Mr John and Miss Kate.jpg

John and Kate
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

...(thinks)

Horseshoe Bay
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

If only we knew someone who lived on the Isle of Wight...we could all go down there for a visit if they had a big enough house and then we could go sailing in a little boat if we had a boat! And we could take the it down to the beach on a trailer if we had a trailer. And we could pull it on the back of a landrover if we had a landrover.. All we'd have to do is get in and start the outboard motor and go off to Bonchurch or go where'er we wanted if we had an outboard motor and we knew how to get there....nohww.. and on the way back we could have a picnic if we had some sandwiches... (chuckle). And we could have a flask of tea with the sandwiches if we had a flask with some tea it... and some cups and milk.

I really enjoyed our little feast.. a seafood festival.
What we need now is our own boat.. one of those inflatable ones with an outboard motor and a trailer!
Dad's got the skipper's hat and there's enough puff and wind in the family to blow it up (the boat).. and it wouldn't bob about would it? T'would pay for itself in saved ferry tickets!

Home again!

Thankyou Mum and Dad for everything we had a lovely time and it was so good to see so much of you. And Steve what a treat the boat trip was, Thomas and Edmund were aloud to drive and now know every thing about sonar and G.P.S.They could see shoal's of fish swimming under the boat it was wonderful! And you coming over to the Island to see us was great fun we love seeing you. I love a long lunch with my loved ones!Hurrar for the Horseshoe Cafe lots of love Cathy

Blog Update

Working backwards - We had a tap out on the drums Steve - we couldn't find a Herald!!
I haven't yet tried to speed up my Broadband, but when it isn't broken don't try to fix it. Thanks for all your help last week - you have made a hit with Cathy's chidren. They think you can do everything (or anything), We were all thrilled with your birthday present to Cathy and Thomas of 2 hours in the Night Elm. We chugged out of Ryde harbour and passed under the bows of the biggest container ship you ever saw and our little MV was tossed about like a cork. We went round to Wootton Creek and right up the creek without a paddle as far as the Sloop. John wanted to hop off for a pint! The trip back was more sedate but when John asked Tony (the boatman) to turn off the engine, he did so and rocked the still boat until the kids were shouting for mercy. When the boat is not underway it is tossed about on the waves and Tony assisted by rocking from side to side! We arrived back in Ryde having enjoyed every minute of the trip.
Cathy and family have now left the IOW and what should have been the return trip on the Friday 0730 ferry from East Cowes was altered to the Saturday ferry as they were all having such a good time. However they left here at 0710 to catch the ferry and we were all sorry that they had to leave - we all had a super time. Mum has washed all the sheets and I cleaned up so as we were up very early in the morning we went to bed tired and slept right through until 0700 this morning. I had spent Sat morning selling tickets for a draw of cuddly toys at the Steam Show in Havenstreet, but my heart was not in it and I came home at 1.30pm, after watching the drive past of all the ancient Austin cars and the many veteran motor bikes, with a gaggle of up to date fatboy Harleys just for fun.. Today the Island is full of Vespas and similar scooter bikes - they say there is over a thousand on the Island. - I hope they don't challenge the Harleys! Cathy rang up to tell us that had arrived home about three having lunched in the lovely little town of Kington. (or was it Knighton)

We hope the girls enjoyed their camp in Anglesey, Pete and Jan - good to see them all looking so happy. What a funny Postal service which cannot deliver to the address on the packet - this also happenened in Singapore. I think we will have to stop sending presents and ask partners etc to buy a present of their own choosing!! How is the cricket Pete? The national team seems to be improving - I hope they can score enough to win the Trent Bridge test.

Lovely to see a resumption of the Postcards, Julian - you are a master at painting apples and peaches. I hope you both enjoyed being together again. Austria is such a lovely country.
I see you are getting new disciples. Uncle Richard's daughter-in-law is a new welcome reader of the blogger - she thinks your paintings are brilliant. Welcome to Eddie and Theresa. Sadly Auntie Celia is in hospital after another stroke. We have been to see her a couple of times, but thankfully the second visit was a much happier one than the first, where she seemed to be very distant, with very swollen legs. Daughter Theresa (the other one) is considering selling her house up in Manchester and coming to live nearer to her parents on the Island. Her children Tara and Jason have now left home and she lives in a modern 4 bedroomed house, so why not?

How is life on the equator, Nic. We are getting some good weather on the IOW, althought the rest of the country has had some flooding - Thankfully not forest fires as in Portugal. We send you all our love and hope to be writing again soon. Love from Mum and Dad

if only..

drums that fit into a herald and sound good too!

This works!

->broadband optimizer for mac as does this ->wow! speed up safari!

Hi ya kids

Photos off cameraphones are great ain't they.

loverly day

�

who's that

Bonchurch Sunday

IOW Boat Trip

Thomas and Cathy's birthday present comes Highly Recommended!

The MV Night Owl

Airport girls...

Here are the girls at Alicante after Jess and Beth got back from camp.

Sunday lunch...

We all had lunch with a few hundred other people yesterday, courtesey of Albir which is the town currently in fiesta mode. The paella was an inland version; rabbit, chicken and snails - it was superb! Washing up was a bit of a problem though....











First you cook




Then after serving, you scrub..(yes that is a floor polishing machine in there!)..









Then you rinse,








oil the pan...










and then finally put it away in your handy hidey hole.


In the evening we stayed up for a fantastic midnight firework display too. Two weeks ago it was all at Altea, last week it was fiesta time in La Nucia and this week it is Albir. It's a very loud month, is August. Great fun for most of us, though Amy Jo had her hands over her ears and her eyes tightly closed as the ash rained down and the thunder flashes shook the ground. She wouldn't listen to our "Ooohs" and "Aaaahs" nor give in to any of our encouragement. She acted more like a whipped dog. Amazingly she was nearly asleep by the end of it! She'll tell us she saw it all and enjoyed it when she gets up this morning. It's a world of make-believe for her at the minute!

Sunday lunch

Here we are at the best fish restaurant in Bonchurch. Some of us had lobster and some of us had mussels and some of us had prawns and some even had Bouillabaise! And we've hatched a plan to all meet up in the area of Carcasonne in the South of France in July 2006 next year for Cathy's fiftieth. Watch this space.

Flintoff as Half Back

Been keeping an eye on the cricket (keep it up lads) and noticed our footy boys are in need of a bit of talent. So why don't they recruit a Flintoff or two.

Peter, any chance of employing a bit of reverse swing tis season?

Love you all, keep blogging,,

Nic

Day 3

Day 3
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

taken with mobile phone under flourescent lights but even so some progress

peterpoppet and marimba mania...

The swell of nostalgia has been ploughed of an evening recently as we have taken to sitting up on our sofa bed and setting sail into a sea of old video footage recounting our years in Africa. The trigger was me taking my Christmas present out of its box - an Audio Digital Video Converter that I raved about many months ago. This is the first time I have had enough relaxed time on my hands to attempt some video capture and editing. Since we have been contemplating doing some hotel work on the marimbas as the Van Merrow-Smith Family Players(we have an agent friend who believes he can get us work!) I have taken Jan's school marimba band concerts as my first movie theme and have been busily capturing the images of her orchestra playing their little hearts out just to get us in the mood. What with the tenor and soprano marimba currently standing on our upstairs balcony taking up all the washing line space (and the children's attention) we have really been introducing the neighbours to this same theme! Fortunately next door to us lives a Rhodesian chap called Colin, with his English wife Carol. They are very down to earth and quite happy to hear African sounds from their living room. The other side is empty at the minute as Ingrid and Eugene only use their house for holidaying, as is the case with Anna and Carlos from Toledo who live opposite for occasional fortnight-long bursts. As I sit at the computer listening to the strains of 'Jambo bwana' being hammered out by out two oldest, I'm considering how to get the finished movie clips onto the blog. I'm sure that with Tiger there must be a way. Thanks for that Julian. I've downloaded Skype but as yet have not bought the headset that makes it more functional. You can Skype me at 'peterpoppet' but I have no idea how it works!! Steve, I cannot search you out on the Skype system, Dad neither. They don't seem to know you so I need your Skype names if I am to add you to my address list. I guess there's not much luck in Skyping Julian if he is in Saltzburg. Funny that...we've been watching quite a bit of the Sound of Music too!

Commission

I'm working in Pete and Fay's garage in Sussex on a version of a painting dominating Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.


jaun.jpg
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

work so far

Here's Rick talking about Phil Kelly

Thanks for your kind remarks Julian. I'm booked in to view Nic's place at The Baulk on Friday and then back to the Island to see Cath&Co.

Clement Dear Father...

Unlike the weather here in Salzburg. As the only way to get around here is cycling - lots of those special cycle routes along the swollen river - we are in a permanent state of dampness. Serves me right for asking for cooler weather.. I wished too hard and so while it's 30 degrees at home, it's only 10 degrees here. Ah well back home on Saturday.

Congrats Steve on the house, hope it sells quickly. That was a mountain of work you did. I've been working on Val's painting but it's taking forever. I will email her an update.

Sounds like a good decision to stay put Dad. It would be very stressful to make a move. I don't plan on moving again for a long while.

As you read on Ruth's blog Dad, it has all been a bit crazy with us, 18 hour trips to New York for concerts, 3 months in Saltzburg and elsewhere, and me working very hard, we are looking forward to September and a bit of time together at home... bring on the autumn. lots of love to all j

Ps. managed to follow the test's on Radio test match special.. the internet is great long live broadband... Pete should be on Skype soon BTW.

Second hand Rose

Before I looked to see who our contributor was, I started to read the article, wondering who to blame - my shortlist was Ruth, Pete or Will. Lo and behold it was Will and I spent a very interesting few minutes reading it and marvelling at it. Would that I could write like that. I sometimes read contributions in Saga magazine by Keith Waterhouse, who I used to imagine was at school with me in 1938 as there was a Keith Waterhouse in my class.. It later transpired that the a/mentioned was born in Leeds some 10 miles away, about the same time as I was, and probably never went to Thornes House Grammar School in Wakefield. Another of my favourite columnists is the ex M.P Freud, whose first name I cannot remember. Not Sigmund, not Anna. not Lucien -- there are over 7000 Freuds in the Google, which did not help much. So far as I am aware he never owned a 2nd hand book shop, but he could have done. He is or was a slow speaking lugubrious man with a beard. Mum, Mum, there is a man at the front door with a beard! Go back and tell him we don't want one as your dad already has one. (Old English joke) I loved the story 84 Charing Cross Road - about a second hand bookshop. I mentioned Pete among my guesses as he loved to go to Hay-on-Wye - renowned for its s.h.b.shops. Hay Ho what a lovely day Love to all fom Dad. ps I hope your car had not been damaged, Steve and that you got home safely.

George Orwell's "Bookshop Memories" - I could've written this

When I worked in a second-hand bookshop – so easily pictured, if you don’t work in one, as a kind of paradise where charming old gentlemen browse eternally among calf-bound folios – the thing that chiefly struck me was the rarity of really bookish people. Our shop had an exceptionally interesting stock, yet I doubt whether ten per cent of our customers knew a good book from a bad one. First edition snobs were much commoner than lovers of literature, but oriental students haggling over cheap textbooks were commoner still, and vague-minded women looking for birthday presents for their nephews were commonest of all.
Many of the people who came to us were of the kind who would be a nuisance anywhere but have special opportunities in a bookshop. For example, the dear old lady who ‘wants a book for an invalid’ (a very common demand, that), and the other dear old lady who read such a nice book in 1897 and wonders whether you can find her a copy. Unfortunately she doesn’t remember the title or the author’s name or what the book was about, but she does remember that it had a red cover. But apart from these there are two well-known types of pest by whom every second-hand bookshop is haunted. One is the decayed person smelling of old breadcrusts who comes every day, sometimes several times a day, and tries to sell you worthless books. The other is the person who orders large quantities of books for which he has not the smallest intention of paying. In our shop we sold nothing on credit, but we would put books aside, or order them if necessary, for people who arranged to fetch them away later. Scarcely half the people who ordered books from us ever came back. It used to puzzle me at first. What made them do it? They would come in and demand some rare and expensive book, would make us promise over and over again to keep it for them, and then would vanish never to return. But many of them, of course, were unmistakable paranoiacs. They used to talk in a grandiose manner about themselves and tell the most ingenious stories to explain how they had happened to come out of doors without any money –stories which, in many cases, I am sure they themselves believed. In a town like London there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets, and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops, because a bookshop is one of the few places where you can hang about for a long time without spending any money. In the end one gets to know these people almost at a glance. For all their big talk there is something moth-eaten and aimless about them. Very often, when we were dealing with an obvious paranoiac, we would put aside the books he asked for and then put them back on the shelves the moment he had gone. None of them, I noticed, ever attempted to take books away without paying for them; merely to order them was enough – it gave them, I suppose, the illusion that they were spending real money.
Like most second-hand bookshops we had various sidelines. We sold second-hand typewriters, for instance, and also stamps – used stamps, I mean. Stamp-collectors are a strange, silent, fish-like breed, of all ages, but only of the male sex; women, apparently, fail to see the peculiar charm of gumming bits of coloured paper into albums. We also sold sixpenny horoscopes compiled by somebody who claimed to have foretold the Japanese earthquake. They were in sealed envelopes and I never opened one of them myself, but the people who bought them often came back and told us how ‘true’ their horoscopes had been. (Doubtless any horoscope seems ‘true’ if it tells you that you are highly attractive to the opposite sex and your worst fault is generosity.) We did a good deal of business in children’s books, chiefly ‘remainders’. Modern books for children are rather horrible things, especially when you see them in the mass. Personally I would sooner give a child a copy of Petrenius Arbiter than Peter Pan, but even Barrie seems manly and wholesome compared with some of his later imitators. At Christmas time we spent a feverish ten days struggling with Christmas cards and calendars, which are tiresome things to sell but good business while the season lasts. It used to interest me to see the brutal cynicism with which Christian sentiment is exploited. The touts from the Christmas card firms used to come round with their catalogues as early as June. A phrase from one of their invoices sticks in my memory. It was: ‘2 doz. Infant Jesus with rabbits’.
But our principal sideline was a lending library – the usual ‘twopenny no-deposit’ library of five or six hundred volumes, all fiction. How the book thieves must love those libraries! It is the easiest crime in the world to borrow a book at one shop for twopence, remove the label and sell it at another shop for a shilling. Nevertheless booksellers generally find that it pays them better to have a certain number of books stolen (we used to lose about a dozen a month) than to frighten customers away by demanding a deposit.
Our shop stood exactly on the frontier between Hampstead and Camden Town, and we were frequented by all types from baronets to bus-conductors. Probably our library subscribers were a fair cross-section of London’s reading public. It is therefore worth noting that of all the authors in our library the one who ‘went out’ the best was – Priestley? Hemingway? Walpole? Wodehouse? No, Ethel M. Dell, with Warwick Deeping a good second and Jeffrey Farnol, I should say, third. Dell’s novels, of course, are read solely by women, but by women of all kinds and ages and not, as one might expect, merely by wistful spinsters and the fat wives of tobacconists. It is not true that men don’t read novels, but it is true that there are whole branches of fiction that they avoid. Roughly speaking, what one might call the average novel – the ordinary, good-bad, Galsworthy-and-water stuff which is the norm of the English novel – seems to exist only for women. Men read either the novels it is possible to respect, or detective stories. But their consumption of detective stories is terrific. One of our subscribers to my knowledge read four or five detective stories every week for over a year, besides others which he got from another library. What chiefly surprised me was that he never read the same book twice. Apparently the whole of that frightful torrent of trash (the pages read every year would, I calculated, cover nearly three quarters of an acre) was stored for ever in his memory. He took no notice of titles or author’s names, but he could tell by merely glancing into a book whether be had ‘had it already’. In a lending library you see people’s real tastes, not their pretended ones, and one thing that strikes you is how completely the ‘classical’ English novelists have dropped out of favour. It is simply useless to put Dickens, Thackeray, Jane Austen, Trollope, etc. into the ordinary lending library; nobody takes them out. At the mere sight of a nineteenth-century novel people say, ‘Oh, but that’s old!’ and shy away immediately. Yet it is always fairly easy to sell Dickens, just as it is always easy to sell Shakespeare. Dickens is one of those authors whom people are ‘always meaning to’ read, and, like the Bible, he is widely known at second hand. People know by hearsay that Bill Sikes was a burglar and that Mr Micawber had a bald head, just as they know by hearsay that Moses was found in a basket of bulrushes and saw the ‘back parts’ of the Lord. Another thing that is very noticeable is the growing unpopularity of American books. And another – the publishers get into a stew about this every two or three years – is the unpopularity of short stories. The kind of person who asks the librarian to choose a book for him nearly always starts by saying ‘I don’t want short stories’, or ‘I do not desire little stories’, as a German customer of ours used to put it. If you ask them why, they sometimes explain that it is too much fag to get used to a new set of characters with every story; they like to ‘get into’ a novel which demands no further thought after the first chapter. I believe, though, that the writers are more to blame here than the readers. Most modern short stories, English and American, are utterly lifeless and worthless, far more so than most novels. The short stories which are stories are popular enough, vide D. H. Lawrence, whose short stories are as popular as his novels.
Would I like to be a bookseller de métier? On the whole – in spite of my employer’s kindness to me, and some happy days I spent in the shop – no. Given a good pitch and the right amount of capital, any educated person ought to be able to make a small secure living out of a bookshop. Unless one goes in for ‘rare’ books it is not a difficult trade to learn, and you start at a great advantage if you know anything about the insides of books. (Most booksellers don’t. You can get their measure by having a look at the trade papers where they advertise their wants. If you don’t see an ad. for Boswell’s Decline and Fall you are pretty sure to see one for The Mill on the Floss by T. S. Eliot.) Also it is a humane trade which is not capable of being vulgarized beyond a certain point. The combines can never squeeze the small independent bookseller out of existence as they have squeezed the grocer and the milkman. But the hours of work are very long – I was only a part-time employee, but my employer put in a seventy-hour week, apart from constant expeditions out of hours to buy books – and it is an unhealthy life. As a rule a bookshop is horribly cold in winter, because if it is too warm the windows get misted over, and a bookseller lives on his windows. And books give off more and nastier dust than any other class of objects yet invented, and the top of a book is the place where every bluebottle prefers to die.
But the real reason why I should not like to be in the book trade for life is that while I was in it I lost my love of books. A bookseller has to tell lies about books, and that gives him a distaste for them; still worse is the fact that he is constantly dusting them and hauling them to and fro. There was a time when I really did love books – loved the sight and smell and feel of them, I mean, at least if they were fifty or more years old. Nothing pleased me quite so much as to buy a job lot of them for a shilling at a country auction. There is a peculiar flavour about the battered unexpected books you pick up in that kind of collection: minor eighteenth-century poets, out-of-date gazeteers, odd volumes of forgotten novels, bound numbers of ladies’ magazines of the sixties. For casual reading – in your bath, for instance, or late at night when you are too tired to go to bed, or in the odd quarter of an hour before lunch – there is nothing to touch a back number of the Girl’s Own Paper. But as soon as I went to work in the bookshop I stopped buying books. Seen in the mass, five or ten thousand at a time, books were boring and even slightly sickening. Nowadays I do buy one occasionally, but only if it is a book that I want to read and can’t borrow, and I never buy junk. The sweet smell of decaying paper appeals to me no longer. It is too closely associated in my mind with paranoiac customers and dead bluebottles.

‘Fortnightly’
November, 1936


THE END

love from Will

Bangerologists Unite!

The Bangerology site has moved.. for those of us trying to run a motor for nothing. BANG ON The rain has come down today after a fine start so we're googling for suitable cars for your average plastering/artist/odd-job man. Reg over the road from Dad has an old Disco(very) for sale which has provoked this posting.

Ta Da

Do you remember my saying that I have pruned the willow tree back to a mere stump, back in April? Well this is what it looks like now 13th August. Better than the plum tree eh? Pete.

Up Pompy!

Couldn't resist a phone snap of the new Island viewing platform. Grandad say's last week.. a one hundred year old lady went up :) we want to know if there are loos at the top of it first don't we..hmm

Last night of 'Big Brother'...thank goodness

and we want Eugene to win!

We're hoping to go abroad (Crete or whatever lastminute.com can offer us!) during the 2 weeks we have booked off work as well as popping down to the island. We're off from next Friday..who-ah. No definite dates as of yet but will let you know when we have something confirmed. Going to check for lates deals this weekend...

I bought the first 'No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' in Age Concern last month after watching an interview with the author on bbc news. He said that Sydney Pollack & Minghella were in partnerships to bring the books to the screen. They had several of the books in Oxfam on Cowley Rd but no t the firstone. Am building up my paperback collection for holiday reading on the beach.

lv Gem x

August update

Sorry about that - I composed a lovely long blog and in the middle of it I had to get some information from previous blogs so I saved my blog, hoping to get back to it but I failed and all that came out was the heading.
I will try to remember wot I rote.
Firstly we have decided not to sell the house and we have taken it off the market. We had so many people telling us that we were making a mistake, especially John and a solicitor friend of mine. Costs of Stamp duty; estate agents and solicitor's fees; removal costs; cost of selling things we could no longer use - furniture, nicknacks etc. ; in addition the monthly money we get from Northern Rock. We have made a lot of friends down here and we meet them fairly regularly for pub lunches, black tie do's, boules evenings etc. and Tina and Celia both live within a few minutes. The downside is the cost of the ferry so I have decided to buy a book of discounted ferry tickets, which we can use ourselves or pass over to prospective visitors.
Life here is so quiet and stress free and we love it so there you have it. I have promised Mum that we will visit the mainland at least monthly so that she can visit her friends in Chinnor, or wherever and we have always got room for family visitors if they wish to come. We can always help with ferry costs out of the money we will have saved by not paying the estate agent!!

We have been out and about during this past lovely sunny month - to Cowes to see the sailing and to keep in touch with what is going on. They are demolishing that block on the Parade with the railway trains exhibition right back to Bath Road where the ice cream shop was and building a massive block of flats. We also went into East Cowes where all those factory buildings near the ferry terminal have been demolished and the town's NEW PLAN is being built. New housing blocks are appearing out of the mist in Newport,- notably where the two garages were opposite each other in Fairlee - the Esso one stays but the National one has been replaced by a block of flats. The old bus station is going and being replaced by a shopping centre. There are also plans to re-site the Fire Station and that tyre place next to it. We have a new large Pizza Express opposite Dabells corner in Newport, but we have not yet been there. We went to Niton to that Fields Farm nursery and had a very nice lunch. Bought some plants,etc. It did not rain !! Cathy. We went out to dinner at the Royal Solent Yacht Club in Yarmouth and had a lovely evening. Mum heard from Gloria Minghella that Anthony has bought the rights to those No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books (based in Botswana) and is in the middle of writing the film script to the first one.
We have replaced our little pond with a small circular flower bed with the little lady holding the watering can in the centre. And we have re-sited our litttle fountain.
To family - we are looking forward to seeing Steve this weekend, after his mammoth re-decorating job in Woodford Green
- Perhaps he will be starting in Nicks cottage in Ivinghoe next. We'll see.
We learn through Ruth's blog (meanwhile somewhare in France) of Julian's offer - I haven't thought through the possible consequences yet, but no doubt the four of them will make their decision. We love the recent Postcards. You have painted some beautiful luscious fruits, Julian. The peaches, apples etc are wonderul. Would you like some photos of our Rouen pottery to add to your still lives - I'll get Steve to take some photos this weekend. Ruth is certainly moving about - when will she have a rest? After you have read this, I will let you rest until my next blog. Love to all Dad

Exhibition

Called in at Norman's for a little refreshment after popping into British Museum ostensibly to find Frank Brangwyn prints. Another unknown to me artist of the same period is having an exhibition there called David Milne who was in the Armory show with Van Gogh and all those guys in 1913. And the pub Gemma is still the same too so I felt the need to come in and let you know. Love Steve

William Morris Gallery

Now the pressure has eased slightly took some time to look at some local paintings in Walthamstow. Swans 1921 by Frank Brangwyn. So this too is an attempt to test the new mobile blog. How's everyone doing? Gemma in a hire car- I hear Thomas's birthday treat was breakfast in bed! All those crumbs:) love from Steve

Happy Birthdays in Wales..

Hope you had lovely birthdays Cath and Thomas...You are in our thoughts but life has been a bit frantic here lately what with a mercy mission overnight to Madrid to pick up the girls passports. They are safely in Wales at the Benllech camp.




Here are a couple of photos more. Our house appears to the left of the first photo. The dark looking arch to the right of the little arches on the left is our top floor balcony. It seems to have a white spec in the centre which must be the TV antenna from the house in front.

Tonight we had a walk down on Albir beach. Twenty six point eight it was and no mosquitoes. It's lovely here at this time of year with all the cafes and bars open and people eating into the night. Time for bed now though.

Love to all, Pete.

El Tossal

This is a view of the hillside on which our house can be found. We went for a walk down to the little Hermitage of Saint Vincent nearby today and took these pics of our location looking back inland.

Steve, you and Val seem to have made a great go of it. The house looks super. Do you want to do ours?

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Many happy returns Thomas from the Oxford gang. Hope you've had a great day. How cool to have your birthday in the school hols!

Dad - That house is gorgoeus!! And the estate agent profile sounds very enthusiastic...that property is a gift to an estate agent.

Well off to Devon tomorrow afternoon, as we're spending this weekend celebrating a friend's wedding. Looking forward to picking the hire car up tomorrow too. Bit of a new area for me..had to be done eventually! Fingers crossed for a sportly Clio!

G & G , we will look at the dates we can come down to IOW and let you know. Very jealous of your visit to the Spyglass...

lv Gem xxxx

same view.JPG

same view.JPG
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

same view but different

Slight Difference?

Originally uploaded by ezappy.

No dust.. or even a smear on that floor, which you could eat your dinner from off of..(family joke)

A brief respite

Champs.JPG
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Apologies for a seemingly extended 'radio' silence. We've been a bit busy.

Mill Lane all DONE!

Click for Details

Welcome online Pete

Nice to have you back with us. Yesterday, 2nd Cathy and family returned to Wales as they have a wedding to sttend and Thomas's birthday party (He is 12 tomorrow - 4th August) Both boys are growing up slim and handsome and we will be seeing them again on their return to IOW on about 19th Aug. Gem and Clive - no worries as we have plenty of room for you - let us know what date you will be coming to IOW. You may have to eat with an enlarged family. On Monday we all went down to Niton to a new cafe John has found, We left them to walk to Ventnor ? 3 or 4 miles along the Coastal Path, but as they left, the rains came down and by the time we met them in Ventnor they were well and truly soaked. We stayed for a drink at the Spyglass and luckily we had some spare jumpers etc in the car. Undaunted they spent an hour or so digging in the sand before returning home to Mum's dinner. Next morning they were up with the squirrels and left at 11 o'clock to catch the 11.30 from East Cowes.
Welcome back, Pete and we hope the girls have arrived safely in Benllech. I spent all August on Anglesey in 1943 (aged 16) as my Uncle Jack lived there in Llansadwrn, with wife and family of 9 children as he was doing secret war work in Beaumaris.
Two cousins Roy and Reg were about my age and we had a super boys holiday. I hope the girls enjoy their stay. Lovely views of Snowdon.