So Sunday morning 2nd August, was pretty much a ‘washing and ironing day’ getting all the holiday stuff sorted out. That and getting the grass cut etc. A slow day. Monday and it was back to work for Rob and me, and for Tricia it was cooking, getting orders up to date. On Saturday 8^th Tricia, Ellie and me went to MK in the evening to the ‘TGI Fridays’, where we were celebrating Manda’s 40^th. Of course whilst we were on holiday, Ninja the pussycat went on his, and disappeared off to his old haunt over at Pitchcott. Tricia and Ellie went off to collect him. Some pics from Manda’s 40th.

On Sunday, West Ham were making their start to the new season under new manager Slaven Bilic at Arsenal… we have a poor record against Arsenal, but we put in a terrific performance and I was out of my chair, leaping around when we went ahead, and then again at 2-0. A marvellous start to the new season. On the Monday, the 10^th, I went out with Peter Docwra, Bob Webb and his son Jack, to see Fairport Convention. They were doing a warm up gig, ahead of their festival, ‘Croperdy’. I have not listened to much of their music over the years, but I have to say I really enjoyed the show, great fun, and entertaining. On the Thursday Tricia had a day out with her ‘watercolour friends’, the weather seemed to hold enough for them to get some painting in. On the Saturday did the West Ham thing and lost at home to Leicester… typical, we won when we didn’t expect to, and then lost when we were expected to win! Of course I flew the flag for the first game… and a picture of the garden.

Sunday 16^th was our 29^th Wedding Anniversary, which means we have a big one next year! We had a quiet Sunday, which started nicely when Ellie made us a nice breakfast. On the Monday I had a day’s leave planned and we had a trip out together to see Highclere castle, home of the TV series Downton Abbey. It was a nice relaxed visit, great to see the interior, and then walk the gardens. A good day out. Here we have Tricia fighting off the wasps when we had lunch, and Highclere itself, a better one of Tricia when the wasps left her alone…. and a nice one of us in the gardens…. and finally the breakfast Ellie made us.

On the following Thursday, the 20^th it was GCSE results day… and a nervous Ellie went to the school with Tricia to see how she got on with GCSE Dance…. B Grade 🙂 … considering she had a change of teacher at a critical juncture and it was done in a year, that was a great result. She then went on with Tricia and Janet Gowin and John Wright to visit RAF Duxford for the day. GCSE results one day, means a 6^th for admissions meeting the next, and so on the Friday I had the first Governors meeting of the new school year. The car also got a service. Which means I biked back from Aylesbury, and then back into Aylesbury to pick it up. With the Bucks Historic church ride in September I needed to get some hours in the saddle, so that helped. Tricia got her first batch of Marston Chutney done… and enjoyed some Prosecco in the garden! And a pic of Ellie at Duxford, and Ellie with Janet and John

On the Saturday, Tricia went to Quainton and the steam railway with the watercolour crew for the day. I fixed up Ellie’s bike with new inner tubes, and dropped that off for her to cycle back from work at the Eco farm. I was keeping an eye on the football… West Ham at home to Bournemouth, newly promoted and one of the favourites for relegation, surely we would get a win. Well, we were 0-2 down at half time… we then got it back to 2-2, before we managed to lose 3-4. Two defeats on the trot :-(…

Monday evening is not a normal time for a wedding, but Jan at the end of our road got married on the Monday and we were invited up to the Pilgrim for the evening reception. You would have hoped that a wedding in August would give a nice summers evening. But sadly, no. It was cold and poured with rain… but we had a good evening. On the Thursday it was the Bucks County Show. Ellie was working for the ECO farm, and was up early. Tricia went along to the show with her friend Sally, and enjoyed the day out. For me, a slightly different day, I was over at Bracknell early to pick my Dad up and take him to Windsor hospital for an eye appointment. Then after dropping him off back in Bracknell, I was off to the office. Dad was a little frustrated that the outcome of the appointment is yet another referral to a specialist. Here is Sally with her dream car at the show…

Friday brought about the return of curry night after a summer break. We spent the evening at Pete and Sara’s and enjoyed a few laughs and a good start to the weekend. On the Saturday we were at MK theatre to watch Shrek, Tricia, me and Ellie and Jess. We ate at Nando’s, but had to hurry our food when Tricia looked at the tickets and found the show was starting 30 minutes earlier than expected! Still we got sat in time. I was in a state of shock though. West Ham were playing Liverpool at Anfield, where we haven’t won in the league since 1963… and after defeats to Leicester and Bournemouth I was fearing a hiding. But we went and won 3-0. So we won our two most difficult games so far, convincingly, but lost the supposed easy ones….. Typical. I had to watch Match of the Day when I got home to make sure we had in fact won 🙂

On Sunday Tricia took Ellie into Milton Keynes to get her new school uniform. As a Year 11 she has a slightly different uniform. Seems they had a good time shopping, and enjoyed lunch at Wagamama’s. Monday was the Summer Bank Holiday. Apparently. It was more like a wet autumn day. Ellie was working for the Eco farm at the Winslow show, and stood in the wet most of the day. Meanwhile Rob and Amy had gone to Stratford and Warwick for the weekend, seems the weather wasn’t so bad for them. And so August ended, and the gloomy prospect of the autumn was ahead of us. Summer really is too short. Some pictures of Rob and Amy’s weekend away.

And to finish…. Nikki finally got her horse Diaz to agree to wear the necessary riding gear, and a good shot of one of the farm dogs.

Tricia may have been 50 in June, but she saw no reason for that to curtail celebrating, and so on July 2^nd she was supposed to be going punting in Oxford with her friend Sara. However, with dreadful weather forecast, the idea of punting in thunder and lightning put them off the idea and so instead went to Hughenden Manor and West Wycombe, and enjoyed a champagne picnic. They will have another attempt at punting on another occasion. Here they are enjoying some sparkly (as usual).

Friday 3^rd saw the return of ‘curry night’. It was Alan and Rachel’s turn to host, but Rachel had fractured her leg on a recent school trip (Alan had to drive to Barnsley to get her from A&E), and so we offered to have the evening at ours. We had the meal in the back garden until it got too cold and migrated into the conservatory. On the Saturday, Tricia had a day out with her friends from the watercolour class. Sunday, Ellie went into London with Rob and Amy to do some pre-holiday shopping. I then had a busy week of school governing duties, attending an admissions briefing in Oxford on the Tuesday evening, parents appeals on the Thursday, as well as a lot of work around two staff hearings… certainly gave my time back to society this week. Some pictures of Amy & Rob, Amy and Ellie, and Rob in a Star Wars lego thingy, from their shopping trip…. and one of Tricia’s brownies from a cycling evening.

Saturday, and Tricia was at Granborough charter fayre, selling her wares. A slow day for her. I went across to Bracknell to take Mum and Dad shopping, and then took Dad to Maidenhead to get some kit for his model railway that was being reconstructed. Here we have the TLC display….

Then on Sunday, the family gradually deserted me. First off I took Tricia and Rob off to Luton airport, as they flew to Belfast for their walking holiday. With Nikki pretty much living at Matt’s, that just left Ellie and me at home…. But on Monday morning she was off to Paris for the week with the school. Which just left me! I like a bit of peace and quiet, but not for days on end… I was in the office on the Tuesday for my half year review, which was positive. Wednesday I worked form home, and in the evening was in the school for the annual prize giving. I was only supposed to say the opening prayer, but ended up giving out the prizes as well, as the guest of honour was delayed and couldn’t get there in time. And then I had a few days off. Thursday and Friday I spent in Hay on Wye, town of books, one of my favourite places. I arrived mid-morning, and the day gradually eased away browsing books. I had a late lunch in ‘Booth’s’ whilst looking at a couple of books. As the shops shut for the day, I made my way to my B&B which was on the outskirts of town. A lovely quiet location, I was greeted with tea and cake. A walk back into town in the evening for supper… then a good sleep, a good breakfast and back to the books. I ended up buying more than I had planned, but I suppose that was always going to be the case 🙂 … I drove back via Tewkesbury. Having a keen interest in the Wars of the Roses, I wanted to visit the site of the battle, the cathedral where Edward, Prince of Wales is buried… lovely place Tewkesbury, loved the cathedral and the town itself, I will have to go back.

Here we have Ellie in Paris…and the Tewkesbury battle field, and houses hanging banners from the ‘houses’ involved.

On the Friday evening I picked up Ellie from the school. They were late back, and it was after midnight that Ellie got to bed… she then had to be up early for work at the Eco farm. Saturday evening she was very tired. Sunday we just sat and watched Harry Potter films. A floppy day. On Monday I went off to Luton to pick up Tricia and Rob, returning from there walking holiday. They had really enjoyed it, in particular the Giants’ Causeway, which was a tick on Tricia’s list.

Some pix from Rob and Tricia’s walking holiday.

It was then a quick turnaround for them, as we were off on our main holiday on the Thursday evening. A few days back at work for Robbie and me, a few days of cooking for Tricia, packing in between, and somehow, we managed to get packed and ready to go at around 4pm Thursday evening. We got stuck in traffic on the M25, and had to detour around an accident. Whilst we were doing this, Pat, Clive, Alex and Clay were ahead of us, and arrived at Gatwick. I had booked our overnight stays at the Premier Inn… who didn’t seem to know that! Fortunately they had the reservation number. There was then some confusion over parking at the Premier Inn, so I ended up on the phone to them to get it sorted. We eventually got down there, and met Pat, Clive et al at the pub for an evening meal. Then Pat, Alex and myself went off to get the cars parked for the holiday. This became another adventure in itself… we weren’t in the car park I was originally told, we were in some kind of holiday special car park. I was just so glad we sorted it out the night before we flew, and not in the morning. Back at the Premier Inn, the alarm was set for 3:45am, and it was off to sleep.

It honestly felt no longer than a quick close of the eyes, and the alarm went off! We dressed and departed the hotel, walking across to the airport, then caught the shuttle to South Terminal, checked the bags in, and went to security. After coffee it was off to the gate, and we were on our way to Venice. I half dozed on the flight catching up on some sleep. Things went smoothly at Venice airport, we picked up our cab and went and checked into the hotel, and left our bags there. We then took the bus into the old part of Venice. It was a steaming hot day. We walked through the main part of Venice stopping to look shops / churches / buildings along the way. The Piazza San Marco (St Marks Sq) was absolutely packed, and the queues to get into the main church were very long. We returned late afternoon to the hotel and enjoyed a nap in the air conditioned room, before we all went back out and enjoyed a lovely meal on the main front. It was a great way to start the holiday… we walked back through St Marks Sq, which had a wonderful atmosphere. Tricia and I will go back to Venice out of season some time so that we can look a little more closely.

So, Saturday morning, and after breakfast we checked out, jumped into our taxi and went down to the port and went through the embarkation process. We were sailing with Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and I have to say the whole process was very smooth. Alex and Clayton were straight into the alcohol, and we all looked around the ship at our own pace. We left Venice at 6pm… it was a wonderful way to view the city as we cruised out.

Sunday was at sea. Lots of lazing on a sun bed, reading, drinking and eating J. Monday we arrived in Corfu. Pat, Alex and Clayton went off scuba diving, Tricia, Robbie and me went off on a walk to see the old fort, Ellie and Clive stayed on board. It was hot… and so the walk took no time in generating a sweat, but it was good to get a look at some of the old fortifications.

Tuesday we stopped at Santorini. Ellie, Alex, Clayton and myself went on a beach transfer, and we spent the afternoon on Perivolos beach. Alex and Clayton hired some jet skis, and Alex took Ellie out, which she was thrilled with. When we arrived back at Fira, the main town we were supposed to be getting the cable car back down… except the queue was rather long, and so we had to walk down, amongst the donkey poo and donkeys. I only had my flip flops on… slipping and sliding on donkey poo! Some pics here of Santorini, Ellie, Rob, Alex and Clayton in a restaurant, and one of the beach.

Wednesday saw us arrive in Mykonos. I stayed on board with Ellie, whilst Tricia and Robbie went off on an excursion to see Delos, the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo, which they enjoyed.

Thursday we docked at Katakolon, and took a coach to Olympus. We saw the sites of the original games, and even ran the old track. Pat and Tricia awarded us all medals. We then went around the musuem. It was blisteringly hot, about 37c. On the way back we stopped at a farm for lunch… which was fantastic, served with local wine, and followed by Greek dancing. The wine was lovely. I watched the dancing :-).

Then all of a sudden the week was closing out on us. Friday was a day at sea. We were a bit slow off the mark in the morning, and so missed the best positioned sun beds, but we made do elsewhere. In the evening we all ate in ‘Cagneys’. The food was good, but it took a long time to be served and I had to complain … but it was a minor thing on an otherwise fabulous cruise.

It had been wonderfully relaxing. The food was good in all the restaurants we ate in. The mornings at breakfast were always accompanied by the sound of ‘coffee coffee’. I particularly enjoyed the jazz group that played on board, and Tricia and I saw show of the Jersey Boys, music from Franki Valli and the four seasons, that we excellent. We loved seeing dolphins… seeing them swim in and out of the wake from the boat. Alex, Clayton, Robbie and Ellie enjoyed the club each night. Funniest moment though had to be when a waiter dropped a glass of Prosecco on Pat :-). Some pics from the cruise photographers, and one of Rob in the night club.

Saturday, the disembarkation was as smooth. The flight was delayed, and so we arrived back into Gatwick late. We had intended to go home, and then drive back down to Bracknell for Mark and Carol’s 25^th celebration. Instead we went on the Bracknell and had a cup of tea with Mum and Dad, before rescuing some items to change into from the suitcases. We went across and stayed at the party till around 9:30pm, before driving home. It was the end of a long day. Some pictures from Mark & Carols 25th… first a photo booth picture :-), then me and my two brothers, one with Mum, Justine and Steve, the final one was Ellie and Rob before getting into the photo booth.

Some piccies… here are my two ‘flexible daughters’ 🙂

And Nikki introducing her new horse Diaz. Little Isobel had her first birthday as well…