We have been so busy!!!

Well the last week or so has been so busy you cannot believe. Quite a number of house guests as well. Vickie my ex pa who now has a great job in the company came and spent an evening with us and it was great to talk over old times. Noel has been working quite hard on the Pandair Reunion which took place on Friday 23 October with about 65 people attending and I am glad to say it was a great success based on the huge amount of feedback. If you want to know more about this function check out the following web pages http://pandair.blogspot.com/
Roger and Sue our friends who we stayed in Spain with came to spend two night and also another friend Brian and also Jan from Holland who had failed to make a Hotel booking and so we almost had a full house. Saturday morning entailed a great walk to Walton Bridge where the five of us, Noel,Jen, Roger, Sue and Brian were joined by John and Lyn for a breakfast at the 'Josefs' Cafe. A good breakfast was had by all. WE got back to the house around 11.30 as Joanne was arriving for her day of tripping the light fantastic in readiness for here forthcoming wedding. Saturday night we had a BBQ for about 14 including us, thank heavens it did not rain, and it was a really great night indeed with mulled wine and Indian snacks followed by to much steak, BBQ'd leg of lamb, pork ribs and sausages and rather a lot of wine. Boy were we slow on Sunday and thankful for the extra hour it provided. Although our guests helped us partly clear up the previous night there was still a bit of sorting out to do and the great job of cleaning the BBQ grills for the winter. An afternoon of football on Sky and we had an early night. Noel had a lunch with ex business colleagues in Egham and perhaps overdid the wine a little but a great time was meeting people not seen for many years. A necessary trip to the Charlton dump with all the garden rubbish, the leaves have started to fall and so we will have to go every week for a while. Jennifer and Joanne spent time on Tuesday evening decorating the wedding cake whilst Noel watched the football. On Thursday 29th as the weather was bright it was pretty much the last chance to close down the caravan for winter and put on its cover to keep it clean over the long months. Noel purchased a couple of years ago,a small trickle charger for the Leisure battery which needs to be kept charged to enable the security tracking system to stay on and this also need to be fitted. And now we are pretty much up to date and we are having some venetian blinds being fitted in the Garden room today which hopeful should finish this room from a decoration perspective. Phew it has been busy. On Saturday we are going to the Royal Albert Hall where Joanne and many others are taking part in the 'Festival of Sound and Voices' in aid of Cancer Research. The following is the description of the concert from the Albert Hall website

"The tri-annual Cancer Research UK Festival of Brass and Voices brings together the collective sound of one thousand five hundred male and female voices from around the UK for an evening of traditional and classical music. The theme of the festival follows closely the format of the Last Night of the Proms, where audience participation is included in such pieces as Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. The choirs will be accompanied by the fantastic Royal Albert Hall organ and two prestigious award-winning champion bands, Grimethorpe Colliery, made famous by the film Brassed Off, and Brighouse and Rastrick, who will be well-remembered for their chart-topping record The Floral Dance. The whole proceedings, including the musical direction, will be under the baton of William Relton, formerly General Manager of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The event, we feel sure, will live up to the standard of all previous festivals, ensuring a most memorable experience for all who attend. This year's festival at the Royal Albert Hall will hope to raise £100,000 for Cancer Research UK, so join us for a truly wonderful evening!"

So we are looking forward to a great evening.

Thursday 8th October- A nice day out and then Oh Bloody hell!

The day did not finish as it started out. Today we left around eleven in the morning for a country side drive up to St Davids bay and an on to the Cathedral and all the beautiful out building including the rectory. The Cathedral is a very interesting building as it is built on the side of a hill and however built it must need a new set of measuring equipment as when you are standing inside the building the floor is sloping the the left and the main supports seem to lean outwards and the general affect can upset you balance. This is not to easy to show on a photograph but take my word for it as it is quite a strange feeling. Its a beautiful old building with a magnificent organ which has be totally renovated. The roof for the building is made out of wood and the design is very different to what you would normally expect to see. The rectory has has also been refurbished and there is a nice little cafe selling some nice hot food where we decided to eat. Adrian and Joyce had a glass of un-blessed plonk with their lunch. We then to the road up to Fishguard and from there headed back to Milford where we arrived around 5 pm. We were just sitting down to enjoy our evening before before heading off to the pub when Joanne called to say that she had dropped my pills from the pharmacy in to the house and noticed water on the kitchen wood floor. Oh my god what is this. It appeared that either the Water Filter valve or something was leaking. So after due consideration we decided to head back home as the last thing we want is a flood in the house. The journey home was slow although we were able to contact the plumber who visited straight away and resolved the matter and it appears there is no damage. It is a big shame that we had to leave Milford as we were planning to re visit Tenby and take some photos and also continue exploring this part of Wales. Adrian and Joyce will still be there until mid November and so we hope to find time to visit again.

Wednesday 7th October- Lets go sightseeing

The weather was a little brighter today and after Adrian had received his brand new garden shed, we need to hold an opening party soon, we had a snack lunch and then all headed off for a trip around the coast.
The views over the estuary were quite magnificent and the amout of ships tied up was quite interesting. We stopped for a coffee and a cake in a small cafe in a sea side town before heading back to Milford with a side strip to Haverfordwest to visit the Homebase and Wickes stores for some reading lights that Noel and Jen are looking for.
It was Fish and Chips tonight from the local store and they were cooked to order and the fish size was extremely good and the quality was excellent. This evening Adrian had booked tickets at the local Civic Theatre where a good travelling reportry group were performing 'She stoops to conquer'
The play was well done but perhaps did not suit all our tastes but it made for a very pleasent eveing indeed.

Tuesday 6th October- What a grey day

It was a grey sky that we looked in too first thing in the morning but that did not put us off. Adrian and Joyce had some jobs to do and so we headed off in the rain towards Tenby which had been recommended to us by Adrian's son Anthony.
Tenby is a bit like Salcombe, where my sister lives, in that clings to the hillsides and overlooks a small port. There are some lovely beached surrounding Tenby and it must be very popular in the the summer.
We did a long walk around the town but as the weather was very dark and grey Noel did not bother taking photos which he now regrets. The town has lots of different and interesting shops which were mostly private owned and managed and not to many of the chains. The little streets and houses were really quite attractive and although there were a few fish and chip shops it was a very nice town.
We had a light lunch as Jennifer is still pushing her diet, got to be sleek for Joanne's the wedding, and then finished off walking around the town as it started to drizzle with rain. Time to leave as we we walked along the main sea front road back to the car park the heavens opened and the rain came sideways from the sea and we both got drenched. By the time we got back to the car water was running down inside Noels trousers let alone outside. Nothing else to do he took off his trousers and sat in his damp underpants which was not a beautiful site.
Turning on the car heather we headed back through the countryside to Milford where upon parking outside, Noel had a choice of walking in his underwear back to the house or putting on sodden trousers and so he chose the former and no doubt upset the neighbours
In the evening we went with Adrian and Joyce to a pub the Adrian uses in a place called Johnstone which is not far from MIlford and there we had a nice dinner although Noels fish was not spectacular and Adrian was right to suggest not choosing it. Better luck next time.
But it was a very pleasant day and we plan later in the week to re visit Tenby and take some photos

Monday 5 th October, We are off to Milford Haven

We planned to visit Adrian and Joyce in their home in in Milford Haven which is about 250 miles from Weybridge. The journey down to Milford was uneventful although when we left the rain was pouring down but as we drove further West the weather seemed to improve.
We arrived in Milford Haven around tea time and got settled in the and then went for a walk along the front overlooking the sea and you could see the Ship Terminals where bulk oil is offloaded and refined in to vehicle fuel. We stopped in a bar for a glass of wine before heading back for an evening of discussion and a few glasses of wine.