What a wonderful day it was on the Wirral today, and I was fortunate to have the chance to play golf with Eric Hirst and Simon Birtles. Eric is the oldest ex-captain of Wallasey still playing golf at the age of 82, and knocks it round off a respectable 19 handicap. His job these last few days has been to manage the whole community of ex-captains in their selection of the new Captain for 2015. This will be announced this evening after which the new incumbent will be in the bar to buy drinks. It's not a cheap experience being golf club captain and this is just the start of a year of lunches, speeches and copious drinking sessions. It needs a man with a strong constitution to cope.
Simon has just returned from five weeks in New Zealand where he visited all four corners of the Country. It was sad to hear of the sorry state in which Christchurch remains. Shops are trading out of portacabins, no progress has been made to either rebuild or demolish the cathedral which was extremely badly damaged during the earthquake almost four years ago, although there is a pop-up cathedral which has temporarily taken its place. People are moving away and it is in danger of being a shadow of its former self. Simon, however, seems to have had a great time, sunbathing in the North island and skiing in the South. Quite a contrast really.
Yesterday I took to the shed. This is the original shed, not the one I built in 2013. I have installed solar powered lighting which seems to be working well, and cleared a large number of unwanted storage jar which I was keeping 'just in case'. I can now see the work bench and most of the floor, so just need a rainy day when I can go through my screw tin which contains all shapes and sizes, and grade them for use as and when needed. I use hair gel containers for this, but now number two son has moved out, that source is harder to come by.
I am not over keen on this dry January fad to be honest, but I am trying to drink healthy home made juices at the moment as we had a new juicer as a present for Christmas. The orange and ginger shot first thing in the morning is a definite wake up call. This is all part of the pre-holiday tone up programme aimed at trying to return home in March, roughly the same weight as we were on 1st January. Time will tell.
So the year is up and running, no new years resolutions as such this time, just a good and content time surrounded by friends and family. Here's hoping.
Showing posts with label christchurch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christchurch. Show all posts
Monday, 5 January 2015
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Singing in the Rain
SWMBO and I spent New Year away this year, combining my middle god daughters 21st birthday with a chance to escape home life. We had eighteen for Christmas dinner and then 40 odd on Boxing Day as well as Emma's 30th on 23rd Dec. Two big do's back to back will not be repeated.
Anyway, we spent six hours on various parts of the English motorway system, stopping only for petrol and a coffee, trying to get to the 21st birthday. We left Scouseland at 10:00 expecting to be there for lunch, but arrived so late that that was all finished. The motorways in England are a bit like EasyJet, great when they work but the worst of the worst when there is even the slightest problem. The invitation did, however, motivate me to book a New Year's break. The challenge was where to go, as we had never done this sort of thing before.
The first thoughts take one back to tried and trusted locations. The Manor House on Dartmoor , now called Bovey Hall, has a wonderful golf course, and as well as laying on cookery demonstrations, there was ferret racing, organised walks and cream tea's. The price for two nights over New Year was over £2500 so I gave that one a miss. Moving closer to the party location, the New Forest had a certain appeal, so I tried the Lyndhurst Park hotel which I used to use when I was running education classes for IBM in the late 70's and early 80's. The girl on the switchboard was a bit slow and did not really do a good job of selling their gala dinner to me, so it was down to random hits on the internet.
The Christchurch Harbour Hotel won the vote, so tired and hungry we arrived in Mudeford to enjoy four days of unbridled pampering.
The first day we went to Highcliffe to blow away the cobwebs, then hit a Thai restaurant in the local pub. It was quiz night, but no drag queens in sight on this occasion. Next day we went to Burley and surprised ourselves by buying a walking guide and yomping through the New Forest for most of the day. This will shock our walking friends, although they will be reassured by the fact SWMBO had on a full length camel coat and I was in my pea coat!! You can't beat spontaneity
Joy of joys on the way back as we stumbled upon a Fuller's pub not too far from the hotel so a couple of pints of Pride were consumed in no time!
Our final outing was to Poole harbour and Sandbanks. Poole harbour has a most interesting and concentrated array of pub's as well as being home to the SunSeeker motor cruiser industry. Sandbanks is one of the most expensive areas of real estate in the Country. Not sure why exactly as very few properties have much land, and there must be equally impressive sea views elsewhere.
New Year's Eve was very pleasant. 140 people sat down for a black tie event which was relaxed and entertaining all at the same time. We may well do it again.
Anyway, we spent six hours on various parts of the English motorway system, stopping only for petrol and a coffee, trying to get to the 21st birthday. We left Scouseland at 10:00 expecting to be there for lunch, but arrived so late that that was all finished. The motorways in England are a bit like EasyJet, great when they work but the worst of the worst when there is even the slightest problem. The invitation did, however, motivate me to book a New Year's break. The challenge was where to go, as we had never done this sort of thing before.
The first thoughts take one back to tried and trusted locations. The Manor House on Dartmoor , now called Bovey Hall, has a wonderful golf course, and as well as laying on cookery demonstrations, there was ferret racing, organised walks and cream tea's. The price for two nights over New Year was over £2500 so I gave that one a miss. Moving closer to the party location, the New Forest had a certain appeal, so I tried the Lyndhurst Park hotel which I used to use when I was running education classes for IBM in the late 70's and early 80's. The girl on the switchboard was a bit slow and did not really do a good job of selling their gala dinner to me, so it was down to random hits on the internet.
The Christchurch Harbour Hotel won the vote, so tired and hungry we arrived in Mudeford to enjoy four days of unbridled pampering.
The first day we went to Highcliffe to blow away the cobwebs, then hit a Thai restaurant in the local pub. It was quiz night, but no drag queens in sight on this occasion. Next day we went to Burley and surprised ourselves by buying a walking guide and yomping through the New Forest for most of the day. This will shock our walking friends, although they will be reassured by the fact SWMBO had on a full length camel coat and I was in my pea coat!! You can't beat spontaneity
Joy of joys on the way back as we stumbled upon a Fuller's pub not too far from the hotel so a couple of pints of Pride were consumed in no time!
Our final outing was to Poole harbour and Sandbanks. Poole harbour has a most interesting and concentrated array of pub's as well as being home to the SunSeeker motor cruiser industry. Sandbanks is one of the most expensive areas of real estate in the Country. Not sure why exactly as very few properties have much land, and there must be equally impressive sea views elsewhere.
New Year's Eve was very pleasant. 140 people sat down for a black tie event which was relaxed and entertaining all at the same time. We may well do it again.
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