Family Time

Last week, Michael was over from New York. He was with Zoe on Wednesday and in the evening Alison and I went there for dinner. Peter arrived home late, it was his first week in a new job. But the six of us sat down for a lovely meal after Hannah had gone to bed. It was so nice for all of us to be there.

Michael came back to stay with us Wednesday night and on Thursday we donned our boots and set off for a walk in the Chilterns. The weather looked threatening to start, but turned out to be one of the best days for ages. We were very lucky considering what an awful summer it has been so far. So we had a very enjoyable couple of hours to catch up. We finished up at the "Cafe in the Woods" for lunch outside, again a rare occurrence this summer.

On Saturday I went over to Radnage where Peter and Zoe showed me the work that had been done to their new house, and Hannah was desperate that I see the pink lights in her bedroom. I even met Zoe and Hannah again on Tuesday for lunch in Chinnor. Zoe said she couldn't remember the last time she saw me on her birthday.

Why I hate doing crawl

I seem to have changed my swimming day from a Wednesday to a Tuesday. It is a little quieter at the pool, and I normally have a rest day on Monday which means I am sort of better prepared.

The problem over the last few weeks is that I have started to build up doing crawl to where I now do 5 x 4 lengths every ten minutes of my 50 minutes plus session. Reverting back to breaststroke after each 100metres of crawl is so easy. Except this week I have found how to kick harder doing crawl, but then it takes a while to recover my normal breaststroke kick.

So the four lengths of crawl are a killer. The first length is fine, the next just about OK, but the last two are so hard. I am waiting until they get easier, but that is not happening at the moment. And by the time I reach the fifth session of crawl, well, its only the fact that its the last keeps me going.

I have only ever done breaststroke for the last twenty years, so I guess starting something new was always going to be difficult. The pool will be busy when the children's summer holidays start, so I might have to cut down on the crawl. Hurrah!

Hampton Court Flower Show

The nice thing about Alison giving me tickets for the flower show for my birthday at Christmas was that it was a treat for the middle of the year. The show gardens were varied, and some were exceptional. Alison particularly liked "The Unwind Garden" as the top photo. It did seem quite serene.

We both were very taken by the "View Across the Water" (the other two photos above) which also won a gold medal. This was the best of the water gardens.

The displays in the marquees were staggering as usual. There were so many plants for sale. I limited my purchases to three Nemesia. Although I did consider a Hosta from an awesome collection. I never used to like Hostas, but I can now see why they are so popular. I need to extend some borders so I can plant a few.

We finished the day with the Daily Mail "Darling Buds of May" Pavilion. And what an amazing display of a 1950's cottage garden, the orchard and the village post office, garage and market garden. Fantastic.

We were lucky with the weather. The rain we were promised for the afternoon duly arrived at 3.45pm, but by that time we were on our way back to the bus stop for the park and ride. The traffic was bad coming home, but the thought of dinner at The Five Bells kept us going. We had only time during the day to share a sandwich sitting on a dwarf wall by the lake. So we were ravenous by the time our meals arrived. They went down very well, especially with my pint of 6X.

Roadrunner by Jonathon Richmond

I mentioned this track in my posting of 4th June, and what do you know, it was this weeks "Going For a Song" in the Sunday Times. What a great series this is. Tim Richardson is a gardens writer and says "its a great song for 17 year olds to play while driving too fast". I have to admit its difficult for me not to press down on the accelerator when it starts "Roadrunner, Roadrunner, going faster miles an hour".

We Need to Talk About Kevin

One the most painful books I have ever read, so much so that I couldn't wait to finish it. But it was totally engrossing, excruciating and gripping. The fact that I kept telling myself that no child could be as awful as Kevin was no consolation as the brilliant writing assured me there was.

I had never heard of Lionel Shriver. It was the interesting concept of her seventh novel, and that it had won the 2005 Orange Prize for fiction, that attracted me in the first place. I didn't see the gut wrenching twist at the end coming for a long time, but I never do. Although the surprise did give me a thrill at the time, I thought it did detract from the fulfillment I expected when I finally finished reading.

What I need now is to get back to Terry Wogan and his autobiography "Mustn't Grumble".

Pirates 3, Ocean's 13 and Vacancy

A great conclusion to the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was terrific fun. A fairly incomprehensible plot did not spoil the frantic action and witty dialogue that made the film a joy to watch.

Not so Ocean's 13. A pathetic script and wooden characters that even the great actors could not make it anything but boring. A challenger for worst film of the year.

Vacancy was a good thriller. Although a standard man and woman in peril formulae, it was still had believable characters, sharp direction and plenty of twists and turns. Simple fodder maybe, but that's OK.