Tanguera at Sadlers Wells - August 22nd

As a birthday treat for Jane and certainly a treat for me as well, we went by train (1st class of course) to London. St Pancras International is marvellous! Is there a better station anywhere? Open and light and beautifully designed it holds many lovely shops and eating places. It is worth a trip in its own right.
Sadlers Wells is a short walk from Angel tube station and despite origins in 1683, it is a purpose built modern theatre. We had a sandwich in the foyer before the show. An Argentine group who have performed all over the world told the story of tango in dance. A young French girl arriving in the dock area of Buenos Aires, forced into prostitution before meeting her true love - yea, yea yea, you know the rest. Stunning dancing, an incredible spectacle.
Time for dinner, a fancy pastry in St Pancras and back home on the train.
A day out that was as good as it gets.

Ian's Visit (28 JUly - 1st August 2010)

Ian's visit had a very simple objective - to see the Test Match, England v Pakistan at Trent Bridge. Ian arrived on the Wednesday and we took In Forest's pre-season game against Lyon. We were outclassed but there were some good points to some of Forest's play, so I am looking forward to a successful season.
England won the game and we saw all the play except for a short period on Saturday morning when it looked to gloomy to play, but play they did. We took in Nottingham Contemporary and a little walk around the city centre.
We eat in The Riverbank and Larwood and Voce - both providing excellent meals - and I prepared some foos which went down well.
England sorted things out on the Sunday morning, in good time to get Ian on the train home.

An excellent visit which I hope will be repeated when trent Bridge hosts another test match.

Lesley's Visit (21st - 26th July 2010)

How lucky I am that Lesley decided to spend a few days visiting me - well, really having a look at some of the good things around Nottingham, but I think of it as a visit to me!
On our first evening we had a meal in Las Ignassu which is a South American restaurant and then had a tango lesson. Since Lesley, Tony and I will visit Argentina next year this was as close a taster as we could get.
The next day was devoted to Chatsworth. We have been before but such a place deserves more than one visit. We were just about the first through the gates and took our time having a slow and thorough walk round. We shopped for some exellent produce in the Farm Shop. We had enough energy for an evening of Ceroc but there were so few people there, that the evening was rather flat.
On the Friday we were joined by Karen and we had an excellent day at Newstead Abbey. It is just north of the city and it's somewhere I will visit many times again to enjoy the house or to walk round the gardens. certainly exceeded expectations. We had a meal with Jane in the evening at The Riverbank which is now my favourite as well as my local.
Saturday was spent at a cool Wollaton Park for 'Splendour', Nottingham's pop concert. Annabelle joined us. We had a lot of sitting around with acts that will never feature in my chosen listening but the eening was made by the Pet Shop Boys. Great songs, great performance with 4 dancers and a wonderful light and video show backing them.
Sunday morning was spent at Alvaston Park which is close to Derby and is another excellent place for walkibng and bird watching. Again I will visit by myself frequently.
In the arternoon it was The Sunday Lounge with Marc, Dianne, Joan, Jane and Janet. We organise this monthly gathering with smooth music for some slowish jive and a few tangos.

Lesley's train was on Monday but there was time to look maat Nottingham Contemporary - always worth a visit if only to rant!) and for Lesley to buy from a local artist some of his work in a colour to match the wallpaper!

So, a lovely visit and I feel pleased that I had thought about what we should do and had for once planned our outings!

A long Weekend down South

Having seen a house being built my good friend Cheryl decided that a little bit of crazy paving for a good friend was a piece of cake! After just a little thought, I am glad to say that she called me in to help and so a weekend down south took place.

We managed the crazy paving in a day – just. No technical details will be provided, professionals don’t give away their secrets, so suffice to say the final job was fit for purpose, which was sitting and dinking fine wine.

Next day we graced Lords Cricket Ground. Cheryl and Ian are on the invitation list of a couple of barrister who have a box at Lords and they got me a ticket. Middlesex playing the Australians was incidental to the wine and wonderful food, despite the great view from the box. Walking around the ground I will admit Lords has a slight edge over Trent Bridge, mainly because it has another pitch stuck alongside. From there we were off to a Joan Armatrading concert which was superb. More tracks to download.

Sunday the three of us had a fine walk around Thornley island. All on the flat of course with a little sandy beach but the sea was out a long way.

On Monday, Ian was at work and Cheryl and I walked around Virginia Water and I realised why she relaxes with a walk there whenever possible. So many walks are possible you would never tire of the place.

So some good things achieved but most of all it was so good to see the Hampshire village and the home where Cheryl and Ian spend there working week

Two walks in Derbyshire

Last year when I attempted a walk in Derbyshire I reached a point where I was lost (let’s blame the guide book) and at that same point and in the same state were Stephen and Stephanie. We continued together and had a good day. We did not exchange any contact details as they did not use the internet. During the year some clever detective work resulted in them contacting me via their new computer. They stay in Bakewell each year to explore Derbyshire which, of course, they know so much better than I do.
So this year we met up for two days and walked some great walks. The first one we got wonderfully lost on many occasions but did a great circuit. The second one was perfect in all details. We never varied an inch from the desired route. It was the most beautiful weather that Derbyshire could provide. Calm, perfect cloudless blue sky and an over riding sense that nothing could be better.
We talked endlessly, except when I was out of breath! Stephanie is the best walker of the three and is very fit, having ran several Chicago marathons. Stephen pretends that I am as good as him and I join in that joke.
We are a great team and will be meeting up next year.

A New House for Doug

I have spent quite a lot of time over the last 9 months with Cheryl as the house for her father developed from ideas to reality. The large garden in the house that Cheryl (and sister Ros ) were born in was becoming a burden and could be divided to provide a more than adequate garden for the old house and a manageable one for the new house. Of course, Cheryl carried the responsibility and acted as a project manager, Jeremy (Horizon Builders) was the excellent builder but I like to think that I added my bit when I could. There was always a lot of work to do peripheral to the building. Plants to be moved or protected and much landscaping in readiness for the move.
The house is beautiful and the volume of the structure is used about as efficiently as is possible. There is a large kitchen/diner a high ceiling that is a feature and has a wonderful stone floor; a large bedroom downstairs with an en-suite wet room and a large living room, that has double door access from the hall. Doug can live with plenty of space on the one level. Upstairs there are 3 dormer bedrooms and bathroom.
Jeremy was the efficient modern builder and I was amazed at the current building regulations and craftsmanship of what they did, especially compared to my amateur efforts of 30 to 40 years ago when insulation was an afterthought.
The garden developed quickly with Cheryl directing Jeremy, Harry and me (at the time when we should have been in Gran Canaria). Harry was a wonderful local character who could do most things with paving, concrete and turf. Giving off a very amiable air he moved slowly around with a bit of a limp but worked quickly and we had total faith in what he did.
Cheryl was able to use her landscaping skills and the final house and garden are a delight to see and to live in. Doug moved to the new surroundings from the one he had lived in for some 60 years without batting an eye!