Toby & Emma Wedding Pix

22 May 2025

Seeing Finley

 To Aylesbury to see Emma, Toby, Jack and new arrival Finley




Finley was very hungry and had a bottle and two feeds. He brought some up so his top had to be changed between our holds.

And then to Chez Mumtaj with an onion bhaji starter, lamb rogan josh and an excellent rioja.





19 May 2025

Hello Finley


Emma went into labour at 07:30 and at 09:00 Finley George Robert May made his entrance.


He weighed 3.515 kilos (7.75 pounds) and is named after his great-grandfathers.





Toby will collect Jack up from his nursery and will take him to see Emma and Finley later. Emma and Finley should be ready to leave hospital after 21:00.

14 May 2025

Museum of The Broads


Joan has to do some research for her next book in the Museum of the Broads in Norfolk, so we’ve booked a night in The Imperial in Great Yarmouth. I want to walk along Gorleston-on-Sea’s promenade after lunch in the charming café we found last time.

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And that’s where it all goes wrong. As we approach the coast the sun goes behind clouds. The wind is cold and the temperature drops by 10 or 11 degrees. The charming café is closed for its mid-week break. We have lunch in the Pier Hotel, that was the location of Danny Boyles’ 2019 movie Yesterday then walk along the promenade, but its really cold after the balmy weather of the past few days.

When we get to the hotel we are surprised how empty their car-park is. When we check-in we are told that their classy Cru restaurant, with its booths, is closed because of low bookings and we’ve been transferred to their casual all-day restaurant.

While we’re having a pre-dinner Champagne aperitif in the bar (because it’s too cold to sit on our balcony) the restaurant maitre d’ comes to us, and offers to organise us a secluded table with table cloths like in Cru, the food & wine will be the same as in Cru. We choose the wine so it can be opened to breathe


We have fillet steak, and



2020 Rhebokskloof Pinotage (South Africa, Paarl)
Mature now, elegant, with sweet fruit flavours, really delightful. Well done, François.



After a good nights sleep and a hearty Imperial breakfast, we head out to the Museum of the Broads in Stalham. But it’s not any warmer and although much of the collection is roofed it’s till open to the cold air. We don’t linger, and it’s too cold to lunch there so we head for home, stopping for a light lunch on the way.

We’re home earlier than expected so weren’t planning on making dinner. We order a Nandos from Deliveroo which arrives before we’ve finished laying the table.  To drink with our feast I open


2020 Henry of Pelham Baco Noir Old Vines
 (Canada, Ontario VQA)

HoP are Baco Noir masters and this wine, with a few years in the bottle, is a beauty. Lush and deep, silky and fruity it’s wonderful and finished too soon.

02 May 2025

Rhododendrons and Bluebells

 


Sunny warm wind free so walked through Childwickbury to see the avenue of Rhododendrons. Most had not yet flowered.



Then past the Manor House and back through Batchwood which had  stunning swathes of bluebells.






29 April 2025

Cannes Weekend

 


BA348 to Nice landed at 19:46 on Friday 25 April and by the time we'd de-planed, gone through immigration, waited for luggage we arrived at our hotel in time for bed. So my dinner was an aeroplane tray with uninspiring slabs of tofu in a bland sauce with rice. But 3 glasses of Pannier Champagne was good.



Cannes Riviera &Spa Best Western Plus, 16 Boulevard d'Alsace was by the rail station and about 10 minutes from the beach. Reception and ground floor bar were inviting, but the room was Travel Lodge standard. The rooftop pool was closed, and didn't look like it had been open for a long time.

After a long stroll along the promenade the following morning  we had lunch at a beach restaurant.



Joan had Veal Milanese with pasta in a tomato sauce, I had burger, and we shared a bottle of  


This certified organic blend of Clairette 38%, Marsanne 31%, Ugni Blanc 27% and Bourboulenc 4% (not that this info appeared anywhere on the label)  was a bit  too viscous for us, but somehow the bottle was emptied.


Restaurants were heaving that evening but we found a table inside, out of the wind that had come with dusk,  at the old harbour and with chicken breast cooked in lemon juice and herbs we had a jolly expensive wine (though cheapest on list) about which I can find nothing. 


We figured it was a blend of Grenache and Syrah and maybe some thing else, and it was quite nice.


Sunday was overcast with showers, but it brightened at lunchtime so we went Ciro's beach restaurant.


Lunch for me was Rigatoni Arrabiata with Olives 


while Joan had a burger. The wine recommended by waitress Zoe was



a lovely clean refreshing dry wine, a blend of Rolle and Sémillon in a classy bottle.


Pre dinner on Sunday we usually have a glass of fizz so we called into a bar on Plages du Midi and ordered two glasses of Champagne, but whatever they brought out in our glasses wasn’t Champagne…


For dinner we found another restaurant on the old harbour where Joan had lasagne and I had fillet steak, and a bottle of


at a bargain price (for Cannes) of €28 but when the bill came it showed €63 for the wine. Luckily the bottle was still on our table, so we managed to get a corrected bill. Was it an honest mistake? No.


Home on Monday to a dinner of Chicken Tikka Masala and Pillau rice purchased from M&S at T5 Arrivals and a bottle of Beyerskloof Pinotage 2022. We got our (real) Champagne aperitifs on the 'plane.


24 March 2025

Sommelier's Tales at The Imperial

Gorleston-on-Sea

To Imperial Hotel at Great Yarmouth. 

Friday night Nick Mobbs presented 'Tales of a Sommelier'. Starter of Cava, six wines in the tasting that related to Nick.


Then we had dinner, with unlimited pours of an organic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a very nice Spanish Bobal.



Rhubarb dessert

On Sunday we went to Gorleston-on-Sea, next to Gt Yarmouth, the other bank of the Yare.


The Pier Hotel at Gorleston-on-Sea by the beach was featured in Danny Boyle's movie Yesterday. 






We walked the length of Gorleston's promenade behind its sand beach,


and we spent a long time looking at this yacht
 on the boating pond which has a remote controlled weighted sailor that swings to the side opposite the wind to prevent the boat over turning.

15 March 2025

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party


 

To Aylesbury for a small party for Jack's imminent third birthday, with Toby and Emma, Chris and Carole and ourselves. There's another party tomorrow with Jack's friends and their parents.


Two cakes had been made, one for today and one for tomorrow.


Jack opened the present from Uncle Dan and Auntie Krisie.


He was proud to show us his new bedroom and big boys bed. The cot is to be occupied by the new arrival.



Then he blew out the candles on the cake and we all had a piece.