Holiday Time

We have just arrived back from our annual two weeks in the sun of Tenerife so I thought that a brief resume of the holiday was appropriate.
Our outbound flight was from Bristol at 06.30 so we left home just after midnight arriving at about 03.00. The rules have changed again so we could not offload the cases outside the airport. Off we went to our parking zone, catching the bus back with all the luggage. In trying to get into the airport, Maria tripped over the kerb and damaged an elbow. Whilst I waited for the check-in to open she went off to try and get a plaster but found herself being attended to by two First Aiders - ah the benefits of Health and Safety!
The flight took off on time and we duly arrived in Tenerife and on to Beverly Hills Heights. Unfortunately, although we arrived at about noon, we could not gain access to the apartment until about 16.30. Nice apartment and we thoroughly enjoyed it; good view over Los Cristianos and only about 15 yards from the pool. We had never stayed here before but we would certainly not mind going back.
For the most part the weather stayed sunny and warm and, because I managed to damage a knee, we spent a lot of relaxation time around the pool; another novelty for us as we usually prefer the beach.

Beverly Hills Heights Pool.

We met some very nice people, especially Beryl and Ian and eventually had a couple of meals out with them. They managed to get us to imbibe too much one night, resulting in a very interesting walk back up the hill to bed!

Beryl, Ian, Maria & Me on our last night.

The journey home was fairly uneventful, apart from an hour's delay and having to pay 27 Euros in excess baggage!! We arrived home at about 21.15 to find the house just as we had left it (apart from slightly longer grass), thanks to Annette and Clive, who also had a cup of tea ready.
So, back to normality. Well I have developed a cold and sore throat already but I am hoping that it is not going to last too long. I have sorted through all the snail mail and the 350 e-mails. Today is going to be devoted to the garden as the weather looks set fair.

Post Wedding Holiday

Prior to her wedding, Amy had kindly organised some holiday accommodation for us at La Penisola, which is an apartment complex between Orvieto and Todi so on the morning after the wedding we said our goodbyes and went off to collect our pre-booked hire car and set off to find our accommodation. This proved to be easy and the place itself was ideal for us to relax for a few days. We had an interesting time with the restaurant menu, which was, of course, in Italian, however, with the help of the extremely helpful staff, we translated the whole menu onto a napkin. The rooms and food were good and it was very quiet. There was an outdoor swimming pool and the complex itself sat on the side of a lake.

La Penisola Swimming Pool

Lake Corbara

During this part of our holiday, we accepted an invitation from Amy and Andrew to go and visit them in their rented house. We spent a very happy day there and we also went to have a look at the house they proposed to buy (now theirs). They have certainly taken on a lot of work - have a look at Amy's Blog if you want to see how things have been progressing.

We also spent some time visiting Todi but forgot to take a camera with us, which was pretty stupid. I thought that, though interesting, Orvieto was a better place to visit.

We did spend some more time in Orvieto because the Hotel Restaurant was closed on one day so we decided to have a meal in Orvieto. Because we spent so much time wandering around and eating, we missed the last trip on the Funicular Railway so had to catch the bus. That was an interesting experience with me clinging on for dear life as the bus hurtled down the side of the hill on which the town stands, with not much consideration given to passengers or corners.

Too soon the holiday was over and we handed back the car and caught the train as the first part of the journey home. No real problems but Ciampino is the most uncomfortable airport in which to spend a couple of hours.

A Family Wedding

Andrew and Amy were married on 14 June 2007 in Orvieto, Italy. We travelled to Italy a couple of days before the ceremony along with Annette and Clive and the journey went comparatively well. The drive to Bristol was uneventful as was the flight to Rome, Ciampino. We had pre-booked a coach from the airport to the Railway Station and managed to find that OK. We sat at the back and from speaking to someone who sat on the front seats, we were in the best place (we couldn't see what was going on in the streets of Rome and how the coach driver got through them!!). We eventually figured out how to get tickets for Orvieto and boarded the train for yet another uneventful journey. Andrew met us at Orvieto and took us across the road to the Funicular Railway after which we went by bus to the Hotel Maitani - a really nice hotel with very friendly staff. In the evening, we went out for a meal and met some of the other guests before collapsing into bed.
On the following day we met other guests and walked around Orvieto, which is a splendid little town with a spectacularly fronted Cathedral. In the evening we had a get together on the rooftop terrace of the hotel, paid for by the Bride's parents - thanks to Gill and John. There were a couple of speeches and I presented Amy with a collection of photographs from Andrew's youth. So as not to forget the bridegroom, I gave Andrew a set of Ear Defenders. These did have a practical purpose - he had recently acquired a noisy 2 stroke Strimmer.

John's Speech obviously amusing Amy

I will keep my comments on the day of the wedding very brief as it was absolutely superb:
The Bride was beautiful; the Groom was happy; the guests were well behaved; the weather was perfect; the setting for the ceremony was ideal and David the photographer was brilliant. What a great day. Thanks to everyone who made it so.

JDT

New Year Update - Part 1

Having failed miserably to keep this Blog updated, this post is an attempt to briefly tell of our “doings” since the Queen Mary trip.

01 Dec 2006 - Plymouth.
Maria, Annette, Clive and I travelled to Plymouth on Friday to go to the Theatre Royal to see Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” starring Craig McLaghlan (ex Neighbours) and Ken Kercheval (ex Dallas) among others. We thoroughly enjoyed the show and, as we had booked a night at the Holiday Inn on the Hoe, it meant that we didn’t have the 55 mile drive home late at night. The ‘down’ side was that we woke up in Plymouth on Saturday morning and that meant - shopping. Never mind, Maria chose her Christmas present and we did manage to get home in the afternoon.

08 Dec 2006 - St Ives
It was time for the Annual Serco Christmas Party, held once again at the Tregenna Castle Hotel at St Ives. Once again it was a great evening and we didn’t manage to spend a penny thanks to Serco’s generosity. We did have to pay for the accommodation, which, for us, was an outside cabin with loads of room and a shower each. On Saturday, we left after breakfast, did some shopping and then came home for a rest.

15 Dec 2006 - Bordon
On Friday afternoon, Maria and I set off to play Father Christmas to three of our four grandchildren who now live in Bordon, Hampshire. We got there safely and spent a hectic evening and Saturday with Nick, Karen, Charlotte, Curtis and Connor before driving home on Sunday ready for work on Monday. A visit to the local Forestry Commission Park and School Swimming Pool were fitted into Saturday and we did the baby-sitting whilst Nick and Karen went out to a ’70s’ Party.

Nick & Karen in 70s mode

That’s all for now; part 2 will be written sometime.

Afloat

Life has been rather hectic recently and I am rather behind updating this Blog so I thought that a quick update would be appropriate. On 17 November, we set off for a night’s stay in Southampton with friends Lesley and Pete (don’t mention the Sat Nav sending us down a “No Through Road” within 100 yards of the hotel). We had arranged to leave the cars at the hotel for the week.

On Saturday we boarded the Queen Mary 2 after standing in a very long queue. We had cabin 4015, which is towards the front on the starboard side, with a window to watch the sea go by, or up and down! For us, on our first cruise, it seemed like a palace and, compared to our friends’ inside berth, it was large. Here are a couple of photos of Glamorous Gran. I am in trouble for showing the cabin in a disgustingly untidy state but it is the only photo I have of the cabin from the bed.


Maria as Glamorous Gran


Cabin from the bed

The whole experience of our first cruise (more strictly an Atlantic Crossing) was absolutely superb. The ship is magnificent, the staff were first class, the food was endless, varied and very good, the entertainment was excellent and the weather was - well variable at best. We sailed out into a Force 9 on the Sunday and both of us were a little queasy by the time Dinner came around, however, with a little help from a patch behind the ear, nothing came up that should have stayed down. The weather was windy for most of the way to Fort Lauderdale and it wasn’t until the last day that we could get up to the top deck to see the complete view of the ship.

Maria & John - Top Deck

At times it was difficult to believe that we were on the ocean because the sizes of the Dining Room, Theatre, Cinema and Ballroom could lead you to believe that you were in their shore-side equivalents and, in truth, the ship is fairly well stabilised. My photographs just do not do the ship justice.

On the down side, the voyage came to an end and we had to get home. Another long queue to get through US Immigration finally saw us on board a coach to the Hilton Hotel at Miami Airport. Here we were fed a buffet lunch, which was OK but nothing special. A delayed (whilst people who had been shopping finally turned up) journey to the airport left us at the back of yet another long queue for the BA flight back to Heathrow. (the couple who delayed the coach walked straight through to First Class!!) We finally boarded and spent the next 7 hours in the two centre seats of a block of four - not good if you want to stretch your legs! The flight was OK with only a few bumpy clouds en-route. We landed at Heathrow about 06:30, picked up our luggage fairly quickly, then negotiated the long walk to the National Express Coach Station, caught the 08:00 coach to Southampton, a taxi to the cars and left the Hotel to drive home, arriving who knows when. Tiredness and jet lag finally caught up with me and I had to stop for a couple of Power Naps on the way.

Overall - great holiday.

Would we do it again? I think the answer is yes and maybe around the Caribbean, The main problem is that horrible flight back from the States or Caribbean.
I would like another go on the Queen Mary, but if it were a trip across “the pond” then preferably from West to East despite the 23 instead of 25 hour days.

Holiday - Day 8 - Home

Friday the 13th loomed large and very foggy and we heard of a number of accidents that had happened on the road just outside the hotel. Nevertheless, we had to get going so, after breakfast, off we set to Waddington, to have a look at 21, Canberra Square. This proved an impossible task because the barriers at Waddington now extend to the two roads leading to the married quarters area and, as I did not have a pass, I was refused permission to have a look at the first real home we had together.
The journey south westwards was actually not too difficult. The fog gradually eased as we travelled westward and the traffic at the time was reasonably light, even for the M6 and M42. We stopped once for a break and then, using good old Tom Tom, I found my way to Stan Newport’s house near Cheltenham. Stan is a 3rd cousin, once removed, with whom I have been swapping family history information for some time (receiving more than giving) but we had never met so it was good to be able to meet face to face even though it was just an hour. We only stayed long enough to have a cup of tea before we had to be off again on the final 200 miles. This we achieved with no further trouble except that coming into Cornwall the sun was so low that driving was awkward to say the least.
Over the whole holiday, I would say that both the car and Tom Tom were a great success with the car averaging just over 40 mpg and we found everywhere we were looking for.
As an end note to this post, I have included a photograph of the hotels to the Newquay side of us on Henver Road, because we believe that in the near future, the Fort Wayne, Kellsboro and Cumberland will all be knocked down to make way for Flats. In the longer term, I can imagine that the Barrowcliff and the Ivydale will go the same way.

Holiday Day 7 - Lincoln

After a pretty good night’s sleep and a simple breakfast in our room, off we went to explore old haunts and houses and have a look around Lincoln itself. We parked the car close to the station and wandered up Sincil Street to the river where we came across a strange structure, which I managed to not quite photograph; the swans were more interesting anyway!

River Witham, Lincoln


We strolled up the High Street through the Stonebow but decided against climbing Steep Hill. We had a look at the Brayford Pool which has changed quite markedly since we left, with a lot of modern Glass and Chrome Bars and Cafes, mixed up with the King William Pub, which is ancient. For lots of information on Lincoln, click here. In the meantime a couple of photos of the High Street:

Stonebow

I don’t remember an Ann Summers Shop when I lived here!!

Level Crossing on the High Street


I do remember the chaos caused by the Level Crossing on the High Street (there used to be two of them!)

We had a wander around the Waterside Centre and stopped for a quick coffee, then did some shopping in M&S and Debenhams before having a very pleasant sandwich lunch outside in the square by the Corn Exchange. The weather was excellent for the whole of the day.

We set off to visit old houses and I took my only photo of the Cathedral from the traffic lights at the bottom of Lindum Hill.

Lincoln Cathedral


Our first stop was at 93, Rasen Lane, which was the first house we lived in; we rented two rooms and shared the kitchen and bathroom with an elderly brother and sister. Included in the £3-10-00 rent was the use of a garage at the side. Apart from the UPVC windows, the house looks very much the same as it did 40 years ago, although the garage seems to have vanished.

93 Rasen Lane, Lincoln


On to Cherry Willingham and 4, St Peter’s Avenue; although the garden has grown up and a conifer hedge surrounds the garden, the house looks much the same and we were a little surprised that the Dormer had not been updated.

4, St Peter's Avenue, Cherry Willingham


We drove around the estate and I took Maria to see where one of her friends, from her days working at Tanya Knitwear, lived. As we drove by, John came out so we stopped to say hello and spent a very pleasant time with him and Marge, despite the fact that Marge has been, and still is, quite poorly with a heart problem. By the time we left there and drove back to the hotel, there was not much time before we had to go out again to have our meal with Val and Mick.

We arrived to have a guided tour of their large garden, which is magnificent, Mick having constructed all sorts of wooden features. The house itself is enormous with four bedrooms and we were entertained to a lovely meal and plenty of reminiscing. I wasn’t allowed to take a photograph of Val, which accounts for this one:


On the other hand, they insisted on photographing us so here we are:


A quiet drive home was followed by a good night’s sleep ready for the final part of our journey.

Holiday Day 6 - Bradford/Lincoln

The plan was to leave for Lincoln after lunch so the morning was spent packing and I went for a walk around the village and took some photos, some of which are below:

Bronte House Plaque - Market Street


South Square - Ex-girlfriend, Mary Lou's house now Toilets


Black Horse - Kipping Lane

Wellington Inn - Thornton Road



There was no particular reason for taking photos of Public Houses except that they are some of the better looked after buildings in a village which is rather dilapidated. I wonder if Mary Lou knows that her old house on the left of South Square is now a Public Toilet!!

We had decided to take Pop out to lunch at Asa Nicholson’s but on the way we paid a visit to the two family graves in Thornton Cemetery with some flowers. It was very muddy, particular at Maria’s family grave and I missed the photo of her with her trousers rolled up to her knees!

Lunch was excellent value as usual and then it was time to go home, pack the car and get on the road again.

Asa Nicholson's Cafe and Bakery


The trip to Lincoln included driving through one of the worst rain storms I have driven in, in this country (we had to stop altogether in Florida and Fuerteventura).
We went into Lincoln via what used to be Skellingthorpe Airfield, which was unrecognisable; what had been all open space was now a collection of estates. On we went to Birchwood Estate, which looked very weary in places, none more so than Finch Close which we left in 1973. Number 4 was rather depressing, but the photograph doesn’t look too bad.

4, Finch Close, Birchwood


From Birchwood we went straight to the Premier Lodge at the top of Canwick Hill where we had a room booked for two nights. A very nice room it was too. The hotel is attached to the Mill Lodge; it was rather foggy when the photos were taken on the following morning.

Premier Lodge, Lincoln


Mill Lodge, Lincoln


We had arranged to meet some friends in the Mill for the evening. We hadn’t seen Val and Mick for about 10 to 12 years, so there was plenty to talk about over a nice meal and a couple of bottles of wine. We arranged to go for a meal to their house the following evening and so we parted and whilst we went off to bed, they drove back to Heckington, near Sleaford.

Holiday Day 5&6 - Bradford

Apart from dreadful traffic on the M62, the journey to Bradford was uneventful and we arrived at Oakroyd in the late afternoon. We had a snack tea and spent the evening chatting and trying to get Pop to remember more abut his time on 79 Sqn. A few things cropped up but not a lot that would be all that interesting for the 79 Sqn website, which I have promised to contribute to.
On the following morning, Pop had to go to a little funeral service, so Maria and I went off to meet Terry and Sue for a morning coffee at Asa Nicholson’s at Denholme Gate. This little cafe, attached to a baker’s, is great value and very popular with the older generations. We spent about an hour there with Terry, Sue and Terry’s son Adam who I somehow missed out of the photograph.


Lunch had been booked at the Hare and Hounds at Toller Lane, somewhere that Maria and I had never been. Pop has been a lot recently and had managed to book a table in the Conservatory which was very pleasant. The food was tremendously good value and £20 covered the three of us with a drink each. I can strongly recommend this pub as somewhere to eat, unless you have children because they do not accept children. Very peaceful lunch for us older folk though.


Pop & Maria after lunch


Lunch was followed by shopping for food at Morrison’s and then home for a casual afternoon where at least two of us fell asleep!!

We had another snack tea and then Maria and I got ready to go out as we had promised to meet Lesley and Pete Johnson, who were coming all the way over from Oldham (Royton) to see us. As it happened, Lesley had decided to bring Maria an early 60th Birthday present, which was extremely generous of her (and Pete). We met and they took us out to the Ring O Bells at the top of Thornton. The following photo was taken on the following morning.

Ring O Bells - Thornton, Bradford


We spent a very pleasant evening in the Conservatory. Like many of these country pubs these days, the “Ring” is more restaurant than pub so the seating for drinks is rather limited and I think that we were the only people in there who did not eat.

Pete, Lesley & Maria


Because it was quite foggy and our visitors had a long way to go, we did not stay out all that long so arrived back in good time for a good night’s sleep, ready for the next stage of our journey.

Holiday Day 4 - Whitby

The journey to Whitby was fairly uneventful with dry weather making the drive down the A68 easier than it might have been. When we arrived at Paul and Bev’s house we were met by Paul’s gleaming BMW 325; this decided Maria that our car just had to be washed to get rid of the grime from the last 4 days, however, Paul kindly said that he would do it, and a splendid job he made of it too. I almost felt guilty about letting him do it, but not quite! Anyway, brother and sister chatted the whole way through whilst I had a rest. He then took us for a ride in the 325, just to show us the difference in the ride, which is a little harder with the sports wheels, and a little quicker with the bigger engine.
Bev made a splendid Roast Beef dinner and all the family sat around one table and thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and chatting about this and that before we went to bed on a blow-up double bed. The only problem was that my 13½ stone outweighed Maria by quite a lot and she spent most of the night rolling on top of me - shouldn’t complain really.
Breakfast was a casual affair, after which Paul went to work and Bev took us for a ride around the area, visiting some places we remembered and some where we had never been. Once again, no photos -what an idiot. We ended up doing a little shopping in town and Maria came back with a half-price Vegetable Steamer; in fact Bev bought one as well so she and Maria are as bad as one another. Mind you, I bought an electric screwdriver and a “Platters” CD, so I cannot complain too loudly. We also bought some Yorkshire Ginger and Tea loaves, or Brack as they are called.
We have eaten one since we returned home and it was delicious.
After lunch we set off on the next stage of the journey - to Bradford. Many thanks are due to Paul and Bev for their hospitality and in the way they put themselves out for us.

Holiday Day 2 & 3 - Perth

After a casual breakfast we left Warrington, set the Sat Nav, plugged it into the charger, refuelled and set off for the 89th Halton Entry reunion at the Ramada Hotel, Perth. The journey of about 262 miles was a mixture of sunshine and dreadful rain showers but overall was not too bad. We were just entering the city boundaries when guess what, the Sat Nav screen went blank. More panic, where was the hotel (second moral from the day before - failed); I found a stop and plugged the Sat Nav in (properly) and we continued, finding the hotel with no problems at about 4 o’clock. After unpacking etc, we had time for the odd drink, meeting some of the Entry in the bar and swapping a few stories about the parking problems. Our room was fine but some had been recently painted and couples had to move rooms because of the smell, with one couple actually moving hotels for the night. We had a carvery buffet meal which was excellent and followed that with a few more drinks and some more talking before bedtime.
Saturday dawned fine and after breakfast we wandered downtown Perth for a look, prior to meeting up with friends who were arriving about midday. In that time we managed to buy a half-price Slow Cooker in Debenhams!
We met up with Dag and Virginia around 12 noon and spent the rest of the afternoon with them, including a drive around the local hills when I managed to fall asleep; it must be Dag’s good, sensible driving that does it. I did wake up to appreciate about half of the drive however and we ended up in Crieff where it seemed to be blowing a gale. It was here that Dag and I decided that we need to avail ourself of the local facilities. Having found the only public toilet that was visible, we then found out that it was very costly to use so, if you will pardon the expression, we paid 30p for 1p each. Then it was back to the hotel in time for a cup of tea, bath and change ready for the evening “do”. As I only took one photograph in all our time in Perth, I thought that I had better show you the best looking woman on show, so here she is.


There were, I think, 21 couples for the dinner, which I believe most people thoroughly enjoyed. Pete Bolton and John Boyack had done the organising and had come up with the idea of having a magician going from table to table to entertain. This was a splendid innovation and, even at very close quarters, he was very good and with a great line in chat.
After the meal we were invited to play “shove-pounds” to win a bottle of whisky and all the money that was thrown. Techniques varied but the best way turned out to be throwing, rather than sliding, as proved by Bill Butlin who won; he generously donated the cash, £45, to the North West Air Ambulance. I wonder whether or not I would have thought to do the same for the Cornwall Air Ambulance?
The end of the evening was spent in the bar catching up with old friends before retiring ready for the next stage of our journey the following day.
The following morning, we packed the car and had our traditional Entry AGM - did I really volunteer to organise a reunion in Newquay??

Holiday Day 1 - Warrington

The first day of our holiday was to negotiate the A30/M5/M6 to Warrington to stay with Gill and John who had very kindly offered to put us up and feed us for one night en route to Scotland. We set off about 10 am with the an address carefully entered into the Tom Tom. Having stopped a couple of times and encountered miserable weather for a large part of the journey, I noticed that Junction 20 on the M6 was coming up and this was where we were due to leave the motorway. At 70 mph, in the fast lane, the next thing I noticed was the Sat Nav had gone totally blank. Panic ensued as I negotiated my way into the nearside lane whilst trying to get Maria to connect the charger which would, hopefully, breathe life into the machine. A back up system at this point would have been handy, but we hadn’t bothered to write any instructions down!! Moral: have a manual back up system.
After a few attempts, the charger was plugged in and, although the map wasn’t on the screen, our lady guide was talking to us again so we managed to get off the motorway onto the right road and then I managed to stop and eventually press the right button so that all was working again. Moral: always have the charger plugged in whilst travelling long distances. After that it was fairly easy and we spent a very pleasant evening with Gill, John, Amy, Andrew and Jasmine, the latter three having arrived from Prestwick. Many thanks go to Gill and John for entertaining us so well and for providing a really great meal and drinks to match. Thanks to my meticulous forethought, no photographs were taken!!