Snow Hill

Mid April is often the best time to go, when we took a break in the Netherlands a few years ago, it was at that time and we saw many excellent displays during our time there. I can’t comment on the cruise excursions as we went to Amsterdam via Eurostar and booked trips locally.

That had not long opened when we visited Gretna, quite small then but I believe has been revamped somewhat since.

We didn’t get to visit Ventnor last year, we tried but seem a lot of road works making it difficult to access, since then they have had the landslides. The area appears to be quite unstable, I certainly wouldn’t want to live there.

Went to Gretna Green around 25 years ago, it was a wet afternoon and must admit not impressed with the place. We went to the Isle of Wight last summer, we enjoyed our week there, it is easy to get around, although car parks are expensive, especially at the Needles. We did Osborne House which we have seen many times on cruises out of Southampton, it is a must visit location on the island. Cost of getting there is very expensive, but hotels or self catering owners often have discounts available for guests, we went from Lymington to Yarmouth.

A cloudy day with some sunny spells, currently 20C. After yesterday’s IKEA flat pack desk assembly half day, my sore knees have recovered. Old desk taken in pieces to RCC. Scraped moss off our top of garden “patio” as well as remove weeds from between slabs putting my Gardena telescopic handle to good use with scraper attached, less back breaking than doing it kneeling down. Sown the last crop of spring onions and last crop of green beans, just final cop of beetroot to sow. Ordered next years seeds as they are in a half price sale. Will mow the lawn this afternoon, still wet in parts but should dry out in the next hour. Should have first crop of tomatoes next week if weather keeps warm.

Phew it’s warm here 29C this afternoon at the time I was leading a tour around the site, sun hay, sunglasses and plenty of Factor 30 applied. Only 4 on the tour which was last one of the day, so it if was tour, much better than the one I lead yesterday with 22 on it, started out as 20, but 2 others joined halfway round. Explaining Roman Britain and what the Romans gave us is an interesting topic, and once we got to the archaeology dig, they were well versed on how the city was constructed and operated. Felt sorry for the archaeology students who were digging and scraping away in the trenches in this heat, yet on Tuesday they got rained on such is the life of an archaeologist. The site had some card machine issues early on due to outage but all was back running by midday. Had a text from my GP surgery saying advising they couldn’t make any appointments but patients with appointments would still be seen.

We would take our own, no point in buying yet another reusable coffee cup.

Currently 15C, rising to 22C this afternoon, have seen the forecast here for Friday, where temperatures reach 28C 🥵 May mow lawn and cut the hedge today, as it’s looking hot for the next few days

Won’t be watching tennis, as I am volunteering this afternoon, leading a tour of around 20 visitors around the site.

A day out in Birmingham today for my birthday, lunch then a theatre trip to the Hippodrome to see Hamilton, which we thoroughly enjoyed, a very powerful musical which draws from various music genres. Back home now getting ready to watch England v Netherlands.

My desktop died a few years ago after the motherboard failed, fortunately I had a backup of the hard drive so I was able to transfer data across to new Windows 11 Laptop. The recommendation is not to keep the laptop plugged in and run off the battery until around 20% left. I switch mine off after use and regularly clear cache & cookies and clear temp files regularly to keep the laptop running smoothly.

Does this count as duck that can be hidden and tackle noro at the same time

We have been away in South Wales over the weekend at a family celebration, we took the scenic route home via the Brecon Beacons, Leominster, Ludlow. It was quicker and shorter than the motorway route and appears to have been economical as average mpg now up to 61mpg. We knew when we had crossed the border into Herefordshire and Shropshire as we had to dodge the potholes. We also passed this place on the way back, they were closed so couldn’t drop in for a crate of cider😉 https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk/discover/orgasmic-cider-company

The was international cricket today England Women beat New Zealand women in the first of the T20 Internationals.

Definitely nerve racking, now fir the semi final, it would a great way to celebrate my birthday next Wednesday with a win and a place in the final.

My step daughter and her family flew from Birmingham on Sunday, had fast track and were through in around 25 mins, however their flight was delayed by 90 mins.

Good morning, A sunny morning here with a brisk wind and a temperature of 9C, is really July? We have postal votes, haven’t changed it back after we applied a couple of years ago when we were due to be away during the local elections. We sent our votes off 2 weeks ago. Only saw 1 candidate during the whole campaign and he got our votes. Oddly 1 main party never sent us any electoral material or pushed any leaflets through the door, never happened before.

Apparently there are PCR tests available to test for whether you have Norovirus. https://www.ultimaenvironmental.com/how-to-test-for-norovirus/

For destruction on this scale you have to go back to 2005 and hurricane Emily, the islands took a significant amount of time to recover from that storm and after Beryl further storms may hinder work. Whether h the islands will be in a position to take cruise ships from November Isiah is probably to early to say.

A damp morning here after overnight rain, due to clear later so I can finish off the veg planter today. Having seen the news from the Caribbean this morning and the devastation caused to Grenada, St Lucia and Barbados by hurricane Beryl, we can be thankful we don’t see storms of this level in the UK My cousins wife yesterday took a call from her cousin in Jamaica whilst at lunch yesterday saying they had been advised to stock up on food, water and essentials as Beryl was due to hit them today.

Back from the meet-up and lunch with my cousins, there were 12 of us at the lunch. After introductions to the newly found 2 cousins from Manchester and Adelaide, we then spent the time talking about family, exchanging photos and addresses. The 4 hours we spent together flew by too quickly, but we will be keeping in touch and hope to meet up again at some point. My cousin brought his daughter and son along, and it turns out that his son lives in the next street to where we live and we never knew. As my cousin’s daughter said it was like an episode of “Long lost Family” without the cameras and presenters.

Currently 11C and overcast. Today is the day I meet up with 2 first cousins I didn’t know existed until just over 6 months ago, not sure what to expect, one is from Australia the other from Surrey, they are half siblings to each other so this could be an emotional meeting. Also yesterday worked out that another DNA match is my half niece, daughter of my half brother who I have never met. To top it off my wife has been in connection with a descendant of her great uncle who disappeared before 1921 turns out he went to the US, this came up with a DNA match.

I watched England Women’s cricket team thrash New Zealand in second ODI, and apparently England also won the World Cup of Darts (didn’t know there was such a thing)

On formal nights in the past I have put on the penguin suit gone to the MDR, finished meal gone back to cabin and changed into something more comfortable.

I had a cheap dinner suit cost me £25 from George at Asda, only ever wore it on a cruise, no longer fits me and I sent to local Red Cross Charity Shop. I only own 1 suit, which I have probably worn no more than on a dozen occasions, the last being my father in law’s funeral last year. I haven’t purchased a tie for over 20 years. I cannot see why many cruise companies still stick these formal nights, a number have abandoned them altogether or have changed to smart casual as alternatives. There is nothing stopping those wish to dress up from doing so,