pick up our tickets for the New Year’s Eve Event and then went on for a walk around the Botanic Gardens.

The next time we looked at the time, it was approaching 4.30, so just time for a short ‘feet-up’ before we head off into town to look for somewhere to eat.

We decided to seek out a Thai restaurant and based on a recommendation from our butler (as one does!) we headed for Darling Harbour and a restaurant imaginatively titled I Thai. The food turned out to be superb!

After eating, we took a stroll along the rest of Darling Harbour and headed for the iMax cinema. We were hoping that the new Mission Impossible film was showing there. It was, so we booked tickets for tomorrow night at 8.15. This iMax has the world’s biggest screen, so it’ll be interesting to see what a feature-film looks like on it!

We got back around 10.30. Just time to think about tomorrow’s activities. I think we’ll do Sydney Zoo

Nighty-night all!

Honeymoon Day 12: 27th December (Tuesday) – Arriving in Sydney

2011-12-27T14:00:00.000Z

After an almost trouble-free drive back to Melbourne Airport to drop off the hire car. I say almost, because for a moment – just a moment – we thought we might not make it. It all started when we realised we were running low on fuel. The orange light came on and we thought ‘time to get some petrol’. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but combining the Christmas holiday with the vastness of Australia, and together, they combined to create a recipe for disaster,

We located a fuel station on the map, not too far away, only to find that on arrival, it was a single pump outside someone’s house! Worse than that that, the owner, in her most apologetic tone of voice, informed us that the pump wasn’t working. She helpfully drew us a map for the next station, some 15 kilometres away. Even me with my lightest right foot, was going to find this a challenge and we were starting to consider which cargo to jettison... or worse still still, which passengers!!! : )

We coasted into the next petrol station, to be greeted by a NO UNLEADED sign on the pumps. Even after asking if we could drain some from someone else’s tank, the answer was still ‘sorry no fuel’. The staff in the shop informed us that there was now a choice of two more fuel stations... in opposite directions... both around another 15 kilometres away. We chose the one that we thought might be larger (and therefore have a greater chance of fuel). As the needle started to pass the ‘E’ symbol, we made the most of the journey and the slow downward descent, and coasted as much as we could. And there, in the distance in the village of Winchelsea we saw the BP sign. What a relief!

So, after the short flight to Sydney, (just over the hour) here we are at the Radisson Blue hotel. A nice touch when we got to our room was a hand-written note from the hotel congratulating us on our wedding.

After a few nibbles in the business lounge, we finished unpacking and then took a stroll down to the harbour area. It was really busy as it looked like the whole of Sydney had decided to do the same as us. All the eating places were packed. We eventually found a table in the lower concourse where there was a live band playing (so much better than a dead one!), and we sampled the local ale and coffee and took some photos of the Opera House – magnificent!!!

..and good to see they had Ann’s new initials up in lights! : )

We wandered back to the room around 9.30 after checking out the local walking tours for tomorrow with the Concierge. Looks like another day in paradise tomorrow! Nighty-night!

Honeymoon Day 11: 26th December (Monday) – Apollo Bay

2011-12-26T14:00:00.000Z

We woke to crappy weather - cold, and slightly raining. The plan is to drive away from the local area for some scenic photographs of the coast. This proved to be a smart move, as the weather deteriorated.

First stop was Castle Cove, the first of many stopping points with views of the stunning coastline

Next stop was the must-see tourist attraction The Twelve Apostles. This is a series of rock formations off the coast that depict each of the twelve apostles. Maybe it was me, but I only counted eight!

Then it was further along the coast towards Port Campbell where we stopped off for lunch at Room Six a superb Greek restaurant

Next stop was London Bridge

...then The Arch

And finally, whilst Ann snoozed in the car, we three stopped off at wildlife centre featuring real-life kangaroos and koalas (no! really? in Australia????)

5pm. Time to head back to Apollo Bay. As we got close, the weather returned to its normal crappy greyness and wetness! Just time to top up with beer, wine and nibbles in preparation for our second ‘movie-night’. Out of the stock here, we chose The Deal starring Christian Slater – a pretty good film, but a rushed ending!

Tomorrow is another travel day. Next stop: Sydney!

Christmas Pressies - 2011

2011-12-25T19:00:00.000Z

We weren’t in the UK for Christmas, this year. So in a way, it was good to open my pressies in January. Lucky me!

Bev – Food Hamper

Carol – Whisky Liqueur

Denis – Bottle of Baileys

Jo and Janet – Body Sanctuary voucher/Chocolate

Lee – Bottle of Port/the loudest shirt you’ve ever seen (perfect!)/Rum and Raisin Cake/Extra mature Marmite

Mum – John Lewis Voucher (£25)

Nicki – Champagne, Cheese Plates and a Lazy Susan

Roger, Jane and Oliver – Australian Dollars

We didn’t buy each other any presents this year – the Wedding said it all! :)

Honeymoon Day 10: 25th December (Sunday) – Drive to Apollo Bay

2011-12-25T14:00:00.000Z

Christmas Day! We had breakfast around 9.30 as we’re leaving Melbourne today, and it’s a long drive today down to our next stop Apollo Bay – we estimate around 3 hours without a break. We’ve already determined that there won’t be any facilities for an evening meal when we get there (because it’s Christmas Day), so we plan to smuggle out some nosebag from the hotel before we check out!

Whilst the girls settled the hotel bill, Ralph and I took the short walk to the Avis office – and got caught in a heavy shower along the way. Luckily, the office was easy to spot and we were soon filling out the paperwork. This time we got a Toyota RAV4, not quite as advanced as the X-Trail we’d hired a few days’ back, but comfy nonetheless! Even with our combined tech-heads, it took most of the journey to figure out how to Bluetooth our phones to the in-car sound system!

We were soon heading out of Melbourne and onto the main highway, bound for Apollo Bay. Given that it was Christmas Day, we were doubtful that we’d find a place open along the way for some tucker – but as we detoured into Torquay, after around and hour-and-a-half’s journey, we spotted a group of people sitting outside a small place eating and drinking. As it turned out, the place was fully functioning – and you could even bring IN your own beer! It was called Imperial Rhino and provided an extensive menu.

After about an hour, we were fully nourished, and got back on the road and heading for our destination. The roads now became single carriageway and very, very, (very) twisty – we could see why they called it The Great Ocean Road, as it seemed to hug the contours of the coast!

Eventually, we arrived – Captains at the Bay in Apollo Bay. After a grey start to the day, the sun was now out and we were soon sat sipping tea on Ralph and Karen’s balcony – how english!!!

Our room is very nice. His and hers shower and an open plan bedroom plus all the usual bits and pieces. Being Christmas Day, there’s no-one on duty, so we’ll make the best of what we have ‘in-stock’ food-wise - a couple of bars of chocolate and a bottle of wine (as the smuggling operation from the Hyatt only accrued four bananas! We also popped into the local supermarket and picked up some dips and crisps – in fact, we had a really good carpet picnic (without the carpet!)

We also found the hotel had an extensive DVD library to choose from, so we chose ‘Courage under Fire’ (Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan and Matt Damon). It was a really good film and I don’t know how we missed it, first time round.

After the film we headed back to our room and rang the family to wish them ‘happy christmas’.

Having now experienced Christmas Day in Australia, I have to say that I’m somewhat disappointed! There just hasn’t been many signs that it’s Christmas at all over here – the shops looked mostly normal, we saw a few people with Santa hats on and saw one Christmas tree in the hotel. Apart from that.. nothing! It just doesn’t feel christmassy at all. Bah humbug!!!!

We’re going to explore the local area tomorrow.

Nighty night – hope your Christmas goes well everyone!

Honeymoon Day 9: 24th December (Saturday) – Melbourne

2011-12-24T14:00:00.000Z

Ann and I did our own thing today and it was another day of local exploring!

First stop, a five minute walk down the road to ACMI (The Australian Centre for the Moving Image) where we visited the Star Voyager Exhibition (all about man’s exploration into space). It was a combination of historical stuff and fictional bits and pieces from the movies and TV – brilliant! There was also a large exhibition of all things relating to Australian TV which predictably, included scenes from Skippy the Bush Kangaroo!!

Then we jumped on the free city-centre tram and headed for Parliament Gardens and then walked the short distance to Carlton Gardens that also housed the Royal Exhibition Centre – it all felt very English.

Then, it was next door to the rather splendid Melbourne Museum. But not before we’d had a coffee break (check out the pattern on the froth – ahh, sweet!)

I think it’s the first museum we’ve ever been in that housed a mini-forest! Amazing!! And as if that wasn’t enough, it had a really comprehensive dinosaur section, a full size replication of the Australian coat-of-arms, more stuffed animals than you could shake a boomerang at, as well as a really comprehensive section on brain research. It was all quite overwhelming (in a good way) and it took us around two hours to get round it all – fantastic!

After being thoroughly cultured-out, we headed back on the tram to base for a cuppa and put our feet-up.

Then for our evening meal, we met up with Ralph and Karen on the South Bank (where we’d eaten last night). We chose La Camera, an Italian restaurant. The food and service was good and it turned o9ut to be our cheapest meal out to-date! ON the return walk we briefly stopped to see a street performer on a pole being held in place by members of the audience with ropes. If that wasn’t enough, he was juggling – with fire! Amazing stuff. As we hit the main street, and walked past the rail station, the town was buzzing – we think the whole of Melbourne was out celebrating (but it still didn’t look much like Christmas, with hardly any decorations in any of the shops – and the Christmas street lights were turned OFF – bizarre! Still, it looked pretty colourful.

We’re checking-out tomorrow after brekky and then picking up our hire-car. So it’ll be good-bye to the Hyatt Regency hotel and hello to a three hour drive to Apollo Bay resort where we’re spending the next couple of nights in order to explore the Great Ocean Road and surrounding area.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Honeymoon Day 8: 23rd December (Friday) – Melbourne

2011-12-23T14:00:00.000Z

A small correction to yesterday’s post – we’re only 11 hours in front, not 12.

After a reasonable night’s sleep, we woke around 8.15 to a very grey morning. We unpacked the essentials and all headed down to breakfast for around 10am. Last servings were at 10.30 and it was a little obvious that we didn’t get quite the service we might have got if we’d been earlier. No matter though, we were all hungry and the wide selection offered by the Hyatt Regency was superb!

After filling our faces, we popped into the Avis rental desk to double-check arrangements for the car pick-up on Christmas Day – only to find that we will still need to visit the official office a few blocks away when we actually pick it up.

Then we headed into town by foot. The temperature by now was heading upwards towards its promised 30 degrees – and if felt like it! Unlike Perth which was the same temperature, the humidity here was much higher and Ann and I were soon flagging, whilst the super-fit Ralph and Karen were coping well!

We discovered that there was a free Tram service that took a circular route around the the city, so we found a stop and waited. A few minutes later, the Tram arrived. It was already busy, and being a older model, it didn’t have air-conditioning – Phew!!! In fact, we had to eventually get off the Tram because it simply couldn’t cope with the heat either and eventually broke-down. Passengers were encouraged to either ‘stay-put’ or ‘get-off’. We chose the latter, only to see the Tram spring into life a few minutes later!

We headed for the waterfront where the Bars and Cafes are. It was a little like the Docklands in the UK, and it was clear to see that plenty of money had been spent on the area.

Next stop was a ‘must-see’ tourist attraction – The Eureka Tower, (or it’s sexier title: Eureka Skydeck 88) but more especially, the 88th floor (which boasted ground-to-top in 38 seconds). The views from the top, as you would expect, were breath-taking, and it clearly showed how big the city actually is.

Wow! What an experience! After all that, we needed a pit-stop and by now the bars and cafes were getting packed.. We eventually found one that was a little quieter than the rest and had something to eat. By now the heat was getting to Ann, so we left Ralph and Karen to explore, whilst we took the short walk back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta!

A few hours later, we were fully refreshed and ready for anything – well, a night out anyway! We decided that four of us would try out the Chinese-quarter near to the hotel, hoping to find a Chinese restaurant for a meal. Actually the local expertise of the Concierge stepped-in and recommended the very local bokchoy tang, around a five-minute walk away. It was tricky to find with its very plain entrance, but as it turned out, very much worth it! The service and food were both excellent – and we ate heartily!!!!

Afterwards, it was a short walk around the area, that was beautifully lit and buzzing with many others on their Friday night out. We finished off at a local cafe in the Southgate Centre with coffees all round a dessert between Ann and me.

We stumbled back into the hotel around 10.15 – with plans for more exploring of the local area tomorrow.

Honeymoon Day 7: 22nd December (Thursday) – Flying to Melbourne

2011-12-22T14:00:00.000Z

We’re on the move today. We leave Seashells Yallingup and head back to the Airport. We’ll drop off the car and then catch the three hour Virgin Blue domestic flight to Melbourne. Taking into account the time difference, there won’t be much left of the day, as we don’t get there until around 11pm local time.

Actually, we didn’t land until 11.30pm local time (11.30am Kettering time) and it took ages to get our baggage!

1.15am: Nighty-night then!

Honeymoon Day 6: 21st December (Wednesday) – A Cave, a Lighthouse... and an out-of-this-world meal

2011-12-21T14:30:00.000Z

After breakfast round at ours, we set-off doe our day of discovery.

First stop was the Ngilgi Cave, a short drive away. Discovered around 100 years ago, they were a unique experience in all sorts of ways. The temperature underground was a (relatively) cool and constant 20 degrees, which was very pleasant considering it was 26 degrees up top!

Taking photos down there was a real challenge – no tripods allowed and virtually pitch-black apart from a few decorative lights. Still, it was a great experience top see the thousands of stalactites and weird rock formations. We hung around after the tour and had a makeshift picnic eating up the left-overs from yesterday’s supermarket visit.

Then, it was off to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, possible the least-tall lighthouse, we’ve ever seen (simply because it was already 103 metres above sea-level!). The tour-guide gave us a good insight into life as a lighthouse-keeper – basically crap! with the need to clock-in every 15 minutes and no chairs in case you sat down and fell asleep! Of course, today, it’s all automatic, and the view from the top, as you would expect, was tremendous.

Our final outing for today was the Cape Lodge restaurant. It was to celebrate our first anniversary – 1 week! : )

..and what an experience! From the unexpected complimentary glass of champagne when we arrived, to the excellent service throughout to the food itself – everything was just perfect! My venison was so tender, it was soooooo tender and the steak was equally mouth-watering and delicious! The desserts was visually stunning, with flavours to match! Thank-you Cape Lodge for making our Anniversary such unforgettable event. Merry Christmas to you and all your staff, we hope we get an opportunity to revisit your restaurant again in the future.

Honeymoon Day 5: 20th December (Tuesday) – Exploring

2011-12-20T13:30:00.000Z

Today we planned to explore the local area and hopefully to take in the views of the coast and discover some wine-cellars too.

We set off in the car after a late breakfast in the direction of Margaret River and the views, as expected were stunning. There was plenty of surfing going on and the weather was in the mid 20s. We drove over to the famous Cape Lodge restaurant in Margaret River where we booked a meal for tomorrow night to celebrate our anniversary – of one week! On our travels, we stopped off at a local eatery for a coffee and a snack – Ralph and I tried the Banoffee Pie, but they’d missed out the banana!

What proved more difficult was finding a wine-cellar that also had a restaurant. There were plenty of them, but in every case, the restaurants were closed. Plan ‘B’ then – Luckily, we’d already popped into a supermarket to stock-up on snacks for our carpet picnic tonight, so we simply abandoned the restaurant-searching and headed back to our room where we had the picnic for lunch.

For our evening out, we headed to The PourHouse on recommendation by one of the staff here. It was a Bar in nearby Dunsborough that served a range of burgers and an even larger selection of beers and ciders. We had four drinks and four puddings and it cost £50 – it sure is expensive out here! We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the apartment for more drinks and nibbles! (it’s a tough life!!!)

We switched on the TV hoping to catch a movie, and we were lucky that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) had just started.

So, all-in-all a good day, if only a bit unpredictable! We’re exploring the Caves tomorrow and then going out for our anniversary meal.

Honeymoon Day 4: 19th December (Monday) – Hire Car to Yallingup

2011-12-19T13:00:00.000Z

So, it’s good-bye the Perth and the Pan Pacific hotel, as we jumped in the hire car and headed south to Yallingup. In Australian travel terms, it’s ‘just down the road’.

We set off immediately after brekky, once Ralph and I had picked up the car from Avis, located a short walk from the hotel. It’s a Nissan Xtrail 4 wheel drive auto with a very advanced comms system – speed camera detector, traffic congestion monitor, compass, and wireless connectivity to our mobile phones – super!

The Sat-Nav said around 3.5 hours for the 300km journey, but then threw a wobbly and positioned us in the middle of a field for the first 50kms or so. Luckily, we roughly knew the route, so it was all pretty straightforward (after a couple of pit-stops along the way) to ‘Seashells Yallingup’ . We arrived just after 3.30pm local time – about five hours after leaving Perth. There had obviously been some mis-communication between Trailfinders and here as they hadn’t received the request about a ‘top-floor apartment with a stunning view’. No matter, as they sorted us out with equivalent apartments located a floor lower. First impressions were good, with stunning designs and a high level of equipment – TV, Microwave, Washing machine, Dryer and Fridge.

It didn’t take us long to unpack and get global-communications set up : )

The views from our apartment were pretty good too – if you look carefully at the first picture below, ours is a sea-view (just!)

After unpacking, we all went for a short walk to the beach (around 15 minutes away). Meanwhile, the room technology was in rebellion! In Ralph and Karen’s, the washing machine was completely dead, whilst in ours, the door lock had experienced a nervous breakdown and was flashing an ominous orange light at us. Fortunately, the out-of-hours caretaker was on site to repair ours, but Ralph and Karen’s washing machine would stay asleep for another day.

At around 8pm it was off to the hotel next door to sample the menu. They say: trouble comes in threes, and our third ‘challenge’ was arriving at the hotel and trying to order some food! Apparently, it was the staffs’ Christmas Party and they had stopped serving food at 7.30 (it was now 8.15pm!). We expressed our displeasure, and the Bar staff dutifully wheeled out the Duty Manager to explain. All-in-all, he recovered it fairly well by offering us a limited menu (which happened to be the stuff we probably would have ordered anyway!). Service was brisk, and best of all, the food was tasty AND they let us have it all for free! Result!!!

Back to our room to find that the lock had been repaired too - things were looking up!

Tech Note: Although the internet is available here, it’s an eye-watering price, so I’ll be using the mobile broadband built into the NetBook whilst we’re here for the next three days.

Off exploring around Margaret River tomorrow...

Honeymoon Day 3: 18th December (Sunday) – Perth

2011-12-18T14:00:00.000Z

Today, we’re off to Kings Park and Botanic Gardens. Luckily, Ann’s friend Jane (who we met yesterday) and who lives over here, had told us about the free bus service that would get us close to it.

We had brekky on the Club Floor again- perfect – and then walked the short distance up the road to the bus-stop. On the way, we stopped off at Avis Hire to double-check that everything was ready for us to pick-up our vehicle for tomorrow – it was, and it looks like we have a four-wheel drive automatic, which will be just right for us four and our luggage!

We didn’t have to wait long for the bus – the ‘Red Cat’ - and after thirty minutes or so, we were within walking distance of the Botanic Gardens. It didn’t take us long to realise that the whole place – the Park and the Gardens - was simply massive, and we’d be there all day. But before all that, there was just time for a sit-down and some alcohol before the hard work began.

As we were quite high up, the view of of Perth were fantastic – and with an overhead walkway, they were even better. Plenty of flora to marvel at, as well as the sheer size of the parkland area made it an unforgettable visit, and It was clearly a popular choice for the locals too as the place got very busy pretty quickly.

We stopped for lunch at the same restaurant where we had our initial pit-stop. There was another restaurant, but it looked a bit too posh for us in our shorts and sandals! Pizza and Salad (plus cider and red wine) replaced the calories burned during our expedition and suitably refreshed, we decided to head for the nearest bus-stop. As things turned-out, we found one that was closer and quicker than our journey in back back to the hotel.

Ralph and Karen explored the indoor pool, Ann and I snoozed for an hour or so. Ann then checked out the Gym, whilst I caught up with my reading and a few ‘thank-you’ emails.

As it’s our final night here, we fancied somewhere a little different to eat tonight and the Concierge recommended the local Balti restaurant imaginatively called The Balti. Our experience has shown that eating curry anywhere other than the UK (and India!) normally meets with disappointment, so it was a somewhat risky culinary experience tonight! As things turned out, the food was good although the menu lacked the variety of a UK Indian! After the meal, we headed back to the Hotel and crashed out in the Bar accompanied by hot chocolate helped along with a dash of rum!

We’re up sharpish tomorrow as we are checking out at 10am and then picking a car up for our trip to Yallingup and the Margaret River – a three hour drive from Perth.

Honeymoon Day 2: 17th December (Saturday) – Perth

2011-12-17T14:00:00.000Z

It’s a beautifully hot, sunny day here today, so we’re going to make the most of it and take a look around Perth Harbour area and then take a boat trip to Fremantle.

Scenes of Perth
It was good to hear the sound of a brass band, but strange to see the Salvation Army playing in their shirts in the blazing sun!

All Aboard to Fremantle

We decided to go for the tour that didn’t include lunch as that would give us plenty of time to look around the town. Just over an hour later, we were mooring and taking the short walk to the town.

Fremantle was a very picturesque town, and very colonial in style. We did a fair bit of walking around and filled the time nicely before catching the 3.45 boat back to Perth. A short walk later, we were back in the hotel, just time for a quick wash-and-brush-up before meeting Ann’s ex-work colleague, Jane for a drink and nibbles. We decided to use the Club Lounge floor at the hotel, but it was a lot busier than expected, and finding seats for all five of us was challenging! We managed it though!

Jane left around an hour later, and we decided to keep things simple tonight as far as eating was concerned. We chose the hotel’s main restaurant, and although it was unbearably noisy, the food was a lot better than we expected! Ann and Ralph had steak, whilst Karen and I had the beef stir fry. We skipped dessert, and the bill came to around £200 for the four of us – expensive!

More sight-seeing tomorrow. We’re going to take the free bus to Kings Park and Botanic Gardens and spend most of the day there.

Honeymoon: 16th December – Perth

2011-12-16T21:30:00.000Z

Just arrived in Perth. A great flight courtesy of Emirates. Weather here is a healthy 25 degrees. A quick change of clothes at our Hotel – The Pan Pacific and then out for a pint at the local – The Grosvenor.

It’s Christmas (almost!)

2011-12-09T09:00:00.000Z

It may not be the 25th just yet - but for me, Christmas officially starts when the bumper edition of the TV and Radio Times comes out and I can plan what to fill up the Sky Box with!!!

Wet Room completed

2011-11-30T17:05:00.001Z

Ralph completed the conversion of our old en-suite shower-room into a Wet-Room today. It's been a long complex project, but Ralph: "you done great mate!"

Can't wait tl get home to try it out!

Wedding Rehearsal + Hen Night + Stag Night

2011-11-26T23:59:00.000Z

Today was our wedding rehearsal at Kelmarsh Hall. All the key players were there. Wow! what an event. The singing brought a tear to the eye and musicians were just fantastic! A real worthwhile exercise overall, and it really helped to iron out the nitty-gritty. Thanks Jill, Thanks Emma for your advice..and your patience!

Hen Night:

Ann had her Hen Night at Rushden Hall…or was it Rushton Hall. Whichever one it was, as Ralph and I were the surprise guests to run the ‘Hen Quiz’, I managed to drive us to the wrong one! Doh!!!!

On arrival, just 45 minutes late, the girls were clearly in the mood for competition :) and we proceeded to run our ‘Love and Marriage’ Quiz. Yeeks! I thought blokes were competitive, but pitch a group of girls against each other and wait for the fireworks! Lucky it was only for fun!!!!

After announcing the winners, Ralph and I stayed on briefly, before tearing back to home, for a quick change of clothes ready for my Stag Night.

Stag Night:

My Stag Night was at The Raj in Kettering. Thanks to some superb organisation by Paul, we managed to conjure up enough cars to get there without needing a taxi. The Raj was already busy when got there, and after some drinks upstairs in the piano bar we were ushered to a separate room for main meal.

In a true and highly predictable nature of a Stag Night, it wasn’t long before some of the team were scheming! Drinks were flowing freely – a bit too freely in my direction – and I slowed down my intake considerably, if only to make it until the end of the night!

The meal was good and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Next up, back to the piano bar but not before the scheming played out in full and I was introduced to Belinda who together with her 34 friends were celebrating her 50th birthday via 35 bottles of wine and 15 bottles of champagne. In other circumstances, this was a young man’s dream come true, enhanced by the advice from our side that they’d apparently determined that Belinda wasn’t wearing any underwear!

My encounter with Belinda was short-lived – I wished her happy birthday, she wished me well for the wedding and i was soon following the boys back the piano bar. Clearly I wasn’t her type!

My glass only ever got to being half empty before some helpful soul (???) topped it up. I think all-in-all I only got through a couple of pints and a glass of red. My head was telling me otherwise though, and on reflection, I think some of my guests may have ‘topped up’ my beverage with other spirits. or maybe I just can’t hold my drink anymore??? – could I ever???

Twenty minutes later, the waitress let me know that ‘36 women were about to join us’. It was Belinda’s group. Soon we were outnumbered 2:1…and it actually felt quite intimidating. Thirty-six feisty women in search of (and determined to) have a good time was a site not to be missed as they gradually took over the bar. Drinking gave way to slightly slurred speeches from Belinda’s group. Not to be outdone, Tom jumped up on stage and proceeded to ‘big me up’ in front of the girls as a great dancer (err, no!) and one of the best at spinning on my head (err, no!). Luckily for me, there wasn’t much encouragement for me to follow it through – clearly, the girls could see my potential as a dancer, just by looking at me! Phew!!!

I lasted until around 11pm, when the alcohol was winning and my duvet was calling me. I agreed to exit with a few others leaving Tom, Paul, Bev, Trevor and John propping up the Bar. It was probably wise to leave when I did as I learned on Sunday that Tom got home around 4.30am.

A night to remember (as all Stag’s should be), and I retired to bed just before midnight with a very, very, VERY heavy head and no recollection of being hand-cuffed to a lamp-post!

Thanks for sorting it all out Tom – I’ll try and return the favour some time!!!!

The Stags:

Bev R

Chris A

David A - Usher

David L

Ian McL - Usher

John C

John W

Paul J

Paul R

Ralph G - Best Man

Roger G - Usher

Roy C

Stefan B

Steve P

Steve S

Tommy T

Trevor L

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Monday

2011-11-21T14:00:00.000Z

We were up fairly sharpish this morning as it’s check-out day, and we need to be away by 9.30.

As we’re down this way, we dropped into Jonathan and Mel’s who live in Devizes for a cuppa before we see them at the Wedding.

The it was ‘hammer-down’ heading home as Ann’s got a wedding dress fitting and I need to catch-up with work matters.

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Sunday

2011-11-20T22:00:00.000Z

I woke up to sound of loud thumping – then realised it was just my head! Predictably, the lethal cocktail of fruit gin and fruit vodka had wreaked its revenge and all I could think about was ‘steamrollers’, ‘hammers’ and ‘paracetemol’!!

Note to self: These drinks are NOT a smart way to get your ‘five-a-day’!!!!

What will today bring? It’s our last full day here and we plan to visit the beautiful village of Lacock later.

...but not before the promised full english for brekky! And when we say full, we do mean full. Generous portions all round of virtually every component of this staple breakfast, including Penny’s creation (a new one on me), revealed to us as the Wife-Saver. A mix of bread, cheese, bacon, spices and cream – and topped with corn-flakes and then finally, baked in the oven. It sounds like it shouldn’t ‘work’, but it was the most popular choice and gone in a flash as everyone tried some!!!!

Verdict by all: Scrummy!

11.45 We took the drive to Lacock as planned. There was plenty to see: The Abbey, the Cloisters, the Brewery and a second-hand bookshop. A wonderful place, very ‘olde worlde’ – no sky dishes, no TV aerials and also apparently the ideal location for some period BBC series including the very popular lark Rise to Candleford (I think!). It was a joy to look round - and the place was heaving!

Next stop, was Avebury. Looked after jointly by National Truest and English Heritage, it was well worth the visit. I’d never been there before, but Ann had been there on a school trip just 40 years ago! There was plenty to see – part of which we knew a bit about, the other was a complete surprise!

The part we knew about was ‘the stones’ – a bit like Stonehenge, only much, much larger. The part we didn’t, was related to the Avebury Manor. It apparently re-opened yesterday after a major restoration and is the subject of a new BBC series coming up this week imaginatively titled: To the Manor Reborn and starring Penelope Keith.

We got back to base around 3 o’clock. Time for a short spell of ‘feet-up’ before starting to pack for tomorrow as we’re leaving around 9.30.

Looks like it’s leftovers tonight – but a veritable feast nonetheless. Everyone did their own thing rather than the formal sit-downs we’d been having on the previous nights.

So it’s good-bye to everyone – Mark and Kate, Bob and Sally, Noel and Helen, Paul and Karen, Penny and of course, David and Rosi (who organised it all!). We’ve had a great time – see you all again soon.

10pm and we’re off to bed.

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Saturday

2011-11-19T23:00:00.000Z

After a good night’s sleep and a beautiful sun-rise, we’re ready to take on the world – well, the City of Bath anyway!

But first of all, breakfast: Toast, home-made jams, Scrambled egg, tea, coffee, juices – a perfect start to the day.

Then it was off to Bath. The journey started well enough but we soon got caught up in the Saturday traffic. And not being able to find the Park-and-Ride didn’t help our situation, and we sat in a long queue into Bath for ages!

Finally, we managed to find a car-park close to the shops. Then in was off in search of lipstick and hair grips for Ann (for the wedding!) – mission accomplished in no time. What turned out to be more tricky was finding somewhere for a coffee. Plenty of places, but all packed-out. We gave up and decided to head back to base.

On the way back, we stopped off at Farleigh Hungerford Castle, an English Heritage property.

What an interesting place – complete with a family crypt!
Twenty minutes later, we were back at the Castle, starving, and not helped by us watching The Hairy Bikers on TV - Coronation Chicken and Apple Charlotte.

Rosi and Penny got back next, and we soon started to get into the preparations for tonight’s feast. On the menu tonight would be a full roast Pork, Beef and virtually every vegetable imaginable. Table layed – check, all veg prepared – check, meat seasoned and prepared – check. The challenge was to be able to effectively use the Aga – something which none of us were used to.

Not long after, the others got back – some of them had had trouble getting into Bath just like us. With everyone now back and raring to eat, preparations continued in between watching Strictly on TV.

Although the Aga proved a bit of a challenge (we had to cheat slightly and use the oven in our room and the two microwaves), everything was ready and after some superb carving by Bob, the finishing touch, we sat down to sample our wares. We were bang on time as it turned out – 8pm – and what a spread!!!!

We ate and ate and ate – and we drank too! I even tried some of the fruit gin and fruit vodka concoctions of Rosi’s – something I normally steer clear of. Even Ann tried the vodka variation! All delicious, of course, but I predict a heavy head tomorrow morning.

Two hours later, it was all hands to the kitchen, as the massive clear-up operation began. Never had so many gathered in such a small space! The compact nature of the kitchen and the sheer volume of washing-up gave way to a well-organised frenzy of washing, drying and stacking. The single dish-washer helped but it couldn’t cope with the amount of crockery and cutlery – a triumph of man over machinery!

It was now 10.45 and we were flagging at that point. Whilst the others went on to play Balderdash, we opted for the less challenging environment of a duvet!!!

It’s our last full-day tomorrow and I think we’ll do Laycock.

zzzzzzzzz.......

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Friday

2011-11-18T22:00:00.000Z

Here we are in Long’s Park Castle south of Melksham – we’re here until Monday. We were last to arrive (around 8pm), but we had a great journey from home. Leaving around 5.30, we covered 165 miles in under two-and-a-half hours averaging just under 40mpg. Because we were so late leaving, we reckon we missed most of the congestion.

We missed the entrance first time round (but apparently, so did everyone else!) Luckily, Rosi came and stood in the entrance, so it was a lot easier on the second pass.

It’s a unique property with tons of character – a convincing plastic suit of armour, a baronial dining hall,a large lounge and a cosy feel to it all. Good food and friends meets quirky design and decor! ...and what a food spread! The girls had been busy: two types of lasagne, trifle and a couple of variations on an Apple Strudel – all helped down with plenty of wine!

After the meal, it was ‘all-hands’ to the kitchen, and with 13 of us, it made light work of the chores!

After the big clear-up we all crashed out in the lounge with BBC’s Children in Need on the widescreen TV in the background. Out came the chocolates which finished off the meal perfectly.

Predictably, we were first to flag, and stumbled off to bed around 9.30. We’re in the cottage away from the main building, and although it sleeps four, it looks like the other couple aren’t coming – so we have the whole place to ourselves.

Nighty-night - We’re probably going to go into Bath tomorrow.

Wet, Wet, Wet – The Final Shower

2011-11-17T17:00:00.000Z

Ralph’s been here all week and things are really coming together now with the Wet Room. We reckon another final trip to hook up all the plumbing and it’s ‘job done!’

Boys and their Toys - Now that’s what I call a shower-head!

Birthday Lunch for Lee

2011-11-13T14:30:00.000Z

Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr

We dropped into The Wheatsheaf at Titchmarsh today as a treat for lee’s Birthday (which was yesterday). The place was (unusually) very quiet when we got there at 12.45, but by 1.30 it was chock-a-block. It’s always been a busy place, but apparently, the Pub down the road closed down recently leaving The Wheatsheaf as the only local there.

The food was great and the portions enormous. No chance of slipping the giant Yorkshire Pudding in your bag for later – it was more of a case of slipping your bag in the Pudding! :)

A Great Meal with the Family

2011-11-12T21:00:00.000Z

We don’t do this as often as perhaps we should, but after my super-hectic day running the Old Croydonians’ Association Centenary Lunch at the Selsdon Park Hotel – the meal out was the perfect tonic!

Neil, Debbie, Alfie, Frankie, Mum and of course, us two, descended on Frankie and Benny’s along the A21 for 6.30. The place was already heaving… and it got busier!

After a short delay getting us our menus, were soon tucking into our food and catching up with each others’ news. All-in-all it was a good meal and of course, great to catch-up with the family.

We headed back to Mum’s, watched a bit of TV and then went to bed – we were both shattered!

We’re leaving early tomorrow to get a good run back in time for taking Lee out for her birthday lunch.

The Raj

2011-11-10T20:00:00.000Z

Tom and I visited the Raj in Kettering tonight. I haven’t been there for over 10 years and as we’re using it for my Stag Night, it was the perfect excuse to try it out – you can never say ‘no’ to a good curry!

Tom introduced me to Gazza the owner, who has clearly thrown a lot of time and money at the place since were last there. In fact, the restaurant was unrecognisable. The up-market decor looked really impressive and they now got an upstairs piano bar too.

We sampled some alcohol and a curry – and it was all fantastic! So was the service. it’s obviously a popular place as it filled up really quickly – by the time we left around 7.30, it was heaving!

So, it looks like a perfect venue for my ‘do’.

Oxford/Rosi’s Party

2011-11-05T23:59:00.000Z

Gosh, we haven’t been to Oxford for ages!

We left around 8.30, had a good run, and caught the park-and-ride into the city centre (that’s me on a bus TWICE this year!!!!). A quick look round the shops (where I got my dress shoes for the wedding and a couple of pairs of jeans) and then it was off to meet Lynn at the Ashmolean Museum.

Lynn had managed to bag some tickets for the hour-long tour and it was brilliant! I hadn’t realised this museum had such amazing stuff! - the lantern used by Guy Fawkes (how appropriate for today!); the first and last pound note and plenty of other curious exhibits. We definitely need to go back there again and do the place in more detail!

Lynn treated us to lunch at the Museum and we got home around 4pm. Just in time a for a chill-out before Rosi’s Birthday bash tonight.

Rosi’s birthday party was at the Red Lion in Cranford. The neighbours were there too (Paul, Karen, Tom, Julie, Stefan, Debbi, John and Trish) and with the rest of Rosi’s family and friends, we filled the place nicely. A live Band – just the two of them (think they were called ‘Liaison’ – a female lead and a male guitarist were excellent – especially the guitar breaks on Hotel California and Another Brick in the Wall) kept the evening going and the dance-floor busy. Chilli on demand went down well in the packed room, although queuing at the Bar for drinks was a bit of a challenge because of the number of people. There was even a firework display too – brilliant!

Fun was had by all, including Tom, who slipped into a Dick van Dyke black-and-white number and entertained the audience in the final hour – how does he do those falls without squashing his goolies????

It was a great evening, but when the music switched to ‘90’s Techno’, we saw it as our cue to leave! Where’s the Ovaltine :)))

We got home around midnight – thanks Rosi, we had a great time!

Cats in../Shuckburgh Arms

2011-11-04T22:00:00.000Z

The cats went in for their normal ‘wash-and-brush-up’ today. I’m so glad we changed the cycle from six weeks to four – their winter coat (especially Bon-Bon’s) has already become a total mess in less than a month!

Patsy and Sheila did a great job on them both – especially Bon-Bon – they didn’t even need to shave off any of her fur, but Bon-Bon managed to take a lump out of Sheila’s arm in the process! Eeek!

In the evening, we joined David and Val for monthly meal out. This time is was a return to the Shuckburgh Arms in Stoke Doyle (we haven’t been since March, and it’s just over a year since we first went there). I’d forgotten how good the food was. David and I indulged in starters – the crispy duck. For the mains, it was chicken for Ann, cottage pie for Val, Veal for me and hotpot for David. We were stuffed, but maybe just room for dessert!!!

Home around 10ish.

The Wet Room

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000Z

It’s grouting day for Ralph!

MP3 update

2011-10-31T09:00:00.001Z

Just finished ‘MP3ing’ a new Album - “Chill Lounge Del Mar - Ibiza Beach Café” (snappy title huh!!!) :)
My collection now consists of:

14818 Tracks
1522 Albums
890 Artists
114 Genres
Total playing time = 1131 hours
...so that should keep me going for a bit!

Ralph and Karen’s for Lunch

2011-10-30T18:00:00.000Z

We drove up to Matlock today to join Ralph and Karen for lunch. On the way to lunch, we visited the Leawood Pumphouse between Cromford and Lea – and it was one the few days it was actually operational – super stuff especially as it’s maintained and staffed by volunteers.

We tried The Bear in Alderwasley for lunch and it was nothing short of superb!!! Good food at great prices.

Because Ralph and Karen are down to one car at the moment, we brought Ralph back with us and he’s here until Wednesday, working on the Wet-Room. We got back about 6pm.

‘Madge’ Returns

2011-10-27T16:30:00.000+01:00

That’s good news! Ann’s Fiesta, aka ‘Madge’, was returned from the repairers today after her little ‘encounter’ with another car in Kettering three weeks’ ago.
Looks like it’s been treated to a new wing, new bonnet, new registration plate and complete new frontal area.

Well, at least it saves having to get the touch-up stick out this weekend!!

Tech Day with Paul J

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000+01:00

A rare ‘day-off’ today! No wedding to think about, no work to think about and no school centenary meal event to think about. Phew!

So it was off to Paul J’s to help him set up his new PC and to digitise some business videos.

Switching to ‘nerd-mode’ for the rest of the day!!!

It’s a Wrap!

2011-10-26T19:30:00.000+01:00

I think that’s a record – even for us! :)

All the Christmas presents were wrapped tonight!!!

Job done!!

Facebook... on our TV!

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a major upgrade of the ‘apps’ that are available for our Panasonic TV, we can now see 46 inches worth of Facebook updates!

Pass me my anorak!!!

Gissa Job!

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

Well done Ann!

Ann’s been appointed National Delivery Manager for Skills at Working Links. Same company, same grade, but more responsibility (as she now covers the whole of the UK) and working with a different team.

Saturday in London – Ann’s Night at the Opera (Part 2)

2011-10-22T23:59:00.000+01:00

After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, we headed off towards the Tube switching into tourist mode (sharpening elbows and deleting 'excuse me' from our personal dictionary). Weather-wise, it’s a lovely warm day down here – perfect!

First stop was the V and A. We haven't been there for quite a few years and it was good to go back there. The highlight was the Private Eye exhibition - truly excellent.

Then it was off to Science Museum. Once again, it had totally changed since our previous visit about 50 years ago! An excellent experience all round with lots to do, especially for kids (so I was alright then!)

Then it was off by bus to Harrods for a quick look round and then onto Johnson Lewis and finally the House of Fraser. Mission accomplished as Ann managed to find some ear-rings and a short jacket for the wedding!

Then, back on the bus (yes, me on the bus!) back to the hotel for a bit of a chill-out before the opera tonight - La Traviata at the Royal Opera House.

We got to the Opera House in pretty good time and left us enough space to order drinks for the interval and get our seats in good time. The performance was a sell-out and when the curtain went up just after 7, we were now in ‘opera-mode’ and reminding ourselves of the story-line (well, me actually, as Ann knew anyway!!!)

As you would expect, it’s a love story. And as so often happens in operas, the ending wasn’t pleasant for the heroine! 35 minutes to die was pushing it a bit, but she did so with great style – and song!

So, what’s the story?

Boy meets Girl. Girl is a serious party animal, but Girl is also ill with something or other. Boy falls in love with Girl. Girl wrestles with the party-scene vs nice-comfy-slippers dilemma. Girl chooses slippers. Boy’s father turns up after they’re married to confront her about her debts (too much catalogue shopping!) and forces her to leave Boy without explaining why. Boy thinks she’s run off with another Boy and so follows her to a party. Boy confronts other boy and shoots him (as you do!) much to the disappointment of the guests. Boy is ridiculed and flees the country.

OK so far? Girl health deteriorates and just as she’s about to die, Boy turns up and it looks like a happy-ever-after. A quick dance around the floor and she pegs it. Cue gallons of tears on stage - as well as off. Curtain comes down, sobbing audience heads for Tube.

Moral of the story? Stay off the Catalogues ... be careful about your Father-in-law ...Don't follow girls to parties ...Take out private medical insurance :)

On a more serious note – the performance was excellent. A girl with a ‘good pair of lungs’ can mean many things – in this case it meant just that – what a voice!!! I reckon she could have knocked down walls at 100 paces!!!!

Marina Poplavskaya played Violetta (she of the large lungs)

James Valenti played Alfredo Germont (saw him in Madama Butterfly too!)

Robert Poulton played Baron Douphol (a voice so deep he’d get a job in Richer Sounds - geddit!!! …as a sub-woofer)

The performance finished around 10.15 to fantastic applause all round. We headed back to the hotel by way of the Tube deliberately avoiding Covent Garden because of the gazillions of people there. We walked back to Piccadilly Circus and were soon heading to the Bar at the Hotel. A couple of glasses of Vouvray, pork pie and chips set us up nicely and we crashed out around 11.30.

We’re on the 10am out of St Pancras International tomorrow and should be home by 11.30ish.

It’s been a great weekend! – we especially loved the St Pancras Grand Hotel for its architecture and how easy it made it for us to and from our destinations

The Long Weekend starts here...

2011-10-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

We took the 1.30 out of Kettering and got into St Pancras just after 2.30. The weekend has started well as we checked into the St Pancras Grand Hotel (and blagged a free upgrade!). We’re in room 425 with a view of the British Library from our window – nice!

We decided to jump on the Tube and head for the National Gallery for a quick look round and a quick nibble and drink before heading back for our inclusive sarnies and champagne in the Bar at 6.

We arrived at the Bar (‘The Booking Hall’) just after 6 and were quickly seated. It was already buzzing with people, and is clearly a very popular place for people to meet at the end of the working day. Service was a bit sluggish initially and we were left to reflect for a good five minutes before I had a chat with one of the staff. Not long after, the champagne arrived. Then the ‘picnic’ that was part of the package. First up, a plate of cold meats, crusty bread. Then cheese straws and savoury peanuts. Then the cheese board. And if that wasn’t enough, then they dropped of some danish pastries followed by a glass of red wine. Then, just when we thought we’d had it all, the jam, cream and scones turned up!

Phew! Just too much food! But it was good!!! I asked them to take my glass of red up to my room, and we got back, there was my glass of red together with another bottle of champagne.

Oh, and some strawberries and cream were placed on our bedside cabinets.

This has been a brilliant experience so far!

MPG

2011-10-20T21:34:00.001+01:00

Ever since the Insignia got it's software upgrade, the MPG has got better. Is that a coincidence?

Wot, no girls…

2011-10-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

Ralph’s here to carry on with the Wet Room construction whilst Ann and her friend Nicki have gone to Ragdale Hall for a few days.

Babies and Ronseal! - Ed Byrne at The Castle

2011-10-16T22:45:00.000+01:00

We drove over to The Castle in Wellingborough with David and Val and met up with Jo and Janet there.

We haven’t seen Ed Byrne since the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2008 – he was great then, and he was great tonight. I’ll never forget (and I don’t think the audience will ether) his story about babies and Ronseal!

Nice one Ed – fantastic performance and a great delivery style!!!

It’s almost Christmas! :)

2011-10-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

Now that the business Christmas cards have arrived, we can put those with the personal ones and next week, continue the writing marathon. It all seems a bit rushed this year with the wedding coming up as well. So, the sooner we get started, the sooner we can mark the job as ‘done’!

Busy busy!!! :)

Christmas Cards

2011-10-09T12:00:00.000+01:00

We started on the Christmas cards today! Compared to last year, we’re a tad late!!!

Fish and Chips

2011-10-08T23:59:00.000+01:00

Paul, Karen, Tom and Julie came round tonight for a fish-and-chip supper. It was good to catch up with them – it feels like we haven’t got together for ages.

We had a great time – the food and conversation was brilliant – amazing how something as simple and fish-and-chips can go down so well. Mind you, the wine and beer probably helped a little!!!

We chatted and chatted and by the time we’d ploughed through dessert – a rather excellent fruit pavlova, and multiple cheese-boards, it got late – very late for us – almost 12.45am!!!

Lee had kept on top of the washing-up, so the kitchen wasn’t the bomb-site it might have been if she hadn’t been there – thanks Lee, you’re a star!

We all looked a little tired, said our good-byes and headed for bed – that’s the latest we’ve been for ages.

Perfect then!!!!!

Nice Nokia

2011-10-04T19:00:00.000+01:00

Ann’s WORK phone looked like something out from the dark-ages that had also been run over by a steam-roller. In a previous life it appeared to have spent most of its day throwing itself against a brick wall, judging by the amount of dents and scrapes on it. Add to that, it was a standard yukky grey colour. Enough already! it was time to put it out of its misery – or in a drawer somewhere without its charger!

In contrast, her personal phone is a thing of beauty – a Nokia 6500 Classic, in limited edition pink - and after two years ownership, not a mark on it. I wondered if I might be able to locate the same model on eBay. Even better, if I could find one in a sort of non-conformist limited edition colour, that would be brilliant!

Success!!! – A limited edition design in piano black, more than £150 new, SIM-free, if you shop around on the ‘net, but just £85, courtesy of a successful search on eBay.

Mission accomplished!

Thank Crunchie it’s Sunday

2011-10-02T14:30:00.000+01:00

10.30am. Ouch! Ann and Lee had a crunch in Ann’s Fiesta at the roundabout joining Windmill Avenue and Deeble Road. They were both shaken and Lee was ambulanced off to Kettering Hospital for an x-ray. After a thorough check-up, luckily there were no serious after effects, and we were all back home around 2pm.

Pity about the car though! I recovered the car to Paul’s as I have a feeling that the dents won’t polish out!!

Satisfying Saturday

2011-10-01T21:00:00.000+01:00

It’s one of those weekends where a lot of good things happened on the same day.

The day started well with possibly the hottest day of the year so far. Papers were saying we were hotter than Barbados! Maybe... it was only 26 degrees here!

The cats went in for their regular wash-and-blow-dry and whilst they were away being sorted, Ann and I started on the back garden. It was almost too hot to work out there – and we don’t say that too often. The buddleia took a beating, but it looks better for it!!! In fact, we all did a good job out there, and it looks soooo much tidier!

Lee arrived and joined in the gardening fun. Then, it was off to pick up the cats – lighter, less hairy and smelling like they’d been drinking and bathing in Lenor!

After our efforts in the garden, we settled down for a night of TV. For me, it was as close to perfect as you can get. Strictly then the series finale of Doctor Who and then the first of the new series of Merlin. Add to that, a rather tasty curry with all the bits, and it doesn’t get much better than that!!!

Strictly 8/10

Doctor Who wtf!!!! 4/10 (too much going on, not enough ‘story’)

Merlin 9/10

The Curry 11/10

Happy Birthday – to me!

2011-09-26T20:00:00.000+01:00

We’re at home for my birthday this year. That wasn’t the plan – see yesterday’s blog!

Cards

Ann (obviously!)
Angela
Antoinette
Bev
Carol
David and Val
Carey H
Denis
Ian H and Sharon
Ian McL and Ann
Lee
Mum
Nick and Celina
Margaret and Alan
Neil, Debbie, Alfie and Frankie
Paul and Karen
Paul, Sue and Ben
Philip P
Ralph and Karen
Rick
Roger, Jane and Oliver
Rosi, David and Rhiannon
Sally and Richard
Tom, Julie, Lewis, Nick and Georgina
Trish, John, Conor and Sean

Via Facebook

Carey H
Gill A
Heather E
Jonathan H
Julie T
Karen M
Karen R
Kay W
Lauren C
Lynn R
Ralph G
Rosi L
Sheree L
Stefan and Debbie
Stella H

and Pressies...

Ann – Clarins Moisturiser and Allure Homme EDT
Bev – iTunes vouchers
David and Val – Australian Travel Book
Denis – Blu-ray DVD: ‘Source Code’ and ‘Knight Rider – Season 1’ + iTunes voucher
Jo and Janet – £25 Amazon Voucher
Karen and Paul – Bottle of Vintage Port
Lee – Clinique Chemistry EDT + Cufflinks
Mum – Boots Vouchers
Nicki – Amazon voucher
Roger, Jane and Oliver - Blu-ray DVD: ‘Bank Job’ + iTunes voucher + Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger Beer
Rosi, David and Rhiannon – Tape Dispenser shaped like a cassette tape
Tom, Julie and the Family – Bottle of Red Wine

Thanks everyone!!! You’re very generous!

Without my car, David acted as chauffeur today and we all headed up to Stamford. After a quick look round, we had lunch at The Crown – and we ate outside. Great surroundings, good food, but sluggish service and poor attention to detail took the edge off it a bit for us - soup, but no soup spoon; Lee’s meal turned up without mash and our half-pints turned up as pints (well, maybe that’s OK!). Still, it was a nice day and I’ve enjoyed it all! Better still, they forgot to add the drinks to the bill!

Birthday Weekend – Aborted!

2011-09-25T20:45:00.000+01:00

SATURDAY
Well, the weekend started very well – a sunny day, and we’re almost in October. David, Val, Lee, Ann and I are all ready for a bit of a celebration with David and my birthday within a day of each other. Everything was planned, and all we needed to do was to enjoy what lay ahead. Strange then, how sometimes, fate has other plans, and our perfectly ordered series of events was about to be thrown into turmoil for the sake of a few extra inches of steel!

As planned, we headed for Anglesey Abbey en-route to our destination – The Premier Travel Inn, Ipswich North. On arrival there, we parked the car, signed Lee up for the National Trust and had a great time wandering around this beautiful venue. Good old NT, you can always guarantee a good experience, and this venue was no exception. After our tour round of the house and the gardens, we decided to have lunch their too – little did we know that ‘lunch around 12’ was our last piece of scheduled activity for the weekend.

We jumped in the car and headed towards the A14 and Ipswich. Not long after, I noticed that the dashboard read-out was telling me that the rear tyre was deflating at an alarming speed – a blow-out. Initially, I didn’t take much notice because the car had only been at the garage a few days before to have the tyre pressure sensors checked because of a faulty reading. Reality kicked in pretty quickly after that, as the reading approached zero – yes, definitely a flat tyre. I managed to guide the car into a layby to inspect it, but there was no evidence of a nail or stone... just no air!

Under most normal circumstances, it would now be a simple task to remove the wheel and replace it with the spare. That’s when having a passion for flashy looking cars (and more especially wheels) was to have a distinct downside! After removing some of the luggage from the boot to access the ‘spare’, we discovered, err, no spare! In these days of larger and large wheels on cars, that’s not too unusual, as a full size spare is both heavy and takes up a lot of space. What we found instead was not a space saver wheel (those ugly things that are always a hideous colour and painfully thin), but a can of ‘sealant’ and an electric air pump!

So, having half-read the instructions with a the howl of passing traffic, I assembled all the bits and connected up the device to the rear tyre. Keeping an eye on the pressure monitor on the dash, saw the pressure rising and rising, and although we knew this wasn’t a permanent fix, at least it might get us to our destination. Err, no!!! Having got the pressure up to half of what it should be, we realised that the electric pump had been running for 10 minutes and the instruction book said that after this time it should be turned off. Even with only 15psi in the tyre, it would have been enough... just... to allow us to carry on, but as soon as we disconnected the pump, the tyre, (along with our confidence) deflated. Whether that was user error (ahem) or a faulty pump, I don’t know.

Time for ‘plan b’ then. Call Vauxhall Leasing 24/7 support. Initially, it all went to plan, with phrases such as priority case and recovery within an hour ringing in our ears, we settled down on the grass bank for some interesting views of Suffolk and junction 50 of the A14.

One inch is all it takes
The hour came and went – but the recovery didn’t! After a few chase-ups by phone, finally, the man from the AA arrived with his low-loader. I realised that the fact that it was a low-loader meant there was no chance (nor intention) of repairing the tyre. He loaded the car, we scrambled into the cab and directed him to the hotel. Although technically the recovery was to a single destination, he was quite happy to drop off the girls and take David and I to a local tyre place. The bad news was that the local tyre place was Kwik Fit – an outfit where I’ve always had problems with them in terms of the quality of their work. Still, it was a least a step forward and a chance that they might be able to fit a tyre and we could carry on with our celebrations. No! After a number of phone calls, he determined that my particular wheel size meant that the tyre was very rare and he couldn’t source one until at least Monday. If it had been a 16,17, 18 or even 19 inch alloy, we might have had some success, but the fact that it was a 20 inch – that one inch, made all the difference.

Going Downhill
Another call to Vauxhall Leasing asking for advice revealed that they were as clueless as me as to what to do next. I suggested they ring the local dealership, which he did, only to find their service team went home at 12.30 (that’s normal). From there, unlike the car, things went really downhill and after another phone call to Vauxhall leasing and speaking to another person, their solution was to hire me a car. I suggested that to them that it didn’t help very much as that would mean leaving my own car in Ipswich. In the end after a few more calls and a couple of paracetemol, we arranged for a recovery to home around 9.30 tomorrow.

The Only Way Is Up – Sort of!
We decided that we’d try and make best use of the time left and having missed the earlier performance of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy at Cineworld, we would head into town, have something to eat and then see a later performance of the film. So far, so good, Val booked the tickets and we were good-to-go. The girls on reception at the Premier Inn called us a cab, and after a short drive through the back roads we were soon looking for somewhere to eat. Ordinarily, Frankie and Benny’s wouldn’t have been our first choice, but as it turned out, both the service and the food were excellent. Maybe our luck was changing at last. We saw the film – very good but a slow start (for me anyway). When we came out just after 9, I called the same cab company that had delivered us and 30 seconds later, a text arrived confirming the booking – impressive! A further 30 seconds and the cab arrived – nice!. This all looked promising, but it wasn’t to be. The final act of fate meant that out of all the cab drivers we might have had, we got the one who had only been on the job for two-weeks! She took to the Premier Inn in no time, much quicker than it took to bring to the cinema. As it turned out, this was for a good reason – it was the WRONG Premier Inn. Some confusing and frantic phone calls to her husband followed. Added to that, as she punched in the post code for the RIGHT location and I think managed t confuse herself completely. After an extended tour, and a big circle of the surrounding area, we eventually got back to the our accommodation.

An Interesting Day
As Arkwright used to say in Open All Hours, ‘It’s been an interesting day...’

It certainly had for us! Today (Sunday) means that between 9.30 and 11.30 a low-loader will arrive to recover us to home. What we need to try and do is convince the driver to drop off the car first at the dealership and then take us all home – that would be perfect!

SUNDAY
As expected, we were all up fairly sharpish, hoping that the AA would be here as early as 9.30. So, it was brekky at 8.30 sampling the range of the typical Premier Inn menu. It exceeded everyone’s expectation in terms of service, value and quantity and we left all suitable stuffed!

We waited and waited and after what seemed like ages, the AA man – John, called to say he was 5 miles away. Ten minutes later were loading the car and on our way, only to discover that John was almost out of time and was due for his lunch-break. Next stop then was Tesco at Bury where we took the opportunity to have a pit-stop ourselves and pick up a few bits of shopping. By 1 o’clock were were mobile again and from then on, we were hoping that the journey was going to be pretty trouble-free. Not quite! Apparently, there’s a fire at junction 10 of the A14 – our turning – just our luck.

As we approached the area just before 2pm, we could see the smoke and a fireman on a ladder – serious stuff! We peeled-off at junction 11 and came home via the back roads. First stop was to drop off Val, Lee, Ann and David. David would then get his car and head for the Vauxhall dealer. Meanwhile John (the driver) and I would also head for the dealer to drop off the car. Ten minutes later, we were at the dealership and I was chatting with the sales team about my misfortune. David followed shortly after and we transferred all the luggage, said goodbye to John and headed home.

Phew! it seems we’re now back to normal, and after a couple of hours relaxing, we headed out to Frankie and Benny’s in Kettering with David and Val. Another very enjoyable experience, just like last night. We skipped dessert there as Val was doing the honours at ours. We finished the evening by watching the recently received Blu-ray DVD: ‘Unknown’ starring Liam Neeson. Great film!

Lunch with Denise

2011-09-22T17:55:00.000+01:00

I dropped the car off at Forest Gate just before 8 to have the tyre sensor looked at again, and they kindly gave me a lift to the station. I took the train down to London, quickly followed by the short tube journey across to Holborn.

Denise is now more-or-less full-time in London with her new venture and we had a great lunch at All Bar One in Holborn talking about this and that.

She had a client at 3, so we concluded our loooonnnnnggg lunch :) at around 2.15 so I could get the 3pm train back to Kettering.

It looks like they’ve solved the tyre sensor problem with a software upgrade as the car behaved OK on the journey home, but maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon, let’s see!

I was in by 5 after dropping into a local tilers to pick up some edging strip for Ralph.

The Wet-Room

2011-09-20T17:00:00.000+01:00

Well, the Wet-Room is in its final stages now. Ralph is in the process of tiling it all (after a slight blip due to some serious colour variation on the tiles we originally bought), and it’s all going very well.

Weekend with Roy, Susan and Lauren

2011-09-18T11:00:00.000+01:00

We drove over to Roy, Susan’s and Lauren’s in Ramsey today and got there about 2.30. We kicked off with a nice cuppa and spent the afternoon chatting about this and that – putting the world right, as you do.

Lauren was ‘super-chef’ for the day beginning with some delicious blueberry muffins – they were out of this world and it was hard to stop at two each! In the evening, it was Lauren’s culinary expertise again as we all tucked into a three-course meal starting with mushrooms, then salmon and finally fruit and ice-cream. Well done Lauren, the food was nothing short of excellent!

I showed Roy how to display his digital photos on his newish 50 inch plasma and we spent the evening enjoying their recent caravan travels and continuing our chats. Roy managed to find some photographs of his 21st birthday with me (supported by a beer glass) in the background. It was 1987, and we all looked so much younger then. The blonde stripper in the pics looked good too!

The next time we looked at the clock, it was 10.30 and so we headed for bed.

Sunday: We both slept well, but I seem to acquired a really sore throat, and my guess is that it’ll turn into a fully fledge cold in the next few days – bah!!! For brekky, I did scrambled egg on toast for four (Roy had already dropped Lauren at work), and we chatted about the wedding and some of the surprises we have in store!

It didn’t take us long to repack our stuff after breakfast, so we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Roy, Susan, Janine - Thanks for a great weekend!

Nick, Celina and Hannah here for Lunch

2011-09-11T17:00:00.000+01:00

Nick, Celina and Hannah joined us for lunch. That meant ‘full-house’ here as we already has Lee, Ralph and Karen staying!

Time to locate the ‘large-table-top’ that we had made a few years back (for Christmas time) that allowed us to get EIGHT of us around our dinner table (that’s really only designed for four or six, at a push) without elbowing each other.

On the menu – a full roast – beef this time with virtually every vegetable known to man :) and for dessert we had apple pudding – all delicious, and none of it any good for the waistline!!!!

Perfect!!!!

Vauxhall Ampera/Jane Eyre/Colombiana/Last Night of the Proms

2011-09-10T16:00:00.000+01:00

Ralph, Karen, Lee, Ann and I took the 9.30 out of Kettering today and headed for London.

For Karen, Lee and Ann, the mission was to seek out some suitable material for THE wedding dress. For Ralph and I, we concentrated on much more important things like Vauxhall’s soon-to-be-launched Ampera – their first extended range vehicle.

After arriving at St Pancras International, we went our separate ways and after half an hour or so in the taxi, Ralph and I arrived at the iconic Battersea Power Station where the EcoVelocity Motor Show was taking place.

As luck would have it, as we went through the gates, the weather brightened up turning it into gorgeous day. Five minutes later, we were signed-up for test-drive and arranging to speak to Simon, the Ampera Product Manager.

The test-drive of the car was a great experience – comfortable, stacked out with tech and above all, quiet. The acceleration was surprisingly brisk and the car was easily the best looking vehicle at the show. After a couple of laps we parked up an had an long conversation with Simon, Vauxhall’s product manager, who was able to answer all our questions and give us his vision for the future of the car. Brilliant!

After a quick burger, we headed back in the taxi to St Pancras to wait for the girls. We grabbed a coffee at the station and at around 2.15, the girls arrived having had a productive time, agreeing the wedding dress – not that they were giving much away!!!!

We caught the 2.30 back to Kettering, which just gave us enough time to have a quick read of the papers and something more to eat and then we were off out to the local Odeon.

The girls went for the new production of Jane Eyre, whilst Ralph and I checked-out Colombiana starring Zoe Saldana, who I’d not heard of. In fact, we didn’t know much abut the film at all, but guessed (correctly) that it was set in Colombia – doh! Without giving too much away, I thought it was a GREAT film, and for me, one of the best so far this year!

Jane Eyre finished just 15 minutes before ours, so that was almost perfect timing. We headed home, had another attempt at the papers and then caught the final part of Last Night of the Proms on TV. I wouldn’t say it’s totally my cup-of-tea (I’ve never really understood why people get quite so excited about the event), but it was great music, spoilt only by them dressing-up up the soprano at the end in such a stoooopid Britannia costume!

10.30pm Absolutely shattered – time for bed!!!

Weekend with Roger, Jane and Oliver – Sunday

2011-09-04T18:00:00.000+01:00

As planned, we had a lazy morning. After breakfast, we caught up with the newspapers and I helped Roger understand the extra functions of his new Panasonic LCD TV and Humax Fox T2 box.

After a rather full-on roast chicken lunch we did very little afterwards – apart from nearly fall asleep!

It’s been a great weekend! We left a little earlier then planned because we wanted to catch-up with Ann’s ex-work colleague Antony, and his wife Sue, on the way back. We arrived there around 3.30 and had a great opportunity to catch-up with bits and pieces - and to marvel at their renovated kitchen! It’s given us some ideas for ours, when we eventually get round to doing it!!!

We were home by 6pm, just time to unpack and to put our feet-up before getting ready for the week ahead.

Weekend with Roger, Jane and Oliver – Saturday

2011-09-03T22:00:00.000+01:00

We left ours around 10.30 and arrived at theirs just after 12.

After a light lunch of sandwiches and soft drinks, we set off for Hatfield House. It’s one we’ve never actually been to, and it was definitely worth the short drive. The place is massive, and unusually, these days, in private hands.

We had a good look around the house which was packed with tapestries, paintings and gorgeous ceilings. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photographs nor video inside the house, so nothing to show here – but if you like old houses, this is a must!
We took a break at the restaurant on-site and tucked into tea, cookies and cake. It was a scorching hot day so we sat outside listening to a solo saxophonist – perfect summer weather in SEPTEMBER!!!

We headed back and settled in the garden for a couple of hours. I spent time drinking beer, practising my light sabre skills and challenging Oliver with a game similar to Connect4.

We chilled-out in the evening watching the DVD: Clash of the Titans and fell into bed around 10.45pm. It’s a lazy day planned for tomorrow.

Dinner with Ian and Mags

2011-08-30T23:00:00.000+01:00

We went all French tonight and ate at Le Bistrot Pierre on the edge of the River just over the bridge in Stratford-upon-Avon. The service was a little sluggish but that was more than made up for by the quality of the conversation and the mouth-watering food. Delicious!

Trip to Lyveden New Bield

2011-08-29T16:00:00.000+01:00

On the spur of the moment (unusual for us!), we decided to risk the iffy weather and take the short drive, about 25 minutes away, to the NT property - Lyveden New Bield (a bit of a mouthful!). Apparently, we went there around 10 years ago – but I don’t remember it at all!

The NT have done a great job in cleaning it all up, but the journey up the narrow road to the car park, was ‘interesting’ – full of pot-holes and lumps and bumps – so I’m glad we didn’t take the Insignia with its ultra-low profile tyres.

As soon as we got out of the car, it started raining, but despite the weather, the place was already quite busy. It was an interesting building to look at from all angles, and it also had the unique feature of being surrounded by... nothing at all, apart from zillions of acres of Northamptonshire countryside – lovely!

TV: Doctor Who series returns

2011-08-28T10:00:00.000+01:00

Whilst I have the greatest respect for Steven Moffat as the writer for last night’s opening episode episode (he did write ‘Blink’, my favourite of all time), ‘Let’s Kills Hitler’, left me confused and slightly annoyed.

Let’s start with the title. I think there should be a rule that says you can’t name an episode in a way that implies that’s what the episode is about. I think Hitler must have been in it for no more that five minutes, tops – and this episode was NOT about him!! Removing the Hitler component (or indeed leaving it in) made no difference to the story-line at all!

It must be increasingly difficult to pen an episode that keeps all Whovians happy, but i was expecting the mid-season opener to also be a little more mainstream, in order to catch those that hadn’t been converted - but maybe that wasn’t the BBC’s strategy. In my view, this was Doctor Who at its worst and would have sent casual viewers behind the sofa for all the wrong reasons, just to avoid the complexity and incomprehensiveness of the episode – I’m just glad I didn’t leave the room for a second, as there was so much going on. Phew! Watching it was just so exhausting. ‘Who is River Song?’ ‘Who is ‘Mels’?’, ‘How come the Doctor is dead?’ ‘Why would River Song kill the Doctor?’ or should that read ‘Why would Melody Pond’ kill the Doctor?’.

It was all sooooo confusing. It seemed to me to be just a load of random facts jumbled together. It reminded me a bit of Patrick McGoohan writing the final episode of The Prisoner – and confusing the whole nation! I really hope this is not a case of the ‘Emperor's New Clothes’ where the BBC think this episode is poor...they’re just too afraid to tell the great Moff

I’m going to read a few Who Forums now to see what others thought of it...

Well it seems that as always, opinions are mixed, although there were quite a few that implied confusion. (It’s not just me then!)

I really did want to like the episode... really, but this is just the sort of self-indulgence nonsense that would drive potential new viewers away in their thousands, and leave die-hards like me thinking: bring back RTD.

I really hope the next episode: ‘Night Terrors’ returns to form. I’m now going to re-watch Blink, to remind myself of what great story-telling is about.

Maybe I should watch last night’s again???

Planet of the Ape(thorpe)

2011-08-27T18:00:00.000+01:00

Nicki joined us today and after the girls popped to the bra shop (it’s not really my thing), we headed off to Apethorpe Hall, a newly opened (and currently being restored) property about half an hour away located at the ‘back-of-beyond’ in the village of (spookily) Apethorpe!

On arrival, there were already about half a dozen people waiting. Not long after us, a few more arrived and joined the group, making about a dozen of us in total. On the stroke of 1, the tour began. It’s a massive building, with most of it falling apart. Dating back as far as the late 1400s, it has had many roles - a borstal-type school (that closed in 1982) and a Libyan owner who bought it soon after, just at the time when Libyans were very unpopular (think ‘WPC Yvonne Fletcher’), so he left the UK....and the Hall just fell into ruin. Fast forward to 2004, when English Heritage took up the challenge.

It’s a wonderful place, and English Heritage have done a great job trying to rescue it. It just simply needs someone with buckets of cash to pay for it being renovated – this is no small task, with hundreds of bedrooms and every surface of every room needing some major loving care and attention. The only exception being the ceilings that now look wonderful!

It was a great tour and afterwards, we drove the short distance into the village to the Pub - The Kings Head – who seem to get caught out by the rush of people from the tour. By now it was 2.45 and they were planning to close at 3!

The girls had tea, whilst I sampled a London Pride – we followed that with some scones with fresh strawberries.

Suitably fed and watered, we headed back to ours to give Lee a slide-show of our visit.

Wet, Wet, Wet – Floor down

2011-08-25T10:00:00.000+01:00

The Wet Room project continues. The floor is down - yay! Thanks Ralph!!!!! Quality job!!!

Meal with Ian H

2011-08-23T20:00:00.000+01:00

I drove over to the Premier Inn at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough tonight, and met up with Ian H, who’s this way on business.

We caught up with this-and-that in the Beefeater next door and (surprisingly) managed to resist their new policy of ‘bottomless chips’!

Wet, Wet, Wet/Cats Away

2011-08-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

Ralph’s here again this week working on the Wet-Room. We’re now at the ‘pretty’ stage with hopefully the floor tiles being laid this week, and time permitting, starting on the wall tiles too.

The rather fancy tap we’ve ordered should have arrived at the Plumbers as well, so it’ll be interesting to see how that looks with everything else.

Ann’s away for a few days in Nottingham – it seemed silly to travel to and from there three days in a row.

Cats in – Sunglasses out!

2011-08-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

Today was the day we took the cats it for their normal six-monthly ‘service’ – we postponed it from yesterday, because we were busy with wedding stuff and Patsy needed to drive to Bournemouth to rescue some abandoned cats – all 17 of them!

David and Val popped round for lunch. We had Italian cheese and meats for starters, followed by chicken and slow roasted veg. Dessert came courtesy of Val – flan and a hot cherry tart. All scrummy. In spite of the so-so weather during the week, it all brightened up today and we actually were able to eat outside – a proper scorcher!

Ralph and Karen arrived just after four o’clock. They’ve been south for the weekend and Ralph was going to be dropping off Karen at the station for 6.30 tonight to get her home.

Meal with Paul and Sue – The Old Bakehouse

2011-08-19T23:00:00.000+01:00

We met up with Paul and Sue tonight at The Old Bakehouse in Rothwell, for a regular get-together. Last time we went there, it was with David and Val in May 2009 - since then they’ve added an extra part to the restaurant out the back and the whole area looked fantastic – they’ve even added a lounge area too, a little further on. The whole area had a really buzzy atmosphere to it – excellent.

..and who should we see in the corner? Jo and Janet, there with some friends – small world!

The food was superb and we all tucked into various nibbles and then Ann and I shared dessert. All-in-all, a really great experience!

Lunch with Denise – Not Quite!

2011-08-19T15:00:00.000+01:00

I popped over to Bedford today, to catch-up with Denise M.

August seems to be the month for lunching - I could quite get used to this and it certainly beats working!!! It’s all part of my improved (hopefully) try-and-keep-more-in-touch-with-friends routine.

I haven’t seen Denise since Gill’s party and our get together at The Black Horse in May.

Anyway, it wasn’t meant to be. When I arrived, Denise had had a call from a potential purchaser (and his grandfather) of her beloved purple MG. An opportunity too good to good to ignore, so all we had to do was to wait for the purchasers to arrive. Denise had told them that she would only be in between 12.30 and 1 (so we could get to lunch!). 1 o'clock came and went, and after some frantic phoning and the offering of directions, they finally arrived.

Steve and I left Denise to do the selling, and after 20 minutes or so, the deal was agreed. The only fly-in-the-ointment was that part of the deal was getting it taxed, which meant Denise had to now get to the Post Office PDQ.

At this stage, it was becoming obvious that lunch wasn’t going to happen, so I dropped Denise at the Post Office and headed home.

Gurkhas, Gas Leaks and Gossip!

2011-08-18T23:30:00.000+01:00

I met up with John Cullwick tonight. After a lot of discussion, we agreed that we haven’t seen each other for at least 8 years! He’s over this way for a wedding, and it was too good an opportunity to miss a catch-up.

He was staying at the rather unglamorous, but functional Travel Plaza Hotel, just the other side of Desborough. On arrival, the place looked very familiar, but even after chatting with John, I’ve still not been able to work out why I think I knew the place – spooky!

The plan was to pop next door to The Gurkhas restaurant, but a gas leak had shut the place down temporarily, so we headed for Rothwell and the very familiar Taste of India. As expected, the service and the food was splendid and we had a great time playing ‘whatever happened to..?’

Just like our conversation, the beer and orange juice flowed and it was soon after 10 – and very late for me! I dropped John back at this hotel and we’ve promised to get together in Spring 2012.

Yes Please!

2011-08-18T11:00:00.000+01:00

Coming soon: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G

I want one! – but it has to be the 3G version. Hopefully arriving in August in UK shops…

Cider with Rosi

2011-08-14T21:00:00.000+01:00

No, much better than just cider!

David and Rosi invited us round for a late lunch, and we took Paul and Karen with us. Stuffed peppers, slooooow cooked lamb, fennel and potatoes followed by baked peaches with almond flavoured crème fraiche. Yummy yummy!

In between enjoying the more-than-excellent food, we pronounced judgement on the recent riots, discussed holidays, the Jewish religion and beavers! Phew! what a diverse bunch we are!!!! :)

Next time we looked at our watch it was 9pm – well past our bed-time. We left early, whilst Paul and Karen stayed on and made their own way home.

We had a great time Rosi and David – thanks! – we’ve missed doing more of this, this year!

Cloudy, with outbreaks of Spam?

2011-08-11T16:00:00.000+01:00

OK, a big techy-decision here today!

Regular readers will know that I defected recently from Windows Mobile to Android. That encouraged me to move away from Outlook Calendar and Outlook Tasks to manage my day-to-day stuff. That really only left the email function in Outlook as a reason to stay, and I’ve always been a bit nervous about my calendar, tasks, contacts and emails all being locked into one humungous great non-editable file, that’s stored locally on my PC.

After seeing a few friends struggle recently with restoring their life back to normal after a PC crash, it made me think how much of my world is tied up in that one single Outlook file. Yes, I know, I can back it up regularly (and I do!), but increasingly, I was finding myself in need of email-related information stored on the PC - when I wasn’t anywhere near it! I’d been experimenting with various bits of software over the years to keep it all in sync across multiple PCs, but it was just getting far too complicated for my ageing brain! :)

So, in a striking attack of the bleedin’ obvious, I took some steps to manage all my emails – personal and business – from a cloud-based email program. The choice was easy, given that I’m using an Android phone – Gmail!

After an hour-or-so of redirecting of my various domains and email addresses towards Gmail, I’m now fully up-and-running and I can now get at my emails – personal and business – from any PC, anywhere I’m working. Add to that, Google Calendar and ToodleDo, the rather clever cloud-based task management and my digital life now seems much easier to manage.

Job done!

Lunch with Denis and Bev

2011-08-07T17:15:00.000+01:00

We picked up Lee around 9.30 and headed for Denis’. Bev is cooking, so that’s bound to be a treat – I’m hungry already!

Food, as expected, was excellent. We all tucked into shepherd’s pie, swede and cabbage – yummy! Dessert was Christmas pudding and cheesecake – double yummy!!

We dropped into Downtown on the way back, to see if Lee could find some suitable clothes to add to her wardrobe – she did, and so did Ann!

We dropped off Lee, picked up her washing, and were home by 5.

Ring, Ring

2011-08-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

We drove over to Leicester this morning, specifically to look for a pair of wedding rings. Our first stop was our last, courtesy of George Tarratt specialist Jewellers, and after just 40 minutes of discussion and viewing, it was ‘mission accomplished’.

So, that’s two bespoke white gold rings with added diamonds now on order.

Easy-peasy!

Second half of Doctor Who series soon…

2011-08-06T07:00:00.000+01:00

Not long to wait…

Mazza’s

2011-08-05T19:30:00.000+01:00

We’d both had a tough week, and decided that the best way to start the weekend was to drop into Mazza’s our fave Indian Restaurant in Kettering. Having said that, even though it’s our favourite, we haven’t ben there since July last year – unbelievable!!!

We got there early – around 6.15 - and that was perfect. It was nice and quiet and the service was its normal high standard. We even had chance to chat to the owner about the state of business.

Wet, Wet, Wet - ‘A Night on the Tiles’

2011-08-04T19:00:00.000+01:00

More like a day and a night… and another day! With the temperatures into the 30s here yesterday, Ralph’s efforts to lay the initial tiling on the floor turned into a nightmare, as the cement went hard far too quickly! The result was that this part of the project took far longer than he imagined.

Today was cooler – thank goodness, and it allowed him re-look and re-lay as required. The result? –an excellent job!

Thanks Ralph!!

Steve's Blog...

DVD: Black Swan

Lunch with Denis and Bev

Tech Alert: No. 1123: “I Hate you Butler!”

Snow = ??

Snow Patrol

Tech Alert No. 977: “Phone me some music”

No Pressure Then!

Great App for Android Phones

“I have a Dream (Weaver)”

Meal with Ian and Mags: The Encore

Oliver’s Birthday/Get together with Gill and Chris

Moving Tenerife!

I Luv Technology - Part 994

Cats in/Oundle Mill

Sherlock Holmes: Where Fact and Fiction Collide…

Film: War Horse

Horsing Around…

Nut Cracked and Balls Busted!

Tech Alert No. 237!

Flight confirmed

Honeymoon Day 19: 3rd January (Tuesday) – Dubai: Our last full day before home!

Honeymoon Day 18: 2nd January (Monday) – Dubai

I luv Technology!

Honeymoon Day 17: 1st January (Sunday) – New Year’s Day in Sydney

Honeymoon Day 16: 31st December (Saturday) – New Year’s Eve in Sydney

Honeymoon Day 15: 30th December (Friday) – Exploring more of Sydney

Honeymoon Day 14: 29th December (Thursday) – Taronga Zoo/Mission Impossible

Honeymoon Day 13: 28th December (Wednesday) – Exploring around Sydney Harbour

Honeymoon Day 12: 27th December (Tuesday) – Arriving in Sydney

Honeymoon Day 11: 26th December (Monday) – Apollo Bay

Christmas Pressies - 2011

Honeymoon Day 10: 25th December (Sunday) – Drive to Apollo Bay

Honeymoon Day 9: 24th December (Saturday) – Melbourne

Honeymoon Day 8: 23rd December (Friday) – Melbourne

Honeymoon Day 7: 22nd December (Thursday) – Flying to Melbourne

Honeymoon Day 6: 21st December (Wednesday) – A Cave, a Lighthouse... and an out-of-this-world meal

Honeymoon Day 5: 20th December (Tuesday) – Exploring

Honeymoon Day 4: 19th December (Monday) – Hire Car to Yallingup

Honeymoon Day 3: 18th December (Sunday) – Perth

Honeymoon Day 2: 17th December (Saturday) – Perth

Honeymoon: 16th December – Perth

It’s Christmas (almost!)

Wet Room completed

Wedding Rehearsal + Hen Night + Stag Night

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Monday

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Sunday

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Saturday

Long Weekend in Long’s Park Castle – Friday

Wet, Wet, Wet – The Final Shower

Birthday Lunch for Lee

A Great Meal with the Family

The Raj

Oxford/Rosi’s Party

Cats in../Shuckburgh Arms

The Wet Room

MP3 update

Ralph and Karen’s for Lunch

‘Madge’ Returns

Tech Day with Paul J

It’s a Wrap!

Facebook... on our TV!

Gissa Job!

Saturday in London – Ann’s Night at the Opera (Part 2)

The Long Weekend starts here...

MPG

Wot, no girls…

Babies and Ronseal! - Ed Byrne at The Castle

It’s almost Christmas! :)

Christmas Cards

Fish and Chips

Nice Nokia

Thank Crunchie it’s Sunday

Satisfying Saturday

Happy Birthday – to me!

Birthday Weekend – Aborted!

Lunch with Denise

The Wet-Room

Weekend with Roy, Susan and Lauren

Nick, Celina and Hannah here for Lunch