It's Coming

After an extremely wet and miserable Winter, it does appear at long last Spring is putting in an appearance. Thank goodness.

New Life

Happy Easter everyone.

Buns

Hot Cross Buns, what better way to mark Good Friday?

Despite all the chocolate egg hunts and Easter Bunnies etc, it's important to reflect on the true meaning of Easter.

Better

A noticeable improvement (I hope) on my last batch, made 24th January LOL.

Deepest

You can tell when Spring has finally arrived, the Mower emerges from hibernation and it's time to tackle the very long, unkempt grass in the garden. To borrow from the Rod Stewart hit (penned by Cat Stevens dontchaknow), the first cut is the hardest LOL.

It certainly was hard work.

Advance

British Summer Time, here we come*!

*Just hope the Rain got the memo LOL.

Cilantro

Yeah that's a really daft name and one that only North Americans tend to use but it got your attention.

Nevertheless I found this little gem the other day: a reminder of a really awesome restaurant I used to occasionally visit and where some wonderful memories were created. 

Although it was a bit of a drive and parking nearby could be problematic, it was always well worth it. I recall the menu was extensive and the portions generous, as was the Bill LOL. You can't expect an incredible experience without being prepared to pay. I think it survived the madness of the 'Rona days but shut up shop shortly thereafter. It's certainly long gone now.

Happy times.

Tie Me Up

Life, both professional and social, is much more relaxed and casual these days. Dressed down if you will. As such I probably don't need the appropriately 50 ties I currently own. A few were ditched a couple of years ago during a mini-purge, bytheway.

In fact, with not many more neck adornments, I could probably rent a bespoke small retail unit and resurrect the now defunct British retailer Tie Rack. Not to be confused with Thailand LOL.

Anyway, it's time to have a serious clear out; keeping only a few faves for weddings, funerals, christenings and other formal settings. You know the sort of thing.

As depicted, a great many of my ties were cartoon in nature, with Wallace and Gromit featuring quite heavily.

Rumour Has It

Rumours (see what I did there?) abound I've been out two nights in a row. 

'Tis true, this evening was spent at a very special evening celebrating the music of Fleetwood Mac by Candlelight. Electric candles, of course: you never can be too careful. Nevertheless it was a truly amazing and atmospheric event, set within a lovely old English church. What's not to like..?

Again

Two ELO tributes in the space of one month? Outrageous LOL!

Daffs

Must be Spring, at last.

 

Notts

Pause

Is there a better way of killing time LOL..?

05 And Twenty

Cryptic but it's gonna be fun LOL.

The Tube

Just a run-of-the-mill, ordinary day on the London Underground LOL..?

Potion

Another mash-up of two favourites from my youth. Promise I'll stop now LOL.

Children's Classic

Having grown up reading Enid Blyton's Famous Five (and Secret Seven) and being an avid viewer of Doctor Who, this made me chuckle.

 

M4

Can't believe my regular journey home from near Sandhurst has just taken shy of two and a half hours! 

Thanks Highways England and National Grid for closing the Motorway in both directions. In reality it wasn't their fault an electricity Pylon fell across the carriageways. Nevertheless having to divert all traffic trying to get to and from my home town has put severe strain on all surrounding routes. Got home very hungry.

Electric

What could be better than a tribute evening to the genius of Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra? Great night out at the Hexagon in Reading.

Years ago I was at this same venue seeing ELO Part II perform. They were (more or less) the Classic line-up but without Lynne, who was off being a Travelling Willbury or something LOL.

Planning

Already booking events for 18 months time. Scary that I can be so organised LOL.

Meme

Really loving the ultra patriotic AI generated Amelia meme doing the rounds, in all her differing guises. Here's a few examples.

 

No Drama

Coffee related trauma averted. Only £6.50 from ASDA, a bit of a bargain and definitely a life saver LOL.

Investment

In these tough and unpredictable times, I keep hearing advice telling me to invest in gold. 

Is this what they mean LOL..?

Again?

 

The Bill

Revisiting the hits of Sting and The Police at a local venue.

Decimal 60

What better way to celebrate sixty years of decimal currency than with some lovely Mintmark and Privy Mark coins? 

In 1966 Australia marked "Changeover Day" with the introduction of decimal Dollars and Cents. Previously the country had used British Pounds, Shillings and Pence (LSD) before adopting their own versions of the same. Now, in the mid 60's, the much more logical, easier to understand currency was to be used to signify the modern, forward-looking and confident Australia.

The Royal Australian Mint has issued, in readiness for this milestone (14th February), a beautiful four coin set of $1 coins. The Three Privy Mark items represent the Mints of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and are marked B, M and S respectively. The final $1 coin is marked C for Canberra, Australia's federal capital city (referred to as ACT or Australian Capital Territory).

Aren't these awesome?

Yeah Nah Yeah

Aussie visitors to this page might appreciate this on their national day LOL.