A Drive On The Wild Side

I'll start by putting the record straight and pointing out that this is not my photo. It wasn't even taken this year but it is the closest I could find to what we came across as we headed towards Marion's early morning fitness class at Ufford Park today. The memory on my phone was full and when you are stuck in a queue of traffic attempting to reverse and turn around, deleting unwanted photos on the iPhone and stopping to take snaps is not a top priority and unlikely to win you much love from fellow road users. Of course we'd heard all about the storm but we'd both slept well and it wasn't really very windy when we left Framlingham at 8 o'clock so we thought that our area had escaped the worst. After all, we were living near Sevenoaks in Kent in 1987 when virtually every tree within a mile of our house came down; this felt nowhere near as severe.

Following our noses we found our way away from Hacheston where the blockage lay and eventually reached the A12 after a hairy drive through floodwater and around other fallen trees on partially blocked roads. By this time the winds were so strong that the car was shaking and drivers were proceeding very gingerly.  But we made it to the gym with time to spare. Sad to say, although Marion's instructor was there, the hotel and spa had been hit by a power cut so the gym was closed and we had to look for an alternative route home. I decided to give very minor roads a miss but still had to turn back on the Glenham road and had some very tight squeezes on the Saxmundham road but got back home safely before ten. On reflection the journey was a bit foolhardy and reckless (we can't say that we weren't warned) but the conditions seemed benign when we left. The intense winds lasted for only a few minutes but they brought down so many trees that their speed must have been immense.

Shortly after we got home a delivery van arrived with this beautiful bouquet of scented roses, stocks and other flowers in an attractive pot. It was a thank you from Dave and Jane who stayed with us last week - what a kind gesture.

Determined not to be thwarted by the wind we logged onto Fitness TV on the Smart TV and did a workout (not before drawing all the blinds to ensure that nobody could see me prancing around the dining room in my shorts). I found it quite hard work (having two left feet doesn't help with the dance like steps) but Marion went on to do a Pilates workout too.

That should help with the diet. We're sicking to TescoDiets meal plan religiously and hope that we get results soon. Since we started on Saturday we've had chicken salad, chicken stir fry, chicken ciabatta rolls and there's more chicken tomorrow. I love a glass or two of prosecco or white wine while relaxing in the bath on a Saturday evening but this week I had to do with slimline tonic - not quite the same. Mind you I didn't fall asleep in front of the telly and that might tell me something. 

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.

Welcome Visitors

We're delighted to have friends staying with us in Framlingham this week. We've known Dave and Jane Haworth since before our children were born and have missed seeing them after moving away. We're cramming in as much as we can in the short time that they are here and today we headed to the coast and had a walk around both Walberswick and Southwold where we had a great lunch on the pier.

Despite rough seas the weather was kind enough for us to walk down the pier and have a look at the famous water clock before strolling along the beach to the town centre.

Although we aren't far off November a few foolhardy people were braving the water including a couple of surfers who were riding the waves quite expertly.

Yesterday we took Jane and Dave for a quick look around Framlingham. We showed them the castle, the church and the market but with heavy rain forecast decided on an indoor activity for the afternoon and headed to Cineworld in Ipswich.

We saw Tom Hanks' latest movie Captain Phillips on the amazing IMAX screen. It's a very powerful film that draws you in completely and leaves you emotionally drained. Hanks is brilliant as the level headed captain and the actors who play the Somali pirates are totally convincing to the extent that it feels like we're watching reality. It's an excellent and unmissable film.

Last night we ate at our local The Crown. We eat at The Crown quite often and it is going from strength to strength. It's wonderful to be able to walk to somewhere serving good, interesting food and not having to worry about drinking and driving. Last night we tried the new menu and were impressed with all the food. The celeriac, duck terrine and boneless quail starters and the loin of pork main course were favourites.

We've done the rest of the cooking. On Monday it was lasagne and tonight it's chicken pie. I might not be up to Crown Head Chef Matt Ransome's standard but I'm trying.



  

This Santander 1-2-3 Account Is A No Brainer

I'm not in the habit of using my blog to push a bank account but the Santander 1-2-3 account seems too good to be true. And despite the old adage that if something looks too good to be true it probably is, I've been through all the fine print and it still looks a pretty amazing deal to me compared to what I've had with my Barclays account for the last forty years. You would have to have been a castaway on a desert island for six months to be unaware of the account as the advertising using that young Irish golfer Rory, the racing driver who isn't Hamilton and a woman I assume to be an athlete has been everywhere. 

During 2012 we had quite large sums in our Barclays savings account for much of the year due to selling our house and holding funds for the renovation of the new house. We earned almost nothing on it due to an interest rate well below 1%. Yet the Santander account will pay us no less than 3% on sums between £3,000 and £20,000 and between 1% and 2% on lower balances. In addition they will pay us cashback of between 1% and 3% on a wide variety of expenses including payments to rates and water rates, gas and electric and phones and TV. Against these positives there is the negative of a small monthly fee.

So, after forty years with Barclays we're off. We're not closing the Barclays account in case there's something we've missed but for the time being I reckon we'll be the best part of £20 A WEEK better off with this account. And that's certainly incentive enough to get me to switch.

Meanwhile, in other news, we went to The Riverside in Woodbridge yesterday to see Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. Cate Blanchett is outstanding in her portrayal of a woman whose life goes downhill when her and her husband's millionaire lifestyle proves to have been built on deception. She is left with just her working class sister to fall back on. Blanchett is totally convincing in the role as she spirals downward from shopping in Park Avenue to talking to herself on a park bench. Although it is at times funny it is a serious study of a breakdown within a disfunctional  marriage and is much darker than Allen's 2011 offering Midnight In Paris.

If we go to the cinema next week we'll aim for something a bit lighter. We're gearing up for the visit of our Ormskirk friends Dave and Jane Haworth who are coming to stay for three nights. I spent today cooking so that we've got a freezer full when they arrive and we can entertain them without too much fuss (don't worry Jane there's no rabbit). We've also been planning days and evenings out. I suggested Scaresville Haunted Village but Marion felt that our guests wouldn't be too keen on being scared out of their skin - they'll have enough of that when they meet the locals - (just kidding Framlingham). We've plenty of ideas so it promises to be a great week.

Cool In Llangollen

Lack of WIFI at the caravan site and a couple of days on the road has meant a near blogless week for me. But we're just back home in Framlingham and, having spent twenty four hours getting straight, I finally find myself with a bit of time to spare.

The cool in today's heading doesn't refer to the weather in the famous Welsh tourist spot but rather to Jools Holland and his rhythm and blues band who closed the annual Eisteddfod on Sunday night. I don't think we've ever seen such an array of cool people in one place as Jools and his musicians to a man (and woman) epitomise the word. It was a fantastic concert and we had a wonderful evening. Jools has that something that gets you involved and on his side. He came on with a broad smile that stayed with him for the almost two hours that he was on stage. It became infectious and when the band performed "Give Me Sunshine" for their encore, it had spread to the entire audience. The show was performed with amazing professionalism and covered a huge rage of musical styles including plenty of blues and, my favourite, reggae. 

David Wareing with brother and sister in law Mike and Ann and business partner David with his wife Carol

Marion, Janet and David's stepmother Joyce

We were in Llangollen courtesy of our old friends David and Janet Wareing. They have owned a beautiful cottage retreat nestling on the hillside between the castle and town for twenty years now and their Eisteddfod parties have become the stuff of legend. We have been blessed with wonderful weather on several times when we have been fortunate enough to join them and Sunday was possibly the hottest we have experienced. 

Three generations of David and Janet's family came to the event and I am annoyed that I didn't get a chance to photo the younger generation who are now in their twenties as I have some photos of them from a party in the nineties and it would have been good to show how they have all changed. On that similarly hot day they were all playing in a paddling pool and with a sprinkler. This time they all disappeared later in the day to swim in the River Dee.

Poor Marion has been suffering from a terrible cough for the last week but I thought that she looked great at the party. She had a relax between the horrendous bouts of coughing. 

En route to Llangollen we stayed over with other dear friends Dave and Jane Haworth. We've been friends for over thirty years and miss our regular get togethers with them. Jane prepared a great meal for us in her fabulous new kitchen and then got us envious with their photos of a holiday in The Maldives. I don't think I've ever seen sea so perfectly blue. It was fabulous to see then both looking so fit and well and we're really looking forward to catching up with them again soon.

That's What Friends Are For

It's Marion's birthday this week and I wanted to do something special for her as she's had a rough year after losing her dear mum and then selling the house she loved, living in a caravan for six months and moving to a new place where she knows almost nobody. Presents are all well and good but I wanted something different so I secretly contacted Marion's best friend Jane and asked if she and husband Dave could come and join us at the caravan. It was a lot to ask for them to give up a precious weekend and drive hundreds of miles to stay in a cramped caravan but they did me proud.

I managed to slip a few extras into the shopping trolley while Marion wasn't looking and prepared a friday night meal for four without her noticing the unusually large portions and Jane and Dave turned up right on cue just before it was ready to serve. I can't thank them enough for giving Marion such a fantastic surprise. She was genuinely shocked to see them and we had a great weekend with a great couple.

On Saturday they joined us at the always excellent Seafood Restaurant for lunch. We hoped to be able to show Dave and Jane around St Andrews which is now our second home town but sadly the weather defeated us and we were restricted to a tour of the town and surroundings by car before heading back to the caravan to watch the rugby and spend a night in front of the telly.

On Sunday we went to see Sarah, Duncan and Rose and enjoyed some of Sarah's delicious home baking before a quick cup of tea at Mitchells after which Dave and Jane had to get back on the road south. They managed to get back safely despite heavy snowfalls in the Dumfries area.

As I write it is snowing yet again. I don't think I can remember a winter with more days of snow than this one. Weather permitting we're going to join Sarah and Rose. Later this week we hope we can get to Dundee to see at least one of the films on our wish list although my hopes of a day out with the detector are looking increasingly doubtful.

Chalk & Cheese?

We managed our planed cinema marathon at FACT in Liverpool yesterday, taking in Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur at 2 pm and, after winding down with a bottle of wine and some snacks at Salt House Tapas, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris at 6.15 pm. Tyrannosaur was mentioned in a discussion on Radio 4's Today programme this morning when it was described by one contributor as 'misery porn for the middle classes'. He felt that films like this stereotype the working class as mindless and violent morons but, for me, he totally missed the point. The impoverished characters in Tyrannosaur could not be described in any way as 'working class' being, instead, the feral underclass of recent Tory speeches who don't work and are unlikely ever to do so. The film is brutal and violent but the violence is not confined to the work shy but seeps into cosy suburbia where much worse than bar brawling goes on behind net curtains. The actors in Tyrannosaur have been widely praised and there are powerful performances from leads Peter Mullan and Olivia Coleman whilst Eddie Marsan was convincing as an evil wife beater, Paul Popplewell was the hardest of hard men and newcomer Samuel Bottomley as the child mature beyond his years was outstanding. Although the film bristles with violence, anger and rage, it still had an underlying compassion that came through in the closing scenes.

In fact, in honesty, the ending of Midnight in Paris was not that far removed from that of Tyrannosaur. The tale of amiable American Gil, a successful movie screenwriter who yearns to be a serious novelist, the film takes place in the French capital where, each night,  at the stroke of midnight, Gil is transported to another Paris occupied by famous literary and artistic characters from the twenties. It's a charming film, full of fun, a glossy travelogue for that beautiful city and perfect for a romantic like me. It's totally daft but what's wrong with that if it makes you smile. 

I had a bit of a go at Salt House Tapas on here last time we went. it was just before the Dolly Parton concert and the place was crammed and, although we booked well in advance, we were stuck on a poky table upstairs away from any atmosphere - the sort of table used as a last resort in an emergency rather than for regulars who had booked. The meal then was very poor but they redeemed themselves yesterday with standards back to the level that I have praised here several times before. We shared half a dozen tapas. All were very good as too were the excellent olives and anchovies. The desserts were ok and the bill for two including wine came to a reasonable £54.

While we were sitting back at the cinema, our great friends David and Jane Haworth were joining us as Grandparents. Their daughter Louise presented everyone with an early surprise when little Poppy Amelia arrived unexpectedly at around 7 o'clock. We are delighted that everything went well and both mum and baby are doing fine. Congratulations to Jane, Dave, Louise and, of course, proud dad Lance who, I'm sure will be nicknaming the baby Poopy Amelia before very long.


More cinema tomorrow. My suggestion of a VUE token for my birthday did not fall on stony ground and as we're back in with Orange, tomorrow we're off to Southport for "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" . Don't say we haven't got a wide taste in films.






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