Cathy is with us

Cathy, John and children arrived at 7.30pm on Friday for a five day visit. Saturday morning they spent the day on Ryde sands and in the afternoon went to Cowes to be amongst the thousands of people gathered to watch the first day of the Cowes Regatta. In the evening we prepared a BBQ for when they returned home and as luck would have it, we had wind and rain which called off the outside festivities and we finished off the meat and sausages in the oven and sat out in the conservatory drinking wine and eating the various meats onm display. We had both wine and beer and I regret to say that I over-indulged on the lovely wine and after eating all the meat and drinking all the wine and beer, I faltingly crept up to bed and knew no more until 0730 this morning. My only excuse was that I had not eaten all day as I was helping at the IOW Air Show on Sandown Airport and was ready for something by the time Cath and family arrived home. The Air Show was super with half a dozen Spitfires, a Hurricane and many more piston engined English, American (B17 Super Forts, Harvards, Grumman, Kittihawks, etc) and German aircraft (Messerschmidt and Fiesler), which treated us all to rolls, loops, dives, fast low level passes and dog fights with smoke and the now usual parachute drop. I enjoyed the show very much which was spoilt by my having to be on the gate and sell tickets!! It is the best non military Air Show in the south. Today we went to Ventnor and then to Bonchurch where we all had a lovely seafood lunch. I don't know what we are doing tomorrow, but they have to return on Tuesday, only to come back to the Island in a week or so. Love to all. Dad

Long time no blog...

Hello all; sorry its been a long time since any Spanish blogs but after moving to La Nucía we have had to re-establish an internet connection and this has taken quite some time. We are also having post redirected and have changed banks, so many changes have caused considerable disruption and I am glad that we are doing all this in the summer holidays because if I was having to work through this I'd be whacked.

As it stands the exercise programme is back on track and I am getting some cycling in before the sun gets too high. I'm trying to get out every couple of days but this area we live in now is very hilly. No matter where I go it is pretty hard work either getting out or getting back! To cap it all the road upto our house from the main road has got to be a one in six. Cycling downhill to come home even has this sting in the tail. Furthermore the sun comes over the end of the Sierra Bernia near Calpe at about 7am and is immediately intense and hot. The days have been very warm for the last month or so. We've got some beach time in and the girls have enviably tanned skin if you seek such things. I'm happy being white but then I'm hardly a fashion icon. Jan looks healthy and we are doing our best to eat healthy food and not to drink too much red wine. We did reduce the stocks prior to our move though! One day we will crack open that posh bottle of wine that I've been saving till last.

On Tuesday Jess and Beth are flying to Manchester to go on a Christian Youth camp in Benllech on Anglesea. It is for ten days and we (Amy, Jan and I) are going to miss them terribly, I know. They are getting quite excited now although their new passports are stuck in Madrid and we will be doing everything in our power to get them couriered down to us on Monday. There have been a couple of attempts by the courier service to pick them up but a couple of departments seem to have got their wires crossed. If the passports don't arrive I don't know if the girls will be able to travel as they are going unaccompanied with a couple of lads from church. The oldest will be only 14. They are being picked up from Manchester by some swallow friends, Barry and Iris, who live half the year here and half the year there and who are helping to organise the camp in Wales. It's for ten days, so if anyone wants to see them you'll have to get up to Anglesea and find the Benllech holiday youth camp. They come back on Sunday 14th.

Watch this space for passport news!

Love to all

Pete

From a wet Island

Lovely to get the rain after weeks of drought, but now we want the sun back - funny lot aren't we? The Water butts are all full and we even have spare rainwater in case it gets too dry again. Yes Gem, we would love you to stay with us - any time. The August Bank holiday or before would suit us also. Look forward to it! Yes, we did see the programme on Portsmouth and we are looking forward to the Grand Opening and maybe to our trip to the top of the Spinnaker. They say that the top shelf will be a restaurant, like the one on Canada. We are going over to Gunwharf one day next week, if the weather is fine.

Nic, I am not sure about messaging as I leave the phone in the car, but I will have a look. Why message us - we are on the phone! and it is lovely to hear from you any time in spite of the time difference which can be confusing. It takes me ages to find the right message, but I try sometimes. Yes next year is the big five-O for Cathy so we will have to sort something out.

Last night we had a Lions boules evening at the newly improved Fleming Arms in Binstead. Although it was a rather heavy drizzle, about thirty of us, including a group from Newport, braved the rain and in teams of four we gradually got to the final - I say we when I mean Mum - she is really good and her team won, with her getting the important shot on two occasions. I didn't realise how much fun we could have. We finished up at 10.30pm after a very nice buffet neal, still playing under floodlights. We went home during the Newport/Ryde challenge cup - a couple of warming whiskys for Mum seemed to have been the answer. She is such fun when she loses her inhibitions!

Nice to have you back Pete - now we can start blogging again and now that Nic has a computer in front of him perhaps blogs from another small Island. See you soon love from Dad

Rainy Days

Hello from monsoon enveloped Singapore.

We recently moved office and now I can see out of the window, it seems to have been raining for weeks, July is always like this apparently, but now I can see. I also have a computer on my desk with internet access, I thonk this is a first for me. So if I get in early , a quick blogg is in order.

Dad, I tried messaging you on your mobile, did you receive?

We will come over next summer, celebrate some birthdays, March may be a bit cold for us, July doesn't suit because Claire will be in school and they nly have June off in mid year with the major holiday being in December/January. Of course we will be new to all these constraints, so we will just have to see.

We had a great time in Bali, and have a short Break to the Indonesian Island of Bintam this weekend. We are all planning to be in the Cameron Highlands just before Christmas and spending Christmas Eve/Day in Kuala Lumpar, so if you have sold the house, let us know.

Love to you all,

Nic, Jen Daniel and Claire

You're welcome anytime...

Thanks for your thanks! We really enjoyed having you here and glad that you could use us as a base for the weekend. We haven't been out in the garden since our bbq as the weather has been distinctively autumnal so your lovely gift of a sunflower is a little confused but still in full bloom.

Clive & I have some time off in late August so if you are on the island we'd love to come to see you if you are in the country!

Did you see the programme on BBC1 this evening about the Portsmouth Spinnaker? The show covered the origins of Portsmouth, the Mary Rose, Nelson and the Victory as well as Portsmouth being the largest natural harbour in Europe and Brunel's birthplace being just a short distance from where the 'Warrior' is docked. Such a shame that all that awful architecture has spoiled the heritage but it really seems that money is finally being invested what with all those plush harbourside apartments, shops & restaurantrs.
Did you see the very end where two men were standing on the glass floor of the viewing deck as they looked 150ms down to the harbour ...oh-er.

lv gemsie

Thanks for your message, Gemma

I have got accustomed to leaving my phone in the car to keep it charged up, so I did not get your message, Gem, until I used the phone to contact Grandma last evening. (I cannot get used to carrying it round with me) Thanks for your message - it was lovely staying with you in your charming little house. Thanks also to Clive for putting up with us. We enjoyed the BBQ. Thanks also to you Steve for letting us use your super bedroom. Thanks for sending our nightclothes - we really enjoyed our extended weekend - even though we spent some time crawling along the motorway and the North Circular!! We enjoyed our trip to Ikea and I spent yesterday re-building the kitchen trolley - I have now fitted a towel rail and handle to make it easier to control. I have also stained it and 'painted' it with polyurethane to stop it getting dirty. I have also fixed up the spotlights to give a light over the worktop next to the boiler. Works a treat. Today it is raining (typical say those who have just broken up from school) but we certainly need plenty more. Pass on our love to the Milkman - sorry not to have seen him last weekend.
Well done, Julian with your 'Postcards" - must be a job to think what to do next. Next time we meet, we must give you those two items of Rouen pottery which you like and which would give you more options with your still lives. Keep up the writing Ruth - I love your writing style. It is a job to keep up with your musical perambulations.
Nice to talk to you yesterday, Pete - we are glad that you are settling into La Nucia - I can still see in my mind's eye, the view over the sea from your kitchen towards the headland where we walked that Sunday, to the lighthouse. I expect you are preparing for a big BBQ to mark Jan's birthday on Monday. Many Happy Returns, Jan. We called in on your Mum and Dad when we were in Chinnor last week - seems strange without Goldie, but Mum has five or six baby hedgehogs to look after, so she is happy. We look forward to visiting you again when we can squeeze in time between dentists and doctors and things. I am pleased to say that my hormone treatment seems to be having an effect - pity about the 'hot flushes'. We think Mum has got IBS as she seems to have collected the 'Morgan' tummy troubles which she shares with Tina ( and, I think, Celia also). Treatment seems to be more fibre.
Cathy - many Happy returns for Tuesday. We hope you are suitably rewarded by your lovely family for all the love you show to them. We will have to think up what to do next year for the big Five-O. We are looking forward to seeing something of you all before school starts again. Don't forget - we have plenty of room - there is always room in the garage, as I told you yesterday!!
I expect you are also starting school holidays Nic. Love to you and Jen, Claire and Daniel. Don't forget that Auntie June will be dropping in to Sg in November on her way out to and return from Ordralia (as Rebecca used to say). No news yet on the house sale front - On which depends our next visit to the Far East - whenever we decide to do something like sell or buy - it is always a bad time. S o d s law I guess. We are still very happy here and we have enjoyed being outside in our pleasant little garden, during the past couple of weeks. I am happy to stay on the Island as the mainland seems so frantic!!
Well, that appears to cover most things - what about all you bloggers? Love to you all from Mum and me

Time called at Bernard's watering hole...

Mark Honigsbaum Saturday July 2, 2005 The Guardian

Were Jeffrey Bernard alive, he would definitely be feeling unwell at the news. Several other Soho soaks might also be a little greener about the gills than usual this morning.
The cause of their liverishness? Not the usual Friday excess but yesterday's surprise announcement by Norman Balon, the famously rude landlord of the Coach & Horses, that he is calling time on the legendary Soho watering hole. "I've decided to sell the lease because I can't cope with the government's new licensing regulations," he told London's Evening Standard yesterday, adding that he did not know what would happen to the pub.
Mr Balon, whose memoirs are titled You're Barred! You Bastards, has worked at the Coach & Horses since 1943.
The pub, which occupies a prime location at the corner of Greek Street and Romilly Street, provided inspiration for Bernard's Lowlife column in the Spectator until his death in 1997.
Bernard's antics at the Coach also inspired his friend, Keith Waterhouse, to write the play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, based on a real incident when Bernard found himself locked in the pub overnight.
Bernard was later portrayed in the play by Peter O'Toole, another Coach regular. But the pub is best known for its fortnightly Private Eye lunches at which the great and good are plied with cheap food and even cheaper wine in the hope they will be indiscreet.
The latest scalp was John Hemming, the new Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, who confessed to getting his mistress pregnant last week after an Eye lunch.
Michael O'Donnell, a barman there for 25 years, said the news had not yet sunk in with the regulars.

Hello Gem here ! How awful is this news? Julian i know that you used to consider the 'Coach & Horses' your local when you ran the cinema, and we always pop in for a drink when we go up to town..hopefully a rich londoner will buy the pub and keep it just as it is. Must go up to Soho while we can...

We're off up to London

Precious little on the blogger lately - We are off to see Steve'e handiwork and hopefully he is going to find us a place to rest our heads. We are booked on the 0830 so off we go - until next Tuesday 19th July love to all Mum and Dad

2012 Olympics will be held in London

After a very exciting and nail biting morning, where the IOC Committee were in Singapore to vote on the venue for the 2012 Olymbic Games, it eventually came down to a choice between Paris and London - Guess what - London won the selection by 54 votes to 50 and Stratford, in East London will undergo an amazing transformation as work starts tomorrow ~(Says Ken Livingstone) on creating a fantastic new Olympic stadium, with sports facilities such as could never have been considered. In addition houses will be built and private business will build hotels and blocks of flats to house the athletes. Wembley will house many of the track and field events and Weymouth will be the venue for all the sailing events. What a fantastic seven years!!

Fantastic Day

Time to go to bed - Hey Jude, Steve, Nic, Pete, Cathy,,Jen, Ruth, Jan, John, Gemma, Clive. I had to stay up to see Pink Floyd and Macca.

Rain as a distant memory..

Last week, after all the storms up in UK and France, the weather forecast was looking ominous here too as the weather men had covered the Valencian coast in little lightning bolts, dark clouds and high winds. It began to grow dark on Monday morning for an hour or two but the rain never came and now we are back to blue skies and 38 degrees. Typical. Can't they ever get it right? Reading Gemmas romanticised blog about being caught in the rain was almost enough to make me wish the rain had come...but then I think of Dad's al fresco meals in Kent and I am happy we at least can do this every day. The evening temperatures are perfect at the minute though a fan is needed if you want a good night's sleep.

I was going to do some moving yesterday but I was sick as a dog and couldn't work out why. Gippy tummy, slight fever like malaria, lethargy you just couldn't get over (I crashed out most of the afternoon) and I felt dreadful. I had a slight snag in my throat, like I may have scratched it swallowing a fish bone, so I took a look in the mirror and - shock, horror - there was this ugly white patch in the back of my throat like a fungus gone wild. Bacterial lessions, fungi, or perhaps a bit of old food? I tried a gargle and tried poking it with a stick (which made me gag quite a bit) and eventually trotted off to the clinic and the nice nursey removed a two day old rolled oat (from my meusli) with a lolly stick. Seems I had been being poisoned by this for over twenty four hours. I feel pretty good now, although a few toxins are still in the system...but I would never have believed it. Funny old world. Apparently I have a very convoluted set of folds in the back of my throat. Watch this one folks - maybe it runs in the family (no pun intended). Tell you what, I've gone off health food. It's back to the old coco pops this morning! Ta ta for now. Pete

Paul McCartney...

was on Radio1 this morning having a chat and he did a live impromptu 'Lady Madonna'! The dj's had filled the studio with instruments in case he felt like a giving a tune. He was asked loads of questions by the listeners but I think the most interesting once was

'Did he ever find out why at Live Aid for the first 2mins of 'Let It Be' he was singing in silence?'

It turns out that the roadies for Queen had unplugged all their equipment and because Macca didn't have his own roadies cos he just turned up and played- all cool like (there was no sound check) his mic was also unplugged. He started singing and couldn't hear anything through his monitor then after a while he could hear the voices of the technicians as they were furiously trying to reconnect him. As he was deciding whether to stop the show in front of billions of people the Wembley crowd joined him in singing then his mic came on!

Have you signed up for ' Make Poverty History' yet? Do it at...

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/

We are planning our day tomorrow around Live8 as I didn't get the Ladies Wimbledon final I was hoping for. The show starts around 14.00 BST & they think it'll go onto 2130. Billed as the best gig in the world ever I think it'll be really interesting to see what they do as the rumours are rife. On the radio they said Macca & U2 will open the show & Madonna will be backed by the Childrens Africa Choir! No mention of Status-Quo though. Beckham, Brad Pitt will also be on stage introducing the acts...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/thelive8event/onbbc/

G & G - Glad to hear you had a lovely time in Kent with Auntie June. I read a Sunday newspaper review a couple of weeks back about the best seafood places to eat in the UK and most of them apart from a couple down Cornwall way were in Whitstable. Ever since I had langoustines at Rick Steins and a seafood platter inc oysters for a romantic Valentines with Clive I'm determined to eat more.
Sorry to hear of your fall Grandma. We swear by the use of 'arnica' cream which Clive got from Boots, which is magic when helping bruises disappear and it doesn't smell medical/chemically- great stuff.

Clive & I went to see Mandy, John and Ruby yesterday in their new flat just round the corner from their old place in Crouch End. They are hoping to move at the end of August into their very own gorgeous house (in their old road). Ruby is really growing quickly with her depth of expression & kept us delightfully entertained all afternoon. Ruby especially liked it when Clive raised her up & down and did his funny 'Little Britain' impressions of Ann at her! And at bedtime I got to dress Ruby in her very own Middlesborough FC pyjamas. Mandy & John say they are very lucky as Ruby is sleeping 12 hrs a day and sleeps all through the night!
Their wedding present from the Oxford contingent of one of J's paintings hangs proudly in the living room. It looks great Julian - thank you.

News from Georgina & Jamie is that they have a new addition to the family too - Rosie, a King Charles spaniel. We haven't met Rosie yet but Mandy says she used to belong to an old lady who couldn't look after her anymore, so she has a very calm nature and didn't yap at all around Ruby.

Clive & I did get caught in the electric storms last Tuesday although we didn't get any pics like the ones Dad uploaded from the bbc website. As it was such a lovely balmy summer evening we had a walk out to Iffley lock to visit the ducks & geese, and popped into the Isis Tavern for an IPA. Well the heavens opened and lightening crackled across the sky so we hid inside for a hour, then we noticed the rain water running down the inside wall of the pub! The weather wasn't relenting after an hour so after our drinks we took a deep breath and ran home along side the river in the torrential rain. We were soaked to the skin by the time we reached the bridge - the aftersun lotion I had applied earlier was running down my face stinging my eyes blinding me, and Clives' glasses were all steamed up. Crippled with laughter we ran the rest of the way home home in the warm lashing rain & once inside wrapped ourselves in warm towels we watched the rest of the storm comforted by a glass of scotch. Fantastic.

Gem xxxx

Paul McCartney in Red Square

Gemma, Steve, Julian, Pete, Nic - anyone?
I was looking for some of my favourite non-pop Beatles CD's in Sainsbury's in Otford at the weekend (some hopes as Michael Jackson has 'em all) and chanced on this DVD of Paul McCartney's in Red Square Moscow. It is a fabulous 2-hour show and includes Gorbachov and Putin, both enjoying the show (and aren't those Russian youngsters beautiful!!) and I have been playing it ever since. Thousands of Beatles-starved pop fans packed this gigantic square in August 2003. It is great to play it on my Mac, where I have also got dozens of my favourite iTunes. I will have to buy an iPod to transfer them all for future listening! I also picked up a 2nd-hand Revolver, but not many of my favourites, like Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Paperback Writer, For the benefit of Mr Kite, I heard the news again today, although it has Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine. I am in the middle of a Pop orientated scene, but I don't know how to transfer LP Albums on to CD or into my iTunes. I found a lot up in the loft, like Mind Games. (yours I think, Pete) Any ideas. It seems that I need red and black jack plugs with a USB connector but how it goes from there I dare not risk. I don't know if it is going to be possible to record tomorrow's Live Aid concert from Hyde Park - the line-up is out of this world. Still I will try!!