This year we decided to do something a bit different for Christmas, so we booked a beach hut at Mersea for the day. It was really cool, we took a picnic, dad came down, and the Corkys popped down for a walk. The weather was OK, no rain but a bit of a cool wind Continue reading

Last weekend was great. The Caple’s came over on Saturday and in the evening we went to Lucy and Daves for their annual Christmas burn up It was a great evening munching sausages and drinking mulled wine while standing around the fire which kept us warm despite the temperature being below freezing. Sunday it snowed, Continue reading

Emma and I have been visiting Colchester zoo since she was tiny- months old! Our last gold card is about to expire so we did our final visit with Liane and Livvy last week. I love our zoo, and I will really miss going, the girls have learnt so much there and we’ve had some Continue reading

It was Chris’s 70th birthday this week so a couple of weekends ago we drove to Little Venice in London, met up with the Caples and got a boat along Regents Canal to Camden for a little bit of shopping and lunch in the Spread Eagle Pub. A lovely picture of K and some weirdo! Continue reading

It was Emma,s Birthday on Thursday so she had Martha, Jess, Iris, Lara and Maddy round for an afternoon tea and Cake,and then oldies came for tea. A really nice afternoon. The girls are reading “Warrior Cats” so K made them a “Thunderclan” Cake – very cool. Update Last weekend Emma and Jess had a Continue reading

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ao-ewzx5Bw[/embedyt] I cant get this song out of my head. Continue reading

Lovely Walk to Chalkney Wood with Ray and Jess. Continue reading

Lovely Walk to Chalkney Wood with Ray and Jess. Continue reading

Went to the fireworks at Emma’s School with the Corkys last night. What an amazing display – in fact I think it was the best display I’ve ever seen! Continue reading

On Tuesday, the ghouls walked the streets of Earls Colne. Two of these ghastly trick of treaters were Livvy and I. Livvy was dressed as a skeleton and I as a witch, we did very well for sweeties while out and came back with our bags loaded. On the way, we bumped into Beth the Continue reading

Last week we cycled the Salterns Way From Chichester to West Wittering on the coast. Its 12 miles each way along mainly traffic free routes and its a really nice route. The beach at West Wittering is lovely, very sandy with few stones a great place to hang out. Chichester Cathedral Continue reading

Years ago, I was a huge prince fan but by the early 90’s I had gone off him and never got into his later stuff. However, I heard this track the other day which was the first single off the “Planet Earth” album which came out in 2007. Its an amazing track and if nothing Continue reading

It’s half term this week so we’ve borrowed Barbie and Marks house while they’re sunning themselves in Australia. We headed down on Sunday and mooched yesterday as it was pouring most of the day (so nice to just doss about, don’t you just love rainy days!) Today we cycled down to the historic dockyard to Continue reading

My nephew Lewis plays for the U11 Jaguars at the Swindon Wildcats Academy and on Saturday evening we went to watch him play the Chelmsford mini chieftains at the Riverside ice rink in Chelmsford. It was a great game with both teams slogging away at each other. Swindon scored towards the end of the first Continue reading

Its my birthday this weekend so we went camping at Little Ropers which is only a few miles from home. We had a great time, it was a clear night so we could see lots of stars and the Milky Way. We had a fire, beer, burgers and sausages- it doesnt get much better than Continue reading

30 years on and agent k, a new replicant, is used to hunt down the older models. But while performing his extermination duties he finds something that shakes him to his core. Could his memories be real after all? Denis villeneuve has made a film of astonishing beauty, even in this dark, grey city and Continue reading

Emma’s friend Maddy joined us for a trip to New Scientist Live at The EXcel today. We had a good day meeting beasties and robots These funny looking beasts are Naked Mole Rats. Amazing subterranean creatures from East Africa which never develop cancer, dont feel pain and live far longer than similar-sized mammals, and can Continue reading

New film From Alex Garland, director of the brilliant Ex Machina. Looks awesome! [embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufaDurSCKOk[/embedyt] Continue reading

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCcoOggwRvQ[/embedyt] An amazing try but what a pass! Continue reading

We had a glorious week in Vancouver the weather was perfect everyday. Cycling in Vancouver is so easy, we hired some bikes and cycled all the way around Stanley Park and the downtown area down to Granville Island. We akso spent a day walking and bouldering in the Lynn Valley in North Vancouver. Continue reading

I’m not a fan of aquariums but this one is ranked as one of the best aquariums in North America. What made it really fascinating was the focus on conservation and that most of the animals were from around the Strait of Georgia and Vancouver Island. I think like me the fish is thinking “What Continue reading

Dad headed home today so we just hung out in the morning and saw him off shortly after lunch. We headed down to Gastown for the afternoon. Gastown is the oldest part of Vancouver and is a fantastic place to just hang out with some great shops, bars and restaurants. This mirror was in a Continue reading

Yesterday we spent the day on Granville Island which has a fantastic collection of shops and food markets. It was fantastic, the food market was awesome! Continue reading

We have arrived in Vancouver. we have hire an apartment on the North Shore and its superb really nice and perfect for getting into town. These pics are on our first day when we visited Canada Place and part of Stanley Park. Love these little houseboats inbetween all the big yachts! This walkway and cycle Continue reading

The Drive through the Cayoosh pass from Lillooet in Bc is just amazing. Mount Cayoosh Continue reading

As I said before there has been some 140 forest fires in BC this summer fortunately it hasnt effected us that much but we did see one burning near 100 mile house. Continue reading

On the way From Jasper we stopped at Marble Canyon for a night. We got talking to a really nice couple who offered us the use of their Kayaks an opportunity too good too miss! Emma had never kayaked before but she loved it saying “I love it, this is my life!” Continue reading

We’ve finished our tour through the Rockies and have arrived in Vancouver. The tour was amazing so many beautiful places which just blew us away and are so awe inducing that photographs just done do them justice. Continue reading

We have now travelled up through the Rockies, through Banff, Jasper and we are now in Clearwater on the road to Vancouver. The Rockies have been magnificent, absolutely unbelievable, despite some smoke in the atmosphere the views have been amazing About 140 wildfires are burning across British Columbia at the moment due mainly to the Continue reading