Plough and Anchor decking

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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.

Selina and Grahams Wedding

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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.

Final final preparations for the wedding of Selina and Graham

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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.

Reflooring the conservatory

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The new wood flooring had arrived during the week, so it had to be laid.  I had been to the pub the previous night and spoken to the next-door neighbour.  Persuaded him to help lay the flooring.

In the morning, went shopping, picked up a new tie for a future visit to RBS.  Rosemary updated the wedding flower order, and bought the tins to bake the wedding cake in.

On the way home picked three kilos of raspberries to make some coulis.  This is to be served with the wedding cake.

Started to lay the floor during the afternoon.  Laid most of it by 18.00, when we broke and visited John and Carol Curd for an evening meal.  Excellent meal. 

Weekend at Kingswood

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This weekend has been a mixture.  Saturday, lots of showers.  Some preparation for the wedding, i.e flowers, and making final preparations for the meal and bar.

We paid a quick visit to Waddesdon for tea.  Got caught in torrential rain as we left.  We pity the people who bought tickets for the outside music show which was going to be played there. The weather was really quite miserable, and didn’t get any better in the evening.

Sunday was a better day, managed to mow the lawn, (first time for three weeks), strim and mow some of the field.  Have to get the place into shape before all the outlaws arrive.

Selina’s graduation from Liverpool University

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Today was Selina’s graduation ceremony at Liverpool University where she had gained her First class honours degree.  Up and away in good time, good trip up the motorway until the M62 where we were stationary for half an hour.

Headed for the halls of residence where we had three rooms for the night, changed and caught a taxi to Liverpool University campus.  First stop was to pick up the mortarboard and gown, then onto a reception where we met Selina’s tutors.  The ceremony was in the Philharmonic theatre at 15.00.  We all filed in early and were seated in our allocated places.  The presentations took place at a fast and orderly rate.

After the ceremony we managed a quick tour of the city and docks, then a Chinese meal on the waterfront.  It was then back to the halls of residence for the night, via the excellent men’s toilets and the Philharmonic bar on Hope Street.  The pub has really very ornate marble urinals, well worth viewing.  After sleeping at the halls of residence, we had an excellent breakfast.

Tuesday was spent at Albert docks looking around the Maritime museum, followed by a tour of the city and the docks in an amphibious American wartime DUKW.  These Ducks were being run by The Yellow Duckmarine and had names the names of Wacker Quacker 1 and 2.  

After the tour it was back in the car home, leaving Selina behind for the graduation ball.

Last week in Edinburgh with Royal Bank of Scotland

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This last week spent at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was helping support the system after it had gone live.  Really there were very few problems.

The main event of the week was on Thursday when Mary Devine, Ed Aldridge and I went out for a celebratory drink and meal.  We started off with cocktails at a bar called Tonic, then on to a restaurant called Ricks.  One of these trendy fusion restaurant.  Actually had a very good meal.  Picked up quite a good tip on cooking which I have presented to Rosemary a couple of times.

After this on to three clubs:

First DROP KICK MURPHYS  on Merchant Street just off Grass Market.  This place is under George IV street in the arches.  Fairly empty. 

Second on to Faith on Cow Gate.  We stayed for our free shooter and then a beer.   Not quite our scene.  

Finally on to Whistle Binkies where we stayed until chucking out time at three. I had a dance with Mary.  There was a small bit of trouble at the end where some over enthusiastic bouncers hurt a man as they ejected him.  We were sitting right next to this group and they had not caused any problems all evening.  Definitely light as I made my way back to my hotel.

The bank and my company each gave Mary and I a bottle of champagne.  Very nice.