Getting Old

 Just recently I planted some grasses in my front garden. Even if I say so myself they did look pretty good.

However, this morning I realised that I was geting old and forgetful.

Mainly because as I was going out to the shops, I commented to the wife how nice the garden was looking when I noticed.

Yep, I had left this grass in the pot, and just laid it on the garden ready to plant. Only I forgot. I have laid it on its side to show where I was going to put it. My wife is still laughing at me.

Trip to Snowdon

 This last weekend the wife and I tried our first ever coach trip. Journey in question was a weekend in Lllandudno, featuring a trip up Snowdon, a visit to Betws y Coed and a few hours wandering around Llandudno itself. A memorable trip for a few reasons. We have been there before but in the summer. There was a Triatholon on the promenade which was exciting to watch and it was also Marlene's (wife) first trip up Snowdon.

We caught the coach in Portchester, so just a few minutes walk from the house at 7:30am Friday morning, then just over 7 hours later we had arrived at the Marine hotel, Llandudno. Four star, but it wasn't bad, rooms were spacious, clean and warm. 

Saturday morning bright and early and we were off to climb Snowdon, well, take the railway up anyway.

Being late September the station wasn't too busy although there quite a few people coming and going at all times, some waiting for the train and other, far more hardy people walking up the mountain.

The journey up by train takes an hour, then you get half an hour at the top and an hour train journey back down. The views on the journey are awesome, up until about halfway the weather was kind and although the sun wasn't exactly shining it was at least bright.

Then, as we got further up the mountain, the mist started to close in and visibility was quite reduced. The good thing is, all the walkers that we saw had all the right gear, plenty of layers and such like. People were taking their dogs with them and even young kids. We spoke to some at the top cafe and everyone seemd to have enjoyed their walk, albeit, some were wet and tired.

Sorry about the picture quality but they are taken from a moving carriage

Then, finally we were there, at the summit. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to get all the way up as weather conditions can change so rapidly. When we started, we were told that the summit was in bright sunshine, as you can see, an hour later it was all change.

A shame really because the views from the top on a sunny day are awesome, you can literally see for miles. However we made it and as Marlene's first trip, she enjoyed it. She even got nearly to the crag on the very top, however she doesn't like heights so stopped about 20 metres short. Brave woman because it was also quite windy.

Then it was off for a quick visit to Betws y Coed. Nothing much there but it is quite pretty, however we have been there numerous times, so we just wandered around and sat and had a chat.

Then back to Llandudno for a meal and a quiet evening. Sunday morning was a wander around the town for a couple of hours before boarding the coach back home. Marlene told me to keep a lookout for a man in a scruffy T-Shirt, walking two welsh terriers and eating a premium scotch egg. Where were you John Gray

As we were walking back down the promenade we saw a Triatholon in progress, it was the Llandudno Sprint Triatholon 2024. 

 

Some very hardy people there, better them than me, that Irish sea was cold.

 

And so we left it all behind at 1pm. got home at 8pm, it was raining, surprise, surprise. A cup of hot chocolate and a bit of relaxation and it was time for bed. Tired but happy. Would we do it again, hmmm. not sure, coach travel takes away the stress of driving and I wasn't tired when we arrived, but it's not the most comfortable way to travel if your a big bloke like me. Not a huge amount of leg room and the seats are a little narrow. Decent value for money though so can't complain.

Christmas is coming.

 So today was a little practise run for Xmas. The wife fancied trying to make sweet mince, which she did quite successfully. Puff pastry and some cooking and we had a taster. The cheesy bacon wraps are her favourite as I don't like cheese. Anyway the verdict is lush. We need to refine the sweet mince slightly and then I'll have a proper baking session with shortcrust pastry and also make my own sausage rolls. Watch this space, lol.

Mmmmm Breakfast

What a way to start a Sunday morning on a wet and dreary day. Poached eggs and bacon on a toasted muffin. We have always eaten fairly healthy, granola for me, porridge for the wife. Maybe a breakfast biscuit. However after a while it starts to get boring so we thought we'd change it up.

 

Finally Finished

 

At last I have finished sanding down the posts at the top of the stairs. Fortunately she "who must be obeyed" only wants the posts and the top bar stained. The spindles and rest will be repainted white, so I have only had to take the old paint off. What a job, however I have sanded the stair boards and everything is now ready for painting. Probably do that next week. No rush, so taking my time to do it properly.

The Wooden Hill

 Don't you just hate it when the wife says, "I have an idea". This particular idea came about when we decided that the stairs and main bedroom needed decorating. Wife decided that she would prefer the bannister and newel posts etc, rubbed down to bare wood and stained.

I did get a quote for some-one to do the job, however £1000 plus materials and it was a no-brainer, do it myself.

So I've started.

                                       

Using a rather well know paint stripper I have managed to get most of the paint off the bannister and posts and with a rough sanding they are starting to loook good. I've had to remove the spindles in order to get to the inside of the posts and that was a job and a half. Only broke one though which doesn't really matter, because rather than strip them down we will buy new ones and just stain them.

Now they are out it's crack on with the rest of the sanding and rubbing down. Going to take a little while but we're in no rush.

I'll let you know when it's all finished.

Coffee & Cake

 Who doesn't like a piece of cake with their coffee. All my life I have loved to bake, however since retiring I have got into the habit of baking a cake a week. Then the wife and I have a slice with our morning  (or afternoon) coffee.

This week it was a lemon drizzle cake, nice and fresh with a lovely sharp taste of lemon.

Heat oven to 180C / 160C fan. Gas 4

RECIPE

225g unsalted butter, 225g caster sugar, 4 eggs, 225g self raising flour, zest of a lemon.

For the toppin

Juice of one and a half lemons, 85g Caster sugar

METHOD

Beat the butter and sugar together then add the eggs one at a time, slowly mixing through so that they don't curdle.

Sift in the flour then add the lemon zest and mix well

I don't use a loaf tin, instead I use a 20cm round silicon dish. I line the bottom of the dish as it makes getting the cake out easier.

Put the mixture in the dish, level with a spoon and bake for 45/50 mins.

Test with a skewer and if it comes out clean, it's baked.

Don't turn the cake out yet. Mix up the lemon juice and sugar, prick the cake all over and then drizzle the mixture over the cake so that it soaks in all the way.

Leave the cake go completely cold so that you end up with a nice crispy, sugary top.

Turn the cake out and enjoy.

Garden Change

This week I have decided to have a change round of the garden in the front of the house. As we have off road parking most of the front is shingle. However there are a couple of area's that I have utilised so that we at least have something green there.

The photos shown here are of the garden as it is and has been for the last few years. A rather unruly bush, some marigolds, gladiolis that I tried planting directly into the shingle and a sort of miniature conifer patch. It was this that I really wanted to change as some of the conifers were getting rather woody and straggly.

 

The idea is to change out some of the conifers with grasses and alpine plants, leave the gladioli's in and also plant some fleabane daisies with them. The unruly bush needs some serious pruning and the pots need sorting. So far I have managed to change out the woody conifers but unfortunately rain has definitely stopped play.

It's starting to look pretty good, as soon as the rain stops and I can get the remainder of the plants in, I'll show some more photo's.

War Cabinet

 Over the years I have amassed a number of trophies and nick knacks. Some from sport, i.e. golf and petanque, some from my army days and the rest are gifts, some old, some new. Nobody ever really sees them so I thought that I would share them with you. Mainly so that I can get back into blogging, cos of course the first thing is that I need something to blog about.

Anyway, the first pic is of my "War Cabinet", lol, where I keep my bits and pieces.

In here is a miscellaneous amount of trophies, army stuff and things I have collected on my travels.

So starting with the first pic, these are my two recent trophies from Petanque. I started playing in 2019, just before lockdown. Great, I find a hobby I like and then can't play it because although it's in an open space it's also with up to 20 other people. Anyway, late 2020 we were able to start playing again, albeit with the 2m distancing and things took off from there. I love the game now and play twice a week, plus league games and a few competitions during the year. These two are from the Club Doubles which my playing partner and I won.

This pic is of glasses that I have collected. The stein was from Czech Republic, way back in 1997 when I went to stay just outside Prague with a penfriend. We visited the castle in Prague which also at the time housed the Czech Parliament. One day, the president arrives and Bozenka (my friend) just walked up to him and said hello and introduced me. I was gobsmacked when he shook my hand and then walked inside. I told her, in the UK you wouldn't get within 10m of the PM never mind shake his hand. Anyway, on the way home we called into the village bar, in Roudnice, and the barman gave me the stein to bring home.

Just a pic of a few golfing (and other) trophies I have won.

This one is special, The pewter mug was presented to me in 1981 when I left the Guards Depot after serving there for 3 years as a senior instructor. The brown mug was handmade in Cyprus in 1974 by a local craftsman. It has a large crack because my daughter dropped it, good old super glue. The glass e-type is because that is my all time favourite car and was given to me as a prezzie. I got to drive a vintage e-type a few years back when my children bought me a blue letter day for my 70th. I got to drive one around a race track. 4.2ltrs of pure muscle and growl. Bliss. The hip flasks are, 1 for winning the Charity Shield at Golf, the one behind is a simple Welsh Guard one and the last one is a memento from The Falkland Isles with the map and dates on it. The "nuts & bolts" motorcycle represents my love of cruisers and finally the brass snuff box belonged to my great grandfather which he used in the mines and has his name and date on it. William Jeffrey Jones 1888.

Hopefully you've enjoyed a peek into part of me and I haven't bored you too much.

Here I go again

 So, it's been a little while since I posted on here. Some health issues, plus a lack of focus. Anyway, I'm back with another attempt at letting the world at large know what I'm up to. First up is a visit to London that my wife and I paid back in June. Weekend of Sat 14th June. Some of you will recognise that date as the Kings Birthday Parade. To take it back a little while, last November 2023 I attended a re-union of old comrades in Weston Super Mare.

Lovely place, Marlene (the wife) and I lived there for some 10 years. Anyway, during the obligatory raffle I, with the greatest stroke of luck won the top prize, two tickets to the Kings Birthday Parade, on the actual day no less.

So, a weekend in London, see the sights etc and generally enjoy ourselves. I've done the troop a few times, both on parade and street lining, however Marlene has never really seen it except on TV. A fantastic weekend and even the rain at the end of the parade couldn't dampen our spirits. We had great seats, just to the left of Admiralty Arch so we could see everyone coming on to Horse guards Parade, all the carriages and oh so lovely to see Catherine, Princess of Wales arrive. Marlene was ecited because not only did she have ringside seats but she had her own personal tour guide as I was able to eplain what was going on and all the drill movements.

All in all, a wonderful time, happy memories for me and new ones for Marlene.