When we were working and bumped into a retired friend or acquaintance they invariably told us how they were rushed off their feet with "not enough hours in the day" - you know the sort of thing. We would brush this off with a wry and knowing smile whilst thinking "of course you are rushed off your feet. You've got twenty four hours in every day and absolutely no work to worry about." But now that the tables have turned and we are in their shoes, we are the ones who are claiming there is too much to do and not enough time to do it in. So few hours that I've been unable to get time at the laptop to write for over seven days - my longest blogging absence since I started writing this almost three years ago.
So what has been taking up all this time? I hear you ask. Well our schedule for the last seven days went like this.
On Monday we drove to Rochester to help out with a little childminding for a wonderful little granddaughter. We took her to the enormous shopping mall at nearby Bluewater where she had a whale of a time checking out the toys on offer while we bought some bits and pieces to keep in Framlingham when she visits.
On Tuesday I took advantage of the fine weather and headed down the road to search some local fields with the detector. There's nothing particularly exciting in the day's finds but there are a couple of late medieval studs amongst the usual mixture of buttons, buckles, shotgun cartridge cases and musket balls. It was the first time in my twenty odd years detecting that I have been able to walk to a field near home instead of driving the once obligatory four hour round trip in the car. When I got home I completed the preparations for a talk that I'm giving on the hobby to a local Rotary Club.
Wednesday saw us driving back down to Rochester for another child minding day. This time we visited the village of Upnor on the Medway near Strood where we enjoyed some excellent fish and chips in the Tudor Rose pub before taking the baby to the castle - an old Elizabethan fort run by English Heritage.
On Thursday it was an early drive to Ipswich to catch the train to London where we had an appointment near St Paul's to see Cumberland Place our financial advisors. When we sold the business we handed all the proceeds over to them and they manage it for us. Everything seems to be going well and we've done a lot better than if we had put the funds in the bank despite the uncertainties of stock markets over the last couple of years. After overspending so much on the house in Framlingham our advisors reckon we should cut back on the big withdrawals a bit now but we've no major purchases planned in the near future so that should not be a problem. So, barring catastrophe, we should have more than enough to see us through our retirement and leave a bit to the family.
On Friday we had some time in Cambridge with the family before spending the weekend with them in Framlingham.
I did the modern day equivalent of killing the fatted calf and bought a beef fillet from Hall Farm butchers on the market square and made Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington recipe (download it on the BBC good food site). It's a foolproof recipe and the meal turned out very well.
For once, both ovens plus the steam oven and the microwave all got brought into use. We're looking forward to having more guests as we really enjoy using the kitchen and realising its full potential. It was a short stay and Paul and Josephine still have plenty more to see in future visits. They packed up on Sunday and we drove back down to Rochester where I'm now writing this. We're doing another day with the baby today but heading back to Framlingham this evening to get ourselves straight. We've got three days at home ahead of us now but no doubt we'll find plenty to do to fill in the time.
We left home at around 1p.m yesterday and were back just after midnight. We went down to London to a summer reception being held by the people who manage our finances. It was held at The Foundling Museum near Russell Square and we had the opportunity to take a guided tour. The museum celebrates the charitable work carried out by retired seaman Thomas Coram who built a hospital for foundlings and illegitimate children and funded it by getting the most renowned artists and musicians of the time to donate artworks and arrange performances. The public flocked to the hospital which was Britain's first ever public art gallery. The most famous patrons were Handel (who performed an annual concert there) and Hogarth. The museum displays several of his works in a beautiful building built on the site of the original hospital. The room above, a reconstruction of one of the hospital's rooms, has ceiling, fireplace and panels from the original. Most touching for us were the trinkets left by mothers who abandoned their children as a means of identifying their offspring should they ever try to reclaim them (the children were all given new names). These included thimbles and small items of jewellery and, in one case, a metal bottle label bearing the word "BEER".
We had an hour or two to kill before the party and this flew by in St Pancras station (above and below).
We were commenting as we left Preston on how run down and dreary that station looked. St Pancras, in contrast, is bright and has almost as good a choice of shopping and places to eat and drink as we've got here in Southport. It was quite easy for us to sit outside one of the cafes and just watch the world go by. If we had stayed longer we could have watched a group perform as there is a live music festival being held on the concourse every day until mid July.
We've just been planning next week's cinema visit. We're off to FACT again on Tuesday for a helping of French films with the thriller Point Blank at lunchtime followed by Potiche in the evening. To make it a French day all round we'll have to go for a bite to eat at Bistro Franc in between showings. We might try and see Bridesmaids on Wednesday as well, as the Twittersphere has been making positive noises about it and we're going to a wedding soon.
And talking of the Twittersphere, the news has been full of social media related stories this week from the woman juror who stupidly contacted a defendant on Facebook, to the Ministry of Defence and their security videos on YouTube with a soldier's mum taking tea with a terrorist and a couple of sailors checking into a nightclub on their phones. Here's a funny little film that will really make you think about what you're doing online.
We went to see Senna at FACT in Liverpool this afternoon - phew. Its a quite remarkable documentary made up entirely from archive footage of motor racing, home videos, television news and interviews brilliantly edited together to create a compelling drama. Although the audience is completely aware of what the ultimate outcome will be, the film is like an action movie and you can't help wishing it might change. For a slow driver like me, the cockpit shots are genuinely terrifying and I found myself gripping my armrest as Ayrton approached bends at unimaginable speeds ...... in the rain. Even if, like us, you are not a F1 fan, this is a movie that is well worth seeing. Let's hope it gets a wider release.
Before the film we treated ourselves to a bite to eat at Salt House Tapas in Liverpool One. They serve a great lunch menu offering three tapas plus sourdough bread and dipping oil for £8.95. We both chose this option which gave us six tasty little dishes between us. The portions are a nice and manageable size and freshly cooked and the restaurant is bright with a pleasant atmosphere. Service was warm, friendly and efficient and we will certainly give it another try when we make another Orange Wednesday trip to FACT.
We've a bit of a day out tomorrow. Our financial advisers, Cumberland Place, have invited us to their summer party at The Foundling Museum in London. It's only a couple of hours on the train so we're catching the 13.59 from Preston and coming back on the 2100 from Euston. We're looking forward to this as we will get the chance to have a look around the museum which celebrates the philanthropists such as Hogarth and Handel who dedicated themselves to London's foundlings and orphans. Should be an enjoyable event.
And on Sunday we're going with a couple of friends to have a look at the monthly Farmers' market at Hoghton Tower between Preston and Blackburn. It's reported to be the biggest and best in the area so it should be interesting. If it's not we've got the fallback of lunch at the Freemasons in Wiswell which was introduced to us by friends Mark and Nita from Workhouse Marketing.
Amongst lots of other things, Workhouse produce great advertising. I always enjoy original advertising and loved this new film for Virgin Media that was on before today's film.
