Happy ending

You must be joking. Just had the most aggressive massage known to man, by a man. If that does not unknot me, nothing will.

Last day in Penang today then red eye flight to Hong Kong tomorrow. England playing South Africa tomorrow night but we will give that session a miss and embrace the group stages on Saturday.

Always a few sights to see, shopping and beer, so a full on four days in store. No partying with Jonah Lomu or Chris Sheasby for SWMBO this year but I am sure she will find plenty else to do.

Oh yes I did.....

Spot on, it's panto season so off we went to see Dick Whittington at the Empire in Liverpool. No real stars. A girl from Eastenders who is currently in Still Open all Hours,  and a chap from Emmerdale together with Pete Price a local Liverpool DJ who must nearly be a Nonagenerian himself.

The dame was very good as was Dick's cat Tom. The whole production though was greater than the sum of it's parts, a really good afternoon out. There were lots of Dick jokes for the adults, and a 3D screen to scare the kids. All in all very good value of money.

We went with number one granddaughter and her mate and they seemed to have a good time too, and did not cost us much for drinks, sweets and ice creams. The theatre was pushing 'Pie Face', a cult game at the moment, and seemed to be doing a good trade. Maybe the board game is making a comeback?

Today we saw two friends who were over from Hong Kong on family business so we did a bit of research for our Sevens trip in early April, then it was take the decci's down time. That's all done now and the house looks a tad sparse. There may well be demand for a set of 'not Christmas' decorations to use from January to November for a bit of sparkle. That may be a bit chav though on reflection!

My jury service starts tomorrow and I will be blogging what I am allowed to as the weeks progress, although with a barrister and solicitor in the family I can see me being dumped on several occasions as not being suitable jury material. I have my black handkerchief ready as needed though.

One more sleep....

I thought I might do a 'round robin' this year just to boost my blog numbers. My efforts to exceed last year have failed, and my target of 50 or so has been woefully missed. Hey ho, will try to do better next year.

So lets start almost a year ago, when I made a New Years resolution, and I am pleased to say I have kept it for 12 months, and shall be extending it into 2014. The resolution was quite simply to buy no new clothes except for socks and underwear. I have masses of NWT polo shirts in my cupboard, trousers and jackets that barely see the light of day, enough jumpers to knit a sheep and coats, scarves, windcheaters and waterproof clothing, that I need for nothing in the wardrobe department.

During the year we have been blessed with two new additions, GC3 and GC4, aka Archie Beet and Nell Harris, and both are progressing well. Nell is three weeks old now and Archie is fast approaching the crawling stage. GC1 will soon be bossing them around, and I now communicate with GC2 in London, by Skype. Technology eh!

It was good to have GC2 and her parents visit us a couple of times this year and she is now beginning to know who we are and where we fit in. She has also visited her Great Grandmother Joan  who lives up the road in Hoylake, and GGJ will be joining us for the turkey tomorrow, one of 17 adults and budding adults around the table.

Holidays have been sparse this year. The two week trip to Mexico was a disaster as SWMBO broke the elbow joint and six months down the line is still in considerable pain  with no end to it in sight. I had a few days with the rugby chums, London branch, in Norfolk during October which was a blast.
Maxine did her family holiday in Tunisia in August, and we had a long weekend with her sister in Hong Kong where we saw the British Lions play the Barbarians.

We also visited Turkey for a week in February, just as the season was opening up.

Number one son did the London to Monte Carlo bike ride in the Summer, which included mountain stages of the Tour d'France. Number two son has been made head of history at his school, but has still to embrace life outside Hill House, despite me turning the heating off on his floor,  Might try putting his rent up next year.

I have been busy with extra curricula activities as much as I am able. Woodwork classes, Photoshop tutorials and Pilates have all been and gone during 2013, and I have stopped my piano lessons as I really was not on the same wave-length as the teacher I was allocated, so I will have to find a new one for 2014. I am also hoping to join a magic class in January.

With all this time on my hands you would expect the garden to be a picture, whereas in fact it has been a period of stability as most of my efforts went into completing my shed. This is now done, and together with my new book shelves and wine rack it shows me I have some DIY skills which I have been able to use productively and not just to fix fences.

My golf has improved  although my handicap remains 16, so it would be good to knock a few shots off that next year, and get my name on a trophy if I can.

SWMBO is nearly nine months into her sabbatical now, and she may well start to look for some part time work in 2014, we shall see. She continues to support Bridge to Aid and hopes to go back to Tanzania in October.

We also have a two week holiday in Turkey with 'the mad crew' to look forward to in May, I have a stag weekend in Lisbon in July, and we hope to get to the Dominican Republic in September. Add to that the fact that we are seeing in the New Year at Slaley Hall in Northumberland and 2014 already has a good feel to it.

So a Merry Chriustmas and a happy new Year to all my readers, and may 2014 give you everything you wish of it......Ho! ho! ho!

Hong Kong Fui

Just back from a long weekend in Hong Kong, to watch the Barbarians v The British and Irish Lions in their curtain raiser to the tour of Australia.

It might seem a long way to go for a rugby match, but I had never seen the Lions, and we went with my sister-in-law and her husband, David and Michelle, who lived there in the late 90's. David was in the Army at that time, and was last one out switch the lights off when the former British territory was handed over to the Chinese.

The temperature for the game was about 32 degrees with humidity at 96% so it was pretty hard going for the two teams. The HK rugby authorities did a good job with the hospitality and match presentation , so all the spectators had a good time. Many were there just for the one off, including a group from the Gurkha regiment in Brunei, this lass from Wales, though was in it for the long hall.


Hong Kong are building a new stadium now on the site of the old airport at Kai Tak which will have air conditioning under its retractable roof, so that could see the Lions doing more one-off games in the future.

The attraction to Westerners of Hong Kong has often been the shopping opportunities in Stanley market and other places, rummaging for end of run and sample products from designer brands which use China for their product production. Sadly this aspect of island life would appear to be diminishing as the work moves to mainland China, so if we go again, we may have to travel to Shenzhen to do our shopping.

Other than that, there were opportunities to dine at a 31st floor Australian steak restaurant, and subsequently drink on their rooftop terrace, Fat Angelo's Italian has turned into a Pizza Hut type chain so that was a bit disappointing, but the usual array for Chinese and Thai outlets more than made up for that one blip.

So all in all a great few days, now its back to shed building.

'I can see your house from here'

Talk about having ones head in the clouds! Last night I joined a few colleagues in Manchester at the sky bar in the Deansgate Hilton. The bar is on the 23rd floor of the Bechtel tower and for some reason we got out of the lift and turned right into the executive section. Everything was free, as well as the view.

You could not quite see Liverpool but I bet it was not by much.The hostess let us into the plebs bit so we could do the 360 degree vista thing, and although it was a pay bar, a view is a view.....the eye candy was definitely better though, as was the selection of ales. Definitely a place to try another night.

Now it got me thinking then about a few sky bars I have visited previously. The Empire State and the World Trade centre certainly had the views, but sadly no bar, and I remember a bar in San Fransisco at the top of a financial institution which was pretty spectacular. Plymouth has a good bar on the top of the Holiday Inn on the Hoe, which has great views over Plymouth Sound.

I also once went to the Top of the Tower restaurant in the old BT Tower in London prior to the IRA blowing it up. The restaurant subsequently shut. Unfortunately we went when the miners strike was on in the early seventies, so London was pretty much blacked out!! The Peak restaurant in Hong Kong was also pretty spectacular although I think HK looks better from the sea than from above.

Final place of note was an Indian restaurant in New York which looked over Central Park but much like London in the blackout, there is not much to see in Central Park at night!! So, for the moment I think the Manchester Hilton takes the biscuit. After all you can actually look down on Granada Studios and the set of Coronation Street!!