23rd November 2009

well, time's moving on...nearly Christmas...we had a slight bit of bother with our Thursday evening darts, last week...but it's sorted out now and everything is ok...weather not very good...we had a panel of our fence blown down in the wind at the week-end...I'm getting on ok at Sainsbrys in Norwich..been there 3 weeks now...time passes very quickly

2nd November 2009

we're into November now, so it's almost winter...Donnie, Mags and Andy were through from Lincoln, last weekend and we had a good time...a few drinks and Andy got shouted at quite a lot...mainly for being a 'Kevin'...never knows when to stop being a pest...almost did me in, when he pulled a seat away from me, just before I sat down..I ended up flat on the floor...he thought it extremely funny...I didn't...Suzie and Mark came up on Saturday, to see them before they went back home...Suzie and Mark are off to Berlin for a few days at the end of this week...

16th October 2009

we went to Buxton Black Lion last night and won 7-2 in the Thursday night darts..a good result...Liz is at the painting again...refreshing the bathroom...it's a dull kind of day here in Norfolk, but not bad for the time of year...applying for a few jobs but no luck yet, you never know...Liz reckons my age may come into it a bit now....oh, well...I'll just have to get depressed and worry about it...

1st October 2009

It's now October...not a lot happening..we went and had a carvery in the Scarborough Hill Hotel...very nice....going to the darts tonight..hopefully turning round the form of the first couple of weeks..playing a team from the Dilham Crosskeys pub...on paper we should do ok..but you never know...Nick is having a rest from the darts for a few weeks to get himself sorted out..he'll be a bit of a miss...it's a nice day now, at around 3pm, after a dull start....Liz has Chrissie's coffee morning on Saturday at the Bluebell, and then in the evening we are off to the Ramada Hotel in Norwich for the Benjamin Foundation annual ball....this'll be our second one..hope it turns out ok, we are in the company of 8 of our friends...so fingers crossed...

25th September 2009

well, we lost last night to Black Swan 'A'....the score was 7-2...not very good...here's the new shirts we're wearing this season on a Thursday...

24th Sept 2009

I'm off down to play Black Swan 'A' in the Thursday evening darts league...we'll have to play well to get anything against them...

16th September 2009

Well, that's the birthdays over for another year...they come round too quickly...Liz cooked a very nice meal for the 2 of us , on Saturday evening...we didn't do too much...went to the quiz in the Bluebell on Sunday evening...I had an interview for a job on Saturday morning..got word today..no luck...I'm getting a wee bit depressed about it now...we're going to Chrissie Miller's funeral on Friday...should be quite a big one...she was well liked by everyone...we're glad we took her and Terry up to the north of Scotland a couple of years ago...she'd never been over the border before and quite liked it....I made Liz a video of old photos and put some music on it (Kitty Wells singing 'Precious Mem'ries')...very sad, it brought tears to our eyes..

10th September 2009

It's my birthday tomorrow...another year under my belt...it looks like it's going to be a good week-end, weatherwise....it's Liz's birthday on Sunday...so, instead of going out somewhere special, she has got a special meal planned for Saturday evening..and we're going to sit in and watch the Johnny Cash shows on the tv,...it's the 6th anniversary since he passed away...they've got a whole evening of concerts and documentaries....I've got an interview for a job on Saturday, so maybe that's an omen...John and Brenda are off on a cruise in the Med, they're going to meet my brother, James, and his wife, Pat, on the same ship, Ocean Village 2....Liz is watching her soaps just now, Thursday evening is one after the other...I was doing a thing on the computer for her birthday, I don't know if she'll like what I've done...I'll let you know....

4th September 2009

well, goodness sake, I'm back...a bit fed up, now that the summer's disappearing fast and autumn is on us...not a lot been happening with me......I've eventually made the videos of our visit up to Caithness...it doesn't look too bad...

3 August 2009

we're just back from a visit up north to Wick, in the Highlands of Scotland. We took our grandson, Andy. to see our roots.
We left North Walsham on Wednesday, 22nd July...travelled over to Lincoln..stayed overnight. Then, on the Thursday, we left to go to Newcastle...no problems on the journey there..arrived in the afternoon..me and Dave Makin went down to his local club for a pint...we did a lot of catching up, before calling it a night.
Next day, Friday, we left, around 9 am, heading cross-country on the A69 to get to the m74 at Gretna. We were held up for an hour at road works, just north of Perth, at a place called Bankfoot. We arrived in Wick, at my brother Sandy's, at 7.30 pm.
On Saturday, we went to Halkirk for the Highland Games. We met our neighbours, from North Walsham, Frank Sinclair, and his wife, Jo. After a couple of hours, we went back to Wick for the Gala parade and festivities.
For the rest of the week, we visited a lot of our old haunts and friends. Alan Smith came over from Tongue, on Thursday, and we had a bar lunch in the Nethercliffe Hotel. On Tuesday, we went to a Gala darts competition in the Francis Street Club. We met a lot of our old darting buddies, and I was partnered by Ray Sinclair. On the Wednesday, all the celebrations recieved a blow, when we heard that one of the blokes playing in the darts the previous evening, and who seemed perfectly ok, Jock Geddes, went home and committed suicide.
We went, on Saturday, to my sister Margaret's, she lives in Lyth, for a family get-together. Then on the way to it, from Aberdeen, my brother, James. had a suspected heart attack, and was rushed to hospital. He was kept in overnight, and let out next afternoon. Back in Aberdeen, he was seen by his own doctor, who said his condition was quite severe and that he was now a 'high risk' patient. So, he'll have to take things easy for a while.
We left Wick on Monday morning, around 9 am. After an uneventful run down to Lincoln, we were only held up for 10 minutes at Bankfoot, we arrived in Lincoln around 7.30 pm.
On the run to Wick and a few miles running around, and the run back to Lincoln, we averaged around 55 miles per gallon. I think this was quite good, considering I have a 2 litre engined car. But it does run on deisel.
We stayed in Lincoln for the Tuesday, because our daughter-in-law, Margaret, was doing a special meal for Don, as it was his birthday this week.
We left on Wednesday to go back to North Walsham.

13 July 2009

Well, it's been a few days since last I was here. Last weekend, we were invited to two parties. We went to the first one around 1 o'clock at Hazel and Barry's. It was to celebrate Barry's 60th birthday. It was buffet style food. We were around the first guests to arrive. We were met by Barry and Hazel along with his mother and sons with their ladies. Soon, the other guests started to arrive. They were Barry and Hazel's family from Essex, along with guests from all over the country, for example, there was a Spanish lass from Bolton, a couple from Leicester, some from Manchester, and some more from places I forget. We only found out that these non-family guests were all members of a group suffering from various forms of cancer, whom Barry had met after he found that he had the Big C. We had an enjoyable 4 hours with them and learned an awful lot, then we left to go to our next place.
We were invited to a barbeque at Nick and Lisa Farnell's. Nick plays darts in the same team as I do. The guest were all people we knew. After an initial drink, the blokes ended up going to the park to kick a football about...bad mistake, as far as I was concerned. I di ok for about 10 minutes, showing bits of classy stuff I remembered from my schooldays. Then it was downhill all the way. I was shattered. So I was put in goal, letting in about a dozen. When we sopped and headed back to Nick's house, I could hardly walk. My leg was threatening to seize up. But after a couple of Buds, I made an amazing recovery. It was nothing short of a miracle. We left to go home around 9 o'clock.
We got off the taxi and went down for a nightcap to the Bluebell pub, our local hostelry.
But we didn't stay long/ It had been a long day.
On Sunday, we didn't wake up until after 11 o'clock. My leg was extremely sore, so we didn't do much. We went down to the Sunday night quiz in the bluebell, came home around 11 o'clock and called it a day.

16 June 2009

not a bad day...went to the darts..playing against the Haig Club, Mundesley, (MADRA)...didn't do too bad..I partnered Billy in the pairs (we're pretty well unbeaten over last season)..won our pairs..I didn't play in the triples..played in the singles and good to say, I won again....we won the match 7-4..roll on the Black Lion next week....

13-15th June 2009

It was a brill weekend ...scorching hot..we went to a village fete on Saturday at Smallburgh, between here and Stalham..quite nice afternoon..
On Sunday, we went to some Open Gardens at Edingthorpe, and spent an enjoyable 4 hours wandering about other people's gardens...
Today, Monday, we went to Stalham and then experienced about 3-4 hours of thunder/lightning and heavy rain in the afternoon/early evening...perhaps it'll be a nice day tomorrow..
England beat Finland 2-1 in the Under-21 match in Sweden...

10th June 2009

They dragged me out to play darts last night..they were allegedly short of players..(I don't normally play in the summer leagues)...I didn't do too bad and didn't let the team down..won all the games I played in and we won 8-3 overall..

5th June 2009

Election yesterday..results today...they are what we expected..not very good...have had a great few minutes on Twitter..slagging everyone off...
It's a bit dull today..waiting for the rain to arrive...
I've got a sore neck..had it for about a week now..probably lay on it wrong...

1st June 2009

We went down last night to see the hippos auctioned off at Divine...the place was packed and the hippos sold for more than £30,000, with one going for £6000...
Today we went to Yarmouth on the bus...it was a scorcher...didn't find any darts shirts..

26th May 2009

Tuesday after a Bank Holiday is always a bit of a downer....today was no exception...it bucketed down with rain all morning before clearing in the afternoon...we are going out for dinner tomorrow evening at the Bluebell, to celebrate Frank Sinclair's 66th birthday..it also happens to be the final of the Champions League...forgot about that when Frank planned the date...still, I hope we have a nice evening..fingers crossed

24th May 2009

we were in Lincoln for the week end...came back today..there must have been an accident at King Lynn between the roundabouts on the A149,,,we were all re-directed onto the A47 towards Norwich... it was very ho today, probably hottest day of the year so far..we're looking for rain tomorrow...Liz weeded the garden when we got home...

20 May 2009

Arrived back from Olu Deniz, Turkey, yesterday morning after a week away...excellent holiday..recommend it to everyone...very warm (around 30 deg) ..good for May...didn't like Gatwick Airport...there were no staff avialable to unload the aircraft on Monday evening...we thought we were going to miss our coach back to Norwich...but it turned out ok and we got to Norwich around 9.30 in the morning

8th May 2009

Today started dull, with a drop of rain, but now it's turned nice...a wee bit of a breeze but sunny and feeling warmer.
Our cases are almost packed and they are both well under our 20kg limit..so that's ok.
We might go out for a pint this evening to get in practice for the next week...I wonder what kind of drink we can get in Turkey..never been there before.

6th May 2009

Well, Chelsea found out tonight that it's not over till the fat lady sings. Barca scored the important goal in the 92nd minute and sickened all the blue fans. I hope Drogba gets done for his antics after the game and swearing at the tv camera.
It was another warm day, after being a bit cooler yesterday.
We're getting things together for our hols at the weekend...of to Olu Deniz until the 19th...looking forward to that..

4th May 2009

well, Bank Holiday Monday has arrived, it's a bit of an anti-climax. the weather is not the best, quite dull really. Liz did a washing. I cleaned the patio slabs with the power washer...first time in a few years...they came up not too bad.
Found a little starling in the garden, it obviously hadn't flown very far and probably stopped on the fence for a rest and had fallen in. It's mother was flying around looking for it and making a lot of noise. We tried to get it out so she could find it but what else could we do. We rang the RSPB and they put us on the the RSPCA . They said to leave it where it was, we said what if the cats found it. They said that's nature, and they weren't going to do anything.
Seems sad, but there it is.

3rd May 2009

This doesn't feel like a Bank Holiday weekend. I had a go at fizing my decking which was starting to feel it's age. I put it down 10 or 12 years ago.
Liz did some tidying up around the garden. We took a wander downtown and came home to watch the football on the telly. Liverpool had a good game but the 'Jambos' didn't do very well against the 'Gers. Then we went down to the quiz in the Bluebell. Steve and Karan were there as usual, but Jan and Paul were over as well, so that was a surprise. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks. The quiz was not very good last night and not very enjoyable, so we had a few pints and went home.

2nd May 2009

We went to Norwich showground so that Liz and our daughter, Suzie, could run, with thousand of others, in this years 'Race for Life', in aid of breast cancer research. The place was packed, the roads leading to the showground were chock-a-block, and it took us an hour and a bit to get there.
They did the 5 km (walking) in around 45 minutes. It was very warm out there.
when we left, it took us nearly 45 minutes to get out the ground. This is a photo of Liz and Suzie before the start.
We didn't go out in the evening.

1st May 2009

We did a fair bit of work today.. Liz painted the barbeque stand and the gate..I demolished some of our decking and hopefully will put it back together over the weekend...went to the finals night of the Monday night league..I was playing in the singles..our pairs got knocked out in the first round, unlucky...I got knocked out in the quarter finals, beaten by a super leaguer and the eventual winner, so, not to bad...we didn't win anything in the raffle either..

30th April 2009

Last day of the month..walked 11 km today..looking forward to our holiday at the end of next week..did some laminating for Shirley yesterday..keeping my hand in..applied for a couple of part-time jobs today...to see if it'll get me out the house and doing something..getting fed up a wee bit now..anyway we'll wait a nd see..probably I'm getting too old..

26th April 2009

I've lost 7lbs in weight since last Sunday...and an inch or two off here and there..walked for miles and don't feel too bad either...I don't miss the carbs or the pints...today is classed as a 'free' day so I can do what I like, within reason, ...don't want to spoil the last week...
another fine day in North Norfolk...16-18 deg...they forecast rain, but none appeared..it's never been the same since I left...
probably going to go down to the quiz in the Bluebell tonight...

25th April 2009

we are back from a 3 mile walk around the Felbrigg Hall estate....very nice...another good day in Norfolk...19-20 deg in the sunshine...

Now Rangers have spoiled the day...they are beating St Mirren 3-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final...

This picture is one of some of the staff I used to work with in the Met Office at RAF Coltishall. We went out for a meal in 'Divine' last Saturday evening.

24th April 2009

Disaster...doomed...all the sensor lights came on in the car...going in for a diagnostic on Tuesday...the garage man reckons it could be the dashboard electronic cluster..doomed...it's the end of the world as we know it, Jim...
On the other hand it's been another great day...20 deg and very warm for this time of year...

23rd April 2009

This, apparently, is St George's Day....
we went, on the bus, to Great Yarmouth...had some lunch and wandered about..we came home around 2 o'clock.
We are going out this evening to the Black Swan, North Walsham, to watch my good ol' boys playing darts..Richard, our mate from Wick, is playing his first game for the team..so good luck, lads
Richard didn't turn up...hope he's ok..not like him to miss a darts fixture...

21st April 2009

well, we've started a new regime, called Bodytrim, and are on the 'Carb detox' part...we do this for 3 days and then start the weight loss part. I think the idea is to cut down on carb intake and burn off a lot of the body's store of fat. we do a walk of around 10km per day..and the great weather helps a lot...we are eating nothing but protein just now and drinking lots of water (no beer) ...and lo and behold, not feeling hungry at all...I'll let you know from time to time how we're getting on...went to bed early last night to relax watching the footie, Burnley against Sheffield United..when I got the call from Mark Oakley if I'd come to the darts because they were short...I rushed off out to the Lighthouse in Walcott, and disaster, we got beat in the first round. Liz was not a happy bunny, for some reason.

19th April 2009

went down to the Bluebell for the Sunday night quiz..great...Steve and Karan were on good form..and our man from the Melbourne site..we came 2nd ..just 2 pts behind the winners..Chrissie looked in good shape..and quite good entertainment..Liz was watching her soaps...

this is a photo from last week when we were presented with a Civic Award by North Walsham Town council.

we are going out tonight, to a good restaurant in North Walsham 'Divine', wit some of my former colleagues from the Met Office...we have started to go out with them once in a while, it's nice to be still in touch...

16th April 2009

well, here we are...anniversary time again..44 years, and they said it would never last..but I wouldn't change a thing..I said in a speech many years ago, that we'd been through thick and thin and it was true and we're still here.. as good as ever...Liz made a very nice meal to celebrate and we had a nice bottle of Shiraz..and went down to the Bluebell for a pint and it was ok..we're home now and you never know...

15th April 2009

Well, that's Easter over for another year..the family's away back to Lincoln..we went quizzing on Sunday evening, didn't win...the weather's been great for the time of year..went to Norwich today..quite nice just strolling about.. our daughter treated us to lunch for our anniversary tomorrow..Liz is off into Norwich, with our friend Pat, to see 'Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat'..she'll like that

10th April 2009

Well...that was a bit of a disappointment..we played in the final of our darts league cup last night but didn't do too well..we are runners-up..but even so, that's not too bad..we finished 3rd in Division One and runner-up in the cup..not a bad season...I was not very good in the singles play-offs...I got beat by the eventual winner...
We are now waiting for our family coming over from Lincoln for the Easter weekend..might have the odd pint or two..
The weather's very good..a nice warm day ...

8th April 2009

Well, that was a surprise...we went down to the local Town Council meeting last evening to pick up a 'Civic Award'. They said it was for services to the community...very good of them to think of us.
And more good news..Man U only drew at home to Oporto... we are hoping that Liverpool beats Chelsea this evening..

Tuesday, 7th April 2009

We've been off to Lincoln for the week-end and are now back...we were going to stay longer but had to return because word arrived on Friday that we had to be at the Town Council Meeting to be awarded a 'Civic Award'. I wonder what we're getting that for.
We've got grandson, Andy, back with us because of the Easter School holidays. His mam and dad are coming over at the week-end to pick him up.
So we'll be down the Community Centre this evening and maybe out for a pint in the Bluebell afterwards. See you there.

3rd April 2009

We're off to Lincoln for a few days..back by Thursday.

Thursday, 2nd of April 2009

Tonight, we have a big annual darts occasion in the Black Swan, North Walsham. It's finals night number 1. We play the league pairs and the Subsidiary Cup final tonight...then, next week it's finals night number 2. We play the league singles, followed by the Main cup final and then presentations. Well we didn't do very well tonight in the Pairs...we lost.