Dear Diary... October 2025
Sunday 26th October - Far Too Quickly
It was nice to have the clocks go back overnight which did mean an extra hour of sleep for us all after having had a good Saturday out. It was also nice to have some coffee to wake up with and that felt good, as the sun rose in Doncaster this morning. I had a shower and got myself ready, and our friend and host once again did the business with some sausage barms and orange juice which hit the spot really well. We did settle in and watch the EFL football highlights on ITV4, which did mean seeing both Doncaster Rovers and Barrow get their respective draws, particularly with the latter going down to ten men!
It was sadly soon time to say our fond farewells and I always feel sad at this point: but I think the four of us agreed that having a chilled out weekend was really good and just what we all needed, for different reasons. I think too that for our friend and host, having us over was probably a nice boost for him and showed that him doing up the house really does make it feel more homely, and we all felt very welcome too so that was good. I headed off around 11 and headed off on the bus back to Doncaster city centre, getting there in good time to make my train back to London Kings Cross. The whole weekend as per usual had gone far too quickly for us all, but we all had a great time.
The rain had started to pelt it down in Doncaster so was quite pleased to have got to the train station before that and be underneath a balcony in the dry, and only stepping out when the train arrived on platform 3A so I could head down to the coach and seat I was at. I did pop to the onboard shop to do a meal deal lunch later and the staff were super nice to be fair, and the rice pot I had for the main was lovely as was the coffee (and they had oat milk too so that was a bonus) - and to relax with that as the train sped via Peterborough back to London was just the thing. And once at Kings Cross, a short walk to St Pancras and off on the train home to East Croydon, which was all good.
I got back home and settled in for the afternoon with last night's Strictly Come Dancing, which was the Icons Week and full of some musical icons all the way. Lewis and Katya doing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash was an inspired move, so tune of the day there for me no question. Other icons were given due justice, including Ellie and Vito doing Baby Spice and a Spice Girls medley which was good fun, and perhaps for me a classy dance was Alex and Johannes doing Dolly Parton. In the end, it was pretty close and that did mean that it could be anyone for the dance off really.
And so it proved later on when I watched that on BBC One after making myself some salmon and rice for tea. The interesting thing was that you had no idea who could be there. In the end it was Jimmy and Lauren up against Amber and Nikita, and although they both had done well, in the dance off Amber and Nikita did well and they were the ones to go through. I did feel sorry for Jimmy and Lauren especially as they had done so well in the last few weeks but especially as I do like Lauren, she is very much someone who is kind, supportive and excellent all round.
Saturday 25th October - Doorway to Dorkness and Ale Excellence
It was good to have had a good night's sleep at my friend's place. Effectively he had managed to set up three places for us as friends to sleep - so there was a fold out sofa bed, an air bed and a standard single bed spread across rooms of his house. I took one for the team and took the airbed, as I'm not suffering any ailments as such and that'd make it easier for anyone else too. Plus that did mean I'd be downstairs so I could always head up in the night if I needed to without disturbing anyone (not that it happened mind you, I actually slept very well indeed!)
After a shower and getting changed, our friend very kindly made us some sausage barms for breakfast, and that and some orange juice went down well to start the day off. We kept an eye on what might be happening in the football later with any team news and what each of our respective teams had as fixtures (Man City were playing tomorrow so I didn't need to worry today), and once we were all ready and sorted, we had a mid-morning trip out before hitting the beer places later, so it was one of our friends driving towards the city centre of Doncaster, back out again, and down the road towards Rotherham and a mile later, heading off for the car park to the game store Doorway to Dorkness.
It was pretty big inside, with all sorts of games systems and consoles as well as computers and games represented. There was a very yellowed Atari 65 XE, numerous Commodore 64s, some boxed, some Atari STs in boxes, and also various consoles including both versions of the Sega Mega CD (I and II), the Japanese Famicom (later known as the NES), and even boxed Atari 2600s as well. One smaller room had lots of action figures and collectables for that sort of thing, and the main room was literally floor to ceiling full of shelves of games all nicely organised by format. It was a thoroughly good place to look around.
My friend from Ulverston was after a number of Sega Mega Drive and Mega CD games, and ended up getting one for the Mega CD and two for the Mega Drive, and the staff were super friendly and allowed him to check the condition before purchase, always a good sign of a good store that for me. I did myself pick up a couple of games too: Carnival Mini Golf for the Nintendo Wii for five pounds, and the fully boxed original release disk version of Microprose Soccer for the Commodore 64 for a mere tenner, so all good there and definitely well worth the trip out.
Once back at our friend's place, we took the bus into Doncaster city centre and then started our little stroll around a number of pubs, all with excellent real ales on. We expected it to be busier due to the horse racing being on at the local racecourse, more so after the racing, but it was nice to find some quieter spots. First stop was The Leopard, which did have an early football game on, but quiet volume so you could chatter. I had the White Rat from the Ossett Brewery in here and that was spot on, and they did have the Titanic Plum Porter too but that was too early for me for that, as much as I love it - but still, good to see that there was a selection there.
We then walked over to the Doncaster Brewery Taproom. There was a folk music thing on so we went to the bar quietly and then got our drinks, taking them upstairs to the comfy surroundings, which included two nice sofas with a coffee table, so had our drinks there and enjoyed them all. I did have the Sand House blonde ale which was lovely, and one of our friends had the Trig Brewery Cairn ale which did have a good taste, and in the middle of that was another friend's selection, the Unnamed Filly and that looked quite light and refreshing too. It was lovely in there and we then headed on to a potential next stop.
We did note that a couple of the pubs were much busier, including one we were thinking of going in, so as they were super rammed, we sacked that off. I did note that some of the people outside had wristbands on, and that was something my friend mentioned about the budget buster thing that some bars and pubs were doing - unlimited drinks for a period of time for £20, including pizza as well. Granted you are limited with some choices, but that does include some spirits too, so I guess you know you've paid that and you then have all the drinks that you need for the day, and can work out an affordable (ish) day and evening. In fact, the bar staff at the next place we went to confirmed this.
So next stop was The Queen Crafthouse, and a lovely vibe in here complete with really lovely staff who knew their beer and were chatty and friendly too. That set the tone nicely and the cherry porter ale one of our friends had was lovely, and we got a nice table to sit and chatter at, and enjoy the ale we had all picked. They also had a jukebox in there where you could pick your tunes, 3 for £1, albeit you had to pay by card now and no cash. Still I did put three tunes on including Depeche Mode's superb Master and Servant (make that tune of the day) and that was all good. In hindsight, we could have stayed in there for most of the day and evening but there were still some good places to see.
A few doors down was the Marketplace Alehouse, which did what it said on the tin. It was a warm and friendly place again with lovely staff and a really good selection of beer, including the ABK helles one of our friends had. Had I noted what cans they had on, I'd have had the Vault City Iron Brew Sour for definite, but still the best bitter I had was pretty excellent. It was nice to sit by the window and people watch for a bit too. We were then going to go next door into the Woolmarket and go to the bar there but the real ale side of the bar was closed off (boo), so instead we decided to head on out and back towards a previous favourite haunt, the Hallcross, but that was still busy with the offer.
Thankfully we didn't need to head far to get to our next stop which was The Salutation, and we managed to get a table and seats in good time. As Sunderland had beaten Chelsea 2-1 with a stoppage time winner our friend was South Shields was happy, even more so as the couple sat on the table next to us were both Sunderland fans, from South Shields, and here to see friends. What a coincidence that was, and that made for a great atmosphere an an unexpected but welcome surprise all round. The place filled up later primarily as the football was on but also due to it being the first pub you hit on the way back from the racecourse.
After a couple of drinks there, it was then back over to the Doncaster Brewery Taproom and spent a good couple of hours in there. I even did try a couple of the 0.5% cans and bottles from their range too and the Brulo stout that I had was very good. We enjoyed a chilled out evening in there and as there was a taxi rank around the corner, we booked ourselves a taxi back to our friend's place, and then ordered some pizza. The chicken and mushroom one I had was very good to be fair, and we relaxed with some telly and then Match of the Day before calling it a night, but it had been a grand day out all told.
Friday 24th October - Doncaster Delights
It was a well earned day off from work for me and with good reason too. I was heading up to Doncaster to stay over with a good friend of mine, and indeed two of my friends were also heading there too - so four of us getting together and having a weekend of rest, relaxation, some beers and of course there will be plenty of talk of old school games in there too. I had at least been able to pretty much get all the clothes packed in the case the night before, so was able to relax a bit during the morning, sort out some forthcoming birthday ideas for cards and presents, and then head off to East Croydon station and to start my journey up North.
Maybe it was a sign to come but some of the Thameslink trains were not playing ball, so got to Victoria instead and then took the tube from there to Kings Cross. As I arrived, my phone pinged and it was LNER telling my that my planned train, the 1233 from there to Doncaster, had been cancelled. Meh! As it transpired it was around 11.55am, so it was easy to make a quick decision and, because LNER allow you to get on any train up to two hours before the cancelled one, I headed for Platform Zero and on the 1203 departure instead. And yes, it was pretty rammed but went up far enough to find a seat, so that was something.
That did mean I got to Doncaster a little earlier, but the cancellations originally had been down to a points issue on the line between Grantham and Doncaster, so was factoring in a possible delay. As it turned out that did not happen so at least that was all good, and leaving the station and getting to the bus station next door did mean I could get the bus to my friend's place, with the nearest stop round the corner from his. They also do tap on tap off on the local buses now which was easy to do, so managed to get there and pretty much half an hour ahead of schedule. That was a win although had I had to wait for the 1303 that would still have worked out fine anyway!
It was good to see my friend and I could tell he was proud of two rooms he had recently done up in his house, one downstairs with a projector and setup for cinema sound, and one he uses as a more PC and chill out room upstairs, with four comfy chairs for us all too so we could rest, have drinks, watch telly and so on. In fact that was where we spent the afternoon with coffee and also then a bit of Pointless as well. Our friend from South Shields arrived, and he would have got there earlier had there not been some bridge works on the A1 which took around an hour to get through the traffic!
Still all was good there and we ended up seeing the rest of Pointless and then House of Games, where we were all very good at getting the clues right, and was pretty proud of getting the limericks right too which was a bonus, before then settling in with some drinks - and some very nice ales had been purchased too. I did have some lovely ones including some by Black Sheep such as the Holy Grail, and also the Milk Stout, as well as later having the Hairy Biker's ale that the had created with Theakstons before Dave Myers had passed away, so that was good.
Our friend from Ulverston arrived around 8, having had to work all day and basically go from work and then over the tops to see us, but we'd agreed to wait getting food til he came, so ordered a delivery from a local Chinese which our friend had recommended. And that worked out very nice, as I had the sweet and sour balls - it was balls of chicken and some of king prawn, and a separate sauce, with egg fried rice. In fact all of what we ordered looked good and we thoroughly enjoyed that. It was good to get something wholesome down us and then really be able to head back to some more drinks.
It was good to kick back and relax with some drinks and chatter all evening, and we played some stuff on Youtube including some selections of favourite games for the Commodore 64. I really did like hearing some of the tunes again as well, and naturally that did mean that Martin Galway's superb score for Wizball, a game I love, got an airing so that is tune of the day for definite. It was a great chilled out evening and that set the tone off for what will be a great weekend I am sure!
Sunday 19th October - Blacklock Bliss
It was looking like a wet and rainy day out, which may not be ideal, but we were spending time with friends today and had booked Blacklock for their Sunday Roast, as somewhere different to try and see how that would pan out. Admittedly, it was nice to have something like that as a treat and I knew that the company would be really good to have too. The Love In My Heart tried her best to have a lie in, but Brian the cat had other ideas, doing the tippy tappy with his paws to try and get her up. Eventually she relented, fed him some Dreamies and then headed back to bed for a bit!
I had got up to watch the remainder of Match of the Day after seeing up to Manchester City's game last night before hitting bed. Primarily as it had been a long day travelling and admittedly was tired, but also to make sure The Love got a well earned lie in too. I had a coffee, saw some more telly and even ordered a couple of presents for forthcoming birthdays (and indeed one for the festive season as I suspected what I ordered may sell out a lot quicker in the coming few weeks after a film has come out..) so that was quite the productive morning to be fair.
We got ourselves changed and ready to head out, and the weather had at least relented a little so we were able to walk to the tram stop to get the tram before any bad rain came. Indeed, we had got off at Piccadilly Gardens, walked down past St Peter's Square (where trams would at least recommence later today) and then on to Brewdog on Peter Street, and it was at least cosy in there. Our friends arrived not long after we did so it was a chance for a good catch up and pre-lunch drinks, and it was good to see how their honeymoon had gone with them being in Turkiye (in fact it was so good they have booked again for next year..)
We went the very short distance to Blacklock which was good as the rain was hammering it down somewhat, and we went inside - it's all downstairs from the entrance. We were shown to a nice table for four, and it looked very busy, so glad we booked. In fact the 3.15pm time slot was all they had which shows how popular it is. They also do their beer in two thirds pint steins, which were interesting. They did their own lager which seemed nice,. and a pale ale that I had which hit the spot nicely. The staff were really good and explained the roasts on the menu, which meant I could amend the choice of what I fancied.
So The Love and one of our friends had the roast pork, but I went for the roast leg of lamb, which was actually all presented really well. You could have as much gravy as you liked with the staff regularly topping up the jugs as you needd, and mine came with roast potatoes, carrots, kale and cabbage, as well as some excellent sauces including mint sauce, and lashings of gravy too. That went down well and our vegetarian friend tried out their cauliflower steak which actually was pretty plentiful all round to be fair.
I was going to skip dessert but saw there was cheesecake, so though "why not?". Theirs is apparently legendary, and they normally serve it into your bowl from a massive dish with it all in. However, they just swapped out the bowl for the dish in my case as there was just enough for one portion. It was nice but do wish I'd had the berries that they were supposed to serve it with, but that was minor. So consdiering the roast, dessert, and two drinks each, and including service, around £44 each wasn't that bad value at all for the city centre to be fair.
We then headed over to Founders Hall for a drink, and their Autumnal ale was on which was very nice indeed - quite thick and sweet at the same time but certainly did warm the heart nicely. The time had gone by far too quickly and it was time to say goodbye to our friends as we all caught the tram, and The Love gave me a hug and a fond farewell as we got to Piccadilly, where I'd have a an eventful train journey home due to all sorts goin going on with the trains, and I had the iPod on playing the new Pop Will Eat Itself album so the excellent album closer Where There's Hope, There's Life is pretty correct and therefore tune of the day.
Saturday 18th October - Forever Beating Everton (Eventually)
After a long day in the office on Friday, it was an early(ish) start for me this morning as it was off to see The Love In My Heart for the weekend, and indeed to watch Manchester City's home game with Everton after the international break. Thankfully Erling Haaland did not get injured, and the way he has been scoring goals at the moment, that definitely needs to continue. Everton have been in good form as of late and a dramatic 2-1 comeback win against Crystal Palace before the break shows their mettle and they're a good side under David Moyes. The only bonus today for us is that as they loaned Jack Grealish from us (who has been playing well for them) he can't play today and that is a plus, let me tell you.
Avanti Worst Coast unfortunately were having some issues that had seemed to start last night with some overhead wire damage, which meant that the train I was on decided to go on a magical mystery tour after Rugby, going to Coventry and aroud the back end of Birmingham at Stechford, picking up the Walsall line via Perry Barr and Bescot Stadium before then rejoining at the back of Wolverhampton, on to Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. The upshot of the slow running was that my train was a mere eighty minutes late - yes an hour and twenty minutes. Whilst that is full refund for me under the Delay Repay scheme, I would much rather have the train arrive on time.
The Love came to collect me and we had a good natter before arriving back, and Brian the cat straight away came for a fuss, but knew that he was just telling me that it was his territory and to be careful, hehe. He's a one isn't he? We had a coffee and spent the morning with some telly and a chatter before she went to meet her sister at the local cemetery, and arrived back for a coffee and natter. It was good to catch up and we were mentioning the last weekend just gone, with Little Miss O and Little Miss E being adorable. In fact The Love's sister had collected Little Miss O from nursery midweek, and it definitely helped their parents out..
It was over to the Etihad for me and I kept an eye on the Nottingham Forest v Chelsea game at lunch time, which Chelsea won 3-0. What I didn't expect was that before our game had kicked off, the Forest owner had sacked off the manager Ange Postecoglou, whom had been appointed just thirty nine days before. No wins whatsoever and the club in freefall, but the fans really need to look at that owner, how he brought in a director of football and soured the relationship with Nuno Espirito Santo, and then it went downhill. It's why City have a good relationship between owners, execs and the manager, so all on the same page and in harmony.
So the game kicks off, and Everton did look dangerous going forward. In fact had Beto had his shooting boots on, they should have been 1-0 up as it was easier to score than miss, which he thankfully missed. City at the other end had some half chances with a defensive header from a City corner hitting the bar and would have been a spectacular own goal. I did think a goal would come but the need to be patient was there, as Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden were having some success running at the Everton defence, and so at half time it was 0-0 and that was about fair.
The second half started and straight away I could see some gaps in the Everton defence as they were able to head forward to try and score, but that did leave them vulnerable. City counter attacked with a lovely ball down the left to the impressive Nico O'Reilly, who put in a perfect cross for, who else, Erling Haaland to score with a well placed header. The City fans yelled out Haaland's name and order was sort of restored at 1-0. That became 2-0 as Savinho went down the left after some changes, and he pulled the ball back to Haaland on the edge of the box to slot it home under James Tarkowski and then Jordan Pickford for 2-0. City tearing Scousers apart again sang the fans to said Joy Division classic (make it tune of the day) and all was well in the end.
We later on saw Strictly Come Dancing and it was certainly entertaining with all sorts of dances. I quite liked Ellie and Vito's couples choice at the end with all the gold and all the sass and fire possible, which was good fun. Highlight for me was Alex and Johannes' rumba, which was that good that the Queen of Rumba herself, Shirley Ballas, came to them both to say how good it was and that was obviously going to get a 10. Which was about the total between the four judges that La Voix should have got, that was, as Craig Revel Horwood would say, a dance disaster...
Thursday 16th October - Their Law (Ain't Our Law)
Back in 1994, when The Prodigy released the album Music for the Jilted Generation (an essential purchase if you don't have it already) the track Their Law was a full co-operation with one of my favourite bands, Pop Will Eat Itself. Indeed the band contributed the music with Clint Mansell of the band being the one to feature with the words "crackdown at sundown" and the iconic "f*** them and their law" which certainly for its time and what was going on with mad attempts to stop dance music and loud beats across the country, definitely an odd situation to be in. I can even remember Autechre's Anti EP having the track Flutter which had no repetive bars of beats in its almost ten minute duration.
Fast forward some time to 2025, and the first Pop Will Eat Itself album in ten years (the last one being Anti Nasty League) landed on the doorstep of the Towers yesterday, and naturally tonight I gave it a spin - as I was otherwise engaged last night, seeing Susie Dent. For me at least it really does sound a little bit more raw in places, no bad thing, and there's a real sense of a faster pace too. I don't know if it was intentional that way but only one of the tracks on the whole album is over four minutes long, and even then just about, so short sharp snappy is the thing here.
Although when the band have played Their Law in the past, they've sort of stuck to their version they did record back in 1994, but increasingly they've played their own new verse towards the end. It was then perhaps inevitable that they'd do a full re-record of the track and give it their new spin on it, hence the track title of Their Law (Ain't Our Law) and being a full on assault of the senses (and thus tune of the day) with the iconic guitar riffs from the original still intact, some darned powerful drumming from Cliff Hewitt which really does add. Graham Crabb and Mary Byker still belting out the vocals at fast pace, with Adam Mole on the electronics (yaay Adam Poppie!) and Davey Bennett giving it that bass groove. All of it comes together and is brutally uncompromising, as it well should be.
Naturally though it does mean that heightens the excitement of me seeing the band live. I always enjoy their live gigs, and I think my 1993 long sleeved grey original skateboarder t-shirt may have to be brought out - seems a regular for me to wear, despite the fact I do have a Reclaim the Game (Funk FIFA) t-shirt from 2014, as well as an Indie Daze one and a couple of others. In fact I had a look at some sites to see how much my grey skateboarder sells for, and wow, well if I'm short of money I think I know what I'd be tempted to do, although it would have to be an absolute necessity to do so.
It's also for me special memoies too - they were one of the first bands I ever saw at a live gig (1990 at Manchester International II no less) and have seen them many times over the years, including a few different London venues - Shepherd's Bush Empire, The 100 Club, University of London Union, Kentish Town Forum and next month, the Electric Ballroom in Camden. That'll be just five in London, never mind the Reformation 2005 hometown gig at Birmingham Academy, and the iconic 1994 Amalgamation tour at Manchester Academy (and then 2011 at the same venue too.) I do kind of wish I had kept the old gig ticket stubs to be honest, mind you, as that would always be helpful.
Sunday 12th October - Girls Aloud
The Love In My Heart and I, along with Little Miss E and Little Miss O, and Brian the cat, all slept soundly. Brian of course was doing tippy tappy to wake up his Mummy for a feed, and eventually Little Miss O arose and wanted to move from the cot to be next to her Nana in the bed. She did look adorably cute all snuggled and later in the morning Little Miss E came in to say hello, and Little Miss O gave her a big smile to say hello too which was sweet (as well as plenty of hugs all round, and realised that Brian is not a morning person and stroking him would result in a little hiss, so she soon left him be.
Once up, we did have a couple of things planned for the morning in terms of activities. We had gone into the local Asda yesterday and picked up a pumpkin, so The Love with the two girls went about doing a design for the pumpkin, so getting all the insides out and the seeds, then The Love carved the eyes and nose and it was then up to the two girls to decide how else they wanted it to look. It was all good and they had enjoyed that, as well as some more playing with the Disney Princess ball outside, with some good bouncing from Little Miss O and a bit of piggy in the middle initiated by Little Miss E, so fun times were had for sure.
We were going to head out to the local park, via the canal to see some of the ducks too, but as we were walking Little Miss E was upset as her little ankle boots were rubbing at the top, on one of the feet. When we took the boot off we could see that it was, and despite our best attempts to offer a Compeed, which would have worked wonders, she refused and so we headed back to The Love's place instead for some more colouring and television, before we thought that lunch might be a sensible idea, and from there head back to their parents' place so The Love could wait in with them for their parents returning.
So that was what we did and it was off to The Gateway, primarily because the kids menu is usually decent and we normally get a table. I think because of the wind and some rain earlier, outside was empty and a massive family was taking up five or six tables, but we eventually got a spot and did the order. I had the Korean chicken with coconut rice which was lovely, and The Love had the boneless basket of chicken. Little Miss E went for a jacket potato with tuna (as the fish was off the menu) and we got Little Miss O some chicken nuggets and some chips, which she devoured and enjoyed, so that was all good there.
Once back at their parents' place, The Love's sister came over to give us all a hand and to see the girls, and Little Miss E was more than happy to show off her dolls' house with all the dolls she had inside there. Little Miss O had one of her little play sets out and was being all giggly and cute, and I managed to work the telly so I could see the last bit of the American football, before then getting BBC1 on so The Love and Little Miss E could watch the Strictly results show. As it was almost Little Miss O's bedtime, I said my farewells and to be fair both the girls gave me a hug as I left, with Little Miss O looking sad (awwww) but I gave her a big smile and a wave back.
From there it was a case of getting the bus back into central Manchester, which thankfully is quite regular and of course a mere £2. The train would have been an option but one train every two hours isn't really good enough, and more expensive too, so the bus won easily. I got to Manchester Piccadilly in plenty of time for the 2055 train back (yes it was the last one back too!) and so relaxed with the iPod and playing the likes of Penfriend, and the beautiful Seasons is tune of the day for me, primarily due to the fact that it's just so melodic and relaxing and perhaps Laura Kidd's finest most understatedly beautiful vocal performance.
Saturday 11th October - Here Come The Girls
I was heading up to see The Love In My Heart this weekend, but also that did mean some lovely times ahead with both Little Miss E and Little Miss O too. The Love was helping out as their parents were out and about, including one of them heading to the American Football match at Tottenham's ground on the Sunday, and already had Little Miss O at her place overnight, all snuggled and sleepy too which was good. Avanti Superfare pulled off the less than genius move of allocating me the first train from its morning schedule, the 0713, which meant a very early set off from my place to get to Euston.
Needless to say coffee was had both before I left the flat and then when on the train as well, and once I got into Manchester Piccadilly I got the tram and headed over to The Love's place. Once I got in, and walked down the hallway, Little Miss O walked pretty fast towards me with a big smile, and then proceeded to give me a hug too. Awww, that was super lovely, bless her. We spent time in the morning with some pop up books and a bit of Teletbubbies, which she does love now, and also then we had the Disney Princess football outside on the patio where we could bounce the ball to each other. I'd throw a spin ball in the air too which she loved and giggled at, which was so nice.
We got ourselves in The Love's car later on and headed back to Little Miss O's house, so we could pick up Little Miss E after her morning dance class. It was just great to see that she was excited to see her Nana, and they had a play at their place before we then all got ourselves back in the car and set off, with of course Little Miss E asking me for Baby Shark as well as some other songs, including the theme tune from Gabby's Dollhouse (so tune of the day for her) - and we did ask her if she fancied seeing the film at the cinema when it comes out, but apparently she doesn't like cinemas, so it'd be a no. I am sure though plenty of little ones will be seeing that and singing along with the likes of DJ Catnip, Cakey Cat and Baby Box!
After being back at The Love's place for a while, and managing to sort out a change of nappy for Little Miss O, who was indeed being her energetic little self, it was out with the buggy and on to an early tea time. We decided to head to Pizza Hut as I know the girls love it there, and that was all good. We took the tram there, and we got a table for the four of us, with me taking the girls to the salad bar to get their salad bits, and then later on with Little Miss E to the ice cream factory to make sure we all got our just desserts. I did have the farmhouse pizza on their more handcrafted base, which was good enough, and The Love had the lasagne in their super long container. We all enjoyed ourselves too which was good.
The tram journey back worried Little Miss E a bit as some local scroats were being idiots at one end of the tram, but they got off at one stop not long after (and I bet they didn't pay either) but that was all fine afterwards, and we got back and The Love sorted them both out with a bath, which they adored, and I had managed to find the Baby Shark bath toy so handed it to The Love as she was taking them to the bathroom. When she revealed what she had the girls were very happy too, so that was nice.
That did mean we had missed the start of Strictly Come Dancing but we had iPlayer do a play from the start, so we could watch it as live, and that worked fine. Little Miss O snuggled up on the sofa and soon felt sleepy, and we got her to the cot later, and Little Miss E was trying to guess what the judges gave the dancers, as was I, and ended up being a little game to see who could get the scores right. We both did well and Little Miss E soon realised that being a fan of the show for so long did mean that I got a fair number of them spot on. We did especially like Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin, they were excellent, as was surprisingly Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink with Lauren Oakley.
The final dance did steal the show though as Lewis Cope and Katya Jones did a pasa doble to The Mask of Zorro, and that scored 37 overall with the first 10 of the series coming from Motsi Mabuse. Throughout the show they also had Cynthia Erivo giving her advice and critique too, but not scoring, but Little Miss E said "how does she pick things up with those nails?" which I thought was a good insightful question. Soon she was tired too and headed off to bed and snuggled up, which meant The Love and I could chill out for a bit with Brian the cat now on the sofa and snuggled up to his Mummy for a bit, before bed later. Awww.
Saturday 4th October - Harvesting the Presents
It was nice to have another positive lie-in this morning, and I think despite the fact that Storm Amy was really battering everywhere overnight, and it definitely had been very windy near me with the howling being heard clearly, we did get some good sleep and for us both it was nice to wake up and be all snuggled. I know The Love was missing Brian the cat, but he had had visits from her family relations and he was all good and being especially adorable, which is nice to see - The Love had left one of her jackets out which of course Brian had to sit in as he had the smell of Mummy on it which reassures him nicely.
After some breakfast, we got ourselves ready as there was to be a small Harvest Festival going on in the local town centre, mainly based in the streets around Katherine Street and part of the pedestrianised High Street later today, which was nice to see something local taking place and getting people involved. In fact the wind was receding a bit and hopefully two dry days ahead. We'd see this in operation a little later on but it was into the town centre first and to the shops - as one shop The Love does like and where she had been to on holiday (Mini So no less) had opened a shop here.
Needless to say, we loved that place and The Love noted the little Teletubbies figures and mainly that of Po it seemed, but also soft toys including Lilo and Stitch and plenty of Hello Kitty stuff everywhere. Overall despite not being massive, it was good to go around. We did also venture into Zara as she was getting a present for soemone at work who was having a baby, but nothing in the children's wear section really was what she was after. However, we did know that Next was normally pretty good and so it proved, with a lovely little outfit or two in there at not that expensive a price either, so that did work out well.
We did also go into Marks and Spencer as well and that really worked wonders - we got another nice little childrenswear item for the forthcoming little one that really did meet the brief - no characters on the clothes, and I even spotted something as a Christmas present for someone so had to get that whilst I was there. The Love also got a nice birthday present for someone there too and it was also at 20% off so an epic win there too - goes to show sometimes how much value you can get out of retail if visiting somewhere and being able to see in the flesh what you might be purchasing.
We headed back to where the Harvest Festival was and that was all underway, with some lovely stalls including some bratwurst ones, and also some dancing going on (some bhangra, some clog dancing also) and a good number of people enjoying seeing the large figures walking around including Hope the Hedgehog, who was massive! It was good to see lovals out as well and plenty were definitely using the time well to enjoy lunch with their kids and see all the musical instruments they could play with - some of which were ones where you pressed a blower to get noises out which was good fun.
It was then off on the train to Victoria and then on the tube to Warren Street and of course off to the Crown and Anchor for a well earned late lunch. And what cask ale did they have on today? Landlord Dark! Get in! Well of course I was having that wasn't I? The Love had the fish and chips which went down well and I had the king prawn and crab linguine, which I've had in there before and is really nice, so definitely well worth having and enjoying that one for definite. It was good to relax with some drinks in there and some nice background music too, and that meant we were close to Euston, where The Love got her train home later and I did feel sad - it'd been such a nice few days! Tune of the day is the excellent Thunder in the Mountains by Toyah, which was on Top of the Pops last night.
Friday 3rd October - Mayfair Lunch
The Love In My Heart and I had had a good night's sleep, and in fact it was nice just to get up as we pleased this morning with us both being off work today. That for me definitely felt really nice to be honest and to take in a relaxing time was appreciated. We did however make sure that we got all the clothes ironed that we needed to be wearing later, as we were heading out a for a very nice lunch. Two of our friends had got us an experience voucher last Christmas for a three course lunch for two, and that meant that we needed to make sure we'd planned a day together during the week (as the experience was only valid on Monday to Fridays.)
With that in mind, and it being a little posh, and despite the potential of some rain, we thought it wise to dress up a little for the occasion. The Love had brought her jade green dress which she looks absolutely beautiful in and really makes me smile every time she wears it - along with some nice heels too. I had my nice trousers and a paisley Joules posh shirt, and always feel comfortable in that along with some shoes, and so we both looked ready to hit the town. So it was off to the station and from there the train to Farringdon and then the train to Bond Street.
This way also meant no rain encountered along the way, and indeed thankfully none until we got to the place we were heading for lunch - no less than the Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair. We got up the stairs and in, and the lovely staff noted our booking and showed us to a lovely table with comfortable seating. The Love explained we had the experience and the staff gave us the menu - which was three courses which were included. There were three choices for each course, and so once a drinks order had been taken, so a carafe of wine for The Love and a Bavarian lager for me, the only difficult thing to decide was what to have!
In the end, we only differered on the starters. The Love went for the pea soup which had fresh mint and was really blended well together, and I had the salmon croquettes, which were all in some lovely crisp and crunchy crumb with some parmesan lightly sprinkled on top, and each of the three on a bed of garlic aioli, which was just heavenly. In fact the mains were a real star - with the chicken supreme we both had absolutely delightful. The two large pieces of chicken were on a bed of lush mashed potato which had a central part full of mushrooms and bacon in, and the whole thing worked ever so well together.
That alone was splendid, but as we noted others coming in to the place looking much more casual, I was pleased we'd dressed up - more so when the table near us was a business lunch and they looked really posh and professional, so we fitted well there too. The dessert was gorgeous, a basque cheesecake (and of course we know how those should be like) which had a cherry compote with fresh cherries, along with some pistachio ice cream to go with it. The Love gave me her ice cream but she loved the cheesecake, and that was just a nice end to a really lovely meal.
It's worth noting that for the experience (ours was from Red Letter Days - others are available) that drinks are not included, so whatever you have to drink, plus service charge, is added on top. The service charge is 15% and that alone is worthy of note I think. Granted, the staff were excellent and really nice, but for me, I'd like to see all places go back to a tradition where any charge like that is optional from the get-go, and then if you choose to add an extra, that is your choice, rather than have to look at an awkward conversation about taking it off and getting the bill reissued. Far too many places in London do this now to be honest, and it does start to irk somewhat.
Notwithstanding, we both had a great meal and it was really lovely to do it as a different experience. We rounded off the day nicely by heading along Marylebone High Street (one of The Love's favourite places in Central London) and after a good mooch in the likes of Caroline Gardner, The White Company and Daunt Books, it was off to the Prince Regent pub for a drink, where they had the superb Timothy Taylor's Landlord Dark ale. Well I just had to have that didn't I? In fact, the pub also had Landlord and Boltmaker, and the manager had told me the dark had been selling well, so that's a positive. There was some music on including 10CC's Dreadlock Holiday - make that tune of the day primarily due to the line "I don't like cricket - I love it!" - and the women's cricket had been on a telly inside the Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill earlier as England tonked South Africa, so that worked out!
We walked back to Baker Street and the rain was doing its best to put a dampener on things, and we got to the tube station just as it really started to lash it down, which did not stop for the rest of the day. We got via Farringdon to West Croydon and headed back to the flat, and after we got changed we settled in for the evening, with some good telly on including Gogglebox and also some Top of the Pops from 1981 which included Altered Images and Adam Ant at number 1 with Prince Charming. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of after all, and neither was being number 1 back then!
Thursday 2nd October - Delays In The Rain
I had the day working from home today, as The Love In My Heart was coming later on for a nice weekend here - primarily as we were heading out for a nice lunch tomorrow and was heading down on the train this afternoon. Being at home did also mean that I wouldn't be having to dash from work or anything like that, and I could also get any deliveries I needed and sort out the flat too. In fact, it maybe was something of note that despite me providing clear delivery instructions whenever I do a food order, the Sainsburys delivery driver had gone to the wrong address first because they didn't use the delivery devices they were issued and so had print outs. Just relieved that the right place was found and they came back!
With that drama over, I got through the working day well, being in a number of meetings overall and also then being able to get all the bits I needed to do sorted - bedding had been changed, old bedding washed and ironed and dried, everywhere cleaned up (and I did a lot of that during my lunch break) and that did mean I was all good to go. I was tracking The Love's train and that appeared to be picking up a delay of some sorts near to Rugby, but then picked up a further delivery at Watford as well, meaning that by the time that The Love would be getting to mine, it would be way beyond the working day's end.
In fact, that did allow me to head to the pharmacy close to home and pick up a prescription I needed to get - and that too had some form of drama as there were two prescriptions in one bag in error, so glad I didn't walk off with someone else's tablets as a result. I did check mine and thankfully it was what I needed, but even so. I was walking up to East Croydon station later on and I got a call from The Love. Effectively London Victoria station wasn't allowing any Southern trains out, and it seemed that crowds were getting busy on the station concourse. I did suggest an alternative to go to Beckenham Junction via Southeastern (and I could have met her there and we'd get the tram back) but thankfully she did then get a on a train.
With that drama and indeed the constant threat of rain happening, I was pleased and relieved when The Love's train came in, and that alone was fifteen minutes or so behind schedule - just from leaving Victoria. We decided to have a post-journey drink and so headed to Art and Craft, which was very chilled out and also playing some classic alternative rock anthems including a classic from Joy Division and then How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths, so make that tune of the day and ironically apt considering the delays that had been encountered during the day.
We headed back to my place and I got us some tea on - a really nice bit of pork with some dauphinoise potatoes and carrots, which went down well, as did for me a little morello cherry cheesecake for afterwards too. It was good to kick back with a drink and watch some telly in the evening, and we both really just enjoyed each others' company and all chiled out too. The Love did seem to think it was a Friday evening but it wasn't of course, so we had to remember that Goggglebox wasn't on tonight, but I did indulge her with double Emmerdale which was appreciated I think!