October started with a bang, and a visit to the Albert Hall to see Diana Krall. This was a birthday present from back in March. The tickets came with a pre-show meal, with a glass of champagne. The meal was excellent. After our main course we went down and watched the support act, then went back up for our pudding and a coffee, before returning to the hall for the main event. I have been a Diana Krall fan for quite some time, and so really enjoyed the show. It was all over far too quick. On the Saturday England managed to become the first host nation not to get through the group stage after losing to Australia. Pants. West Ham, after beating Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man City away from home, struggled to get a point at Sunderland. Sport…. Hmpf.

The following week was production week for the play I was in… ‘The Enquiry’. As always we had rehearsals on the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday evenings, a final dress rehearsal on the Wednesday and then shows on Thu, Fri and Sat. Tricia and some of the North Marston crew, and my mate Peter from work and his girlfriend came along on the Friday. Tricia, Ellie and me had a pre-show curry with the Williams family. On the Saturday, Tricia was at the Cold Ash Ball with Nikki and Matt. Ellie was in London at the Guiding ‘Big Gig’. I was glad when the play was finished, I enjoyed it, but was looking forward to getting some time back. There was a little after show party, but I didn’t stay up late as I was doing a reading at church on the Sunday morning.

On Friday the 16^th, Tricia went into London with Sally and Sara to visit the Mall gallery. On the Saturday we went around to Pat and Clive’s for supper, and to review the holiday photos and videos, which was a fun evening. A sweet Saturday indeed after West Ham won at Crystal Palace.

Then on Monday the 19^th, Ellie celebrated her 16^th birthday… Difficult to comprehend that she had got to 16! In the evening she had Jess and Lucy around for tea, and lots of laughter. On the Sunday, Gran and Gramps came over for ‘afternoon tea’…

On Friday the Jordan here for a weekend visit. He was down to go to ‘Comicon’ with Robbie and Ellie. First off though there was a curry night… we hadn’t had one for a while. On the Saturday morning, I had to drop the nutters of at the railway station. Getting Robbie in his armour into the car was the first difficulty. I picked them up in the evening, they were worn out…. None more so than Robbie who had worn his armour all the way to London, all day through the event, and then back home.

In the evening Tricia and I went to Helen Shotton’s surprise 50^th. It was a nice enough gathering, but the music was being done by her son… and it was more for his age group than ours. I had a few days off, Wed, Thu and Fri. On the Wednesday Tricia dropped me and Ellie off at Luton airport, and we flew up to Glasgow for the Men’s world gymnastics final. It was a wet miserable day in Glasgow, and we made our way through the rain to the hotel we were staying in before we set out for the venue. It was a long taxi ride through the Glasgow traffic. The event was great entertainment and the time flashed by…. GB came second and very nearly won! Tremendous. Ellie was thrilled. Afterwards, we stumbled across the area where the gymnasts come out. After waiting for about an hour Ellie was rewarded with meeting the GB team. She loved it! Here she is with some of the team… the larger picture is Max Whitlock… Ellie’s favourite

We flew back down to Luton on Thursday morning, where we were met by Tricia and Ellies friend Marianna. We then drove onto Norfolk for a few days, staying thru to Sunday. We visited some places we had been to before, and walked along the coast where we usually do, but also took in some new places, such as Blickling Hall. We drove back on Sunday the 1^st, the weather was gorgeous, far too warm for the time of year. As we drove through a few town we saw workmen putting up xmas trees ! Eeek. Here we have the Halloween pumpkin Ellie and Marianna made, a pint of refreshing Guinness at the end of a long day, Tricia on the beach, and then pictures from Blickling Hall.