Another visitor ...

We've had a lovely weekend with a visit from Adrian's niece's husband Steve. He was in the UK on business this week and stayed with us from Thursday evening before flying home to his wife and young son.

Although only here for a few days, he and we managed to fit in quite few things in. Mark and Steve went up to London one day and visited Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds and then Simon came home to join us for the weekend and he and Mark both went up to London with Steve today to go the Tower of London.

We always find that it's only when we have visitors that we tend to do the 'touristy' things. I've heard other friends say the same thing. All these interesting places are 'on our doorstep' and we take them for granted and don't think about visiting them. It's just as well we have visitors occasionally as then we can be 'tourists' too.

Another lovely thing about the weekend is to have several young people in the house. They always seem to pass on their energy and enthusiasm to us older ones which is great.

39 steps - actually it's nearer 260!

We missed our usual Sunday stroll yesterday as we were glued to the TV like real 'couch potatoes' watching the end of the Olympics so we decided to have a longer walk today.

I always say you've got to have the correct footwear for walking, even if it is just a short walk so it's shoes off and boots on.






Mark in front of the view point. You could see a fair way even though it was a bit hazy.






You can clearly see the cricket green in this shot, but no cricketers!





Yes, Mark, it is a lot of steps - about 260 - I counted. We did get to the bottom eventually.

Come on then, aren't you joining me?

Well, once you're half way over, you just have to carry on, don't you. The water level was quite high today but we managed to cross the river without a splash (unlike the boy who was swinging on the rope swing just out of the picture - but then I expect he wanted to end up 'in the drink'!)





We came back over the river by the footbridge.

If you climb down 260 steps, of course you have to climb back up 260 - even if it does feel like at least double that!

All in all, a nice little outing and much better than sitting around at home wasting the holiday.

Bank Holiday Weekend

When we have a Bank Holiday which means of course a 'long weekend' with an extra day to enjoy we usually try to have a meal out at some point during the weekend. To avoid the Bank Holiday crowds on Monday we often go out on Sunday evening.

This is the view from the pub garden of 'The Rubbing House' one of our local pubs on Epsom Downs. Even early on a Sunday evening the pub was doing a roaring trade. Looking at the view, you can see why it is so popular. From inside the restaurant you look out at the racecourse and the Downs from every window.

This 'n' that ...

Like many families, we have been dipping into the Olympic coverage on TV over the past two weeks and settled down together to watch the closing ceremony this afternoon.

Pleasantly surprised at how well Great Britain has done in this games - oh dear, what does that say about us and our expectations of our athletes? It doesn't, however, detract from their great achievement - well done to all concerned.

Like many others too I'm sure, in pubs, workplaces and homes up and down the country, we have been thinking, 'how do we follow that?' We'll be watching with interest to see how things progress in the next 4 years before it's London's turn to host.

The garden is still not finished. We've had a bit of a re-think as the new patio area has turned out much higher than we anticipated. I was quite disappointed until Adrian brought an architect colleague around to have a look and offer some advice.

He saved the day by saying that he liked it and much preferred the idea of a terrace rather than a patio on the same level as the rest of the garden so our new patio has been re-named the new 'terrace' and I feel much better about it now. What's in a word, eh?

Just a few raised beds to construct and plant up (that's the bit I really enjoy!) and then we'll be finished.

Garden - Day 8 ...

Just a few words to go with today's picture. As you can see a lot has been achieved so far. Originally the men hoped to be finished by the end of this week but there still seems to be quite a lot to do and, although they have been working hard, it is very labour intensive work.

Well, at least we haven't lost any days for rain so far which is quite something. We may yet be enjoying an outdoor meal on Bank Holiday Monday. As we all know it's bound to be a 'scorcher' on Monday - ha ha!

Visit to Wisley

We had a lovely evening at Wisley yesterday. Although it was rather overcast we escaped without needing our waterproofs or umbrellas once.

A wonderful display outside the entrance to the shop as you make your way towards the gardens themselves.

A 'living wall' of begonias just by the entrance gates.

A 'floral picture' made up of various sedums.

Just to prove I really was there.

We had a full 3 hours to wander in the very extensive grounds which meant we had plenty of time to visit one of the many cafés dotted around the site.

The very impressive glasshouse. What I haven't mentioned is that there were various items of musical entertainment around the gardens throughout the evening. Outside the glasshouse we stopped for a while to listen to a lovely 'Barber Shop' Group. We also came across Scottish Pipers, a harpist and a jazz band amongst other musicians.

Now I now that to all our Sri Lankan family Canna lilies are 'old hat' but to us they are something quite exotic even though they are hardy here and will grow quite happily outdoors in the summer.

One of many interesting natural sculptures we came across as we moved around the gardens.

Well, here's Cosmos but I wonder where Damian got to? (sorry, in joke for Catholic readers!)

Sunset at this time of year is around about 8pm so after watching the sun go down over the extensive rockery we made our way to the gift shop to do some 'serious browsing' before it was time to amble towards the car park and the coach home.

Wet, Wet, Wet ...

Today has been like that well-known Scottish band who formed in the 80s and had great success with songs such as 'Love is all around'. If you need any more clues see the title of this post!

Nevertheless, it's been another good day. After a lovely lunch out I came home to find the workmen had turned up and were working despite the dreadful weather.

Tomorrow I'm going to Wisley in the early evening with a good friend and hope the weather improves before then. I'm looking forward to strolling around the beautiful grounds and listening to some of the musicians who'll be playing in the evening. Also of course having a natter over coffee and pottering in the plant and gift shops.

Lots of lovely flower pics to post tomorrow, I hope.

Back to the garden ...

Sorry folks, it's the end of week 1 and I'm going to give you an update on the garden work. I'll try and keep it brief - just a few photos and captions.

End of day 3 - you can see the outline of the new extended patio area.

I like to see a tidy site at the end of the day!

Day 4 was showery and it was getting dark when I took this shot. I didn't know what was under the tarpaulin.

Morning of day 5. This is what was hiding under the tarp. Lovely to see the sunshine on the different coloured stone.

OK, that's all for now. I'll try and talk about something else in my next post.

Holy musings!

For the sake of anyone who bothers to look at this blog regularly, I'd thought I'd give you a break from the daily report on how the garden work is getting on!

I was thinking the other day, ' I wonder who the Patron Saint of Secretaries would be?' It would be quite useful to know who in particular I could invoke when the computer freezes or I accidentally delete a file that has taken me ages to write!

A quick look on Google came up with two suggestions; St Catherine of Siena or St Genesius (Who? I can hear you say!).

I think most of us have heard of St Catherine but I must admit St Genesius was a new one on me. He is also apparently Patron Saint of Actors, Comedians, Dancers, Epilepsy and Lawyers (Spot the link, anyone? I'm not sure I can). An actor from 3rd Century Rome who was converted to Christianity whilst portraying in a play a catechumen about to be baptised. He was beheaded for his pains by the Emperor Diocletian when he persisted in his faith.

Of the two suggestions, I think I'll plump for St Catherine. She is also the Patron Saint of Artists, Nurses and Philosophers. She ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.

What really 'sold' her to me though is that, in recent years, she has been suggested (along with many others) as patron of the Internet!

St Catherine - Pray for us

The work continues ...

Things are taking shape in the back garden. When I left the house yesterday morning the men were taking delivery of pallet-loads of paving slabs. By the time I returned home in the afternoon they had all been transferred to the back garden.

Thirsty work, which is why we needed copious amounts of the following!

Of course as usual, I had to make a 'mercy dash' to Waitrose for a bag of sugar and extra milk. I'm always caught out as we use very little of either ourselves and it's amazing how quickly the sugar bowl empties when there are workmen around - to say nothing of the biscuit time! Still, all in a good cause, eh?

Just for fun ...

The weather has become decidedly cooler in the last few days with a few showers and some days you can almost feel Autumn 'pushing at the door' of Summer, eager to be in.

A friend was going away for a short break not too far away and I jokingly said something along the lines of, 'I hope you've packed your flannel underwear'.

I found this marvellous picture on Google of some really natty flannel underwear. Beats Calvin Klein any day!

Garden - Day One ...

I had to make sure I was up and 'decent' in good time this morning as we were expecting the men to arrive early to start work on the new patio. True to their word they arrived at 7.45am and were 'beavering away' within a very short time. Having shown them where the important tools of the trade were - kettle, teabags, milk and sugar - I left them to get on in peace and set off to work myself.

When I got home this was the sight outside the french windows so I thought I'd use the back door exit to go and inspect more closely, but ...

This is what greeted me when I opened the back door! Luckily we've had no rain today and I was able to nip out and take a few snaps. They have managed to take up all the old crazy paving. If you wondering where it all went to .....

This is what welcomed me as I turned into the drive when I got home this afternoon. Pretty impressive, eh?

A bit of exercise ...

I've been very lazy lately and haven't had much exercise so decided that a slightly longer walk was called for today. It was a lovely day so M and I decided we'd walk to Epsom and back. We haven't done that for a while and it was good fun and good exercise too. Unfortunately A couldn't join us as he had to go into the office to do some work.

We stopped at Tattenham Corner for a short break. This shot is taken from there looking towards the Grandstand.

Lunch break! M enjoying an egg and bacon sandwich from the 'tea hut'

We strolled on into town and had a leisurely coffee there before making the return trip without any stops. I wish I'd taken a photo of the hot chocolate and whipped cream that M managed to put away somehow along with a triple chocolate muffin. Walking does give you an appetite!

We returned home about two and a half hours later, tired but contented. I call that feeling a 'healthy tiredness' as opposed to the stressed out type of tiredness that you can get from working too hard.

Yaay, the swans are back!

I promise you those little white specks at the rear of the picture really are two swans! S and I went for a quick stroll up to the pond this afternoon and I was surprised and delighted to see two swans gliding serenely around the pond accompanied by a single cygnet. They were determined not to come near the edge hence the 'long distance' shot.

Since one of the swans was cruelly attacked last year by some hooligans (who also filmed the whole unpleasant business on their mobile phones - can you believe it?!) and subsequently died we have been without their graceful presence on our local pond and they do make a difference. It seems 'complete' again, somehow.

We also just made it in to time to enjoy an ice-cream and a drink sitting outside the coffee shop opposite before they closed for the day, so two treats in one, you might say.

Friends ...

We've had a busy weekend! On Saturday evening S got back from a week's holiday in Prague and is spending a week at home before going back to Manchester which is great. On Sunday morning A got back from a business trip to Montenegro and in the afternoon some of S's friends came down from London.

We had a lovely afternoon and evening and ended up playing games together before the young people sadly had to leave to get back to London.

It's great to be in the company of lively young people, they seem somehow to invigorate the rest of us and their enthusiams for life rubs off on us, more careworn 'oldies'.

It's good to see too that old fashioned board games are still popular with all generations and hopefully there'll always be a place for them alongside the computer games, TV, DVDs, iPod and whatever is to come in the future. It added to the fun that a lot of the questions in the game referred to people who were famous, and events that happened before the youngsters were even born!