Raise a Glass…

For the first time in a long while we went out, this time to the Hope in Carshalton where we had a few drinks with friends, because we could.

Booster jab…

We have both now had our booster jab, this time the Pfizer to complement our previous Astra-Zeneca. We have had sore arms around the injection site, but otherwise no side-effects.

Winter is Coming…

It is getting colder again as we move into the metrological winter and there was a slight sprinkling of snow to let us know.

Christmas Fair…

New for Dorking this year was that they closed some of the main roads to have a Christmas fair, with stall holders, food sellers, music and roving entertainers. It was all a very jolly affair, and we ended up buying a lovely painting from a local artist John Arthur which is now hanging up in the dining room.

Ollie’s Birthday…

We joined in celebrating Ollie’s 16^th birthday where we had smoked ribs (from Dave’s new smoker), and later some of Sue’s chocolate cake.

Country Walk…

It was nice to walk in the countryside after a long while, due to the redecorations around the house and poor weather. We noticed were had become more unfit, but the weather was a brisk and bright winters day, and we did stop for a pint in town before returning.

Odd Weekend…

We had an unusual weekend in Kent recently. We had planned to revisit the old Roman site of Richborough where there was a planned archaeological dig of the stadium. Unfortunately, unknown to us the team did not work on a weekend, and we could not see what was going on. Instead, we visited the old Cinque Port Walmer Castle, where the Iron Duke of Wellington had died. We stayed at the Blazing Donkey pub (run by cousins of friends), and where we attended their inaugural Drag Ball which included singing by Angie Brown. It was all very ‘fabulous’ but quite out of the ordinary for us.

Changing Rooms…

We have been redecorating the dining and living rooms after new double-glazing windows and a new set of French doors were installed at the rear of the house. It was a case of one job leading onto another. The was quite some construction required to take out the old windows and replace them and where the dining room window was taken out brickwork to make space for the new double doors. This made a mess and required some finishing, which led us to look at redecorating the dining room, which meant we should have the ceiling replastered, and then that would make the front living room look dowdy, so that would need a repaint too. Luckily, we were able to get a man in to do a lot of the skilled work and Sue and I spent many an evening and weekend sanding and treating floors, moving furniture, cleaning, and finishing off. But now we have done – for now… …the kitchen could do with some work… …and so on

Garden of Delights…

We went to visit the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden with Terry and Katherine not too long ago and were sad to hear of her death in August. There is a trail through the gardens where sculptures are to be found, mostly for sale, and often very expensive. It is a magical place to visit.

Tom goes to Uni…

Tom’s family had a small gathering to celebrate before Tom goes off to Cardiff university. We sat around the fire pit in the back garden and ate, drank, and talked for many hours.

Flower Show…

We joined a couple of our neighbours for a visit to see the RHS Wisley Flower Show. It was a lovely day and although there were many thousands of other people also visiting, the stands were thoughtfully arranged to minimise crowding as much as possible. We walked for miles that day and thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Jazz at the Castle…

Another sign of things starting to return to normality was a live music event. It was held outdoors in the picturesque surroundings besides the Guildford castle. The event showcased the Latin Jazz ensemble of Picante and was a lively show with many of the audience enticed to their feat to shake their stuff.

Face to Face…

For the first time in a long while several of us managed to get together to play board games, and we managed to recruit the son of one of our regular group to join us. We hope to make this a regular (monthly) event.

Norfolk ‘n Good…

The first full week in September, once the children had returned to school, we went on a holiday to East Anglia, mostly Norfolk but we passed through Essex, Suffolk and cam back via Cambridgeshire.

It would seem that as a result of the Covid travel restrictions a greater number of people have been holidaying at home (staycation) and so finding accommodation was difficult. Originally, we had hoped to book a boat on the Norfolk Broads, but what ever was left was prohibitively expensive. In the end we found a couple of places through Airbnb, and even then, we had to compromise on dates and location.

To break the journey up we travel part way on the Friday, stopping at Canvey Island. We were not expecting much and were not disappointed, staying at the large but distinctly average Oysterfleet Hotel. We did however find a nice restaurant on the Thames Estuary called the Labworth, which was lovely and had very friendly staff.

The next morning, we drove to Southend-on-Sea for breakfast and a look at the pier. It was a grey morning, so we continued to the pretty seaside town of Southwold, where, as the sun was now out, we walked along the beach and through the town stopping for lunch at the Sole Bay Inn located at the base of the lighthouse and just around the corner from the Adnams brewery.

Afterwards we travelled on to Ormesby Broad and the Boathouse where we stayed in one of the lodges that they have available, for a couple of nights.

We spent the next day exploring the Norfolk Broads and then meeting up with an old friend at the fabulous Gunton Arms. We had a few drinks and started to catch up the 30 years since we saw each other. The evening we went back to their house in Mundesley where they provided dinner and we talk on for a few more hours.

The next day we packed up and moved on exploring more of the Norfolk Broads including the bustling Wroxham, then on to the coast for lunch at Cromer (crab naturally), exploring the beaches there and at Sheringham.

Our accommodation for the next few nights was a small cottage in Swanton Novers. It was quaint and old fashioned without any frills (no TV, microwave, freezer) though it did have wi-fi. It was however well located for north Norfolk, with any place less than an hour drive away.

In the morning we explored the nature reserve that was behind the cottage before heading to the northern beaches at Cley next the Sea (an enormous shingle beach), Wells-next-the-Sea (a busy resort town full of holiday makers) – here we had lunch at the Crown Hotel where we had the most amazing sandwiches (Sue had crab, and plenty of it, and I had ‘fish fingers’ which were more like small fillets). Then we moved on to Brancaster which has a fabulous large sandy beach.

For our final full day in Norfolk, we went to Sandringham. We didn’t go into the house, but explored the lovely gardens and then found an old pub, the Rose and Crown, with a lovely walled garden for lunch (amazing crab cakes). After that we went on to Old Hunstanton beach, another large expanse of sand, before returning to our little cottage for the evening.

During our holiday we made sure we took time to relax as well and we had a few board and card games we played of an evening, a good music system, and books to read. It was nice not to be rushing about all the time.

On the Friday we packed up and drifted southwards, stopping briefly at Oxburgh Hall (undergoing some major roof repairs) and Thetford Forest where we had a lovely walk and a picnic lunch amongst the trees.

Eventually we made it to the small city of Ely for the last night of our holiday. We stayed in the posh Poet’s House opposite the cathedral. We walked down to the river passed the lovely old buildings and had a couple of drinks before returning and getting ready for our slap-up dinner (courtesy of my company).

Pandemic - Part 5…

At last we have started to get out and about as the rules are relaxed. We have visited pubs, eaten out with friends and family, enjoyed the company of others, and started to socialise again.

We visited RHS Wisley for Sue’s birthday and walked around their new gardens. A lot has changed over the years especially this last one as they have a new research centre to complement the new entrance and shop.

The delayed Euros football competition gained a lot of support as the English team advanced to the finals. Ultimately it was not their year though.

We have almost completed our garden project, just have some final touches to make (adding some tiles and building a storage unit to hide the bins). We have had a few visitors over and it is interesting to see how they use the space.

Olympics has started, another delayed event. The lack of crowds of supporters does change the atmosphere somewhat.

Sue went out into London with Deb and Lynne to see Alexander O’Neil perform at the Canary Warf Boisdale club.

We visited my Uncle and Katherine and went out to watch the Aldbury Morris Men perform their first public show of the year at the Aston Abbots Fete. It was good to see the side in good form. We went back to his home and had a lovely evening staying over the night.

Taking a couple of days off work we went into town and visited with Jamie, helping him pot a few plants and tidy up his patio area. We had a lovely evening with him, and a couple of his friends, and we even stayed over the night for the first time.

Pandemic - Part 4…

 And so it continues.

In the UK there are signs that things may be improving, Sue and I along with a large percentage of the population have had our first vaccine jabs (the only time I have looked forward to an injection), and restrictions are gradually being lifted in accordance with the governments plan. However worldwide the story is more mixed – Australia and New Zealand have opened up to each other and my mother has had holidays in country, but India and other countries are showing significant spikes and new variants.

As a result, we have decided to delay our 2019 Spanish holiday another year as we cannot guarantee that this COVID situation will be back to normal by the summer.

Sue and I continue to work from home, and we are quite happy for the arrangement to continue.

As the weather in the northern hemisphere improves, we have been out in the countryside (we are so lucky with where we live for access to wide open spaces to roam). The Rule of 6 means we have hosted several small outdoor gatherings, mostly around a fire pit as it is still quite cold out. We have managed to get together with family and friends in gardens (often to help with projects). We have had a mini heat wave, and times, snow.

All of this has prompted us to do some work on the house and garden, with plans to replace the windows at the back, adding  patio doors to the garden, and to remodel the open space by moving the furniture to a new patio and digging out a sunken area where we can put a dedicated fire pit to keep us warm during the colder times. We are getting help which is just as well as I am feeling the repercussions of physical exercise in my old bones.

I am sure this will not be the last of this but we have hope that things will improve.

Pandemic - Part 3…

The continuing saga.

After a general relaxation of the rules at Christmas that spilt the country into those who welcomed the possibility of getting together with family after such a long time, and those of us who thought this was a mistake after the revelation that a new and much more virulent strain of the virus was sweeping the country. We took the decision to hunker down and not meet up with family in the traditional festive gatherings and now in the New Year as we are in an ever more stricter lockdown it would seem that the freedom given was resulted in a terrifying upsurge in cases and consequential deaths (more per day than ever in the whole pandemic). But the three vaccines currently certified for use that are being pushed out to the most vulnerable in an unprecedented rate is some cause for hope.

Overall Sue and I are very fortunate in that we have our work and the companies we work for are continuing, so we have financial security; we live in a beautiful part of the country with access to fabulous countryside from our doorstep, and we walk when the weather permits; so apart from the worry about the safety of our friends and family and the repetitive ‘groundhog day’ nature of life at the moment we have to be grateful.