Less is More…

Another update…

July 2024 - Continued

We ended the month with another visit to the Sound Lounge, this time to see old school rock ‘n’ rollers Geraint Watkins and the Mosquitoes.

August 2024

This started with an alfresco gathering around at the Whittenbury’s and a BBQ in the garden.

I got together with pals (Martin, James & kids) to play a few boardgames at James’s place. Virus Inc, 5 Minute Mystery, Flamme Rouge, a pirate game (forgot the name) and Roll for It, Zombie Dice and Martian Dice.

We hosted an alfresco evening of our own, this time for Sue’s boss, his sister and Sue’s sister.

Sue and I, with Deb as well, travelled to Seaford to spend the weekend with Chris and Lynne. Whilst we were there, we walked up the coast to the lovely seaside town of Lewes.

Whilst Jamie was away on holiday Sue and I house/cat sat for him in Peckham and had a fabulous time exploring the local environs. We had some good evenings, including at Kokum with Deb and Chris and Carole, Banh Banh for a fabulous Vietnamese meal, Nola Coffee with Jo, Prince of Peckham for the best jerk cuisine with Jamie, Peckham Cellars across the road with Deb and to see the Jonny Liebeck Jazz Quartet at the CLF Art Lounge with Chris and Jo. We also went into London and went up to the Sky Garden to get a great view over the city.

We joined a large group of friends to celebrate Tracy’s 60^th birthday at the Greek Vine Restaurant in Wallington. A surreal Zorba the Greek, plate smashing, out of body experience.

It was a more relaxed day out when we went to the Sussex Prairie Gardens with Paul, Lorraine, and Chris and Carole.

Sue and I took a short break to Bristol and found it a vibrant, scruffy, and historically significant town. We ate at some amazing places, including – Bokman (Korean), Wilsons (locally sourced British), the Lido for breakfast (an actual lido), Dhamaka (Indian), Noah’s (seafood). We also found the liveliest street in town and the Old Duke pub that had live music every night. We did seek out some culture as well, visiting the Clifton suspension bridge (saw it as the sun came down), the Clifton Observatory and Giant’s Cave, and taking a water taxi past Brunel’s SS Great Britain.

Returning from Bristol we visited Dyrham Park, a suburb building with a previous owner that had a terrible past, profiting from the misery of others.

The month ended with a dinner out in Epsom at the Koza Bar Kitchen (Mediterranean cuisine) with Chris and Carole.

September 2024

A regular date in our calendar is to visit the small, but perfectly formed, Pippfest open air event in Dorking, with local music, crafts and produce. We went with neighbours, Howard & Anne, Dan & Charlotte, and friends the Whitenbury’s.

We saw father and daughter act, Dirk and Amelia Powell playing Southern style Americana at the Sound Lounge this month.

In September we visited Terry and Katherine and took an excursion out to the opulent Waddesdon Manor, a building built just as a party venue and to house some of the wealthy Rothschild collection.

One Friday we went to Dorking to the Old House and listened to Sarah-Jane Hassell play.

A project that had been ongoing most of the year was the build of a combined bin and bike storage shed in our front garden. I draw up the designs that were realised by Pete. In addition, I laid a living roof on the structure that should hopefully make it blend into it surroundings a little more.

By the end of the month, it was starting to feel decidedly autumnal with cooler nights and the change in the colour of the leaves on the trees. The conkers were scattered all over the ground. We did get out to the Dropkick Brewery for a musical evening with Sophie Mullan entertaining the assembled crowd.

October 2024

This started with my trip out to Essen in Germany for the regular Speil game convention there. I stayed in the quirky Alma Mulheimer Hotel in Mulheim an der Ruhr. I joined up with friends from Belgium (Kotie and David), and New Zealand (Gary and his son Ben). The event was very busy and was sold out each day. One of the traditions is to have pork knuckle at the Restaurant Mausefalle, and this year was no exception.

In the middle of the month, we jetted of to fair Verona with the Whittenbury’s to visit their eldest son Tom, who is living and working there at the Verona Rugby Club. It is an amazing compact city with superb history everywhere. This weekend coincided with a wine event that meant the streets and plazas were full of revellers and music. We also watch the Verona Rugby team win their first league match of the year. We also took a train out to Lake Garda one of the days we were there.

For Sue’s Mum’s birthday we went out to her favourite Chinese restaurant, Heens, with Jamie, Deb, and Dave.

Later in the month we took Barbara down to visit Chris and Lynne where we ate out at a lovely pub.

November 2024

The weather continued to get cooler, and the nights are drawing in. Sue and I managed to get out on a grey day to visit Sheffield Park where the trees were showing their vibrant seasonal colours.

A musical event we had planned for some time was to see Bellowhead on their 20^th anniversary tour as they played the Dome in Brighton. We decided to stay over and explore a bit of the town. Before the event we went and had a tasty cocktail at Gung-ho! And then followed up with a fabulous Italian meal at Cin Cin. The band, ably supported by the Longest Johns, were in good form and managed to get almost everybody up and dancing on their feet. The following morning, we took a leisurely stroll around the lanes, fortified by a lovely breakfast at Lost in the Lanes.

Taking advantage of a bright, but cool, weekend we went up to Newland’s Corner where we walked through the woods. They have installed a boardwalk that passes three ancient yew trees that are more than a thousand years old.

We gave in to the persistent Christmas presence and visited the local WestFestival held in the Community Hall and Church.

As a couple of our neighbours are moving away soon, we got together with them (Dan & Charlotte) and other neighbours (Howard & Anne) and had a Sunday lunch and a stroll in the countryside. A pleasant day indeed.

Sue’s boss Jonas was over from Sweden, so we kept him entertained one Monday evening with dinner out at the Queen’s Head in Dorking.

To celebrate Lorraine’s 60^th birthday we met in London with Paul, Lorraine, Deb, Deb & Dave, and Chris & Carole (although Chris had leave as he was unwell). We had a few drinks at the Coach & Horses in Soho, before moving on to have a fabulous roast dinner at Sophie’s Soho, and finishing up at the Opium cocktail bar in Chinatown.

Another Tardy Update…

 Another update…

 Mar 2024 - Continued

As the weather improved, we continued going with walks on the weekends with friends – to places such as Reigate Hill.

We continued our support of the Sound Lounge – seeing Jenny Colquitt this month.

At the end of the month the Westcott Historical Group had their Easter walk and talk, this time visiting Rokefield House (a converted manor house and former Jewish blind children hospital), with stories of lost pubs, a grisly murder, royal furniture craftsman, and ice-house.

After visiting friends who were trying out their new caravan, we stopped at Chichester and visited many of its historic sites.

Easter dinner was had at Sue’s mums with several generations of the family present enjoying the company and food.

Apr 2024

This month started with a walk in the countryside to admire the spring bulbs and wildlife (even saw a dead snake).

A new venue in Dorking for us is in the St Marys church, where they occasionally hold musical events. We went with Terry and Katherine and saw Saints & Sinners who played gospel and blues music. Sue made us a hearty Lancashire hotpot for our evening meal. The next day we wandered around Leith Hill Place gardens and admired the large collection of rhododendrons. We also tried to find the bluebells at White Downs, but the place has in a real mess after some very controversial woodland management.

Sue held a soiree for a work colleague (Frenchman Lionel) who was retiring and made a spectacular buffet whilst I mixed a few thematic cocktails.

We visited the house of our neighbour’s partner (Anne of Howard) to play games and have dinner and stay the evening. The next day we returned the favour with a meal at ours along with Marc who was passing through.

Later in the month we visited the Sound Lounge with Deb and Jamie and saw The Lost Trades perform a very entertaining set.

We have several friends who enjoy their food and drink and regular amongst them are Deb & Dave, and it was with them that we had an outing in Reigate to a couple of drinking establishments (including the Hop Stop), and then to Lebnani for some Beirut soul food.

May 2024

The West Festival (West Street in Dorking) started off the long weekend, and we enjoyed several bands (staying mostly in the Star).

Our first outdoor garden party was for a gathering of work colleagues past and present (mostly from GPE and Honeywell). It was good to catch up with them all and find out how they are getting on now.

We are of an age now where we are going to several 60^th birthday parties. In May it was Pete’s and was down at the Railway in Carshalton. On our way home we managed to see the Northern Lights in the night sky.

The Dropkick Brewery has become a favourite place of ours and we spent a glorious day their listening to a DJ set by Uncle Stubble whilst drinking a couple of pints and eating Uboo’s tacos.

We celebrated Jamie’s birthday with a visit to his neck of the woods, where he took us to a rooftop bar (a converted multistorey carpark), a couple of other drinking establishments, and then we had a lovely Indian meal at Kokum.

There was a garden party to celebrate Hillary’s 80^th birthday around at the Whittenbury’s and it was a lovely occasion with friends and family enjoying the good food and company.

Sue and I took a drive out into the countryside and visited the novel Ichi-Coo Park and then a portion of the Wey and Arun canal. The next day we had a long walk out to the Stepping Stones where we enjoyed some jazz (a regular jam session with a wide variety of musicians).

At the end of the month, I went with friends (Martin, James, and Noah – meeting Rhys and Faye) to the UK Games Expo at the NEC. We visited the show and bought a few new games and then spent the rest of the weekend back at the hotel playing more games.

Jun 2024

It was a horticultural start to the month with us working in our garden before going to visit the wonderful Sissinghurst Castle gardens. The next day we stayed more local and visited Logmore Place that was open as part of the National Garden Scheme.

Cyprus Holiday

Mid-month we took off for a long weekend in Cyprus, staying in Paphos on the south coast. It was hot with clear skies the whole time, and we soaked it all up. We spent a good part of the time visiting the remarkable ancient historical ruins with the rest of the time delighting in the local cuisine. One day we took an excursion out to see Aphrodite’s Rock, Lofou, Millomeris Waterfall, Lion’s spirit Winery and Omodos where there is the Timios Stavros Monastery – a lovely small group tour. During the heat of the day, we did retreat to the pool to cool down, and of the evening we tried to be down by the water’s edge to watch the spectacular sunsets.

June had been cold for the UK, but later in the month it brightened up and the signs of summer in the countryside around where we live was a welcome thing.

Another visit to the Sound Lounge, this time to enjoy the poetry of Mike Gerry with musical accompaniment of the Cassia String Quartet.

One of the games I bought at the Games Expo made it to the table – only just fitting as it is a bit of a monster. It a long while to get to grips with it and eventually we had to call it quits before the end. It is the third in a series – Great Western Trail (New Zealand).

Our local fete was bigger and better than last year and was good to see so many people enjoying themselves. Later in the Deb & Dave came round and we ate alfresco.

A relatively new addition to the New Zealand official holidays is Matariki the Maori New Year, which this year was at the end of the month.

Back over to the Whittenbury’s for a pizza party, where we met Lily, Tom’s new girlfriend.

For Sue’s birthday we spent some time with her mum and then at Jamie’s (where he cooked a lovely meal), to party with friends. The next day Sue and I had a relaxing day at Polsden Lacey exploring the gardens and listening to jazz on the lawn.

Jul 2024

Elections – there have been some bizarre global election events, and the UK had theirs with the landslide victory be Labour over the Conservatives.

We caught up with friends around at Paul & Lorraine’s.

And with neighbours at Howard’s.

Then at the Brown’s new house with friends and family.

On one of the hottest days this year Sue and I went out to an open-air event (tickets courtesy of Dave W). There we saw Old Time Sailors, the Lightning Seeds, and headliners Madness. A fabulous but long day.

Back at Dropkick Brewery with Deb & Dave we listened to several DJ sets and enjoyed the sunshine and beer. The following evening, we had a friends (D&D, the Browns and Paul & Lorraine) around to enjoy our back garden.

The month ended with a(nother) boozy and musical weekend, starting with a walk out to Wotton Hatch with neighbours Dan & Charlotte. Then with an evening at Dropkick Brewery to see The Collective ska band. Finishing with and afternoon session at the Sound Lounge listing to Geraint Watkins & The Mosquitoes.

Increasingly Less Frequent Update…

I have been incredibly poor in updating my blog, sorry, but here is a quick update…

Oct 2023

We managed to get mum out her home and over to Jamie’s for a quick birthday celebration. She is still struggling with several mystery illnesses along with a lingering case of shingles.

We got together with Terry and Katherine and Brian and Julie for a lovely evening at Pendley Bridge.

Nov 2023

I struggled to teach Chris and Carole the boardgame Wingspan, but eventually we got there and enjoyed and evening of food and games.

Sue and I visited RHS Wisley to revel in the autumnal displays of flowers and foliage.

Things are starting to ramp up for the forthcoming festive season with a quaint West-Festivity Christmas market in the village.

Sue and I however are trying to hang on to autumn with some lovely walks in the local area.

Later in the month we were treated to an evening out at Ronnie Scott’s with Deb, Jamie, and some of his friends, where we enjoyed the vocal talents of Beady Belle.

We celebrated Ollie’s 18^th birthday with the Whittenbury clan, Deb, and Paul & Lorraine. With a curry out in Brick Lane.

It is feeling colder now, but still we managed to get out for a few walks with friends.

Dec 2023

Ok, now we can prepare for Christmas with the house being decorated.

Sue’s boss, Jonas, was over from Sweden and so we went out into London, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the Christmas decorated streets. We visited the lovely  Mercato Mayfair (crafts, foods and drinks in an old church), we also had drinks in hidden bars such as Opium in China Town and Stone Nest, and had a tasty meal in the Fatt Pundit.

We had a great gig at the Roundhouse celebrating the life of Simon Emmerson and were entertained by Imagined Village, Afro Celt Sound System and Working Week.

We topped up our seasonal spirit with our annual visit to the Christmas singalong organised by Uncle Terry.

Sue and I took off into the woods one day and explored another of our local areas, this time heathland, ancient Saxon churches, and public houses in Aldbury.  

We had a dinner at ours for Deb’s birthday and celebrated it along with Chris and Carole.

We joined in with the village carols on the green and wandered around the streets admiring the festive lights on our neighbour’s houses.

Another festive tradition is meeting friends at Borough Market for a drink and some cheese shopping, and we expended this to also include Spitalfields Market.

Christmas was a round of seasonal indulgence traveling between family and friends, eating and drink way too much, but enjoying each other’s company.

We ended the years with a walk and an evening of boardgames with some neighbours.

Jan 2024

We started the year with a walk around Headley Heath with friends.

And explored some new paths (to us) a few days later, as we explored Reigate Heath. And then a day later with a trip down to the coast at the lovely village of Bosham.

The Dorking Community Orchard was again the location of the annual Wassail festivities that we enjoyed with the neighbours.

Terry and Katherine came over for a visit and together we walked up Leith Hill.

At the end of this month, we were out in town with Deb and Jamie at the underwhelming Leo Green Experience (it certainly was, but not what we were expecting. We did however have a drink in the quirky Scarfe bar beforehand.

Paul and Lorraine’s business, Hedges & Hurdles has a new venue and a as friends we joined the working bee to get the place tidied up.

Feb 2024

We went all sporty at the beginning of the month with our first visit to the local football ground to watch the Dorking Wanderers play the Fylde.

We walked with a couple of neighbours out to the wonderfully named Friday Street, and back in a 6-mile loop.

For my birthday treat, Sue and I flew out to the Austrian Lake District hoping for a wintery wonderland, however we were misinformed and the was not much sign of the white stuff. We did however enjoy some of the well organised local walks. We stayed for a few days in Fusch am See in a family run hotel on the lake.   

We walked the approximately 7 miles around the lake the next day, before having a sauna and a swim.

The next day we hiked over the Mozartblick (very steep decent) to the town of St Gilgen at next lake along, had a beer (or two) watching a carnival, before taking the cable car up to the top of the Zwolferhorn where we finally found some snow.

We then transferred to Salzburg and took in some culture with a concert in the Marble Hall at the Palace.

The next day we walk all around the old town taking all the many and varied cultural highlights. A very interesting city.

This month we went to a relatively new venue called the Sound Lounge in Sutton that promotes unsigned or new music, and here we saw the highly entertaining Matt Owens and his band.

Mar 2024

Chris and Lynne came over to stay and we did a bit of a pub crawl around Dorking, starting at the Drop Kick brewery.

Sue created a wonderful Mexican inspired meal, washed down with a few tequila-based cocktails that we enjoyed with a few friends.

We have some relatively new neighbours and we have introduced them to the joy of boardgames.

As spring starts to make itself felt we started clearing the garden and had our first fir in the fire pit.

Wild garlic is now in season and so we went foraging. Sue turned the pungent greens into pesto, salsa Verde and garlic butter.