tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90680881799577241712024-02-20T10:48:50.486-08:00Three books in a libraryOn my travels ...stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-51203147465359638242009-06-08T10:34:00.000-07:002009-06-08T10:51:41.914-07:00Long time no see!Have been decorating rather a lot lately so not got out much. However, I did trek off to Alfreton the other day, a place I'd never stopped at apart from to go the the indoor bowls club and a nearby garden centre.Quite a quick trip to get there, despite some roadworks, but found parking quite difficult as the signpost for the car park seemed to run out and I didn't know which way to turn! Anyway, stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-27376412741980133512009-04-24T08:34:00.000-07:002009-04-24T08:55:52.031-07:00Latest outingWell, the most recent outing was to Rugby in Northants., the home of Rugby School, where the rules of the ancient Greek game were amended and codified by William Webb Ellis.The town centre consisted of a shopping centre, full of the usual suspects, with a lovely big Dunelm, but quite a few empty units. As it was a Saturday, the market stalls were out in the main street, although people were stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-56858532922607601962009-04-02T02:36:00.000-07:002009-04-02T02:58:53.683-07:00Well, the weather seems to be improving a bit so trips out are more likely! The most recent visit was to Nuneaton, one of those places whose name was familiar but I'd never visited. Wednesday morning was a good time to go as the place was buzzing with people visiting the large street market, which is also there on a Saturday. The usual suspects, in terms of shops, were there, but there were also stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-82310586805835029902009-02-12T05:06:00.000-08:002009-02-12T05:25:52.857-08:00Snow!This time of year sees little opportunity for traveling to different places; it's cold, wet, dark - and the coffers are somewhat depleted after Christmas! So, instead I've been staying at home, watching detective videos, catching up with my family history research, updating my perosnal wiki and my work wiki, and buying things! A thirst for visiting Wales is having to be satisfied with buying and stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-74776871327080054622009-01-10T04:27:00.000-08:002009-01-10T05:53:18.818-08:00ChristmasNo time for the usual trip to Tenby at Christmas-time this year, so went in September instead. Absoulutely amazed to see people sunbathing and swimming in the sea. In fact it was so busy was really worried about finding somewhere to eat, but as usual Fecci's did us proud! Had a good old wander round, and then spent a day in Narberth as well, visiting the superb food festival. Spotted Sophie stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-17746012374871772642008-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:002008-11-27T12:59:46.357-08:00Still in ConwySo impressed with Conwy that went back again another evening and had a fantastic retro Italian meal in Alfredo's! Brilliant service, and the food was superb - just like we used to get in our favourite restaurnat in the 80s!Also went back for the Conwy Food Festival. Amazing that such a small place could be so transformed! The smallest house in Britain was hidden behind a huge beer tent in which astjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-51150176519832932032008-11-20T13:21:00.000-08:002008-11-27T12:00:51.466-08:00Still in North WalesWell, the trip to Conwy through the Sychnant Pass has to be one of the most spectacular drives I've ever done! Up through autumn-shaded trees, past the Fairy Glen and the Austrian restaurant and down the other side into Conwy itself, with its spectacular town walls and castle.Just about managed to cover everything of interest in two visits! Walked all the way round the castle wall - a bit scary stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-64227742068078626812008-10-30T10:12:00.000-07:002008-11-18T12:32:45.295-08:00North WalesAny visit to North Wales wouldn't be complete without a trip to the magnificent castle at Caernarvon. This is where the current Prince of Wales was invested way back in about 1969. The castle really is charming with lots of towers to walk up and walkways to amble across. Lovely views all round as well, Menai Straits to one side, lots of ancient rooftops to the other. There were one or two stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-27910788034872243762008-10-28T09:21:00.000-07:002008-10-28T14:52:38.924-07:00Wales does it again!Wales has again managed to surprise me! A week of wonderful weather; the rain came down during the nights, but the days were as clear and bright as any summer day! Stayed in a beautifully converted old school house in a lovely little village, Dwygyfylchi, near Penmaenmawr.Llandudno was the first stop. Up the Great Orme on the tram - nearly got blown away it was so windy! Followed by a leisurely stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-57217862531987702372008-10-16T09:58:00.000-07:002008-10-16T10:35:14.567-07:00It's autumn - let's talk about summer!Well, here I am again, a couple of months after the last post! The nights are drawing in, and thoughts naturally turn to hot summer nights - not that we had many of those!After a couple of brilliant weeks in St Ives, I spent some time trotting across the country - Hereford to Portsmouth, to home - all in one day, so no time to enjoy the countryside nor the seaside! The lead up to the August bank stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-49372124388548373162008-08-08T03:20:00.000-07:002008-08-08T04:05:06.074-07:00St Ives does it again!Have recently spent two whole weeks down in sunny St Ives!Visited the Minack Theatre twice and thankfully neither day was so scorchingly hot as to be uncomfortable! The Newport Playgoers performed a fabulous account of UnderMilk Wood, the Dylan Thomas play for voices. Just the right amount of action to support the text, and some great acting! In the second week we saw Surrey Opera perform The stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-63960718525484553002008-06-18T08:39:00.000-07:002008-06-18T08:53:24.317-07:00Technology and the shop.So, as out-of-town shopping centres did for town centres, so online shopping has had the same effect. Shops selling unique, individual items seem to be closing down, more quickly than the cost of fuel is going up! Our local second-hand bookshop closed a little while ago, as did our second-hand bric-a-brac shop. Our local antique shop has disposed of all its antiques and gone into the new stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-65513475215726504542008-06-18T08:29:00.001-07:002008-06-18T08:36:55.155-07:00Blogging!Just been to an interesting session on blogging and how to do it - and discovered I'm doing it all wrongly!I don't have a target audience!I don't use the conventional way of hyperlinking!I don't post regularly enough!My posts are too long!I don't have anything new or interesting to say!etc.So, why am I doing it at all, especially given my time constraints? I guess I just wanted to prove to myselfstjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-3238570553651259972008-05-03T03:38:00.000-07:002008-06-18T08:28:37.663-07:00More village walking in Wales!Back again? Me too! This time I'm off to another little village near Abergavenny: Gilwern, population 2,352!Nestled between Govilon and Clydach, this little village runs alongside the Heads of the Valley Road, which is currently being widened. This should make the journey between Abergavenny and Neath a little easier and quicker.Fabulous little chip shop on the main street; Welsh rissoles are notstjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-11956824619154119172008-04-26T02:50:00.000-07:002008-05-02T12:32:57.084-07:00Village walking in WalesSo, here I am again, ambling through small Welsh villages around Abergavenny, armed only with a camera! Ok, so I've donned the walking boots, but I've no intention of hiking through miles of rough terrain, just hard tarmac pavements! Hoping to discover snippets of information, to stumble upon striking countryside and get a bit of fresh air and exercise at the same time.A couple of miles from stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-50861492564303306182008-04-19T09:09:00.000-07:002008-04-26T10:22:00.124-07:00Walking in WalesNow, don't get me wrong,walking is fine, but I like to take the easy ones, driving to a village or town and then discovering its secrets on foot, which is what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks in South Wales.Abergavenny, the gateway to Wales and the Brecon Beacons, a staging post for those enthusiastic walkers, hikers and campers, ticks all the boxes for me! Ok, so the castle isn't stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-20465641605042202902008-04-04T07:32:00.000-07:002008-04-26T10:21:24.404-07:00Recent travelsWell, over the last three months I've done quite a bit of travelling to other towns in the UK, although sometimes I haven't been able to go into the towns themselves as I've gone for other reasons (like bowling matches)!Did manage to get a look around Grantham, the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher and where Issac Newton went to school. Enjoyed looking around the museum, which was well laid out andstjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-27260818569432760092008-04-04T07:07:00.000-07:002008-04-04T07:31:55.537-07:00What's in a number?Three?I can hardly believe that it's been three months since I last made an entry in this blog! It seems like only yesterday I was getting excited about SnapShots!Trying to think what I've been up to over the last three months reminded me that in the space of three days, I experienced three accidents!First off, someone reversed into the side of my car! Didn't do very much damage, but it's always stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-59002160064362897822007-12-31T09:58:00.000-08:002007-12-31T10:01:05.650-08:00Snapsots now available!I've added snapshots to my blog! Still in its infancy and needs quite a bit of refining, but could be useful to see where a link will take you before you actually chose to go there!stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-50599015819234596812007-12-27T05:42:00.000-08:002007-12-27T05:53:54.236-08:00Back from South West Wales!Wales! Seems to be a favourite destination of mine! Just got back from visitng South West Wales! Stopped off in Abergavenny on the way, to see relatives, and then tootled down to Llanteg, a regular haunt of mine, to stay in a wooden house ( http://www.llanteglos-estate.com/ ). Over the years have seen all sorts of weathers, but this year was the coldest time ever!While there, visited Tenby and stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-46704523741911644212007-11-01T04:57:00.000-07:002007-11-01T06:23:14.574-07:00North WalesWell, have just returned from a week in North Wales. The most glorious weather we've ever had on a late October holiday, and not a spot of rain until the very last evening, so raincoats and wellies remained clean and dry!This was a very busy, and very exciting holiday, going to places I'd heard of, but never been to before and visiting as many tourist attractions as we could fit into a week! stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-61551722781141234862007-10-06T03:52:00.000-07:002007-10-06T04:21:13.668-07:00Oh my goodness! This is a hopeless case! It's now been over a month since I last visited! Life seems just so hectic, and there never seems gto be any let-up. Well, I guess I'd have a lot to complain about if I never did anything, never got out and never read, did crosswords, sewed, played the piano or any of those other things I like to do, over and above scribbling in a blog!One of the most stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-78058401924275365572007-08-30T05:37:00.000-07:002007-08-30T05:58:24.970-07:00Goodbye summer - hello autumn!The schools starting back after the long summer break really signals to me the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, but this year it seems that that mother nature agrees with me, with tree leaves turning red, conkers falling and the blackberries nearly over!Summer holidays invariably reduce my stress levels enormously (despite the stress of packing!) and the ensuing four weeks, with less stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-58315626630337281692007-08-22T02:10:00.000-07:002007-08-22T02:26:50.538-07:00Eventually ...Well, the holiday has long since been over, and life has returned to normal for the time of year! While it seems the rest of the country were suffering heavy rains and flooding, I enjoyed a fantastic time with quite reasonable weather in Cornwall. Did the usual things like swim in the sea, walk and read, and also did some differnet things!Went to the cinema three times; the Harry Potter film was stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068088179957724171.post-45817003990872147602007-07-10T08:24:00.000-07:002007-07-10T08:31:42.544-07:00And counting ...Holidays are looming! Looming only in the sense that there is the stressful act of packing to go through first before the relaxation of the holiday. And, all that work to do so that one can disappear off for a couple of weeks with a clear enough conscience that everything that needed to be done has been done and that nothing, but nothing can possibly go wrong while you're away!I'm hoping when I stjeromehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02358079860710812787noreply@blogger.com0