Oakham short break........

For Hubby's birthday present I bought a Buyagift voucher for two nights hotel break with breakfast for two. His birthday is in February so I was thinking lovely spring walks. However, life gets busy and we booked somewhere just before the voucher expired, so November and cold wet weather meant long walks but Christmas shopping instead.

Looking through the list of hotels available to us we reduced the choice down to no more than two hours drive away, daft going too far when we are only away three days. Then of the ones left it was what's near to good shopping places, tricky for us as we both hate shopping. Then of the ones left it was who had a vacancy.

(Sorry for this) We found a room at the inn!
Whipper-In, Oakham, Rutland. A really old coaching inn, 1700s I think. The hotel was a bit shabby in places and very creaky everywhere but full of character and the staff were all really helpful and friendly.

Driving in horrid weather does have some great skies.

Monday's journey up there was paused at the Queensgate shopping mall in Peterborough. Had to be indoors as the rain was heavy. We also had dinner in our hotel to save us going out again, and it was really nice. Some people were eating in the bar but we asked to sit in the dining room (couldn't resist the crisp white table linen). We were the only ones in there and the waiter immediately put some music on the speakers for us. 

Tuesday we stayed local wandering in and out of all the little shops in Oakham. As with most town centres there were loads of pubs, cafes and restaurants and plenty of charity shops too, but we couldn't help notice the huge amount of hair dressers and barbers! The pretty town centre of Oakham was right on our doorstep and so were the church and private school which has been there since 1518.

An empty shop being refurbished had this little Chinese character in the window waving to passers by, made me smile.

In the afternoon we drove about 10 mins up the road to Gates Garden Centre which had been excitedly and enthusiastically recommended by at least four people. Maybe we were getting shopping weary but it wasn't as good as some we have near home. We also swung into a factory outlet shop having a closing down sale that we spotted.

Only got stopped at the level crossing once, but it was for ages!

Wednesday's shopping started with a wander round the market right outside our hotel (very small so didn't take long) then onto the huge retail outlet centre in Spaldington which had this attractive water feature.

Got home just before 5pm as we were both out again for the evening.
I would like to report that we have completed our Christmas shopping.....would like to but I can't, we barely got anything ticked off the list! Was a lovely interlude together though.
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Picture my Friday to Sunday.....

               

For Michelle

Granddaughter diary, days 8 and 9....

So R spent the weekend at home with M and D and I gather it was mostly on computer games. Hubby picked her up after lunch. Dinner was my choice this time of fish pie.

There's been a mixture of computer and inactivity together with activities, like our art gallery visit where we saw life size people made with transparent sellotape, we did this a long time ago when E needed an underwater helmet for a fancy dress costume and just that big bowl shape was tricky so I was really impressed by the whole people shapes.

R has had a drumming lesson and drama group rehearsals for a performance next week.

We've done a bit of shopping for clothes and books.

Shorts for if it's hotter and rain coat for if it's wetter.....

can you tell I was a boy scout, be prepared and all that lol. 

She had a read in bed last night and is in bed reading now (10:30am) and will no doubt finish the whole book today, lucky we bought two. Then I think she has three more to complete the series (think we'll order on Amazon as Smith's is far more expensive but she couldn't wait.

There's also been a little of this....

Special treats...

Last Thursday our twin granddaughters, R & E, became 10 year olds  :o)
They started their day quite early as O was so excited he made them get out of bed to open their presents, and that's when Daughter told them that one of their presents from her was a trip to London to see Matilda the Musical.

Daughter and the three very excited children arrived here about 9:30am to open presents from us and also to be told that as we had plans for Friday in London we were staying overnight and I'd added a hotel stay to their treat. We had a lovely birthday lunch including birthday cake and candles then Daughter and I hit the road with the girls leaving behind O to play with Granddad until his daddy got home. This was a very special treat for the girls but also a very special treat for Daughter as it was the first time she had left O overnight and was really looking forward to an undisturbed nights sleep!

We parked up at Newbury Park and tried to surprise my SisterM as the girls wanted to call in to say thank you for their birthday money in person but they were out, so they put a note through the letterbox instead and we walked round to the station. We found the hotel just a short walk from Marble Arch station and even then we were all a bit hot and sticky as it was a very hot day.

We had booked a family room which actually turned out to be two bedrooms and the girls immediately asked if they could have the big room and share the double bed, so Daughter and I had a single bed each in the smaller room which worked out well.

A quick freshen up then off we went. I treated us to a black cab to The Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden then a short wander and we found a lovely Italian restaurant for our dinner. We were all quite full after lovely main courses but as it was a treat desserts had to be chosen (actually I didn't), the girls were thrilled when they ordered lemon sorbet and it was served inside a whole lemon peel with its little cap back on :o)

Matilda The Musical was amazing. The lyrics by Tim Minchin were so clever and so funny (Daughter and I both like him as a comedian anyway), the cast were amazing, about half of them were children and they were amazing too. Even the set kept us amused the whole time with the surround being made up of lettered blocks making words relevant to the show although none of the words were obvious so we had lots of fun searching and pointing out to each other the ones we found. The only bad thing I can say is the theatre was so uncomfortably hot and stuffy.

We stood outside the theatre a little while just to get some air then hailed a cab to take us back to the hotel. Fans on, we got ready for bed and watched a bit of TV with our cups of tea/hot chocolate and maltesers then lights out about 11:30pm.

Friday morning all up in good time to have baths and down for breakfast by 8:30am. Then packed up and checked out by 9:30am. The plan was to meet up with other home-ed friends in Regents Park at 12noon so with time to kill we took a walk along the West End shops stopping in New Look and Primark to try on and buy a sun hat for R and sun glasses for E. We also had to buy something for picnic lunch in the park and also another treat in Selfidges having coffees and teas and posh cupcakes.

Then as a group we left the park and travelled onto the Photobox photo processing factory, Daughter's friend is a director and founding member of the rapidly growing company and had arranged for them to show us around. It was a really interesting visit and they really looked after us all especially the children and after the tour and refreshments a group photo of all the children was printed onto a souvenir mouse mat for each of them to take home.

Bit of a problem at the end of the day when R really wanted to go and eat with the others but E was tired and just wanted to get home, hopefully in time to get to her normal trampoline lesson, so we split up leaving R to go with friends who will bring her back by train and Daughter E and I got back to the car and managed to crawl in a traffic jam all the way home. Then Saturday morning they were off early again to meet their dad and enjoy a special day at Chessington theme park for their birthday treat and home again Sunday evening.

And this Saturday Daughter is holding a birthday party (at my house) for lots of their friends and most of them will be camping in the garden as Sunday we are all off to the medieval Oyster Fayre in Colchester and then Monday is our street party for the Queen's Jubilee.......so hopefully this will be a birthday they will always remember with a smile.
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Choosing choosing choosing....

Am I the only person on this planet who really hates shopping? I hate the choosing, especially for something expensive that I need to be happy with for a long time! At the moment we are shopping for a kitchen, a new(er) car for me and another shed for hubby.

For his shed I had to make the decisions of what size and where to put it, which thankfully wasn't too difficult. So now he's found the shed he wants to buy and is waiting for the supplier to give him exact measurements so he can make the concrete base for it.

Think I've mentioned the kitchen before. There are actually only a few things that need changing in our kitchen and I definitely need to keep the cupboards and features that work perfectly for me......so what to choose and how do we get it all to match?

And now my car. I am only it's 2nd owner but I've had it about 10 years now and it's sounding really rough and will undoubtedly cost me money to keep it going so a good time to trade it in, it's a T reg Peugeot 306 which is a pretty shape and I'd love to just replace like for like but they stopped making it years ago. I'm definitely not buying a new car as I think one that is a couple of years old is much better value for money. Hubby always drives his 'toy' whereas I consider my car a 'tool'. So far we have been to Toyota and looked at the Yaris (too small) and test drove the Auris (quite nice but nothing special). At Marshall's we looked at the Kia Rio, C'eed and Soul and took the one year old Soul Silver for a test drive which was very nice, negatives were the price and it is a bit of a quirky shape! Then at Bristo's we were surprised at the Clio's internal space, the boot space was so much bigger than it used to be, the price was really good too, so out for a test drive in that and I actually pulled the car over half way back for the dealer to take over as the seat was just so uncomfortable! The dealer was really pissed off, didn't say just could tell by his body language and the way he drove the car back as there was nothing left to negotiate over, car was fine but the seat just wasn't a fit for me! I really hate all the detail giving and haggling and time wasting and sales-pitching but mainly the choosing! But the searching and choosing goes on.

Not sure I should even type this but this laptop has had to be turned off very quickly four times in the past week as the hard drive has made a most terrible noise..........please don't make me have to choose a new laptop just yet!!!!
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The holy grail....

...or the perfect bra!!!
As I'm now down again to one black bra that is losing its stretch and two slightly greying white bras it's time to go on the dreaded hunt again!

On a walk round the main lingerie departments in the high street there are rows and rows of pretty, sporty, lacy, colourful, sexy or perfectly functional boob supports on display that I will lovingly and longingly run my eye over and my eager hands through looking for my size, but I'm usually disappointed. Or I'll find what I think is my size and try it on only to discover that this brand is very definitely not my shape  :o(

I know I'm not your average size but I can't be the only short woman of very ample proportions that has this problem. All I need is to be supported enough not to bounce around without having wires digging into my ribcage, but all large sized soft bras are designed really old-lady-ish and I would so love to look good too.

Changing rooms are never quite big enough are they? And some don't even have a seat and I always like to sit as I'm short waisted so the wire on a bra may sit perfectly when I'm standing but really dig into the top of my ribs when sitting. I do own a couple of beautiful bras that are ideal for the standing around all night cocktail party, but we don't get invited to many of them and my feet would than object and shoes is another big issue that would need a blog all their own! Actually now I'm thinking more of my recent grumbles I should be including my hair style or lack of, as I hate it just now and not sure what to try next.......maybe I need a total makeover but think even Gok Wan would have a real challenge hahaha

Anyway let's just tackle one thing at a time, so today I'm back on the online shopping trail to see what is available now and maybe order hundreds to try on at home, then by the law of averages I'm bound to find something that fits my requirements....please!!!
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