Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Anderwood BBQ

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Thanks 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!

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Moving experience

Friday, July 10th, 2009

On 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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Run the Pubs (and Car Parks)

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

As regular readers may remember, around Xmas each year the Tuesday night runners do a run that takes in all of the pubs that we have visited during the year. This, it seems, was not enough of a challenge for Neil and he proposed that we should run not only all of the pubs, but also all of the car parks that we visit. This is particularly significant when it comes to our runs from Wilverley where we usual drink at Bank afterwards. As if this still wasn’t enough, Neil wanted to make it a round trip rather than the usual linear route. And, although to be fair he wouldn’t have known this at the time, he wanted to do it on a day when the temperature was in the mid 20s.

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Let’s go fly a kite

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

768This afternoon we headed over to Lordshill Sports Ground for the Southampton Kite Festival for no particular reason other than it’s free and was something to do. The displays of kite flying were a little lack lustre despite the best efforts of the commentator but they were at the mercy of a pretty poor breeze. Emma enjoyed the colourful collection of flags and pendants that were up for sale. We successfully managed to steer her clear of the fairground rides but did pay the £1.50 to make and decorate our own small kite. We’ll have to give this a proper try when the wind is a bit more cooperative!

Cranbury Open Day

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

765We were looking for something to do today when I remembered seeing an advert for the National Gardens Scheme open day at Cranbury Park. Cranbury is a private estate on the northern edge of Chandler’s Ford and despite living here over 10 years now I’ve never ventured in to the grounds. We cycled over and, despite arriving only 10 minutes after the opening time, the grounds were already busy. Seemingly you have to arrive early if you want to get a good bargain from the plant stall!

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Needles Half

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

759We headed over to the Isle of Wight today for the Needles Cross-Country Marathon (although I was only running the half). Our gamble of getting the 8:45 ferry seemed to pay off and we arrived in reasonable time for the 10:00 start from the West Wight Sports Centre. There was a good turnout (around 300 for both events) with a fair sprinkling of Tuesday night runners present (myself, Neil, Darren, Roderick, Sue and Jane).

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Two Today

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

756It seems hard to believe but Emma is two today. She usually goes in to nursery on a Tuesday and as they do a good birthday celebration we thought it would be a shame if she didn’t go in. (She also came home with a good haul of presents from the nursery!) Christine had made two cakes – one for home and another for nursery which is probably just as well as it meant I could practice my decorating skills on ours before doing the one for nursery. Present opening had to wait until I got home from work (as we feared we’d never get Emma off to nursery if we started on them in the morning). Emma has certainly got the hang of tearing off the paper but there were really too many new things for her to concentrate on one for very long. More photos on Flickr.

Dancers and adders

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

753Today’s trip out was to the New Forest. After fighting our way through the hoards heading towards the beach we parked at the Reptile Centre and then walked to the New Forest Inn at Emery Down where we had lunch. Here we came across a group of Morris Dancers who thankfully seemed more interested in eating and drinking than dancing. We didn’t miss out entirely though as the merriment began just before we made our move to leave. We therefore headed off in the direction of the Portugese Fireplace to the strains of the recorder. From there we crossed to Knightwood Oak and then back to the Reptile Centre. Perhaps as a result of the additional sunshine I was able to improve on my Tuesday night count by spotting two adders, some natterjack toads and a green frog. Perhaps more interesting though was the webcam of the goshawk nest.