Category Archives: home

Eclipse

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Another week has gone by.  Not a lot to report, the weather has been mainly dry with some quite sunny days.  Friday was such a day with temperatures of 20 Celsius, the weekend was a little cooler and Sunday eventually ending in rain.

Spent rather a long time on Friday and Saturday evening in the Plough and Anchor saying goodbye to a friend who was off to New Zealand for three months.  Odd we were still there hours after she had left for home.  On Saturday evening at around midnight, I say the start of the shadow appearing on the moon for the full eclipse, so rushed indoors to tell Rosemary, and get the camera.  By the time I was out again, clouds were covering the sky, so I never saw the eclipse.

Sloe Gin

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On Sunday we picked the Sloes, diificult because they were all on high level branches.  There were masses of Sloes.

Filled two litre bottles with Gin, sugar and Sloes according to last years recipe.

To Warwick to collect our photo competition winnings

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HotSpring, from whom we bought our hot tub, ran a photo competition earlier this year.  They wanted to create a portfolio of pictures of their hot tubs in British settings for their showrooms, instead of the usual US based photos.

We won a runner up price of £100 credit note to spend in a showroom. 

Today we went to chose and drove to their Warwick showroom, which was nearer for us than Reading (where we bought the tub), but seemed quite a bit smaller.  The portfolio was there and our picture was the front cover!  Not sure why the winning photo was not the front cover.

So pop in to your local hotspring show room, and you will see our hot tub.   If you buy one, please tell them we recommend you

Work on the house

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Saturday was a wet day.  Not heavy rain but light drizzle.  With that and Rosemary’s cousin arriving, no work was done around the house.

Today was cold, breezy sunny day, so I waterproofed the front of the house with Silicone in preparation for the wet and windy winter.  Looking at the state of the wall, I think I must do a bit of repointing this winter.

The Angel

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In the process of selling the Spitfire, so not able to go far with all the prospective buyers beating a path to our door.  So we went out to the Angel in Long Crendon for lunch.  Long time since we have been there.

Excellent meal.  Sat outside in the wonderful sunny weather we are still continuing to get.  On the drive back we commented on how brown the fields are.

I started with Salmon marinated in three different ways: Pepper, Dill and Beetroot.  For mains, I had Monk Fish on a bed of tomatoes olives and root vegetables.

Rosemary started with deep fried crab rolls, and for her mains had Salmon pave on a bed of couscous.

Totally extravagant!

Spitfire sold

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The Spitfire has been sold.  A young couple of Indian blokes came up from London and bought the car.  They had already bought another one that same day for their Sister.

Didn’t get a good price, but we are relieved not to have it around for the next set of MOT tests in 2004.

Pig Roast

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We (Rosemary, Steve, Selina and Graham) ate at the Plough and Anchor for supper. It was the harvest festival pig roast.  The pig had been spit roast by Peter Sheriff for the whole day.  The vicar from Ludgershall blessed the meal before we ate.

While the Vicar was there he was negotiating extra business with Tony.  Tony is planning his wedding to Barbara, and their allegiance has changed from Quainton church to Ludgershall church.

Kingswood and Wotton Tug of War

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Monday we had the tug of war over Tetchwick Brook between Wotton Underwood and Kingswood. We had lovely weather and a good turn out for the match.

Kingswood men won their match winning 2 pulls to Wotton’s 0.

Kingswood women lost to Wotton, despite their win on the first pull, which was disqualified when a count shouted 12 Kingswood women and only 8 Wotton women.

Kingswood Juniors won their match 2 pulls to 1.

Wotton provided an endless BBQ of burgers and sausages, which never seemed to stop. Kingswood provided the bar of Hook Norton beer, wine and various other liquids. 

Thanks to all the people who organised this event: George Stanton for getting the beer & for organizing the Aunt Sally; Austin Lovell for umpiring the tug of war; Annie Stanton, Graham and Fran for running the bar; the wonderful work put in by the Wotton team on the BBQ and the two field owners who valiantly lent their fields and moved the livestock out.There was a free for all Welly Wanging match, while Austin organised a race for the children across the Brook, round a tree on the far-side and back. The children all arrived back unbelievably muddy and wet, some of the small ones were still scrambling up the sides of the opposite bank when they were overtaken by triumphant returning competitors.

Afterwards we had a buffet supper of cold display plus Thai chicken curry in The Plough and Anchor provided by landlord Paul Ring. A lovely end to a great Bank Holiday.