A Meal Out

We went out for a meal to Prezzo this evening.  Why Prezzo?  Tesco vouchers, of course.  I happened to notice we were probably the oldest people there by some margin, save, perhaps for one other lady, probably out with her daughter.  There were plenty of young couples and a number of "girls' night out" groups (it was Friday evening).

We loved it!  Although, of course, it gets a bit noisy.  The conversation goes something like this:
"It's getting rather noisy in here!"
"I can't hear what your saying, it's so noisy in here!"

Apart from that, it was a very enjoyable meal, after all, who wants to be surrounded by oldies?  Furthermore, we were able to do what the rest couldn't; on leaving the restaurant we caught the bus home for free with our bus passes!

Musing on the Summer of Sport

It's been an incredible summer of sport and a great celebration of being British!  As the people sitting next to us at the Olympics water polo said, "We got it right!"  The park, the ambiance and of course the sport itself!  It also needs to be said that we hardly ever a found a queue for the loo and we never had to queue very long (if at all) to buy a drink.Well done, Seb and your team.

Earlier this week Oscar Pistorius made headlines for his comments about Olivera's blades but later on he apologised.  Yesterday, in the 100 metres, although he only managed 4th place, he was the first to congratulate the winner, our own Jonnie Peacock, and in his post-race interview he was clearly pleased for Jonnie and said it was a blessing he himself had been able to come 4th.

Sadly those actions and remarks didn't hit the headlines, but that's the way of the news media.

For those of us fortunate to have been able to attend the Olympics and/or Paralympics, we must be grateful to G4S.  Because of their inability to provide the manpower they had been contracted to do, troops were moved in.  We met them as we went through security and they were polite, friendly and efficient.

What would it have been like if G4S had done it?  I leave you to imagine.

Lively yoghurt

I see from my organic bio-live yogurt (that's the way they spell it), it is suitable for vegetarians and contains live cultures. 

Which begs the question, should vegetarians be eating live cultures?

Our day in Stratford

Had a great day at the paralympics on Friday! We were in the athletics stadium and have the photos to prove it! On the right is the BP photo opportunity they give you if you allow them to offset your carbon footprint to the games.

We were sitting near where they present the medals and we saw Aled Davies win bronze in the shotput.

It was a great day out, a fantastic experience in the stadium and the tickets were only £5 each!  AND that included a Travelcard, valid from Brentwood, so travel cost us nothing!

You suddenly realise that "disabled" is completely the wrong word to describe the competitors as they are able to do many things I can't!     Still, I need to keep in shape now I've retired.  Maybe I'll just go for a cycle ride.  But I need a cup of tea first!

Pedants anonymous

I know I'm being picky, but the sign in the car park at Orford Ness say "Have you Paid and Displayed", as in the photo. Now  why is there a capital letter on 'Paid' and on 'Displayed'?  And, where exactly is the question mark?  Come on, official sign writers, pull your socks up!

And another thing... why do so many people have to add 'today' at the end of a question?  At Sainsbury's cafe I was asked, "Have you got your Nectar card today?"  The word 'today' is superfluous.  She also asked, having ordered a cup of tea, "Would you like anything to eat today?"  To which I wanted to say, "Yes, but at home tonight!"  But I didn't, as she probably wouldn't have understood, and, to be fair,  she's probably just following the script.

Not an ordinary vase ...

I'm pleased to say the only thing that got broken during our move was a glass vase.  So we decided to buy another one to replace it.  But this wasn't just an ordinary vase, it was an M&S vase!  And, as the label stuck on it said,  "We're bringing you innovations in handmade glass technology.  Non-stick coating for easier cleaning and drying."

Sounds wonderful!  The only trouble was, I took me an age to peel the label off the "non-stick" surface!

The perils of moving house

As you may have gathered, we've moved house and for a period of time had no telephone or internet access.  So we wrote to our respective car insurance firms to notify them of our change of address.  Although different companies, - esure for me and Sheilas' Wheels for my wife - I noticed they were both at the same address.

NINETEEN days later they wrote back to say we must ring them as they don't accept notification of change of address by post (?!?) and so we may not be insured!  And guess what - they sent the letters to our OLD address, which they knew we were not living at.

Oh, and by the way, when you DO ring up and the change goes through, they charge you and administrative fee of £25.  That's even though I was paying for the phone call!