Donkey!

Guess who I met today! Keith is back from his hard life in Barbados for a few weeks as he has had to have an operation on one of the vertebrae in his neck (an old skiing injury, don't you know!) and I popped down to Reading to see him and to take him out for lunch. We had a wonderful catch up - we decided that it was probably 5 or 6 years since we had last seen each other.

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And for those of you who don't know - Keith's nickname is (was?) donkey. Not for the reason he would have you believe but because of his skiing prowess. A little tongue in cheek I'm sure, as I seem to remember him being a lot more elegant than me.

Summer - briefly

Sunday almost felt like summer. While Luke was off getting sun-stroke on his St John's duty at the motorbike scrambles, Joe, Elaine and I went for a country walk. We started by the church at Kirby Bellars and followed a public footpath across to Asfordby. On the way we crossed a lake by a very narrow causeway and followed the River Wreake for a while. It was wonderful. Joe and I had our tops off, trying to get a bit of sun on our skin before we reach Corfu (next week).

We walked through Asfordby then headed across country back to Kirby Bellars. On the way we found a little wooden jetty on the river and had a break there to dangle our feet in the water.

Luke, meanwhile, was helping (by directing the ambulance) with a guy who broke his back and he also encountered a dislocated finger. All day in the sun took its toll however, and he ended up feeling a bit queasy and headachey when he got home (although he rallied magificently later on!)

Photos

Woodland Avenue Street Party

On Sunday (29th June) the entire street was closed off for a street party. This was the brainchild of a recent arrival to Woodland Avenue, Heather, who thought it would be a good way for residents to properly meet each other and have a bit of fun.

After a beautifully sunny morning, the party was due to kick off at 2pm just as the clouds started approaching. Nevertheless the bunting went up, the tables were laid out, the "Road closed" sign and cones went up, and the band started to play.

Just as all the food was laid out and people started to tuck in, the heavens opened! We had food in our garage and in our hall, and pretty much everyone squeezed into our conservatory. Dan, our local musician, brought his guitar and - joined by another guitar and violin - entertained us with Irish folk music as the rain poured down.

Fortunately the sun came out later and the party resumed in earnest. Here are a few photos.

Visit to Hook Mansion

It was a couple of weeks ago now, but we finally got to visit Mike, Freddie and Katie in their wonderful (and enormous) new house. The weather wasn't great while we there but there were enough gaps in the showers to allow time for trampolining, eating ice-creams at the Old Basing fair and going for a lovely walk along the canal to Odiham Castle.

It was paradise for the kids - a whole meadow to explore, a den in the bushes and a mower to drive!

Photos

Mum's Birthday

We managed to make it to Bristol for the big occasion this year. Saturday morning commenced with the traditional present opening in bed ceremony and then we headed off to Malmesbury and the home of the Naked Gardeners - the Abbey House Gardens. What a wonderful place. The boys spent most of them time stroking tame koi carp and catfish (we think) in the ornamental fish pond but there was still plenty of time to explore the gardens and the river walk. We even spotted the Naked Gardeners themselves but disappointingly (for Dad) they were clothed - albeit Mr Gardener was just wearing a thong.

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Lunch was very good in the Whole Hog and the only dampener was my car playing up on the way home resulting in us having to drive at around 45 mph along the M4 on the way back! Turns out the air conditioning compresser needs replacing.

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In the evening we went to Valentinos for a real Italian nosh up. When they found out it was Mum's birthday they brought her something with a flame on top - a flaming Zambucca!

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We had a leisurely Sunday morning browsing Dad's ancient photos of various great great relations, which was very entertaining - the boys now appreciate that Grandad's "Whee" hair is nothing new! A barbecue lunch under the new gazebo rounded off a perfect weekend.

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Here are some photos.

Sutton-on-Sea

I decided a couple of days ago that I really wanted to see the sea (no doubt something to do with growing up on the coast and then going to live in the part of the country which is furthest from the sea!) Surprisingly I managed to persuade the rest of the family that this would be a good idea, so we set off to Sutton-on-Sea early this morning in the mist, as we had been assured sunny spells later on by BBC Weather. We got there at coffee time and then set off for a long walk along the beach to Mablethorpe. It was a tad blowy but great fun, particularly as we had taken a football with us and were practising passing (having to aim about 20 degrees off to take account of the wind!)

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By the time we arrived on the outskirts of Mablethorpe we needed more coffee. We then headed off into the centre (which was very reminiscent of the bit of Weston-S-Mare around Mr B's - loads of amusement arcades, sweet shops and takeaways). We spent a very enjoyable half hour or so in one of the arcades, finding coins in the trays of penny cascades which we promptly fed back into the machines (winning a bit on the way, but ultimately losing the lot!)

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We had fish and chips for lunch in a little cafe with plactic tablecloths and mugs of tea - fantastic! Set us up nicely for a spot of paddling when we got back to Sutton (and the sun was just peeping through a little)

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All in all it was a pretty fab day - even with frostbitten toes. Forgot the camera again but the phone photos aren't too bad.

Alien coming

I think this should have a 15 certificate! Would you believe that this is Joe's mouth - look at all those teeth! You know what they say about sharks having several rows of teeth which move replace those that get worn out...
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Joe needs a brace as they are starting to go a bit wonky, but the NHS funding has run out until next April! Apparently he will be alright to wait until then, so we won't have to fork out £500 for private treatment (phew!)