Where has the time gone??

Well time seems to have flown by in the last few weeks with us enjoying time with the family plus a trip back to West Byfleet to see how the new house is coming along.

So starting with the house visit a couple of weeks ago the journey up was appalling with with heavy rain all the way but when we got to to Weybridge we were unable to visit the Cafe One which has been a regular haunt and ended up in a new place for a a bacon sandwich for lunch followed by Noel getting a haircut for the first time in a few months. We stayed the night in the Hilton Cobham, good rates and near West Byfleet, and then we went to building site and found that our house was being painted, which is great, but the wrong colour which was not so great. Because they were painting we could net see anything really as all the kitchen and bathroom furniture was covered so not really a good visit but they have in the meantime repainted the house as required.

We found that on the Wednesday night when we were there that all restaurants were fully booked due to the Government assistance and so we had difficulty finding somewhere but e chanced upon a Fish and Chip restaurant in West Byfleet which had a special room upstairs, called Jane upstairs, where we could enjoy table service Fish and Chips from down stairs plus a bottle of wine and its walking distance from the new house.  Following that we did a quick visit to Waitrose across the road and it at least twice the size of the one in Weybridge and we are really hoping they have as good a fish counter as the Waitrose in Wellington, Somerset, time will tell.

Last weekend it was Noels birthday on the 22nd of August and it was great that our son and daughter and connected families were all together in Taunton and we could enjoy their company and have lunch together in the local farm shop café which was really nice. It was fun to watch the kids demolish ice cream sundaes.

We have experienced very strong winds and rain during the past week and the awning was taking a battering and the locks on the legs not holding and then the neighbours suggested putting jubilee clips on and so on last Monday we went to Wickes in Taunton and got some jubilee clips and also some pipe insulation for later this year to stop all the water pipe freezing up. We fitted the jubilee clips on Tuesday and that required a complete tightening of all poles and this resulted in a much tighter and stronger awning.

Well this is being written on yet another wet day, in fact very wet and it has not stopped all since we woke up. We did have ideas of going to the seaside and eat fish and chips in the car but changed our minds as its so bad weather wise and opted for a steak and salad in the van and then a pleasant afternoon nap. We also recd a photo of the repainted front entrance and downstairs corridor from the site including a photo of the guys preparing the front pathways, looking good.

This Covid thing keeps on going and is ruining daily life for millions of people but I suspect as some time we will just have to accept just like the flu and hopefully they can find and antidote soon as the number of deaths is working its way to one million which is not good at all. Oh well lets see what happens.

Various comments on life

Hi. Have just watched the full footage of the arrest and killing allegedly of George Floyd which has caused riots all over the world as this was classed as a racist attack. The Washing Post that rubbish newspaper printed a report as they were the only newspaper allowed to see the complete tape which clearly indicated that the police were very much at fault, but when you watch the video from start to finish things are not what they seem. Why they did not publish the video earlier I do not not know but in the meantime the BLM were calling for the death penalty or at least being charged and jailed for murder but once you see the full video, there is perhaps no charge to answer for. The guy was drugged up to to the eyeballs and already complaining he could not breath even before the police touched him, take a look .

Anyway this single event has caused the riots all over USA and Europe and all were incorrect. A well known Black American has said that Black Lives only matter when there is a white man involved but in the majority of cases its black man killing black man which nobody seems to care about in the daily press? you work it out.

A  bit quieter week last week after quite busy few days in the pervious week. We have decided to buy a new television for the caravan as the current is is a bit small and when you watch a film with subtitles its a bit difficult to read. This TV has been excellent but we had a small one as we were using it on our touring holidays and it needed to be packed away each time we moved location and a bigger TV would have given us a storage problem but now being fixed in ne location we have jumped for a 18 inch to a 28 inch smart tv which is really great. We were planning a lunch out with our daughter but the usual places were packed out due to the current government incentive on Monday to Wednesday inclusive and so we visited Waitrose in Wellington and bought salad stuff which we ate inside as the weather had turned rather wet.

Lexus seem to have buggered up the installation of the Wi-Fi hotspot in the car by allowing the dealer to put in a part which was not fully supported. This problems has resulted in endless phone calls and three visits to Exeter over the past three weeks but know they seem hopeful t may be finalised next week, we shall see as I have told them if it does not work by the end of next week then money back please.

We resorted the layout in the awning and its much better with lots more room and all it took was ten minutes and a bottle of wine!!! Ha not true but now its easy to use the table in the awning for eating rather than having to fight our way past relaxer chairs.

The caravan site is still quite full and is apparently so for the rest of August and in to September which is really good for the site owner as they had a tough start to the year. COVID 19 has impacted everybody's life during this year and there still some stupid people out there not following the rules of social distancing and its appears its is mostly the younger generation and the Asians who all live in large families and close together and as one Mayor said that many of the people in Leicester who cam from Bangladesh did not understand either written or verbal English and totally ignored the requirements of social distancing.

Moving on lets hope somebody sorts out the every growing amount of people crossing the English Channel in Boats is its dangerous enough and its the French Authorities are supporting it seems with the   government taking no action, send in the submarines….that's what I say.

Finally Chelsea lost, as expected, in Germany yesterday with only half a full team, lets hope that Frank can sort it out.

Quite a busy week really

As the weather was nice ths last week we decided now that we have pretty much sorted the paperwork and the caravan that a few days out would be nice so as Noel was committed to a Video Conference on Monday lunchtime for an hour or so we planned to take a trip out on Tuesday and Wednesday as follows. So on Tuesday we drove over to the old town of Dulverton for lunch at the Copper Kettle which we have visited before and had a very good lunch indeed although the service was a little on the slow side but they had tables well spaced and and the staff wearing either masks or facemasks.

On Wednesday we took a trip down to the Clatworthy Reservoir and walked around there for a while and then headed of to Wimbleball Lake which was quite busy with a lot of campers and people on the lake fishing and sailing and so we stopped and had a cup of tea and a cake before heading back via all the small country lanes to the caravan for a quiet evening watching TV and packing for the trip up to the smoke, as they say.

On Thursday we drove back to Weybridge area for both of us to meet u with friends at two different locations but then we ended up together and finally left to check in to the Hotel just before 9.30 PM but a lovely day with friends whilst Jennifer's group celebrated her up coming birthday. On Friday Jennifer had a dental appointment then Noel had the car seen to at the Polish car wash before Jennifer met with a group of lady friends in out old road whilst Noel did the same and had lunch in the steak house in Ottershaw followed by a few glasses of plonk in the beautiful garden by the River Wey whilst watching the boats and canoes etc go by.

We had enjoyed two nights in the Cobham Hilton Hotel and although we had been offered beds by friends we do like to have our on space and not be beholding ,as they say. We then headed to see our son and daughter-in-law and grandchild for a light snack sandwich lunch before we headed to the dreaded A 303 which we new woud be slow and in the end we diverted via Salisbury to miss the usual huge delays at Stonehenge where peope seem to stop driving normally and look at this pile of stones whilst slowing down the traffic and having accidents causing even more delays.

We finally made it back to caravan with a trip that was about 45 minutes longer than usual but in time to see Chelsea to get beaten in the FA Cup Final, shame as they started of well then followed by two serious injuries and an incorrect sending off, so bit of a disaster really.

Oh well we have a much quieter week next week apart from a planned trip to Exeter and Salcombe.