Category: News

My goodness, what a busy, busy week we’ve had. And, to make things even better, the weather in the second half of the week has been fairly marvellous – bright clear skies and temperatures reaching into the mid-70s – a veritable heat wave for the UK! I’m afraid there is too much to relate this week so you’re going to get the current narrative spread over two weeks. That means you will have to wait until next time for a detailed description of Ms Playchute’s Sixty Sensational Celebratory Surprises which began on Thursday with Ben’s arrival for her birthday party yesterday evening. In the meantime, though, you will have to put up with an account of last weekend’s entertainments which included a terrific day out in the big city with the usual suspects. Continue reading “27 May 2012”

A very good morning to you all.

Penelope and I have been considering replacing some of our windows and French doors. One of the “problems” this house has is that it was built by a chap who then ran off with his secretary sometime before its completion. As a result, the doors and windows stood exposed to the elements for about three years before finally being protected with a coat of varnish and stain. As a consequence, several are in a sad state of repair, especially those on the south-facing elevation. Continue reading “20 May 2012”

Good morning from soggy downtown Byfield. Apparently, it rained pretty much non-stop while we were in the States; it’s been grey, miserable and damp pretty much non-stop since we got home although we did see the sun a few times at the end of the week. No sign of the end of our hosepipe ban, of course. In spite of the floods, we’re still in the midst of the worst drought in 25 years. Continue reading “13 May 2012”

And so, in a heartbeat, it is over. We had a great ten days visiting with Mom and Dad, Steph and Hope, Sandy and Pam, Susie and our good friends Chip and Leca Boynton. Can anyone explain why these visits, so long in the anticipation, fly by in a flash?

The flight home was long and tedious but smooth and straight-forward; it left Logan on time, arrived at Heathrow just ten or fifteen minutes late, immigration let me back into the country without too many tricky questions, our luggage was waiting on the carousel for Penelope when she breezed through customs, when I eventually emerged from my interrogations we walked out to meet the bus waiting to take us to our car and, apart from a short delay on the motorway due to an earlier accident, we had a smooth drive home. Penelope managed to snore her way from about Newfoundland to Iceland; I slept not a wink on the flight – I always find it very difficult to find a suitably comfortable position in which to snooze, especially when the person in front of you is reclining comfortably with her head in your lap. Still, a few days should see us right again. Continue reading “6 May 2012”

Good morning from beautiful downtown Huletts Landing at Lake George. As some of you will know, Ms Playchute and I flew into Boston on Tuesday and descended on Steph and Hope, much to their eternal disappointment. Susie arrived on Thursday evening and on Friday we drove over to the Lake with Mom and Dad. Yesterday we greeted our good friend Chip Boynton and his lovely wife Leca for the weekend so I hope you will appreciate that you are lucky to get any sort of correspondence this morning. (I guess many of you will feel that you are extraordinarily unlucky to receive this week’s edition and you would probably be right). Continue reading “29 April 2012”

More April showers this week followed by sunny intervals followed by more and more April showers! Good job there’s a water shortage so that we can keep hold of all this water. Oh, I forgot – most of the rain is making its way into the rivers and streams and cascading its way merrily to the sea. Hosepipe bans for the indefinite future, I guess. Continue reading “22 April 2012”

Now this is more like what we’re used to – we’ve had April Showers in abundance this week which is undoubtedly good news for the water table. No danger of our hosepipe ban being lifted, of course, but we desperately need the rain so can’t complain, really. Continue reading “15 April 2012”

Boy! I couldn’t have been more accurate when I said last week that Spring was great while it lasted. The last week of March was sensational – clear, sunny and warm! This week we’ve had the return of Arctic conditions with a stern north-easterly wind accompanied by the occasional downpour of rain, sleet, hail together with a smattering of snowflakes. Just have a look at yesterday’s forecast for the Easter weekend in the neighbouring metropolis of Banbury and you’ll get a feel for what I mean. Continue reading “8 April 2012”

Well, Spring was great while it lasted. Following last week’s fine, warm weather which continued for much of this week, Friday and Saturday were decidedly cool (Penelope would say that it has been “cold”) and overcast. How typical is it that the weather takes a marked turn for the worse just in time for the weekend? Having said that, almost every day is the equivalent of a weekend for me so what do I care? Continue reading “1 April 2012”

Good morning to you all on a gloriously glorious day in our neck of the woods. Here’s hoping that your Spring has sprung too. I have to say, we’re not getting the 70 degree temperatures Pam wrote about; ours are in the more modest 50s and 60s range but it’s bright, clear, sunny and warm so what’s to complain about. And, we’ve had pretty decent weather all week – a bit foggy and hazy in the mornings with a bit of chill but once the sun has broken through to disperse the haze, it’s been lovely. Continue reading “25 March 2012”