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Published: April 30th 2011
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Hi everyone
We've just finished watching the royal wedding and it was a splendid occasion. The weather was fine and sunny at times which made it a much nicer event for the crowds. They were forecasting 600,000 people along the route but I'd be surprised if there weren't more than that.
The pomp and pageantry was quite majestic and the bride's dress was stunning (as you all know). It was quite a contrast from Princess Diana's meringue dress. There were a few references to Princess Diana by the BBC correspondents but they didn't harp on about it.
Helen, bless her bought some bunting that we put up as part of the celebration...you'll be able to see that in the photos. We also had union jack serviettes and paper plates. So it was a very British event!
We started the day with a champagne breakfast and our eyes glued to the TV. Strangely enough there was also champagne for lunch along with cucumber sandwiches. The celebration continues into the evening when we're going to the local pub for a spit roast. As soon as I get home I'm going on a lettuce and water diet because I've eaten
soooooo much. Loving the chips over here!
Now the royal wedding is over, I'm feeling a bit bereft as I've been building up to today's event for several months. I'll have to find a new cause, preferably one which annoys Peter. All jokes aside he's been very good about my wedding souvenirs acquisitions.
We had a lovely day yesterday...we went to Wales. I spent time with an academic colleague David Pickernell and his lovely wife Sarah while Peter went off to a distillery the name of which escapes me. In addition to getting help with a paper I'm writing, I also got to meet David and Sarah’s rabbit..Muffy. She is a cute little black lop eared bunny as you can see from the photos. I hadn't realized but rabbits can live until they are 12 or 13 so Muffy is going to be doing cute things for many years to come. She's just gorgeous!
Our drive to Wales was glorious. It was a bight sunny day yesterday and the countryside looked beautiful. I was surprised at how nice it was in Wales. I had an image of coal dust and soot everywhere. That probably puts me about
30 years out of date.
David and Sarah gave me a memento of Wales i.e. a tardis (police box) hub. I can’t wait to get home and play with it. Apparently it makes tardis noises when you put in or remove a usb stick. I know you must all be green with envy!
Now the last two blogs and all that has been written above was done without any input by me! Perhaps I should tell the real story! The visit to Cirencester was much as Sandy wrote and my new Granddaughter is gorgeous, even if she sometimes curtails Chris and Floss attempts to sleep!
We traveled to Norfolk to visit the English Whisky Co. It was almost impossible to find, as the satnav took me to a ruined church! I ended up ringing the distillery and found that I was only 3 miles away, so made the tour on time. It consisted of the guide James and myself! The distillery is very compact and a standard 2 still process, I tried the whisky, bought a bottle and headed back to pick up Sandy at Thetford where Dad’s Army was filed. Nobody told the satnav that the
street layout had been changed, so I drove round and round, before finding a path out of the maze of one way streets and pedestrian malls!
We headed back towards Herefordshire and found ourselves at Ketering. We found a good pub and I reconnected with Ruddles beer, a northern brew I first tried in 1990. The accommodation was interesting. We stayed at the Royal �Hotel a Victorian era establishment that looked like it had seen better days. We rejected another place that was from the 12th century and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since then! However, we got the shock of our lives when we went down to breakfast to eat and truly ginourmous full English breakfast to find ourselves in a Victorian atrium that with the big glass some on top and authentic décor and furniture. Whilst we would never have gone to Kettering without me being tired of driving, it was a good experience. Next day it was on to Helen and Gavin’s and then off into the depths of Wales.
Sandy's visit to visit the Welsh rabbit, Muffy, was not what I thought was the point of going there, as I was headed to
Farmer
I wish I'd combed my hair! the Penderynh Whisky distillery. It was a good visit and they have a strange pot still/column still mix which I can explain later to non whisky folk. The people were nice and the whisky better than the English version! The guide was very generous, so I hightailed it to a chippy (couldn't find a pub) for sustenance. There I befriended a couple of lads who spoke a language somewhat similar to English, but very hard to follow, We found a common interest of Rugby, so passed the time speaking of heroes past and present. The lass I ordered from was so immersed in Welsh that I had to use a translation service to sort out my order!
Eventually I decided that I was sober enough to drive back to pick up Sandy, but there was a communication problem (her phone was in a no service area) so had an hour of so wait at a service station, which actually was interesting, as watching people is fun sometimes. Eventually I reconnected with her and Mr and Mrs Rabbit and we headed back to Ledbury. Dinner was at a pub and we retired for the wedding! Next day bunting was put
up, the table set with Union Jacks and the TV put on. The next 4 hours (yes, Gavin & I stayed for the whole thing) entai8led breakfast, champagne, and Gavin burning his foot with boiling water, hence no fishing then. Lunch was cucumber sandwiches and so on, all very British. Then Gavin & I went trout fishing, but no luck. Dinner back to the Farmers Arms for a Royal Pig Roast and it finally rained! The first rain we have seen in 2 weeks in the UK. Luckily it held off for the wedding too. Today sees us off to Cirencester, then Heathrow to be home by Monday.
We really have had a MARVELLOUS time and feel very lucky to have such great family and friends over in the UK.
Cheers Sandy & pj
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