Easter and (oh well)...We're not on our way to Wembley....

Been a fairly relaxing Easter hols - (if you discount all the school stuff i should have done :)...

Easter Weekend was spent camping in Weymouth visiting Kids and Grandkids..

hot during the day.. Brrr during the night.... But some great sunsets.....







We did some fishing.. some climbing.... some bar-q-ing...

and some butterfly hunting.....

Oh and we did get stuffed by Man United, but scored a cracking goal, and played our socks off...

Happy Anniversary and Happy Easter....

Significant day last weekend - Suzie and me have been together for 4 years.... and she still likes me!!! Well perhaps not the football fanatic bit but..... We went out to the greek restaurant where we met - that old adage about never going back was distinctly true this time - boring....

Anyway, we're off to Weymouth today for easter, camping. Come on now everybody, fingers crossed for the weather:)

Here's the 'Proud Daddy Bit' !! or how to embarrass your daughter....

This young lady...

has been VERY brave and decided to take herself and

this young lady off to Wrexham to go to Uni. Bit of a life change eh....

And this is what she's going to read... http://www.newi.ac.uk/en/programmesandfees/undergraduate/BScHonsForensicSciencewithCriminalJustice/

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun!!

Just noticed that I haven't written anything or over a month - must have been a busy bee.

Life is moving along sweetly - mostly that is.

• WFC - well we're a dead cert for relegation. Looking forward to getting back to 'proper' football eg. 3 o'clock on a Saturday for a start, no more Premiership hype, decent opposing supporters, fans who are their for Watford, not those who have bought a season ticket because they' want to watch the Premiership opposition. BUT - we're in the semi final of the FA Cup!! We play Manchester United on 14th April...mnnnn. Oh Well let's have a fun day out.
• Hertford are OK - 2nd in league and semi-finals of east anglian cup.

Went to see England U21's at the new Wembley yesterday - great stadium, going to be noisy when filled.

Holiday plans coming along well - even made an itinerary !!!

23rd July Arrive Auckland 0515 -Stay at Aunt Joan’s.

24th /25th Pick up car – drive to Paihia.
Stay at Paihia – Trip on Dunerider. Booked.

26th Back to Auckland.

28th To Tauranga via Rotorua.

Aug 2nd Watch Rugby at Bay of Plenty ‘Steamers’

Aug 3rd Off to South Island via Wellington

4th August Across Cook Straight to Christchurch for
dinner. Then to Dunedin.

5th – 6th - Visit Albatross, Stewart Island.

7th To Queenstown.

8th Milford Sound Coach Trip.

9th Queenstown to Mt Cook Village

10th back to Cook Straight

11th Back to Bay of Plenty via Napier and
Gisbourne,

14th Back to Auckland – visit Carol.

16th Drop off car.
17th Leave……sob sob…

Big Decisions Week,,,,,

Seems that we're taking the bull by the horns, grasping the nettle, (or as Suzie put it - grab it while the irons hot) - (any more cliche's!!) - but the bottom line (see what I've done?) is we've taken the plunge and come up gasping for breath and have decided to get married.... So set your clocks for 3pm 16th August 2008 at Hertford Caslte. http://www.hertford.gov.uk/

Now the fun begins - who can we disappoint the most by not inviting them!!!

There's only room enough for 42 for a sitdown reception, so that's us two plus ....?

Top ten bestest things...

Been doing this on WFC forums - here's mine:-

http://www.wfcforums.com/showthread.php?t=7575&page=6

Suzie.

football per se.

warm(not hot)evening, sat in the sun with cold chablis, chilli wraps and Tubular Bells.

Cold Guinness

A really well cooked Chicken Jalfreizi, with Cobra

The prospect of a really long travelling holiday.

Last day of summer term - waving goodbye to all those little ones who have made me extremely tired over the past 32 weeks.

Rioja - well majority of good red wine.

Sat by Loch Ness with a glass of Glenlivet.

Grandchildren.

Yippee - it's a snowday....

Thank you weatherman - it's our now nearly annual snow-day off.

Lots of expectation by the kids at school all week about how they were going to spend Thursday having fun in the snow, and lo and behold, down it came!! Bit of trepidation waiting for the phone call to say get back into bed, but it came from the luscious Dianne.

So - back to the future - Our Kiwi Land Adventure.

Planning is developing nicely - getting our itinerary up and running, so to speak. Decided to hire a car and sleep in a bed, rather than the camper van we first considered.

So, plan so far:- arrive 23rd, stay in Auckland with Aunt Joan, then immediately decamp (sorry Aunt Joan) and leg it up to Northlands and stay at Paihia for a couple of nights - this is so we can go here for my brthday:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Mile_Beach,_New_Zealand

Well - we've done it....

As I said here:-

http://lendal.blogspot.com/2007/01/thoughts-on-start-of-our-new-year.html

We're off to Kiwi Land!

Fly out from Heathrow 21st Jul at 4:15 pm, return on 18th Aug. Planning starts now :)

Yipeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! and OH F****

Yipeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Well, for those of you not 'involved' in supporting a particular team in any kind of sport, that kind of feeling must be hard to find.

We (Watford FC that is for those of you who perhaps haven't followed this little blog over the past couple of years - as an aside, that itself feels strange - am I just scribbling to myself or has anyone EVER looked at this?) have just won our second game of the season, beating Blackburn Rovers 2 - 1.

Amazing - after months of hard luck stories : hitting crossbars, last minute (and even 97th minute!!) penalties and controversial goals - it went our way, Blackburn own goal, gave them one back as we do, then great head in by Jay DeMerit. Felt like aftermath of Cardiff all over again.

Can we stay up - doubt it, but let's have fun and try boys...

OH F****

Another tale of footie = this time Hertford's VALIANT attempt t progress to the prestigious semi-final of the Herts Senior Cup.

Played League 2 team Barnett FC on Monday evening - good game and the boys gave it all ONLY to be done by a couple of poor refereeing decisions in added on time - free kick followed by a penalty.... I'll say no more just read.... http://www.hertfordtownfc.co.uk/barnethome22_1.htm

AND on a side note - Suze's been given her time off, so we ARE off to Kiwi Land in our summer..... better get myself sorted out as far as flying goes then.... :)

A=Z

Taggesd this from http://morgenfiles.blogspot.com/

A- Available or single? Not available. Technically single in the eyes of the law.
B- Best Friend? Suzie...XXX
C- Cake or Pie? Has to be Rich Fruit Cake, eaten with a slice of Wensleydale cheese.
D- Drink of Choice? Winter - probably red wine; Summer iced dry cider.
E- Essential Item? Mobile :-).
F- Favorite Colour? Yellow
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Gummi Worms!
H- Hometown? Bengeo, Hertfordshire.
I- Indulgence? Big Breakfast before footie...yummy.
J- January or February? February, because it's closer to Spring.!
K. Kids and names? Claire & Debbie PLUS Alisha, Malik and Camlin...
L- Life is incomplete without? FOOTBALL
M- Marriage Date? ...err ask Suzie....
N- Number of Siblings? Hi Janice.
O- Oranges or apples? Apples
P- Phobias/Fears? Flying and out of control heights.
Q- Favorite Quote? I'll have to think about this for a while.
R- Reason to Smile? Alisha, Malik and Camlin...
S- Season? Autumn.
T- Tag three people! I'm Billy no mates me...
U- Unknown Fact About Me? If I told you it wouldn't be "unknown"
V-Vegetable you hate? SPROUTS!!!
W- Worst habit? Interupting people.
X- X-Rays you’ve had? Prostrate?
Y- Your favorite food? Depends on the mood, but probably charcoaled steak ('cos I can't have too often!!)
Z- Zodiac? Leo

Good day; Bad day...

Good day...

Generally yesterday was full of the good simple things in our life, nothing ecstatic, just seemed right.

Suzie spent the day with her nephew, Aaron, and took him to Linton Zoo. A more polite and well behaved 9 year old would be hard to find. They wandered around, highlight appearing to be
the lemur
(He's there somewhere - HONEST!!)

And being a typical 9 year old - the play area !!!



Then it was a choice between Big Mac, Burger King or Subway - being a healthy young man, he chose Subway... (as WE all would...err?)

Dropped him back at mum's and, SO IMPRESSED by his impeccable behaviour offered to take to Weymouth camping at Easter - YES was the reply... (by both Mum & Boy!!!)

Meanwhile, I wandered off to Watford to watch The 'Orns against Liverpool. Took Alistair - another well behaved young man. Had a nice, but unfortunately, reasonably unhealthy, breakfast!! Thence to the game.

Bad day....

Really poor performance by the lads, bit of a strange few days all around surrounding WFC - it appears that the boss has changed his coaching staff, whilst trying to fend off offers for our star, Ashley Young. Very lacklustre performance and we were easily beat by a poor Liverpool team. Ah well - let's hope they relax now and enjoy the second half of the season - treat it as a learning and development curve and storm the Championship next year!!

Oh, and back to the good day theme

• both Hertford and Chesham won!!
• Janice and Donie have at last been given a house by Aberdeen council and she's been promoted - well done up there!!!

GOOOD MOORRRNNIIIIINGGG BENGEO....

Up and at 'em today - good night's sleep in our own bed after a couple of spent on cushions & camp bed at Mother's. Sister flew down from Aberdeen last week to spend some time with her (Thanks Janice..um needed a change from me!!!). Prognosis for mother good - she starts radiotherapy here http://www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/findus/churchill.aspx at end of month. Until then we have a bit of respite and can relax at home for a while.

Weekend was fun - Hertford rained off, so wandered over to Watford to watch our second win of the season in open play (don't count Accrington Stanley!!). A good performance against a team that played really well - onwards and upwards,,, http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10400,00.html.

Out for a meal with Janice & Mum - yummy.

Sunday - off to see grandchildren. Good time had by all!!!

Getting the big boy into the right colours.... :)

Thoughts on the start of our new year....

What do I/we expect from this year?

• Biggest project by far is our proposed trip to New Zealand in August. Hope to visit Sue's Uncle Jack at Tauranga Bay. He runs a farm there and she went a couple of years ago with her mum. My Aunt lives in Auckland, as does Suzie's friend Carol, so lot's of reasons to go. Reason not to go is FLYING.... Going to have to swallow my fears and go for it. BUT if we are going to spend 24 hours in a plane - one of the end results MUST be to see one of these...

So we'll go here then... http://www.albatross.org.nz/ . The Royal Albatross Colony is located at Taiaroa Head at the tip of the Otago Peninsula . Looking into travelling around the south island in a camper. WE KNOW - IT'S GOING TO BE WINTER!! But if it's too cold, we'll just have to B & B.

• Second hol to look forward is our Spring Holiday at Painton (bit different NZ!!). We're going to stay on a LARGE caravan with the children and grandchildren - should be chaotic and fun.

• Mother's 80 next December, so we'll have to start thinking about how to celebrate this. As I KNOW she won't be looking at this (she burnt out the SIM on her mobile, so Blogs are well out of her range!!) we'll put ideas on here as we think of them - first being trying to get us all together for next Crimble at Whitby.

• Football wise, If Aidy Boothroyd keeps us in the Premiership, it will go down as one of THE great escapes in football history!! We are bottom with 18 games to go and 10 points adrift from safety. HOWEVER, despondancy is not the name of the game here, as the team he is appearing to put together is hopefully going to be a bit exciting no matter which division we're in - should be fun.
• (Good reading here http://bhappy.wordpress.com/2007/01/02/reasons-to-be-cheerful/ )

• As for Hertford, going to see them today, and they are a bit of fun to watch as well at present scoring goals for fun, two players with over 30 each!!

Happy New Year...(only a little late:-) )

Had an intersting holiday - lot's of German Wine and Beer; a few old favourites food wise.
Best moments?

• Frikadellen in the HBF at Koln....

The Rhine in the early morning...

• Meeting strange locals - Hello Wilhelm...


• Seeing The Loreley - from above.. and below...


• The Gluvine in the cafe by the arch in Cocham...


• The Hot Chocolate and Asbach in Ruedesheim - mmmmnnnnnnn....


• The trip down The Rhine...
  


• And drinking LOTS of the local wine - hic...
  

A Merry Crimble to all our readers...if there is any that is :)

Well, been an interesting couple of weeks since the last post. Mum's had her operation, I've been camped at her place for a while now (been home for an hour last Saturday...) and she's recuperating well with all the TLC she's been getting from those around her.

Nigel and Christine have been great and we are repaying them via a football game for Nigel (Fulham v Watford on New Years Day) an a girls night out when Janice comes 'down' from Aberdeen next month. (I was going to write the wilderness there, but that's not fair - they have a sort of civilisation there, at least one MacDonald's!!!)

One downer is they've found other cells, and Mother is going to have to undergo radiotherapy in the new year.

It's her birthday tomorrow and years ago we decided that as she didn't want, or need 'owt for the house or herself, that we'd take her for a meal and a trip to the the theatre in London. We booked her into the Mousetrap this year and were going to the little restaurant of the strand we'd taken Suzie's mum to a couple of years ago, and as can be seen, a good time was had by all!!



As she can't come, Denise is taking her place - good job it's not musical!!!

Then we're off to Germany on Saturday morning for a few days - yummy, looking forward to the first taste of that luvverly beer; mmmmnnnnnnnnn.

An up and down week.

Been an up and down week - Watford gave it a go last Monday and redeemed themselves in he eyes of the watching football; still not pretty, but successful. Hertford had a good win on Tuesday after the poor performance last Saturday and mother had her operation. Which is why I'm sat here in her flat typing this rather than lounging about i our nest.

She's well, but sore and as long as she does as she's told she'll be okay.

This means NO ironing, or washing, or hoovering....in fact no domestics at all (that's my job for the next few weeks... :)

So, plans and things.

• Going to miss The Hornets game home to Reading today - I'm doing the early hospital visit so mum's friend Nigel doesn't have too much available time to say with her - he 'did her head in ' yesterday. Very kind, but just outstayed his welcome by a couple of hours.
• Domestics here, eg tidy MY mess up in case they discharge her tomorrow.
• Pop down to Swindon to see Suzie's sisters and drop off crimble pressies.

Deep Thoughts

Sat last night contemplating my naval and wondering about the meaning of life ad how I should use this to add mt pennyworth to the growing virtual community but at present I really haven't got any. Football, food and drink is my limit at present, BUT i promise I'll try to present my deeper feelings about the worlds around me - maybe.

Another week, another crap game of football....

Optimism was high in August, less so after all the crap decisions given against us by "professional referees" - put much more eloquently than I ever could by Iceman from Glory Horns forum http://www.gloryhorns.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28212. But being beat by a crap team, in a crap game, by a crap decision, (Danny Webber WAS offside by at least a yard), really has pissed me off. Hopefully, this is now the nadir, and we will move onwards and upwards from here. In another life I knew a guy who's catch word (in amateur dramatics) was quietly confident - I'm trying, BUT........

Anyway, there are more important things in life than football ( not too sure about that). Mother is having 'it all taken away' (to quote the late great Hilda Baker) this week to stop any attacking cells. Nuff said.

Plans for the weekend?
First - domesticity rears it's ugly head - need clothes as it's getting cold out there!!
Second - watch Hertford play Welwyn Garden City, as WFC have another weekend off (bloody sky...grrrr.)
Thirdly - get up to date with the paying stuff. Had a letter this week about the future of teacher's pensions. Came with a great shock that this time in TEN years I'll be retired, (from teaching if not from work - look out Tesco's/ Sainsbury's, here I come for the most menial, non responsible, no kids jobs I can find!!!). Bleeding hell, time moves exceedingly quickly when you're having fun!!!

Why are we so awake at weekends....?

It's still dark outside on a wild November morning and I've been awake since 5:30 am.

WHY!!

Yesterday ( and Thursday for all that matters) couldn't get enough sleep - took the alarm to drag me out of bed feeling completely knackered before the day even started.


But today - OH NO, awake at the proverbial crack. Had a wee, tried to bore myself into sleep by listening to The Ashes (least said about this typical English debacle the better at present - I'll let the commentators on radio and TV rightly tear the team and management to bits,) but to no avail.

So here I am - tapping into this instead of keeping Suzie awake with my non so gentle snoring.

So - what's happened in the life of Peter and Suzie. Not too much it has to be said. Pottering around our little nest, getting on with life - washing, cooking and all that. Beginning to get ourselves all prepared for crimble. More Suzie than me, haven't bought a pressie yet whislt she is well on track. Looking forward to Germany - we're going out on 23rd dec and back on 28th. NO CHRISTMAS FOOD SHOPPING - YEEEESSSSS!!!!!


Plans for the weekend

• Domestic stuff - in particular iron!!


• Going to watch Leverstock Green v Hertford Town....top of the table clash in South Spartans Premier League.


• Tidy car- it's a bit messy to say the least.


• err - bit of school work tomorrow before watching Man U v Chelski on tv.


• Then we're off to Hertford Castle Hall to see the Independent Ballet Wales perform Giselle with Suzise's sisiter Pam.

BIG MOAN TIME

They've turned this wonderful place into a BURGER BAR.....grrrrrrr

up/down weekend.

Well here we are - just watched Arsenal stuff Liverpool on TV - nice play, it could be an interesting end to the season, (not that The Hornets are going to be involved. Taught a lesson by Chelski yesterday & lost 4-0. Drogba hat trick.

Now there's a lesson for any young kid watching all the diving and cheating. Drogba has stopped his ' antics' in league footy and consequently has delivered the business, mmmnnnn.

Went and had a good afternoon at Hertford and watched reserves play St MARGARETSBURY RES. Good game of football which we comfortably won.

http://www.hertfordtownfc.co.uk/reshomestmugs.htm

Great night on Friday - surprise from Suzie. She led me (nearly blindfold) to Castle Hall Hertford and lo - there were the:-

Wow - have enjoyed their music since the first album. Never thought I'd see them in little old Hertford. Great night from the (as they like to be alluded to...) Spice Girls of the Court of Henry VIII.!!

Thence to our first Thai together - yummy

Lastly - here are the great things in life....

So much for my 'daily' updates....

Been a while (again) since thew last post - something to do with being absolutely cream crackered since going back to school after half-term.

Up and down couple of weeks - footy is going alright, we're not going to set the Premiership alight yet, but at least we've won a game.

http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10400~33496,00.html

Middle grandchild was 2 last Friday so we paid a visit to the lovely Weymouth on Sunday and had a great day all round.

Monday Mother had a little visit to hospital for an MOT - interesting to see her in the ward when I picked her up. All the younger models around still knocked out by the anaesthetic, but she was sat on chair raring to go. Had to stop her from tearing around the flat when we got home to do 'housework'.

Sort of made me think about her childhood and it's effect on her now and comparing that with a modern child now. She would have been 12/13 at start of WWII and grew up in East London during the worst of the Blitz (with a brief stay in Devon when evacuated). She has never really talked about this part of her life, but it must have had a great emotional effect on her. She has mentioned the Doodlebugs though - and how terrifying they were. One lasting effect has been her terror of running out of toilet paper!!

Off to badminton now - can't believe how absolutely knackered I am - strain of worrying about mother must have taken more out of me than i thought. Looking forward to the Kebab afterwards though...yummy.