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…