A Few Ramblings…
Forty-six year old Christian happily negotiating the world with a wife and three daughters
Maidenhead Carnival – 11th June 2011
We spent most of Saturday in Kidwells Park helping out with our church, Parkside Christian Fellowship, as they had a stall for Maidenhead Carnival.
Fortunately we were able to see a little of the other activities that were going on in the park as well.
During the morning, most of the activity at the Carnival took place on the main stage. This included a 60 second performance from my friend Andrew Burdett, which I sadly didn’t get to see.
The main stage in Kidwells Park
As a result of the activity on the stage, traffic passing through and reaching the stalls during the morning was somewhat minimal.
Some of the stalls, including the one for Parkside Christian Fellowship
Rebekah decided to take Holly off for a ride on the Land Train, running through the park, while it was relatively quiet.
Rebekah and Holly on the Land Train
Later, Sarah took Rebekah up on the Big Wheel.
Rebekah and Sarah on the Big Wheel
During the afternoon, my old friend Jon from Thames Valley University days came over to see Maidenhead Carnival with his son, Oliver. Oliver had been somewhat under-the-weather during the night, hence the long faces!
Jon and Oliver
Meanwhile, closer to home, following the excitement of Alan and Jennifer’s recent engagement, the next budding romance is now under way, this time between Judith and Brian! It’s certainly one to keep an eye on!
Judith's Dad keeping an eye on his daughter and new boyfriend, Brian
Overall we had a great day at the Carnival. The weather stayed sunny for most of the time that we were there, and it was good to catch up with friends again as well as being a part of the work that Parkside were doing.
During the evening, I heard the sounds of fireworks from the nearby Kidwells Park. Hastily, I grabbed my camera, held the top window open wide with my left hand, rested the camera on the window frame with my right hand and snapped a few hopeful shots.
It was only after a few minutes that I belatedly thought about going outside with my tripod to take some proper shots. By the time I had set everything up the fireworks were over and I had to resort to the photo below as being the best of a far from great bunch!
Hopefully I’ll be more organised next year!
Fireworks from our window
Staying local – 6th June 2011
Given that Sarah was unwell during the night, it was perhaps a benefit that I was off work for the day – particularly given that the girls were both home for an inset day too.
This meant that I was promoted to preparing breakfast for three hungry girls. In reality, this simply consisted of supplying bowls of cereals which even my limited culinary skills were capable of achieving!
After the heavy rain overnight, we decided not to venture too far from home. I spent most of the morning finalising posters for Parkside Christian Fellowship to use at the upcoming Maidenhead Carnival on Saturday before later popping over, with the girls, to inspect our vegetable plot following the welcome rain.
The plot is looking good with the runner-beans already heading skywards and in flower. There is also new growth on the gooseberry bush and even the sunflowers are emerging!
We finished off something of a low-key day off work in McDonalds. Although we didn’t manage to venture far, it was good to spend some time with the family.
Tomorrow the long weekend is over and it’s back to work with a jolt. Hopefully Sarah will be fully recovered too.
A day in Bournemouth – 3rd June 2011
Amazingly, what with one thing or another, we hadn’t been down to Bournemouth since 18th September 2010 – back before I even was blogging! Considering that we used to try and get down there once a quarter, it was clearly high time to make the most of a sunny and hot summer’s day!
Accordingly, we packed (or rather Sarah packed!) most of the stuff that is needed, for three young girls, last night. After breakfast we jumped in the car and left soon after 8.15am
From the very start, the traffic seemed to be against us. As we reached the roundabout to pick up the M4 at Maidenhead we noticed that traffic heading away from London was at virtual standstill – fortunately before we joined it!
We headed back into Maidenhead and joined the A4 to Reading instead. By the time we eventually got to Reading we had already added the best part of an hour onto our journey.
Fortunately the traffic behaved itself more or less thereafter and we eventually arrived in Bournemouth at around 10.30am.
The girls quickly decided to go to the beach first, and we headed off to find somewhere suitable to enjoy the warm sunshine. Suitably doused in suncream, the girls headed off for a paddle in the sea – which was still very cold.
Emily doused in suncream
Holly in the sea, with Rebekah behind
Amusing sights on the beach included a man wearing a leather jacket (perhaps a little unnecessary in June!) and in contrast, a young lady wearing very little, who suddenly had to give chase to her inflatable ring when it blew away down the beach, pressing a towel into service to protect her modesty!
Later we enjoyed some chips from Harry Ramsdens, as well as our own packed lunch.
Chips from Harry Ramsdens
After lunch, we decided to pop into town and ended up enjoying cold drinks in Debenhams before making our usual trip to the old-fashioned sweet shop on our way to the car.
Rebekah with her outsize chocolate muffin in Debenhams
We made our way back to the car, passing through the Winter Gardens to see the birds in the aviary en route. This chap was just the other side of the fence and was extremely noisy. He also only had one leg!
A noisy resident at the aviary
We finally left Bournemouth at around 4.45pm and immediately found ourselves in good company with hundreds of other people who seemed keen to leave at the same time as us and head off down the A31.
We stopped off for a meal at the Little Chef at Picket Post on the way home. Last time we had been there, the service and food were great. This time, things were a little different.
We gave our order to the young waitress who wrote everything down carefully before disappearing to fetch our drinks.
Shortly after the drinks arrived, I got up to go around the table to Emily and managed to inadvertently knock over my almost-full chocolate milkshake. I had to find a member of staff to ask to clean up the mess – and then had to ask for a replacement milkshake.
The meals took a long time to arrive and when they did eventually turn up, all wasn’t well. Sarah had ordered a chicken platter and received a different dish. Rebekah had ordered fish goujons and ended up receiving an adult’s fish and chips – complete with bread!
The waitress took Sarah’s meal away and then when Sarah followed a minute later, after realising Rebekah’s dinner was also incorrect, she heard the waitress talking to the chef and blaming her for the mistake – not very professional!
All of this made for a slightly truncated meal as Holly and I had to finish ours before Sarah’s and Rebekah’s dinners belatedly arrived.
The staff were apologetic, although Sarah noticed when she paid that they didn’t ask whether we had enjoyed the meal or not and also committed the cardinal sin of not offering lollipops until prompted!
I sent the tweet below, to which, as of Saturday 4th June at 11pm, I have yet to receive a reply to:
All in all, it was somewhat disappointing. I have been a lifelong fan of Little Chef and have even been interviewed by their new Digital Marketing Manager, who seems to look after their Social Media side, about my thoughts on Little Chef over the years.
In general, as a company, they are doing a good job in turning around the business. It’s just a shame that are still a few bad apples in the bag that manage to tarnish the overall impression.
After our disappointing meal, we headed home and again found ourselves in heavy traffic before finally arriving back at about 8.30pm.
It was a good day – at least the Bournemouth part! 😉
___________________________________________________________________________________
Update – I did receive an apologetic tweet from Little Chef and also a £10 Little Chef token in the end.
Bank Holiday Monday – 30th May 2011
With the weather forecast suggesting that the Bank Holiday would be something of a wash-out, we decided against any great plans for going out anywhere for the day.
Emily enjoying a swing in the park
Instead, we settled with a short visit over to the park in Cookham followed by coffee at Mum’s house.
Emily and Sarah
Rebekah and Holly in the silver birch
The vegetable plot showing signs of growth
One of the French beans in the vegetable plot
Foxgloves
This afternoon the girls helped Sarah to make cakes while I listened to the unfolding drama at Wembley as Reading took on Swansea in the Championship play-off.
It started promisingly but within the space of a couple of minutes, Reading were 2-0 down and then Swansea scored a third before half-time.
After the interval, Reading emerged as a new team and pulled the score back to 3-2 before Swansea scored their second penalty to make it 4-2 to the Welsh team.
Even as Swansea were celebrating, strange things were happening in Cardiff, where England were taking on Sri Lanka in the First Test.
After scoring 400 in their first innings, England replied with an impressive total of 496/5. Sri Lanka then simply fell apart in their second innings, garnering a mere 82 runs for their ten wickets giving England a stunning victory by an innings and 14 runs.
In the evening we decided to take the girls out for their first visit to Pizza Express. They all seemed to enjoy it and we had a good evening.
What had seemed like a wash-out Bank Holiday at the start of the day ended up being a busy and fun day spent with the family, tarnished only by the defeat of Reading.
Rebekah's impressive dessert at Pizza Express
Sarah and Emily
A Few Ramblings... 