Cars at the Good Food Show

Had a lovely day out today in Birmingham. Elaine picked me up and I was surprised her car was a burgundy colour but didn't think much of it.
Driving along she was surprised to find a sixth gear in her car so she tried it out. Turns out she has swapped her old car for a lovely new one.
Great show and enjoyed watching James Martin who also turned up on the stage in his new little car. It was that tiny, and he was quite large that his only way to get out of it was to lean out, tip the car sideways and crawl out.
Interesting recipes from him, also saw the whole Masterchef crew of John, Greg and Monica. Andi Peters from Blue Peter and various others from various tv shows.

Declan's birthday

My great nephew (how old am I) is one today so my mum and dad hosted a little party for him at their house.
He particularly enjoyed the trifle and blew out the candle on his cake with a bit of help from his mum.
He was given a little drum and stick as a present and he soon started mixing up the drum with his trifle bowl so kept tipping it upside down and really thumping it hard.

Wet tram crawl

Margs and Dave are here for the weekend and we have been out for a pub crawl on the tram route.
Started at a the Fox and Crown in Basford and had a Thai lunch and then went up to a crazy place in Hucknall that had no customers, no furniture but surprisingly had the lampshades that M and D want in their new lounge.
We then found the William Peveral in Bulwell, which was a Wetherspoons and a bit boring.
On to Hyson Green and tried the Horse and Groom and The Lion. Both were great real ales places with a lovely atmosphere.
The Frog and Onion lost out as they had no beers on and no food. They said we turned up at the wrong time, which is strange for a Saturday night!
Followed up with The Gooseberry Bush, Langtry's and the burger bar.
Stopped raining at last at about 9pm.

Christmas lights switch on

Exciting night tonight in the Market Square. It was the Christmas lights switch on by Richard Whitehead, the runner from the Para-Olympics who we saw win a gold medal.
Unfortunately we didn't quite see that bit, but we saw the fireworks out of our windows and then went down to watch Mike's kids perform in the orchestra at the Council House.
Ps, and have new technology now so am taking photos on my camera and then loading them on my tablet - fancy or what!

Giant intruder

Got back from cycling yesterday and this giant metal thing had appeared as if by magic.
We had seen huge articulated lorries with meccano pieces on them waiting to be unloaded. I remarked to Darren that they were going to make a big wheel, but he pointed out that a lot of the pieces were long and straight, so he said maybe they were going to make a big square.
I suppose he was slightly more correct than me.
One thing is for sure though, and it's that I am not going to try it out.

Triangular canal cycle ride

Bright and sunny day today and went for a 24 mile bike ride around three canals - Beeston, Erewash and Nottingham, I believe.
Lots of splashy puddles all along the way and the Nottingham canal towpath was very muddy, but it is November, so what can we expect really.
My feet were little blocks of ice by the end, but they started to warm up after a lovely cappuccino at Paul's.