Saturday 30 June 2012

Happy 80th

Cycled to my mum's house for her birthday party this afternoon.
Good family turnout ranging from the oldest (my dad) to the youngest (baby Declan)..
I am somewhere in the middle, but veering slightly more towards my dads age than Declans.

Friday 29 June 2012

Bay City Rollers

Oh no Lumbs out but misses it, although impressed they played Bye bye baby by the incredible Bay City Rollers to send him on his way.
Notts 48 for one.

20/20 Notts v Durham

At Trent Bridge watching the cricket. Notts off to a good start, got a six already, and quite a few fours.
Lumb 23 and Hales 6 so far. 
Ooooooooohhhhh, said Darren and Matt but missed what happened as trying to type this.
Wooooaaaahhh said Darren waving his banner but missed that as well.
Dddeeedddaaalllledy sang Darren. Must go as missing it all.

Thursday 28 June 2012

Torvill and Dean

Had a mini house warming party with our old neighbours, the couple who bought our house today (couldn't believe they came here instead of racing over to see their new home) and my sister and brother in law.
Had a fantastic view from the windows and T and D stopped right under our flat for photos.
People were at least 10 deep along all the pavements and the sun shone all evening.
Fantastic atmosphere and a great start in our new home.
Try and zoom the last photo in and T and D are on the stage - honest

Torch relay Nottingham

Wow! We have a fantastic view from our new flat of the proceedings.
Torch not due yet for a while and there are loads of people here. Will it chuck it down on them??
Earlier today there was a massive thunderstorm and the water was shooting down at least ankle deep past Fletcher Gate along the route.
Vertical view of flag seller under our window.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Empty flat

Got up at 4.30 this morning to finish cleaning the flat and clearing the last of the possessions out.
Had a good look for the goldfish but I think nearly all of them have been taken by the herons.
The lovely pink flowers are all out at the moment. It must be about a year since we opened the garden for The Park Open Garden scheme. It was quite embarrassing as loads of people asked what they were called and we had to look it up on the internet. Lychnis is the answer I think.
Will miss the old place, but lots of exciting things to come.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Full time job

Visited my dad a week ago and gave him his Fathers Day present - a jigsaw.
I know, what a fantastic and unusual gift.
Called again this week and it is all finished. He calculated it his taken him should 40 hours to complete. Exactly the same as a 9-5 job for a week.
Here he is with proof and my mum.
Honestly he did enjoy it and didn't feel obliged to finish it just because I gave it him.
If you are interested, or jealous even, it's called a Wasgij and the picture on the front of the box is very different to how it turns out.

Monday 25 June 2012

Welcoming committee

Got the keys to the new flat today and had been inside for about half an hour when I suddenly heard brass band music.
It got louder and louder - not sure how good the double glazing might be - but when I looked out of the window there was a fantastic military parade right around the flat!
Missed getting a good shot of the sheep mascot, but had an amazing view of everything.

Saturday 23 June 2012

Sad day today

Started well with a 5k Parkrun and then a trip shopping to buy some new trainers.
Darrens are the colourful ones with the Union Jack on them and mine are in Forest colours.
Disaster then struck as we locked our bikes up outside John Lewis and when we got back, someone had stolen my beautiful bike, but just left Darrens lying there on it's own.
Am really upset. Went to the police and am checking gumtree and eBay, but don't hold out much hope. Really gutted as thought I had made it less likely to be stolen not more.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Film review - Cosmopolis

Wow, wow, wow - what an unbelievable film.
Had a lovely curry at 4550 miles to Delhi, a very nice coffee at The Broadway and then went to get our seats for the film.
The lady checking tickets cheerfully told us that a lot of people walked out of the earlier showing, but didn't say why and anyway, we had already paid.
Chose our seats and weirdly, some of them had little plaques on the back, a bit like park benches that are dedicated to people who have died.
Ours said 'Rajan Bedi is dedicated to Salvador Dali' with a little moustache drawn under it. The weird thing is that he is our upstairs neighbour. That's Rajan, not Salvador.
Anyway, the film was about a very rich and powerful man who decided he wanted a haircut. 20 minutes in I couldn't care less about his hair so had a little snooze. I woke just in time to be jealous of the three people sitting in front of us who got up and left.
The film dragged on and his day went badly downhill. He lost all of his money betting on the money markets, shot and killed his bodyguard and got half of his haircut.
I won't spoil the end but we got there eventually. The remaining customers all charged for the exit and bonded, with everyone talking at once about how much they hated it. Never known that happen before.
I disliked it even more than The Avengers, which says it all really.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Amendment from yesterday

Is it an amendment or is it a correction?
Anyway, thank you to Dave for not only reading yesterdays blog, but checking it and then giving feedback!
No wonder moving house is complicated, I now have seven categories, if you include the FIVE from yesterday, eBay and the tip.
Just been getting on with it today really, but off to Orange Wednesday later.
Doesn't my garden look lovely? It's just on the verge of getting out of hand so I might have to reign it in a bit before we leave.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Nerve centre

This is where it all happens, in what I hope to be our well organised flat move!
Everything has to go through the sorting centre in the kitchen.
Currently have four different categories, they are:
Bin - I like this one
Charity shop
Lock up garage
My mum's spare wardrobe - already quite full so have to be careful with this one
New flat
A lot of things still unallocated but confident flat will be empty by next Wednesday.

Saturday 16 June 2012

On the way home

Last day in Italy and making the most of it by catching the waterbus to the airport and stopping off at Murano to watch the glass blowing on the way.
Once again managed to bag the Italian big four - pizza, wine, coffee and ice cream.

Action day at sea

Starting slowly with a towel folding demonstration. Much more exciting than it sounds, but it looks quite tricky so don't expect to find one on the end of your bed if you come to stay.
Followed by a couple of rounds of crazy golf to get the legs moving. I got a hole in one but Daz still managed to win.
On to the climbing wall where I struggled slightly as I didn't want to risk breaking my nails.
Finally a bit of very complicated and energetic line dancing. Fortunately not to Shania Twain.
Well, that's the morning, might do a bit of ping pong, belly dancing and wine tasting this pm.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Katakolon

Sitting around, as per usual, in Katakolon in Greece.
Enjoying the sunshine and the ouzo, as per usual.
Last day on shore though so all change shortly.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Bartering in Turkey

Been on shore for about an hour and the seniors have already spent about £500!
Sitting drinking coffee in a cafe and this shop is opposite. The shopkeeper has got us sussed and is bringing items across to our table so we don't even need to stand up to shop.

Riding on a donkey

Made the surprising decision to head back down the cliffs on large donkey/horses.
I wasn't going to get on one as I thought it too frightening, but was eventually persuaded.
A lady warned us that the donkeys walk really close to the walls and scrape your legs so I adopted a position with my legs around the donkeys shoulders, my left hand holding the metal ring on the saddle and my right arm held vertically with my handbag dangling. I imagined I looked a bit like a rodeo rider, except that I screamed on all of the corners.
Darren spent the whole time trying to overtake me, and my donkey spent the whole time not letting him.
Margaret hated it and Roy managed to scrape his arm quite badly, so an interesting time was had by all!

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Birthday boy

Happy birthday to Roy, happy birthday to Roy, happy birthday dear Rooooy, happy birthday to you.....
Out for the day in Santorini, enjoying the view
Can you spot the resemblance?

Monday 11 June 2012

Corfu - fish spa

What's the first thing you do in Corfu?
Try out a fish spa of course.
Mr and Mrs D senior are much better tourists than me and Darren and try out everything.
They will probably be hang gliding by Friday!
Off on the mini train later.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Taxi for Mr and Mrs D

After a lovely afternoon in the bar, Mr and Mrs D make their way back to the ship on the seventh form of transport this trip.

Whoops

Too many cocktails - forgot the photos

Antiques in Bari

No, not Darren's mum!
Enjoying coctails in Bari, Italy this afternoon in a little square which is holding a very laid back antiques fair.

Arrivaderchi Venice

Off on our journey and heading out to sea. Just checking out the cocktails and enjoying the view.
Margaret is having a slight issue in that she loves her room but can't remember her number so hasn't been back to it for hours.
The number is on the keycard but she's left her glasses on the plane, so can't read it!
Lean't her my leopard print ones and we are all trying to think of a memorable way of saying 3723!

Gondola in Venice

Wow, you can tell it's not just me and Daz on this trip, as today we enjoyed a trip round the canals of Venice on a gondola.
Here is Mr and Mrs D senior relaxing as we are punted along.
Mr D wanted the gondolier to sing but he was having non of it, but still a great time was had by all.
Ps Thanks to Mrs D for paying for it!

Friday 8 June 2012

Tiny train at Gatwick airport

Off on holiday yet again, just spending a bit of time at Gatwick at the moment.
Joined Roy on the tiny train which ferried us from near to the restaurant to our gate, which also turned out to be near to the restaurant!
So near that Darren and his mum walked there quicker than we did on the train.
Nevermind, it was pretty good fun.

Thursday 7 June 2012

New flat

Just sorted out where we are moving to in three weeks time, and actually quite excited about it.
We are going to be above Starbucks and have five of the windows on the second floor.
Looking forward to great views of the beach over the summer and maybe even a quick paddle in the fountains.
It will be just like having a room on the seafront at Copacabana.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Dyed hair red

Whoops! Dyed my hair red yesterday, which was much a surprise to me as it was everyone else.
Personally, it's not too bad as I can't see it, but it is a shock every time I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror.
Just going to the hairdressers now to get a load of it chopped off!

Monday 4 June 2012

Jubilee beacon

Just been down to Nottingham Castle to see the beacon. Very disappointing as there was no fire, but instead there were two lasers shining up in to the sky.
Camera couldn't pick up the lasers even though I took many shots.
Here is the best of a bad bunch, plus a photo of our front door which I took to see if the camera still actually worked.

Sunday 3 June 2012

Jubilee freeze

Went out this afternoon to The Park Jubilee Party. Put on two thermal vests and a pair of tights under my clothes, with gloves and hood for the top layer.
Lovely picture of Darren with Paul and Sarah and Malcom and Carolyn, all wrapped up against the driving rain.
Managed to stay out until 5pm, but absolutely freezing, so had to go home and put the heating on.
Watching the Queen on the telly and hope she is warmer than we are.