October opened with a big day for Tricia. Her first triathlon. She had supposed to be doing it earlier in the year, but the combination of sinus, and tooth extraction etc had stopped her training. On the evening previous she had traveled across to Brackley with Sue, her friend who was doing it with her, taking bikes across. The triathlon went well, Tricia completed it… and is now considering whether to do another. Nikki went across to support her. I was in Bracknell. An old school friend who now lives in the States was across for a visit, and it was the only chance to have a catch up. I was back late afternoon for a rehearsal.

The Winslow Players production of Wyrd Sisters was in full swing, and with the first night on Thursday 5^th, we were rehearsing it to death. As is the way with Players.  My old workmate Peter came across for the first night. Tricia came on the Thursday as well, as she was away on Friday for the Girly weekend. This year they were in Hastings. The play went well. I had great fun playing the 4 different characters I was allotted… bang up my street. I can’t claim to be a Terry Pratchett fan… and this didn’t change that, but it was fun.

Some of Tricia’s weekend in Hastings

The following wee Tricia had lunch on the Tuesday with her old Guiding friends Pat and Pauline. Then on the Wednesday evening, we went to see the Small Faces musical at the Aylesbury Waterside with the Webbs and the Docwras. Ironically we were booked in at Gourmet Burger. This time they delivered food that was awful. Refund was given again. We won’t be going there again. Ever. The musical was good though – really enjoyed it.

Friday the 13^th… yup, one of those, was the village poetry evening. Good fun, I did a double hander with Bob that went down well. Saturday, Tricia and I spent a whole day in the garden. We did prayers in church on Sunday morning, then came back and did more work in the garden. Stripping back, pruning, digging out etc etc. On the Monday Tricia was away on retreat for a couple of days. Then came the big day….

Thursday October 19^th. Ellie became 18. An adult. Tricia and I no longer have children. We just have adults. We had a lovely meal at the pub, Robbie and Amy, Nikki and Matt came over, Pat and Clive and Alex came along. A good evening, with Ellie centre of attention. Which is how she likes it.

Friday evening was West Ham at home to Brighton. I abandoned Tricia, leaving her doing prep for Ellie’s party, and met up with Bob for our trip to West Ham. We kept with the general ritual, having worked out what we thought was the best route from Stratford to the ground, a pasty off the van, and settled down for what should be a win and three points for West Ham. Except it didn’t work like that. Three goals for Brighton, none for West Ham, a loss, and 3 points for Brighton. Oh bollocks. We are in serious doo dah now. Only a matter of time till Bilic gets the boot. It was a depressing trip home.

Saturday was all about Ellie’s ‘pink and fluffy’ party. She had friends, and family all over. Adrian did the disco, and I have to say it was pretty good. She had a whale of a time. Sunday was breakfast with hungover friends of Ellie, Deb and Carlos came in… and then back to the hall to finish off tidying up. Tricia and me were exhausted at the end of it.

But it only takes a week to recuperate, and the following Saturday we were entertaining again. This time a murder mystery evening with the Robinsons, the Docwras and the Webbs. Great fun.

So we arrived back from holiday late on the 31^st Aug, then Tricia was off on the following morning to Flatford for a weekend with the water colour painting group. She had packed and prepped before going on the cruise, so it was just a matter of picking her bags up on the Friday morning and going. Ellie and I unpacked our luggage and I set about the washing mountain. Tricia enjoyed her painting, and to be honest I enjoyed a quiet weekend, getting the garden straightened out etc. Ellie and me popped over to Bracknell on the 1st to see Mum and Dad. Dad’s model railway has some significant improvements. Got to have a BP forecourt :-).

And from Tricia’s painting weekend…

On the Sunday, Peter and Jane Docwra were celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary. I went across and spent some time there, Tricia went up and offered her congrats when she got back. First thing I had to do on the Monday morning, when I reluctantly signed back on to my laptop, was cancel a trip to Houston. In the week before we went on the cruise I had to book a trip to the Houston office… then whilst we were away Houston was hit by a hurricane and crippled by flooding.

On the 5^th I was back in the school. I run a training session on ‘exclusions’ for the GB, I was re-elected chair for another year, and we had the first GB mtg of the year. Ellie started on the 6th… her final year in school! Meanwhile Tricia was getting back into shop orders etc. She also catered for Colin and Valerie Price for their 40^th wedding anniversary. Here is Ellie with Jess, off to start their final year in school.

Tricia had bought me a season ticket for West Ham… something I had always wanted to do. And so me and Bob Webb, as new season ticket holders set off for the London Stadium on Monday 11^th Sept for West Ham’s first home game of the season against Huddersfield. Because of the Paralympic World Champs, our home games had been delayed. So 3 away games so far, all defeats, and the pressure was on already. I enjoyed going with Bob, and the atmosphere… but it took some time for West Ham to score, and we came away with an unconvincing 2-0 win. Pre-match pic below.

The following weekend Tricia was away with the ‘3-peakers’ for a walking weekend in Devon. Well, when I say weekend, they set off Friday evening, walked Saturday and then came back first thing Sunday. Meanwhile I was booked in to take Ellie to York for a Uni visit. I picked her up from Aylesbury after she had finished work on the Saturday evening, and we went up onto the M1 and headed north. We stayed overnight in a Travelodge just off the M1, then got up on Sunday morning had a quick breakfast and carried on. We arrived at the Uni for a tour round at 10am. Ellie loved it… the campus, spoke with a lecturer, the course etc. We then ventured into York itself, which she loved straight away. A gluten free fish and chips for lunch, and more looking around the city before we set off back around 4pm… we got home just after 8pm. Phew. Some pics from Tricia’s walking trip…

And a wet York Minster….

Another uni visit was on the slate for the following weekend. This time Edinburgh.  Ellie wasn’t choosing local uni’s! The cost of flying, or train and accommodation was somewhat prohibitive, so Tricia drove up to near Berwick upon Tweed on the Friday evening, they stayed over in a B&B, then went to the Uni on the Saturday, and came back to the B&B in the evening. On Sunday they drove down to Durham, enjoyed a visit there, before moving on homewards. Long weekend with a lot of driving for Tricia.

Whilst all this was going on I had been to see the next West Ham game, home against London rivals, the Totts. We started well enough, and were 0-0 after half an hour, when a Antonio went off injured, and within a few minutes we were 0-2 down. After half time they scored a third and I feared it could be 6. But, they had a player sent off (rightly so), and we started to get back at them. 1-3. Then 2-3. Then… we ran out of time. Another defeat.

Wednesday 27^th Tricia and me were off to the Royal Albert Hall to see Diana Krall… We had a pre- concert meal in one of their restaurants and then saw the support act (dull) went and had pudding and then coffee, then came back and settled in for the main action. I enjoyed it, but she didn’t play some of my favourites, and didn’t play too much up tempo jazz.. As I say, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good as the previous one. Here we have Tricia enjoying food and wine, and me and Diana outside the RAH.

Tricia was also embroiled in making the longest cake ever… a particular requirement, Nikki had to come over and help her do the icing.

The day following the Diana Krall concert, we were at a parents evening for Ellie, which went well – nothing but praise. Then Friday evening, Ellie, Tricia and me were going to see a comedian called Joel Dommett. We arranged to meet Ellie in ‘Gourmet Burger’ near to the theatre in Aylesbury. It was difficult to assess if the Burgers were indeed of a gourmet standard because we never got that far. Having placed an order, and not seen any food some 45 minutes later, and the time we would have  to be at the theatre diminishing, I went into my ‘McSweeney frown’ mode and addressed the manageress … and was fully refunded. Which was fine, except we sat and watched the show whilst being rather hungry.  Ellie really enjoyed Joel D, and laughed plenty. I managed a few smiles. For me, any comedian that relies heavily on use of the F word for laughs isn’t really up to much. McD’s on the way home.

September closed with Tricia going off to renew her first Aid certificate, whilst Bob and me traveled to London for an afternoon of torture, as we watched West Ham somehow beat Swansea in the final minute of the game. It was dire football. I will finish Septembers bog with a picture of Ninja…

I love Cruise holidays. A relaxed way of travel… sit on the ship, eat, drink, be entertained and let the countries come to you. This time we were booked on the NCL Jade Spirit. Friday 18th was departure date for our holiday, flying from Luton out to Rome. Nikki drove Tricia, Ellie me and Jess (who was coming along with us) to the airport, where we met up with the Robinsons. Checking in was all straight forward, and a little light lunch was had in the airport whilst waiting for the flight. Alex needs a pint in the airport before flying it seems.

The flight to Rome was straightforward and timely, and the Prosecco fairy visited Pat and Tricia on the flight. Clive and myself had Gin and Tonic to make up for it. We had a little delay in waiting for our taxi to take us into Rome from the airport, but we were soon on board. Ellie laughed at anything and everything and drove us all nuts. Clives fault. Once checked in to our hotel it was out for a meal nearby.

I put a picture of the loo in our room in, just because I was rather surprised at its positioning… to sit you had to somehow position your legs under the sink. All rather uncomfortable and odd.

Sat 19^th we had a day to ourselves in Rome, and the highlight was a tour around the Vatican. This was a bucket list item for me, probably in main due to having been raised a Catholic, and therefore always having viewed it as a special place. We breakfasted in the hotel, and then after some debate over what would be appropriate wear for going into St Peter’s and consideration of the weather, around 35c, we finally set off. Here we are, minus Tricia, who is taking the pic. A highly respectable group :-).

We walked out towards the Colosseum, and spent some time walking around it. I love the Colosseum and the sheer presence of it. I have seen it a few times now and always marvel at the engineering of the Romans. I just enjoyed standing there looking at it. Whilst melting… boy was it hot. We were being sensible and taking on plenty of water. But it seemed that as soon as you drank, you sweated as much out.

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch, and sat outside. A welcome break, before we moved onto the place where we would meet with our guide for the Vatican. The ice cold coke went down a treat… food was good as well. Couple of pictures of the girls as well, enjoying an ice cream at Trevi fountains.

We started out with plenty of time to make the trip, but got ourselves slightly confused with the route, and only just made it. The guide took us up and into the Vatican. We toured around endless halls full of art and history … too much to take in. The place was rammed and … and it was hot. We went into the Sistine Chapel, and it was smaller than I thought it would be. I tried to scan the walls, the ceiling, tried to take it all in, but the mass of humanity squeezed in and being forced through was a distraction. Inevitably we all became separated. After a drink, it was a walk around St Peter’s Basilica itself. I was exhausted at this time, and feeling sick, which was pretty much due to the heat. This may in part be why I was feeling somewhat underwhelmed by the visit. I had expected some sort of spiritual connection, which was sadly absent. I also felt that the Vatican was nothing more than a large museum, rather than a place of worship. I am glad I was able to tick the Vatican off the bucket list, and say I have seen it. But… I was rather disappointed. Perhaps my expectation was all wrong, and I daresay the circumstances for seeing it were not the best.

We walked down out of the Vatican. Pat, Alex, Ellie and Jess took a taxi back to the hotel. Tricia, Clive and myself walked back. A pleasant stroll, we took an ice cream along route. I do love the vintage Vespa and Lambretta motor scooters… and one of my regrets is not having had one when younger. Walking along it was good to spot a few. At a set of traffic lights I bumped into a couple of West Ham fans, who informed me that West Ham had lost to Southampton 3-2. They had come back from 2-0 down, and having had a man sent off, did well to get 2-2. Only to concede in the last minute. It is what we call ‘the West Ham way’. I resolved not to let it get me down. Clive an me below on the walk back, and a strange sign post… ‘kiss and ride’. Kiss a girl and get a free ride ?

Back at the hotel, a lay down, recuperation, a shower and we went on the hunt for an evening meal. We were coaxed into a restaurant by some waiter who caught us looking at the menu outside. This turned out to be a mistake. He tried sell us what we didn’t want, was a creep, and frankly wound me up. The food was ok, but he was trying to work us to suit himself, and upsell items off the menu. Spoilt the meal somewhat. But we had had a good day…. And were exhausted. Sleep was no problem.

Sun 20^th. Today we joined the cruise ship. Breakfasted, bags already, collected by the taxi and off to Civitavecchia, the port that serves Rome. We were dropped off at the NCL terminal, and we then went through the check-in process, which was all pretty smooth.

On board, we had to wait whilst bags were delivered to rooms, so enjoyed a drink and a look round. In the main lobby area Ellie and Jess were having some pix taken on the main stairs, when some idiot photo bombed! Well yes, that would be me 🙂

Here is the Norewgian Spirit on the way to being boarded.

Here we have a few pics from the first day on board… Alex Ellie and Jess wasted no time getting into the pool. Pat found the Champagne Bar… and a shot as we left dock.

Mon 21^st. A short cruise up the Italian coast to Livorno and a scheduled visit to Florence. Off the ship, and a coach drive into Florence. Tricia and me visited here in 2011, and loved it. We had a guided tour around Florence, which the girls started, but decided to drop off and do their own thing. Florence was as a beautiful as ever. WE had a nice stop for a lunch, and a gluten free pizza which was excellent. Coach ride back, late lunch on board… shower, relax, then Prosecco. Here we have Tricia on the Ponte Vecchio, a couple of views of Florence, one with the girls in, one of the cathedral and one of Pat, Clive and me with the Ponte Vecchio in the background.

Tues 22^nd. Today we arrived in Sardinia. I had Sardinia on a list of places I would like to holiday on. So I was looking forward to the trip and tour around so as to get a taste for the island. We had a coach tour, which was hosted by some guy who could speak English apparently but his thick accent seemed to mask that. The tour took us out to some set of ruins which we went round, and were interesting but overall I have to say I was disappointed with the island. Very run down inland, and the beaches didn’t look that good. The buildings on the main front were nice and looked good… but thereafter not so good. So, I can say I have been their, but it isn’t any longer on a list of places to go to.

Wed 23rd was a ‘day at sea’. These are always pleasant easy going days. No rush to get up and go on a trip. Casual breakfast, some time in the sun on the deck, few drinks, bit of reading. Late afternoon on the room balcony enjoying the sun and doing some reading. Lovely. The cabin was really nice, the bed large and comfortable.

Thu 24th… Today we arrived in Crete. We didn’t dock till later in the day so we had a relaxed start, took a bit of sun in, and then once docked walked into the port town. We found a lovely Greek styled church, and a market we walked through. A pleasant walk before returning to ship.

Fri 25th, and today was another bucket list day. Today we were in Athens and a chance to visit the Acropolis. As a young lad, poring over encyclopedias or history books, there would be pictures of the Acropolis and now I was going to be able to visit it and see it for myself. Tricia, me, Ellie and Jess were out on the trip. The coach first dropped us at the site of the 1896 Olympics, where the modern era of Olympics started. Then onto a coach park, and what looked like a daunting walk up the Acropolis. It didn’t turn out particularly strenuous. We had a terrific time walking around the Acropolis and seeing the iconic Parthenon up close. The views from the top was something in itself. It was very hot, but else do you expect in Athens in August. After our allotted time was up it was a gentle stroll back down to Athens where we looked around for a while before getting the coach back to the ship.

Sat 26th…. Santorini. Seems that every Med Cruise stops at Santorini. Alex, Ellie, Jess and myself had a trip booked to go out to a beach. Tricia, Clive and Pat were staying on board. It was a morning trip, we were on a beach for about three hours. A lovely couple of swims in the cold sea. Back to the main town in Santorini we had a look at the shops before getting the cable car down to the port, and the shuttle boat back to the ship. In the afternoon, I sat up on a deck which was showing Newcastle v West Ham on the TV. Sat there in my West Ham shirt, and watched the most wretched display as we lost 3-0. Not good. Bilic looked clueless on the touchline. I didn’t think he would be too long in the job.

Sun 27th… The cruise schedule had Olympia for a visit today. Ellie, Jess and Alex, went off, Tricia, Pat, Clive and me stayed. We had done Olympia before and didn’t feel the need to go again. It was a lovely little port, and so after all those on trips had departed we went down and had a walk around. Below there is a picture where Tricia has braved the cold pool water… and ‘Captain Clive’.

Mon 28th… And so to Malta, and Valletta. I love Valletta. Wonderful harbour. I stood up on deck and watched us come in, before we Tricia, Jess and myself went off for a walk round. The find of the day was the Church of of St Paul’s Shipwreck. We saw a small signpost for it, and there was a small entrance into a good sized lovely church currently being renovated. Lovely ice cream as well, which we had just before going in.

Tue 29th… And onto Sicily. The main trip of the day was out to see Mount Etna. Just Tricia, Pat, Clive and myself. It was a seemingly long coach trip out towards, and eventually up towards Etna. We were taken about 2/3rds of the way up, and could see Etna smoking away…. We could also see lava runs from previous eruptions. It was quite something to see, but would have been nice to have got closer.

It was after the Etna visit that we were then taken to a village called Taormina, apparently used for some location shoots on The Godfather. It was a beautiful place, we wandered around, stopping eventually for a fantastic gluten free pizza. One place we will have to go back to one day :-). And then back to the ship… some dozing along the way.

Wed 30th… and so to the last full day of the cruise. And another bucket list item. Pompeii. Again, harking back to my childhood I was really taken with the story of Vesuvius blowing its stack, and the people of Pompeii being caught in that moment in time. I have always wanted to visit Pompeii… and today was the day. We had an early start, and we were pretty much in the batch of first visitors for the day, which was great. It wasn’t too hot yet, and not too many people about. We had an excellent guide, and I have to say it was a terrific morning.

We had a lovely last evening, we went into the Italian restaurant… had a fantastic meal, a few drinks afterwards … then bed. The trip home was a long one, we had a long wait at the airport in Rome, Ellie was extremely tired after burning the candle at both ends, it was a long day getting back. Nikki met us at Luton airport, and we were back at home late Thursday evening.

Ellie had had a wonderful time… Jess and her with Alex met others and there were about 15 / 16 of them that spent most days messing about. She partied and had fun.

Tricia and I didn’t want to come home, we would happily have gone around the Med again. One of the things that was a recurring theme throughout the holiday was my sparring with the restaurant over gluten free meals…. the first night I ordered a gluten free starter, which was served with a piece of normal toast. When I had pointed out the error of their ways, and pointed out the dangers of serving a gluten loaded meal when their menu states gluten-free I seemed to attract some close attention for the rest of the holiday. We were able to get priority bookings into the restaurants, I was able to order 24 hours in advance… but even then they got themselves in a monumental muddle at times, which was a great source of amusement to Pat, Clive and Tricia. 🙂

So August was in two distinct halves. The before holiday, and the after holiday. Thursday the 3^rd,  saw a fleeting visit from Robbie’s old Uni mate Jordan, before Tricia drove them both to the airport for a long awaited trip to Poland to visit the other member of the uni triumvirate, Weronika. Seems like they had a terrific time.

On the Saturday Tricia was doing some catering for Janet Bayly’s 50^th wedding anniversary… which we then went to, before going off in the evening to Canon’s Ashby to see a very amusing version of Midsummer Night’s Dream in the open air, performed by a group called The Pantaloons. Only half a dozen of them, playing most roles, and those they didn’t were taken on by the audience. Great fun. We had a lovely pre show picnic…. and the weather was good to us.

We had our niece Sarah staying the following week. She stayed in Ellie’s freshly decorated room. I promised Ellie I would redecorate, and managed to get it done amongst everything else going on. The Friday the 11^th, Tricia was out with Nikki. Nikki took her to Rousham for a birthday tea. In the evening we had Pamela and Jim, Pat and Clive over for a farewell meal for Pamela and Jim. On the 12^th I finally managed to get all the furniture back in the correct rooms after the decorating. In the evening we were over at Juliet and Jon’s for their son Dan’s 21^st. Whilst all of this was going on Tricia and I were finding time to keep up with the World athletics championships.

On Sunday Tricia and me were over at Nikki and Matt’s for a bbq. Robbie and Amy came over, Matt and Charlotte and Simon and Katie. A pleasant afternoon… we even recreated an old photograph :-).

On the 15^th, Tricia and I walked up to the Black Boy at Oving for an anniversary meal. 31 years! We had planned to do this when Ellie was away, but it took us nearly the whole month to do it. A lovely meal. Not a late night as we had to be up early next morning to go and pick up Ellie from Heathrow. An emotional return. She had had a fantastic time.

On the Thursday, the first order of business was to go into the school for Ellie’s AS results. She was nervous. Very nervous, panicking about her Business Studies result, because one of her papers hadn’t gone quite so well. As it turned out, A in Drama, and C in English and Business Studies was an excellent set of results.

Back home, there was a frenzy of packing, and sorting items out as the next day…. We were off on holibobs J.