Yet again I've had to put the blog on the back burner as the hectic retirement merry-go-round continues. It's almost three weeks since I told you about very expensive bottle of Pinot Grigio that wrecked the Apple Mac and those three weeks have been quite eventful.
The Mercedes CLS tyres appear to be jinxed. By August we had already had three punctures this year - two of those needed new tyres (£250 each- ouch) and one was repaired by the excellent Fram Tyres. All this after telling my friend Mark in March that we hadn't had a puncture in years. You would have thought that that was enough tyre problems for a long time but no! On Thursday we went to drop off some bits and pieces we were donating for the refugees in Ipswich when a boy racer approached on the wrong side of a narrow country road. I swerved to avoid him but overdid it and hit the kerb with a bang - another £250 up in smoke. Although it was his fault it was my fault too - my steering left a lot to be desired.
Oh well. Once again Fram Tyres offered excellent service and went out of their way to get hold of a tyre on the same day despite the blowout being after their usual cut off time.
So what's been keeping us so busy? I'll fill you in in pictures.
We had a great day in Rochester visiting son Paul and our grandchildren Catherine and Teddy. Here they are at the Chatham Dockyards - a quite spectacular example of regeneration.
Here's a submarine that was built in Chatham. I've never been in a submarine before.
There's not a lot of room.
Near the dockyard is a trampoline centre called Flip Out. Marion flipped and I sat it out.
Back from Rochester it was time to get in the car and drive up to St Andrews to visit the Scottish branch of the family.
We had a lot of fun. Here are Rose and Melody at the Dundee Science Centre where we had a great day.
No summer trip to St Andrews is complete without a visit to Allanhill strawberry farm.
The sun did shine - for all of a couple of hours
It's not much fun staying in a caravan on rainy days so we went and had coffee in some very special places. Here's the view from The Old Course Hotel. Okay the coffee is almost twice the price of Costa but you don't get this view and the WIFI is super fast.
And the Fairmont's not too bad either.
Whatever the weather. St Andrews is a magical place.
But you can't spend a whole week drinking coffee, however nice the venue. So we filled in the rainy afternoons with no less than three movie trips.
Detroit. Excellent but harrowing.
Logan Lucky - fun.
Wind River - thrilling.
Now it's time for the stuff I've been finding with the metal detector so you can stop reading if you're not interested. In between trips to Rochester and St Andrews I've managed to get out a few times and, as always, there have been some interesting finds. Here they are :-
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| Cut halfpenny of either John or Henry III |
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| Medieval casket key c1200-1400 |
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| Seal ring c1250-1400 (it's not complete sadly) |
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| Tiny early seal or alnage |
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| Wonderful and very rare penny of Henry I. My first find of a Norman king. Henry reigned from 1100 to 1135 so this coin has survived for over 900 years. |
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| The moneyer is Brunic and, as far as experts tell me, there is no previous recorded example of this coin with this moneyer |
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| Lousy condition but the first Roman coin I've found since living in Suffolk. Emperor Gallienus c260-268 AD |
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| Lovely shoe buckle. Post Medieval |
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| Another medieval casket key |
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| Elizabethan Penny |
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| Medieval penny |
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