A House In The Country

The house is big, well it has to be to sleep 10 people but somehow it's still quite intimate. The important thing is there's room for the kids to play and spread out. That way everyone can get a bit of piece and quiet (ie. me) If I could just fix it so that a certain little darling didn't wake at 03.00 and stay awake for a couple of hours life would be good.
Each of the five bedrooms is ensuite so plenty of room for the adults to spread out as well! Purrfect.
There are two television rooms with lots of games, plenty of tables and chairs to eat either in or out, a fully functioning kitchen and a large swimming pool. All in all, a good, if somewhat isolated, spot for a large family gathering. In fact very good if the kids make a lot of noise.
Very nearby is a Sol Melia Hotel which is set in the grounds of the Catalunya PGA Golf Course and from where I can get connected. A bit of a drag but not too much of a problem. In fact the lack of wifi is the only real negative that I can see.
As I write, three males of our party have just driven off to ask, at the very fancy, highly professional golf club, where they can pitch and put. That should be fun to watch?
I'll post pictures here when I have figured out how to do it.
Just figured it out.
Adeu, (Catalan for ta ta).




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Sunny and hot

Hola from Barcelona.
Yes, I know, another bloody holiday but that's how us international jet-setters have to manage. From here we head up to Girona this morning where we take possession of a house near the PGA golf course for a family get together consisting of most of Jan's children and their children.
Should be fun.

Rievaulx Abbey

With my son and family visiting, what to do?
We'd done Fountains Abbey to death and needed a different run out. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, so, for a change, we went off to the North York Moors National Park to visit Rievaulx Abbey.
I'm not sure why we fancy old ruins (there's a Jan joke there somewhere but I'm trying to stay out of her '20 year diary' at the moment) but off we went, and jolly nice it was too.
Jan prepared a scrumptious picnic but despite forgetting the tablecloth and candles it were a gud un.

Clara, top, was in good form and it was really good to spend more time with her. Bless.

Getting old

A puzzle

Q. How many G4S employees does it take to change a light bulb?


A. Four soldiers and a policeman.

Too much thinking without enough thought

A+

Looking forward

With the football finished, tennis finished and the Olympics still on the horizon, thank goodness for our SKY+ box.
Jan our cultural expert, and TV guru, is always on hand to tell me what to record for future viewing. With little or nothing to keep me amused in the near future that's when the box comes into its own. Thank goodness we recorded The Bridge.
We like crime thrillers and, after several episodes, this is one of the best. A moody, almost black and white, thriller based in both Denmark and Sweden. It's not to be missed.
The plot is enthralling but the dialogue is in the original language so you have to follow the plot by reading subtitles.
Anyway, we were glued to yesterday's episode and Jan said, "Will you turn up the volume, I can't here what they're saying."
I'm still laughing. Bless.

How much?

Combining the thought that Jan's getting on a bit, with the fact that they were filming Antiques Roadshow at Fountains Abbey, 10 minutes away, I decided to see what I could get for her.
What a lot of people, all crammed into the Abbey itself and all queuing in seemingly haphazard fashion for the various experts. Ceramics, paintings, furniture, you name it, there was an expert, but it did involve a lot of standing about.
The great and the good of Yorkshire turned out with their nick-nacks. Even our doctor was there so I asked her to take a quick look at the spot on my bum (just kidding) and the gorgeous, Fiona 'the acceptable face of old things' Bruce.

As she sashayed from camera location to camera location I put her right with a few improvements that she could make with her presentation. She didn't seem very grateful.

Anyway, I was offered a camel for Jan which I thought was an absolute insult. She's definitely worth two.

This is the shop

I've mentioned this man before, he's brilliant.
For intestinal reasons that I won't gore bore you with, we have had to put both dogs on a very bland diet. Chicken and rice or chicken and pasta and also white fish and rice.
Never having given them fish before I mentioned to Jan that as well as looking in the frozen food section (we're in our favourite supermarket, Booths) I'd go and ask the fishmonger about the cheapest fish to give them, thinking that he'd come up with something obscure that didn't sell very well.
Vic (still my best friend) mentioned that they had Hake on special offer at half price (£9.50 kilo).
My face must have expressed more than I wanted because after a short pause he said, "Hear you go, try a fillet, you can have it free. See if the dogs like it." This humongous piece of fish weighed in a nearly a kilo.
What a star. This man is pure gold and when he eventually brings Booths to its knees I'm going to help him get a job.
I'm thinking of something like an expensive car showroom!

A high school reunion

Jan, Sue, and Mary haven't seen each other since High School. They rediscover each other via a reunion website and arrange to meet for lunch in a wine bar.

Jan arrives first, wearing a beige Versace. She orders a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

Sue arrives shortly afterward, in gray Chanel. After the required ritualized kisses she joins Jan in a glass of wine.

Then Mary walks in, wearing a faded old tee-shirt, blue jeans and boots. She too shares the wine.

Jan explains that after leaving high school and graduating from Princeton in Classics, she met and married Timothy, with whom she has a beautiful daughter. Timothy is a partner in one of New York 's leading law firms. They live in a 4000 sq. ft. co-op on Fifth Avenue , where Susanna, the daughter, attends drama school. They have a second home in Phoenix .

Sue relates that she graduated from HarvardMed School and became a surgeon. Her husband, Clive, is a leading Wall Street investment banker. They live in Southampton on Long Island and have a second home inNaples , Florida .

Mary explains that she left school at 17 and ran off with her boyfriend, Jim. They run a tropical bird park in Colorado and grow their own vegetables. Jim can stand five parrots, side by side, on his penis.

Halfway down the third bottle of wine and several hours later, Jan blurts out that her husband is really a cashier at Wal-Mart. They live in a small apartment in Brooklyn and have a travel trailer parked at a nearby storage facility.

Sue, chastened and encouraged by her old friend's honesty, explains that she and Clive are both nurses' aides in a retirement home. They live in Jersey City and take vacation camping trips to Alabama .

Mary admits that the fifth parrot has to stand on one leg.

A Ryanair evening

This probably sounds strange but the other night we had a lot of fun listening to Mark Steel at Otley Courthouse.
Before it all started I said to Jan, "this is a bit like flying with Ryanair."
Never having been before, The Courthouse was filled with what I called middle aged hippies and what Jan called radio 4 listeners. Jan regularly listens to radio 4 so I guess she knows what she was talking about.
The crowd around the ticket desk we're middle to very middle aged (OK like me) and with lots of grey flowing hair and floral dresses (and that was just the men).
The beer was good and the unnumbered seats (simple stacking type) for the relatively small audience were comfortable but lacked that plush theatre look and feel (hence the Ryanair feel).
MS was good, very good, very funny and had us in stitches with his 'In Town' routine, something he has run successfully on (wait for it) Radio 4.
We saw him earlier this year in Harrogate he's excellent, go and see him if you can.