4x4x4

Glad you had such a good time, Steve. Did Will have a go?? My Henry is a 4x4x4!!
Had a lovely time in Tring last Friday. Stayed the night in the Pendley Manor Hotel. fabulous B&B. I could get very accustomed to the life in a five star hotel. I am flying to Nimes on 6th Oct to see J&R, back a week later, Love to all DAD

Don't try this at home...

...that's you I'm talking to dad

things you can do on a mobility scooter

TangoUniformYankeeAirborne

A grand day out at RAF Abingdon now called Dalton Barracks; sunny skies and a ticket for some off road driving in my hand.



TangoUniformYankeeAirborne
Originally uploaded by ezappy
Woow these guys are serious .. oh it's me and Will
Thanks to Dudleydo

And Wills vid of our first bunker

Think this is a power washer job!

Movie Tip

Hi Grandad,

Have a lovely time. If you do go to the pictures, me and C recommend 'Tamara Drewe', as its good for laughs, and has a certain Gemma in it (Arterton).

love G xx

Out for the weekend

Dear Family,
I will be going to a dinner do at the Pendley Manor Hotel in Tring on Friday. I will drive to Tring but because it is a full evening I have decided to stay the night in the hotel. I am sure you will all agree. I need not hurry back on Saturday as I might go to the multi-screen cinema, in Aylesbury. Depends on how I feel!! I am going on my own but I know lots of people from the Aylesbury Cats, as I was there last week. Love to all. I am off to Brackley today for a regular blood test and my quarterly pro injection. Dad.

William Cobbett

The pub that Grandad mentioned was the 'William Cobbett'. This got Clive's brain ticking as he was sure he had come across this name during his research for the dictionary (a periodical called 'Cobbetts Politcal Register'). Turns out it was so as WC was a famous pamphleteer, and the pub was where he was born. Not sure how WC would feel about the cheeky postcards behind the bar, or the money pressed into the stone floor.

G xx

Another reunion.. this one the Playschool Presenters

In the final programme of the latest BBC Radio 4 series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites people involved with classic children's TV programme Play School Brian Cant is 77 and Floella is a Dame!, which ran from 1964 to 1988.

Devised by Joy Whitby, former producer of the Listen with Mother slot on BBC Radio, the programme was a direct response to concerns about the perceived poor standard of British pre-school education.

Play School was ground-breaking in more ways than one as it accidentally became the first programme to be shown on BBC 2 after a power cut halted the opening night's programming.

Its enthusiastic presenters came from diverse backgrounds and became household names with the iconic three shaped windows, clock and toys to form an integral part of many early childhoods.

Sue is joined around the table by Joy Whitby, presenters Floella Benjamin, Brian Cant, who also fronted spin-off series Play Away, and Toni Arthur and musical director/pianist Jonathan Cohen.

The programme also features contributions from Johnny Ball and Play School historian Paul R. Jackson.

Producer: Chris Green A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

A LOVELY DAY

We were all meeting in Farnham, Surrey to attend a Band Concert given by the RASC/RCT Musicians Association Band, comprising ex-Army Members of the Corps bands of these fine army regiments, of which Steve is a member. His Regiment was the Royal Corps of Transport and you will all know that he was a percussionist, playing all types of percussion instruments. The RCT has been re-named the Royal Logistics Corps.
William picked me up in his car from K/S at 10 am and we headed for Farnham, via a route to avoid. (as we thought) any very busy bottlenecks like Motorway holdups. Our first bottleneck was only a few miles away, The Country Fair in Chipping Norton. If you remember after the St Giles' fair in Oxford small fairs travel out into the country like Haddenham, Princes Risborough, Abingdon. etc but we didn't count on Chippy. So, unable to negotiate through the town, we retraced our steps and drove towards Woodstock, to connect with the A34 from Oxford to Newbury.
We were supposed to meet Gem and Clive in the Chievely MSA at the M4 and A34 junction, but Will could not get a mobile phone connection, so we continued through Newbury on the A339 and before long we met bottleneck 2 as there was a major road accident with ambulances, police, helicopter,etc which there was no way of passing, so we re-routed through Basingstoke, then along the A 30 and so to Farnham. We eventually reached our goal, which was in The Maltings hall; parked the car and searched for the nearest pub where we met Gem and Clive. As luck would have it we also met Fay and husband Pete and we all went into the Hall and found 6 very good seats in the centre of the hall and only five rows back. The concert started with a drum corps of the local Royal British Legion, all uniformed in splendid gear with Royal Marine type white helmets, giving us a foretaste of what was to come from the Association Band. After they had marched from the Hall, the concert began with a selection of popular and military numbers, including Suppe's Light cavalry, exerpts from Dvorak's American Symphony, called 'Coming Home'. beautifully sung by the daughter of one of the bandsmen. Many more musical numbers, including a bit of fooling about by two expert trombonists, playing 'The Acrobat' which raised the roof; One of the big numbers which included a variety of percussive sounds from Steve, was Pirates of the Caribbian, which was well appreciated. Some of the musicians had traveled great distances. One from Scotland and another from Germany. They were a happy crowd of friends who kept their friendships from previous occasions and from regular rehearsals and concerts like this one. Of course we were all treated to Land of Hope and Glory, admirably sung by the soprano lady. The concert was greatly enjoyed by us and by all the audience in the Hall.
By now we were ready for something to eat and after finding car parking spaces on a busy Saturday evening we met in the town at a Pizza Hut and we were able to satisfy our needs for us to eat and drink at the restaurant. Time for us all to leave and after a fast run from Farnham to K/s I was able to turn in having had a very enjoyable day, thanks to Will for driving me to Farnham and Steve for returning me safely home

When you go for a mooch about and find paradise..

7 foot Dahlias
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

And only 325 years ago, someone had the vision to plant a pear tree on a pigeon house wall, and a fig and a cherry

Aprés Mon Oncle C'est..

"The Illusionist" is a story about two paths that cross. An outdated, aging magician, forced to wander from country to country, city to city and station to station in search of a stage to perform his act meets a young girl at the start of her life?s journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn't know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing -- not even magic or the power of illusion -- can stop the voyage of discovery.

Last weekend in September.. note in diary!

Abingdon Airfield 4x4 weekend

Folk Revival...

Son and Father

It was Saturday and it was early morning, I had just got out of bed when the phone rang and it was Steve. It was 0700
Got up, got outa bed put a combe across my head, went into the shower and had a sluice, then to the fridge and I drank some juice. Oh Oh Oh Oh! Got dressed and and waited for Steve. Where are we going says I, up north to Chesterfield. Got into the landie and set off towards Southam, the weather was fine but the clouds were threatening. After an hour I realised that I had forgotten an important function and Steve pulled into a caff he knew near Nuneaton. Twas whilst we were drinking our coffee and eating our bacon semmidge that the threatened rain arrived and we got soaked getting back into the landie. Our feet were wet our hair was wet and we were yes wet all over. We continued up north towards Rugby, crossing the Trent on our way to go for a Burton. Next landmark was Derby, and the sun came out, having skirted Leicester as we once got caught in a deluge while visiting Uncle Horace. Which way to go Matlock, Where we, as a family went years ago or Buxton, where Mum and I had a wonderful B&B in a lovely old fashioned house. As we were heading eventually to a place near Chesterfield (the town with the crooked church spire) Matlock won and we duly aimed towards that lovely town past the Heights of Abraham, where there is an aerial railway up to the top, although we didn't see it. The town was full of motorbikes as it was forty years ago and retraced our steps, through Chesterfield and got caught up in the one-way system, until we burst through and eventually approached Matlock from the north and pulled in to a car park by the river Derwent, in Matlock Bath, where we were given a part used car parking ticket so we stayed and had some fish and chips, Steve had Mushy peas and I had curry sauce. Yummee. The call of Burton bitter was too strong and we had a swift arf in a pub and collected the landie from the car park. Steve knew his way home from there and we duly crossed the border into Warwickshire and eventually Oxfordshire and then to Banbury. A five minute stop in Sainsburys for the obvious and we were home and dry, having spent a lovely day in one of the nicest areas in the Country (the Derbyshire Dales). Dad

JUNE'S VISIT

June, Rebecca and Alan, brought cousin Ray to K/B on a bright sunny day, although they had to battle through storms to get here. Sadly no Ruth as she was otherwise committed.
We went to the Butchers Arms (under new management) where we spent a convivial couple of hours in the pub, chatting,before returning to No31 for a photo-shoot.
It was lovely to see them all and I was sad to see them depart. Both June and Rebecca were their usual ebullient selves, Which was Nice. Love from Dad

Mini Landies

Dad, Facebook won't let me post this pic on your page so here it is. These kids came towards us driving mini electric Landies. The landies were a bit bashed up though so the kids like playing bumper dodgems!

A birthday in Pembrokeshire

Well what a lovely weekend we had. It was so nice a long weekend felt like we'd been there a week, and that's not just the change of pace but it helped. After arriving Friday afternoon and trip was 3.5 hrs from Wantage so pretty good inc first drive across the (second) Severn bridge. On Saturday (Clive's birthday), drove down to Saundersfoot on Fay and Pete's recommendation for quick snack of chips on the front and a mooch round the craft fair. Then onto Tenby for a stroll round the harbour, up to the castle and up the charming streets to a pub for a seafood lunch of calamare. There was a wedding reception being held on the harbour at the yachting club, and we spied a gorgeous little chapel where the bride and groom must have got hitched. There was quite a crowd waiting to see them come out.

We then headed down the coast to Barafundle Bay, which the guide book recommended as its managed by the National Trust and worth a look. And it didn't disappoint (the next day we were told that the beach was used as a location for a Bounty bar advert!). After a windy drive down narrow lanes, we arrived at the car park and then took the path across the top of the cliffs and down to the beach. After a paddle, we headed home via Pembroke.

We stayed at Bluestone which is a newish eco-village situated on the edge of the national park. We were surrounded by lush countryside, and ventured out along the trails for a good walk. No cars are allowed on site so its quiet and you can hire golf buggies if you don't fancy the walks. After an afternoon in the spa for the birthday boy, that evening we were treated to a firework display out at the lake.

Packed up Monday morning and drove through the lashing rain, stopping off at a dry warm Cardiff for bit of lunch. We will be back this way, and if the lottery came up we'd definitely jack the jobs in and get a home out this way.

Clive thanks everyone who sent kind birthday wishes xx

love Gem

June's Visit to K/Sutton

Because Ruth wants to join June for the Visit and cannot make the Monday, the day has been altered to the TUESDAY. The offer to join the party is still open to anyone who would like to come on Tuesday to 31, Arundel Close K/Sutton on 7th September.

Happy Birthday Clive

I hope you had a good time last weekend in lovely Pembrokeshire,what plans for today!!

June is coming to see me on Monday

Rebecca and Alan are bringing June to K/S on Monday and bringing my Aussie cousin Ray, We will probably go out to lunch in the village, so there is an open invitation to any family to join us. Dad.

And some shots of Hawaii which I must say was very nice at night and a bit like being in an Elvis Presley film during the day (especially Honolulu Airport!)

And last but not least the true heros

Here's some more of the trip!

Here's an update of activities over the last few months as we have been really busy.

Last event was a trip to Hawaii for Claire with me as the guardian, well done Claire and although she found the competition really tough going, we learnt alot and enjoyed ourselves. The others you see in the pictures are our National Pokemon Masters Champion, Darren (with T shirt and glasses) Shawn (who's luggage never arrived, he's the tall fellow), our Pokemon Professor, (usually in a white coat) Ujin who we have to thank for the invites and a mysterious looking Jit Min, another of our accomplished Masters Players. You can check on the competition report by searching for Claire Merrow-Smith or visit our local pokemon gym website (Team Robo). All better than a week at work or school.