Today I popped along to Acorns LTC (lawn tennis club) in Canons Park to meet the members and get played in.
I have not played a game of tennis in over 10 years but had a great time and now I ache!
It won’t have helped that we were playing in 4c, but at least it was not windy or raining, just overcast with outbreaks of bright sun, from 2-5pm…
I came home for a shower (and to thaw out) and now I can hardly move.
I will sleep well tonight, but won’t be popping down tomorrow. However, I will send off the membership cheque so that I can use the courts over the summer months as well.
New members are welcome at Acorns and you can visit their site here.
Leisure Time
tennis
I’ve done it!
Yesterday I purchased my first flat cap and have started to wear it with pride.
Ok, I am only 33 and don’t live in the country, nor own anything tweed, drive a landrover, own whippets, have a dog or farm sheep, but neither do thousands of other flat cap wearers around the world.
Whilst I was in Brugge I found my perfect flat cap, and after the months of searching it was a satisfying moment.
Perhaps a photo of me wearing said flat cap will appear here one day…
Leisure Time
flat cap
This morning we awoke early and headed out to Witham (Essex) to pick up Pheasant Paupettes for our Christmas Day Lunch.
The selection of meats and home made products at this shop was amazing and better than I have seen in the UK in the past 7 years.
All items of interest were reasonably priced and we came home with more than we intended to, including Game Pies, Christmas Mince Pies, and a desire to visit again soon!
My wife discovered Holts at the BBC Good Food Show and I’m glad she did.
The next time we are entertaining I will be making a trip to this supplier to source some choice cuts of meat.
The staff were friendly as well - was I dreaming when I visited this place?
Leisure Time
butchers, game pies, holts, pheasant paupettes, witham
Even though I have been in the UK for nearly 7 years I have still not lost my support for NZ sports teams - who are undisputedly amongst the best (if not the best) in the world.
We excel at Rugby, we’re not too bad at Cricket, top notch at Yachting and have pretty good Equestrian and Dressage teams, world class Golfers and Triathletes.
For a country of less than 5 million people we do bloody well!
Yesterday the Kiwi League Team did us proud with a win over Australia to take the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.
The All Blacks demolished Wales to get one step closer to a Northern Hemisphere Grand Slam in the 2008 Autumn Internationals
I’m looking forward to the next game against a bruised and battered England team.
Leisure Time
2008, all blacks, league, rugby, sport, world cup
So far this winter it has snowed in October (first time since 1934 for my area of London) and in November.
December could be a cold month and the odds have been shortened at the bookies for a White Christmas too.
With 2 trips to Germany planned in December I am pretty confident the landscape will be white at some point in our journey.
I’m now hoping we have enough snow to build a snowman, something I could not do in childhood, living in a country that had bbq’s for xmas and a trip to the beach after lunch!
Leisure Time
christmas, snow
A Woody Woodpecker soft toy that is…
I entered a competition in a trade magazine as a bit if a laugh and got a surprise when I received the email telling me I had won.
Woody will be going to a nice home as a xmas present, unless I decide to keep him…
Leisure Time
We decided to take a drive to Beaconsfield today to shop at Sainsbury’s (my wife’s favourite Sainsbury’s within a 25 mile radius of our house) and as we had a lot of recycling I Googled ‘Beaconsfield Recycling’ and was rewarded with a link to a purpose built facility, enroute!
We took as much as the car could carry and emptied the entire load.
We were surprised to find this was a managed site with friendly and helpful staff, ensuring the right waste products were being deposited in the right skips.
We will be saving our recycling and visiting monthly as the experience was far better than our local facility.
Well done Beaconsfield for allowing this great site to be built and managed!
Leisure Time
beaconsfield, recycling
Today we took a drive to Letchmore Heath to feed the thriving duck population a few part loaves of bread we had been storing for them. There were about 50 ducks of varying species and all seemd pretty friendly, coming right to our feet and quacking to be fed.
There are a number of Chestnut Trees providing an abundance of winter food for squirrels and we saw a number of them happily playing and gathering nuts.
On the drive back home we saw a few more as well, they were out in force in the sunshine getting sun on their fur for what may be the last time this summer as the leaves have started to turn indicating that we are now heading into Autumn.
We are about to renew our RSPB membership too, roll on winter bird watching…
Leisure Time
bird watching, ducks, feeding, squirrels
Well done AB’s - capping off a good series with a win over Australia this morning to clinch the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup (with 1 game in hand).
Leisure Time
all blacks, bledisloe cup, tri-nations
01 August is every thoroughbred horses birthday
Happy Birthday to all !!
Leisure Time
birthday, thoroughbred