On Friday we had heard that Daba had taken over the management of the Bull and Butcher. So I thought we had better pay the place a visit. Called Tony and Barbara to see if they wanted Sunday lunch there.
Yes, Daba is running the B&B with his girlfriend. Ricky was still there in the kitchen cooking. We all had traditional Sunday lunch and came away well pleased.
Kingswood was the host to the League shoot this Sunday. The League shoot seemed to be on a bit of a recovery, there were 97 entrants for the shoot. The shoot was on Pete’s land, and very compact because of the ground conditions. Five stands. Quite demanding, I am totally out of practise and managed 25/50. Cleared up by 2.00 and went home for lunch. Don’t know what the results were, but at least Kingswood were able to field a complete team this time.
Visited Waddesdon Manor to see the rooms dressed for Christmas. There was a small competition where you had to write down the rooms in which you found the items from the Christmas song about Swans, turtle doves and gold rings.
Needless to say we missed one object so failed to get entry for the draw.
There was also a Christmas food fare taking place in the old dairy, where there was some very nice items to be purchased.
Not sure what was going on, but around the fountain were parked several porsche cars. Maybe it was a day out for a porsche owners club?
Today was the fire lighting day at the Plough and Anchor. Traditionally the fire is lit on the 1st October every year. Jake lit the fire, where upon the bar and restaurant was filled with smoke. It took quite a while before the draft was sufficient to draw all the smoke up the chimney. The fire will now remain continuously alight until spring.
We had a conker knock out competition, and Jake provided us with pies and excellent pickle onions. It was a truly excellent Friday evening.
Quick walk around Finemere wood today. Heard deer barking.
Today has been a magnificent day. Clear blue skies all day, virtually not a cloud to be seen. It was interesting lying in the garden watching the thistle down being blown around at over 100 feet above ground. Sad me even got the binoculars out to watch the down blow by on the thermals, and the occasional Easyjet flight coming in to land at Luton.
Day started off by returning the flower containers to the florist in Thame. Nice full English breakfast at 10 in the café in Thame.
Evening we had a BBQ, steaks and burgers from Waitrose. One of the few weekends we have been able to eat out this year.
Learnt today that George had had his delicious petrol sign from his Mazda garage stolen during the week. He explained that he had seen a similar sign in the West Country many years ago, and decided to place one on his garage. The sign was always a talking point for many people who drove past his garage. He did say he had one complaint, eighteen months ago from a schoolteacher, who said he should not be encouraging children to drink petrol. 🙂
This Friday was a relief from Thursday’s storms. Started off a wonderful day, never clouded over completely, but there were some very nice flat-bottomed cumulus clouds around.
Popped out with John Curd, John Mitchell, and Tony Diggory for a lunch time drink. I had a couple of pints of Abott ale.
Picked Rosemary up from work, fairly late, and then to the Plough and Anchor for a drink. It was very pleasant sitting outside on the new decking area under the rush roof with all our friends from Kingswood and Grendon.
Barbara and Tony were there with their new offspring Thomas. He is so quiet and amenable. Quite how he managed to sleep through Brimstone playing at Selina’s wedding is anyone guess. Not sure Barbara appreciated the comment from a guest who mentioned that this was Thomas’s first Rock concert and maybe he would become a Black Sabbath fan.
Today was Selina and Grahams wedding. It was a lovely hot day, and she looked beautiful in her silver gothic dress and shoes. Selina and I arrived at the registry office in plenty of time, completed the formalities and entered the wedding chamber at 13.30.
Soon she and Graham were man and wife.
Now it was back to the house where we toasted the bride and groom, and then ate a small lunch of quiche and sausage roles. Present were close family and friends from afar. We managed a small Blasdale cricket match. The wicket was a bit rough and hard, causing the ball to bounce rather erratically.
Now it was on to the main event at the Buckinghamshire railway centre. Here we had the covered railway station until midnight, and we had a locomotive and rolling stock in steam. So there were plenty of train rides and the opportunity to ride on the locomotive, blow the whistle and control the engine under the watchful eye of the engine driver.
The meal was supposed to start at around 8.00, but started a little later for one reason or another. Excellent meal put on by the Plough and Anchor. Started with melon and summer fruits, then on to salmon with oysters and prawns, beef, chicken and a vegetarian Thai curry. The afters were the excellent tiered chocolate cake made by Rosemary and several British cheeses.
A band called Brimstone started to play some seventies rock music. They played ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, AC DC, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and by special request White Wedding by Billy Idol. I thought they were very good, and so did most of the others at the party.
John and Carol Curd took the official photographs for the wedding. These will be appearing on the website soon.
This week Rosemary and I have been on holiday. This was the week to prepare for the wedding. Many of those small jobs, which I have been meaning to do, were done this week.
Repainted the skirting boards on the stairs. They had become so chipped over the years.
The chip paper on the ceiling in the living room, it was coming off. Managed to stick the edges down and repaint. But this was only a temporary solution. It must all come off and be reapplied before it drops off one day.
The downstairs loo. Well this was a real embarrassment. One of the rooms that had peeling paint when we first arrived here 17 plus years ago. We never touched it, and it was getting worse. A quick blast with the sandpaper and several layers of emulsion sorted that out. The room was almost respectable.
The new bench from the salvage yard in Oakly had been delivered and dropped by the drive several weeks before. We could not move it on our own. This week we painted it a nice Sage green, mustered a group of strong men from the Plough and Anchor and moved it to the brick area by the honey suckle. I don’t believe anyone thought it could be quite so heavy. No one is going to nick that bench.