We have just celled 15 years of marriage, apparently that is ones crystal anniversary. SWMBO spent a couple of days in London with Figs wife Marion. it was her birthday and their wedding anniversary close together so it gave Marion a bit of rest bite to allow her to go off and celebrate her birthday with her chums.
Figs cognitive skills are improving and he has more use in his left leg. His problem now is that he is more aware of his condition and therefore is getting frustrated by his lack of mobility. It is unclear what the treatment plan is going forward as he is recovering in a way the medical team did not expect. Hopefully he will get back to a level where they may be able to do something about his heart, only time will tell.
SWMBO deserved a good anniversary herself after her Florence Nightingale stint, so after a lazy morning we ventured to Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Museum and Art Gallery which is based there. It had a visiting exhibition of Picasso lino cuts from the British Museum which I found disappointing. There were only three variations, and they were not typical Picasso as you could almost see what they were meant to be! Notwithstanding that though, the rest of the museum continues to be a wonder and delight.
I believe Lord Leverhulme was a bit of a pirate myself although a lot of what he plundered did come from various parts of the UK. His Wedgewood collection numbers some 3,000 items including a number of Stubbs paintings done on porcelain. His Chinese collection is also one of the best in Europe.
Port Sunlight has the only Hillsborough memorial which is not attached to a football group.The Unilever group wanted to show their support for the victims families and erected a small plaque in their rose garden. We visited that while we were there and I think there must have been a Pokémon Go! character or two there as well. The rose garden was mobbed with youths on iPhones searching them out.
We then popped into the Refreshment Rooms in Rock Ferry, one of our favourite eateries, and then ended up at home drinking a good bottle of Muja out of crystal glasses....very fitting we thought.
Friday, 29 July 2016
Saturday, 23 July 2016
Swedish chef
I was delighted that Henrik Stenson won is first major at Troon last weekend. He has been one of a number of top European golfers who have not quite stepped over the line to win one, so it was well deserved.
Henrik has had some bad luck off the course too, most notably losing a small fortune at the hands of the West Indian con man Allen Stanford. Some might say £10m was more than a small fortune, so the golfing world was delighted when Stenson won the FedEx cup and 'road to Dubai' in the same year some while later to claim a cool £20m in prize money. The Open championship claret jug will be as equally important to him as his financial rebuilding process.
The Open was, of course, at Troon in Scotland. It was ironic that on the Saturday of the tournament I visited my mate Figs after his recent stroke. He can get out of bed now, and is recovering some use in his left arm, but he is still not too good. The NHS physio sessions seem to have dried up as they clearly see no long term benefit in continuing them. It was to Troon that Figs, myself and others travelled in May 1989 for our Scotflog tour. We played Turnberry, Prestwick, Largs, Kilmarnock Barassie and Troon in a week, doing 36 holes each day!
Troon was the least memorable of the courses as it is a boring slog up and back down the side of the Clyde. It's a bit like Royal Liverpool in as much as it is memorable for it's lack of variety and apart from the Postage Stamp hole and the 11th it has no real stand-out holes. Quite why it is on the rosta I am not too sure.
I am also not sure who won on the day we played although I do know I hit the Postage Stamp in one and then four putted!
The trip to London to see Figs also allowed us to take senior scouse grandchild to tie up with senior London grandchild and they had a right old time together and managed to manufacture a sleepover at the hotel. It was the first time Sofia had spent the night away from her parents so that was a milestone she should now be able to capitalise on in the future.
We have also received good feedback from our Airbnb visitors so it would be good to get a few more bookings before the Summer is over and then build up a bit more next year. One of the local hotels has been brought recently so it will be interesting to see how that affects the area.
I feel like I have just played in the Open myself having played four rounds in four days this week. As a means of recovery I had a run ashore with some old work colleagues in Lytham yesterday. I really should have passed on the Limoncello, especially as it was the 100% vodka variety as favoured by James Martin, BBC chef and raconteur!
Henrik has had some bad luck off the course too, most notably losing a small fortune at the hands of the West Indian con man Allen Stanford. Some might say £10m was more than a small fortune, so the golfing world was delighted when Stenson won the FedEx cup and 'road to Dubai' in the same year some while later to claim a cool £20m in prize money. The Open championship claret jug will be as equally important to him as his financial rebuilding process.
The Open was, of course, at Troon in Scotland. It was ironic that on the Saturday of the tournament I visited my mate Figs after his recent stroke. He can get out of bed now, and is recovering some use in his left arm, but he is still not too good. The NHS physio sessions seem to have dried up as they clearly see no long term benefit in continuing them. It was to Troon that Figs, myself and others travelled in May 1989 for our Scotflog tour. We played Turnberry, Prestwick, Largs, Kilmarnock Barassie and Troon in a week, doing 36 holes each day!
Troon was the least memorable of the courses as it is a boring slog up and back down the side of the Clyde. It's a bit like Royal Liverpool in as much as it is memorable for it's lack of variety and apart from the Postage Stamp hole and the 11th it has no real stand-out holes. Quite why it is on the rosta I am not too sure.
I am also not sure who won on the day we played although I do know I hit the Postage Stamp in one and then four putted!
The trip to London to see Figs also allowed us to take senior scouse grandchild to tie up with senior London grandchild and they had a right old time together and managed to manufacture a sleepover at the hotel. It was the first time Sofia had spent the night away from her parents so that was a milestone she should now be able to capitalise on in the future.
We have also received good feedback from our Airbnb visitors so it would be good to get a few more bookings before the Summer is over and then build up a bit more next year. One of the local hotels has been brought recently so it will be interesting to see how that affects the area.
I feel like I have just played in the Open myself having played four rounds in four days this week. As a means of recovery I had a run ashore with some old work colleagues in Lytham yesterday. I really should have passed on the Limoncello, especially as it was the 100% vodka variety as favoured by James Martin, BBC chef and raconteur!
Sunday, 10 July 2016
Air today, gone tomorrow
We have just said goodbye to our latest Airbnb'ers. They were visiting the Wirral to attend an evening wedding party at the local Riverhill Hotel. The hotel has been on the market for some while as the current owners look to move on, but its an odd shaped property with a dwindling reputation in the area. Hopefully they pulled the stops out for the wedding.
It was quite a flog from London for a few hours socialising and good for them to do it. SWMBO is quite happy to accept evening only invitations, but I am less keen. If I am not on the 'A' list then I am more than happy to give up my evening spot to somebody else.
This wedding was obviously very multicultural as the bride was from Op North and was marrying a Burmese groom, our guests were European and Oriental, and live in North London, I did not like to ask the specific points of origin as that's a bit sensitive after the Brexit vote!! They were worried they would not be able to understand either the bride or groom's accents!!
They were no trouble, and after a hearty breakfast I dropped them at the Mersey Ferry terminal so they could at least see some of Liverpool before they departed.
They are both graphic designers for computer games, and were very impressed when I showed them the games which the sons of Dick 'off the record' develop. I had not realised their big seller and cash cow, Bad Eggs, had made it into the I-phone app store, and with over 1million downloads it was certainly making an impact. Lets hope all the gamers buy lots of add-ons!
So now, like e-bay, we await their feedback with baited breath. A poor review is the sort of thing that can make or break a career in the b & b market.
It was quite a flog from London for a few hours socialising and good for them to do it. SWMBO is quite happy to accept evening only invitations, but I am less keen. If I am not on the 'A' list then I am more than happy to give up my evening spot to somebody else.
This wedding was obviously very multicultural as the bride was from Op North and was marrying a Burmese groom, our guests were European and Oriental, and live in North London, I did not like to ask the specific points of origin as that's a bit sensitive after the Brexit vote!! They were worried they would not be able to understand either the bride or groom's accents!!
They were no trouble, and after a hearty breakfast I dropped them at the Mersey Ferry terminal so they could at least see some of Liverpool before they departed.
They are both graphic designers for computer games, and were very impressed when I showed them the games which the sons of Dick 'off the record' develop. I had not realised their big seller and cash cow, Bad Eggs, had made it into the I-phone app store, and with over 1million downloads it was certainly making an impact. Lets hope all the gamers buy lots of add-ons!
So now, like e-bay, we await their feedback with baited breath. A poor review is the sort of thing that can make or break a career in the b & b market.
Monday, 27 June 2016
One person one vote....
I am fairly ambivalent to the result of the European referendum. I don't know if that is because of my age, or because I no longer live in the South East. Merseyside voted to stay, and as a Labour hotbed, that is no surprise. They follow the party line up here, but that dictated by Joe Anderson and Frank Field rather than Jeremy Corbyn. Usually a vote for the Conservatives is a wasted vote, but last Thursday the one person, one vote system saw a much higher voter turnout, and a significantly close vote. I have not heard much disappointment voiced on the Wirral.
I think it was apparent even during the renegotiation that David Cameron did not have the appetite to manage a Brexit, and that was confirmed by his early resignation notification. Bonking Boris stood to win whichever way things panned out, and the clever people he surrounds himself with are likely to earn their money in the coming months.
Farange is a fringe play in all this, but it is disappointing that racial vandalism has reared it's head in some of the immigrant dominated areas of the Country. The authorities should move swiftly to stamp that out.
Our poisoned dwarf North of the border is rattling her cage, but she must remember that a once in a lifetime independence referendum does not become a best of three, overnight. She should be reminded that if Alex Salmond had been successful, Scotland would have been running cap in hand to Westminster as the slump in oil prices would have almost made the Country bankrupt.
I would love to be a fly on their wall when she meets Angela Merkel to request EU membership. "Run along now Nicola, there's a good girl, what did you say you had to offer?"
The biggest winners here will be the financial institutions who are already manipulating the markets to their best advantage, and the large legal firms who are wringing their hands in expectation of the large fees to be charged going forward.
It's been four days now since the vote....the UK political process, and Labour in particular, have taken a real battering, and the EU have had a wake up call. People were fed up with the lack of dynamism at home and the increase in restrictions imposed from abroad. Those who voted to join a Common Market in 1975 did not want it to develop into a political superpower and have had a chance to make their views known. Now it's time for our elected representatives to earn their corn and plot a way towards a new Great Britain which shows leadership, originality and solidarity while still supporting Europe through tried and tested alliances.
All bumpy roads get resurfaced eventually.
I think it was apparent even during the renegotiation that David Cameron did not have the appetite to manage a Brexit, and that was confirmed by his early resignation notification. Bonking Boris stood to win whichever way things panned out, and the clever people he surrounds himself with are likely to earn their money in the coming months.
Farange is a fringe play in all this, but it is disappointing that racial vandalism has reared it's head in some of the immigrant dominated areas of the Country. The authorities should move swiftly to stamp that out.
Our poisoned dwarf North of the border is rattling her cage, but she must remember that a once in a lifetime independence referendum does not become a best of three, overnight. She should be reminded that if Alex Salmond had been successful, Scotland would have been running cap in hand to Westminster as the slump in oil prices would have almost made the Country bankrupt.
I would love to be a fly on their wall when she meets Angela Merkel to request EU membership. "Run along now Nicola, there's a good girl, what did you say you had to offer?"
The biggest winners here will be the financial institutions who are already manipulating the markets to their best advantage, and the large legal firms who are wringing their hands in expectation of the large fees to be charged going forward.
It's been four days now since the vote....the UK political process, and Labour in particular, have taken a real battering, and the EU have had a wake up call. People were fed up with the lack of dynamism at home and the increase in restrictions imposed from abroad. Those who voted to join a Common Market in 1975 did not want it to develop into a political superpower and have had a chance to make their views known. Now it's time for our elected representatives to earn their corn and plot a way towards a new Great Britain which shows leadership, originality and solidarity while still supporting Europe through tried and tested alliances.
All bumpy roads get resurfaced eventually.
Friday, 10 June 2016
Figs, Sri Lanka and beer
I have discussed my Lord's attendance record here before, and the trend continues. I also wrote about the demise of Crockers Folly as long ago as 2009. That situation I am pleased to say has been reversed, but more on that later.
Going to Lord's on a Saturday has long been the tradition, but now I and SWMBO are available for recreational pastimes all week, we thought we would go on a Thursday for a change. We have suffered some dull Saturday's so some first day excitement would be good.
We were not disappointed either as Sri Lanka showed more steel than the first two tests and only a late century from Johnny Bairstow wrestled some parity back for England.
We punctuated out day with a mid match expedition to a local pub and were delighted we could revisit above mentioned Crickets. Eight years ago I wrote about it but it may have closed longer. It has been expertly restored to it's original but is now more a restaurant with a bar than the other way round. They welcomed the cricket crew willingly and had London Pride on draught. Bliss.
Life often has the habit of balancing highs and lows to keep everything in perspective. This weekend was no exception as our weekend started with a visit to my mate Figs. Figs and I have shared many days at Lords as chronicled in the first link above, but I am now concerned we will never be able to so again.
A few weeks ago he was taken to hospital with a heart problem. His ticker has been less than 100% for some years but this incident saw him moved to Harefield hospital for a valve replacement and defibrillating pacemaker. Much like the young England cricketer James Taylor, has had fitted this week.
Unfortunately they did not think Figs was up to the op so they sent him home for strength conditioning and weight loss regimes. Sadly last week he suffered a stroke and has been in Atkinson Morley Neurological unit for several days. He has now been moved to Kingston for rehab. He has lost the use of his left arm and some movement in his leg. His speech is degraded and memory confused. It is all very distressing not least forMarion, his SWMBO.
They will scan him again in two weeks so lets hope there is improvement.
Going to Lord's on a Saturday has long been the tradition, but now I and SWMBO are available for recreational pastimes all week, we thought we would go on a Thursday for a change. We have suffered some dull Saturday's so some first day excitement would be good.
We were not disappointed either as Sri Lanka showed more steel than the first two tests and only a late century from Johnny Bairstow wrestled some parity back for England.
We punctuated out day with a mid match expedition to a local pub and were delighted we could revisit above mentioned Crickets. Eight years ago I wrote about it but it may have closed longer. It has been expertly restored to it's original but is now more a restaurant with a bar than the other way round. They welcomed the cricket crew willingly and had London Pride on draught. Bliss.
Life often has the habit of balancing highs and lows to keep everything in perspective. This weekend was no exception as our weekend started with a visit to my mate Figs. Figs and I have shared many days at Lords as chronicled in the first link above, but I am now concerned we will never be able to so again.
A few weeks ago he was taken to hospital with a heart problem. His ticker has been less than 100% for some years but this incident saw him moved to Harefield hospital for a valve replacement and defibrillating pacemaker. Much like the young England cricketer James Taylor, has had fitted this week.
Unfortunately they did not think Figs was up to the op so they sent him home for strength conditioning and weight loss regimes. Sadly last week he suffered a stroke and has been in Atkinson Morley Neurological unit for several days. He has now been moved to Kingston for rehab. He has lost the use of his left arm and some movement in his leg. His speech is degraded and memory confused. It is all very distressing not least forMarion, his SWMBO.
They will scan him again in two weeks so lets hope there is improvement.
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Brexit stage right
Should I stay or should I go? Well the Clash knew it was going to be a clash. Let's examine the facts (facts? Shurely some mistake here....ed).
The economy will be flattened....but it might not be.
We will be able to secure our borders.......but might not be able to.
Immigration will fall.......but it might not.
Austerity will increase.......but prosperity might increase.
The NHS will be better funded.......but we lose all the EU NHS funding
Regional development grants will stop.......but will it matter
The UK will keep it's payments which currently go to the EU, but will they outweigh EU subsidies
Air travel and holidays will cost more.........but nobody will pay so prices will fall
House prices will fall.......like they do regularly, not.
So there we have it.....and here is Julie Garland singing Somewhere over the Rainbow.
The economy will be flattened....but it might not be.
We will be able to secure our borders.......but might not be able to.
Immigration will fall.......but it might not.
Austerity will increase.......but prosperity might increase.
The NHS will be better funded.......but we lose all the EU NHS funding
Regional development grants will stop.......but will it matter
The UK will keep it's payments which currently go to the EU, but will they outweigh EU subsidies
Air travel and holidays will cost more.........but nobody will pay so prices will fall
House prices will fall.......like they do regularly, not.
So there we have it.....and here is Julie Garland singing Somewhere over the Rainbow.
Tuesday, 24 May 2016
I can see your house from here
As the golf matches slow down for a while, its time for house maintenance. The big job I have been putting off is painting the wooden surrounds and soffits on the roof.
It's a scaffold job, and one I will probably need a couple of professionals for. One to do the woodwork and one to do the painting. So it's a few phone calls tomorrow.
I have built a slide in the garden for the ankle biters. The slide is connected to a tree and the kids have two ways to climb up. Either on the rustic ladder or by using the climbing wall. The wall is made up of coloured handhelds and gives them a different sort of challenge. So it won't be long before an A & E trip is planned!!
A new addition to the eco friendliness of the garden has been a water butt which collects water from the room of the storage shed. I am already using the water on the pots and new flower beds and that has allowed us to harvest our baby salad leaves twice already. We already have wood piles, wild flower patches and butterfly & bee friendly flowers so I seem to be doing my bit for the wildlife.
This has been confirmed by a wren nesting in the eaves of the house, a blue tit nest in the wall and a blackbirds in the yew hedge. Just need to keep those magpies at bay...now where is that air rifle?
It's a scaffold job, and one I will probably need a couple of professionals for. One to do the woodwork and one to do the painting. So it's a few phone calls tomorrow.
I have built a slide in the garden for the ankle biters. The slide is connected to a tree and the kids have two ways to climb up. Either on the rustic ladder or by using the climbing wall. The wall is made up of coloured handhelds and gives them a different sort of challenge. So it won't be long before an A & E trip is planned!!
A new addition to the eco friendliness of the garden has been a water butt which collects water from the room of the storage shed. I am already using the water on the pots and new flower beds and that has allowed us to harvest our baby salad leaves twice already. We already have wood piles, wild flower patches and butterfly & bee friendly flowers so I seem to be doing my bit for the wildlife.
This has been confirmed by a wren nesting in the eaves of the house, a blue tit nest in the wall and a blackbirds in the yew hedge. Just need to keep those magpies at bay...now where is that air rifle?
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