November 2007 - Happy Birthday Dear Blog

A year ago this month I decided to start keeping this record of mine and Lynda's travels and the wonderful people we've been with, or met on them. In some respects this year (as they always seem to when you get older) has passed in the blink of an eye but looking back over the posts on this blog I can't believe we've managed to do all that we have in just twelve months. Sorry Ron, I wish I'd started it before the New York trip !!!

It all started with the Lobs trip to St Cezaire last November and so much has happened since that trip to Bryan & Sandra's lovely home on the Cote D'Azure; places we've been to, what has been going on in all our lives, family additions, milestone birthdays and how much weight we've all put on. I hope you've all enjoyed even a little bit seeing yourselves immortalised in this obscure travelogue.

For me, the blog has been a great way of cementing in my memory the details of every trip we've made since it started. It's also been the perfect place for looking back and laughing when I start to take things a bit too seriously. But best of all it's been a constant reminder of how lucky Lynda and I are; firstly to have had the opportunity to do the things we've done in such wonderful places, but more importantly to have you all to do them with.

So, there it is. Thank you so much every one of you. Lynda and I raise a glass to you all and keep our fingers crossed for many more such times in the future.

14th Nov 2007 - Madrid Madness

So we've just wrapped up this parcel of magazines to send out to Ana in Madrid. Lynda weighed it and we were looking on Royal Mail's website to see how much it would cost to send it. £26.50. Sounds a lot but it was to be fair a pretty hefty package. 'I bet I could get a bloody flight out there for the day for not much more' says I. A few deft clicks later and we'd left Royal Mail and were now checking out Easyjet. Early flight out, late flight back the same day, £32.00. So for £5.50 more I could deliver the parcel personally to Frank & Ana and even squeeze in a couple of hours with the kids. 'Excellent, do it' was Frank's assessment when I rang him up the next morning, so I did.

'Shame Lynda's not coming' said Frank & Ana a couple of days later. 'It is' I agreed 'but if she booked up as well then it would certainly skew the original business case'. 'Shame I shan't be seeing everyone' said Lynda a couple of days after that. So, what the heck, we booked her on the same trip. Never let it be said that we knowingly do anything sensible. But if life was about being sensible, well, we'd all shop at Lidl's.

That’s why we found oursleves in the very familiar circumstances of being in the departure lounge at Luton Airport, very early in the morning, waiting to catch a flight to Madrid. Lynda eyeing up the handbags and me dribbling over whatever supercar was being raffled that day. Plenty of people moan about no-frills airlines; they’re basic, poor customer service, etc. But we love them because they’ve made the world so accessible, and if for the sake of flying to Krankenschunakker for three quid you can’t go two hours without a complimentary bag of nuts or a Coq au Vin from a 4” x 2” foil container, then you have to be pretty desperate. Ok, there’s the green debate. There we are then, we’ve just had it. Job done

It was damp and bloody freezing when we left Luton but the Madrid morning, although cool was bright an sunny. No hold luggage meant whipping straight through Passport Control to the waiting Ana and Frank and minutes later we were speeding away from Barajas Airport. Frank had planned a day in Alcala de Henares, an attractive medieaval town half an hour out of Madrid, famous for being the home of Spain's oldest university and more so for being the birthplace of Cervantes - he of Don Quixote fame.

We spent the morning catching up and laughing as we wandered around the lovely old palaces and squares in the sun, stopping for a coffee and churros. Come lunchtime, Frank unveilled the day's culinary highlight. He had booked a table in the town's Parador. http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/parador/alarcon.htm should tell you all you need to know about Paradors, and this one in particular. An inspired choice on Frank's part as it turned out because the meal and service were absolutely first class. Better than that, at 29 euros per head for the three course set lunch it was incredible value too. Even better value was that Frank & Ana very kindly picked up the tab as an early birthday present. Thanks chaps - marvellous!

We had lingered over lunch (well it is Spain) and then shot back to the car to go to collect the kids from school. We found a place to stop in the school parking scrum that's the same the world over, then Lynda and I went off to hide while Ana fetched Pablo, Sofi Carla & Andi. The kids didn't know we were coming and so we planned to surprise them when they got back to the car. Our cover was almost blown when they came out of a different gate than planned but we still managed to creep up on them at the car and spring the surprise. Their faces were a picture and after some huge cuddles we piled into the car and went home. The shame is that they thought we were joking when we told them that we were only there for the day.

There we exchanged groceries - our traditional English for their traditional Spanish - handed over the magazines and then enjoyed a couple of hours going wild with the kids. Bass playing, twixie floor mops, quizzes, it's amazing what you can fit into such a short space of time.

Eventually though time did run out for us and it was with huge regret that we took our leave of Ana, Pablo, Carla & Andi to head back to the airport with Sofi & Frank.

A quick wander around the shops then we were boarded and off. The day relied heavily on Easyjet playing their part with regard to the flight times and they were spot on. We were back home and tucked up in bed by midnight, still almost incredulous at what we'd done that day. We'd had a fantastic time and anyone that thinks it's too long, or means getting up too early, or they'd be too knackered the next day, well, just think again.

Thanks to Frank, Ana and the kids. We love and miss you all but now we realise you're a good deal closer than we thought.

2nd-4th November 2007 - It's Football-tastic Up North!!!

Blackburn. Not a destination that most people would first think of when planning a weekend trip away. But did you know that in Blackburn you can step back in time to an earlier age and discover the treasures of a bygone era? The history of Blackburn travels back many centuries: Bronze Age people lived here and the Romans certainly took a passing interest. A fine Roman museum now exists at the village of Ribchester to the East of Blackburn in the Ribble Valley.


When travelling through Blackburn, an ancient Roman, Marcus Hughesius, dropped his leather water pouch and bending over to retrieve it accidentally kicked it. A fellow Roman kicked it back to him. Marcus bought it under control, flicked it up in the air and volleyed it back again. Loads more Romans joined in and all had a splendid time kicking the pouch around an open field for around 90 minutes. "I shall call this game footius and the park we played it on Ewoodium". To this day the game has continued in Blackburn, but not just as the preserve of Roman nobility with their motto ' Ponis mei caput filius’, it's even been known for a Savage to play it there too.

Lynda and me, together with Lynda's splendid brother Neil, his equally lovely wife Maz, made the what should have been 3 hour'ish trip to Blackburn - actual time 5 hours thanks to the roadworks all the way up - for a weekend of football, fun, food and one or two drinks. Lynda had made sure we were properly fuelled for the trip, having picked up four massive pasties on her way home that day, which were soon demolished.

Our first appointment was at 7 o'clock when John our host was picking up Neil, or Lightning as most people know him as, and me from the hotel to whisk us off to a Sportsman's Dinner at Ewood Park, the home of Blackburn Rovers. John is yet another splendid fellow whose only fault is that he supports Blackburn first and Liverpool second. Thanks to the slow trip up we only made it to the hotel with five minutes to spare before we were being collected. A record-breaking shave and change later the boys set off for Ewood leaving Maz & Lynda not entirely sure what their evening would bring.

Once at Ewood we met the rest of our table guests, including Norman, Tony and Davey - all great company and able to drink to Olympic standards. It wasn't long before we were putting those skills to the test as we eagerly laid into the very acceptable beers and wines on offer. The excellent meal over and our guest speaker got to his feet. Footballing legend John Aldridge. 'Aldo' has had a great career to draw on for his material; Newport, Oxford, Liverpool, Real Sociedad, Tranmere and the Republic of Ireland. A brilliantly funny and thoroughly engaging speaker, John was the perfect after-dinner speaker. Lynda, Maz, Lightning and I share a joke that everywhere he goes Lightning knows someone. Well clearly we knew our table guests but what I hadn't realised is that he also knew the speaker! He and Maz had holidayed with 'Aldo' some years back so off he skipped up to the top table for a spot of reminiscing with the great man.

By the time he got back to us the comedian, Sean was just starting his turn. This guy is brilliant. A scouser whose non-stop delivery had us in stitches, he’s one of those brilliant comedians that don’t tell jokes but just remark on what they’ve seen and what’s happenning in the room. By now we were all, to use a medical term, bollocksed. The drink had caught us up and Neil was trying on the jackets of just about everyone else on the table, including Davey’s who is half Neil’s size! Neil looked wonderful of course and no-one except him dared stand up and go for a pee for fear of having it mercilessly ripped out of him by Sean, which is exactly what happenned. At almost six and half feet tall, wearing a jacket six sizes too small for him, his shirt covered in red wine and his tie tied like a bow tie, he wasn't going to be easy to miss. We don’t remember much about getting back to the hotel, but we were grateful that we managed it in one piece and in the correct bedrooms. An excellent night.

The next morning, after the mother of cooked breakfasts and catching up on what the girls had been up to last night – a pretty dodgy meal in the hotel, a couple of drinks and a bit of TV - we headed for Preston to do a bit of shopping. Neil and I ‘shopped’ for about an hour then dived into the Corn Exchange to watch the Arsenal v Man Utd game on a giant screen. After the previous night though we were slightly fragile and consequently were the only blokes in the place nursing cokes during the game. A good game and a predictable draw, although Arsenal left it till the dying moments to bring it back to 2-2.

We met up with the girls who were now toting a reasonable number of carrier bags, grabbed a bag of chips and shot off back to the hotel. Once again John and his wife Beverley kindly collected us (all four of us this time) from the hotel and took us back to Ewood, this time to watch Blackburn play host to Liverpool in the Premiership. Again there were a number of us going to game but we were in separate parts of ground. We four sat with Sue & Norman – parents of Balckburn mid-fielder David Dunn and thoroughly enjoyed what was a pretty thrilling 0-0 draw.

After match we all met up in an excellent Indian restaurant close to our hotel. By now Neil and I had our beer appetites back and we all enjoyed an excellent evening’s food, drink and company.

If Saturday’s breakfast was the mother, Sunday’s was the mother, father and grand-parents. We needed it to be as we were heading straight off for home afterwards. The journey back was a breeze – apart from Lightning’s car breaking down on the M6. Thankfully it turned out to be something very minor and so we made it back home in three hours. Safe, full, tired but very pleased with the whole weekend.

Thanks to everyone that made the weekend as good as it was. To our hosts for their hospitality and especially to Neil & Maz for their excellent company.