Oops!

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Householder in significant lawnmower / pebble / patio window incident! Early reports indicate that the grandmother of three cats was unharmed, if a little angry and shocked. “Well, this has never happened to me before in the 17 years I’ve lived here”, she was reported to have said. Pebble named as culprit after gunfire, neighbours and meteor all discounted

Sutton Hoo

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Spent much of the day at Sutton Hoo. Only the second visit here in the 19 years we’ve been down here. Whilst the exhibition and treasury are interesting and Tranmer House (furnished in the 1930s style, although the house is older) is a nice addition to the site, that’s all you get for the asking price and it that context it’s one of the National …

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Rolling Down The River

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Just back from a river cruise along the Rhine and Mosel. Blessed with fine weather and an array of lovely stop offs on both rivers. The Rhine was clearly and unsurprisingly the busiest of the two, whereas the Mosel was quieter but ‘blessed’ with a number of locks to negotiate (twice, as we went down and then back up from Koblenz.

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Jersey Break

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Just back from our annual jaunt to the Channel Islands – this time Jersey, an island we haven’t been to for over 40 years! Thought it would be a good idea to compare it to its slightly smaller cousin, Guernsey to see if it could match its tranquillity and picturesque coastline.

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Maverick Festival 2014

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Yesterday at Maverick (our fourth visit I think). Another excellent festival, but a little less sun than we’re used to. Even had the temerity to shower on two or three occasions. As usual, we parked ourselves at the outside stage all afternoon. A fine selection of all things Americana, particular highlights included Flats and Sharp, Massy Ferguson, Rainbow Girls, Wynntown Marshalls, Dreaming Spires and Ward …

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A Rambling We Shall Go – 2014

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Been members of the Ramblers for years and never gone on a ramblers organised walk – until yesterday. Finally sauntered along to an Ipswich Ramblers led walk around Newbourne, Waldringfield and the Deben. Had the advantages of being one of the local areas we’ve never covered ourselves and we didn’t have to worry about maps etc, just let someone else take the strain. Oh, and …

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Cote D’Azur

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Not long back from a leisurely seven day cruise around the Cote D’Azur (and beyond) visiting a number of places we hadn’t been to before. That was the plan anyway, and although it still turned out that way, a few stops didn’t end up being the ones on the original itinerary. From the airport to the ship in Barcelona and straight off again to squeeze in a visit to Antoni Gaudi’s Palau Guell, the first commission he received from his main client Eusebi Guell and built between 1886 and 1890. Worth the effort.

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Dementia Friends

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Having watched my dad’s battle with dementia, this subject is close to our hearts and this initiative has been developed by the Alzheimer’s society. The video alone is a definite must watch and should dispel a few myths about this horrendous disease. The focus on how it can attack the relatively young is particularly affecting, although it doesn’t prepare you for the worst of the …

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The NHS and the Elderly – Setting The Wrong Agenda

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As Karol Sikora wades into the debate over rationing health care for the elderly (in his case, specifically the allocation of life extending cancer drugs), it seems that the power brokers in the NHS are once again self-limiting any robust analysis by hiding behind the dogma that the NHS is operating within constrained resources and competing priorities. Which, of course, to a degree is true, but only if the solutions that are presented to the rest of us continue to be rooted in the political status quo.

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Cuba!

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Just back from a two week trip to Cuba with friends. If ever a country betrayed the contradictions inherent in a changing political and economic landscape, then Cuba probably takes first prize. Which made the trip extremely interesting and enjoyable, if a little on the warm side. In our opinion, you couldn’t go all the way to Cuba and fry on a beach for the duration (although many do, apparently) so we managed five nights in Havana, two in colonial Trinidad and then spent a week in Varadero recovering!

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