Dear Diary... May 2025
Saturday 31st May – Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It..
The Love In My Heart and I had a relaxing sleep overnight, and Brian the cat was of course wanting lots of fussing and attention. He however only wanted his Mummy and was looking a bit pensive if I wanted to stroke him or give him a little kiss. Needless to say, his claws were out and he got me – for the first time in ages. I suspect that he was just being too close to Mummy and any invasion of that he didn’t like. Still, lesson learned the hard way, as he had a little hiss too. He did make uo with me later though when I fed him some Dreamies and let me stroke him whilst he was happily purring, so all is good in the end.
Anyway, we had a good afternoon and evening planned, and so first off we had a visit from The Love’s sister. It was good to see her and we had a good chatter about all sorts of breaks and holidays in the next few weeks, and she and her husband were off to South Wales for a few days next week, which would be very nice. I’ve been round the area she is going and it is very lovely, so mentioned a couole of places well worth visitjng if the chance was there. It can be a nice drive too if taking say the A49 and heading South on that rather than just motorways, so here’s hoping a good time would be had by all.
The Love and I headed on the tram to the city centre later, and as we had got there earlier than planned, it was off to have a drink or two. We did think about going in The Waterhouse, but that was choc busy and so we headed on to Albert Square and went in The Founders instead. The vibe was much more relaxed here, and as a JW Lees pub, they had all their lovely cask ale and indeed some of the Boilerhouse more limited craft runs too. I went for one of the cask ones – the nice and refreshingly light Tropic Crush, which they brew for the Summer months, and the Manchester Craft Lager is always a favourite of The Love. We’ll definitely need to come back here again since it was done up, as it used to be called something else (still was a JW Lees pub) but feels a lot better now.
We then walked round to the next bar of choice where we had booked for some food and a table for two. What we didn’t realise was that at the same time two of our friends were in there and as we were heading to the bar, one of them came across us and said hello, so eventually we managed to get a table for four of us so they could join us for a drink before we had our food. It was good to catch up and have a good natter, and of course they had been in town most of the day, with a telltale purchase from the Lego shop too as we had got one of them a gift card for their birthday, so glad to see it being used and that our present went towards it. They left us to it just before the food came, which was pretty nice all round, and as we had an outside seat The Love could people watch all the many hen parties all making their way through the city centre.
After that it was over to the Odeon cinema in the Great Northern complex. It does feel odd now because where the box office used to be in the days of AMC Cinemas has closed, and a few self-service ticket machines are there, but that main entrance has also closed. You now have to exit, walk along Deansgate Mews and in what feels more like a side entrance, which then takes you to the escalators up. People clearly see the main entrance and think it is closed, when it is not, which does put people off. We had got our tickets in advance so was able to get those scanned in and we headed straight up to Screen 12, which was for our film to watch. It didn’t feel that busy when we went in and even when the film started there were plenty of seats to move around, which did feel a shame. At least Vue in the Printworks in the city centre has some life to it (and in truth, better reclining seats) and the Everyman is always one for special occasions too (The Love already wants to see the final Downtown Abbey film there later this year.)
So we watched Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. And naturally as The Love does like Tom Cruise, she was happy – and to see Tom at the start introduce the film to say “We wanted you to see it as was intended – in theatres for the big cinema experience” was a good thing. The classic iconic theme was played after the lengthy introduction (classic so tune of the day) and it was a pretty lengthy film too, at two hours and forty-nine minutes. I won’t provide any spoilers here, but what I will say is that it was a very entertaining thrill ride, with plenty of suspense, some superb stunts and best of all, some unlikely but great chemistry, especially between Simon Pegg (Benji) and Pom Klementieff (Paris) which was good – in fact I’ve seen them on promo stuff on Youtube for other things and they are hilarious. There is also a return of a character from much earlier in the series, but you will have to watch to find out. Overall, I enjoyed it, and it certainly brought down the curtain on all the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible series well.
As we left the cinema somewhere nearer Deansgate-Castlefield station, it was easier to take the tram back from there, although we did see some carnage from people on a night out clearly being a little worse for wear shall we say. We did end up heading back to The Love’s place well with a 1 minute wait for a tram (winning) and ended up having a drink and watching The World’s End, with Simon Pegg in of course, and the last part of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy – the other two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz of course. I think The Love was quite surprised that the likes of Martin Freeman and Rosamund Pike, as well as Pierce Brosnan, would be in the film too, but it shows the quality of fun to be had. After all, Penelope Wilton (some will know her from Downton Abbey, The Love does!) was in Shaun of the Dead too..
Monday 26th May - Old Acquaintance, Not Forgot
It was nice to just to be able to relax with a long lie in this morning, and was nice for The Love In My Heart to get some more well earned rest. I had watched most of Match of the Day last night before I went to bed, but did watch the remainder this morning. It was a real shame that it was Gary Lineker's final ever time hosting the programme (and he has left the BBC now, so no hosting of World Cup or FA Cup coverage either, which will be a massive void to fill.) The tributes from so many footballers who were also pundits on the show was good, especially the heartfelt one from Ian Wright, along with current players and managers such as Virgil van Dijk and Pep Guardiola.
We had some lovely breakfast including some mushrooms, bacon, sausges, egg and toast (and some plum tomatoes also for The Love too.) Once that was done, I sorted out the dishwasher and put that on, and settled in for some telly to watch - mainly Four in a Bed on More 4, as we do like to see if there are any good places we may want to stay at, but also how other fellow B & B owners come across the different places and what they think. One of them was in Conwy, and some of the rooms had views of the river and some of the castle, so that was rather nice if you managed to stay there at least.
We got ourselves changed and ready and headed out towards East Croydon station. As it transpired the Crystal Palace victory parade for their FA Cup win was taking place on all the streets close to Selhurst Park and not in the centre of Croydon itself, so that was something of note, and there were some making their way back (assuming they didn't have tickets for the party in the stadium). We were soon on our way to Victoria and then on the tube to Warren Street, to re-acquaint ourselves with an old friend.
Yes, it was off to the Crown and Anchor on Drummond Street, close to Euston, and we had booked a table for two. It was not as full as it normally would be, but I suspect with the Bank Holiday also being the start of the half term break, some may have decided to get away earlier anyway. That said, it was good to have a well earned pint in there and we did have food too - The Love had the fish and chips which looked as good as ever, and I went for the king prawn and crab linguine, which had a nice sauce and a lemon and herb top too which was a good added bonus. It tasted really good and felt not too heavy either, so that was a good win all round.
After another drink it was time to head over to Euston and to give The Love a fond farewell as she had a three hour train trip home due to engineering works. The weekend had gone by far too quickly but we had both had a lovely time, and a little soft tender kiss as she headed to the platform felt just the nice way to say our fondest farewells. I got back home relatively easily in the end and settled in to listen to some music including the excellent Penfriend, where Emotional Tourist from her new album House of Stories just has to be tune of the day - it just feels so right somehow.
Sunday 25th May - In Bloom
It was a nice relaxing morning for both myself and The Love In My Heart, with The Love having a well earned lie in after a hard week at work. The good thing was that it was relatively quiet overnight all round and that did mean that it was easier to sleep. We did have some rain overnight too but that had gone by the time I was making some breakfast for us both, so that definitely was a good thing to freshen things up a bit. Once breakfast and coffee was consumed, we got ourselves ready to head out later in the day, and to have a sunny Sunday afternoon around parts of central (ish) London.
We had done this last year, with both Belgravia in Bloom and Chelsea in Bloom taking place the same week as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It gives you an accesible thing to see and does mean a nice afternoon walk around some posher parts of London too. So we got the train to Victoria, and from there it was along to Eccleston Street to see some of the floral displays in Belgravia. We then walked through Eccleston Yards and the nice square there before then walking over to Elizabeth Street, where of course everyone was queueing to get into Peggy Porschen or have their selfie outside the place.
We walked further down Elizabeth Street and there were some nice displays - some of the shops' ones were really good including one with sunflowers outside, one with a glass and its fizz showing in floral form and a nice one with butterflies too. Unfortunately there were also far too many self-centred idiots out who just wanted to hog all the displays for their selfies and pretending to model there, and then barking at anyone walking past (bear in mind the street is a public space). One woman next to The Love had the right idea, saying "I'd rather take this with no people!" which we both agreed on.
We then walked over to Montcomb Street and unlike last year, there were no displays here, which did leave us a little disappointed, and I have to say overall it was a let down compared to last year. We headed over towards Sloane Street and saw a few of the first Chelsea in Bloom displays including one that looked like a woman with her dog and plenty of flowers, and others that had sunglasses as the main floral piece which did look pretty good. In Sloane Square itself, they had a large horse which looked like it was made of leaves, and then we walked (slowly) down Kings Road.
My favourite display was quite some way around Kings Road, it was a full on punk with all colourful hair and also a jacket with badges and so on, and it was huge. It made me think of many punk classics, so due to its links to the road, tune of the day has to be Pretty Vacant by Sex Pistols.) I really liked the ethos behind that and really did stand out really well. There were far too many people around though and for me, I'd probably look at heading there early morning (very early morning) and being able to do the walk and see all the displays without having to risk walking on to the road due to the sheer numbers. With that in mind, we had Plan B in operation and so got the number 11 bus back to Victoria.
Once there, we went into the Victoria Market Hall and had a welcome drink on its rooftop bar, and we were able to find a spot in there and get a Camden Hells and Camden Stout for us to savour, before we would then relax and take the train back homewards. It was good to then make us both some tea and settle in for the Monaco Grand Prix highlights on Channel 4, where Lando Norris won (copying the "Monaco baby, yeah" quote from Jenson Button) and with Charles Leclerc second. It was good to see lots of the features they did prior to the race and it was also good that the two pit stops tried to do something different with the race strategy.
Saturday 24th May - Hanging Out in Haggerston
It was a relatively early rise for me today as I wanted to get the last bits of tidying up of the flat sorted out, as The Love In My Heart was coming for the weekend. I always keep the place tidy anyway, but it is always good to be sure that everything is all in place and where needed I've got the place all super clean. As it transpired, the rug in the front room was showing a bit of dirt at the front, so when I was heading to Savers I got the Dr Beckmann carpet cleaner brush, and that did work well. I may have been a little enthusiastic with using the whole bottle across all of the areas and so on, but felt it made sense for a good going over.
After having some lunch it was time to head to East Croydon station, where The Love would soon be arriving. As it turned out due to engineering works all this week, the trains from Manchester to London were taking an alternative route after Stafford, via the back of Wolverhampton and Walsall and along the back way out of Birmingham before then joining the line near Birmingham International and via Coventry to Rugby, where it could then peg it down to Euston. That did mean a journey time of just over three hours though but at least it was on time, so soon was there with The Love and heading back to my place for the afternoon.
We had a coffee and catch up, and The Love freshened up with a change of outfit for later, one of her really nice Oliver Bonas dresses. We thought it might rain later so she had a brolly with her to be on the safe side, and we would be off on the Overground from West Croydon to head up underneath the River Thames and onwards to Haggerston, where The Love's niece lives. It was just meeting her tonight as her partner is currently doing work things over in Copenhagen (very nice) so for her to have some company as well as her two flatmates was a good idea - plus The Love is her favourite auntie anyway, so always good to see her.
We had a very short walk from Haggerston station over to the Duke of York pub, where I had reserved us a table for 7pm. The food menu looked good and a good drinks selection all round too, including the rather good Gipsy Hill Hepcat, and the Jubel peach beer which The Love's niece has got into (and with good reason, it is nice!) We ordered some food and were all happy with what we had - The Love had the pork with a nice creamy sauce, potatoes and green beans, and really looked tasty, and her niece had the beef ragu with papardelle pasta, again very good. I went for the fish and chips and that was spot on - the fish had a crispy batter which The Love would approve of, and the triple cooked chips were very nice indeed.
We had a good natter in the Duke of York, and over a second drink The Love's niece mentioned that she discovered that the National Express coach to Stansted Airport makes a stop at the bus stop close to her flat, which means for her, partner and flat mates that flying from there suddenly becomes an even better option as no having to lug bags for ages either. That is a pretty epic win to be fair, and almost matches the fact I've got the SL7 bus from mine to Heathrow which means a mere £1.75 to get to that airport, an absolute bargain all ways round really.
After that we were going to go in Signature Brew's taproom for a beer or two, but they had an event on, so no dice. However, there was a place around the corner which The Love's niece mentioned, and we went in there instead. The owners were super nice and friendly and had some good outside seating as well as cosy inside seats too, so we had a couple of drinks in there. It is effectively next to a little studio theatre too which has opened recently (Playhouse East), and serving coffee during the day and drinks at night (as well as lunch food) certainly keeps it going well. I can highly recommend it if you are around there - so pop into Cafe Hebe next time you are around Haggerston.
The time flew far too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to say our fondest farewells and head homewards. We got the 149 bus back to London Bridge and then hopped on the train back to East Croydon, so that worked out well overall. It was not too long before we were back at my place and I could watch the F1 qualifying highlights from Monaco, where Lando Norris had done the business and got pole position, although I wish Channel 4 would bring back The Chain by Fleetwood Mac as the proper F1 theme (and for that reason it just has to be tune of the day for me.)
Tuesday 20th May - Ohhhh, Kevin de Bruyne!
I had a half day off work today as it was a trip up to Manchester for me, and to see The Love In My Heart as well as Manchester City's final home game of the season against Bournemouth. City needed to win to keep in pole position for a top five finish and Champions League football next season, and it would the final home game for Kevin de Bruyne after ten years playing for the club. I was in our Hoxton office so left there and got the Overground to Highbury and Islington and the Victoria Line to Euston.
I knew that my train had already been cancelled due to earlier issues on the lines, so thankfully Avanti West Coast do allow you to board the train 1 or 2 before your current one. As it turned out the one that was 2 before was still in the station, and so thought "this could work" and managed to spot the unreserved Coach C (a reminder: any seat reservations do not carry over.) And as a lot of people with massive cases were faffing around at one end, I walked to the other, got on, and got a window seat no problem. Winning (and that is an understatement) so had a relaxed if slower journey, and a Meal Deal on train at the shop meant I could at least have some lunch.
The Love In My Heart was on an early shift at work today so she suggested with the weather still being nice that we head out to Track Brewing's tap room for a drink. And as I could walk it there from Manchester Piccadilly station, an easy win. We met up there, and I had their Sonoma AF which was just the thing for the nice weather outside, and we sat outside and chattered, with plenty of Bruce Springsteen fans on their way to the gig at Co-Op Live too (which was at the same time as the game). Naturally we knew it was going to be busy so we headed back to The Love's place. It was nice to do a post-work drink though, first time we'd done that in ages and something we would occasionally do when both working in Manchester, so a lovely thing.
We had some tea and Brian the cat had his too, and after The Love had enjoyed Downton Abbey on ITV3 it was time for me to head off to the Etihad. I wanted to get there in good time to see any pre-match hype for the Kevin de Bruyne presentation later on, and to soak up the atmosphere on an admittedly quite sunny evening, which would see the sunset over the stadium as the game progressed. The teams came out, a massive tifo flag got unfurled in the East Stand just to the left of me, which was ace, and it was all ready for kick off and hopefully three important points too!
The game started and City played reasonably well, although Bournemouth looked dangerous on the attack too. They at least wanted to play and not sit ten men behind the ball, which was good to see. City went forward with a couple of decent attacks before with one attack, the ball was fed to Omar Marmoush, he ran forward and then he smashed it from twenty five yards out into the top corner. Wow. What a goal that was! 1-0 to City and well deserved. Marmoush set up Kevin de Bruyne but unfortunately he managed to hit the bar with an open goal from six yards out, which would have been a fairytale for him to score.
City though did push on well and after some hard work by both Matheus Nunes and Bernardo Silva to win the ball back twice, the ball went to Ilkay Gundogan and he set up Bernardo Silva with a simple finish for 2-0. The match day announcer of course was doing his trademark "Our number 20, Bernardoooooooo" which then sets fans off for the Bernardo Silva chant, as you do. It stayed that way to half time and it was good to see that we were taking this game seriously and going to be able to hopefully get in prime position for Champions League qualification on the final day of the season.
The second half was more calm but then it all decided to kick off (literally) in a six minute spell. As Bournemouth attempted to get forward, Mateo Kovacic pulled back their striker, and as he was deemed to be the last man, it was an instant red card - and it was a definite red in my view. That did mean that de Bruyne had to go off and get replaced by Nico González to make it more defensive in a 10 versus 11 situation. However, then Lewis Cook decided to go heavily into Nico, with studs way up and above the ankle, so that was also a red card too - and back to 10 versus 10.
City did score very late on as a pass from the right found Nico (for some reason he is only known by his first name, possibly a Spanish thing) and he slotted a great shot into the bottom right of the goal for 3-0. Bournemouth did score a very late consolation late on and so the final score was 3-1, but as the teams left the field, everyone stayed for the presentation, with the masses of City fans as one singing along to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes (has to be tune of the day) with the lines "Ohhhhh, Kevin de Bruyne" and repeating quite often - and that was an understatement.
The presentation had a screen of former players wishing Kevin well and congratulating him on his ten years, and massive cheers were heard especially for the likes of Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Sergio Agüero and Vincent Kompany as they all did their bit. It was so good to see some of the moments presented on screen too and then from there it was more presentations - a mosaic which resembled the one he will have at the training ground, and there will be a statue outside the ground in his honour too. It was all over late on and it was good to be able to be there to say the fondest farewell..
Sunday 18th May - Tatsfield and Titsey
I got up this morning after a well earned lie in, and was on a little bit of a mission. I wanted to recycle some items I don't use anymore and at the same time wanted to change over the toaster and the small bathroom bin, because they're both getting old and not that usable now. I had seen a replacement for both, potentially, in Argos, and as I had a One4All gift card for my birthday, I could use that to buy both of them. Whilst the card has to have enough balance to cover the payment, you can use any Nectar points or other gift cards first, so as I needed an extra £2.50 it was a no brainer to swap 500 Nectar points for that, use the One4All card, and boom, items ordered.
With that done, I then packed up those and some other items and headed off to the recycling site at Fields Farm which is close to New Addington. It was an easy enough bus and then tram ride to the New Addington terminus and a short walk to the recycling facility, which was fairly busy. Pedestrian access is allowed via a good path in and around, so was able to do my bit and then head back. As I headed back, I had a brainwave - what if the 464 bus to Tatsfield was due to so I could go and have a wander there, and potentially walk the 1.5 miles to the Titsey Brewery for an afternoon stroll? I checked the bus stop timetable and there would be a 464 shortly - and when the bus runs once an hour on a Sunday, that is an epic win!
I have to say that if you want a pretty bus journey in countryside and outside the Greater London boundary, this 464 is the bus for you. You head out of New Addington and down Jewels Hill and up Saltbox Hill with all sorts of lovely country around you, and then pass Biggin Hill Airport (and some F1 offices too, all branded up) before turning right in Biggin Hill, heading down Stock Hill and then passing along some country roads of Rickets Hill Road before making the climb up Ship Hill to the Old Ship pub, where the bus terminates in the centre of Tatsfield. Instantly I started to recognise it, and for a good reason..
You see, parts of the main village centre of Tatsfield were used in the ITV drama Mr Bates versus the Post Office, and the pond outside a couple of the village shops, resplendent with their ducks and little baby ducklings, all swimming around, brought back memories of watching it, and seeming all very English and picturesque. I had done my research and the Titsey Brewery was open, so had a good walk around the village first and was tempted to potentially just go to the Old Ship and sit outside in its rear beer garden, but I had a nice walk to do, and so followed the road out of the village centre which became Approach Road.
This road, thankfully, had a grass lined verge, sometimes paved also, which meant you could safely walk all the way along the road, slightly uphill, to the B2026 Clarks Lane. That too had a verge on the left side and I could see what looked like the brewery and taproom in the distance, and indeed it was. It all looked lovely with plenty of seating outside as well as inside, although the inside had a number of tables booked which showed it was popular. I did get an inside table for two and got myself their rather nice Gower Wolf best bitter, which was spot on. I did order some of their loaded chips, and wow, they were ace, with bacon, beer cheese, and crispy onions all really nicely done and stacked too - plenty for your dosh there.
Once I had eaten I sat outside overlooking the North Downs (and indeed the North Downs Way passes on the other side of the road very close by!) and that was rather nice to enjoy the rest of my pint with - and definitely for me a place I'll need to come back to - and well worth the walk to get there, now I know that it can be done. I left in good time to head back to Tatsfield, sit and admire the ducks and ducklings in the pond for a while, and was all good on the 464 back to New Addington, where it was a pretty quick change for the tram, which was seamless all round.
I did then stay on the tram to the stop closest to the Argos, and picked up the two items I had ordered, and so took the short walk home from there. All looks well in the kitchen and bathroom now and for me it was definitely well worth being able to spruce those up and get something nicer and newer along the way, and for free too (always good when you can use a gift card for that and have something to show for it). As for tune of the day I did think about The Love In My Heart when sat outside the Titsey Brewery, so had to be Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb, which is a song we both appreciate but for different reasons. And yes, I do miss her and Brian the cat in case you didn't guess!
Saturday 17th May - Wembley Woe
It was the FA Cup final today, and it was Crystal Palace versus Manchester City at that. I had managed to get a ticket for the City end, based on the fact I've attended all the home FA Cup games over the last few seasons, and at least although up in Level 5, managed to pay £75 for it, which still isn't cheap. If I wanted nearer Level I was looking at around £125 minimum and more along side the touchline too. I figured that I didn't want to pay too much as I've got other things to be needing to keep money aside for, so was content with that. I could have gone full level two padded seat style but that was a massive £255, which is out of the price range.
As I would potentially be on the train with a number of Crystal Palace fans, I decided that wearing a Man City shirt would not be wise today - I wanted to, and had it been any other opponent, probably would have been fine, but safety first. I took the train to Farringdon and then switched over for the Metropolitan Line to Wembley Park and soon Olympic Way was greeting me in the afternoon sunshine, all looking resplendent. I walked down for a bit and headed right into Black Sheep Coffee - I could have had a beer in there as it was designated a Man City only shop for today but instead did lunch with a tuna melt panini and a coffee, which went down nicely.
I then walked up towards the steps and towards the zone I was in (Green Zone) and spotted that the Warrens Bakery isn't there anymore (so no proper Cornish pasties for me) and that I had been sensible getting lunch. I went up to see the Man City fanzone near the entrances, and after queuing up for some time, it was time to head in, and my ticket was checked to be valid, and after a decent sized queue I got in and managed to get to the bar - not that it was cheap as a Camden Hells was £7.65 for a pint. Good job I wasn't having a few drinks really - but soaked up the atmosphere anyway with the likes of some of the City chants being sung including the one for Kevin de Bruyne.
I went into the turnstile after a while and took the escalator to level five, and found my seat - right by an aisle but a good view of the East goal and was in the shade for now but knew the sun might come over a little later on. I did enjoy some of the pre-match tunes including Shapeshifters and the classic Lola's Theme, and as The Love In My Heart likes it, make it tune of the day for me. It was all about the build up, with me singing Abide With Me 15 minutes before kick off and then the National Anthem as the teams were out on the pitch. I wasn't so sure about the selection - some midfield steel seemed missing, but see what happens.
City were starting off pretty well and had a couple of early chances with a good effort from Erling Haaland saved by Dean Henderson, and a header from Josko Gvardiol from a corner well saved. However, in the sixteenth minute, Crystal Palace headed down the right hand side with Daniel Muñoz, and a perfect cross found Eberechi Eze who slotted home well for 1-0 to Palace. It was a well worked goal and showed much more insight than we had had going forward to that point. More chances came and went, and then a moment which may have changed the game.
A ball was long passed forward to Erling Haaland and as he was about to take it past Dean Henderson, the Palace keeper handled it away and meaning the ball went further away. A VAR check happened to check if he was denying a goalscoring opportunity, but the result was no, which did leave some of the BBC pundits not too happy. That decision came to haunt City later as Bernardo Silva had been fouled in the penalty area and City got a penalty after a VAR check. Unusually, Erling Haaland did not take it and instead handed the ball to Omar Marmoush to take. Inevitably, the penalty was saved by Henderson and the rebound from Haaland was not turned in either.
So it was 1-0 at half time and I figured that City would need goal early on in the second half to be able to turn this round. However, some heroic defending stopped Erling Haaland getting a header in, and at the other end after a long throw in, the ball went into the goal from Muñoz, but unfortunately for Palace, Ismaila Sarr was offside. City put another ball into Nico O'Reilly, but he tried to get it on his left foot before shooting and so the chance went begging. Kevin de Bruyne put in a clever little ball into Claudio Echeverri who had come on off the bench, but his shot was saved by Henderson.
As the time ticked away and even with ten minutes of stoppage time, I didn't think City had it in them to score - was playing Haaland after being back from injury early the right move, considering nthatwe now haven't scored in two games, and had Palace done their homework after Southampton had kept us out and sussed City were less dimensional. Well played Crystal Palace - they are now looking forward to Europa League football next season with the Holmesdale Road Stand and their ultras rocking Selhurst Park next season, and of course the Community Shield against Liverpool too, which is another good day out for them too. Fair play.
Monday 12th May - The Wicker Bear
After a nice lie in with Brian the cat wanting to try his hardest to wake The Love In My Heart up, it was time to head off for the afternoon together and to visit somewhere we hadn't been to for some time. I wanted to go there as there was something I wanted to see, and it meant we could do a nice pub lunch along the way as well as being able to visit a nice farm shop too. So it was along the M56 for a while, off at junction 10 and following the A49 down to Acton Bridge, and a good stop at The Riverside pub where we could sit outside by the River Weaver and be able to have a nice lunch.
And so it proved, and with good music too in the background that was nice and calm in the background, including some Fleetwood Mac and the classic Dreams (so tune of the day for us there.) I got myself the Shipyard Low Tide non-alcoholic beer, and for the lunch I had a lovely sea bass dish, complete with some prawns, potatoes and vegetables in a nice creamy white wine sauce. It definitely was lovely to have, and The Love's fish and chips also looked good too. It was just nice seeing the ducks get some shade and sit by the river bank before flying off to find some more of the river to swim in before heading back to their little spot close to a tree where they'd get some duck food too.
We then went down the A49 (and then the A51) towards Nantwich and before there turning off in Hurleston for the farm that effectively is the home of Snugburys Ice Cream, which as ever is always nice. We walked to the field where they normally have the massive straw sculptures, and for this year there happened to be a 45 foot high sculpture of Paddington Bear, complete with picnic basket and hat too, and a blue coat on. It was all made of straw but also backed up with wicker for the likes of the hat and the picnic basket, which led to a thought of The Wicker Bear instead of The Wicker Man - interestingly enough.
It was an impressive sight and I am sure any child who loves the bear would adore that and marvel at its height and how tall it all is. We did notice an outside little kiosk close to the main field now, and there was no queue for the ice cream with it being a Monday afternoon and the weather being nice, so I went for the raspberry pavlova and marmalade flavours (the latter obviously being a Paddington nod), both of which were gorgeous. The marmalade won out because of the zestiness of the oranges inside and the nice overall flavour, but you could pick any of the flavours and come away happy, let me tell you.
After all that ice cream we headed back up to the A49 and to the Hollies Farm Shop. In fact we timed it well as we could hear a clap of thunder in the distance and it rained solidly for around fifteen minutes whilst we were making our way around the shop - and we did manage to get to the café and have a well earned coffee too. That was all nice and we didn't want to head back homewards later, but off we set and it was not as bad traffic wise as we thought it would be, so said my fondest farewell and got the train home later, but had had a wonderful extended weekend.
Sunday 11th May - Happy Birthday II
Not content with it being my birthday, one of our friends happened to also have their birthday yesterday too and had turned 50 themselves. As we knew that they would be doing something nice with their partner (who is also our friend too, nice how these things work out) we thought that it would be good for several of us to get together for a Sunday roast and some drinks to celebrate, meaning that both of us could spend our actual birthdays with the loved ones and then have a bigger get together of sorts the day after. That was a good idea and we both were looking forward to an afternoon of relaxing times and chatter all round.
The Love In My Heart and I got the tram and we soon realised that it was busy due to Manchester United playing at home against West Ham United with a 2.15pm kick off. We were heading off early so we could have a pre-lunch drink before meeting our friends - or so we thought. We got to a place close to where we were meeting and our two friends, including the birthday one, was there outside with a drink, so naturally it made sense to join them and have a catch up and chatter beforehand, and we could hand our birthday present over - a Lego voucher which can be used online or in the shop as we know that he is into Lego, so made perfect sense for us, and it was appreciated.
We then headed off to Albert's Schloss, where the remaining company (friends of our friend) had some transport issues and were delayed, but didn't take everyone else too long to arrive. They had plenty of nice beer on tap including Pilsner Urquell which is tank fresh, but the Schofferhoffer was the choice for me as it was the tropical one and not as heavy, and the Goldbrau Austrian lager went down well with The Love In My Heart. The difficulty was which main to have, as there were roasts but also other good options too. I went for the salmon with new potatoes and vegetables as that looked nice (and it was) whilst The Love and a few others had the pork knuckle, which looked fun to get the meat off the bone.
With that demolished nicely, two of us including me went for the dessert and admittedly the sticky toffee pudding was rather nice, so enjoyed that one quite a bit. Conversation and drinks flowed well and before we knew it, it had gone 6pm and time had flown by, always a sign of enjoyment that. We paid up and said our goodbyes to a few of the friends and five of us left headed over to Brewdog where two of us signed up to the app and got a free pint during the rounds we purchased, so may as well right?
It was nice as the music in there was a good vibe, and for me a great tune I'd not heard in ages, Woman by Wolfmother, so has to be tune of the day for me there really. We did have plenty of thoughtful discussion about all sorts over the next two hours or so in there, and I did notice sadly that the two pinball machines that they used to have were not there anymore, which was a shame as I did enjoy a good play on those at the time. Still, it was good to be able to have a good time and for us both it was more of a continuation of a whole weekend plus an extra day tomorrow to enjoy some quality time. Winner.
Saturday 10th May - Happy Birthday
So it was my birthday today, and thankfully I had managed to get the train up to Manchester last night without too many issues. It was therefore nice to wake up with The Love In My Heart and Brian the cat - Brian even let me give him some strokes and cuddles which was rather nice, and I'll take it. We got ourselves up and had a coffee, and I could open some lovely cards and presents too. I had had some presents delivered to my place and knew that I had got a gift card from my aunt and my uncle, and one of my friend had kindly got me the Blu-Rays of both Platoon and Challengers as well as the Pixies Doolittle 30 3-CD set, nice. That already was lovely to have.
I opened all the other presents first, two nice gift cards( from one of The Love's two sisters and one from my Mum), the new Seth Lakeman and Bryan Ferry albums from The Love's other sister and also some money from my youngest sister. I had also a nice surprise from Little Miss E - a birthday video from her after she had been to her dance class wishing me a happy birthday. In fact their parents had kindly got me a gift card for Urban Playground in Manchester, and a nice card in the post which had pictures of me and The Love with both Little Miss E and Little Miss O, which was lovely - and a tube of three Star Wars related beers. Way too generous!
The Love had very kindly paid for today's visit to Urban Playground (and the crazy golf Putters bit within it) but of course I can use that gift voucher for another booking which we can do as and when later on. The Love herself was super brilliant and got me the Frank Sidebottom 3-CD box set recently released (you know she did, she really did etc) as well as a Joules Summer shirt which looks fab on, and a Penfriend t-shirt too - so that was a welcome surprise indeed. She is just so thoughtful and considerate really and I know on days like today how lucky I really am to be with her. Today was one of those days.
As the weather was nice we decided to do our favourite walk - along the canal and to Manchester City centre, stopping off at Cask for a well earned drink in the sun - and a nice American Red Ale that they had went down nicely for me as well as the Manchester Union Lager for The Love. After that we walked through to the city, into the Arndale Centre and located Urban Playground. They have games based on The Cube TV series (which all looks fab) and in fact three crazy golf courses, two upstairs and one downstairs. We did one down and one up, as the booking was for two courses.
It's all very high tech too - your booking QR code gets scanned in, and then you can enter your names, and get a club with sensors as well as the ball. You can also do any of the first eight holes in any order (so for example if there's a queue you can skip and head back) but the ninth hole you must do last. The scoring is points based, so extra points for less shots taken, and bonuses for hitting targets or the ball over sensors for more points. Per round of nine holes you get three (x2) options to double your score, by hovering the club over that sensor. It all worked out well on the first course which ended in a Kentucky Derby crazy golf experience, up to six at once and all putting the ball into holes to move the horses. This was immense fun and meant on points I managed to overtake The Love, who did get the only hole in one of the day earlier on. The theme tune to the golf (Chase Side Shoot Up by Brian Bennet) was in my head, so tune of the day obviously.
The second course upstairs was more of the neon based 80s vibe about it, and there was also a circus themed course which we'll do next time (need to do that first course with the Kentucky Derby final hole for definite) and the 80s neon course was good, with different sorts of lights for all sorts of shots, ending in a massive skeeball against the clock where you putted the hole into the targets to score points. I'd prefer a ball roll for this myself, but still it was good fun and The Love did admittedly do better than me on this final hole, but all was good and we both enjioyed it to say the least - and I must go back and do the circus one!
We then headed out towards the cathedral and managed to get an outside seat at The Mitre for a well earned mid afternoon drink before we walked all the way through past a packed Northern Quarter and just as packed Stevenson Square, heading to the other side of Piccadilly Station and into Freight Island. We actually got a table with a good view and so we could pick what we'd like for tea - The Love had the gyros with chicken from one stall and I went for the classic Baconed burger and some fries from Burgerism, along with a pint too. That was nice to relax there as the early evening set in, and we headed off home having had a lovely time together and really good fun all round.
Tuesday 6th May – Mission Not Impossible
It was longer journey back home last night (due to the fact that Euston was closed) and so I had managed to book trains from Manchester to Sheffield, then Sheffield to London St Pancras, both in first class at a cheap price. That worked out well, I got coffee on both, and crisps and a snack on the Manchester-Sheffield train, followed by snacks and a pastrami deli sandwich on the Sheffield to St Pancras leg. That made it less painful all round and as the train was very busy in standard due to it being 5 coaches only – nowhere near enough to be honest, then first class with a comfier seat made a lot of sense. And I’m getting too old to be fighting for a seat which is why I always reserve when I can.
Anyway, it was off to our office in Hoxton today where I will be spending more time in the next month or so. I do like the overall vibe in there as it’s much more a creative environment to work in, and the railway arches do also give it a different feel. It is also where a lot of the magic happens prior to some of the events, so really does feel more of a community as well. It is always good to see some people there too and that adds massively, so despite the fact that the Overground (Windrush line at that) is always a busy time too. I got in and one of the team there had already opened up so saved me a job there – nice.
My mission for today (and I did choose to accept it – cue the Mission Impossible theme as tune of the day) was to get the Windows 11 boot USB media working on a Lenovo laptop so we could build and test a few things. Unfortunately, Lenovo have made it so that if you are booting from a USB stick, you have to have it FAT32 formatted, and even using a GUID partition table, it still doesn’t like it. The difficulty then is that FAT32 has a 4GB size limit, so the install.wim file for Windows 11 is greater than that. There has been some mention online of this being a showstopper for some that wanted to do a fresh install from media because of that, but thankfully there are two solutions at hand.
The first one is to effectively split partition the USB stick into two, with the UEFI bootable side on the FAT32 partition, and then the Sources folder containing the Windows 11 media on a NTFS partition afterwards. This actually does work sensibly and well and just needs some work to get the partitions right. However, there is an easier way provided that you don’t mind entering a single command line, which I can highly recommend that you do, as this then covers all hardware eventualities in future where you have the same scenario, and more so for more awkward setups. Granted, you do need TPM and Secure Boot if you want to do things properly for installs, but at least you can get all the installation ready and done.
So in effect, mount your ISO image of Windows 11, and copy the folder structure on to a hard drive. Once done, enter an admin command prompt, and wherever you have your Windows 11 media (in this case I have used C:\temp\Win11) you can enter the following and this will split the install.wim file into two parts, meaning they are under 4GB – and you can see where I am going with this one:
Dism /Split-Image /ImageFile:C:\temp\Win11\sources\install.wim /SWMFile:C:\temp\Win11\sources\install.swm /FileSize:3800
It is all on one line. In effect it splits the image file into two (install.swm and install2.swm). Once done, remove install.wim from the sources folder where you copied the Windows 11 media to, and copy the whole folder structure from the CD root (in my case C:\temp\Win11) to a FAT32 formatted USB stick. Boot up, the UEFI is detected and more to the point, so is the installation too, so it runs without an issue, applies the image in exactly the same way, and within a good few minutes you’re up and operational with a basic layout.
And if you want to customise this further, you can create your own autounattend.xml file so most of the work is done for you. Don’t want a Microsoft account requirement? No problem. Remove the un-needed bloatware during installation? Also no problem. Have the default languages pre-set to English (UK) with keyboard layouts? Not a problem either. Don’t need OneDrive and have a default user registry key change to stop it installing? Yes, you can add that one too. It comes highly recommended if you want something more vanilla but want to use the standard installation media so you have the source to start with. I did find that it was much quicker to get Windows 11 up and running and just how you want it to and in fact when I do have to do a clean install, I’ll be doing this myself to get things nice and tidy.
Sunday 4th May – Black Friar of Flowers
Little Miss O woke up a little in the night, and a little bit upset, but The Love In My Heart attended to her and she was all good – and I saw to her too and gave her a little smile and giggle, and she smiled as she had tummy rubs from The Love and headed back to sleep. Little Miss E had slept really well and woke up – and then came in to say hello and have a chatter and a cuddle from her Nana. Cereal for breakfast all round for them both (coco pops and rice Krispies!) and then we settled in with more creative play and more cartoons too – including My Little Pony which Little Miss E has appeared to get back into and likes the characters and their colour – understandable really.
Their parents came back to collect later on and were so pleased to see them both and they were all happy and playful. Little Miss E gave me a hug as she left and appreciated us both which is always lovely, and before we knew it, Brian the cat came out of hiding and was more than happy to reclaim his space on the pouffle knowing that peace and quiet was back in his world. Well, that was until he saw something running across the patio and grass at the front of the block of flats, and he had radar on at the window making sure he did not miss a thing whatsoever. And when he is on it, he definitely does not want to be disturbed!
The Love and I got ourselves changed and ready as we were heading out for a Sunday roast today. Her niece had got her a voucher for The Black Friar, which is on Blackfriars Road on the Salford side of the city centre. It was relatively easy to find as we had spotted it on the inner ring road – so from the city we just walked down Market Street, which continues straight on to St Mary’s Gate, where The Love had a look in And Other Stories for some nice new outfits, and Oliver Bonas, where it is always worth a mooch, and then down Blackfriars Street, over the River Irwell into Salford and then straight under the railway on Blackfriars Road and to the Black Friar, with its floral display outside dominating the entrance (not real flowers of course, but still looks the part it has to be said).
We had got there early so got inside and got a drink at the bar – they do their own Pilsner so The Love had that and for me it was the Buxton Brewery’s Deepdale, a good session ale and for those that need it, it is also gluten free. It was actually really nice and moreish and did what it said on the tin – very session-like and a nice head to boot. Well recommended all round. We were shown upstairs to our table which was in the old part of the building, and that had tons of nice period features and a lovely window facing out towards some flats and above the new build section, with light pouring in too which was definitely a positive for us both.
As it was two courses for £32 (so definitely not cheap) we pored over the menu and chose what we would like – with the member of staff serving us being really lovely and polite, and giving The Love some sensible wine suggestions too which was really appreciated. In the end, I went for the minestrone soup starter, which was absolutely spot on – a more tomato based soup with pasta, beans and other vegetables and really good. The Love’s chicken liver paté was spot on too, and the bread with it added a real sense of class to it all, and elevated that well. As for our mains – wow.
I had the roast beef, and plenty of it, and served pink (they do tell you this beforehand so if you want it well done, you can ask) and with roasties, mash, seasonal vegetables, gravy and a Yorkshire pudding, it really did hit the spot. The Love had the pork and the massive chunk of thick pork she had looked so lovely. She enjoyed that and the cauliflower cheese served with it (I let her have it all as she loves that.) Definitely for me the quality of the food was spot on and well worth it. The Love’s voucher for £25 for there was definitely well worth using, and I paid the rest of it. Not cheap, but for the experience and as a treat it was excellent, and I can highly recommend it if you want something a bit more elevated on occasion. Had I skipped the starter, the desserts all looked very tempting and that would definitely be excellent to try out!
We headed back to the city centre (Manchester) and off to the Northern Quarter where a pop into Terrace was long overdue, and I had the session ale that I love in Track – the Sonoma. I was sorely tempted to have the Vault City Iron Brew Sour as they have it in stock there, but stuck with session and that was a good move. The vibe is always nice in there and for us both it was a good end to a lovely afternoon all round which was made more so when we got back and Brian the cat just wanted fusses and cuddles, and snuggled up to his Mummy all evening as we watched the first episode of the new series of Malpractice too – which did seem intriguing. Tune of the day in the meantime is the excellent In The Light Sometimes by Penfriend, sums up the mood I’m in and how peaceful I am right now with being happy and with my love.
Saturday 3rd May – Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong
It was a really early rise for me this morning as I was heading on the train up to Manchester for the weekend. I had had a really nice online chat with a few of my friends last night, and it was good to do that in place of them not being at mine this weekend – due to some changes in personal circumstances. That did mean I got to sleep a little later but I had the alarm set and the case already packed too, so it was a case of getting up, have a shower and be ready and on the train to St Pancras, heading across to Euston and in good time for my 0753 train up to Manchester Piccadilly.
The Love In My Heart was having a more than well earned lie in after a hard week at work, so I took the tram from Piccadilly, and so well timed was my move down to the stop that I waited less than one minute for the tram, which was pretty nice. I was soon at The Love’s place, giving Brian the cat a fuss and some Dreamies, and was keeping eyes on the World Snooker Championship as it got to the semi final stage, with Mark Williams battling it out against Judd Trump for a place in the final against Zhao Xintong, a player with an interesting history but who has really been showing good form this time around.
We did have some visitors later on, namely The Love’s two sisters for a coffee and a chatter (and some cupcakes) and also Little Miss E and Little Miss O arrived with their Mum, and they were both full of joy and happy faces, knowing they were staying at Nana’s overnight. In fact when Little Miss E saw the pink bedding that The Love had got herself recently, she was beaming with joy and like “I love your bed Nana!” which met with her suitable approval. Everyone left later in the afternoon and it was just the four of us to have an enjoyable day.
We had the toys out and it was notable Little Miss O loved the little wind up musical thing that plays Teddy Bear’s Picnic, and all twee sounding at that too. Meanwhile, Little Miss E was asking to water the plants outside on the patio and make sure they were growing, so with the help of a water jug and The Love, she was attending to them and being a very good girl. We did also note that Brian the cat was attempting to try and sneak out too, but he was more interested in seeing the wildlife outside as two birds fluttered in the trees outside, so he was on watch for those!
Later on, we got ourselves ready and headed out for the tram, which made Little Miss E very happy as she does love the tram for some reason. We had to wait one minute for the tram, so all good, and off to Audenshaw stop which is near a retail part with a Pizza Hut – her favourite. The staff in there are always lovely and friendly and welcoming, and it is always a nice atmosphere in there because of that. I scanned the code and did the order, with Little Miss O having something of everyone else’s, a kids’ meal for Litle Miss E (ham pizza, fries, drink and ice cream factory) and The Love had the lasagne for her main with fries, a glass of wine and no dessert. For me it was the hand crafted base meat feast (part of me was tempted by the classic pan of course), chicken strips, soft drink and ice cream factory, so Little Miss E and I could get that together (cue her saying “pink sprinkles pleeeeeeeeeeeease!” when we were there.)
We headed back to the tram stop to head home, and literally the tram arrived as we got to the stop, so immaculate timing all day for trams for me – no complaints there. We headed back home to The Love’s place, and after some cartoons and more play, Little Miss O headed to sleep and later Little Miss E did too, and nodded off pretty quickly. It had been a long but lovely day and The Love and I settled in for some telly including the 1 Per Cent Club (where the final question was pretty hard but I did get several along the way) and then more snooker with the final session of the semi finals (and cue Drag Racer by the Doug Wood Band being tune of the day – it is the proper theme and all that.)