Off On Another Adventure

Our nomadic existence continues and tomorrow we set off to Merseyside. We're staying with my Mum for a couple of nights. We're looking forward to seeing her along with my brother Pete and his wife Val who we've not seen since their daughter Lisa's wedding in the summer. After that we've got our great friend Dave Haworth's 60th birthday party in Liverpool on Sunday and then it's an early start on Monday as we head up to St Andrews in time to do a bit of babysitting for Sarah at lunchtime (please be kind to us weather and traffic).

A few nights in the caravan (please be kind to us weather) are planned before we head down to the Lake District on Saturday for another dear friend's 60th birthday. After that we've got Sunday dinner planned in Ribchester with more friends (my what popular people we are I hear you say) before returning to Framlingham on Monday. 

After that we've got almost two whole months in Suffolk. This will be the longest that we've been here since we moved to Framlingham almost a year ago and it will be good to have a couple of restful months as another hectic schedule is bound to begin again in the spring. 

We've got a few things planned already. Framsoc has some tickets for National Theatre Live's performance of Corliolanus at Aldeburgh Cinema. We've intended to go to one of these live theatre cinema screenings for ages but needed the impetus of someone getting tickets to push us into going - promises to be good. The last time we saw anything like this was the live transmission of Stephen Fry's one man show from London at FACT in Liverpool.

Whilst mentioning the cinema, I was pleased to see that all of those I suggested as worthy of Oscar Nominations from American Hustle and Nebraska the other day have been nominated for BAFTAs - I told you they were good. 

After Coriolanus we've booked a night away in The Ship Inn at Dunwich. It's only about half an hour away but we saw in Suffolk Magazine that they were holding a music night in February with dinner and accommodation (including breakfast) at a very reasonable price so we thought we'd give it a try. I know we could drive there and save a few pounds but we've not been to Dunwich yet and it will be good to be able to have a few glasses of wine or beer and not worry about driving.

After that it will be Valentines night. Last year we went to The Crown and I think we'll do the same again this time as Matt, the chef, is very good at coming up with some innovative and tasty dishes. It was interesting to see that the TO LET signs in The Lemon Tree Bistro (which sadly closed very suddenly in December) came down today. I do hope it's an eatery of some sort and not another gift or antique shop. It's not that I don't like gift shops or antique shops I just think we've got enough but we've not got enough restaurants - a pizzeria or wine bar would be good.

In our short spell at home we've crammed a fair bit in. On Wednesday we went and explored the Lanes in Norwich. We've been watching that retirees' fare Antiques Roadtrip on the telly and wondered if we too might find something in a shop for £100, persuade the owner to sell it to us for £40 (as if) and then watch it at auction as the feverish bidding starts at a fiver and finishes at er a fiver. It's very entertaining but I don't think those dragons on Dragons' Den would think much of the business model.

I'm still busily doing Jillian Michaels' Thirty Day Shred exercise DVD every morning although in my case Thirty Day Shrek might be more appropriate judging from the colour I go after twenty minutes. At least, in conjunction with the diet, it is working and I've lost the 5 lbs I put on over Christmas. Another seven to go and Leo's Deli might see the takings back up again.