Elevenses pm - another late night.

Have you seen Ben since he started using "Timotei"?


A great day.
G & B out on the bikes whilst T & I visited Shustoke Church(too late for the service),then Whitacre Garden Centre to see the Christmas extravaganza.
The latter well deserves its title - decorations you couldn't even imagine (I hope)
Coffee, then off to Waddesdon.
Warm sunshine (17 degrees) & a fascinating house. Light lunch & on to see B, E, T,& KP, briefly, at tea time.
Home for dinner & so to bed.

Tina & Bent over at Eleven - a first!

Arrived at the Arrivals gate at precisely the same moment as T & B, the "dodgy Dash" having stayed in one piece for the flight, against the odds.
Elevenses at Hollylands (coffee with chocolate Hobnobs) then off to Warwick for a quick look around & a "spot of lunch" before setting off on the "Shakespeare trail":
Anne Hathaway's cottage
The birthplace
New Place
Nash's House
Trinity Church
The Courtyard Theatre, for a well deserved cup of tea!(T & I well deserved a cup of tea long before this, but the proprietors of Stratford tea rooms contrived against this!)
The Ex Cathedra choir were rehearsing for the evenings concert in Trinity Church - we only gained admittance by the skin of our teeth & a bit of blagging -they sounded wonderful.
We drove home by a scenic route, (much of it at breakneck speed), rested a little & then dined at The Rajrani.
Beat that!
On a more rural note, the mole is now at the conservatory & threatening the flower bed. This calls for serious action!!!
Steve caught one mole last week, perhaps the rest are looking for him.
They are not alone in this!
We are planning to "do Waddesdon" today & perhaps see B,E, T& KP for a cup of tea later.
They are unaware of this, so may read the blog & go out mid-afternoon.
I am unable to label the photos as they only appear as "gobblydeguck" on the edit page.
Please refer to previous blog in order to put names to venues.
Now there's a challenge!

Lost in Swadlincote!

Swadlincote




Granvill school pupils.

Emmental cheese, a similar structure to our "emmental lawn".

My karcher sc122 is this colour. It's picture will not blog, however many times I try, so this is the next best thing! I hope that sc, as I shall call it, will be more "user friendly".

I went to Swad for a meeting at Granville School at 9.30am.

I arrived at Swad at 9.30, I arrived at Granville School at 10.30am, having toured the district street by street, up hill & down dale.

One new development had a large sign, "You can live here for £120,000".

They would have to pay me a great deal more than that!

I've been asked to do a few days work, sorting out the PSHE & Citizenship, some of which I can do at home, which will save many hours of driving in ever decreasing circles around Swad.

I eventually found Ventura Park & shopped in JS & M&S on the way home.

G home early, enabling us to remove the molehills fromthe side lawn, now known as the "emmental lawn" - like the "camomile lawn", but with more moss & subterranean passages!

My karcher steam cleaner sc1122 arrived today.

I will do a consumer report in due course. i.e. when I've worked out how to use it.

No breakfast, no elevenses, no lunch.

more, more, more......

The Nuffield, where they have..........

Lots of monitoring devises, including.....

Followed by a hearty reward.

Well, that's it really.
Glass of water then run to Bostock's (1.5 miles)
Glass of water then paint a window, clean the entire house with disinfectant & a toothbrush.
Glass of water then a shower & full body treatment.
Picked up by G & whisked off to the Nuffield Hospital for our annual health screenings.
Everything great, just have to drink more water & lose a stone.
Went to the Chinese quarter for a meal & chinese beer, indifferent to the msg & alcohol in my blood.

To be or not to be.

The Bard

The birthplace.

The final place.

The daughter's place.

The in-laws place

I did Stratford today.
I have pounded the streets pounded by Will.
I have revisited his birth-chamber in the house in which he grew up, followed by New House, where he spent his final years (so called, I imagine, because it was completely demolished by its owner in 1702, following a disagreement with the council over tax - only the foundations remain. These are not visible)
Then down the road to Hall's Croft, the luxurious home of Will's daughter & her husband, John Hall, an eminent physician.
I finished the day at Anne Hathaway's Cottage, where the young Will courted his future wife (quite successfully it appears as when he married, aged 18, Anne, aged 26, was 3 months pregnant)
I had elevenses in M&S - a pot of decaf tea & a cheese scone, to compensate for no breakfast.
I bought paint on the way home. It may be the wrong colour.
I am prepared for a culture tour at the weekend.
T & B - bring comfortable shoes!

Catch - photos from early visit, sending to Milt.

I could blog photos from the file, so I have.
They all hold very fond memories for G & me.
We shared these& many more with Catch: he was impressed with laptops!
Catch's childhood home in Whitlingham, Norfolk. Visited with John Rex 2003

The ruined church opposite Tower Cottages, childhood playground.

The barns at Whitlingham Farm, where Catch's "father" was responsible for the horses - another playground & school for all things equestrian, knowledge useful at Berkeley when working on horse gestation.

Catch in US Navy in WW2. He worked on decompression sickness.

A warm welcome at 110 West Oak St.

In his study.

Walking to "Alberts", on Elm st. I hope I only had a salad & no desert!

wet,wet,wet,

Well what can I do, following a denial , from my most stern critic, of interest in ownership of a watch made of rusty "steel" with a "coal face", for a modest £75,000 ($150,000, he he) & an appeal for more holiday photos..........

I love this picture of KP - you have to smile back. Obviously no spiders about!

And this one of Oscar, having a snack. What a cutie!

This is the cloisters of the Presbyterian Church on Michigan Ave - just down from the Water Tower. For those with good eyesight, the tower is "The Whitehall Hotel", home to aj & me for three nights. (in a big bed)

This was "Alberts", Catch's local restaurant, two blocks from West Oak street, where we ate with Catch on each visit. We always walked there & back.

It has changed hands, now "52". No longer a greek patisserie. (or whatever it should be called). Shame.

And this is Milton Engel, Catch's friend & colleague of 60 years, now officially, a "Surrogate Catch"

I have to admit that it is 3.15pm & I am sitting on the settee, with the TV on.

In my defence, it has rained very hard until about an hour ago.

I've done the ironing & have had two 'phone calls offering me jobs & arranged a visit to discuss one of them.

Talk me out of it!