A weekend in Norfolk

We decided to take a long weekend in Norfolk as the Company that we have purchased our caravan from was having an open weekend. Why we decided to buy our Caravan in Norfolk approx 150 miles away when the local Bailey caravan dealer is only 30 miles away is a long story and not for here.
So we headed off on Saturday morning to Dereham where the Caravan Retailer is based and spend a pleasant couple of hours browsing and eating bacon sandwiches. After this we headed off to Cromer and looked around the town and pier which has been restored. Were surprised at the artist appearing in Cromer, see some of the pictures on the PHOTO BLOG, including Joe Brown and 'The Bruvvers' and Marty Wilde. I though they were dead!
We then headed back to the Hotel we had found on the web. This was called the Barnham Broom Golf and Country Club which is outside of Norwich and surrounded by rolling hills and two golf courses. This was a great find, they Hotel was very nice and also quite cheap, Bed, Breakfast and 3 course evening meal for £105.00 for two people. The food was excellent and so was the Hotel and we will return.
On Sunday we went to Wroxham and a few miles we parked and did a long walk through the country before heading to the coast and have a quick bite of lunch. The weather was not to bad, a bit breezy and some sun every now and again but we enjoyed our walk and the views. This area is very quiet in January compared to the height of the season when it is packed with holiday makers.
Back to the Hotel for Dinner, which was again really excellent. Monday saw us doing a four mile walk around the Hotel and Golf Course and then down to the local villages. A very pleasant walk indeed in very nice countryside. At about 1130 we left to visit the home of The Essex Pig at
Jimmy's Farm, for those who watched the BBC TV series it was about a East End London boy who decided to run a farm and revive the 'Essex Pig'. So we visited the farm and bought some meat for later use. Then we headed to the dreaded M25 early to try and avoid the traffic which we were successful in doing.
A very pleasant weekend indeed and one that we will repeat.

The Hillier Gardens in Hampshire

The weather today was bright, although on the chilly side, and after many days of rain and wind and more rain and wind it was time to get out of the house and do something.

We had previously stumbled upon this large garden whilst driving in Hampshire a couple of years ago and so it seemed like a good idea to re-visit and spend some time there. We arrived after a slow drive in the countryside and immediately hit the restaurant for a cup of tea but changed our minds when we found that bangers and mash were on the menu.

Afterwards we looked around the estate of about 180 acres and although is was mid January there were winter daffodils already out and also the camellias were starting to show.
This garden would be great to visit later in the spring when everything is growing and this we shall certainly do.

Noel took a few photos which can be seen on the Photo Blog if you are interested.

The web site for the garden is http://www.hilliergardens.org.uk/ this place is well worth a visit and the Bangers and Mash are great to.

A pleasant drive home through the River Test Valley where there are some beautiful homes.

New Year's Day London Parade 21st Birthday

What a beautiful morning after a very good night at our friends Gerry and Toni Wensley. Together with some other neighbours and friends we celebrated New Year's Eve in a fine way.
We decided to visit the London New Year's Day Parade again as we had missed it last year as we were in Florida. So we caught an 'earlyish' train up to Waterloo Station and headed across Westminster Bridge to join the massive crowds.
We found a good spot near the start and the sun was shining down although it was low in the sky which did cause me a few photo problems. Anyway enough of that.
Around 10,000 people took part in the parade with at least 1,500 visiting from the United States of America. There were cheerleaders as well as many marching bands. Some of the bands carried out great choreography whilst delivering their music, a fantastic sight to behold and much appreciated by the growing audience.
Apart from the many bands, there were floats from many of the London borough councils.
Of course the pearly Kings and Queens were there.
The Parade started with the Choir from Walker Valley High School in Tennessee singing the British National anthem followed immediately by the Honda Goldwing Club of Great Britain. The parade lasted almost 2.5 hours without a break and some of the floats were truly great whilst some of the Chinese dancers were terrific.

The colourful outfits worn by many of the participants are seen on our Photo Blog site.
It was a really great way to spend the first day of the year and the weather stayed bright and blue for most of the day.

A happy Christmas and New Year to all our readers

We wish you a happy Christmas and an even better New Year

Noel and Jennifer

Well after an early morning start from home we headed towards Folkstone and the Channel Tunnel for a quick trip across the English Channel, or under it really!

We arrived near Lille Airport and stopped for lunch in a nice restaurant that Noel have eaten at before whilst on business a business trip in this area.
The prime reason for this visit to Lille, apart from increasing our wine stocks in time for Christmas, was to visit a number of Bathroom shops to get ideas for the development of our house in Weybridge. The price of bathroom furniture appears to be around 30 per cent cheaper than the UK and with a bigger choice.

It was raining but we still spent late Monday afternoon walking around Lille old town. We were hoping to visit the Christmas Market but unfortunately it was closed so we went to see the film by Sacha Baron Cohen, 'Bhorat' a tour of America, really quite funny, followed by a visit to a small restaurant for a Gallette Raclette and a wee drop of the house red wine. Excellent.

Tuesday was a beautiful day but cold. This was a great day to walk around the town and see all the sites, well almost all. The Christmas Market was in full swing with many English people and school parties there. The atmosphere was tremendous and so was the Hot mulled red wine. That evening was spent with my ex- business colleague Laurence Henno and her husband with their son Nicolas , a very pleasant evening indeed but a bit late.

We were staying in an Hotel called Alliance Couvent des Minimes, which is an old Convent which has been converted in to a very nice Hotel indeed and it is well placed if you want to walk around Lille old town.



One thing about France is their love of lunch, where else in the world would you find somewhere in the middle of a busy Town where you can park your car for free at lunch time, albeit only for 90 minutes. On Wednesday we left the Hotel and headed South towards the French part of B & Q called Castorama. As previously mentioned these stores sell pretty much the same as you get in your local B & Q but much much cheaper. One item selling for 850 Euros was a combined power shower and walk in shower cabinet with multiple smaller outlets that sells in the UK for £1450.00. You work it out, is this a rip off or what??
The Castorama we visited was at a new 'Centre Commercial' about 15 miles south of Lille in an area the size of Heathrow Airport, if not bigger, and it had just about every major department store chain known to man. There were also cinemas and multiple restaurants. We visited 'Auchan' in a building about the size of Wembley Stadium, most impressive and the choice was phenomenal. For anybody that's interested it is off Junction 17 of the A1 between Lille and Paris. We will return!!! Then back to the coast for our train back to 'Blighty', we made it back to Weybridge by 7pm. I could not believe the M25 was so quick, I can only assume there was an accident somewhere holding them all up. A very good journey indeed.

A few photos of Trees in our garden and a visit to Shere

A few pictures of our trees as they change in the Autumn weatherand also a few photos around a little village called Shere.
See main PHOTOBLOG for more pictures.

We have bought our new Caravan at last

Well, we have finally gone and done it, as they say... We visited tha caravan show at the Excel Exhibition centre and ordered a new caravan for delivery next March/April time. Its a a model called a Baliey Senator Louisiana.
The picture to the left is of a similar model. and a little dirty, but you can see that its quite a big van.
In fact its about 25 feet long and 7' 6" inches wide and weighs about 1750 kilos when fully loaded.
We have chosen the basic colour scheme for the upholstery and will add a few extras like a caravan mover, which is an remote controlled system, which drives the wheels by electric motors when parking. NO REVERSING FOR ME OLD CHAP!!!

It comes with a complete shower and full bathroom, oven and microwave and a large refrigerator and freezer, so this allows plenty of room for the booze and some food. Ours a fixed double bed model, so no making up beds en-route.


So next year starting around April or May we shall be heading of for France for a few weeks to get used to it, we will come back to our home in July and and August and then continue our tour of Europe in September and October or until the weather gets to bad.
We are both looking forward to getting or caravan and starting a travels in Europe. We intend to visit as many countries as we can during the months of April to October, with the balance of the time at home or Florida or wherever its warmer than here.
We shall have to call the caravan a name, so any suggestions would be greatfully received

Florida Botanical Gardens and Historic Village

We spent half a day at the above location , well worth the visit. For fulle photo shots see the photo blog on phanfare.

Back to the cold weather

Well we arrived back in Gatwick Airport on the BA flight from Tampa at 0900 on Wednesday morning where it was grey and overcast with a temperature of 6 degrees centigrade. Welcome home after 3 weeks of almost wall to wall sun and at around 30 degrees C. We spent the last couple of day after the part of the week just recovering and taking it easy except when we went to Culture Centre in Indian Rocks.All pictures of this very nice park are on the Photo Blog so please see link to view. So the Blog will become a little quiet until we head off again... All readers take care.
PS :-The above picture is of the sun going down over Weybridge-if only

The Joyce Jenkyn 60th Birthday Party, 3-5 November 2006

Relatives and friends from around the world, USA and UK actually, came to join Joyce and celebrate her 60^th birthday. Actually Joyce’s birthday is the 25^th December which is not a great time to celebrate as other events also take place on this day. So it was decided to bring the event forward, avoiding Thanksgiving, and making a three day party of it.
The Holiday Inn at ||Indian Rocks was chosen as the party base with those travelling from greater distances arriving over a couple of days and to meet for the opening event at the pub in the hotel followed by dinner at the famous ‘Crabby Bills’. We had about 25 people attending this opening event. The seafood was excellent and so was the company.
Saturday morning brought about a late breakfast in the hotel and we all made our own way to Adrian and Joyce’s Condo about two miles away. Jennifer and I walked with Wanda Pointek via the beach both before and after the lunchtime session which finished around 3.30 pm. The evening event was in the ‘Brewmaster’ restaurant in the Hotel where about 20 participants joined in. A number of Joyce and Adrian’s friends at the Yacht club could not attend this night due to this event clashing with a Yacht Club event. The hardy ones carried on in Adrian and Joyce Hotel room. The evening was made extra pleasurable as they had arranged for a caricaturist to create pictures of the attendees; these will be published on the Jenkyn.com website in the near future. Going to bed was a little later tonight than planned.
Sunday saw us all off to a good start and we hit the trolley bus down to ‘The Pub’ for a brunch. This little restaurant right alongside the inland waterway was a great place to start the day and a number of Bloody Mary’s and pills were seen to be in strong evidence.
Following breakfast we went back to the trolley and down to Johns Pass, which is a waterside shopping and restaurant area. Upon arrival we immediately set about the beer and a few more Bloody Mary’s to kick start the shopping spree. We all departed our own way to meet later but it was not long before the troops turned up at the soon to be famous ‘Bamboo’ Pub where the resident Pizza delivery man ‘Mike Calzone’ was entertaining the audience with some great music and songs of all types. A very pleasant 45 minutes was spent listening to this chap.
However, the Commander in Chief, Joyce got us up and running back to the Trolley for the drive down to Pass-a-Grille, interesting name for a place, where we would view the sunset from the terrace of the Hurricane Restaurant and bar. To see the demise of the sun we all took on board the drink of the bar called a ‘Hurricane’ which contains most liquor’s together with sulphuric acid and a few other chemicals. At the appointed time 1753 hrs when the sun should be dipping below the horizon and casting a beautiful light over the sea, all we got was black clouds. Uhmm something went wrong with the arrangements here however the moon popped up the other side and we looked at that instead. We then had a short but excellent and illegal firework display before we hit the trolley back to a restaurant for the final dinner.
A number of people had unfortunately returned to distant parts and the numbers were dwindling down to the hard core. The dinner was very nice and ‘Curtis’ our waiter worked quite hard to satisfy the demands of the remaining few.
A few short speeches were made in the blur of alcohol before we all headed, very tired, back to the hotel.
It was a lovely few days, it was great to meet a number of people who lived in Tokyo during our time at the start of the ‘Tokyo British Club’ and also meet Joyce’s family members.
Most of the people attending the event took photos galore, and many will soon to be on the Jenkyn website whilst we will do our usual Blogs with photos as well.
A good time was had by all and now we all need a day to recuperate.

Thursday/Friday 2-3 November Last days in Sarasota

A good walk to start Thursday was very good with the sun shining and a great temperature. After yesterdays busy day we took it easy and went to the cinema to see a film called ‘The Departed’ which was a very good, but bloody and violent, Boston based cops and crooks drama. Well worth seeing if you can understand what is going on.
After sorting out the house on Friday morning we headed North back to Indian Shores and to the Holiday Inn Hotel which will be our base before we leave back to Blighty. We are back in Indian Shores to attend Joyce Jenkyn’s 60^th Birthday party which is subject to a separate report.
On our way back from Sarasota we crossed over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, see picture, this is an amazing piece of architecture and very interesting to travel on.
The next Blog will contain all the Party Information and events during the three day party.

Wednesday 1st November- A Doctor’s Visit and USA observations

My ear has been playing up for the last couple of weeks and so I decided to see a local Doctor. ‘Oops!’ About £100 pounds later I left after being seen for a total of about 9 minutes having waited almost 45 minutes, so I assume they charge you for waiting in their surgery as surely it can’t be £600 per hour, or can it?
Anyway I have just discovered that the food store that we raved about in an earlier bulletin is opening their first shop in Kensington in 2007 and this will certainly be worth a visit. Also whilst having lunch and looking at the internet I noticed that, I think it was Abbey National, will be offering mortgages based on five times salary.
By comparison I came across the following advert for a home mortgage and quite frankly I don’t know what they are talking about.

Here it is, word for word

Up in Arms over your adjustable rate loan? How about these options

+100% 80/20 Confirming and JUMBO COMBO with fixed 2nds

+One single loan at 100%

+Low fixed rates

If you can work that out please let me know as I don’t have a clue.

The fountain outside the apartment started working today, at last, it looks very nice indeed but the Alligator has moved on to more peaceful surroundings.
The mid term elections are taking place and the TV, radio and streets are full of adverts for the various participants. Most of the TV is what you would call negative campaigning. One party even accuses another party of quote ‘not even showing up for work during his time in the house’

John Kerry, presidential campaigner has just blown it by losing his words and stated at a University during his campaign speech that you can work very hard at University and get on in life or if you do not you go to Iraq!!!. George Bush is elated by this blunder whilst families all over USA are demanding personal apologies for his comments about their kids in the forces in Iraq. Way to go!!
Finally, a film has just been released here which is made up of video footage and called The Death of a President all about the killing of George Bush whilst President, there has been an outcry about this but people are going to see it, maybe to get ideas?

Isn’t free speech a wonderful thing.

Tuesday 31 October- Halloween in America

Well at the crack of dawn (0900 hours actually, which is crack of dawn for us retired folk, we left Sarasota on the Interstate 75 going south to Sanibell which is north of Naples, Florida and is an area where the rich people live along with considerable wildlife, hence our visit.
We spent a couple of hours at the Tarpon Bay Nature Reserve which we visited earlier this year only to find that the birds were on vacation in England or somewhere, anyway there was not much wildlife about apart from a couple of birds.
So we headed North through miles and miles of new housing developments, some were Ok but others you wonder why they were built?. Some houses were built in the middle of a large field no doubt to await the arrival of other new houses, how horrible. But the amount of housing being built just in the small area we saw was incredible, I didn’t know there were so many trees in America.
The roads to Venice were the typical boulevard which went on for miles with malls, car breakers, cheap take-away restaurants and then the occasional expensive gated housing. We also saw housing developments for the over 55 years, so we could with a bit of luck get in there.
However after an hour or so we arrived in Venice, Florida and not like the real Venice in Italy however as it was Halloween night the local families were parading the streets and allowing their children to take advantage of the ‘trick and treat’ tactics. All the family seemed to get involved in this practise as yo can see from the photographs. We arrived a bit late for the event and we were luck with the timing as suddenly the heavens opened and it bucketed with rain. Out timing was good as we had just arrived back at the car.
We also came upon the shop selling Green Parrots, the relevance of this is only known to the close Groves family group of the 25 year old Green Parrot Club the home of Rover the invisible dog.

So we left Venice and headed North as it began to get dark, now that the clock has gone back its gets dark here around 1800 hrs. And so to bed….