Italy Holiday–Day Three

Up earlier...not much done in the morning. Then down to lake and had a laugh
Lunch at 2 and then headed for Verona. Went wrong way and 49 min drive ended up over 2 hours
Walked around the city and well worth the journey it was lovely
Ice creams, meal and drive home.
Beers and the kids went out. Bed at mid-night and they're not home, except Jack. Hope they’re ok
Really lovely day. Verona was excellent. Romeo an Juliet balcony and other lovely buildings. The arena was fantastic, I liked that

Italy Holiday–Day Two

Lay in. Everyone knackered. Up at 10.00
Breakfast at Holdy’s and then down to the beach
Found a great Jetty which was quite deep and spent the morning jumping off into the lake.
Found a better one that was higher and the water deeper which was better and meant we could try other things. Even a back flip!!
Had a big lunch back at the home and more swimming and sleeping And then walked along the lake to explore. Beautiful views. Had a beer and the BBQ in the evening and a few more beers. Kids went off to the disco and had fun.
Played bridge and bed at 12.15am

Italy Holiday–Day One

3.00am leave and super quick.
Huge turbulence and redirected
Hassle getting car and new coach. Holdy left us
Arrived at 5pm
Looks amazing
Settled down
Shopping at Lidyl to get our food (and beer!)
Pizza. Beers. Walk
Bed at 11.00. Knackered!!!

Our New Heir to the Throne

Travelled up to Halifax today to work with Frogtrade. Bloody long journey, I don’t know how many miles it is but it’s over 3 hours driving which is tough going so about 180 miles but I’m absolutely knackered by it. Driving home I stopped in a Service Station as I often do and slept for an hour and then ate lots of crappy food and sweets and anything that’s unhealthy!!

It’s been hard this month motivation-wise and I need to get back on track on behalf of the business otherwise things will lose momentum and the work will dry up.

However, the big news today on the radio is that Kate Middleton went into labour today and she had a baby boy in the end after a long time – so our future king was born today – George! No idea if I will be alive when he ascends to the throne – interesting thought really.

Derek’s new knee…or half a new knee

Not sure which at the minute but Derek went in to get his knee sorted and will be in hospital for the next couple of days. Him and Mum were down there at 7.00am and had to wait until 3.00pm before going in for surgery, what a waste of time! Hopefully that won’t be the feeling when he gets to walk on it and it would be great if this sorts out the problems he’s been having with it. We shall see soon enough.

Fingers crossed!

Jack Karate Grading–Brown/Black Belt

Jack’s karate grading today, he went from brown belt to brown black and he passed which means he’s now one level below becoming a black belt. He has 12-18 months to train for it but I am very proud of him to achieve the level he’s got to at such a young age. We know what he can do and it’s great he’s realising his potential

He looked good in his katas and his routines and especially when it came to sparring he was excellent. Something he really enjoys and getting stuck in. He’s very quick and hard to get to grips with but also any wrestling he’s right on it and very strong as well. He’s quite fearless.

When he and Ben Murray went against each other it really was quite competitive and it was good to watch. It wasn’t nasty but there was an edge that the other sparring didn’t have. It impressed people watching and made me & Tash feel even more proud than we already were

Lewis got involved as well, it was nice seeing him involved as a Grading Instructor but he dealt with a few fights and it was good seeing his control and authority and being better than any other student there. Had his own desk as an instructor and it was great watching him grade the boys, handing out the belts and talking to them which is exactly what we’ve had to watch him receive when grading. Made him look older and must be nice to Mary/Rob to see him mature like that

I should put together a compilation of their gradings over the years as

As a treat we then went to Pizza Mama Mia as this is what Jack’s been desperate for and been promised it for a while – he was delighted. A nice way to finish the weekend off.

Jack’s Karate Grading

Grading and Pizza Mamma Mia

Not much more to add other than the comments above!!

He did really well, fought well and got into some scrapes but it was so good to watch, very proud of him, he’s good!

Charlotte to Bournemouth

Took Charlotte and three friends (Mae, Georgia and Hannah Charles) down to Bournemouth today. Got down there really quick time with no hassle and dropped them right by the Aquarium, I then went along to Durley Chime and found somewhere to park and walked back into the Town Centre – it was so bloody hot it was unbelievable. Set up camp in a Costa Coffee shop – no air conditioning – and worked for a few hours. Kept in touch with Charlotte and she was having a great time on the beach.

For lunch I sat by the balloon and then went to the other Costa for a change in scenery! Charlotte wanted picking up around 6.30pm and we then walked along to get the car.

They all had a great day and appreciated me driving them there so that was pleasing

It was interesting on the way down there as two of them had never been to Bournemouth before and Charlotte was astounded. “What?!?! I have practically grown up there!”. She then took control getting dinner as well by taking them to the usual chip shop and saying that we always eat from there.

It’s nice to feel we’re giving her experiences like this and also giving her ‘traditions’ that hopefully she’ll see through with her kids…

How much for an oven?!?!?

We had an appointment with Miele today out at Abingdon and instead of just being allowed to wander around a showroom we had a chap called Chris walk us round and tell us everything you could ever need to know about ovens. I won’t bore you on here, although it was actually very interesting indeed and I can see why some people are very good cooks if they have all the help from the oven that these were offering.

I think that these are going to be out of our range but it was an exciting hour to compliment the hour on Saturday at Crown so hopefully we can find something close to what’s on offer there. I had no idea ovens could offer so much!!

Tennis weaknesses exposed cruelly

Flat out busy today and sweltering in the sun again but Jack ask if I would play him at tennis down at Ally Courts. I really didn’t want to but thought back to the book that I had read about spending time with the kids when they want to spend time with me because all too soon they won’t want to spend any time with me and it prompted me to cycle down the road with him.

Was a bit nervous about using the facilities without paying but apparently it’s okay, so we had one ball between us and match a set, I was useless and he was quite good. We had a laugh and it was really good fun, I am so glad that I did it, I need to spend more time with him and the others as well. Perfect example is Lewis leaving home soon, I won’t have that time again with him.

Paul & Pauline’s Party

BBQ and a few drinks!

Quite a few more than a few drinks as you would expect!!

Can’t remember much more, the note above is all I had…

Paul’s Stag Weekend

Had a really good time!

Didn’t expect it to be – great bunch of lads, I started picking the lads up from Oxford around 10.15am, went to Tesco’s and got some food and drink and then drove to Leicester

They started drinking, when we got to the place there were four army tents that allowed you to have 8 men each, then also 4 tee-pees that would house about 4-5 people easily and they had stoves to keep you warm and cook and then also army bunk beds

Relaxed from 4.00pm onwards with drinks watching other people turn up and got to know the lads I was with. Had a kick about and then I did the food as usual – BBQ food, but other blokes were there for Stag weekends (no Hens whatsoever) so all very ‘blokey’.  Everyone just mixed in with everyone else – had a shed load of beers and then crashed out

Saturday morning – bit of breakfast, again I cooked, then we went gorge scrambling which entailed being in waterproof boiler type suits, wellies and wearing helmets and then literally crawling and scrambling through this huge great stream. Over, under and through – it was really good fun – such a laugh, didn’t expect it to be to be honest – we all enjoyed it.

Team-building experience, after a few attempts to empty your wellies of the water you just gave up and accepted you were going to be soaked throughout. Wet to the bone.

At the end of that, knackered, stopped for a beer then back to the campsite – more beers. Loads of us just had 20 mins shut-eye and then got ready to go out and the lady at the campsite organised a minibus to get us into Ashbourne. Nice enough village, Paul didn’t want to go to derby or a City, I think he was worried about us stitching him up and wanted it to be quieter and a normal night out but we had no plans to do that to him.

Got dropped off at a wine bar and it was a bit subdued and quiet and you could tell people were thinking it’s 7.45pm and this place is dead, is this really going to be our night until midnight. Had some food and played drinking games to try and liven up and make the best of it when Sunil came back from the toilets and said, “Guys, you’ve got to come with me and go downstairs”.

Went downstairs – it was heaving and was a huge rocking disco – we’d been missing out of this and thought the wine bar was as lively as it gets in Ashbourne!! So we were happy now!

Phoned the Taxi man to change pick up time from 12.30am to 2.00am and then just partied and it was really good fun and a laugh. Thought it was a gay club initially as it was packed with blokes but that soon changed as the evening bore on, no hassle or trouble or silliness, we just enjoyed our company and because there was nothing “extra marital” it was nice we didn’t have to hide anything when getting home and getting stories right.

So, Sunday I drove everyone home – was very hungover! Got them all home safely though and slept for about 4 hours in the afternoon, and that was it

Had a good weekend – look forward to seeing the lads again for the wedding.

Charlotte Prom and Crazy Bear Garden Party

Friday – Charlotte’s prom – all her friends turned up to our house and gradually her list of people coming got bigger and bigger and bigger! Obviously it was only a couple of drinks but it ended up about 40-odd children, many we didn’t even know. Everyone looked great and made such an effort. The lads all smart and the girls all in their nice dresses – it was exciting for them. Tash was making Vodka cocktails and I was handing out beers and loads of photos were taken.

I think they’d have been quite happy to have stayed out ours as it was nice weather and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere but they needed to leave to walk up to the hotel at the top of the road – all of them went and it looked great walking through the village. It went really well! Her mates all liked it as a pre-party and had said to her how surprised they were that me and Tash were handing out the booze – but in an hour they weren’t going to get hammered were they?

Picked Charlotte up the next morning – she was struggling – very tired! She’d only been asleep for an hour or two – unfortunately she said the prom didn’t really live up to expectations, the food and atmosphere was all a bit flat and they joking said it all started on a high at ours and went downhill as the night wore on. But she said it was good so I am pleased about that and she enjoyed herself and it was memorable.

Sounds like it could have been better – ah well.

Saturday was the garden party at The Crazy Bear. Jack had karate and Tash was working at a wedding so I picked her up about 3.30pm when it was over and we went over to Stadhampton for 4.00pm, saw a few people we knew and met up with John and Pauline and Julie and Mark and then had a good time relaxing and eating and drinking. We were in VIP section so that was a treat – as much of food and drink as we wanted and waiter service. So that was good! Music was fun, Stacey Solomon was there, as were JLS and Fun Loving Criminals. It was good, could have been better but they ruined it in the end as they had a great disco feeling going on and then at 11.00pm they stuck on some hill billy act and they were utter shit – completely killed the mood. Just because they’ve been at Glastonbury and it cleared the place – we left early at midnight.

Sunday – worked all day, either on customer work or raising invoices.

A really enjoyable weekend all told.