Kingfisher

We have been hugely busy these last two weeks so some catchup blogging is in order. Our first trip was divided into two parts. SWMBO dived down to London to meet some friends and then stay over with sister Michelle, then I drove down to Swindon to pick her up and transport her on to 'off the record' Dick and Gill's new place in Nether Wallop, or one of the other Wallops!!

They have got a lovely house which is in two parts. The old cottage is thatched and a 'mind the beam' kind of place onto which is built a new home by way of an extension. This part looks down the garden to a pond and vegetable area, with mini follies scattered throughout.

The home benefits from a home automation and  entertainment network which must be seen to be believed. The wiring is extreme, nothing is labelled and poor old Dick has not got a clue where to start sorting it out. Luckily the critical services work but there is a feeling that there are many more features which could be utilised.

We were there in the company of their son John and Stuart and Delia, our good friends from Marlow, and the boy scout in Stuart certainly came to the fore as Dick wanted help to build a hide so that he could capture some shots of the kingfisher which had recently come to visit the garden. It can't have been after the fish, as the heron had probably wiped them out some while ago. The hide was a glorious success and the little fella had no problems posing for this shot.

The Saturday evening gave Dick and Gill an opportunity to invite some of the neighbours over for drinks as a sort of house warming event. There were some very interesting people there including a couple who lived in Teddington and were weekenders, a lady who was the ex- commercial director for Coca Cola in Atlanta and a peliphera of fishing and hunting people who enjoyed the facilities of the local River Test and surrounding grounds.The local farmer also turned up and he was clearly the centrepoint of village gossip. It was a good craic and as with village folk, they left fairly promptly allowing us to all do a bit of minesweeping later.

Gill then produced an excellent Sunday lunch and we all walked it off with a trip to Stockbridge which nestles on the Test and is very much a London prices sort of place so I am very confident Dick and Gill will be happy there

Don't just book it...

So disappointed to see the demise of Thomas Cook, a travel firm we have used on numerous occasions for holidays, flights and corporate hospitality. We have been in Mauritius when a holiday firm has gone bust and we saw first hand the stress it put their clients under, both from the point of view of their holidays being cut short, how they would get home, and the actions the hotel owner took to protect his outstanding payment schedule.

None of that is pleasant, and it was only by chance that we had not booked a pre-Christmas mega group to take the ankle biters to Lapland for a special trip. Thomas Cook were favourites to be our carrier, but we were still trying to sort out dates with the four families involved.

Instead we have booked everybody to go to Geneva to see number 1 son and family so EasyJet just got 15 return flights they might not have been expecting. Geneva is great from Liverpool as there are flights most days in the Summer with extra ones during the main skiing season.

We have a few other sorties planned with a first trip to 'off the record Dick's new abode in Middle , Little, Upper or Lower Wallop near Andover shortly then a major BMW golf event in St Andrews followed by golf and spa in Gleneagles. We will return home yearning for sunnier climes I suspect but they might have to wait until next year as our property sales process has stalled once more so funds need to be rationed.

That said, we are geared up for the mega Euro Lottery tomorrow. What would I do with €200m