Mortgage Free…

We have reached an important milestone for us having just paid off the mortgage and feel suitably grown up. I have spent a great deal of the extra money on tickets for gigs, games, books and music but there were all essentials!

We have a few ‘big ticket’ items to pay for in the next few months and so we plan to get this year out of the way and then we are going to review our finances looking to our future.

Summertime…

We are having a heat wave (most other places possibly would just call it summer) and it has been very warm and humid with some spectacular thunderstorms and reports of more heat to come. We have enjoyed getting out in the sunshine and eating alfresco when we can but the evenings can be quite sticky (steady!) and there has been a ‘perfect storm’ of annoying insects as conditions are ideal for their proliferation.

Toothache…

Sue has had trouble with her teeth leaving treatment too long she had several visits which resulted in one removal and some further work to come. Her fear at the dentist was only overcome when the oral pain became too much to bare and the repeated visits were gratis after she cried and when she brought chocolates (?) and flowers for the staff in gratitude.

Watching the paint dry…

We have just hired a local painter to paint the exterior of the house properly and he has done a fine job. The window frames, window stonework, and soffits were painted in a period style off white, the downpipes in black, and the front and back doors in a lovely shade of green called sage. I used some of the left over green to paint the front bench. It is all looking very smart and we have had several comments from the neighbours as to how it puts their houses to shame. The only problem is we now need to redo the interior decoration as it is looking decidedly shabby by comparison.

Kiss Me Quick…

The Aldbury Morris Men go to the seaside

Staying at Ramsgate and visiting Broadstairs, Margate and Deal in the Isle of Thanet region of Kent the Morris men went on their annual pilgrimage in search of an audience and a good beer (not necessarily in that order).

Although we stayed at Ramsgate it was not the most picturesque of the towns but still has that working port feel to it however like the beach after a storm the local populace seemed to be comprised of the flotsam and jetsam of London.

Broadstairs was more idyllic with its small sheltered bay surrounded by grand cliff top buildings this was a popular holiday destination for Charles Dickens and the town makes the most it can about that fact. Here too a popular and long standing folk festival occurs annually.

Margate’s latest claim to fame is the new Turner Contemporary Gallery where we saw an impressive collection of Mondrian paintings spanning his evolving career.

One of the highlights as ever on these tours was the musical interludes where the amassed talents could perform often encouraging audience participation.  

Flying Visit…

Recently we had Marc visit us whilst he was in the UK to see his family. We had him helping out in the garden building a frame for the squash and netting the raspberries whilst I planted more corn, brassicas and red onions. Finally we are starting to reap our rewards with strawberries, raspberries and salad crops coming into season.

We played a few board games and frequented a couple of local establishments as is our want plying him with food and drink.

The following weekend we met up in London after he had spent some time with his mum and aunt and we visited the Comic exhibition at British Library (sue was less enthusiastic about it and was quite shocked at Crumb’s version of Rupert the Bear). We met up briefly with Jamie before he cycled of to visit friends and we went to lunch at the Eagle pub on Farringdon Road. After a tasty meal we went into the centre of town to visit the impressive new Foyles store. I bought some music at the Fopp store (Caro Emerald, Sigur Ros and Public Service Broadcasting) a board game at the Orc’s Nest (Tsuro of the seas). On the spur of the moment we bought tickets to see Jeeves and Wooster (starring Robert Webb, Mark Heap and Mark Hadfield) that evening at the Duke of York’s Theatre and it was very enjoyable. We rounded off the night with a meal at a La Roche Mediterranean restaurant opposite the theatre. Accommodation was with Marc at the Goodenough Collage and the following morning we celebrated Marc’s birthday by gifting him a copy of Zombie Dice before having a leisurely breakfast at Carluccio’s. Later we strolled back into town stopping to allow me to visit the Cartoon Museum and to buy a comic from Gosh before having a drink at Waxy’s Little Sister and riding a new double-decker bus to Victoria eating spicy pork buns and Lotus flower buns on the top deck, return to our place for a steak meal and a few more games. It was a great weekend.