ABC - Lexicon of Love

 As you all know this is my favourite album of all time and takes pride of place in the centre of my gallery of albums in the bar.

So when I heard that ABC were going to do a tour to mark the 40th Anniversary of the release of the album by simply playing it from start to finish live there was absolutely no way I was going to miss out on that. I'd got the tickets on the morning of release and John & Pauline were coming as well.

There was no way I wasn't going to enjoy and remember this event so when we went for a beer before the show I think I only had one - similar to the Pet Shop Boys evening.

It was brilliant - I loved every minute of it, we had good seats near the front and I was like a kid in a sweet shop, they kept laughing at me as I sat on the end of my seat straining forward to hear everything and take it all in.

They got it spot on by playing some of the music from other albums (Lexicon of Love 2 and Zillionaire) in the first half and then after the break it was the album itself, magical! Shame there was no dancing as such but the place erupted with The Look of Love and they used that as the encore as well which wasn't surprising as it went down a storm.

Such a fantastic memory, it was good as he asked the crowd if anyone was in the New Theatre when ABC played here about 40 years ago and of course, I was there then!!

Brilliant, brilliant night - loved it.

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Royal Ascot

 So we were posh today! Very, very lucky indeed. 

It was Clare Barnes 50th birthday celebration (belated) and Greg had organised for us to go to Ascot for the day in the Princess Anne enclosure - what a day it was, we were treated like Royalty!

So we went to Wooton (Didcot) to meet up and there were 10 of us in total - Miles and Lucy were meeting us there. So x2 new couples we needed to mingle and get to know and it was fine and comfortable, they were friendly enough. Had a drink of bubbly - it was early - and then the taxi arrived to take us there.

Not long and we were at the hustle and bustle of Ascot and it was great, we were in the Princess Anne enclosure and had a table to ourselves with unlimited drinks and loads of food all through the day - it was an amazing experience. 

Didn't go overboard on the free drink, partly because it was midweek but more importantly neither of us wanted to show ourselves up or let Clare and Greg down - so we kept very much within control, which was a pleasant change! 

Forgot to take any cash but fired up the Paddy Power app and was able to use that all day, worked a treat. I had mixed fortunes - no one in our group was a gambler so it was very much a case of guesswork but I ended up even so can't complain.

We wandered about but when the racing finished we were on a tight timeline to get the taxi and leave so we didn't stay for any after-party or music - but that was okay - we stuck my Spotify on!

After we'd dropped Clare and Greg home the taxi took us back to Oxford train station and everyone went their own ways - Charlotte came to pick us up and couldn't believe how "sober" we were.

Anyway, not all about the drink is it and we proved that, although I've mentioned it numerous times in the post!!

It was definitely a day to remember and we were so pleased and grateful to have been invited and included. 

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Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge

 Tash has been training for a while with Anna Ballance to complete the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge - I wasn't to be involved at all but unfortunately, Anna got Covid so dropped out at the last minute. Tash didn't want to delay any further because of other events and activities planned in the coming weeks so she decided to go ahead with it and I offered to drive her up and accompany her instead (obviously not n the walk itself!! I'm not mental!)

So, I left work early on the Friday and set up in the back of Vinnie with my laptop on the table and Tash drove off and for the next few hours I worked on emails etc offline - it worked really well - bit bumpy and felt a bit travel sick if the truth be told, it wasn't as comfortable and steady as if we were on the train, but it worked. When we got north of Birmingham I tried out turning my phone into a hotspot and it was brilliant - emails and access to the support website worked super smoothly. Made me start thinking that this is what we definitely need to start doing much more of - I could just as easily have been sitting at my desk at home. The only thing that would be an issue is web calls - but if I can avoid those then all is good! Anyway, something to think about for the future and having long weekends away.

Tash started to tire of the driving after a few hours, and I felt sick enough, so I drove the rest of the way up there - bloody long way. We got to the Yorkshore Dales National Park and it was beautiful, it really was, very impressed. I dropped Tash off at her "hostel" and then headed for my campsite which was about 20 mins away with Bessie. As I was unloading the van I found Tasha's walking boots - tried calling but mobile reception where she was wasn't good but got through to the hostel and they located her and yes, she did need them!! So off I went back there again, didn't mind as it wasn't too far and was another excuse to drive through the hills and countryside.

Back to the campsite and just relaxed with Bess, nice dog walking area. 

Saturday was the day of the walk and Tash set off around 6.15am, I was awake of course and wished her luck (then went back to sleep!), the location of the campsite was great and I had a good view and I just sat and worked all day with the van door opening looking out - interupted work with walking Bess and eating and getting the odd update from Tash as they got phone signal on the walk - she was doing it pretty quickly and was enjoying it.

As the day wore on (around 4.00pm) I thought to myself, "I'm up here in this amazing area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I am sat here on my laptop doing work for no additional pay and no additional thanks - what the fuck am I doing???" Yes it felt good to have got things up to date but I have so many alerts and reminders telling me that work is "never done/completed" - so I decided right then to close the laptop and get out exploring - Tash wouldn't need me until about 6.30pm.

So Bess and I went for a drive and up on the Dales and it was spectacular, loved it, parked the van, took photos and let Bess run wild - a couple of cars went passed and loads of keen cyclists - some big hills to climb which I would not have fancied! Really enjoyed it, photos don't do those sort of views justice to be honest but got some good ones. 

Then after a bit we went back and travelled to the hostel to meet Tash as she walked in and completed the trek - I was too late! They'd already got in and she'd collected her stuff and that and didn't want to stay with her new friends any longer so came back to the campsite with me. She was due to stay one more night and have dinner with the hotel people but preferred my company, I guess I should be flattered.. :-) Had a nice evening and caught up on her stories of the experience, hopefully when I am sorted with a new hip then I'll be in a position to join her on these sorts of excursions as opposed to being the backup/base camp!

Next day (Sunday) we mad our way home and stopped off near Manchester and met up with Lewis is a very nice village for a coffee and cake and catch up. Then carried on home - shit traffic and it took bloody ages, but all in all a really good weekend, well worth it.

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