Snow Chaos…

Yes it’s that time of year once again, a light sprinkling of snow and the whole of the UK comes to a standstill. It’s been snowing a couple of days and all sorts of bother taking place, schools shut etc etc. I’ve not been out in it at all, I’ve been incredibly busy this week and thought there’s no time but actually there’s no need as we’re skiing in a couple of weeks time..

It’s melting now and so there are flood warnings!!

Pushed Tash over and she couldn’t get up so she pretended to make snow angels…

Charlotte borrowed my hat to keep warm when cleaning out her rabbit…

Afternoon tea at the Ritz

Yes indeed…you read correctly. For Mum’s combined birthday and Xmas present we took her to the Ritz for afternoon tea. I must admit I wasn’t overly bothered about going when Tasha initially mentioned it but I thought that I should as it is my Mum!! And I’m really glad that I did go as well, it was a really good experience and we all enjoyed it immensely.

There was a bit of doubt to the day because of the snow we’ve been experiencing but the roads to London as expected were fine and we drove straight up there at 11.30am. I found somewhere to park just off Green Park and as we were early we went and looked around Fortnum & Mason’s, that was an experience in its own right! Like walking into Harrods, and the same price! But it was interesting to wander around and there was a sale point on so we got a couple of things for Xmas presents.

We then went to the Ritz and Mum and Tash took their time exploring the toilets and coming out with souvenir tissues…no I’m not joking.

The sitting was due to start at 1.30pm but we were ushered in around 1.20pm and took photos and all that and took in the surroundings. We were in the Palm restaurant which was cosy but absolutely lovely. Choice of loads of teas, I went for one which smelled of smoke and didn’t it just, stank the place out but I liked it! We were then bombarded with sandwiches (refilled all the time), scones (lovely) and tit bit cakes. Also had someone come round offer Lemon cake as well…we had everything! Quite surprisingly there was too much and we left some of it, including a really rick dark chocolate cake!

We then walked around a bit, there was no pressure or snobbery and it was really pleasant. Drove home and then had some coffee at Mum’s and she told Derek all about it.

I think that was a very successful present! I enjoyed it anyway and we’ll now start thinking of the next place to go to!

Consortium Training and away from home

Seems off being away from home for 2 nights but I am down in Trowbridge at The Old Manor House. It’s a lovely place and an absolute bargain at £60 per night compared with the same price for the Premier Inn…no comparison really!

I’m down here doing two days training for The Consortium Group and it’s going okay so far. Experienced the usual sort of problems linked with Offline SPIRIT earlier this morning when everything went pear-shaped following syncing over the weekend and the stress levels for myself and Andrew Adkins went through the roof! I managed to keep things on track and we got the sessions completed without too much disruption to the attendees

Mum’s 65th Birthday

So Mum was 65 today and we obviously celebrated and made something of it. Her work had got the date wrong so earlier in the week she’d been ‘surprised’ with them all congratulating her, but that was obviously a bit premature but it meant she had the same treatment a second time so I don’t think she was complaining! She had a good day and we met up with her in the evening and went 10 bin bowling.

That was fun but I am bloody useless at it now, Charlotte won and then Lewis came in second, way ahead of me and the rest in third!

After that we went to Frankie & Benny’s next door and it was absolutely rammed full! Mum had booked a table and this is when the fun started…

Mum had specifically booked a round table so that we could all fit on comfortably and be more enclosed, twice she’d spoken to reserve it, when we got there it wasn’t reserved and we couldn’t have it. She wasn’t impressed. So we were stationed at a new table and made do but I made my feelings known in a firm but polite manner, I think I was polite but I certainly let the girl know we were pissed off!

Cue much attention and fawning!

They kept coming over to see if we were okay and then gave a free bottle of wine which Mum and Tash got through quite comfortably! We had a great meal and a really good time, they brought out the cake and we were noisy and singing and even when other birthdays were done we were getting involved. Then the best surprise…there were 8 of us in total and the bill came to £150.00, but in view of the situation we’d experienced the girl took £60.00 off…bloody hell!!!! Couldn’t believe it. I’d hoped we’d get something when I’d complained such as a free dessert or something, but nothing along those lines, absolutely delighted and what a bargain. So we split the bill with Derek and got going out of there!

We all enjoyed ourselves and it was a good night. Mum is looking forward to her trip to the Ritz next week for afternoon tea now!

Mum's 65th VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Jack’s logic…

- "Dad, I can't do this Math's homework!"
- "We don't say can't in this household Jack"
- "Dad, I cannot do this Math's homework!"

Sponsorship for the lads

Managed to get some sponsorship from a local IT company and the lads look good in it following a convincing win against Greater Leys…

Anfield Trip

One of Jack’s Christmas presents was a trip to see a Premier team play so I bought tickets from Wayne to go and see Liverpool against Sunderland. So Jack and I went up and Mike Ford and Alice had Liam’s tickets so we went up together. I offered to drive and met Fordy at his house and got a bit stressed as we ended up leaving Bicester an hour later than planned because of his work.

The journey up there was fine though and we did it comfortably within about 3 hours.

Parked nearby to Everton and then walked across Stanley Park to the ground. It was good being involved and seeing it all set up and getting the match day experience and Jack was loving it. We got into the ground and were based in The Kop so that was good.

Before the match they did loads of flags being dragged over everyone and of course sang ‘You’ll never walk alone’ and it was a good atmosphere. Once the match got going it was enjoyable but sadly Martin O’Neill had brought his team along to defend and play on the break so it wasn’t very competitive and it was no surprise when Liverpool scored. Once that happen Sunderland had no answer and funnily enough had an excellent chance but it would have been a travesty and they deservedly got thumped 3-0.

Luis Suarez played and he was excellent to watch, he really was the best player on the park. He gets a lot of bad press because he’s a cheat and dives etc but when he concentrates on the game it’s good.

We left 5 mins early and got back to the car before the traffic got bad and stopped on the M6 for some food, I let Jack have a treat of £6 chicken bucket and then got home and into bed by about 1.00am

All in all a really good evening but I must admit I’d not want to do that regularly…I don’t really like football (or supporters) it has to be said.

View from our seats…