Terry and Pat’s travels and more

  31 January I am finding this winter really depressing. I don’t think it’s just the cold because in my many years I have experienced winters much colder than this one. Perhaps I’m missing the ‘Charity Walk’ which got me out of the house every morning and the interaction with my fellow team members?   Maybe the relatively mild Autumn and the seemingly longer time it held on has made the winter seem so much more dismal? I keep thinking of the things that I am itching to get on with when spring finally arrives: Pruning and general tidying up of the garden and completely re-felting the roof of the shed and sorting out the interior as it has got very untidy, are the largest jobs I would like to get on with. It hasn’t helped that my ‘Man Cave’ (formerly Conservatory) is no longer available to me at the moment to comfortably enjoy some of my other interests. Just as an aside, do you find, like me, that constantly reading comments regarding X that we are immediately reminded that it ...

  28th January There are Black Holes and there are Black Holes. The Black Holes that we hear about most often are those in Outer Space. I confess that I do not understand the effect of these Black Holes or why they are important to us or why we need to understand how and why they formed. I leave that to the scientists and astronomers. The Black Holes that I am interested in are those that exist in many, most or all of the homes in the U.K. and possibly throughout the world. You’re not aware of any in your home? Do you recognise any of the following? I have scoured the manual relating to my washing machine and can find no mention of a compartment within the washing machine that could house some of my socks. Therefore if there is no compartment then the there must be a Black Hole and not just an ordinary Black Hole but one that is selective in it’s victims. Never does a pair of socks go missing, always just the one. I keep the one that has not succumbed to the Black Hole in the hope ...

  ??/??/1961? The unsung heroes that I am going to tell you about are myself and two friends but before I do I feel it necessary to tell you a little bit about me and set the scene. As best I can remember it was the summer of 1961 and I was seventeen years old and experiencing the happiest and carefree days of my life. I had a job I really enjoyed working in a stockbroker’s firm, money in my pocket and girlfriends on a regular basis. My Saturday nights were spent either at the Ilford Palais (occasionally the Tottenham Royal and one visit to the London Lyceum), going to a     party thrown by a friend or a friend of a friend or, if I was wooing a young lady, I would usually take her to the pictures. I now have no idea as to what films I saw then and probably didn’t at the time because I was too busy, stealthily, trying to put my arm around her without being shrugged off or slapped and also hoping to get a snog at some time during the proceedings. What an awful word to use f...

  Monday 20th January There was a time when Pat and I went to the theatre,  both West End and local, very frequently but illness and Covid brought that to a halt. We have been to see a few shows over the past two years but have never properly got back into the habit again. It hasn’t helped that the theatre in Barking and the one in Ilford have been closed for sometime for structural repairs (wrong cement I am led to believe), nor the fact that prices in the West End appear to have rocketed since Covid.  Queens theatre in Hornchurch however is going strong and it was there that we went on Monday night. We booked our tickets for Rave On, a Rock and Roll extravaganza which celebrated the music of the 50’s and the first half of the 60’s, quite late  and were lucky to get two seats exactly where we prefer,        6 rows back and central and Pat suggested that we go the whole hog and have dinner at her favoured restaurant, which is a relatively short wa...

 Sunday 19th January It’s still too cold for me to venture far at the moment and I’m convinced that the winter is attempting to drive me into hibernation which I am resisting by doing little jobs around the house, reading the newspaper and writing this post. It was an article I read which prompted me to think about habits. We all have habits don’t we? I say “don’t we” but the fact is that many people have habits that they are not aware of until they are pointed out to them. Habits evoke all sorts of reactions. Most of the time we put up with them but they can often be irritating, even infuriating. Two widespread habits are the use of the word ‘like’ eight times in every sentence, which seems to apply to the younger generation in particular, and the beginning of every other sentence with the word ‘so’ which applies to a much wider proportion of the population. I have a habit that, except in exceptional circumstances, I always do the washing up and the drying after our evening m...

  Wednesday 15th January Alan is the husband of Lynda Lynda is the cousin of Pat Terry (that’s me) is the husband of Pat Tenuous as it may seem that must mean that Alan and I are linked as family members. Is there a term for that relationship? Maybe ‘ husbands of cousins in law? Probably not but the term particular to us is definitely GREAT MATES. We have a day out together 3/4 times a year when we meet up either in Basildon or Upminster and have a couple of drinks, a meal and a long chat about anything and everything that is relevant at the time. It’s a nice relaxing day and I always look forward to it. Alan is my type of guy, he has strong and good principles and sticks to them and expects the people around him to adhere to his own high standards. Despite the fact that he is in his late 70’s he is still a good looking guy but there is one thing about him that aggravates me and that is, whether he is booted and suited or dressed casually, he always looks smart. We’ve had Punk, Got...

  14th January It has been too cold for me to venture outdoors for the past few days so we have done a bit of housework to keep the home in good order and Pat had a short time available to start on her picture. I thought this was a good time to share one of my very simple recipes with you, ideal  for a light lunch or a starter for a main  meal . Prawn and Rice for two Ingredients: Half a cup of White Long Grain Rice. 22 medium sized ready cooked Prawns 12 Baby Tomatoes Marie Rose sauce Lettuce (optional) Cucumber (optional) Preparation: Three quarter fill a medium sized saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the Rice and leave to simmer for 15 minutes until the majority of  the water has evaporated While the Rice cooks place 11 Prawns on the centre of each plate. Coat the Prawns liberally with the Marie Rose sauce. When the Rice is ready tip it into a sieve to drain any surplus water and then spoon it in a circle around the Prawns Halve the tomatoes and place...

Friday 10th January The one engagement that we were not able to keep at Christmas was an invitation from Keri, our very good friend and neighbour, to have drinks with her on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, Katie her daughter, caught Chicken Pox and I was not willing to risk the possibility of getting an infection so we agreed to postpone it until she was over the illness. Why is this illness named so? Is it linked to chickens? Last night we fulfilled that engagement and met up with Keri and some of her family including Arnold her cockapoo. We often look after Arnold because Keri’s commitments means she would often have to leave him on his own in the house for too long a period. He recently had an operation on one of his back legs and we looked after him for several weeks while he recouperated. He is perfectly happy with us and regards staying with us as his holiday home. He is my mate The drinks flowed and eventually we got involved in a number of quizzes which made me realise just h...

FRIDAY 4th JANUARY  Pat is an artist who has produced over 150 paintings the majority of which she has sold, some she has given as presents, some are hanging on the walls of our three bedroom mansion and a few are lounging in the attic. She has been less prolific since her retirement as her audience has diminished and she is no longer involved with as many people as she once was. She has however had the urge recently to “get back in the saddle” so to speak so we decided to travel to the Wild West of Romford in order to purchase a picture frame and a few sheets of artist paper. We would have lunch while we were there and also purchase a pair of indoor slippers that she needed. The plan was to be home by mid afternoon. What was I thinking? Is shopping with a woman ever that easy? No, of course not and I should have known better. We left home a little later than planned and walked round to the bus stop where we caught the bus into Barking town centre then transferred  to the bus ...

  HELLO and WELCOME to my NEW Blog           My previous Blog was born out of and centred around my Cancer Charity Fund Raising Walk which I started on the 19th August 2024 and completed on Christmas Eve. That project is not over but has now been put on the “back burner” for the time being, hopefully, to be resurrected at sometime in the future.           During that venture I learned a great deal about IT and Social media which previously I had been totally ignorant of. Through the help and patience of my son, Roy, I now feel comfortable not only with writing the blog but also in the mechanics of producing it. It just goes to show that at 81 years of age you can  teach an old dog new tricks.             I don’t want that knowledge to be wasted and because I enjoyed writing the previous blog so much I have decided to write a new blog which will be less serious and will be related to the travels of ...