We've Got A New Grandson

I said in my blog of 13th July that I would hopefully be reporting another big event in our lives "next week". I'm sorry that I didn't get  around to posting that news during that week, or the next week for that matter, due to a continuing hectic schedule but I am delighted to say that I have found a spare five minutes (Marion is on the phone to her friend Jane make that fifty minutes) to tell you that we have another beautiful grandchild. We already had three beautiful and very special granddaughters and we now have an equally beautiful and special grandson. 

Theodore (Teddy) was born on 22nd July and I'm delighted to say that everyone is doing very well.

Marion and I went to stay in Rochester to help Paul and his family and share some of the work with Paul's mum-in-law. We helped look after Teddy's big sister Catherine who has been fantastic about the arrival of her new baby brother.

We took her horse riding a couple of times and, while we were in Kent, it was her third birthday. Paul and Josephine enjoy celebrating special events in London so we all headed into the city and were treated to a fabulous lunch at the popular Wolseley in Mayfair. It's a famous place for spotting celebrities and on our visit it was no exception as, along with Paul and Josephine, we saw a Bake Off presenter, a soap star, Paul's favourite comedian and my favourite actor, fresh from his recent role in the latest Mission Impossible. 

Mind you, sitting back in one of our regular haunts The Dancing Goat here in Framlingham, we haven't been short of celebrity visitors. I'm sure I shared a table with a famous impressionist who stopped off on a cycle ride last week although I didn't want to be rude and ask him. Maybe he's telling his friends he shared a table with a not very famous novelist. The boys from Detectorists have been out and about in town for a few days and seem to have set up base in St Michaels's rooms which is the metal detecting club in the series. Toby Jones and Mackenie Crook and the rest of the cast and crew have all been very complimentary to the town in interviews that they have given to local media.

And it's quite appropriate that the Detectorists bunch has arrived now as the harvest is underway and combines can be seen (and heard) around the outlying fields bringing in what I hope is a great crop for our local farmers. The arrival of the combines signifies the start of the metal detecting season and time to charge up the batteries and get out on the fields with my own detector.

I had my first foray on Saturday. I haven't had time to go through all the finds yet (they were mostly the usual buttons, shotgun cartridges and bits of lead) but the best was this silver half groat of Elizabeth from around the end of the sixteenth century. I've found a fair number of Elizabeth coins but this is the first I've found with a good portrait. We're home for a few weeks so I hope to add to that first hammered coin of the season on my next visits.

 Another season that has just started is the proms at Snape Maltings and last night, on a beautiful evening, we drove down for the first of four concerts that we've booked.



It was a guitar recital by Montenegran classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić. It was a fabulous concert. Last year I struggled with some of the heavy stuff but young Miloš was a breath of fresh air who not only played some popular (and tuneful) pieces but was also very charismatic and built up a great rapport with the audience resulting in no less than three encores. I don't know much about classical guitar but his playing was outstanding. If you get the opportunity to see him perform, don't miss it. We've got another three of the Snape Proms booked. They will struggle to match this one for entertainment value.

Taking advantage of the glorious weather, we decided to take a bike ride today. It was our most adventurous yet as we rode to Walberswick which is a round trip of around thirty-seven miles. The village and harbour were packed with holidaymakers enjoying traditional pastimes and we headed to our favourite Walberswick pastime, lunch at The Anchor. We've been about five times now and are never disappointed. The food is good but what makes it stand out is the service. Every one of the bar and waiting staff gives exceptionally friendly service -seeing we were on our bikes, the barman today offered, unprompted, to fill our water bottles. It's service like this that makes The Anchor a cut above your average pub.

We were a bit shattered after the ride but managed to get to a HIIT class at the college to make sure we worked off the lunch. We've got more exercise classes tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be very fit by the end of August.