Farewell to ‘Old Blighty’…for a While

 

Having overnighted at Gerard's house in Shrivenham, I awoke to beautiful warm sunshine,and having had my cup of tea in bed –thanks Ethan, I was able to then get down for the final ‘shop’ at a nearby Sainsbury’s, and return for a big breakfast, before I was to get waved off by the gang , and start to wend my way further South.

I wasn’t immediately leaving as I had been invited by cousin Maureen for supper at her home in East Preston, Sussex, with her and husband David. So I continued to the south coast, where the traffic surprised me by it’s quantity, and ‘busyness’ – not used to this, as a simple Northerner from the sticks !

I easily found Maureen and David’s home,thanks,as usual to my trusty ‘Tom Tom’, and had a pleasant few hours, and a meal,catching up (although not nearly enough time)  before setting off again for nearby Portsmouth, and my overnight sailing to Le Havre..

Having waited on the dockside for ages, hearing the news that once again Manchester United were giving Manchester City, a little ‘chink’ to aim at in the Premiership run in…I was eventually boarded, and settled down in a sleeper chair for the crossing…leaving England behind, and as the dawn broke… France ahead…

Bonjour Mes Amis

On The Road Again !!

 

As I finally finished cleaning the house, doing the washing, and packing everything I thought I may need, I set off shortly after 1 p.m., from a sunny Derbyshire….. and into the black clouds of Staffordshire, with hail, sleet and high winds to accompany me, and send me on my way.. still the cloud formations were quite exciting, and different, although I tried to pay attention to my driving !

The traffic was quite light, as I wended my way south, with Ethan to accompany me – although he banned me from whistling !

Within 4 hours we were at Shrivenham, Wiltshire, Ethan’s home, and my first stop of my travels.. for a quiet night, nice meal…and early night

Before I continue south tomorrow…Goodnight !

Ethan’s Days away

My grandson had stayed with me after the weekend, and as his parents returned to Wiltshire, I had the enviable task of ‘entertainments manager’, made doubly difficult by firstly rain pouring down, and later being transformed back to Winter, with heavy snowfalls !

Firstly to Poole’s cavern in Buxton, where I was able to use my previously purchased tickets, to gain a second admission, and down into the damp, but dry depths of the cavern below, where he was able to se various stalactite’s and stalagmite's ( do you know the difference ?)

Later in the week the day after the snowfall, which had cleared fairly quickly at home, we drove across to Parsley Hey, to join the High Peak cycle trail…to find several inches of snow, on the impassable trail, so it was back home , in the sunshine and a ride down the Sett Valley trail  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_Valley_Trail and back again, then he was off to his Auntie’s, whilst I continued making preparations for my trips later in the year.

He was soon back with me, for the highlight of any youngsters life….a trip to the famous Old Trafford, home of the best football club in the World , Manchester United http://www.manutd.com/en/Visit-Old-Trafford.aspx although I don’t think he was too impressed, as he supports another Manchester club !!

He did enjoy watching Wayne Rooney starting the scoring from the penalty spot right in front of us, as United comfortably beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0, and as we were to find later in the day, the ‘other’ Manchester club faltering (again) losing to Arsenal, and all but conceding the Premiership trophy to United…again for the 20th Time !

 

Come On You Reds !!

Glory,Glory, Man United….

as the Reds go Marching

On,On On !

 

A great last game for me, as I hit the road again this week, travelling across to France overnight on Wednesday, so you can all ‘look forward’ to many adventurous tales… See you later !

It’s No April Fool !!

 

It being Palm Sunday http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/holyweek_1.shtml, there was no chance of a lie in after the celebrations the night before, as I had to be down at church for 9 a.m. to prepare for our first service of the day, and the start of Holy Week

A quick dash home afterwards, big cooked breakfast, as various of the family landed, ready to set off for Lantern Pike http://www.peakdistrict-walking.co.uk/a-walk-up-lantern-pike-c93.html, nearby.

We met several others from the local Churches together group, as we met at the village bus station, and then together we walked up to the top of Lantern Pike, gathering the parts of a wooden cross along the way, which was erected on the top of Lantern Pike for 3 p.m.

This cross has become a tradition for the last few years, and remains for the entire Holy Week, as a visible presence and reminder of what Jesus did …for everyone

A great crowd had gathered on the top of the windy Pike, well for a small village anyway, and as we sang some Hymns,said prayers and looked down on our village, were all inspired by the wonderful sermon (from guess who ?!)

A quick photograph whilst we shared hot soup, before a dash back home…and B B Q !, by now in the sunshine !

Until I could collapse later….

Michael and Katrina’s Wedding

At the end of a beautiful week, we all started gathering at the wonderful, and historic Gorton Monastery http://www.themonastery.co.uk/ ready for Michael,( my nephew  ) and Katrina’s wedding.

As I stepped through the doors from the car park, into the wonderful space of the old church, I was reminded of the days when I , as a child used to come here, on various festivities, as my sister Kathleen (who was the head girl), and brother Sean (who never would be!), went to the attached school. I well remember walking along the streets of Gorton, towards this wonderful church, and unbeknown to me at the time, this area was the stomping ground of the Moors Murderers’ Brady and Hindley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors_murders , of course they would have had to contend with my Mum and Dad – so I was safe !

Amazingly we were early, and so took advantage of being able to have a private viewing of the vast area, as my mind wandered, and related my stories to David and Kate

So, to the main event…the wedding of Michael and Katrina, who I probably first met when she fell over in my garden at my 50th Birthday party (it was an unseen step, that fooled her!) ,when she had recently met Michael at University, and saved him from starvation !

As the happy couple stood in front of the main altar for pictures, it was a great, and lovely sight, as we all clapped and waved

Then, a lovely meal, and speeches seemingly quickly followed by the dancing, out early onto the floor, beckoned (dragged !)  by my eldest sister Letitia, with those immortal words…’This tune’s got your name on it’…and I was off, straight into my impressive array of dance moves… they’ve still not guessed – I’ve been going to Dance classes in Modern Jive http://www.blitzjive.com/…although most of my relatives couldn’t understand the delicate moves I was doing ! Then, the first dance…and all the moves were straight from my classes…Jotown first..the rest later, although I must say they were a lot more polished than me ! Clearly though, the word had got out, as I had all the women dancing with me !

The evening flew along in the fabulous setting , until all too soon it was 1 a.m...and time to beat a hasty retreat home…with lots to do later that day…and a willing driver (Thanks Kate) to get me home safely, and cheaply…

 

Thanks to Michael and Katrina, for a great occasion,

Health,Wealth and Happiness be yours in your new married life together..…starting with the Honeymoon in India !

It’s a Bouncing Baby Boy !!

Great News from the ‘Big Apple’…

At 3-08 p.m. New York Time, a lovely looking boy –         Thomas Samuel 6 lbs 8 ozs arrived into the world, accompanied by his delighted parents Joseph and Nicola…and ……..transcendentally Grandad Jotown !

What will be his first Football shirt…anyone guess ?

So, that’s five Grandson’s…

wonder what the next will be…..

Kate ?

We’ll all find out in July !

You Don’t Always Need to go Far…!

Young Lawrence was up for the weekend, and although the glorious weather of the last few days had changed to miserable rain ,after a hearty breakfast we set off for Buxton http://www.visitbuxton.co.uk/, although not actually stopping in the centre of the town, we went to Poole’s Cavern http://www.poolescavern.co.uk/, a great limestone cavern, under the hills of Buxton.

I had not been here before, although had been to several of the ‘show caves’ in the area… I now wonder ‘Why Not’ ?

I bought tickets for us both, to find out that the tickets were valid for the next 12 months…so a few return visits can be expected !

Very soon we were led to the Cave entrance, and soon inside the great cavern seeing the spikes marking the archeological digs that had taken place over the last few years.

I was very impressed, the lighting showed the various structures in the caves to their best effect, and the small group we were in (4 /6!) had an almost ‘private tour’, with tales told by our guide

We went deeper into the complext, dropping down as we went, with the caves opening up in front of us, and the sounds of the River ‘Wye’ crashing though the cave…although it was only really a small trickle, what the sound is like when it’s raining I hesitate to guess. As we came alongside the ‘side of Bacon’ stalactitie we we able to see the bottom of it was missing, although it had since been lcated buried in the woods outside ( mystery !), and then down to the final area, where marks indicated that ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ had visited here…had she ?

With Lawrence touching the stalagmite reputedly containing the ‘Bubonic plage’ we were out of the caves, and onto the hillside above, and up towards Solomon’s temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon's_Temple,_Buxton as we arrived at the top a hailstorm rode across the hills encompassing us,although after passing over us the sun resumed it’s posture giving us some great views of the Rainbows over the hills beneath us… and the prospects of a ‘Pot of Gold’… so then it was a run back to ‘Wally’ and a return home

It just shows…..

You don’t always need to go far…to see great things