Lazy Hazy Daze

I never thought I would say this, but these hot, humid, hazy days are not good for me, they are making me very lazy. All I want to do of late, is eat, sleep, sit, sunbathe and drink jugs of sangria. Certainly not good for the body or the soul! Phil has come up of an ingenious way of getting red of the cheap red wine that we brought back from France by making sangria. This is good but his latest home made concoction blows your head off the next day – literally. I know I should refuse a glass but it tastes so delicious with all the ice and fruit and before you’re know it, its too late and you’re blown away. It’s a jolly good job we don’t have to get up for work in the mornings!

One of the things on Phil’s ‘things to do before you die’ list is to walk the length of the canal from Milton Keynes to Birmingham and to London. Over the last few years we’ve made it as far from MK to Weedon but haven’t managed to do many walks other than around where we live. I wasn’t keen, but on Monday Phil dragged me into the car and we set off on the M1 towards Weedon. We parked up at The New Inn in Long Buckby and walked towards Weedon and the bridge that we had got up to on our last walk a couple of years ago. It was hot and sunny but we had a pleasant walk with many locks and big houses backing on to the canal. When we reached our bridge number (can’t remember which one) we turned around and made our way back to The New Inn for lunch. Although it was meant to be Day 1 of the diet, I ended up with scampi and chips and of course, a glass of white wine. I had been telling myself that I would just have a chicken Caesar salad but they had no such food on the menu. What can a girl do? Phil had steak pie; both meals were frozen and not brilliant nor cheap but edible.

After lunch Phil dragged me away from the pub and we walked towards Birmingham, this time our target being Watling Street Bridge. This part of the walk wasn’t so pretty, the path was narrow and sodden in places and we met a really big vicious dog with a muzzle. The stupid young chav like couple had him off the lead and just about managed to get the beast back on before we passed. As the path was so narrow they had to practically climb back up the bank because even though it was on a lead and muzzled, it was still trying to attack us. I do like dogs but I am wary these days after getting chased by a pack of wild dogs in Sri Lanka. Phil was happy when we reached Watling Street and so we turned around and made our way back to the car to head home.

As it was hot and sunny and we were exhausted and sweaty after our walk, Phil made a jug of sangria to sate our thirsts. Sometime into the second jug Steve Pem arrived to pick up Ed’s sat nav, which unbeknown to me, he’d left in the glove compartment of my car. I rarely lock my car so he was lucky it hadn’t been nicked. We both had sore heads on Tuesday morning so we just pottered about, Phil poured over his stocks and shares while I half heartedly did some much needed domestics. The skies clouded over and we had a few light showers in the afternoon so we decided to go to the cinema as it was half price day. I wanted to see Mama Mia but it was Phil’s turn to pick and we went to see Hancock. I wasn’t particularly keen but although the film was a bit silly in places, I enjoyed it.

On the way back to the car which we parked at Campbell Park we popped into the George Wimpey sales centre as we’d seen a sign advertising one bed apartments from £75K. Turns out that this is a government partnership with George Wimpey specifically for first time buyers. Me and Phil were impressed with the standard of finish of the show apartment and from what we can tell from the literature that we took away, it’s an excellent deal for people trying to get on the property ladder. http://www.georgewimpey.co.uk/. We had Harriet in mind when we viewed but she wants to buy somewhere that she can take her dog.

Steve Buckton arrived at ours sometime after 7pm on Tuesday night. Steve is back from Japan for the week for his mum’s 80th birthday party. If the weather had been nice, Phil would have done a bbq but it was cloudy and getting on a bit so Harriet dropped us off at The Giffard where we all had a curry. So much for the diet! We were home just in time to watch Big Brother; I went to bed just after and I think the boys stayed up until midnight. Phil did a cooked breakfast for Steve on the barbeque. I wasn’t going to have any but ended up with a plateful. It’s impossible to eat fruit and yogurt when those all around you are tucking into a full monty.

Steve left after breakfast and me and Phil went to David Lloyd for a Jacuzzi and a shower. We should have done a workout or at the very least had a swim but we were too knackered. After the usual barbeque for lunch we loaded the car with tools and went to the TMA flat to cut the communal grass areas, trim back the trees, pick up the litter and generally tidy up. It was hot and luckily for me Phil did most of the work. At least it got us up off our backsides and when we got home Phil touched up with the garage door with special paint sent from the supplier while I cleaned the windows. The sun was still in full force when we finished and Phil thought we deserved a jug of sangria on the patio. Needless to say we went on to have another and the rest as they say, is history. I know they say you should make hay while the sun shines but why the bloody hell does it always make me feel so darn guilty??????????

A weekend off

As all the big jobs are now complete I either need to get another project or look for another job. I went to look at 2 properties last week; both were total renovations but were priced accordingly. The first one was identical to the studio flat we have just put on the market for £89995 and only a couple of doors away. It has been owned by a single chap for the last 20 years and has not been looked after so it needs a new kitchen, bathroom, carpets, redec’ and even windows. It is on the market for £69995, a full £20000 less than ours. It makes us worried that the market has dropped more than I thought but my instinct tells me that it is still a bargain. If we sell ours quickly for anything near the asking price it would definitely be worth a punt.

The other one was a 3 double bed, 3 story town house on Neath Hill that has been repossessed. Another total write off, however, the windows wouldn’t need replacing. It also had a nice balcony that gets the sun from about 11am for the rest of the day. Trouble is, to increase its value significantly it would require getting an en-suite into the bedroom on the first floor. The only practical way to do this would be to switch the bedroom with the lounge and have the balcony from the bedroom. This is ok but it would make the lounge a bit too small. The stairs in this property takes up a large percentage of the total floor space on each floor and maybe it would be possible to recover something from this but already the knock on effects are getting out of hand. This is on the market for £140000 and I believe a cash buyer might get it for £125000 and pay no stamp duty. If this were possible then a straight revamp would be very worthwhile.

Just by looking at 2 random properties from the local paper it shows me that even in a falling marked it should be possible to make money. Claire doesn’t seem too keen and wouldn’t even look at them with me. I think she wants me back to work out of her space. I think this week will determine my future career, if nothing happens I will have to look for a paid job. Still, its been lovely working on our own house for a couple of months, I have really enjoyed it and now we have the benefits of our labour. The next big job here is to build a balcony from our bedroom but this requires planning permission so it couldn’t be started any time soon.

We had what would be considered by most people as a normal weekend. Yesterday I took Georgina to my parents in Melton Mowbray and Saturday Claire and I went for a walk to the Hub. We walked along the canal and through Campbell Park. It was very pleasant, the children, were playing in the water jets as it was a lovely hot day. We followed a similar path home and I impressed Claire when I got out some cutters from one pocket and a garden bag from the other so I could cut some bull rushes down for our garden.

Whilst walking through Campbell Park we could hear some African drums close by which got louder as we got closer. Just as we walked past them Steve had rung me as he is back in the uk for his Mum’s 90th birthday. Happy Birthday Mrs. Steve!

Our ‘normal’ lovely weekend was only spoilt by a phone call from one of our tenants. Water was coming in the kitchen ceiling from the flat above in our city centre apartment. This is the 4th time that this has happened to us in this property and we are getting fed up with it. The property above is council owned and is tenanted by a single girl called Lindsey with a baby. She has been there for some time and our problem is caused because her bathroom desperately needs replacing. Following some investigations it turns out that is exactly what has happened. The council has replaced her bathroom suit and the first time she takes a bath we get flooded out. It might be worth finding out which sub-contractors the council use, if only to be able to avoid them.

We rounded off the weekend with a jug of sangria with a difference. As we had no soda water I used white cider, vodka and calvados. No wonder Claire looks so guilty, I caught her peeping over the neighbors fence by standing on the wall to get an early look of their new garage conversion.

Watch this space, by this time next week, I expect to either be working or starting another project.

Green fingers & lazy bones

I don’t mind admitting to the whole wide world that I have had a really lazy week and for a change, have been quite idle. Unlike Phil, who has been for most of the week, digging up the garden from some unearthly hour of the morning. At least he has been fairly quiet so the neighbours have had some kind of a break this week. I will admit he has done a good job and now we are weed free and we can clearly see the border boundaries. When he finished digging, he moved all of his pots of herbs to the side of the summer house so they are easier to water. He managed to fill up the entire green bin so my only contribution to the garden makeover was taking bags of garden waste to the tip; I think I did at least 3 trips. To finish off we moved around all of the garden furniture and I can at last see Phil’s vision of the back garden coming together. It goes without saying that Phil was feeling very pleased with himself. I can’t tell you many times this week I have had to tell him what a good job boy he’s been!

I seem to remember it was a bit of a grey morning on Tuesday so we decided to treat ourselves to a carvery at Peartree Bridge. I always love a roast dinner and it made a nice change from BBQ food. In the evening we took ourselves off to the cinema. As the sun was shining we decided to walk along the canal until we got to Campbell Park and then took a right turn and walked up the hill by the new temporary coach park. It was tough walking uphill in the sun but we got to Cineworld in just under an hour. As usual we argued about which film to watch but I got my way without too much struggle and we saw Donkey Punch. Phil wanted to see Walle-E-U and Hancock but I prefer less well known and more unusual films. Donkey Punch was quite good, a bit gory in places but worth seeing. Next Tuesday Phil can choose the film.

Phil got busy on Wednesday clearing the decking at the top of the garden and giving it a coat of paint. It hadn’t been painted for years and needed a second coat. Phil cooked chicken on the BBQ for lunch, which of late seems to be our staple food. After lunch we took ourselves off to David Lloyd for a steam and a Jacuzzi and then came back to have a glass of fizzy wine on our patio whilst admiring Phil’s handiwork in the garden. In the evening Phil went out to The Giffard to meet up with the Wednesday night crew while I went to Vanessa’s for a glass of wine and a girlie chat. I walked to Willen Park and was quite proud that I found my way on the redway and didn’t get lost. As usual, it was good to catch up with Vanessa who had just broken up that day from school for the summer holidays. The Ford family are off next Wednesday with all their camping gear for a trip round Europe for a month. I can’t remember all of the countries they will be visiting but they intend to do a blog which I will look forward to reading.

Although I didn’t have a late night (Phil did) we both woke up with hangovers and didn’t get out of bed until 9am on Thursday morning. Phil did himself fried eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and fried bread on the barbeque but I was good and just had 2 fish fingers and one tomato. Although the neighbours have had a good rest in the noise department this week I think all the lovely smells that come from our garden must be driving them crazy. It was a really sunny day and with muzzy heads we both decided we were going to have an easy day. Phil did manage to get a third coat of paint on the upper decking while I rested on the garden bench reading a book in my dressing gown. Hence the top photo which I didn’t realise he had taken until I downloaded my images onto my laptop this morning.

It was yet another barbeque for lunch. I'm not complaining but at this rate I shall end up looking like a chicken! In the afternoon I caught a few rays on the sun lounger while Phil potted around not really knowing what to do with himself. Bless im, he was getting quite cross with me for being so lazy but the more he complained the more determined I was to stay on my sunbed! Silly boy, I don’t have many duvet days and he knows full well that when there’s work to be done, I will first in the line. Not sure of plans for the weekend; there is no grand prix to watch and we have no weekend guests and no big jobs to do. What we will we do with ourselves I wonder? I don’t suppose I need to worry, I am sure Phil will come up with some project or another to ensure I don’t see on my bottom for too long.

Bikes r Us

I am well aware that I have been really slack with the blog of late, which is really not like me, but things have been well hectic and there just hasn't been time. Not much in the mood tonight and we are in the middle of watching the German Grand Prix qualifying recorded from Saturday lunchtime ,so I warn you now, this is just a quickie catch up.

Phil was up on Friday at some ungodly hour of the day fitting the bike storage pull racks up in the eaves of the garage. This is not quite the right terminology for them but what he fitted was some kind of contraption that means we can get the bikes out of the garage and into the roof of the garage and get them down with a rope pully system. Jim saw an advert for these in Aldi andkindly sent Phil an email. So thanks for this Jim; they only cost £4.99 whereas the bike shop gave us an Internet site URL and they wanted £35 for each bike. Thanks also to Jim for giving us the details for the automated garage door system saving us nearly fifteen hundred quid.

Phil also tells me that Jim has also emailed him details for an American company that can supply glass blocks for the balcony floor which is going to be Phil's next project. Boy it's good to have good friends. On Friday night we had a BBQ and Phil made home-made chips for Harriet as a treat. Saddo that I am, I recorded the moment!

On Saturday Steve and Ed brought my car back. I felt a bit guilty because Ed doesn't get his new car until Friday but I'm not good at driving Phil's Land Rover and I have missed the freedom of having my own car. Our weekend guests, step-dad number 2, John and his partner Marie arrived just after midday on Saturday just as the Grand Prix qualifying started. Phil wasn't a happy boy but he had no choice other than to record it. Of course we gave the guests a tour de la maison and pressed the garage door remote up and down a few times. In the afternoon we took them for a whiz around Costco. They really wanted to go to IKEA but I just couldn't bear the thought on a busy Saturday afternoon. Luckily later on the rain had stopped so we walked along the canal and went for a pub meal at The Giffard. It was busy but the food was good and as always, cheap! Just as well because Phil was paying! When we got back the rain stayed away and amazingly we managed to wile away a few hours on the patio.

On Sunday morning Phil took John to HomeBase to help him buy a revolving umbrella so that he can barbecue in the rain and Phil also picked up a chim cherree to burn wood on so that we can keep warm under the umbrella whilst it rains. Although Phil went to HomeBase on Saturday, the 10% off day, he procrastinated and didn't buy and unfortunately the 10% discount ended on Saturday. The salesman that sold him the stuff asked Phil why he failed to see the 245 signs advertising 10% day? I'm not complaining as Phil did yet another BBQ for lunch and the umbrella came in quite handy. After lunch John gave Phil a lesson in gardening and unfortunately he was a most enthusiastic student which meant that J&M didn't leave until 4.30pm. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed their company; weekend guests are all well and good but they need to leave just after you've cooked them a big fry up, preferably before 12 midday! You can call me a grumpy old woman and I'm not really that unsociable but sometimes enough is enough. I NEED MY SPACE - END OF!

It's not long after 7pm tonight and already Phil is asleep on the sofa. Which is not altogether surprising seeing that he was in the garden just after 6 this morning pottering and weeding beds. He was gardening until 2pm when I went to the hairdressers and then he went to the healthclub for a workout. My boy or should I say 'husband' just doesn't know when enough is enough. Still its Coronation Street on now so I least I can watch it in peace! Goodnight!

Ups and Downs

The week so far has been fairly unremarkable. Monday must have been so boring because I can’t for the life of me remember what we did; it seems so far away now. Tuesday was little more exciting with the arrival of the automated garage door system which was delivered at 7.20 am whilst I was the health club. Luckily Phil didn’t want to come with me so he was here to take the delivery. Apparently the driver couldn’t get into the cul-de-sac because of all the cars and vans so him and Phil had to walk all the boxes down to our house. Phil couldn’t start on the fitting as he had to go and see the agent who is selling the 22N flat and didn’t get back until well after midday. This meant we had a late lunch and so we decided that we wouldn't start fitting the new garage door until the following day. Tuesday afternoon therefore was spent preparing. Phil studied the fitting instructions and found out that he needed a pop riveter. He went to B&Q and came back with not only a pop riveter but a also a new drill for concrete, a million drill bits and a laser spirit level which apparently he has been longing for all of his life. What is it with boys and their tools?? I just don’t get it.

Phil couldn’t wait to get going on Wednesday morning and was up banging away in the garage just after 7. It took nearly 2 hours to get out the old garage door so it was 9.30am before we could get started. The instructions were very generic and not easy to follow but luckily for us the company that supplied the door system had a helpline number, which boy did we make use of. The new garage doors attracted the attention of all the neighbours; they were like bees round a honey pot. Alan, Dave, Sandy, Emma, Jason and even the postman came to have a look.

Jason from next door was particularly interested as he is halfway through converting his garage into a proper room. He didn’t say much about our garage or the doors but says he will show us his conversion the weekend after next. I do feel sorry for our neighbours, they’ve got Phil banging from anytime after 5.30am and when he finishes at tea-time, they’ve got Jason banging in his garage. We’ve seen a lot of the neighbours while we’ve been working in the garage. I speak to Emma nearly everyday and she is always good with the gossip. She tells me that Reena who lives on the corner had a baby girl born on my birthday. We thought Neil the other side of us had rented out his house to an estate agent but it seems that he and his dogs have moved back in. Don’t have much chance to chat to Sandy now Phil’s at home 24/7 but she did come over and say a brief hello and asked how I was yesterday.

Back to the garage doors. We were making good progress but had a problem when we came to fit the curtain over the motor system. Tony from the helpline said that we’d need 2 stepladders and would have lift the curtain roll and place it on the back of our necks then walk it up the ladders and lift over the motor. It was heavy and I managed to get it on my neck but just didn’t have the strength to lift it over the motor. Phil wasn’t very happy with me when we had to come down and put it back on the floor but Dave was at home and thankfully helped him get it on. We had a few other blips but when we packed up at 5.30 we had it all secure.

Phil was back on the helpline this morning and whilst I was at David Lloyd’s he managed to sort out the last few problems and now we have garage doors which are indeed, fully automatic. See for yourselves, they actually work! By the way the sound is Phil drilling the wood for the bike system in the roof and not the door motor. We even have his n’ hers remote controls. How cool is that? I was worried about fitting the door system ourselves but it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and the best thing is we saved ourselves 800 quid. We definitely will use this door system in our next house. I know I moan about Phil but fair play to him, he can do just about everything he sets out to do (with the help of yours truly of course). And as Phil says, things are never easy for us; we have lots of ups and downs but we do eventually get there in the end.

Weekend celebrations!

I have had a great birthday weekend – lot of eating, lots of drinking and not much sleep, fabulous! Mind you it’s all taken its toll and despite falling asleep on the sofa at 7pm last night, I’m knackered this morning. Julia and Jack made good timing and arrived at our house just after 6 on Friday evening. We had a quick drink and then we all squeezed into Harriet’s car and went to The Giffard for a meal. It was packed but we didn’t have to wait too long for our food and were back home in time to watch the eviction in Big Brother. I couldn’t believe it when Mario got voted out; even though he is right up his own jacksi, him and Lisa as a couple are funny to watch. I can’t stand Rebecca.

Everyone had hangovers on Saturday morning (except Jack of course) which wasn’t good as we had Phil’s mum and dad and their friend Glad coming for lunch. Phil cooked a fry-up on the BBQ and Julia & Jack left to go visiting, leaving me to clear up and get everything ready for our guests. Luckily I got everything done with a few minutes to spare before they turned up from Melton around half past ten. I love it when Phil’s mum and dad visit as they always come laden with goodies. This time they brought us a special Melton Mowbray pork pie, a large bar of chocolate for Harriet, all the bits and pieces we’d left in their car from our visit to Germany, flowers for my birthday along with a heavy envelope, 3 pots of home-grown herbs for Phil’s herb garden, a base for our garden umbrella and a home-made coconut desert. All these things and I told them only to bring themselves!

I had warned mum and dad beforehand that Phil would be doing a BBQ for lunch and with British weather true to form, it started to rain just as Phil went out to cook. Luckily Phil’s dad had brought his garden umbrella and fetched it out of the car so Phil could get on with his cooking. After lunch was cleared away we decided to take a look around Costco because Glad had never been before. Unfortunately Costco was heaving with people but we all managed to put something in the trolley. When we got home the sun was shining and so we all sat outside with tea and biscuits. We waved goodbye to everyone at 4.30pm and cleared up before Julie and Jack returned just before 6. Jacked played on the computer while Phil me and Julia sat outside drinking wine and beer. As we’d all eaten lunch I just shoved a pizza in the oven which we had with garlic bread and new potatoes and salad left over from lunch before settling in the front the plasma to watch Big Brother. Phil went to bed early but me and Julia stayed up until midnight putting the world to rights (as you do).

As the sun was shining bright on Sunday morning Phil cooked another fry-up on the BBQ which we actually sat outside on the patio to eat. There is nothing more satisfying than a cooked breakfast after a heavy night of indulgence. Julia had the Sky engineer booked to sort out her skybox at 12pm so she and Jack left just after 9. Phil wanted to go for a swim and a steam at the health club but I remembered that it was open weekend which would have meant that every man and his dog would be there so we opted to do some gardening instead. I am very worried about Phil; since our trip to see Steve and Sue in rural Brittany, Phil has turned into a cross between Ray Meers and Alan Titchmarsh. I looked out of the bedroom window whilst I was making the bed to see him ripping out another of the trees from the border. When I went down to investigate he was ripping off the leaves and sawing up the tree. When I asked him why, he said he wasvstoring the wood for the wood burner which he intended to buy. He had seen Steve’s one in France and I think he fancies burning wood to keep warm. Personally I just don’t get it; I’d prefer one of those nice aluminium top table heaters instead. I can only think it must be a boy thing!

At lunchtime Steve & Maddy picked us up and we went to the fish restaurant Loch Fyne in the hub. I’d had a couple of good recommendations and fancied trying it out. We went for the 2 course menu, £11 which included a glass of the house wine. However we didn’t realise that this menu didn’t include side orders which cost extra, but still, it came out at 20 quid a head which included chips, salads, a bottle of house red and desserts. It was quite good but the service was slow especially considering the restaurant was less than half full. Would we go again? Yeah probably. Steve was flying to Munich for work and a taxi collected him and his travel case from outside the hub leaving Mads to drop us off. Needless to say we didn’t feel like doing any work when we got back so we got the video’s out and plonked ourselves in front to the telly. And that, my friends, was Sunday.

Not surprisingly, we had both put on weight when we jumped on the scales this morning. Phil is really struggling to get in the 15’s so we will need to take drastic action this week. It’s just a shame that we have a fridge full of chocolates, pork-pie and wine. Not good but it has to be done. Phil hasn’t relayed his work plans for the week but I do know that we have lots of catch up jobs and paperwork things that need doing today. The new automated garage doors are due to arrive on Wednesday and so as soon as it’s light on Thursday we will begin the job of fitting them ourselves. Hey ho, another week. I just hope the sun shines.

Eat, drink and be merry!

I have now just about recovered from our adventures in France. Its funny, only 2 days back and it seems like we’ve never been away. We had a good time at Steve & Sue’s staying at their old mill, eating and drinking and playing with Zebby their lovely dog. Our visit gave Sue & Steve a chance to down their tools and have some time out. I thought me and Phil were pretty hard grafters but these two take the biscuit, they’ve done virtually all the work on the mill and grounds by themselves and I take my hat off to the pair of them. The whole place will be fantastic when it is finished.

Seeing the Tour de France ride past the house was an experience, spoilt only slightly by the rain. This trip has changed my mind about France and I am certain we will explore her some more. Not sure I could live there permanently though as I know I couldn’t resist the cheap wine and the lovely, but rich French cuisine. I’d end up a fat wino for sure! Phil says that I already am - cheeky sod! That said we couldn’t cross the channel with out returning with a Land rover full of booze. The wine rack is full to the gunnels, as are all of the new kitchen units in the newly decorated store room and garage. We simply must get everyone round for a bbq before Phil drinks it all!

Phil was shocked to fine that he had put on 6 pounds will he was away. I don’t know why this came as such a surprise when we did nothing but eat and drink in France. Check out this picture of our last 6 course lunch before getting on the boat; Phil looks like the cat that’s got the cream, bless ‘em.

Even though I was absolutely knackered when we got in bed on Wednesday morning at 3am I just couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours so I got up and got on with the washing. I had a busy morning shopping for food, cleaning the house and doing the ironing. We were knackered after lunch and settled ourselves on the sofa and watched the Silverstone Grand Prix and caught up with Big Brother. A waste of a day really but it was heaven just slobbing out.

There was no slobbing out yesterday though; Phil was up early and out in the back garden cutting wood for the storage room door as soon as it was light. Whilst we were away William the carpenter had come round to fit the new door so Phil could fit the wood around it. This took him the whole morning. We stopped for lunch and Phil cooked chickens on the spittle on the new gas BBQ and very tasty they were too! Harriet was home as she has the week off work so she had some lunch with us. In the afternoon Phil started tiling the roof on the store room for which he had to actually climb on the roof. I think it was quite hard work judging by the amount of huffing and puffing coming from above. When he finished I gave the outside a coat of wood stain and had just about finished when the heavens opened. We got soaked putting away the tools and clearing up. I wonder if we will get any summer this year, so far it’s been pants?

It’s my birthday today, not just my birthday but also my sisters Julia & Louise. Another year older but it won’t make much difference as I have been telling everyone that I am 43 all year. I don’t really feel any older but the mirror tells altogether another story, guess it’s a good job I’m going blind!


We have a weekend coming up of entertaining as Julia is coming to stay tonight my nephew Jack for a couple of days. On Saturday we have Phil’s mum and dad coming to lunch with their friend Glad and on Sunday we are going to try out the Loch Fyne restaurant in The Hub with Maddy & Steve Pem. I think the diet will have to be ditched for a few days and instead we will have little choice but to eat, drink and be merry (once again). Cheers everyone!

Home sweet home

Up bright and early as we had an early night which we needed because Steve and Sue had worn us out partying. Even Zebedee was very tired when we left and could hardly keep his eyes open, I’m not sure what he had been drinking.

First stop Honfleur that Steve and Sue had recommended to see. We found a parking place close to the harbor. It’s a lovely town with harbors, shops, lots of restaurants and little quaint streets. We had started walking around long before lunch selecting our favorite choice to eat in on our way around. Once it was lunch time we set off back to it but changed our mind once we were there. We settled for a little one nearby and ended up having Claire’s birthday lunch today instead of going out again this Friday. We had the testing menu which consisted of about 7 courses with Calvados sorbet in-between 2 of them. The place was called Le Hamelin and they also had rooms and studios to rent (www.lehamelin.com). We were first there and almost last out, what a wonderful way of spending 3 hours and I wish we could go there for my birthday lunch. Fabulous food that started with Foie gras, kebabs with king prawns and scallops then tornados steak. I said to Claire that it is no wonder that they have a 2 hour lunch break in France and if they came here they would be late back.

Another walk around and back to the car to pay the extortionate parking bill. Next stop Le Havre to catch our ferry home. When I first set the satnav to avoid toll charges it estimated our journey time at 2 hours and 35 minutes so I changed it to accept toll charges and it went down to 34 minutes. Quite a worthwhile saving we thought, especially as petrol prices seem to be higher than at home. We paid up to 1.61 Euros/l over here while at home it is about £1.20/l which must be lower. Over the suspension bridge and all that was left was to find our way around the diversions everywhere to the port and wait for the boat to leave in about 3 hours time.

A reasonable crossing and we were back in England by midnight but we had to wait for about 30 minutes to get off which is crazy as we were the first on. Mind you, we were last on coming over as the battery went dead but first off. A rotten journey home and not a good nights sleep. I think Claire had “ferry lag” as she couldn’t sleep, it must have been the one hour time difference.

Normandy trip

We left Steve and Sue’s late on Monday as we were all a bit hung over with sore throats for some reason? Off we set for the Normandy coastline. Our first stop was Le Mont St Michael where we had lunch in a nice restaurant called “Le Pre Sale”. A bit posh and it looked better than it tasted but nice all the same as it looked extremely good and only tasted good. We had a huge lunch with 4 courses and wine. There were lovely views over the island with its small mountain community.

We had intended to stay the night on the west coast into the satnav with a small unknown town but before long the heavens opened and the traffic stopped, there must have been an accident. The motorway was stopped and it looked like a long job so we got off at the first exit and went any way we liked that looked as if it was going away from the congestion whilst Claire set another destination on the East coast into the satnav. Finally we found one it liked and it kicked in but we thought it must have misunderstood as it took us down countless very small country roads. It was fine and soon we were on proper roads and on our way to an unknown destination. Well we knew its name but that was all which was Saint Aubin sur Mer. We drove around the small winding one way streets for a while before we stumbled across a nice looking hotel called “Le Clos Normand”. It was reasonably priced for the room (74 Euros) but they wanted double for half board and as we were still stuffed from lunch we took the room only option. A small but nice room and I think it’s the first time I have been able to see the sea whilst lying in bed. Also there was a park right next to the hotle which we could walk through to get to the shops in town. An easy night for us sharing a dish of local cheeses between us with a bottle of wine we had just bought at a local supermarket. We had already filled the boot with drink when Steve and Sue took us to their local and we found another where we bought even more and filled the back seats up too. The only thing we didn’t get much of was the local champagne which you could get for about £1 a bottle. We intended to get much more than the 6 bottles we already had but it wasn’t to be. Never mind, what we have should last a couple of weeks.