On Ayckbourn at FADS, Amazon Fire TV, Framlingham Hour Community And Not So Super Mario

I've been banging on about my novel and my various book giveaways on here this week and my readership has dwindled a little bit so I get the message and I'll get back to the retirement for today although you will have to forgive me if I write another blog pushing Give Me Your Tomorrow before the free offer runs out on Monday.

We got back from Rochester on Tuesday night after looking after our darling granddaughter for a couple of days and we can't wait to see her again on Monday when we head down to Kent again for another childcare stint.

The good folk of Rochester will be very scared on Halloween. Our granddaughter's hand made costume arrived from family in America on Wednesday and I can guarantee that there won't be a better two-year-old dinosaur trick or treating anywhere in Rochester (or the UK for that matter) this time next week. 

Marion has been busy with the garden and has done a fantastic job in digging up the perennial plants that she wasn't happy with, digging in new compost and planting shrubs as replacements. Although our landscapers did a fabulous job in designing the garden last year the planting scheme was done for instant colour and Marion wants something more long term that looks good all year round. Boxes keep arriving from Crocus and David Austin Roses and the results are starting to look impressive. 

I kept getting emails from Amazon telling me that I wasn't getting the most out of Amazon Prime. I use Prime for quick free delivery but it now includes their film and TV streaming service. Trouble is, although our Samsung TV in the kitchen has the Amazon ap, the Panasonic in the lounge doesn't and Panasonic don't seem to be in any hurry to resolve this. I don't want to be streaming films via the laptop (too much hassle) so when I saw that Amazon were introducing their own gadget to make their service available on the Panasonic  (or any tv) I thought it was worth gambling £79 on the Amazon Fire TV and giving it a try. It's  a tiny device and works perfectly (so far). Whether or not we'll watch the free films being offered is another question but at least we now can if we want to.

I supported Liverpool for most of my life and had a season ticket on the Kop for the best part of forty years. I lost interest during the Dalgleish and Hodgson years although I kept going out of loyalty but when we moved to Framlingham I had to give up the season tickets. Suddenly they started to play attractive football and came within a whisker of winning the Premiership (just my luck) so, this season, I've started watching again on TV. It seems that I missed out on the one glory season of the last decade as the last couple of performances (QPR and Real Madrid) have been absolutely dire. Much centres around signing Mario Balotelli and I find myself thinking what Bill Shankly  (yes I am old enough to have been watching when he was the boss) would have done with such a player. He's obviously a highly talented individual and anyone who has friends who set off fireworks in his bathroom and wears a "Why Always Me" t-shirt is okay with me but I reckon Bill would have given short shrift to that ginger mohican for starters. After that he would have told him to look as if he was interested. I'll never forget seeing Liverpool about three down with five minutes to go and Emlyn Hughes running around like a madman encouraging the team to keep going - Balotelli looks as if it's all a bit boring before the game's even started. Although Emlyn's exhortations didn't bring a result at least he got the crowd on his side and if Balotelli can get the crowd on board maybe he can start to make the impact that he is capable of. The day that he signed the cameras showed him leaving his seat before the half time whistle - if you are passionate about your team you don't leave until it's all over.

Last night we headed to the college to see the latest performance from FADS our local amateur dramatics society (apologies to the Framlingham website for pinching their photo). They performed Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings. It was a very entertaining show although the society struggles with a shortage of young male actors. The men who performed did their very best but seemed, in a couple of instances, simply too old for the characters they were portraying.With just five males in the play this did affect its credibility. On the other hand, the female casting was very strong and the actors playing Belinda, Pattie and Rachel all put in memorable performances. The set was, as always, excellent and the audience loved it. They did their best with the cast available but I'd love to see some younger blood in future shows.

Today I've been doing my bit for The Framlingham Hour Community and taken an elderly woman shopping. It's only an hour but it makes a big difference - without this service she would be virtually housebound and have to rely on others to shop for her. The Hour Community gets her out of the house and half of the trip to the Co-Op is spent pausing for her to say hello to people she knows (she knows everyone in Framlingham). Having the shopping delivered to her house would deprive her of this important social interaction.

And by the way, did I tell you, my book is free to download until Monday?



  

Doing Our Bit

We had a busy time yesterday. Framlingham has an excellent community scheme run by the local Rotary Club and we've been on the list of volunteers for a while now. We haven't been called upon to help a great deal as many of the requests for assistance involve DIY and, as anyone who has seen my attempts at DIY will tell you, me and DIY don't get on well together. But slapping a frozen dinner into a microwave and making a cup of tea is within my skill set so we headed off to an elderly couple yesterday to do just that (they are unable to do it due to a temporary disability).  Once that was done we went to help another elderly lady and gentleman with a very complex form - I think that we filled it in correctly. 

I've mentioned it before but Framlingham's Hour Community is a very worthwhile scheme and the more people who know about its existence the better - I am sure that there are plenty of people in the town who are struggling needlessly when help is often available. 

We've had the excellent decorator Gerald Clements and his colleague James here this week. Gerald replaced the wallpaper damaged by the recent leak and while he was here he tidied up a lot of little cracks and scrapes that have arisen in the twelve months since we moved in. Gerald painted the outside last year but, due to the leak, we're now waiting for a quote for the outside render to be completely removed and redone. 

We've been to Clarke and Simpson's auction at Campsea Ashe this week. They had their regular weekly sale on Monday and I bought a couple of nice little portraits.

Including this one which I think depicts Empress Eugenie of France. 

It was also the fine art auction today and we had a good look around at the viewing on Monday. We were quite excited to find a very special piece of porcelain with an estimate of just £100-£150 and a rare Chinese book estimated at £40-£60. But we were sadly not alone in spotting them as, when we logged on to bid, both items sold for over £1,000.

After the auction view we went to Aldeburgh and had a great pre-cinema meal at The Lighthouse. We've not eaten here before but from this experience its position as number one restaurant in Aldeburgh on Trip Advisor is justified. 

The film, Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest from the Coen brothers. If you like their films you will love this. It's the early 60's Jim Cuddy is Llewyn Davis a performer in the mould of Bob Dylan. The film charts a week in Llewyn's life as he couch surfs around New York and hitch hikes to Chicago (with a cat) in an attempt to further his career. Although that doesn't sound like much it's a funny and enigmatic little movie that's well worth looking out for.

Buddy Can You Spare An Hour

Being retired and still fairly active we're in an ideal position to help in the local community. And what better way to do so than the Framlingham Hour Community which was last year voted the best Rotary Club community project in the country. We have nothing at all to do with the Rotary Club or any other associations but it is a very good idea as it puts those in need of help in the town in touch with those who are capable of offering it. There are a fair number of elderly people in Framlingham and many of them are for example housebound, struggling to get to the shops or having trouble keeping on top of their gardens. The Hour Community will ask for a volunteer to help them out with an hour or two of their time.

It's not confined to helping elderly people. Anybody who needs help can ask for it and the coordinator Angelika will do her best to oblige. It's not onerous for volunteers. Marion and I have not been called upon to give endless hours but it is important that everyone in the community is aware that it is available. This week we were put in touch with an elderly person who was struggling to complete a complex government form. It was quite a daunting bit of paperwork but we managed to do it with her and take a big weight off her mind. If you are in Framlingham and would like to help or need help just click here or Google Framlingham Hour Community and you'll find the contacts you need.

Last night we headed up to the college for a talk titled "A Love Affair With Churches" given by the Rev Roy Tricker. You may wonder why we , as non believers, would want to attend a talk on this subject but whilst we may not be in touch with God we do appreciate both history and beautiful buildings and Roy is an excellent and passionate speaker. He has the presentation and delivery style of Brian Blessed so there was no need for a mike. He's not into powerpoint presentations so we were entertained by an old fashioned slide show in which he explained his lifelong love of churches supported by photographs of some hidden treasures that are there to be found within just a few miles of here. It was an extremely entertaining talk and we bought his book 100 Years, 100 Treasures which highlights one unique and individual treasure for each of a hundred churches in Suffolk. We look forward to getting on our bikes and looking for some of them.

Remember my bit of stupid reversing? Well yesterday we headed down to Essex to pick the car up.

And hey presto it's as good as new again.It's a pity that I can't say the same for the bank balance but I think I've learnt my lesson. 

There's a busy couple of days ahead. It's Valentine's at The Crown tomorrow night. We're looking forward to another great meal from Chef Matt Ransome. On Saturday night there's a concert at the college with local musicians Modest Ike and Polly Gibbons. It should be a great evening as we've checked them both out on YouTube and they're both great acts.

Time For A Laugh

You know how people who are retired tell you that they don't know how they found time to do everything when they were working as they're run off their feet now? We're finding that it's actually true and there's rarely a spare minute at the moment. The Tesco diet isn't helping as the shopping for and preparation of the meals is taking up a fair chunk of time but it is bringing results and on our first scheduled weigh in (five days into the diet) we've lost six pounds between us. If we carry on at that rate we can pack it in in a few weeks.

Yesterday I went to Stowmarket to continue the business mentoring that I am doing with a small business. We've been working together for six months now and have reached the end of the business's first financial year. I was really pleased to see that the turnover and profit both exceeded targets and we're now working on the budget and targets for the new year. It's good to be able to share some of my experience and I'm looking forward to getting a second business to mentor soon.

Last night was opening night for the latest production from FADS (Framlingham Amateur Dramatic Society) and we headed to the college theatre not quite knowing what to expect. The play Third Week In August was about a week on a caravan site and, having lived on such a site for over six months last year, it was of particular interest to us. The huge crowd was perhaps swollen by the Wednesday night pensioners' concessions as Marion and I were two of the youngest in the stalls. What a night the audience had; I don't know which was funnier - the play or the audience; the woman behind me was in hysterics which I found infectious especially when, every five minutes, she forecast (usually correctly) what was going to happen. If I had a pound for every time she told her neighbour that she'd never seen the theatre so full I could have bought everyone a glass of wine in the interval.

Boring Neville  (Peter Turner) and his strident wife Mary (Claire Harries) have been visiting the same site every August for twenty odd years. Their lives are dull but this year they have company in the shape of Mary's twice divorced sister Liz (Kathy Churchill who jointly runs the excellent Aboutfram weekly e-newsletter). Sue (Alison Podd) has booked a peaceful week in a caravan and plans to spend it writing a play. Her neighbours on the pitch alongside are Tony (Glenn Hurlock) and Jenny (Jane Manning). 

It's an evening of comedy as Neville and Mary (who really don't want to interfere) and the other caravaners find themselves embroiled in the very glamorous Jenny and her not so glamorous partner Tony's relationship problems. Mary tries to offer poor and put upon Liz some sisterly advice. Onlooker Sue gets dragged into the situation as it develops into pure, caravan hopping, farce. There were a few first night nerves but the cast got over them well and provided us with some memorable scenes that brought the house down. It runs until Saturday so, if you're in Framlingham, get down to the Headmaster Porter Theatre. I'm sure that you will laugh.

Today we've been to the gym and then went to a local resident's house and did a bit of pruning for her in her garden. We volunteered for the Framlingham Hour Community whereby you offer your skills (or lack of in my case) for an hour or two to help someone who is unable to do a job themselves. A shoulder injury made pruning difficult so we were happy to help. We're now looking forward to our next assignment.

Hectic Days In Framlingham

Boy it's been a hectic week this week here in Framlingham. Heaven knows how we would have coped if we were still working. But it's given us a good feel for what a great choice of town we've made for our retirement.

We got back from our niece's Spanish wedding in the early hours of Monday and a few hours later we had a visit from Angelika who is involved in the Framlingham "Hour Community". This is a scheme whereby local residents volunteer to help others and we had put our names down. Angelika explained that some of the voluntary work involves DIY and I explained that it would not be wise to include me on that list as my toolkit came from a Christmas cracker (this is true). We will however be happy to help run people to appointments, do a bit of shopping or simply keep them company.

On Tuesday we had a call out of the blue from our old Sales Director Nick who was going to be in the area for the day. We were very pleased to see him and put him up for the night. In return he treated us to a great dinner at The Crown. I had duck, Marion had pasta and Nick had pizza. All were really good. When we moved here some people were critical of The Crown but we have always found the staff extremely helpful and friendly and the food has always been good and recently it has been very very good.

Wednesday was taken up by a visit from a journalist and photographer from a national magazine who had somehow come across our home improvement project and wanted to photograph the en suite bathroom for an article. We tried to explain that it is a very small bathroom but nonetheless the photographer, journalist and assistant were here for over six hours. I'll be writing about it again when the article is published.

On Thursday we went to Ipswich for Man of Steel but I've already written about that. We went to the college on Thursday night for the FramSoc book club. This month's book was The Testament Of Jessie Lamb - a dystopian novel about a young girl's choice to sacrifice herself for the future of the human race. Coincidentally it was Woman's Hour's book of the week so we were able to both read it and listen to it. Marion reckons that the recorded version was better. None of us thought much of the novel.

On Friday afternoon I managed a couple of hours out with the detector after going to Bury St Edmunds in the morning to visit the business person I am mentoring, pay for the new car and introduce myself to Andrew, the local county archaeologist. I was delighted to find this amazing medieval artefact. I think it depicts the descent of Christ from the cross although Christ's head is , sadly, missing. I'll have to make another visit to Andrew now so that he can record it.

Here are a couple of close ups.

Last night there was a Jazz night at Lemon Tree Bistro. We had another excellent meal (I chose duck again) and were entertained by an outstanding saxophonist who played for over two hours. It's the second Jazz night at The Lemon Tree we've been to and, although we're not really jazz fans, we've had two fabulous evenings and some very good food.

Having drunk more than was probably sensible at the jazz night I didn't feel like cooking breakfast so we went to The Common Room and had a super fry up. It's Framlingham's newest cafe and it has a very pleasant informal and relaxed atmosphere.

After that it was a quick trip to the market, Leo's Delis and the local Co-Op for the week's food and then we had enough time for Marion to look for some clothes.

We've got some fine clothes shops in the town (not men's unfortunately) and Marion found two super maxi skirts in Darcy B and another in Impulse. There were some nice things in Boo Tiki too but the budget was getting a bit stretched by then.

It wasn't too stretched to get a great little glass plant holder for the bathroom from Kittys for a bargain price.

This afternoon we went to the excellent Ipswich Film Theatre to see Summer In February but due to technical difficulties we ended up watching Populaire but that's enough for today I'll write about that next time.