Family get-together

We almost had everyone � Bev couldn't make it because she was working, and Mum's health is suffering at the moment and so she fancy the journey.

Ann and Lee drove over the Waitrose to pick-up the food, whilst I finished tidying-up the house!

So just Mae, Denis, Roger, Jane and Oliver arrived for lunch today. It went really well; Oliver was his normal energetic self and worer everyone else out! :) But he was gob-smacked when Ann showed him the birthday cake we'd picked up for him!

Food-wise, we decided to go for a hot and cold buffet which seemed to work really well � less washing-up too! :)

Mae brought one her legendary home-made Christmas puddings with her � one that had been marinating for about 12 months - as well as a gargantuan trifle.

Great food all round then..and we were all completely stuffed!

Everyone left about 3.30 which gave us time to clear-up and for Ann to do some work-related stuff for the coming week.

A great weekend!! Mum, Bev..sorry you couldn't make it this time!!

Mum's health�

We're starting to get concerned (again) about Mum's health. The 'patches' that the Doctor gave her a while ago, to ease the pain with her other hip now don't seem to be helping much at all. Combine that with her falling into the TV and then into the fireplace on Friday has meant she's even more pain now.

After faffing around with NHS Direct, she eventually called in an ambulance yesterday and once in hospital, was given the once-over.

The good news was that she had only bruised herself and it was nothing more serious than that - I think she thought it was morer serious and she'd cracked the other hip.

The bad news? Apparently, she has to put up with the pain of the hip as it's simply 'wear-and-tear' � that just doesn't seem right to me, that she just has to 'grin-and-bear-it'.

Hhhmmm�.

Boxing Day 2009 - Anchors Away...

Later today, we'll be boarding the 'Royal Clipper'. We board at around 4pm local time and sail at 10pm.

We're not sure yet if we can get an internet connection on the ship, so this may be the last posting until we get back next Saturday!

Over the coming seven days, the cruise will take in the following Caribbean islands:

Union Island - Grenada - Tobago Cays - St Vincent/Bequia - Martinique - St Lucia and then back to Barbados.

We're going to spend our final hours at Sweetfield Manor getting packed, and then just chilling-out.

Clayton, our personal taxi-driver was his normal conscientious self and picked us up just after 4.15. He took us to the terminal via Bridgetown (which looked very interesting) and after about twenty-minutes, we were unloading our stuff ready to board. We're used to cruising, and we're especially used to the long drawn-out affair of registering before you board. So, today was a very pleasant surprise as it only took about 20 minutes before we were walking up the gang-plank.

Once aboard, we helped ourselves to food and drink whilst the Rick-Wakeman sound-alike tinkled away on his keyboard providing background music to eat and drink by.

After snacks we moved the Library to check-in. This, in our experience, is another part of the process that normally takes ages, but we were processed in no time. So it's now off to Cabin 258 that'll be our home for the next week.

Another thing we're used-to is cabin-size - normally small, but the Royal Clipper redefined the term! How we got the majority of the stuff unpacked I'll never know (and just where did we stash the kitchen sink?). Anyway, half-an-hour later, the bags were squeezed under the bed.

We headed for the restaurant around 7.30. It was tastefully designed over two levels and was already quite busy by the time we arrived. We managed to get a table for four (they don't take reservations) and were quickly provided with menus and a wine-list. Service was brisk and initially, we seemed to be drowning in wine-waiters, who were all anxious to take our order. Things settled down and we chose a bottle of the French House White whilst Ralph stuck to his beer.

The menu was pretty extensive - Karen and I had the lobster soup whilst for mains, Ralph and I had the veal, whilst Ann tried the steak and chips and Karen had the salmon. We finished of with cheese - when I say finished off, Karen and I finished off the finishing-off with ice-cream!!!

We just had time to pop back to our rooms before going up on deck to see the ship sail. What a magnificent sight - seeing the sails slowly unfurl gave an even greater sense of occasion as we sailed out of Barbados at 10pm under the night-sky.

10.30 We were tired by now and headed back to our Cabin. One thing we noticed, being a much smaller ship, is that you definitely know you're at sea! Watching from a distance, it would be hard to tell whether we'd been on the Rum or just coping with the ship's movements!!!

Christmas Presents 2009

As we're away this year, we only took a few of the pressies with us.

Mum
Vouchers - John Lewis
Vouchers - Boots

Jo and Janet
Odeon Cinema Vouchers

Carol
Incense Burner

Mae and Denis
Blue-Ray DVD: 'Snow White'
Blu-Ray DVD: 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
CD - Carpenters Ultimate Collection

Bev
Spicy Sauce Collection

Roger, Jane and Oliver
Blu-Ray DVD: 'Star Trek'
Blu-Ray DVD: 'Blade-Runner'
Blu-Ray DVD: 'Sleeping Beauty'

Nicki
Molton-Brown Toiletries

Ann to me 
Clarins Scruffing Lotion
Givenchy 'pi' After-shave
Givenchy 'pi' All-over-shampoo
Launer of London leather wallet
3 x stripey shirts

Ann pressies from me
Classic iPOD
Two pairs of headphones for iPOD
Tommy Cooper Joke Book
Book: The best of Matt 2009
Book: The White Queen
Audio Book: Wolf Hall
Audio Book: Miss Marple's Last Case

Lee and Bertie
Vouchers - M and S

Cats in/Holiday Prep

Image by Steve Palmer (UK) via Flickr

This is our final weekend before the holiday, so there is plenty to do � not least the packing! We had a productive morning, mostly cleaning and generally tidying-up.

Additionally, we took the cats to the Vet for their final injections. We decided to get to there slightly before the 2pm opening time, to avoid the queues � a good move as it turned out, because it got much busier as as we approached the hour.

Both Biscuit and Bon-Bon demonstrated a degree of catittude when meeting the vet � and they growled (yes, Persians growl) through the whole process. Still, it's 'job done' for another year and at least they're both protected for any cat-lurgy!

Time to put our feet-up for a bit as we've got ourselves pretty well organised. So-much-so, we'll probably start packing tomorrow, just to make sure it all fits!!!

TV time: We watched the final episode of series 2 of Merlin (recently commissioned for a third series), and the final of Strictly Come Dancing.

More snow is forecast for tonight and so we've cancelled our get-together with Mae and Denis at Downtown tomorrow for the annual presents-swap. It's not been above �1 here today and with more snow coming, it's bound to make the journey very difficult. We've rescheduled it for Sunday, January 10th.

The eyes have it�

Mae has been due to have the cataracts in both eyes sorted out kicking off in January 2010. She was quite surprised therefore to get a call to bring the whole thing forward to� TODAY!

I spoke to her tonight and although parts of the process were quite painful for her, she was in good spirits and making jokes about 'parrots' and 'eye-patches'!!! We'll be meeting-up with her and Denis on Saturday coming.

Family Weekend

Saturday
We started the weekend heading off to Roger, Jane and Oliver's. - and popped into see Anthony, one of Ann's ex-JS colleagues on the way � he lives in Letchworth with his wife, Sue.

We got to theirs about 2.45 after a couple of trips up-and-down their road trying to find the house. What a lovely place � a 1920s building with an extensive garden. We had a long chat and tucked into tea and cake. We also saw their chickens! (brilliant beasts..they eat crumpets and mice!!!). Roger phoned to see where we were and that prompted us to get on our way. I'm sure we'll be seeing Anthony and Sue (and their chickens!) again. 

Arriving at R, J and O's around 4.45, after a short delay, the security gates opened!!! (Roger loves his gates!!). We unpacked the pressies from the car and quickly headed inside � it was freezing! They all looked well, and Oliver was as energetic as ever!

The evening meal was excellent � a beef casserole with a gorgeous sauce made from port and cranberry sauce.

Oliver was packed off to bed around 7.30 and by 9.30 we followed! We're such party animals!!!

Sunday
We both slept well, and I slept through until 7 � very unusual for me�

I grabbed a shower and on my return found that Oliver had taken my place in the bed � as lively and as noisy as ever!!!

Oliver continued to contribute to Ann getting ready by pretending to be a hairdresser and arming himself with Jane's curling tongs. I'm pretty sure Roger wouldn't be too chuffed if Oliver chose that as a serious profession!

We had a quick breakfast, sorted out the DVD player we'd given them and showed Jane how to move some documents to Roger's account on their PC..and then it was time to go � busy busy!

We'd taken the precaution of avoiding the major roadworks on the M25 near Waltham Cross and travelled via Harlow. It turned out to be a good journey and we got Mum's just before 12. A quick natter and then we drove to The Spinning Wheel at Westerham, just down the road - Mum had booked it ages ago for our Christmas get together.
Mum�s looking and sounding a lot, lot better. The �patches� that the doctor prescribed to ease her aches and pains seem to be doing the trick and it was good to see her more like her old self again.

I didn't remember The Spinning Wheel at all, but both Mum and Ann said I'd been there before (old age creeping on maybe?). We quickly chose from the menu - Mum had steak and chips; Ann had Fish and chips and I tried the sausage and mash. Being the generous sort, I helped out Mum and Ann with her chips! I guess all-in-all the food was 'OK' rather than something better. What was memorable however, was how cold the place was, and how the service deteriorated the longer we were there. By 2pm we had just got our dessert (we'd got there at 12.25) and I took the executive decision to ask for the bill at the same time. Luckily (and maybe predictably), that arrived very quickly!!

We dropped Mum back at her flat, said our good-byes and headed home. Leaving at 2.30, it was trouble-free journey until we got closer to home, where a four-mile queue near the A14 turning slowed our progress. After stopping off at Kettering station to pick up a ticket for next week, were indoors by 5.15.

It's been a full-on weekend, and it's been good fun!!

Mum and Morphine

Mum�s been prescribed morphine to dull the pain she�s experiencing in her leg. It�s in the form of �patches� and seems to be doing the trick, but I don�t like the idea of such a strong pain killer - isn�t it addictive too?

Lunch with Mae and Denis

We took a drive to Downtown to meet up with Denis and Mae for lunch. Ann drove and I fell asleep!

We did a bit of shopping beforehand � I managed to pick up a new pair of shoes for work and although Ann couldn't find a business suit that she liked, she did get a really gorgeous silk-top.

Mae and Denis are both pretty well although Mae's eye-sight is deteriorating. They really enjoyed the 'murder-mystery' event that Ann organised for Denis's 80th back in July.

Downtown was busy, especially the restaurant, but Mae managed to find us a table�just.

After lunch, M and D did a bit more shopping and we headed home. Ann drove back and I fell asleep again!!

Techy Session with Jane

Jane spent the morning here learning the basics of Dreamweaver together with image management courtesy of the excellent FREE utility, Irfanview.

Lunch and Roger, Jane and Oliver's

We drove down to theirs today for a family lunch. Mae and Denis were there but Bev couldn't be there because she has a big meeting at work tomorrow and a lot of preparation to do.

The journey was a good opportunity to try out Ann's new hire-car that is identical almost to the one she'll be buying. It was a very comfortable drive down and the 1.4 petrol engine gave us over 40mpg � excellent!

Lunch was homemade soup, roast chicken with sheds of veg with home-made apple crumble and lemon tart for pud.

After lunch, we all sat outside as it was another hot, dry day. Everyone was in good spirits and Oliver was his usual energetic self especially with 'Uncle Stephen'. :) Before I knew it, I was involved in a broomstick battle, but it came to an abrupt end when I broke one!

After a cuppa and some time to cool down, I helped Roger wire-up our old Sony DVD player to the TV in the play-room � that'll keep Oliver happy! We also left our other spare DVD player with them for the guest room.

Jane's popping up to ours in a few weeks' time to pick-up some tips on general html design and graphics manipulation for her school's web-site. So, we spent a bit of time online reviewing the 'old' and 'new' site for the school to get an idea for what might need changing.

Before we knew it, it was 4.15 and we decided to head home. We left at the same time as Mae and Denis and had a good run back too. We were home by 5.45.

One for the Sunday Newspapers...

A rather less-than-flattering pic of me uploaded by Bev onto Facebook - Cheers Bev!

That's Bev's friend Di, in the background, probably having second thoughts about the seating plan!

80th Birthday get-together for Denis

We both slept well at L and B's, although Ann reckons there was a party going on nearby with live singers � I was vaguely aware but it didn't interrupt me getting off to sleep. In fact, I slept right through to 7.30 (lazy bugger!).

I had a quick shower and tucked into brioche and preserves for breakfast. Ann followed shortly afterwards and tucked into Rice Krispies (far too noisy a cereal for a Sunday morning!).

We said our good-byes and headed for D and M's caravan. Bev and Dianna were already6 there and we chatted and tucked into nibbles (including some rather tasty home-made salsa by Bev). We then all headed by car to the pub: 'Coach and Horses' in ye olde villageeee of Dersigham to celebrate Denis' 80th.

The service was good and best of all they served Aspall cider �and even Denis had a half! Most of us had a roast of some kind, although Di had the curry and I had a bottomless pit masquerading as a deep-filled steak pie! � yummy. Bev, Denis and I rescued the family's reputation of being hearty eaters by also having dessert. Denis had the cheesecake whilst Bev and I migrained our way through a death-by-chocolate taste-alike that was more chocolaty than a lump of chocolate that has been swimming in a vat of chocolate and then force-fed with chocolate by the best chocolatier from planet chocolate! And then there was the birthday cake � a rather fruity fruit cake that was so packed with ingredients, it took all of Denis' carving skills to cut through it

The bill was the biggest surprise � six people, mains, some desserts, drinks � all for �65. Amazing!!!

We had a great time and it was a shame Roger, Jane and Oliver couldn't make it � that would have made it even more special.

We left around 2.30 � we headed for home, whilst the others headed back to the caravan.

Cats in� Mum out�Jo & Janet up

Biscuit and Bon-Bon went in for their six-weekly service with Patsy today. We popped into Waitrose on the way back for a few bits for the picnic tomorrow.

We took Mum down to The Star at Geddington for lunch. Once again the portions were massive and none of us could manage dessert nor coffee!

The weather forecast for tomorrow night's picnic is crap, so Jo and Janet popped up to discuss our plans for tomorrow evening.

Tolethorpe Hall � Midsummer Night's Dream

Tonight we three drove to Tolethorpe Hall to see 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. David and Val did to, but we needed to take separate cars because of the number of people and the amount of food! The weather was perfect so we'd planned a picnic.

The secret with getting a good picnic spot at Tolethorpe is to get there early � so we left at 4.30 � Ann drove -and arrived at about 5.15. It got very busy, very quickly in the picnic area, so were pleased to have got there when we did!

Between us, we'd created an excellent picnic � ham, coleslaw, crisps, anchovies, olives, soft rolls� and something new (for me anyway), blue-cheese mayonnaise. Plus, a superb trifle for afters, all washed down with beer, elderflower cordial and Appletizer ..then tea and coffee.

For us, the weather was perfect, although Mum did say she felt cold.

We sat inside for a bit and watched the multitudes queue for the loo and then took our seats. The production started a little late � just after 8 and the place was packed.

After a predictable start, the Play got into its stride � and for me, it got better and better � in fact, I'd say, it was the best production I've seen. It was clear that a lot of thought had gone into the set and the special effects, but of course, it was the actors who carried it, with particularly strong performances from Titania (Lucy Swannell), Bottom (Terry Kenny) and Puck (Robert Anderson).

The interval was short, so we chose not to eat the dessert we'd packed. We'll have that with David and Val tomorrow.

The production finished around 10.45 and as usual, there was a mad dash for the parking area. We had a trouble-free journey home and got in around 11.45

Travel's to Mum's/OCA Summer Reunion

We set off for Mum's this morning after Ann signed-on. Wed had a really smooth journey down � just under two hours. It had been a hot week � in the thirties � but today, thankfully, started off much cooler.

Mum fed and watered us and around three-ish I set off for the School, leaving Ann at Mum's. It's our Summer Reunion, and as usual, I'm helping with the preparation and the event itself.

Rather than drive all the way home, we're staying at Mum's overnight and setting off tomorrow morning. Mum will be with us she's staying at ours next week - it'll save going all the way home and coming back to pick Mum up on the Monday (as per the original plan).

The Reunion went well, as it always does. After helping to clear-up, I left just after 10 and got to Mum's around 10.30 � the roads were surprisingly busy for that time of night. I'm so I glad I'm staying over as I'm always knackered after the event and a two-hour drive home in the dark isn't the smartest of choices!
We'll head home after breakfast tomorrow.

Downtown to meet up with Denis and Mae

Nick and Celina left after breakfast; we had a quick clear-up and then headed up the A1 to Downtown. It was another gorgeous day here - just like yesterday - and it seemed to keep the roads pretty empty, so we were there in no time.

It's Mae's 65th today and we met there because it's about half-way between them and us but primarily to hand over her birthday presents. We did a little browsing before hand and bang-on-time at 12.30 we saw them heading towards the restaurant area. We had a good natter over a lengthy, lazy lunch and after saying our good-byes headed to the large Garden Centre to primarily look at the petrol strimmers.

We had a good journey back and were indoors by 3.15. We plan to take it easy for the rest of the day! We put a wash on, emptied the dishwasher, snoozed for a bit and then caught up with the TV we'd missed over the weekend.

Phew! What a busy weekend!

Family get-together

We set off for Mum's quite early - 7.30am! - in order to get to hers for around 9.15 (our best journey for ages). She's got some problems with her bank account and we've promised to take her into Bromley to get it sorted out. The mission to the Nationwide appeared to be successful, and their customer service assistant, Sue, was very helpful. Hopefully, by early next week, it'll all be sorted and Mum's e-savings account will disappear from our accounts list on-line.

 In the afternoon, we took her to see the 2.30 matinee performance of Cabaret at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. It starred Wayne Sleep and Samantha Barks, the runner-up from the hit BBC series I�d Do Anything, in the title role as Sally Bowles. I didn't know the story-line too well and we were both surprised as how dark and provocative the story was in places - Holocaust issues and lots of naked bodies! I thought Wayne Sleep was a bit past-it, but Sally Bowles was excellent -  what a voice!!!

The production finished just after 5pm (after a slightly late start) and so we decided NOT to go back to Mum's for a cuppa, instead, we set off immediately for Kosturi an Indian restaurant in Hayes to meet up with Neil, Debbie and the Boys.We arrived around 5.45 and Neil, Debbie and the boys arrived shortly after. We were both able to park almost right outside the restaurant.

Neil is well-known there and the staff even came out to greet him! Once inside, the service was excellent and so was the food. Mum thought is was mediocre, but everyone else enjoyed it. Mum offered to pay for the whole meal, but at almost �170, we all felt it was too much. We paid for the wine and Neil and Debbie paid a significant part.

We stayed over in the Guest Suite in preparation for travelling to the 2009 London Marathon tomorrow.

We're all getting increasingly concerned about Mum's state-of-mind. She seems to be losing her confidence, has become increasingly negative and seems to be critical of everyone and everything! We need to keep an extra special eye on her - this is not a good sign.

Up to Downtown

We drove over to Peterborough first to pick up Ann's new jacket from John Lewis and also for me to get a haircut. We then headed for Downtown for a spot of shopping and to meet Denis and Mae for lunch. The lunch area was packed-out but luckily Mae managed to find a table for four in the corner. Denis looked fine (although he is going to see a specialist about his sun-damaged skin) but Mae looked a little frail. It was good to catch-up as it's been a while.

We had a successful shop. I picked up some new shirts, socks and handkerchiefs whilst Ann bought some new tops. We also picked up a cheese grater for Lee!

Ann drove back and we were home just before 2.30. Ann went to bed to recharge her batteries for tonight and I caught up with some TV and some odd-jobs around the house.

Lee and Bertie's for the weekend

I got up at 7.45 and Ann followed shortly afterwards. We had tea/coffee in the guest suite.

I ate lightly at breakfast - brioche and jams, whilst Ann showered.

After breakfast, we watched 'Shadow Run' -on DVD - the one we started to watch last night. Starring Sir Michael Caine it tells the story of a ruthless and violent gangster (Caine) masterminding a raid on a security van whilst it is temporarily out of radio contact en-route to its destination.

The story seems to have been universally slated everywhere, with particular criticism being aimed at the child actors - but I found it quite watchable!

12.30 - Lunch. Gammon with scrummy creamy mash and lots of veg - carrots, broccoli and broad beans.

2.00pm - Time to leave and so we said our goodbyes and started the long trek back. It wasn't a bad journey, traffic was a little heavier than the3 outward journey, but I guess that's to be expected. We got in just before 4.30 (including stopping at Budgens for some milk).

It's been good to see them both. It's probably the longest period that's gone-by since we last saw them (November 'til now). Lee is bright as a button and there are no signs of any after-effects of her operation last year. Bertie, on the other hand has really slowed down. Maybe it's just his age, or maybe it's the bucket-full of drugs he takes each day - maybe it's both! He's noticeably slower in most things, drops off to sleep at a moment's notice and he's struggling with his hearing - he's much less mobile too and can't get out of the chair without a lot of effort.

Lee and Bertie's for the weekend

We left early - at 7am - and that guaranteed we would have a good journey. It was actually a GREAT journey, hardly any traffic, no hold-ups and a beautiful morning to be behind the wheel. We filled us with juice at the local Total station and whilst doing so, a guy delivering newspapers to the station, complimented me on my choice of cars! Nice!

We arrived at 9.20 - Ann saw their place before I did, but after a quick turn-round, we were parked-up ready to unload. Lee had seen us pull-up and came down to greet  us.

We decided to leave the unpacking until later and settled for coffee and cake instead.

We then walked into town as I needed to post some stuff and get some stamps. It was a gorgeous day, very sunny, with an occasional cold breeze from the sea. We picked up a paper for us and one for Bertie and headed back to base.

11.30 - When we got back, we exchanged Christmas presents (the last time we saw them both was before Christmas, back in November). I got a box of mint-chocolates and a striped shirt.

11.45 - L and B had a load of jobs for us to do, so I thought I'd start with the easiest - working out why they couldn't get BBC2 nor Channel 4 on their sky-box. I faffed around for ages but couldn't solve it - but at least I worked out why they weren't getting any Freeview channels - no Freeview box!

I then moved onto setting up their PC, whilst Ann helped Lee get lunch ready. A couple of leads plugged-in plus a swift change of ink cartridges sorted out all their problems.

12.45 - Time for lunch - home-made chicken and vegetable pie followed by apple-pie and custard and some very nice red wine. I had a quick snooze afterwards!

2.30 - It turned into a really fine day. The sun was shining, so we decided to take a drive to Sheringham Park. When we arrived, L and B decided to stay in the car and sleep. We thought the Park might be the 'open' sort where I could try out my boomerang - but it was more of a 'walking-type', so, we returned to the car.

We then drove along the coast road and eventually found a nice open space close to Cromer. Ann and Bertie went for a walk, Lee stayed in the car and I tried out my boomerang (at last!).

What a disaster!!!  Aren't boomerangs supposed to return to the owner when thrown? It was either 'user-error' or a design flaw - I suspect it was the former - time to dig-out the instruction manual for next time...

3.45 - We returned to the car and headed back to L and B's. After a short drive back to theirs, we were tucking into tea and cake.

5.00 - Time for the DIY jobs with Ann as the gaffer (sort-of) and me as the loyal, hard-working, conscientious worker (sort-of)!

Plates on the wall... check. Clock on the wall... check. Spice rack up... check. Strange looking wooden-face ornament on the wall... check. Man-on-a-horse on parchment on the wall... check.

...I know walls, me!!!!

7.00 - Pizza time.

8.00 - TV for the rest of evening including BBC's 'Total Wipe-Out' (a sort of wet 'It's-a-Knockout') - corny, predictable and completely pointless TV... but strangely watchable!

We then began to watch a Michael Caine DVD, but were both pretty tired so we stopped watching after about 20 minutes and went to bed!

Bev's new hair-do

Bev had her hair restyled today!

Nice!!!

Family Meal - Cancelled

When we got home from our meal last night there was a message on the answerphone. Mae's cold had turned into Bronchitis and she was cancelling the family meal. We were due to drive to theirs today.

Plan B is that Roger, Jane and Oliver are going to drop into us for coffee later today.

Mae in particular, will be really disappointed that she had to cancel. We don't get together that often as a family and we know the day would have been much more than just the meal.

Plan B changed to Plan C! Roger decided that he would go to Denis and Mae's for coffee and then come to us for lunch.

They had a good journey from Heckington, arriving just before 1.30. We tucked into lunch (Ann created a rather scrummy potato, bacon and cheese casserole followed by stuffed apples and/or chocolate cake - not bad for a few hours' notice!)

We finished off with tea and coffee. Around 3.30 it was time for them to make their way home.

Ann went for walk with Jo whilst I finished tidying-up.

Mum returns home/Debbie and Stefan's for nibbles!

John arrived from RLL Flightlink at about 11 to taxi Mum back home. Apparently, it was a terrible journey due to the sheer volume of traffic. Instead of it taking around 2 hours - it was closer to 3!!

We popped into town to have a look around. It was quite quiet and the shops looked as tired as the staff! - it all looked very depressing...

Just after 3, we went to Debbie and Stefan's for nibbles in the afternoon. It was good to see all-the-gang again. Stella was there and so was Trevor, Fiona and Becca.

About an hour into it, I started to feel cold and shivery (Ann thought the house was on the cool-side. Anyway, my cough just got worse and worse and so we left early - I was soooooo cold - just couldn't seem to get warm even with a hot-water bottle. This was the worst I've felt for ages, so I went to bed at 7.

As expected, I had a terrible night's sleep - too hot - too cold - too hot! ..and I've now got a really chesty cough.

Afternoon Tea with Roger, Jane and Oliver

We left just before 2 and arrived just after 3. The traffic was quite heavy going down, but we didn't hit any jams.

Ken and Celia were still there - they were leaving for home tomorrow. Oliver was in his normal ultra-high spirits - which was great!

We exchanged pressies in between Oliver trying to open everyone elses', not just his own.

Roger laid on a great spread - as he always does - cold meats, quiche, salad and lashings of wine and soft drinks. We all ate far too much ... but that's what Christmas is (partly) about isn't it?

We stayed for coffee and left around 6 arriving home about 7.15. The gritters were out again tonight - another frosty tonight!

Boxing Day 2008

We both had a restless night again with most of the sleeping hours wrestling with bedclothes and windows - we were either too hot or too cold.

I eventually got us around 7.15 and after having a shower, I started to feel a bit better. I can't seem to shift this cough I've developed - sounds like I'm smoking 40-a-day!

We had a lazyish couple of hours and then headed for Mae and Denis's for lunch. We needn't have rushed. We had a good journey up there but Me's timing for getting lunch ready was, as always, hopeless! In spite of our tongues hanging-out causing a health-and-safety hazard, we still didn't eat until 2.30ish.

In the interim, we exchanged pressies.

Ok, it was worth the wait- the lamb was fantastic (Shetland sourced - where else?) and there was a choice of three desserts. You could tell I wasn't well - I only had ONE dessert - the Tesco Christmas Pudding.

We chilled out for a bit afterwards and left around 4.30. Ann drove and we were home by 5.55. Just as well, the gritters were out in force

Choir Concert featuring Rosi

We drove over to St Barnabus Church, Wellingborough. to see the Choir Rosi's in perform in the Christmas Concert.

Ann was still suffering with her virus which has now evolved into a streaming cold. Mum was in good spirits.

I'm glad we allowed a bit of slack in the journey as the parking was a nightmare - cars parked both sides of the road as far as the eye could see - I think I got the last space!

The event was well-supported and the Church was full. As soon as we arrived we could see that it wasn't just Rosi's Choir - there was another - Wellingborough Orpheus Choir too as well as The Wellingborough Orpheus Players, a small orchestra.

The evening started with the Verger running through the housekeeping points for the evening in a humorous way - and that got the congregation laughing and settled everyone down. Things got off to an interesting start when the Conductor, - a jolly and (another) humorous chap as it turned out - arrived on the stage. He seemed to be slightly confused and we could see him pointing to the right hand side of the orchestra. He had spotted something missing - the Timpani and the associated percussionist!!! What a laugh!! Anyway a few minutes later both arrived and the evening kicked off.

The first half was a comprehensive programme with over 50 set pieces (see left). If the two choirs and the orchestra weren't enough, we also had the pleasure of solo singers - Hannah Bradbury (soprano); Roderick Morris (counter tenor); James Lister (tenor) and Frederick Long (bass) - who looked about 12 and had this deep, deep, deep voice which sounded kind of strange from someone so young!

The first half lasted around an hour and in the interval we were treated to wine and mince-pies. Mum and Ann declined the pies, Ann tried a glass of wine. I got stuck into everything!!!

The second half was shorter and devoted mostly to Christmas carols - some sung by the choirs, some sung by us the congregation. Unusually, the Conductor stepped-down from his podium on a few occasions to give us advice on how to best sing the tunes. The surprise turn was the 'Calypso carol' where the Choirs revealed maracas to accompany the song.

All-in-all, a GREAT evening. We got home around 10.45 and resisted all temptation to see who had won the Strictly Come Dancing final on BBC1. We'll watch that on Sky-plus tomorrow.

Pick-up Mum/Ann still not well

I drove over the Bedford Station to pick Mum up - I dropped into Denise and Steve's on the way through. Denise made me coffee and forced a mince-pie on me and we sat in front of her open fire in the lounge - lovely! Steve was out getting plumbing bits and pieces and arrived back, tap-in-hand, just as I was leaving.

Mum had had a good journey through on ThamesLink and arrived slightly ahead of schedule, at around 11.45. She was therefore in good spirits...

Which is more than I can say for poor Ann. She certainly seems to be suffering health-wise at the moment. Laryngitis and a streaming cold are the latest ailments - not nice! The real bummer for her is that she seems to get a bit better and then relapses! Against everyone's advice, she went into work for half-a-day and I picked her up from the station early afternoon.

Visit Jane in Hospital

We visited Jane in Lister Hospital today near Letchworth. Considering she had had a 9 hour operation a few days ago involving removing a breast and then opening up her stomach to remove fat from there in order to rebuild her missing breast - she was in great spirits!!! Jane's hoping to be home by Thursday (they'll probably chuck her out because they need the beds!).

We got there about 3pm (parking was a nightmare!) and left just before 4pm. Roger and Oliver were due around 4.30.

Jane is one very brave woman to have all this done considering it was a preventative operation not a have-to-have.

Visit Denis and Mae for Lunch/Lottery Win

We're off to Lincoln today to catch-up with Denis and Mae. The day started cold but then the snow came, albeit not much, but the forecast looks worse. As I write this it's still -1 degrees outside but we  now have freezing rain as well - lovely (not!)

The weather started to clear up and we had a good journey up there - one hour twenty minutes.

It was good to see Denis and Mae. We haven't been to theirs for quite a while.

Full roast for lunch - a nice piece of Lamb followed by Apple Crumble and Mae's unrivalled home-made Christmas Pudding. It was excellent food and well-worth the wait (we didn't eat until 2.15 and by that time we were both starving!!!)

Bev was there and introduced us to her work colleague - Di(ana).

We left about 3.45 and got home at 5.15. A good run back too. It gave me chance to push the Mondeo a bit - it was great round the twisty bends - and it still returned 39mpg.

After five years, we finally won something on the lottery! Three numbers, that's 10 quid - result!!

..and we nearly didn't bother to check the numbers!!!

Jane - Big operation

Jane was admitted today - a major operation (12 hours) to remove one of her breasts - as a precautionary measure. Brave girl!!!

Hard Disk failure - imminent

The PC downstairs - Ann's PC -has been playing up for ages. Random reboots and lot of freezing of the screen. Also, we kept running out of disk-space on the C drive too.

Neil introduced me to MaxBlast - a useful piece of software that allows you to do all sorts of things to a hard disk. Initially, I just used it to reformat the e drive because it sometimes wasn't showing up in explorer. I discovered that MaxBlast can also be used to clone a hard disk, so that gave me the idea of buying a new drive, cloning the existing c drive to it and hopefully, that would help things.

A quick trip over to Novatech's web-site and within minutes I'd located a 250Gb disk for under 35 quid to replace the ageing 12Gb one currently limping along in the PC.

The new disk turned up today. It took MaxBlast around 25 minutes to clone the disk and after a bit of confusion on my part about the boot sequence (Neil put me straight!), we were up-and-running.

A most rewarding day!

Visit Roger, Jane and Oliver

We travelled down to Roger, Jane and Oliver's. It's probably the last time we'll see them before Christmas and before Jane has her operation later this month.

They'd prepared a SUPERB lunch (as always) - Roast lamb and a good range of veg, followed by apple pie all washed down with an excellent red wine.

Oliver was in good spirits and wore Ann out. He liked his pressy (the bird feeder, shown above) although assembling was a bit of a nightmare!!

I fiddled with their Dell PC trying sort out some email issues and why Jane's account wasn't working. It wasn't a total success - I managed to get the account working but lack-of Internet access from Jane's side remained a mystery.

We left just after 4.30 and got in around 5.45. The weather home was atrocious - just like last night - rain, rain, rain and more rain!!

AGM for the School

I travelled down to the School today for the AGM (and dropped in to see Mum on the way through). The School closed in July and we're now in residence in the gym at the BRIT School next door. At least they had painted it since we had the Reunion there earlier this year - nice job!

We were slightly down on numbers this year, but apparently that's down to the impending half-term. I'm not sure I understand the logic of that but something kept them away. Around 50 attended - 15 fewer than last year.

Bernard finally retired (to be replaced by Donald) after 400 years on the Committee. He looked relieved - but only momentarily, because he was then nominated to re-join as a vice-president!!

It all finished around 2.15 and I was home by 5.30.

Trip to Lincoln to see Bev

We took a drive to Lincoln today to meet up with Bev, who we haven't seen for a while. We arrived at 12.30 - after a frustrating journey that diverted us via Oundle.

After a brief introduction to 'Smokey', Bev's rabbit we headed for the Wharf for lunch. Bev suggested we tried 'The Ultimate Burger' that had opened around a year ago. We'd not heard of them, but we thought we'd give it a go!

We weren't disappointed! The food was excellent (possibly the best non-chunky fries we'd ever had) and that was matched by the service - quick and efficient.

After lunch we headed for town for shopping. Ann got a new pair of shoes from her favourite shoe shop - Knight's, whilst I picked up a few non-essential bits and pieces.

We headed back to Bev's flat for a cuppa and left around 3.45. On the way home, we diverted to Waitrose in Rushden and topped up our shopping.

We got home around 6pm.

Trip to Downtown, Grantham

We drove to Downtown Superstore today - we haven't been there for ages and it gave us an opportunity to look out for ideas for Christmas pressys.

It's been almost a year since we were there last and since then they've changed the road layout as you approach the roundabout — big-time! They've diverted the road so you don't have to queue at the roundabout at all — you now simply peel-off to the left and go over the A1.

I managed to bag three shirts and a zip-up top and we also got Mum one of those automatic one-handed can openers.

Dad died 1991

Dad died on this day in 1991.

(This is my first use of Microsoft 'Live Writer')

Ann: Not well

This IS unusual! Ann isn't well!!!! Mainly a very bad headache that kept her away from work yesterday..and today. So, she's of to the Doctor's to see what's what..

Ann had a blood-test and she's seeing the Doctor again next week to talk about the results.

Mum - update

Well, having had an extended chat with Mum this morning, it would appear that her 'attack' was related to a bladder infection - this all seems a bit strange and doesn't seem to relate to the need for all the tests they gave her including a MRI scan!

The Doctor has prescribed five-days of special anti-biotics to deal with the infection.

Mum out of hospital

Mum was discharged today. Apparently, her going into hospital was triggered by her waking up with a tingling sensation in her hands. I think she panicked and called the ambulance. They've carried out lots of tests and there doesn't seem to be anything to be worried about. They think the tingling was something to do with her diabetes.

Neil seems to think it may also have something to do with the fact that she hasn't been eating very much and maybe her blood-ugar level got too low!

Phew!!

Mum into Hospital

Neil and Debbie visited Mum last night and she seemed OK. Today they ran more tests including a CT scan. They're keeping her in until the results of that come back.

I'm having terrible problems with my back again. Pain, pain and more pain. This time I went to the Doctor's and the Nurse prescribed me some strong pain-killers called 'Dicloflex 50mg'.

..it's a bummer getting old! What am I going to be like when I'm Mum's age?

Mum into Hospital

When I got back from my client visit to Maidenhead, I heard from Debbie that Mum had been admitted to hospital early this morning. Apparently she's all wired up to the machines and no-one's quite sure what's wrong at the moment!

Lee and Bertie return home

Lee and Bertie travelled back today. Lee wants to be closer to home and her Doctor whilst this ear complaint continues...

Mum returns home

My back was still aching, so Ann took Mum back today at around 10. Having looked at the traffic cams, it looks like it'll be a good journey. However, Ann rang after getting onto the M11 where she promptly came to a halt. Looking at TrafficMaster showed a tail-back right up until Bishops Stortford going south!

Lee brought her collection of Michael Cane DVDs with her, so we watched 'Silver Bears' in the afternoon.

Ann got back around 5.15.

Family Weekend

Another hot day. We had brekky in the garden and then started to get ready for Denis, Mae and Bev who are due for lunch. It's a themed lunch - 'Cowboys and Indians'.

Oliver meanwhile wanted to watch Doctor Who on DVD but only got as far as episode 2 before he got bored! (sorry RTD!!!)

We had a great lunch outside (that's TWO days in a row - Summer has really arrived I think!)

After lunch we relaxed - some inside 'cos it was too hot, others outside. Ann thought it would be a good idea to have a group shot of the family as we don't all get together that often.

Everyone left at around 4ish and afterwards we popped down to the station to get Ann's season ticket and then once home finally clear up and catch up with our reading and the TV.

Family Weekend

Woke up to an already very warm day. A great day to discover that the toilet downstairs was blocked!!! Luckily the Plumber turned up fairly promptly and fixed it in a few seconds!!

We all had a lazy breakfast in the garden and during the morning, chilled-out and read the papers.

Ann and Jane had a facial and a pedicure, whilst Rog, Mum and I carried on chilling-out.

We had pizza and salad for lunch and then Roger, Jane and Oliver went down to Wicksteed Park. They had a good time down there and got back about 5pm.

We then lazed around in the garden until late and dinner around 8pm - Italian Shepherd's Pie Yum Yum!