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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
Test Success
Thursday, September 24th, 2009Escape to Chilworth
Saturday, August 29th, 2009Partly in preparation for the impending birth, and partly to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary next week, we left Emma in the hands of her grandparents last night and decamped to a nearby hotel. Chilworth Manor is not the most luxurious of places (it used to be the University’s conference venue) but it served our purpose and the new leisure facilities provided for a very nice swim in the morning. We did, however, make the mistake of walking to the nearby Chilworth Arms for dinner. The walk itself was fine – we even stumbled in to the Chilworth Conservation Area whilst strolling around the grounds of the manor. The service once there was pretty poor: we were given someone else’s starter, the table next to us were brought the bill when they hadn’t asked for it, and the man on the table behind had asked whether a sauce was gluten free when ordering but it was brought to the table without anyone having checked. The food was also pretty variable. The “rustic bread” starter tasted pretty foul and had been drowned in olive oil. Christine enjoyed her salmon but my chicken, mushroom and leek pie mysteriously came with no pastry or other topping. Even the waiter commented that he thought this a little odd for a pie. As with our last visit a few years ago when Christine received a burnt starter, we didn’t pay for the entire meal as Christine found a piece of broken plastic container in her dessert. I think it’ll be a while before we eat there again…
Wilson Christening
Monday, August 17th, 2009We headed up to Lancashire this weekend just gone for the christening of Christine’s cousin Cath’s son: Daniel Wilson. We stopped off in the Midlands on the way up (must remember that the “South” in “Warwick South Services” refers to the direction of the carriageway, not the location!) and completed the journey on Saturday morning. I had unfortunately been looking at the weather forecast for the south of England and hence wasn’t quite prepared for the downpour we experienced whilst out for a short walk with Steve’s family. We stayed the Saturday night at Cath’s parents before finding our way to the venue for the Christening: St James the Less in Rawtenstall. The priest delighted in telling us how short the ceremony was and then proceeded to regail us with a detailed history of the church to compensate. Daniel didn’t seem too put out about being dressed in a white frock and only resorted to tears when inverted over the font. It was good to seem so many of his family and just a shame that we had to disappear off early to start the long trek back down south.
West Key
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009I had a phone call from Christine this morning saying that she’d driven in to Southampton with Emma and when she got back from the parking meter she no longer had the car key. I cycled home, picked up the spare key, cycled to the station and took the train in to Southampton. Needless to say, just as I arrived Christine had been contacted by security in the retail park to say that a key had been handed in at the information desk in West Quay itself. Emma seemed to enjoy all of this fun and games but then she came out of it all with a new pair of shoes (now size 7) and a Fifi and the Flowertots potty (which seemed to do the trick when we got home!).
Party time
Saturday, July 25th, 2009Cycle taxi
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009Christine was attending a graduation ceremony today so I agreed to collect Emma from nursery. Christine is now taking the car in to work so this meant transporting Emma on the back of my bike. This seemed like a good idea at the time but sadly the weather forecast was as reliable as usual and, rather than rain arriving in the evening, it had been tipping it down all afternoon. It’s now about 10 minutes cycling home and then about 15 minutes each way to the nursery (faster on the way there, slower when carrying Emma!). The rain eased off as I arrived at the nursery but we didn’t make it home before another shower came through. Emma seemed to enjoy it but I was more than happy not to head out in the rain again for a run.
Anderwood BBQ
Saturday, July 11th, 2009Thanks to Sam Massey for organising a good evening’s entertainment yesterday for SOC. Unfortunately there was a heavy downpour as we approached Anderwood which soaked the BBQ area but the weather then improved. Sam had put on a 45 minute score event with a handicap scheme that meant that the old/young had to get less controls. Sadly that meant I had to try and get all 20. In winter it may have been achievable but the head high bracken (which was also soaking wet in to the bargain) proved too much of an impediment and I only managed 19. The handicapping worked well with lots of different ages getting an adjusted 18-20 controls. Tamsin Moran was the winner having got her 14 controls with time to spare. The subsequent BBQ also went well although it was a shame there weren’t more members present. I dread to think quite how many sausages Emma ate!
Moving experience
Friday, July 10th, 2009On Wednesday we finally moved house! There were only 3 properties and 4 parties involved, none of whom were being particularly obstructive, but it took an age to reach completion. I don’t think there was any point where I considered that it would all fall through but I did sometimes wonder whether we’d ever reach the end!
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