Sunday, December 29. 2013
December 2013
The following day Gail, Paul, Zena and myself went with the Community Centre to The Blackpole Inn, Worcester for skittles and also a Christmas meal. On our last visit in October I had won a prize for highest scoring male, tonight however I narrowly avoided the lowest score by one skittle! Strangely the same thing occurred with the highest scoring female from October!
On Monday 9 December Gail, Christopher any myself took the twins to Stratford On Avon to get a present for Alison. This was the first time Gail and I had been into the town itself, previous visits had only been to the river near the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. What a delightful place and somewhere to go in the summer with my camera.
On Saturday 14 December Gail went to the Mecca Bingo Club in Kingstanding to meet her old 'Bingo Buddy' Rene. Gail no longer goes to these Bingo Halls other than the annual reunion near Christmas time. She had a period of excitement awaiting the outcome of the 'National Bingo Game' where all of the big clubs throughout the country play this one game. The person with the lowest number of calls nationwide wins a big prize of several thousand pounds - the night time game is often worth £100,000. The country is also split into regions and so if even if you didn't have the lowest number in the country you might have the lowest for your region and again win a prize of several thousands of pounds. Gail had called on 47 numbers. Unfortunately the winner of the National had called on 46 numbers, even more unfortunately that winner was also in the same region and so Gail only won the prize for that particular club.
Tuesday 17 December 2013 and our next event is the Christmas party at Old Oscot Working Mens Club.
Wednesday 18 December is the Christmas Bingo at the Community Centre.
Thursday 19 December is a Christmas Quiz at the Whitehouse.
Friday 20 December - 'Open the Box' at the Community Centre.
Saturday 21 December we visited Christopher and Ali so that we could all go round to the Village Green in Meriden where an outdoor carol singing event was taking place.
There then followed a few days of visiting friends and relatives to exchange Christmas presents before the big day itself.
Christmas Day began with Gail and myself opening our presents, then it was round to Paul and Zena, followed by a visit to Carl and Heather, Christine, then Nicola. Following this our Christmas Dinner was at the Shenstone Toby Carvery where we eat Christmas Dinner with Carol and John. This was followed by a drive over to Christopher and Alison at Meriden.
Boxing Day saw another Carvery - this time at 'The Parson and Clerk' Streetly.
Saturday 28 December and it was our turn to be hosts with Carl, Paul and Christopher plus their wives and families all visiting our house for an afternoon buffet.
On Sunday 29 December we had to take Annie to the Emergency Vets due to her stomach having swollen. The vet has given her some additional tablets to those she is already taking and confirmed it is related to her heart condition.
On Monday 30 December Paul, Zena, Gail and myself set out to Weston Super Mare with the Community Centre to let in the new year.
Tuesday, December 17. 2013
November 2013 Update
This is not a myth but a fact which can be quickly worked out like this. I used to work a 30 hour week. Now that I have retired Gail and I have Bryony Wednesday and Thursdays - these are both equivalent to 2 x 8 hour shifts - 16 hours.
Now add on Fridays with the Twins starting at 7am and by the time we get back home it is 7pm - that's 12 hours. Total now 28 hours. I have previously mentioned we also have the twins round either Mondays or Tuesdays - OK Chris is also with them but that takes us well over the 30 hours I used to work. On top of all that I used to only go out to the Working Men's Club on Tuesdays, Community Centre on Wednesdays and the Quiz on Thursdays twice in a four week period, Now it is every week 4/4. It is easy to see already why I have less time than before to do things like managing this web site, Photography, reading and so on.
So What have I been doing with all this extra spare time (ha ha) - A quick check of my Calendar shows Various Dental appointments During November. I now have a Gold Crown in place of my upper left incisor, Gail has a new set of dentures.
Various trips to the Vets with Annie. She is now on heart tablets for life. Friday 15 November and we were at an 18th birthday party at the Community Centre. Saturday 23 November - Open the Box at the Community Centre. Saturday 30 November was a trip to Bath Christmas Market with the Community Centre. On our way we stopped off at a Carvery in Worcester for an 'All you can eat Breakfast'. That was absolutely fantastic - so much so that our organizer Niel immediately booked us in for another one as we go down to Weston Super Mare at the end of December for our mini break at a Hotel to let in the New Year. Just slightly touching December (I will summarize December next month) on Tuesday 3 December Gail, Nicola, Rebecca and myself made our usual trip to Porthcawl to see Mary. On top of all this Our First of Many Christmas meals was held at the Whitehouse on Thursday 28 November, Gail, Carol, John, Pete, Karen and myself.
Megan went from crawling to running in the space of a week, Basically just got up and walked across the room and within a few days you would have thought she had been walking for months. All 3 granddaughters are copying words and I don't think it will be long now before they are all talking. Rebecca has found out that her baby due in April will be a boy and has been busy preparing, decorating the 'nursery' and getting various items such as pushchairs, clothes and so on.
Thursday, October 17. 2013
October News Items
Porthcawl
Between Friday 11 and Monday 14 October, Gail, Steve, Paul and Zena enjoyed a mini break at Trecco Bay, Porthcawl.
Weather was good on Friday and Saturday, a bit of rain on Sunday did not stop us from enjoying the indoor heated swimming pool of course!
The night time entertainment was excellent. Fulgoni's Ice Cream was as good as ever and the meals at Fulgonis are second to none.
Our caravan was a six sleeper with two toilets, two showers, central heating, double glazing, Freeview TV, fridge, freezer, microwave, cooker etc.
Annie
Annie went to the vets on Tuesday 8 October where the vet has now prescribed heart tablets. We noticed an immediate improvement becoming more lively and breathing much better. She will now be on these tablets for life.
MOT
Our Ford Mondeo passed its MOT but only just scraped through due to high emissions. We will be replacing the car after the winter period, probably end of spring or early summer 2014. It is now 15 years old and so I think we have had our moneys worth!
Fairlawns Hotel
For Gail's Birthday our 3 sons all chipped in together to treat Gail and Steve to a night in the Fairlawns Hotel, Aldridge on Sunday 6 October 2014. This included an evening meal and breakfast. The Hotel has a large Spa and so we were treated to all of the facilities which included the swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi,steam rooms and lots more.
Skittles at Blackpole.
On Saturday 5 October our group went to the above where Steve won a prize for the highest scoring male.
Granddaughters.
Bryony has now started opening doors and putting quite a few words together including 'Grandad'.
Megan managed two steps at the weekend so it will not be long now before she catches up with Amelia at walking!
Thursday, September 26. 2013
A Quick Roundup!
There has been so much happening this past few weeks that I simply haven't had time to update this website. So here is a quick roundup of whats been happening.
Amelia walking
Yes that's right, Amelia is now walking fully and without the need for a baby walker. Problem now is she is into everything - cupboards, drawers, climbing and so on. Meanwhile Megan is now able to 'walk' whilst using the baby walker - that is when Amelia lets her. Seems Amelia has become the boss!
Gail and Carol catering for wedding
Weekend before last Gail and Carol were the caterers for a wedding reception being held at the Community Centre, John and myself helped out with some of the work requiring a bit of muscle, such as carrying things around.
Alton Towers
On Monday 23 September Gail, Rebecca and Ryan and myself all enjoyed a day out at the famous theme park. Weather was a bit dull but warm. The park was not very busy and so we managed to get in plenty of rides which included stopping on the log flume for a second go round the circuit and again on the rapids. A very enjoyable day out.
Christopher and Alison have moved
They no longer live in Lichfield but have moved to a house in Meriden. Plenty of hiccups in the lead up to the move and it was not certain if the move could go ahead on the day that had been planned. In fact the removal company had loaded up most of their belongings into the lorry whilst they were waiting from a telephone call from their Estate Agents to confirm that all the legal stuff had been completed and they could go ahead with the move!
Thumb
My right thumb got stuck in a door jamb as it slammed shut taking a chunk of flesh out of the tip. It is still touch and go if the nail will survive. Quite amusingly I still went along on Wednesday morning to play carpet bowls but played "cagy handed' - despite bowling with my left hand I scored more points that day than I normally score when bowling right handed!
Solid State Drives
It was always my intention that upon retiring from work I would upgrade our two laptops as they are now a few years old. Both were upgraded to Windows 8 when it was first released in November 2012 but a bit slow when compared to newer computers. I found a cheaper alternative to improve the speed which was to replace the Hard Drives (these have moving parts) with Solid State Drives (No moving parts). At the same time I increased the size of the drives to give some extra storage capacity. They should now be good for a few more years yet.
Monday, September 02. 2013
Wedding at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
On Saturday 31 August 2013, Pete and Karen's daughter Helen married at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove, Midlands B60 4JR. John, Carol, Gail and myself attended what turned out to be the best wedding we have ever attended. Not simply the fact it was held in the grounds of the museum which includes a model railway (We were all treated to a ride!), The National Telephone Kiosk Collection, a collection of 25 historic buildings including a Windmill, We also had the pleasure of watching a Jacobite Rebellion Weekend where an 18th century Redcoat at an authentic military encampment with soldiers preparing to quell the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
The wedding itself comprised of 2 separate services, the first was the actual marriage which took place in the atmospheric Guesten Hall beneath its magnificent 14th-century roof. This was followed by a blessing performed in Bringsty Church, a traditional Victorian tin chapel. Following our 3 course meal - Gail had beef, I had duck, a vegetarian meal was also available. John, Pete and myself plus another guest enjoyed a game of crown green bowls. Other lawn games were available including croquet. The evening was rounded off with live music from a group.
My Nephew Liam still has my Camera - he is doing a college project, so the only photographs I was able to take were with my mobile phone. My collection of images can be seen by clicking the link below.
LINKS
Saturday, August 10. 2013
Retirement - The First Few Weeks.
It has been a few weeks now since "Retirement",
Technically not until Sunday 8 September 2013 but from a practical point
my last working day was Wednesday 24 July 2013 due to annual leave and
other time off I had due to me. So how has it been? The main issue up until the last couple of days remained severe toothache which I mentioned previously. That very same afternoon that I finished my final tour of duty I telephoned my dentist and got myself booked in for a further check on Friday 26 July. This time I saw another dentist from the practice and he took a couple of X-Rays. He assured me that nothing was showing up and that the pain should go away in due course. Well it now has but it has been two weeks! What seems to have helped was Gail scrounged some left over antibiotic tablets off other family members, plus some strong off the shelf painkillers. |
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So what have I been
doing?: |
Tuesday, August 06. 2013
Safari Park Re-Visited
Making good use of the "Free Entry Return Ticket" from
Christopher's
earlier visit to the park, Click the picture on the left to view the album. |