Blogs from Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Across the pond, the re-emergence of a Tiger was taking shape on the green carpets of Augusta. In a corner of Worcestershire, another group of Tigers were battling to continue their status in the National League South. The pitch wasn't quite the green carpet on the TV golf and although the wind was equally as troublesome, they were making a decent effort of taking the game to their higher ranked visitors. Gloucester City AFC are in exile. They have been in exile since 2007. The great floods that hit the West Country left their ground under 8 feet of water. In the 12 years since, they have camped up in Nailsea (at the home of Forest Green Rovers), Cirencester, Cheltenham and now find themselves across the border in Worcestershire.The much anticipated homecoming is nearly upon them. ... read more

"As soon as you have made a thought , laugh at it ". Lao Tzu How many times during a year do you make thoughts and either laugh at them or cry at them? . This year quite often I would think. We thought life would be normal for us during 2018. Whatever that was going to be . Holidays. Planned and arranged . Work - well I was going to be still there and then like a bolt out of the blue we found ourselves spending most of the first half of the year caring for Glenns mum. We had to laugh many times during her illness and we cried a lot at times when things got too much. Life rumbled on as did the year. Spring passed us by. Summer flew by in the ... read more

Woolly says – I’d had a busy week or so making plans for Jo’s latest birthday, this had proved trickier than anticipated as Dave, our friend that we are currently staying with….poor bloke has to put up with the women as well!.... would be joining us for the day so I was tasked with finding an outing that would appeal to us all. Having hummed and hared, consulted the weather forecast, I came to the conclusion, that I couldn’t please all the people all the time so knowing that Dave and I had a mutual interest in golf I decided that was the way to go, keeping my paws crossed that the women wouldn’t notice our activity. The big day arrived and having assisted in the opening and consuming of some of the birthday girls presents, ... read more

Woolly says – It seems like years have passed since we arrived in Dudley although Jo swears it has only been weeks, our backpacks lie stationary, empty and forlorn. Applying for work has become the norm, I have already been shortlisted as chief nut taster for one of the UK's leading suppliers and don't feel that it would be to challenging a role. I had however turned down the position of lion feeder at the zoo as having met with my would be charges it appeared they were more interested in eating me rather than their usual rations...... it was a scary moment and one best forgotten as quickly as possible. Boredom and tedium was setting in and I found large sighs escaping from my trunk at regular intervals. In the hope of stopping the sighs ... read more

Well after my last blog, we said we were looking for warmer climes The deal was Lin wanted to see the Northere Lights (ticked big time) and we would travel to the Caribbean for Jan/Feb. How disappointed were we, when we got back to our cabin last Tuesday (Phil day) to find the 50 night cruise on Oriana had been cancelled. Essential maintenance - propulsion we think - a bit key if your crossing the Atlantic!!! Our first full winter at home for a number of years Brr!!! Nothing in the diary Until spotted a couple of back to back cruises for July/August So back on board Arcadia to Scandinavia and Russia and then on to France, Spain and Italy. Highlights will be St Petersburg, a return to Helsinki (for me), to Copenhagen (for Lin) and ... read more