Notes From Retirement......................Where did the years go?: A Grand Time With The Grandkids

Another two weeks have passed without a post on the blog. Have I lost my enthusiasm for blogging or is life simply so hectic that it's difficult to find time to write it? Definitely the latter as the weeks continue to flash by in a blur. Last week we enjoyed one of our year's highlights when we took two of our grandchildren, Teddy and Catherine, to Legoland in Windsor for two days. But more of that later.

Prior to Legoland we enjoyed another excellent day out with FramSoc who organised a trip to the Jockey Club and the Palace Museum in Newmarket. A dozen or so members enjoyed a light lunch before a guided tour of the museum.

After the museum we visited the stable yards where retired racehorses are looked after and prepared for a life outside racing.

We aren't particularly interested in horse racing but the museum has a fantastic collection of sporting art including masterpieces by Stubbs, Munnings and many more.

We both liked the more naive art which features heavily in the collection.

We weren't familiar with Frankel before our visit but we certainly are now.

After the museum tour we enjoyed an exclusive champagne afternoon tea in the private rooms of The Jockey Club before an excellent tour of the club given by William Gittus managing director of Jockey Club Estates who has close ties with Framlingham College.It was extremely interesting to learn the history of The Jockey Club - we went thinking it was simply a club for jockeys but soon realised that it is anything but.

And so to Legoland. We took Catherine last October and she enjoyed herself so much that she wanted to return. We couldn't leave her little brother at home so the four of us drove to Windsor last Wednesday.

Catherine is very musical and loves to dance so seized the opportunity to have a stage to herself.

Despite a park full of rides, both grandchildren were very happy to play in the hotel reception area which has an abundance of Lego bricks and kept them amused for ages.

We were blessed with fair weather on Wednesday and filled the day with rides, a show and an hour in the hotel swimming pool. Catherine chose to dine in the all-you-can-eat buffet and ended up with a dinner comprising, salami, two small roast potatoes, pasta, rice, sweetcorn and two tiny slices of pizza. That sounds a lot but she only put very small portions on her plate. It amused me to see that, despite a massive variety on offer, she went for pasta, rice and potatoes.

The children loved meeting the Lego people and, after dancing The Time Warp with the hotel entertainers it was upstairs for a very late bedtime.

Thursday was drizzly but we enjoyed a few more rides, some shopping and snacks before the drive back via the notorious M25.

I was thrilled with the card that Catherine made for me when she got home (Marion had one with an equally lovely sentiment).

We're starting to think that we've moved to a crime hotbed - this was our big local news story last week.

We've missed out on lots of films this year so, now that the weather is getting colder and the nights are drawing in, we've started to put that right with some cinema visits.

Marion loved The Death Of Stalin. It was brilliantly acted and had an excellent script but I struggled to laugh at what was basically a true story of a heinous murderous regime.

Despite the extremely sad subject matter, Breathe was a lovely film. It tells the true story of Robin Cavendish who was paralysed by polio in 1958 when he was twenty-eight but survived for over thirty years and spent his life campaigning for people with disabilities. He was portrayed by Andrew Garfield as a man who loved life and would never let his disability defeat him. A joyous film that could easily have been mawkish but managed to avoid being so even in the tear-jerking finale.

Rather than a tear-jerker, today's film Thor Ragnarok, was a seat jerker as we tried out Cineworld's 4DX screening. We couldn't have picked a better film to be thrown around in and found ourselves rocking and shaking to this amazing Marvel superhero all action movie. It's great fun with plenty of humour, spectacular 3D effects and incredible CGI. We switched off the water effects in our seats but still experienced the vast majority of special effects. Will we try it again? For the right film - yes.

On Saturday evening it was time for another Slice of Life Comedy night up at Thomas Mills High School where we were entertained by three comics and MC Rob Coleman. It was a fun packed event and Spadge and his team deserve a lot of credit for continuing to bring live acts to our small town.

Now's the time that I tell you what I've been finding with the detector. I've had a few outings but not a great deal has turned up.