Tag Archives: Royal Ascot
The Queen
I am and always have been a supporter of the Royal Family, I can remember being aware of who the Queen was from a very early age. I felt she worked tirelessly for the country and was often the voice of reason. She was the perfect figurehead, clearly compassionate, so aware of her duty and role plus fully appreciative that she was born into it so had a real desire and work ethic to give herself totally to the position. Even on days when I am sure she did not feel like it there were always smiles when meeting her public and she was such a good public speaker.
I think if I am honest I am still coming to terms with the fact she is no longer with us. We saw those pictures of her meeting the outgoing and incoming Prime Ministers. She did I will concede look a bit frail but she was smiling and carrying out her duties. Therefore I did not think that forty-eight hours later we would receive the devastating news that we did. I always really wanted to meet her to say hello and thank her personally for what I feel she had done for the United Kingdom. I would have liked to have a chat with her and maybe even be the subject of her great sense of humour I will now sadly never get that chance.
I remember when I was at Primary School at the age of six or seven the whole class wrote a letter to the Queen. I will be honest I cannot recall what I said in mine now I possibly just asked some ridiculous questions about her day to day life. I will however never forget the joy and excitement when the class got a letter on Royal headed note paper from her Lady in Waiting who thanked us for our letters. We each got given a copy and I still have my one at home somewhere.
Fast forward nearly forty years to during the first lockdown in 2020. I like most people had more time than I am used to on my hands, so I decided it was about time Her Majesty had an update from me. As I suspected she may have wondered what I was up to and what had happened to me since we last spoke. Believe it or not I did write to the Queen again but this time it was a thank you letter for all I felt she did.
Having watched lots of the behind the scenes documentaries I knew as I said earlier that she had a brilliant sense of humour so I put things in there that I thought might make her at least smile. Once again I got a reply back from her current Lady in Waiting. Now I do not know if the Queen actually saw my letter or not but the fact I got to at least document what I felt about her and got to thank her was enough for me.
I have been going to Royal Ascot for many years and one of the highlights for me was always The Queen’s arrival. I used to get a good spot in the Parade Ring to make sure I could see her arrive in her carriage. She always dressed so well in such bright and vibrant colours and looked quite happy and relaxed. I think I may have got a wave one year. She did of course love her horse racing and was a winning owner and breeder several times. In fact she was still riding ponies well into her nineties. It is going to be so weird at Ascot next year knowing that she will not be there.
I took my mum for a tour of Buckingham Palace a few years ago. They had an exhibition next door of some of the presents that the Royal Family had received from overseas visits needless to say all of the items in there were stunning. We then were taken through the state rooms of the great house. I really enjoyed it I like the splendour and history of the place. I liked the way it was decorated and could certainly see myself being able to live there. It was special walking where the Queen would have walked and being in rooms where she would have met many amazing people. They showed us the room in which they perform the investitures so I had a good look around to get a feel for the place so I will be at ease when I collect my MBE or Knighthood in the future.
I will be joining the nation on Monday in saying goodbye to this country’s longest serving monarch. It is going to be strange her not leading all the usual annual events. I do like the fact she is already being referred to as Elizabeth the Great that seems totally fitting to me. I thought that she could go on for ever but of course no one can. She did an amazing job as our figurehead, although I think that the memories of her I will treasure most were in recent years when she was on the Buckingham Palace balcony with her family, children, grand-children and great children. Her smile in those situations and the joy she clearly got from looking after the youngest members of the family. Rest in Peace Queen Elizabeth II.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Pub in the Park in Chiswick. It was started a few years ago by the chef Tom Kerridge. It is run in sessions there is an afternoon and evening one and we had tickets for both of them on the Saturday. There is a hotel just around the corner from the venue so we booked in there for a couple of nights. On the Friday I went to a leaving do for one of the producers at work. She held it in a pub just around the corner from the studios that I had no idea existed but it is a great little place hidden away down a side street. I thought I had been in every pub in London but I am still discovering new ones.
I had a great time having a few drinks and talking about radio with everyone there, always one of my favourite subjects. I did manage to get Laura whose party it was a drink, mind you she asked for a half and I somehow ended up with a pint despite ordering a half at the bar. As the other drink was a wine for me I am guessing the girl thought it was the other way round and that I would like a pint. I left Laura still drinking her larger than requested beverage and raced across London to meet Lynda and our friends in a Cote in Chiswick for dinner. I got there just in time to order with everyone else and we had a nice relaxing meal to ease ourselves into the weekend.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast my gluten free option was basically fruit and yoghurt but that was fine as we were after all off to a food festival. We arrived there just after half eleven trying some free samples of food and drink on arrival. Lynda bought a few bits and pieces and I had some food from one of my new favourites chefs whose place in Marlow we ate at fairly recently. I then had to race off to go and see Tottenham play Fulham. This involved me running to Turnham Green Station getting the tube, then running from Seven Sisters to the ground. I made it to my seat five minutes before kick-off.
Happily we won which made it all worth it. On the final whistle I then had to run back up the Tottenham High Road to Seven Sisters get back on the tube. Then get back to Turnham Green and run to our hotel to have a quick shower, get changed and meet everyone back at Chiswick House for the evening Pub in the Park session. It is fair to say that my love of Spurs did make my day a lot busier and sweatier than it needed to be but with three points in the bag I was ready to party. In fact the first thing I did after meeting up with Lynda was grab a drink.
One of our favourite chefs Atul Kochhar was doing a cookery demonstration. It was from his stand that I had got my meal earlier. On the way to see him in action we stopped there again to get more of his food. The big appeal for me was unlike most other places there three out of the four dishes he was offering were gluten free. We had one of everything two dishes each and went to watch the main man show us how to make one of the creations that I was eating.
The food tasted amazing, he is a really top man and chef. He made cooking a fish curry up on the stage look so easy and was also very funny with his commentary on what he was doing. Lynda who has hundreds of cookery books then decided to buy his latest book and get it signed by the man himself as he was doing a signing straight after. He was lovely, we had a quick chat to him as he was writing and I tried to take a picture of him and Lynda but did a terrible job due to a rogue light shining at her. Most of the pictures you see on this website are taken by her thankfully.
Atul Kochhar
We then went to join the others watching Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the main stage. She was doing a combination of her own hits and some great disco cover versions. I met her and her mum outside a cinema in Richmond when Janet Ellis was on Blue Peter and Sophie would have been about six. I got Janet’s autograph and I still have it. I have interviewed her since and sadly she does not remember me. Anyway Sophie’s set was brilliant she had her husband and brother playing in the band. Her final song was Murder on the Dancefloor, she got her two youngest children up on stage to dance with her during it and it was the most beautiful and hilarious thing I have ever seen. The kids were really going for it and she could not stop laughing.
We then wandered around and sampled some more food and drink including some Champagne and a Pina Colada before grabbing a pint of cider to enjoy the headline act with. It was a DJ set from Sister Bliss from Faithless. It was as you would expect very high energy and dance music orientated. There was a lot of bouncing around and it did feel like being at a nineties rave at times. She is great and as you would expect played a lot of big songs. At the time I thought it was the first time I had seen her, until I spoke to a mate this week and he reminded me that I previously saw her perform after the Cartier Polo at Windsor about fifteen years ago. Pub in the Park was as ever fantastic. It is more than likely we will be there again next year.
I had planned on seeing The Mousetrap with Lynda last Friday. I had seen it before about twenty four years ago but she had not so we booked tickets. Sadly due to recent events I was extremely busy at work and was late leaving so I actually missed the entire first half of the play. I arrived at the theatre just before the interval. I met up with Lynda who was still holding the pre-show red wine she had got me while making her way to collect the interval drinks. Nobody can say I am not extremely well looked after. She filled me in on what I had missed and we then took our seats for the second half.
I got up to speed quite quickly and if I am honest about half way through it all came back to me and I remembered what happened. It is a brilliant play as you would expect from anything written by Agatha Christie. You can easily see why it is the longest running play in the West End. I enjoyed the bit that I did actually manage to see. This experiment did prove to me that if you have already seen a show before you can still have a good time at the theatre by only seeing half of it, but if you can see the whole thing from the start that is still the best way of doing things.
It was nice to see Champions League football back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I was lucky enough to see us beat Marseille two nil in our opening group match the other week. It was a tough game but two great headers from Richarlison saw us through. It did help when they went down to ten men but a win is a win. I am just happy to be back in the competition. I do feel we have a decent chance of getting to the next stage. And I say that despite us losing two nil in the week away at Sporting Lisbon.
A reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/
I am in Northampton this weekend to go to a friend’s 60th Birthday party. I will tell you all about it next time we speak. Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.
Taste of The High Life
My mum recently went on a week’s holiday in Scotland. She had a great time seeing lots of famous and historic landmarks that she has always wanted to see. She very kindly got me a couple of gifts to give me on her return. Obviously she knows me very well as she bought me a box of gluten free shortbread biscuits and a corkscrew shaped like a wine bottle with my name on it which I absolutely love. It is the simple things and little gestures which will always be the best things in life and that will always mean the most.
A couple of weekend’s ago Lynda and I went to visit our good friends Steve and Louise. They live in a lovely little town right on the English and Welsh border. I always really enjoying going there to see them as it is such a relaxing and picturesque place. We left on the Friday evening straight from work. Not only did Lynda pick me up from the train station and drive but she also supplied me with a snack for the journey which was very much appreciated. Happily the traffic was kind to us and we made it in good time arriving at our destination at around quarter to ten.
Steve and Louise being the perfect hosts had a gluten free pizza in the oven ready for our arrival and the kettle already on. We had a nice relaxing evening drinking tea and chatting as I have said before I have known Steve since we were four after meeting at our first day at school. He has asked that I now refer to him as the longest friend I have rather than the oldest which is both correct and fair. We were a bit tired after the week and the travelling plus Steve had organised an activity for us in the morning so we had a reasonably early night.
He is a member of a local gun club and has his own rifle so he had offered to take Lynda and me clay pigeon shooting which we were both looking forward to. I had done it once before on a stag do about ten years ago and she had also had one go at it through a work thing around fifteen years ago. We got up and had breakfast then set off for the club which was situated on a huge site at the top of a hill. It was owned by a former Olympic Champion so as you can imagine it was all very professionally organised and run.
Steve went and signed us all in and got some bullets for us to use. He then led us to one of the several different areas that you can shoot from. We had to wait our turn for the course we wanted to be free. When it was he very carefully explained to us all the safety aspects and rules and how everything worked. There were six different positions that the clays could be propelled in from all controlled by a box with assigned buttons on. He showed us how to use the box and then went first to show us how it was done. He had an air rifle as a child and has always done a bit of shooting so needless to say he is pretty good so he hit a fair few on his first go.
Then it was my turn to take centre stage. He coached me and made sure I was holding the gun in the correct position and knew what I needed to do. I had about six attempts and did not hit a thing so then it was Lynda’s go. We are both very competitive and wanted to beat the other one. On her third try she hit one and took the lead in our mini competition. Then the three of us all took it in turns. During my next attempt I hit one to level things up and celebrated like I had just won an Olympic Gold Medal. A bit later Lynda just catches the side of a clay and nicks a bit off which apparently counts as a success much to my disgust.
We spent about an hour taking it in turns firing at the clay pigeons. Lynda did win in the end by one, which was the one she barely got anything on, so I tried to suggest it was a hollow victory but the other two told me I was wrong and to gracefully accept defeat which I did in the end. After the shooting was done we went and had a cup of tea in the lodge they have there. It was a good experience and I enjoyed having a go at it. I mean obviously the overall winner was Steve he hit way more clays than we did.
During the afternoon they took us for a lovely walk across the fields to a pub on the canal where we had a couple of drinks in the sun. On the way back to their place we walked along the canal and over the viaduct that they have locally. It was a really nice chilled and relaxed afternoon. It is so beautiful around that area, despite having to be wary of about a ton of sheep pooh on the way to the pub. Lord knows what those animals were eating. When we got back to their house Louise then cooked us a fantastic dinner.
After that we watched the film Sing 2 at the request of their daughter Eleanor after Lynda and I had both played Jenga against her and after I had channelled Paul Zerdin to try to bring to life her bird puppet. If you think that you could see Roger De Courcey’s lips move you should have seen my efforts. The movie by the way was surprising good with a great cast that actually included Bono. We finished the night with a few drinks listening to country music as Steve and Louise like me are big fans of the genre.
The next day we got up and had breakfast in the garden followed by a relaxing morning until we discovered the minion toy game. It is a small replica of one of the characters from the film. It gives you three instructions to bop it, pull it and twist it. When you start it off it calls out one of those things and you have to do it within a certain time. You have a go and at first think it is just a bit of fun, but then all of a sudden you find yourself concentrating so intensely to try to beat it. Steve held the high score at 63 I got up to 54 and was waiting to have my next go, when Lynda got to 100 which is seemingly the end of the game, so we stopped playing after that. She seemed to win everything that weekend.
Once we had all had lunch Lynda and I headed off home. We had a fantastic weekend mostly just talking, playing and laughing. I always have a great time in their company and hopefully we will be able to see them again in a couple of months. The other highlight of the trip for me was as a Duke’s of Hazzard fan to see for the first time the Dodge Challenger that they bought and got shipped over from America. They are still repairing it but when it is finished it will be some beast. I got to sit in it and it is some machine.
I have been going to Royal Ascot for the last five years now it is such a good day out. I took Lynda there for the first time last Friday. As we had a London based busy weekend we booked a hotel in Euston for a few nights and arrived there on the Thursday. There was a pub right next door so we had a couple of drinks in there before getting an early night ready for our trip to Berkshire the next day. We got up and got dressed into our outfits. On the way to the tube station we stopped off at a Leon for breakfast. They do a very good selection of gluten free food so since I have been coeliac I have been a regular customer there. I had their Full English Breakfast Pot which was very tasty and surprisingly filling.
We arrived at Waterloo station in plenty of time to catch the train that we had booked tickets for stopping for a bottle of water on the way. We were one of the first people waiting on the platform for it to arrive. This meant we were able to get a seat on what we knew would be a very busy journey. It takes about an hour to get there and about ten minutes so get out of the station as there are just so many people using the service. Once you get out though it is only about a ten minute walk to the world famous racecourse. It always looks so spectacular when it is set up for the royal meeting I think. Once we were inside we had a couple of pictures of us taken in front of the parade ring. It was a very hot day so we then headed inside to get some shade and a drink.
We were meeting a couple of great friends of mine Adam and Nicki to spend the day with it is now a bit of a tradition that we attend this event together. While we were ordering the drinks I got a call from them, saying they had arrived. I went off to find them while Lynda got the drinks which as it happened did get me out of buying the first round. They then got some drinks as well and we had a nice catch up while enjoying the sun and the views. I like to watch the Royal Party arrive into the parade ring, so about five minutes before they were due to appear we made our way down there to get a good spot to see them.
They always arrive at the far end of the course at two o’clock but it takes them around ten minutes to get to where we are. The lead Royals were The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We were in a great position to see them arrive and Prince William waved at us as he went past. Once we had seen them all get out of the carriages and shake hands with the welcoming party it was time to head to the stands and get a place to enjoy the racing from. Then there was just enough time to nip down to the bookmakers to get our bets on for the first race before the action started.
The standard of races is as you would expect exceptionally high for all five days of this huge occasion. We followed the same pattern all afternoon, a combination of betting before and watching each race with more drinks purchased as required through the afternoon. I had a couple of placed horses so got some money back that way and everybody else had at least the same. Nicki had the winner in the last race which she really did enjoy. We kept meaning to go and get some food during the afternoon but we were having such a laugh chatting and watching the races that we never quite got round to it.
Once all the racing has finished for the day and all the horses have been returned to the stables in the Queen Ann Enclosure where we go there is a massive sing-song around the bandstand. It lasts for about forty minutes and is brilliant fun with seemingly the whole of Ascot joining in singing and dancing together. There is a really good atmosphere to the place and the whole thing does feel very British. They run through all of the favourites from war time songs to Oasis and Neil Diamond. Once we had sung our hearts out we went to one of the pubs on the High Street for a couple more drinks stopping off for some emergency gluten free crisps on the way.
We said goodbye to Adam and Nicki and got the train back to London at half past nine, once again it was packed and as a result it was quite a slow journey back. We did not get back to the hotel until nearly eleven o’clock. As we had not really eaten we decided to get a take away pizza delivered. It worked a treat I met the driver outside and after a lot of security questions to make sure it was us who had placed the order I took it back to our room. Start the day hanging out with the future King and end it eating pizza in a hotel room, that my friends is how you keep yourself grounded. It was another great day at Royal Ascot and I am already looking forward to doing it all again next year.
The next day we were going to Taste of London with a group of friends. It is an annual event that takes place at Regents Park. Happily due to our sensible planning skills it was only a twenty minute walk from where we were staying. We met everybody there at half eleven and waited for the gates to open at midday. We had opted for VIP tickets which meant that we got fast track entry, a glass of champagne on arrival and some dishes included with our ticket. There are loads of pop up restaurants who offer a selection of three sample dishes for you to try. On top of that it is a trade fair for food and drinks companies to promote their own products.
Once we were let in, we of course headed straight for the VIP area to collect our champagne and plan how we were going to attack the four hour session that we had there. Annoyingly despite the forecast saying it would be warm and sunny it was a little drizzly, however that did not dampen our spirits. A lot of the companies there are handing out samples for you to try, while I was there I tried a tea infused Bellini, some non-alcoholic gin and barely flavoured fizzy water. We each set off in different directions to hunt down the food that we wanted to sample.
The only way I could discover what I could eat was to go from door to door to see the menu in each place so I could discover any dishes that were gluten free. It did seem like there were fewer options for me to try than last year but I still found three things to sample using my vouchers and even got an extra one on top. The stand out two for me, were a peanut satay lamb dish and a barbequed pork belly little number. The food is well presented and there is the odd celebrity chef floating about doing a bit of cooking to. I even managed to find some pudding. I found a stall where there were selling gluten free dough balls with ice-cream inside. They came in lots of different flavours I tried the mint chocolate chip, strawberry Eaton Mess and the cinnamon all of which were great.
The time does fly by and basically you spend the whole time there either eating or drinking so it is a mini festival that I would definitely recommend. It seemed to be quite popular with Radio 2 presenters as I saw Sara Cox there and Lynda spotted Vanessa Feltz. Before we knew it the time was four o’clock and we had to leave as our session was over. I had a brilliant time there once again I always seem to discover something new there that I really like. We said goodbye to everyone and went back to the hotel for a few hours to let the huge amount of food we had consumed digest.
We had somewhere lined up to go that evening. The friends we went to see in Manchester a few weeks ago were at Taste of London with us so we wanted to take them to a great wine bar that Lynda and I accidentally discovered towards the end of last year. We have been a few times since and always enjoyed it so we wanted to introduce them to it. It is called the Cork and Bottle and it is right on the corner of Leicester Square. We had booked a table there for a couple of hours that night.
The staff are excellent in there friendly and very knowledgeable about the food and drink they serve plus they are coeliac aware and can make most of the items they do gluten free. We ordered a lovely bottle of a Rioja Reserva which was right in my sweet spot for the type of wine that I like. As we had all been at Taste of London and eaten quite a lot we all opted for a cheese selection. We had three cheeses each which in my case came with gluten free crackers and bread. The atmosphere in there is very cool and relaxed so it is easy to eat, drink and have a brilliant time. Thankfully our friends seemed to like the place as much as we do; we will be visiting there again soon that is for sure. It wrapped up what was a fantastic couple of days.
Last Sunday was Father’s Day not being a dad myself I am always slightly worried about suddenly receiving a card as that is not the way you want to find out. Joking aside I did obviously get mine a card and without knowing as we did not talk about it my sister and I managed to independently get my dad exactly the same one. We only realised after we had given them to him. I was pleased with my present though he loves his sweets and I got him a huge box of jelly babies that contained fifty different flavours. That should keep him amused for a while I hope.
I am going to see The Rolling Stone in Hyde Park tomorrow which should be great; I will tell you what it was like 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.
Right Royal Fun
As I said previously this year seems to be going by so fast, it appears that the weather has not caught up yet and realised that it is actually summer. I have massively benefited recently from always carrying an umbrella with me plus I have seen people in the last week still wearing scarfs and hats which feels a bit wrong for June. Mind you as soon as there is a glimpse of the sun you can smell nothing but barbeques so it is good to know that as a country we are all being suitably British about the situation.
A couple of Saturdays ago now Lynda and I went up to Manchester to see some friends. We drove up during the afternoon and arrived to a champagne reception from our hosts, well after I had enjoyed a cup of tea that I always insist on having on arrival anywhere that I have endured a journey of thirty minutes or more. We had a civilised catch up before it was time to get changed and jump in the taxi they had booked to take us all to the restaurant that they had organised. During this trip it was the first time I think that I have ever seen a driver obviously turn up his radio to drown out what we were talking about and I promise you it was not that controversial or boring.
We arrived at the restaurant, which nowadays is always my cue to point out to the staff that I am a Coeliac requiring the gluten free menu and possibly the allergens menu to. They were great and the food and atmosphere in the place was also good. It was a Tapas style venue but due to my dietary requirements I had a straightforward starter and main while the rest of them shared a selection of dishes. For the record I was fine was this and still had a dessert option I could and did enjoy. It was some ice-cream that came with a small glass of sherry. Not a combination I had ever had before but I found it quite agreeable and may even have discovered a new drink option.
After we had eaten we had a table booked in a really nice bar called Ivy Asia. In there we had some very nice wine and spent the evening talking and laughing. There was a really cool and classy vibe to the place. I would definitely go there again. The next morning our friends did us a totally gluten free fried breakfast which I really appreciated. They even just did gluten free bread for everybody which removes quite a big cross contamination risk so I was very happy about that. We had a fantastic weekend just relaxing and hanging out with mates. I always like going out in Manchester but just never seem to do it very often.
It was my Dad’s 70th Birthday on the Thursday right at the start of the Jubilee Back Holiday weekend. He was not really sure what he wanted to do and I only just managed to get out of him what he would like for a present the week before. In the end I just decided I would go and see him for the day and cook a family roast dinner for the evening. It worked out well as his brothers and sister popped in to see him for a cup of tea and a quick chat during the day. Then he and mum went to church while I prepared the roast beef feast. I do quite a decent roast if I do say so myself although I am not great at judging portion sizes so we all had a massive plateful of food.
We opened some lovely red wine to accompany our meal and then he had two cakes to enjoy for his pudding. When we had finished eating we had a rest to let our digestive systems get to work. Then I started playing some music I thought he would like but had not had the chance to listen to for a while. We ended up doing this for about two hours with both of us taking turns to choose the songs. It was I guess by my standards at least, a low key celebration but he seemed to really enjoy it and we all had a fun time. I think we went to bed around midnight which is sensible for a man of his age of course.
I love a night out at the theatre and in particularly a good musical. Lynda managed to get a couple of tickets from Sky VIP to see the latest Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical version of Cinderella. It has of course hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently with the way that the cast were informed about the show closing in London a lot sooner than was originally planned. They all found out on social media instead of being personally informed in advance which is totally unprofessional and unforgiveable really. It closes tomorrow but we went and saw it last Friday.
I was not totally sure what to expect I had seen the odd number from it performed on various television shows before it opened and I did know that it starred Carrie Hope Fletcher. However I had no idea how the storyline differed from the original version that we all know so well. It was on at the Gillian Lynne Theatre which looks very non descript and concrete from the outside but is actually quite spacious and nicely organised inside. We had good seats in the middle of the stalls.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, the songs are excellent and catchy as you would expect from a Lloyd-Webber musical. The whole cast were brilliant and Carrie was sensational in the lead role. It is a modern slight reworking of the original tale with some characters and parts of the story very similar and some others very much not. It is easy to follow, staged perfectly and does I feel reflect the world we live in very well at times but ultimately it is a story and show based on a fairy tale where happy endings are the order of the day. I am glad that I managed to catch it, there was quite a bit of humour in it which of course appealed to me.
Before we went to the theatre we had a nice meal in Wahaca. It is on the list of places where I can eat as they do provide a decent choice of gluten free dishes. The other reason we went there is that Lynda had found that they do a great Margarita cocktail. I can now confirm this to be true as after she ordered hers I decided to try one to and they are very good. We had quite an impressive selection of Mexican food between us started off with some vegetable nachos and for me at least finished off by ice-cream with chocolate sauce. It certainly gave me the energy to enjoy our planned entertainment.
While we were at the theatre we got a message from some friends who happened to be in London to but seeing a different West End show. As we had not seen them since New Year’s Eve we decided to meet them for drinks afterwards. Much to our surprise we found a pub that had plenty of seats and no queue at the bar to have a few drinks and a catch up in before we had to get the last train home. It was a brilliant night out, food, theatre and friends is I feel always a winning combination.
It was a weekend for seeing mates which is never a bad thing. I am not sure how but it does seem hard to find the time at the minute to see people. Last Saturday afternoon we went to see our friends Adam and Katy at their house. Embarrassingly while we were there we worked out that we had not seen each other for nearly a year. It was great to see them and they even got some specially gluten free treats that I could enjoy with the copious cups of tea I consumed during the three hours we were there. I was in my element with friends chatting, laughing and drinking tea, that is basically what I was born to do!
I did enjoy seeing all the celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee during the special Bank Holiday Weekend. Trooping of the Colour was as ever a fantastic spectacle and I always enjoy a good flight past seeing all of those iconic aircraft fly over The Mall and Buckingham Palace is always brilliant. It was enhanced even more this year by the reaction of Prince Louie. He was the star of the whole weekend for me! The concert on Saturday was as you would expect slick and sensational.
The Pageant was both totally British and bonkers in equal measure. I would also love to know who booked the celebrities for the various buses and what their selection method was. It looked great fun and I wish I had been there to see it in person. I know a few people who were involved with the float on behalf of the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival Club. They worked on the sound for the floats, when I was in Somerset I did loads of gigs with them, which were always good fun!
Seventy years in one job is a huge achievement and personally I think she has been and continues to be amazing. She was so good in that skit with Paddington that I think they should have given her a role in both of the films. Stuff like that really appeals to her sense of humour that we all need to have whatever industry we work in I think. Congratulations Your Majesty it was brilliant to see your appearances on the balcony and the interactions with your great grandchildren. Now please rest up a little so we can wave at each other at Royal Ascot this coming week. I am going on the Friday and I am already very excited about it.
Last Saturday night Lynda and I returned to the scene of our second date. It was a restaurant in Berkhamsted called Tabure. Since our first visit my dietary requirements have changed so I had to drop them an email to check they could accommodate me. They sent me a very quick and detailed reply that instantly put my mind at rest so I booked us a table. We went for a quick pre-dinner drink in The Kings Arms, which is where we ended up until closing time after the initial date in that town.
Tabure is a Turkish style restaurant where a bit like Tapas the dishes are sharing options in a particular section of the menu, although you can have individual meals if you like. To make the sharing easier and it better for them to manage my issues Lynda agreed to keep to only gluten free dishes. It was over two years since we had eaten there so we had kind of forgotten how good the food is. Let me tell you it is amazing, I have been lucky enough to eat in some very nice places but this one is right up there. We will definitely not be leaving it so long before we eat there again. The Staff are also brilliant and they do serve an exquisite Malbec there.
I am now starting to get quite excited about Baz Luhrmann’s new film about Elvis Presley. Despite previously playing it cool and saying I would see it at the cinema but I was in no rush to, after seeing the trailer and the hype from the Cannes Premier I went and booked tickets to see it in London on its UK release date. Tom Hanks plays the manager Colonel Parker and Austin Butler plays Elvis. As you would expect from a Luhrmann movie visually it looks amazing and I cannot wait to see it.
This weekend we are off to the Welsh/English border to spend a few days with my oldest friend and his family. We met on our first day in Primary School aged four and we have been mates ever since. I am really looking forward to seeing them. I will tell you what we 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.
It’s Staying At Home
The big relaxation of the rules and the potential return to “normal” has been delayed by at least four weeks then. Disappointing and annoying though this is personally I would rather have the level of freedom we currently have rather than things opening up and then we potentially have to go back in to lockdown again. The vaccination programme does appear to be working well but while we still have people able to pass the infection around I understand the concerns over the situation escalating once again.
We can still meet up in groups of six people inside and up to thirty outside. In normal times how often during the year would you have many more than that in those situations weddings and parties aside of course. While not ideal it is enough to be getting along with I feel. You can still see your family and it is still just a case of being careful and sensible. I appreciate that I am lucky as I have already had both of my jabs, so I have that extra level of protection. However I am still extremely careful when I am out and about as that just feels like the right thing to do to me.
We just need to be a little bit more patient still, as a country we have done a decent job getting this thing under control compared to some of the others. One more big push then we will hopefully be where we need to be and we can start to do all the things we used to, possibly appreciating them more than we did before. The important thing is that we can meet up with and talk to people, see friends and family face to face, communicate with each other and help everybody to get through this together.
A few weekends ago my girlfriend and I booked ourselves a couple of nights away at a converted barn near Faringdon in Oxfordshire. We both just fancied a bit of a change of scenery and the chance to discover somewhere new. When we arrived the weather was lovely so we thought it would be rude not to help out the local economy by finding a pub to have a drink at. The accommodation was next to a farm down a long drive and a fifty minute walk from the nearest watering hole so we decided to drive there.
We found a nice little place with space in their beer garden. I have only been inside a pub once since lockdown one. I will admit I am easing myself in gently so I am only mixing with strangers outside at the moment. It was a village establishment who were doing table service. This was the first time I have been to a pub since I have been Coeliac. I did enquire if they had gluten free beer surprisingly they did but sadly it was not one I really liked. This meant that I decided to reacquaint myself with Cider.
I sampled a pint of Thatchers Haze which for the record tasted great in the late afternoon sunshine. It was not until that point when I was sitting there enjoying my pint that I realised how much I had missed pubs and sitting outside having a refreshing beverage. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I instantly settled back into it. We only stayed for one before we headed back to the barn for dinner. For a change we both cooked the meal Lynda made a pasta dish from scratch and I cooked the two fillet steaks. Clearly equally sharing the task.
I must say I did do the steaks absolutely perfectly. I reckon that you could easily have served them in a five star restaurant. After we had eaten we ended up having a long video chat with my oldest friend and his wife. We met on our very first day at Primary School. We instantly became mates and have stayed in touch ever since. It was brilliant to see and talk to them both albeit on screen. It was just great to have a laugh and catch up with each other. I cannot wait until I get to see them both in person again, which hopefully will be fairly soon.
The next day as we had enjoyed it so much we decided to try another pub’s beer garden. The weather was nice and this one had been the one that the host of the property we were staying at had mentioned to us. It was right next to the river so after we had enjoyed a pint of this time a nice red berries fruit cider we went for a lovely walk along the river bank. I have always enjoyed walking next to a stretch of water. I do not know why, I guess I find it relaxing and peaceful.
We then went back to the barn for dinner. We decided to get an Indian food combination from one of the local supermarkets. The buying of which involved me testing half of the items with a special app I have on my phone to make sure that they were gluten free, so I could eat them. Happily we found more than enough options for a big feast, which may or may not have been washed down with a few glasses of red wine. Just in case you were in any doubt it was.
The next morning we had to come home. By now we had seemingly got a bit of a taste for pubs and being outside them. Therefore on the way back we decided to stop for lunch at one of my local ones. It was the venue where a former Prime Minister accidentally left one of his children in the toilet after a meal. I am not sure if the current one has been there or not yet but it is quite close to Chequers, so you never know. Anyway the sun was out once again so we found a nice table in their back garden. This was first time that I had attempted to eat out since having to become gluten free.
It did make it easier than before to decide what to have as there were only about three things on the menu that I could safely eat. I also have to be wary of cross contamination, which does rule out a few extra options. I had a very nice chicken, bacon and avocado salad. The Coeliac diet is quite a healthy one as it turns out. It was a perfect meal for the weather. They very kindly supplied a dressing with it. But I could not have it as I did not know exactly what was in it. As believe it or not some mustards and vinegars contain gluten. It is a minefield. It was nice to be eating out again and I look forward to getting more confident with the food ordering the more I do it.
I was planning a trip to America in September. I was going for a few nights in New York a place where I have never been followed by a few nights in Las Vegas, where I have been once about fifteen years ago. This week I decided to pull the plug on it. It is so difficult to say what the travel situation will be like by them. It is not on the United Kingdom’s green list currently. Nor are the United States welcoming visitors from Britain either.
Even if it was on the green list and they were accepting us by then. The process still requires a lot of additional things that you need to do to leave and return to the country. Therefore I decided to wait until everything opens up a bit more on both sides of the Atlantic. This is not me complaining by the way, I understand the global situation and I think I have made the right decision for me. I will visit both places at a later date. But I think we all have to be a bit flexible with our plans at the minute.
There is a new series of Celebrity Goggle Box back on Channel 4. I am a late convert to this and the normal version of this show. I will admit before I started watching it I really could not see the point of watching people watching television. But it is actually quite funny. For the record I think I would be brilliant on this programme. I have lots to say and often talk through TV shows anyway.
A lot of the old favourite combinations are back like Shaun Ryder and Bez. They seem to live on a different planet to the rest of us. There are a couple of decent additions. Mel C is my favourite Spice Girl so it is great to see her on there with her brother. The surprise package for me is Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards. They seem to have a great laugh together, which is good to see.
I do not watch a massive amount of television so another benefit of this show is that I can catch up with anything major that I have not seen, bits of films I will never see and snippets of programmes that I would never watch under normal circumstances. Like for example Naked Attraction. I was aware of it but never felt compelled to see it as it sounded horrendous. Having now seen a bit of it on Goggle Box I have not changed my mind. It is totally ridiculous!
How people can seriously think they will meet their future partner on it I do not know! What sort of person do you have to be to want to do that on TV? The first thing anybody sees is your privates. That said somebody I know who is a great laugh and a top bloke has been on it. I have never watched his episode and have no plans to. To add insult to injury I believe he may have been voted off it first. That is surely the ultimate walk of shame. We have clearly come a long way from Cilla and Blind Date to get to this!
Last Saturday the weather was brilliant so my girlfriend decided to throw an impromptu barbeque at her place. She invited a few people round. There were six of us in total. It started at around three o’clock with a few glasses of Strawberry Pimm’s. A text book way to kick off an occasion such as this I would say. We ate about half four with all the usual options available chicken, sausages and burgers. All gluten free as she is far too good to me. We then just continued to talk and have a few more drinks.
One of the invited guests was working so they did not get there until around six thirty. Due to the fact my girlfriend is such a considerate host she cooked more fresh food for the late arrival but pretty much did the same as she did earlier. Therefore barely two hours after our first sitting, we had another barbeque meal. Well you have to make the most of things at the moment. I was surprised and impressed at how much I managed to eat. I like my food but two decent meals that close together is unusual even for me.
Owing to a combination of the weather being so good, the fact we were having a good time and because we were so full of food that we could not really move. We ended up sitting outside and talking until gone ten o’clock. It felt like the most amount of fresh air that I had enjoyed for ages. That was my third barbeque in four weeks. I feel I am making up for lost time having missed out on lots of things over the last eighteen months. The sun just makes everything better as far as I am concerned.
It is Royal Ascot this week with the final day of the racing festival today. This is an event I normally go to at least on one of the days sometimes more. Obviously I could not go last year as nobody was allowed in. They are allowing reduced crowds of spectators in this year. I decided not to apply for tickets in the end. It is a great event. What makes it so are the people and the quality of the racing. I just felt it would not feel the same so I have decided to wait and hope that next year it can return to full capacity once again.
It has been a fantastic week of racing as it always is. It is a shame I think that the Queen has not been in attendance so far this week. That is always one of the highlights for me when she arrives. I have a huge amount of admiration for her personally and all that she has achieved. When I was at school the whole class wrote to her and we got a lovely letter back. I actually wrote to her myself with a bit of an update a couple of years ago, well we had not spoken for a while and I thought she might be curious how I was getting on. I did receive a reply from the palace again, which was very nice of them.
I do have shares in a couple of race horses and it would be great one day to see them race at one of the big events like Royal Ascot. One of the best things about it when everything is normal for me is when at the end of racing everyone gathers around the bandstand for a huge sing-a-along. It is very British and there is lots of flag waving. I find a glass of Pimm’s is the perfect accompaniment to these proceedings.
A group of my mates try to do an annual trip to Ascot for one of their October meetings. Obviously it was on hold last year. But it would be nice if we get to go this year. Fingers crossed we might, but unless you have a crystal ball it is very difficult to be completely sure what will be happening by then. I have not really seen any of them for the whole year and an half so what better place to meet up than there?
The Euro 2020 football tournament is underway albeit a year late. England started with a great win against Croatia. The first time we have ever won an opening group game in the competition. Scotland were beaten two nil by Czech Republic in their opening game. Then last night England and Scotland played out a goalless draw. I thought Scotland were the better side on the night. Look England will still get through and a win in the last game means we will win the league. But the performance did not fill me with confidence. Wales have got four points from their first two games, so are in a similar position to us.
I have been watching all the England games and the odd match here and there. The teams that you would expect to be in the mix towards the end mostly seem to have got off to good start. England have the potential to be able to play all of their games at Wembley depending on where they finish in the group stage. Add to that the fact that the semi-finals and finals are both at the home of football. You have to think that if we could get to that stage it would help our chances. But it is too early to dream of that just yet. That old cliche’ still holds true I feel “let us just take one game at a time”.
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.