Fond Farewells

We said goodbye to David and Jane Haworth today. We've had a great few days in their company and were so pleased that they were able to join us and enjoy a taste of Suffolk. The weather was kind to us today and we travelled to the coast under a cloudless sky. 

We started off at Aldeburgh where we enjoyed a stroll along the beach, had a look at the shops and checked out the coffee at The Brudenell Hotel where it was so fine that we were able to sit outside and enjoy the drinks in the open air to the accompaniment of the gentle sound of a calm sea.  

From Aldeburgh we drove down to Orford. The castle looked magnificent in the late autumn sunshine and we were able to explore the village in the autumn warmth before having a snack lunch at the fabulous and award winning Pump St Bakery where we were again able to dine al fresco. 

We've packed plenty into the three and a half days that our friends spent with us but there's so much to do around here that we'll still have plenty more to enjoy with them if they are able to make it back again. We hope that they can find time for a return visit in the not too distant future.

All the eating and drinking we've been doing in enjoying our new location has resulted in us piling on a few more pounds than we would like. Three years ago I wrote on my Instanta blog that I had reached my target weight of 12st 3lbs after spending several months and losing 35lbs on the Tesco Diet. I'm pleased to say that I haven't put all that back on but I have drifted up by about a stone in the last twelve months and it's time to rein the weight back in so I've signed up again with Tesco. I feel a bit of a failure to be signing up again after I thought I had cracked my weight problem but at least I'm only aiming to lose about 10lbs this time and not two and a half stone.

I mentioned problems I'd been having with House Of Fraser online the other day and said that I wasn't hopeful of getting my problem resolved. I was hoping to buy this new overcoat. It's a really nice coat by Paul Smith but it was sold out on the Paul Smith site and House Of Fraser was the only place with one left (they had three in my size). Unfortunately some security issue came up and I was unable to order. Thanks to Ian in the HOF security department I was finally able to resolve the issue after three days and luckily the coat was still available. House Of Fraser (understandably) couldn't discuss their online security with me but it seems that by buying three things from the company in different transactions within twenty four hours I had raised alarm bells with my bank and my bank had refused the third transaction. To make matters worse the bank had my old mobile number so couldn't query it with me when they tried to phone. The coat arrived safely last night so it was a happy ending. I understand that banks and internet sellers have our security as well as theirs to consider but the House Of Fraser system was so secure that I couldn't even use another bank's card on their site without a twenty four hour delay and even Marion couldn't use her card on the site as our address was effectively blacklisted for twenty four hours. Whilst I was happy with Ian's assistance I do feel that a bit of common sense could have been applied by others in customer services a few days earlier and saved me hours of phone calls.

A Few Miles Too Far

We took advantage of the continuing glorious weather today to get out on our bikes again for the last time before we head off to Scotland for the imminent arrival of grandchild number three. I said on the last blog that our ride was enough to feel that we had done some riding but not too much. Today I think we pushed that just a little too far as we chose to ride to Orford. It's about 17 miles by the route we chose and it was a very pleasant ride there. It took us under two hours and, apart from the occasional enormous piece of farm machinery, the roads were fairly quiet.

We stopped at the Orford quayside for a well earned drink and a home made sausage roll and cake before heading back along a slightly different route through Tunstall Forest. We did well but started to flag about half way back and by the time we reached Great Glemham we were pretty tired. But we carried on and managed to make it home in about the same time as the outward journey. This shows that about 34 miles is our limit at the moment. Perhaps when we get back into our normal routine and get back to the gym (we've not been since May despite paying £55 per month) our fitness will improve and we can look at some 40 mile round trips. 

When we got back there was a memory stick in the post from the wonderful Orwells of Ipswich who fitted our kitchen. They came to take some promotional photos a couple of months ago and promised us some copies. I think they are fantastic although I am not sure about the male model. 

Progress

It's been a week in which nothing much has happened. After last Friday when the house was packed with workers it was business as usual on Monday when, after a brief visit from decorator Gerald to finish off the shelves, we were left on our own with just landscape gardener Tony slogging away in the garden.

Marion has been under the weather with flu like symptoms for almost two weeks so we had some time indoors and,in a break from reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (don't ask)  for the Framlingham book club, we watched the charming Japanese film I Wish kindly lent to us by Scott Pack of Meandmybigmouth fame (see links to his blogs over there one the right). This is  a beautiful little movie about two brothers whose parents have separated. One lives with his mum and the other with his dad. They go on an adventure with friends to a spot where they can meet up and watch the famous bullet trains pass - an event that they have been told has magical wish fulfilling qualities. It's a simple story beautifully told. Not quite a rites of passage movie (the children are pre-teen) it has an innocence that probably wouldn't work with English or American kids. Try and seek it out if you can. 

We managed to venture out on Wednesday and the weather held up for us to go on a walk around the surrounding countryside. We walked with a group who get together monthly for an easy ramble and it was a gentle way for Marion to get a bit of exercise after being out of action for so long. 

Yesterday we had a look at some other local villages and drove to Orford where we saw the imposing castle, bought some excellent local smoked food from the famous Pinney's Smokehouse and enjoyed a fine snack at the Pump St Bakery. It's quite amazing that a tiny place like Orford can have at least three first class attractions like this and I'm quite sure that the local village shop and pubs would also be worthy of a mention if we had tried them. On the way home we had a look at the Maltings at Snape and are sure that it will become a regular place to take visitors when we have some.

As for the progress I referred to in my heading, Tony the landscaper has made great progress with the base for the decking as you can see from the photos above. In addition the men from Anson Timberworks came today and delivered Marion's beach hut style potting shed. It should be erected by Monday and the garden office should be complete by this time next week - at last.