Tag Archives: Presenter

A Quick Scan

March 19, 2022 Neil

This year seems to be going very quickly maybe that is because we can actually go out and do things again unlike this time last year. Next week the clocks go forward meaning the evenings get lighter and we can pack even more in to our days. It will be summer before we know it at least I hope it will as my Jamaican sun tan is now just starting to fade a little.

I am massively clumsy and always catching my arm on things or quite often knocking my knee somewhere. I also seem to hit my head more often than you would think. Personally I feel that may be due to my lack of hair as I have no early warning system when I am getting a bit too close to something. Anyway I managed to hit my head on holiday on the door frame of a minibus as I was getting out of it. The reason I did it was because I was too busy thanking the driver and not paying attention to where I was going.

At the time it hurt a little on impact but I just about managed to style it out and carry on as normal. A month or so later I was still getting a headache from time to time, so just to be on the safe side my doctor sent me for a MRI Scan. If you have never had one before they feel like the kind of thing that a “Bond Villain” would use to torture 007. They are very small and compact, your head gets fed into it on some kind of moving board. Then for the next ten minutes it makes some of the weirdest noises you have ever heard. They do give you ear plugs and play music to try to mask it but it is still very strange.

The medical Staff were great and made it very simple and straight forward explaining exactly what was going to happen. It takes about a week for the results to come through. I am just hoping that they do find at least a trace of a brain in there somewhere. Joking aside it will be nice to know that everything is fine in that department and the headaches are not being caused by anything sinister or concerning.

My girlfriend Lynda is a great cook who enjoys experimenting with meals that she has not made before, which I benefit from hugely. She has recently got a new cook book and it has loads of recipes in it that she is very keen to try. At the moment she is basically working her way through it. In the week doing fully gluten containing dishes, but at the weekend trying anything that is or can be made gluten free for me to enjoy, due to my special dietary requirements with me being Coeliac.

The other weekend she made us some Malaysian Sticky Spicy Ribs which I must say were amazing. The meat just fell off the bone they were really sweet and came with a nice hot kick from the spices and the chilli. That was just the starter. For the main she produced these chicken satay burgers which she had made from scratch again from this new book. These were spectacular and so tasty she has already promised me that she will do them again for us.

The division of labour when it comes to meals is such that we both play to our strengths. She prepared and cooked all of the food. While I supplied the shop bought gluten free desert and on this occasion at least did the washing up. By which I mean I loaded the dish washer and turned it on. She does enjoy creating new meals and I very much enjoy eating them so as an arrangement it works perfectly as far as I am concerned. I do cook occasionally but the menu I tend to offer is a little simpler to say the least.

After we had eaten we decided to settle down and watch a film. This is rarely my suggestion and anything we do end up seeing is usually as a result of a Dragon’s Den style pitch by Lynda pointing out why we should spend the time doing this. To be fair to her nearly all but one of the films we have watched together have at the very least kept my attention. She suggested we watch the latest Ghostbusters film called Afterlife. I had seen and enjoyed both of the original films as a child so agreed to give it a go.

I really liked it as it kept very true to the originals in fact it even had the same style and character to it. There are some very clever links to the first and second instalments from the eighties. Yet at the same time they have made it more modern and up to date. I do not want to say much more about it in case I give anything away. But if you did like the originals and want to hear a bit of the Ray Parker Jnr theme song then I would recommend you see it. The cast are great and it is just an easy to watch fun film.

I went to the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday. I like to go every year but I ended up having a couple of years off for obvious reasons. It is a brilliant day out for the horse racing enthusiast where you get to see the best horses from the UK and Ireland go head to head at one of the most challenging courses. The atmosphere is always great at the event and the standard of the racing is unbelievably high.

It was even more special this year as one of the horses I have a few shares in Stage Star was running in a big hurdles race on the day that I was there. It was fantastic to be there and watch him run in person for the first time. I had previously been to visit him before he started his career at the Equiprep Facility that the Owners Group have. I got to see him in the parade ring and then chilling out in his stable. I have of course followed his journey very closely ever since and this was the biggest moment for him so far.

I managed to pick the one day this week when it rained all day at the Cheltenham Festival. But it did not matter we still had a great time there. The racing was exceptional despite the challenging conditions. The occasion and weather got to Stage Star a little bit I think and he set off a bit too quickly and was not really enjoying the conditions so very sensible the jockey Harry Cobden pulled him up before the end. The important thing is that he is fine and will learn from it. I do think that if it was a drier day he could have fared a bit better but that is horse racing for you. The well being of the horse is of course the most important thing.

Stage Star set the tone for my day as I did not have any winners while at the track which is quite unusual. We did however see the racing journalist legend that is Brough Scott and the maverick that is Matt Chapman. I did also manage to wear a coat that was more like a sponge than a shower curtain so had that nice damp feeling for a bit. It was as ever a fantastic day out we met lots of nice and interesting people. I am already looking forward to going back next year and hopefully seeing Stage Star or another one of my horses run there.

I did apply for the London Marathon Ballot for this year’s race. I am not totally sure why if I am honest. I entered it when I turned forty as I thought it might be a nice thing to do while I could still run a bit. I did not get in then and as a result stopped trying. But I guess after the lockdowns of the last couple of years I thought it might be good to give myself a new challenge and see if I could test myself and my glass ankles and knees to the maximum. However I was sadly not successful this time either, so I have now decided to accept that I will never do it and I am totally at ease with that decision.

I have been enjoying the current series of Saturday Night Takeaway. Ant and Dec are still brilliant at what they do. That show is shaped around them perfectly. You can tell that they are heavily involved with every aspect of it. They have been doing live television for so long now I honestly believe there is nothing that can trip them up. I think they have had some very strong end of the show, shows’ once again this year. They just seem to highlight how annoyingly talented they are, whatever they are doing in that segment they seem to pull it off perfectly even if that means they are being Drag Queens!

I have lots of good friends who support Everton and I have been to Goodison Park on many occasions. I always enjoy it when Spurs play them normally they are close and often exciting games. I seem to remember us winning more times than not but I always have a good time up there with my mates. I went to the match at the Tottenham Stadium the other week. It does of course give me bragging rights when we win, which we did by five goals to nil.

I did not think it was a good game and I personally did not think that we were that brilliant. However it was a very easy victory and it was possibly the worse Everton team I have seen for a very long time. I have a soft spot for them and would not like to see them relegated. The best bit about the night was giving Frank Lampard some stick. When he was at Chelsea they beat us I think two-nil at our place and he celebrated with their fans after like they had won the Champions League so we gave him both barrels while we were thrashing his new team!

Not that Tottenham’s current form is much better. We seem to have fallen into a routine where we win one game and then lose the next one, so they give a little hope that a corner has been turned and then remove it straight away. Something Spurs have been doing on a fairly regular basis since I started supporting them as a four year old, who at that time it is fair to say did not know any better. That said they are my team and I support them no matter what. The thing with football is you cannot win every game so celebrate the victories and accept the defeats it is all part of the charm. Enjoy the journey and the end destination for one season at least may hopefully make it all worthwhile.

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

I have not been to see live comedy for quite a while but I am happily going to put that right tonight as I am off to see a gig in Covent Garden. I will of course let you know what it was like next time we speak. Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Magic Time in York

March 5, 2022 Neil

During lockdown one for my birthday in 2021 Lynda bought us an online Cheese and Red Wine tasting experience from a place in York called Love Cheese. It was very nicely done they sent you the cheese and wine in advance, it was all clearly numbered. Then on the actual set night the owners of the company did a Facebook Live where they took you through all the pairings. They were very good at explaining the origins and flavours of the food and drinks and saying why they had put them together. It lasted about an hour and a quarter. We enjoyed the first one so much we actually did another one about a month or so later, this time with a mixture of different wines and cheeses. Once again it was good fun. The couple who run it seemed extremely passionate about the subject and were also a good laugh.

It was nice to see a small business use the fact they had to close their shop to improve their customer base across the whole of the country. We decided that we wanted to go to their shop in York and experience what we had enjoyed online in person. It was Lynda’s Birthday on Tuesday so last weekend we went to York to do a bit of sightseeing and to visit Love Cheese.

We got the train there from London on the Friday evening. That did mean that we did not arrive until gone half nine. I had booked us into a nice little guest house called The Judges Court right in the centre of York. The rooms were styled like Judge’s lodgings so they were a little bit quirky and different.

Once we had checked in and dropped our bags off we headed out and found a bar around the corner for a few drinks. We decided not to stay out to late as we wanted to make the most of the one full day we had there. That said we still did not make it out of our hotel until after eleven o’clock on the Saturday.

After a quick look round to get our bearings we decided to get some food. We were planning on doing quite a bit of walking so decided that we better take on some fuel first. We found a Bill’s that actually had a table. It turns out that York is very popular at weekends in half term so it was extremely busy and booking in advance was advised.

I had a lovely three course meal including a tasty parsnip soup, steak and a very nice apple crumble. They were brilliant with me being a coeliac and made sure all my food was gluten free and served with an allergen flag in it, which I always like as I feel safe that I can relax and enjoy my food.

After we had eaten we visited the remains of York Castle before a walk along the city walls. There is something special about walking on that many years of history. We followed them all the way around to York Minster. When I was at Primary School we had a week away in Yorkshire staying in Scarborough. And did one day in York so I had been inside the Minster before but this time we just decided to have a walk round the outside and then grab a hot drink at a Cafe’ with it right in front of us.

Then we had a quick look at The Shambles. It seemed to be full of Harry Potter fans queuing to get into the magic and potion shops. After a bit of research it turns out that many fans think part of one of the movies was filmed there, although it was not. However they did shoot some scenes at York Railway Station. From here we went back to our hotel room to get ready for the main point of the whole trip.

Love Cheese has a little restaurant area where you can eat and drink called the Speak Cheesy. I had booked us a table there for 5pm. We got there bang on time and the very friendly staff showed us to our seats and gave us the menus. They offer various cheese related options and a nice and varied wine list.

We opted for a glass of wine each and got the five cheeses tasting option to try. Here you tell the waiter what sort of cheeses you like or do not like and they supply a selection of five of them to try with chutney and crackers. They are fully on board with serving gluten free people like me and made sure I had gluten free crackers and safe cheese options.

The servings of each piece of cheese were generous. When they were delivered each of them were described to us so we knew what texture and flavours to expect. You can then enjoy the cheese and wine at your own pace. We sampled each piece together in order while comparing notes. They serve it beautifully on a slate with of course proper cheese knives.

We were enjoying ourselves so much we ordered another glass of a different wine each to try and then got another three cheeses to taste. All of the cheeses were lovely although we of course did have our favourites. Having spent a great couple of hours in there we left feeling nice and full of cheese and having thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. We were pleased we had discovered them online and actually managed to get there in person and see it for ourselves.

We then went and had a few more wines in one of York’s many pubs. I mentioned earlier that is was so busy that you needed to book to eat. We were not sure if we would still be hungry after our cheese fest but just in case we booked a table at The Ivy for 9.30pm. We decided to keep the booking and have some food as it is a chain that we both like but had not been to for a while. Happily once again the Staff were fully aware of the issues of a Coeliac and gave me several gluten free options to choose from.

The original plan was just to have a main each so I had the Aromatic Duck Curry, which was nice. When I had finished it I did end up ordering a dessert as in my world a meal should always end with something sweet. Just in case you are interested I had the Creme’ Brulee’. It was another enjoyable dining experience.

We then called it a night and retired to the Judges Court. The next morning, we had to check out by eleven but the train was not until three. We left our bags at the hotel and then returned to Bills for an epic Pancake and syrup breakfast.

Then we decided to take in some history so we went to the York Castle Museum. It was really good. There are the remains of an old prison there to look at, it is where the highwayman Dick Turpin was held before his execution. They have also reconstructed a whole Victorian Street inside. They were the two main highlights for me.

It was then time to collect our bags and make our way to the station to catch the train home. We had a great weekend. York is a really nice, historic and friendly place with lots of things to do. We could easily have spent a few more days there. I think we may have to have a repeat visit at some point if for no other reason than to go to Love Cheese again.

I first discovered The Mischief Theatre Company when a mate and I went to see a midweek matinee of a new show called The Play That Goes Wrong. It was the most I think that I have ever laughed at the theatre. I really enjoyed it. Their idea started off as a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then via the West End made it to Broadway.

A couple of years later I went to see their next show that was called The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. Once again I thought it was brilliant. From there the group have ended up making regular television series and one off specials, all of which I have enjoyed.

They put on a production a couple of years ago called Groan Ups, which again was very clever and very funny. I have seen all of their productions in London and with the original cast many of who were the founding members of the group. They are all extremely talented and good at what they do. I only just managed to catch their most recent show before it closed in London.

While they were in America with The Play That Goes Wrong they met the American magicians Penn & Teller. I am not totally sure how the next bit happened but they ended up working on a new show together called Magic Goes Wrong. This was the final one of their productions so far that I had not seen.

I caught it in the last week of its run. It did what the title said with lots of magic tricks going wrong but as we know from the great Tommy Cooper getting a trick wrong with perfect timing is almost as tough as getting it right. It was quite an interactive show with lots of audience participation. Penn & Teller devised and designed all the magic included in the show and some of them do really work and it is amazing when they do.

The show is fast paced, funny and very well performed. Extremely entertaining and it does keep you guessing a bit about what will happen next. It gives the illusion at least of a fair amount of danger. As ever with The Mischief Theatre company stuff I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I am already looking forward to seeing whatever they come up with next.

Before we went to see Magic Goes Wrong we had a meal at Browns. One of the main reasons we went there is because they are Coeliac accredited which means it is a safe place for me to eat as regards to gluten free food with no risk of contamination. It also means that there is a good selection of dishes on the menu that I can have.

In the end I opted for their prawn and lobster pasta dish followed by some Eaton Mess for my pudding. This set me up nicely for our trip to the theatre. The Staff were good in there and I would certainly eat there again.

This was the weekend of Storm Franklin and we managed to get the timing of the walk from the restaurant to the theatre totally wrong. It was tipping down with rain and because of the very strong winds it was coming horizontally at us rendering the tiny umbrella I had as useless and meaning we were completely soaked by the time that we arrived.

It did not spoil the night despite being a bit damp during the entire performance, as it was actually to celebrate the second anniversary of mine and Lynda’s first date. We had a fun and lovely evening despite the challenging weather.

I was delighted that after a couple of months rest one of my horses Proclaimer won on his comeback at Kempton. He had won four out of his last five previous races before the trainer Julie Camacho had decided that he needed some time out of the action.

He looked very good on his return and I hope to see him possibly run a few more times over the next two months, ideally with similar results. One of my other horses is currently being lined up to run in one of the big hurdle races at Cheltenham later this month which is very exciting.

I have mentioned this before but I have some sort of problem with my ears in that they build up with all kinds stuff and need to be in effect hoovered out about every six months ideally. I should stress this is by a medical professional using equipment designed for this task. Due to the current situation it had been longer than usual since I last had the procedure.

It was so overdue I was having trouble hearing, getting headaches and struggling a bit with my balance. I had it done this week and it was like suddenly getting surround sound back in my life. I feel so much better for it, really is quite weird as it creeps up on you as time goes by and then when you have them looked at it is only then you realise how bad they really were! I am all good now for another six months!

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Right Royal Treat

February 19, 2022 Neil

I hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day however you spent it. I have spent many of them as a single man over the years making me quite an inexperienced boyfriend when it comes to this event. However I did manage to get a card and flowers delivered, so maybe I am a tiny bit smoother than I give myself credit for. Sadly I did not manage to see Lynda on the day itself but I did have something up my sleeve to mark the occasion the night after that I will tell you about a bit later.

Personally I have always really viewed Valentines’ just as a chance to appreciate the people around you and in your life. Mind you that like telling your other half that they are special should of course happen all the time really not just on one day a year, although in many ways that would be a lot easier. I think my point is while it is marketed as a couple’s thing everyone can still share in the love and appreciate the feel good factor of it.

That said I was looking at some of the things that I have done on previous Valentine Day’s they include going to watch Spurs, taking the Neighbours tour in Melbourne, doing a final radio show at a station that I was at for five years and going to see The Only Fools and Horses musical alone. Therefore looking back it seems like I have always spent the day with someone incredibly special to me, myself. Which I think if you recall the song is exactly what George Benson and Whitney Houston suggested is the greatest love of all!

Since I was diagnosed as Coeliac and then put on a Gluten Free diet around a year ago now, Lynda has been brilliant at not only cooking me amazing meals that fit my dietary requirements but finding some restaurants that are totally Gluten Free. When we go to these places it means that I do not have to ask a million questions and I can order everything on the menu. Plus I do not have to be concerned about cross contamination. She found a new one called Niche just down the road from Angel Tube Station that we visited a couple of weeks ago.

One of the reasons we went to eat there was that we were already in London for something else, which I will explain shortly. Anyway we had booked at table for five when it opened. The Staff were nice and friendly, they happily sat us at our table when we arrived a tiny bit early. The set-up of the place is great, it has a lovely feel to it and they have these plastic dividers between the tables that give the illusion of a bit more privacy when you are eating.

The menu was excellent with lots of different options many of which were things rarely available to me in a lot of restaurants. They were very quick to sort out some drinks and take our order. For starters I had the mushroom rarebit dish with cheese, garlic and caramelised onions while Lynda had their version of southern fried chicken. Both were excellent but for an opener they were generous portions so we were pretty full before we even had our mains.

It sounds quite surprising but very few food places offer gluten free burgers therefore I had not had one for ages so as soon as I saw it on this menu I knew I just had to have it. It was amazing and came with some good fries with all the trimmings and a side of onion rings. The other thing I really liked about the place was the soundtrack, it was mostly eighties music and it was making my already lovely food even more enjoyable. We will definitely being going back there again at some point I need to work my way through the rest of the menu.

The reason that we were in London that evening, was because we were both going to see Tottenham play Brighton in the F.A. Cup. Due to the fact the game was on television the kick off was at the unusual time of 8pm on a Saturday night, as that really ate into the middle of the weekend. A couple of weeks before I said to Lynda that if I could get the seat next to my normal season ticket seat, would she like to come to the game with me? She said yes, I am not totally sure if that was because she thought I probably would not be able to get the ticket I needed to or not but I did so she accepted the offer.

Just before we set off for the game my contact at the club who I got the second seat from emailed me to offer us a free upgrade to the Premium Seating area. As that included two of my favourite words free and upgrade I accepted. After our meal at Niche we headed for the underground and made our way to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It is a journey I have done countless times but it was nice to have someone new to do it with as we approached the ground from the High Road.

We got inside, found the bar area and roughly where our seats were then had a glass of wine each before kick off. The seats were on level three and padded which is a slight step up from where I normally sit. Lynda is not a football fan at all and would never really watch it on the TV but she did thankfully and happily enjoy watching the game live. We actually played the best we had played for a while before or since as we went on to win the game quite convincingly progressing through to the next round.

Since that game we have lost our last two home games. I am now starting to think that she might be a lucky mascot and I might need to take her with me to every game. That might take quite a bit of negotiating though. After the match we went back into the bar and had another drink before getting the train home. It was a fun night and I always enjoy showing new people the stadium plus any trip there is always better when we win and play well.

I mentioned Lynda and I did not see each other on Valentine’s Day part of the reason for that was that I had organised a surprise for her the night after. Before Lockdown one I had tickets to go and see the as it was then fairly new musical Hamilton. That performance was of course lost to Covid so I got my money back and hoped that I would get the chance to see it one day. The other thing I did not say about that booking was it was to see it from a box. I have always wanted to see a show from there.

Anyway at the end of last year the opportunity this time to get hold of two tickets for the royal box at Hamilton came up and I managed to secure them for the 15th February. I did not tell Lynda where we were going or what we were doing. I knew it was a musical that she also wanted to watch. I made her meet me somewhere in London and then took her to the theatre. Obviously when we got to the theatre she realised what we were seeing but I still had one more surprise up my sleeve, our seats!

We went in and collected our pre ordered drinks. I then led her to our seats after having to ask how to get there, her face was a picture she was surprised but delighted. I think if you are going to be in any box at a theatre you have to make it the Royal Box. The show itself was brilliant. I can see why it has won so many awards and why when it opened in London it was so hard to get tickets for it. We had a brilliant night and I was really pleased that I actually managed to keep it a secret for the three months since I had booked it. I will be honest I had nearly given it away accidentally several times.

Last weekend we stayed in and Lynda managed to convince me to watch a film mainly due to the fact it was sport related and had Will Smith in it. We saw King Richard which is the story of how Venus and Serena Williams became tennis superstars. Before they were even born their Dad who the film is really about had written a 78 page plan to create the two greatest female tennis players of all time. He of course somehow managed to achieve his goal.

It is a decent film and kept my attention throughout which is not as easy as it sounds. It has a bit of everything humour, drama and a few slight twists. It focuses on their early years and finishes at the point where Venus the oldest sister makes her big debut on the circuit. It features some great performances and some great retro clothing. Would you believe to tie it in with the start of this update Richard Williams’ birthday is on the 14th February, it was a good film and I am actually glad I watched it!

I did as I always try to watch the Brits the other week. It was not as rock and roll as it used to be, part of that I think is due to the size of the arena it is now held in. The O2 is so big and so difficult to get to and from it makes getting too drunk and out of hand too difficult. I thought Mo Gilligan did a great job hosting what is a very tough gig. The two best live performances in my opinion were Adele and Ed Sheeran. They both rightly got awards. The only other thing really of note was the lovely Ann-Marie doing a Madonna and falling over on the stairs.

I am off to York next weekend, I have been twice before and I always enjoy it there, I will tell you what it was like and what I got up to next time we speak.

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Jamaica 2022

February 5, 2022 Neil

Long time, no speak then, I hope you had a good January and have manged to ease yourself into the year gently. Apologises for the delay with this latest update but I was lucky enough to be able to have a nice break and leave England behind for a couple of weeks. Something I last managed to achieve in February 2020 when I went to Australia. Therefore personally I felt I was overdue a nice holiday somewhere sunny, warm and relaxing.

My girlfriend and I had booked to go to Las Vegas and New York in September but when this looked unlikely due to the restrictions at the time we decided to change it for two weeks in the Caribbean in January this year instead. We arranged it all a while ago and were as you can imagine following any travel information updates with great interest. Before we even flew to Jamaica we had to get a visa from their government to confirm that we were allowed in the country. This was a quick and simple process and luckily they welcomed us both with open arms.

The other thing we had to do before we would be allowed on the plane was to get a negative PCR Covid test within forty-eight hours of our planned departure time. We were flying on the Monday so we booked our tests with a private company on the Saturday afternoon. We had to go to a local clinic to get them done and they guaranteed us we would get the results by midnight on the Sunday in time for us to be able to get our flight on time. This of course adds to the tension and stress around if you will still actually be able to have the holiday or not.

We were flying from Gatwick in the morning so we decided to book a hotel there for the night before so we could just wake up and walk across to the terminal. It got to three o’clock on the Sunday and still neither of us had received our results. Lynda’s then came through at four, so we decided to head off to the airport as at least she would be able to go. We got there and checked in, still no news on mine. Then we went to the restaurant to have some dinner, still nothing. I should mention that due to a mixture of nervousness and excitement we may have started to have some wine by this point, well we were almost on holiday.

Eventually at around eight that evening I finally got the email with my test result and thankfully it was negative. The last hurdle had been overcome. We were all good to go. As a result of the stress of the wait and the euphoria with the result we may have stayed up a little later and drank a bit more wine than we planned to. We kind of started the holiday slightly early, which was fine until the alarm went off in the morning and I realised I had a hangover as I was preparing to check in for our ten hour flight to paradise.

As it turned out I had an extra couple of hours to recover as the flight was delayed. It took us quite a while to check in ourselves and the luggage due to the queues but on the plus side we sped through passport control and security. Once in the departure lounge we had some brunch which in my case was some gluten free pasta. Then we saw on the airport screens that the gate was closing on our flight even though it was not due to leave for another hour. We rushed down there just in case we were about to miss it only to find out that it was not even boarding.

We did take off at the new expected time and we settled down to read and watch a selection of the airline television options. I saw some comedy specials, then enjoyed a few episodes of Friends and The Big Bang Theory. Although mainly I was reading the first of the three books that I had taken with me for the trip, which was Bob Mortimer’s autobiography. It was for the record very funny and interesting. We travelled with British Airways and fair play to them they did manage to cater for my gluten free dietary requirements at meal times.

We had booked a two week all inclusive holiday at the Sandals Ochi Beach Resort in Ocho Rios. We flew into Kingston Airport and then had a ninety minute transfer to where we were staying. The local time when we arrived at our home for the next fortnight was about 9pm. After a delayed ten hour flight needless to say Lynda and I were pretty tired by this point. However we somehow managed to complete all the check in paperwork and were then met by one of our two Butlers. I appreciate that sounds very extravagant but to have that service with the accommodation we had selected it was only a very small amount extra so we would have been foolish not to.

We were staying in a Hillside Villa Suite which came with its own semi private pool shared with the three other apartments in your block. The Butler’s have golf carts to get around so us and our hand luggage got a lift to where we would be living for the next fourteen days. We were shown round, had a few important things explained to us and then we were handed a mobile phone, which was basically the Butler hotline to keep in touch with them and to use to ask for anything that we needed. The Butler then leaves and we were both shattered by now so planning on going straight to bed when we see a bottle of champagne on ice in the living room. It would have been rude not to drink it so we did to toast our arrival.

The next morning we decided to order a room service breakfast and ate it on the balcony overlooking our pool which was great. We then got picked up by Shenae the same Butler who welcomed us the night before. She took us to reception and helped us make some of the restaurant reservations we needed to. There are sixteen of them on the resort some of them need to be booked and the rest of them are just walk ins, so you can go to them whenever you fancy. It made sense to try as many different places to eat as possible so over our time there we did try most of them at least once.

The resort itself is on three sites, there is the Hillside where we were, the Beach Club and the Sea View, with the last two being in effect over the road. However there is a shuttle bus that runs every ten minutes between them from 7am – 2am every day and each of them are no more than five minutes apart so getting between them is very easy. Each one has its own accommodation, pools, bars and restaurants. We mainly split our time during the day between the pool on the side we were staying and the beach. The sea was so warm over there it was almost like taking a bath so needless to say I spent a lot of time just floating in it.

The weather while we were there was great mainly sunny with highs of around twenty-eight degrees Celsius, although it did hammer it down with rain one night and was a little cloudy for half a day. Our main past time during the days was sun bathing and I am delighted to say I was successful in my plan to get a nice tan while not getting burnt. You have got to keep slapping on the lotion and make sure you have a decent factor and brand on. I am quite dedicated to this goal in that I must confess I do wear trunks when I am on a sun bed to reduce the size of my tan lines shall we say. I will concede this is not for everyone but I say let them look.

They did a great job out there making sure my food was gluten free by telling me what I could and could not eat and on occasions making me special things to have like bread or some desserts. There was a good selection of different food on offer and we did try as much of it as we could. They had Italian, French, Japanese, American, Spanish and traditional Jamaican restaurants as well as some seafood ones. Shenae and our other Butler Andre always met us for dinner and made sure they sat us down and got us our drinks straight away, which was brilliant. The two of them worked shifts so shared the workload of looking after us and their other guests.

While I was there I had some snails, which I have had before in Paris and were equally as nice. I tried some Jamaican Mutton Curry and of course had plenty of Jerk Chicken. I am most definitely a pudding fiend and occasionally due to my Coeliac Disease I am unable to have one in some restaurants. I was lucky on this holiday as I did manage to have something most nights. In the French place they gave me a flourless Chocolate Pudding with ice-cream and cream which tasted amazing. In fact Lynda thought that I looked so happy and content eating it when we ate in the same restaurant later on in our stay see ordered it to try to see if it was as good as my face made it look.

There are lots of different bars all over the resort where you can order whatever you want whenever you want it. They have people who come round to bring you drinks while you are on the beach or by the pool. I think we had a good go at working our way through their entire cocktail menu. That said I think they would pretty much make you anything you asked for. We did discover one called The Bob Marley which comes in the colours of the Rastafarian Flag so looks very bright and colourful and as it happens seemed to be very strong with a delayed reaction. I love sweet things so I thought it tasted great!

They have a late night drinking venue called the Speak Easy or The Rabbit Hole that looks like a Hobbits house from the outside. You have to give them a password to enter, everybody gets given it, and it is just for a bit of fun. They have live music in there some nights and for some reason all of the cocktails in that place seem extra potent. It was on our side of the resort and always a good place to have a few final drinks before heading back to the Villa. There is also the Polo Lounge that is a big room overlooking the main pool area which is also a good place to watch Premier League football as they have TV screens in there.

The other bar I really liked was on the Sea View side and called Miss Ethel’s Piano Bar. Every time I went in there the bar staff, were all laughing and joking around with each other it always seemed like they were having fun. The best bit though was that most nights a performer called Panda yes that was his name would be on sat at the Piano playing a few songs. On a good night in there everybody would be sat around the Piano and join in with all of the songs. You cannot beat a sing-along where everyone is involved it was very inclusive and a good laugh. We must have gone there at least five times during the two weeks.

While we were there we had a couples massage. I would like to point out it was just a standard deep tissue massage but we were just in the same room lying next to each other. They asked how hard you would like the pressure I said firm as I figured that was the best way to get your money’s worth as it would have the most impact. I then spent the next sixty minutes basically being beaten up by my lady who was very strong. Joking aside it was lovely and relaxing and she did well getting some of the knots out of my back. At the end of it they left us holding hands in the middle. The women doing mine said I had really tight shoulders so flogged me some tension relieving gel. I will let you know if it works or not. You always feel so good after a massage. As you would imagine the place does have its very own Spa!

It is mine and Lynda’s Anniversary of our first date later this month but the person we booked our holiday through arranged for us to be able to mark the occasion while we were in Jamaica. While we were out at the beach one day our Butlers’ organised a bit of a surprise. We got back to the Villa and found a cake saying congratulations on the living room table with a note wishing us a happy anniversary and telling me there was some fruit for me in the fridge as the cake was not gluten free. We both thought that was a really nice gesture.

Then Lynda walks into the bedroom and I hear her scream so I join her and they have decorated the bed with flowers and balloons and arranged coloured lolly sticks to spell out happy anniversary. There is another note which says enjoy your bath. We both walk into the bathroom to find it covered in flowers with a bubble bath run at the perfect temperature to get straight in alongside a bottle of bubbly on ice with two glasses. They had set it up perfectly and it had ended up being like a treasure hunt. That was a really classy touch from everyone involved.

The other thing we did was take advantage of was the fact they have their own photographic studio there by having a daytime and evening photo shoot. We did one during the day wearing our going to the beach gear and then one in the evening when we were all dressed up. There is no obligation to buy and we had a lot of fun posing and messing about. As it turned out there were some really nice photos of the both of us so we ended up buying fifteen of them in the end. It was a good laugh and a nice memento of the holiday. It did also make me think that maybe I could still make it as a male model you know.

The fourteen Days went at a reasonable pace, it gave us enough time to appreciate and enjoy the break. Then it was time to fly back to cold and cloudy England. I am a big fan of getting a bit of January sun it is a great way to kick off the year and it basically means February is here before you know it. I appreciate I am very lucky to have been in a position to be able to do this. I now feel so chilled and relaxed. I am not sure if that is from the heat, the not having to work for a few weeks or the Jamaican outlook and way of life has rubbed off on me, but it seems like a good position to be able to attack the rest of the year from.

Thanks very much to Gail from Red Route Travel who suggested and booked the holiday for us. Regularly keeping us updated before we went and checking on us to make sure everything was alright when we were there. Plus it was her who organised the “anniversary” stuff and sorted out airport lounge access for us at Gatwick. I would like to also offer my appreciation to all the Sandals Staff who looked after us really well and made it a very enjoyable holiday. Lastly of course a big thanks to Shenae and Andre our Butlers who looked after us brilliantly despite my ability to never manage to answer the phone when they called us and my phoning them to ask for random things.

We had a wonderful time and are already looking forward to our next adventure whatever that may be. It did seem like everybody in Jamaica was a music producer or a rapper. Whenever anybody found out that I worked in radio within seconds they were showing me their latest music release on their own YouTube channel. To be fair a few of them I thought were really good, although they do appear to be a little looser with their lyrics than we are allowed to be on the radio in the United Kingdom!

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Happy New Year 2022

January 1, 2022 Neil

I hope you had a nice Christmas whatever you managed to do. I had a lovely quiet and relaxing one with my parents. I cooked us a nice fry up to start the day off in the correct way in the morning. We then all had a cup of tea while we were exchanging cards and presents in the Living Room. I was very lucky getting the new books by both Paddy McGuinness and Rob Beckett. I also got some other fun items like socks, a new Spurs clock and a notepad. I am a lists man and like to write lots of “to do” lists and then I take great pleasure in crossing out the items when I have completed those tasks.

On Christmas Day we had a nice afternoon listening to music and having a few beers. We ate dinner fairly late at around half past four. We all helped with the preparation and the cooking of the meal so it really was a team effort. There were of course a couple of glasses of pre-dinner Prosecco before we opened a very nice bottle of red to accompany our food. Due to it being my first gluten free festive dinner I did have to miss out on a few items this year like a Yorkshire pudding but I more than made up for that by having my own special cheesecake for dessert.

We then watched some television together including the Christmas Strictly Come Dancing Special which was good fun, it was a cool and interesting mix of people taking part in it, just what we needed some colour and accidental comedy. This was followed by the new version of Blankety Bank with Bradley Walsh. The format is of course still silly and amusing in equal measure. As you would expect he did a great job hosting the programme bearing in mind he is following in the footsteps of Terry Wogan, Les Dawson and Paul O’Grady who had all put their own unique stamp on it. We clearly had the taste for game shows at that point as we also saw The Wheel with Michael McIntyre.

I always tend to have quite an early night on Christmas Day I do not know if that is due to all the excitement or possibly the alcohol and food consumed but one thing is for sure I always sleep well on that night. Boxing Day was very low key I just relaxed at home and then watched some sport on the television in the end. Until the evening when I decided to open some wine that I had been given and to listen to some music. Somehow I got a little bit carried away with it all as I did not actually get to bed until 2am in the end but I had a great time and listened to a lot of classic tunes.

Lynda and I did not see each over Christmas but that was because a while ago we had booked ourselves a two night stay at a hotel in Oxford for the extra Bank Holiday nights. We wanted to go away together post main festive season but did not really want to travel too far so that is why we picked the location we did. It was then just a case of deciding where to stay. It was while we were looking for hotels in the city that we stumbled across the Malmaison. It is a luxury hotel but built in an old prison building where they have kept a lot of the original features of the place and made it into a kind of themed venue. It looks equally stunning and yet imposing from the outside.

We booked a double cell room. The rooms have been created by knocking three of the original cells together. They are jail themed from the carpets to the items of furniture but they are classy and nice. They do have a cell style door on the front for a bit of fun. We were staying in A wing on the fourth floor. They have very cleverly kept the old original walkways so it does feel like you are in a prison albeit a very nice one. It reminded me a bit of the set for the old TV comedy Porridge as happily my experience with the insides of any prisons is limited.

We arrived and checked in then went up to see our room. It is a fun place to stay which I guess is a bit odd when you consider what it used to be. We were both quite surprised to learn that it was still an operational prison right up until 1996. In the room we had a cup of tea and gave each other our Christmas presents. I got some brilliant cuff links with headphones and a DJ Deck on them and the new book by Barrack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. Next we decided to head downstairs and explore the place. We managed to find the bar. They just happened to have a very extensive Cocktail menu so we thought it would have been rude not to try a few so we did.

We managed to book a table at the restaurant there. The food was very good, we had a lovely meal. I would certainly recommend eating there if you get the chance. As we were on “holiday” we returned to the bar area for a few more drinks after we had eaten then retired to our cell for the night just before lights out of course. We had the foresight to include breakfast in our stay and the common sense to book our slot for 10.30am so we did get to have a bit of a lie in and some time to ease into the day a little. Breakfast was again in the restaurant where we ate the previous night and it was very nice.

In the hotel they have still kept one of the cells in its original state so we went and found that. It was certainly a lot smaller and a lot less luxurious than the new rooms that they have created. Next we took a stroll around Oxford. It is a city that does have a lot of stunning buildings to enjoy. The walk lasted about ninety minutes although we did stop for a cup of tea in a Coffee Shop while we were out. It was then back to the hotel to relax for a bit. I had a bath which was very relaxing while watching Tottenham play which was as ever a lot less relaxing. We had booked a table for dinner at the local Cote but still went for some early evening Cocktails in the hotel bar again.

We had a nice meal at Cote. I like it there as they have a good gluten free menu plus they are accredited with Coeliac UK, which means I can relax and be confident that it is safe for me to eat there. The food is always decent. I had a fantastic fillet steak and a very nice prawn starter, then I finished the meal off with a winter berries Pavlova. We returned to the hotel and had a few final drinks before we went to bed. The next morning we got up and had our breakfast before leaving jail and returning to our homes. It was a lovely couple of nights away and a nice extension to our Christmas period. It was a quirky and different place to stay, I am glad we got to experience it.

As we embark on a brand new year I am looking forward to any new adventures and opportunities that will hopefully come my way in the next twelve months. There are no personal changes that I feel I need to make this January plus if I did I would normally address them as they arose rather than waiting. Like everyone I would just like to be healthy and happy while enjoying fun times with lots of laughter. I do not have any particular big plans but I do have a rather nice holiday booked for a week’s time which will make a very nice start to 2022.

Last night we had a little gathering at Lynda’s to see in the New Year in style. We had a few drinks, some amazing food and played a few games to say goodbye to 2021 and welcome in 2022. I had a brilliant time it was good fun. Happy New Year! I hope you achieve all that you want to in the next year and I wish you all the best. There is still a little bit of uncertainty about how things in some areas will pan out but I am sure everything will look a lot better by the middle of the year and we will finally be pushing through the unusual times of the last two years.

My team Tottenham Hotspur are as ever flattering to deceive, we have had some good home wins and performances but even the great Antonio Conte has not quite managed to get us firing on all cylinders away as yet. I have no doubt given time he will. It has been an old saying for years when it comes to supporting teams but it really is the hope that kills you. They win a few games and have a few matches in hand so as a fan you start to get a little bit carried away and then you are brought crashing back down to earth with a draw away to ten men Southampton.

We have been removed from the Europa Conference now for not being able to play our final group game. But I am totally fine with that and always thought the competition was more of a hindrance then a benefit. Spurs are in the Semi-Final of the league cup against Chelsea and we can also still go for FA Cup glory. We are not going to win the league obviously but if we could pick up a long overdue trophy of any kind that would be a really good season. Come on you Spurs!

I was delighted this week when one of my horses Stage Star won a huge race at Newbury. It was a Grade 1 event which is the highest category in racing terms. It is a massive achievement for Owner’s Group and the horse looks like he might be something a bit special with a lot of luck of course. Thanks to the champion trainer Paul Nicholls for getting him ready for it and to the jockey Harry Cobden who rode him perfectly on the day. I was screaming and shouting the house down during the latter part of the race a brilliant moment to enjoy and savour.

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Happy New Year! Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Neil Quigley

Tag Archives: Presenter

A Quick Scan

Magic Time in York

Right Royal Treat

Jamaica 2022

Happy New Year 2022

Neil Quigley Presenter