My new hobby

Well, here we go, a few months ago I joined in a local walking group. As I walk a lot and consider myself reasonably fit for my age, I was asked to become a walk leader. I agreed. I went on a one day training course and yesterday I did a walk shadowing the walk leader. Next week I get to lead the walk  with the leader checking me. It was all very interesting at the training, probably one of the most interesting training courses I have been on, and I've been on a lot.

My A B C

Right, here's  a alphabetical  list of things I've done. I intend to fill in the blanks at some stage, hopefully sooner rather than later.

A  aerobics,

B  bellydancing, babysitting, baking

C  cycling, crafting, cooking, colouring for adults, camping,

D  driving, dancing, drinking, decorating, dressmaking,

E  eavesdropping, elephant riding,

F  flower picking,

G  gardening

H  holidaying, hoarding, hiking,

I  icing cakes,

J  jam making

K  knitting,

L  Letter writing

M  milking cows, modelling

N  nothing,

O  orienteering

P  photography, Pilates, paragliding, pole-dancing,

Q queuig

R  rally driving, reading,

S  snorkelling, scrabble player,

T  travelling, training, tai-chi,

U  Upcycling

V  Viewing (houses)

W walking,  weeding,

X

Y  yo-yo-ing

Z  zumba

Update

Wow, where has the time gone?

So much has happened, mostly holidays. Well, that's what i do.

Fuertaventura:
 although I've been there before, was better than last time. At least the weather was better. The Hotel was awful, the food was plain, uncooked and practically the same every day. LOS GERANIOUS. Don't go there.
The suite was nice, clean and well equipped.  Oh, and the entertainment was good, especially the games around the pool.

Jersey:
I stayed at the Royal Yacht. Which was lovely, very pricey but really nice. Although the view was not so good.

Oxford:
City break. Only stayed at a Holiday Inn express, so nice, clean and close to amenities.  Plenty of shops

Birmingham:
City break. Birmingham, you know the usual city. Bull Ring shopping,

Texas

A couple of months ago we flew to Houston,Texas.
The main reason was to visit my grandson, who was also visiting Texas and spending his first birthday there with his other grandparents.
Raiden lives in Japan with his parents,  my son amd and daughter-in-law. She is from Pasadena and was visiting her parents for a couple of months.  So rather then another trip to Japan we decided to fly to the USA to spend his first birthday there with him.
We flew with United airlines. All booked before the horror stories that became public knowledge in the press.
That was a mistake. Although nothing awful happened, nothing lovely occurred either. Very basic, and slap happy aircrew. Next time i would rather pay more for a relaxed happy flight.

So.... Texas.
Well we were staying in Pasadena Holiday Inn, very nice and the staff were lovely.  Clean and modern. Our room was well equipped.  Fridge, coffee maker and microwave.

We were taken to lots of resturants to try out Mexican food, Los Amigos, Spankies, And numerous others.
WhatABurger was the famous fast food outlet which can only be found in Texas.
I spent a lot of dollars in the 99cent shop. Wish i had another suitcase with me.

A day out at Galveston beach, and visiting Murdochs boardwalk. We stopped at Buckee's service station on the way. Much different to service stations in the UK.

For the birthday boy we celebrated at Chuck E Cheeses and had pizza and soda.
He loved it and slept for hours afterwards. I think we wore him out, with 2 grandmas, and 4 great aunts, 1 grandpa, 1 mom, and a few uncles and all wanting to spend some time with the little guy.

Guernsey

We stayed at the St Pierre Park Hotel only 4* and what a difference. The first night there was a wedding reception going on in the function hall under our room, the noise/music was horrendous.

The room wasn't that clean either, there was hair and what looked like tea leaves on the carpet. Uck. It wasn't cleaned up for 3 days, when I tried to tell the staff she didn't understand English.  Conveniently.

But the pool and spa was very nice.

I visited the Saumarez Victorian walled Gardens which was lovely and well worth a visit.

We found a quaint little place to eat where the food was freshly cooked and the staff were very welcoming, so we went back again.

Jersey and Guernsey

My 2nd holiday this year took me to Jersey, it eas lovely,  I stayed at 'The Jersey Grand' 5* no less, and it was fantastic.

The staff were amazing, helpful and friendly. The heated pool, jacuzzi,  spa facilties were very nice, I spent most of my time there.

We walked miles as the weather was great. But the best part was 'Reg's Garden' we spent ages there looking around at Reg's truly amazing garden. If you ever go to Jersey I would highly recommend it, and it's free.

Holiday time

No one likes a holiday better than me. Just got back from Porto Santo and I'm getting ready to jet off again to the Channel Islands. I always have a suitcase half packed with essentials ready to go.

Here's what I keep in one of them

Corkscrew/bottle opener ( you never know when you just want to buy some nice wine)

Travel iron

Insect bite spray/repellent (blasted mossies see me and thinks "ah running buffet)

Bin liners (for dirty laundry)

Travel plug adapter

SPF / after sun ( I always go to sunny places)

Travel scrabble (don't you just love a good game?)

Hair brush ( I left mine at home once and it cost me a stupid amount for a new one at airport)

Sewing kit

First aid kit.

I'm also paranoid about losing passports, so I have a photo of the first page of passport on my phone, making sure my passport number is easily visible.  Crazy huh?!?!

Happy holidays

xxxx

Leeden Tor, Dartmoor

A Sunday stroll up to Leeden Tor with my husband,  the weather was great, lovely day out and just enough cloud in the sky to keep you cool. Dartmoor is a wonderful place, if you haven't visited then you must. The views are amazing.  I'm so lucky to live so close. 

Afterwards we drove to Dartmeet. There's a friendly cafe there, Badger's Holt, they serve the most scrummy desserts.  Their Devon cream tea is fantastic. This time I had passionfruit and white chocolate cheesecake with Devon clotted cream. Yummmmmmm

Porto Santo

Just got back from holiday in Porto Santo, Portugal.  The weather wasn't that great but it was warm. The beach was lovely,  but the Atlantic sea was very cold so only swam in the pools.

The hotel Pestano Columbus, was very nice, the food was good. Only problem was we couldn't get a table in the specialist restaurants which was very disappointing.  Even though we arrived late Monday evening and we went to book a table on Tuesday morning we were told it was all fully booked. On the last day while we were chatting to another couple they said that they went and the restaurant wss half empty!!! I will email the Thomson holidays and complain, this is not what I expected from a 5* hotel.

So, back to normality now.

Well, well!

I woke up this morning to the news that the UK is leaving the EU.
I'm sure everyone has their own views on this. Lets hope it will help our wonderful country get back together again. I'm sure things won't improve overnight but in time.
I'm keeping my hopes up for the UK to be the country that we want.

Also, David Cameron has resigned as our PM. So, who's going to take over?

Watch this space, let's hope you have made the right choice Great Britain. I really hope so too, especially for our grandchildren, they are the ones that will have to live through this.