Girls in the pub

Just a couple of photos from the pub this afternoon, the first is blurry but we love Lara's pose. The second is just a clearer one of the little poseur.

A sunny week

 

 

The weather has been lovely this week, and today was a sunbathing afternoon for the girls, before we headed down to the pub for a meal.

Olga found a website that shows when the ISS is passing overhead particular locations, and this week it's been coming right over Wycombe, so we popped out at the right time to see it last night. It looked like a very fast-moving aeroplane, but without the flashing lights, and of course it was moving much faster than a plane. It's passing overhead twice tonight, so I'm hoping to get a photograph of it. The website is here: http://spaceweather.com/flybys/country.php

Oh, and happy Independence Day to any Yanks reading...

A quick trip to Radcliffe

There was no league cricket for Littlewick Green this weekend, so we took the opportunity to go to Radcliffe and see Grandma and Grandpa. We're getting good at packing now, and Lara needs less "stuff", which meant we were able to get Olga, Lara, me, Luda and the dogs into the car with our stuff and I could still see out of the back window. The weather was lovely, and we had a trip round the famous Bury Market on Saturday morning, stocking up on loads of BBQ food, and finding a curtain salesman who spoke some Russian as well. Handy really, as we needed some blackout lining for Lara's curtains..
On Sunday we left Lara with Grandma and took the boys for a walk up Holcombe Hill to see Peel Tower, then it was back to the house in time to fire up the BBQ again before the big game. Oh well, the less said the better, but it was the right result in the end, England were rubbish, although I agree with the rest of the world that it could have been vrey different if that Frank Lampard "goal" had been given. Surely FIFA cannot resist using technology for at least goal-line incidents for long.
We took a more scenic route home though the Peak District for a change last night, it made a pleasant change, and was only 10 minutes longer than the usual M6/M40 route home, so I'll use this route again in future, plus there was no motorway toll :-)
Here are some photos...

What a match! (Wimbledon, not England)

I'm a loss for words about that match that is going on at Wimbledon. Play was suspended in the 5th set at 9.10pm after 10 hours of play with the score at 59 games all. We first noticed the score around 6pm when it was merely 30-30. Olga dragged me off to have some food in Marlow at about 36-36. When we left after 2 courses, it was 48-48. When the Germany-Ghana game finished at 9.15, play had just been suspended with the score at 59-59! I can't wait to see how it finishes tomorrow. I really hope the Queen asks to meet the players, they certainly deserve it. I can't think of another sporting equivalent to this game. Atherton's 185 not out in South Africa in Johannesburg in 1995 must come close, but he had numerous lengthy breaks for trivial things like food or sleep. But then again the South Africans could rest their bowlers...

The Barcelona Photo Album

I've put the Barcelona photo album here on the left of the Blog, it's fairly brief. We had a lovely time, arriving on Sunday at the hotel at lunchtime. We had a lazy afternoon, catching up on a bit of sleep then going out for tapas. Monday was our main sightseeing day, it was humid but overcast, but we did a lot of walking, and saw some the main sights. There was an "icebreaker" reception at the conference at teatime, where Lara was a polite and charming (and mostly well-behaved) star attraction on the Geotrace stand. Olga was working from Tuesday until Thursday, which gave Lara and I plenty of time for lazing in the "hot bubbly pool" (the jacuzzi) and touring the shopping centre which was just next door, complete with a Primark so we had to do some shopping. In the evenings we tried out different restaurants that were part of this shopping centre, with Lara seeming to enjoy paella. We were at our baggage limit with Ryanair, but there were just some things we saw that we had to have, like the kiddies' sunbed and a pair of training rollerblades, complete with helmet and pads, that we arranged to be driven back to the UK in a lorry with our Geotrace stand (the computers, tables, chairs etc..) so we'll pick those up from Geotrace's other office in a day or two.
It was an early start on Friday morning to make our 10.15am plane from Girona to Bristol, but we made it OK, and really the whole travelling to and from thing was rather easy, if time-consuming. Well worth the effort for a few days in a nice hotel in Barcelona though!