Day 917 & 918 (30/06 & 01/07/2012)

The weekend is here and I thought I would spend some time tidying the garden as the grass had got so long with the rain & sun when we were away. I managed to cut it and brush up the clippings before the rain came down but I didn't do half of what I wanted. Typical after I had a shower and sat back down in front of my computer and the sun came back out.

Update - Sunday 19:30 - Just had a very nice roast lamb dinner no pictures just for a change.

Yesterday I was watching a couple of programmes about The Who on the i-player and during an Electric Proms session at The Round House in Camden I had to think if I had ever seen The Who as there was a man in the audience who looked so much like me, even wearing a shirt like the ones I wear, that it even had me thinking twice.

I have never seen The Who live and this isn't me (in the bottom left) but throughout the concert the camera showed him a few times and he is either my long lost twin ware my doppelganger.

Day 916 (29/06/2012)

Another week without going to the gym but I have been really busy with work since I got back and my sun-burn was still hurting.

I think I must have lost weight this week as I seem to have lost a lot of skin in the last couple of days, its like being back in the 1970's with a sun-burn and peeling skin.

I have put my wife's photo's on my computer now, so thought I would add a couple of hers on here, as I wasn't in any of the others because I took them.

She took over 800 photo's in a week, so its a good job we didn't go for longer. And yes nearly all of them were taken at meal times.

Day 915 (28/06/2012)

We had our house valued today, not that we are selling it but we are having to change our mortgage around and had to have someone come round and check our house out.

We were quite concerned that the mess (there is a lot of it) and a few bits that need decorating or renewing might effect things but the the man was only here for about 15minutes and he didn't even open some of the doors, just counted the rooms and measured the outside of the house.

Hopefully everything will go through OK and then I will be in debt until the next millenium.

I am currently playing online scrabble with my aunty and after getting totally spanked by her in the first game I was able, for the first time ever, to have a word where I used all of my letter / tiles.

Obviously I won but I think I should retire now as I doubt I will win that many more games. 

Day 914 (27/06/2012)

Very busy at the moment, seem to have lots of work in and busy arranging some more courses for later in the year.

I spent the whole afternoon meeting the really nice people from Sound & Fury who wanted my input about a play they are writing. I hate to think how my character will appear, I hope not to bad as whilst telling them about horrible things I may have done over the years I did keep reminding them that I am a nice person, who just gets involved with things.

I managed to bring Richard Herring into the conversation a couple of times and was impressed when one of the guys said he was at University with Richard Herring.

My sun burnt belly is still painful but I will try to go to the gym on Friday.

Day 913 (26/06/2012)

Home, still with a very painful sun burnt belly : -(  catching up with my blog and my post.

No pictures of my dinner for the next few days.

Will probably go to the gym on Wednesday as not been for a little while but have been walking loads and sweating like in a sauna so my holiday was a bit like a day at the gym.

Day 912 (25/06/2012)

We spent a relaxing day at the hotel, having lunch, with fantastic fresh melon fruit juice and less healthy burgers.
  

We read our books and played scrabble (we know how to live) and then our week was finished so quickly and we had to go home.

Day 911 (24/06/2012)

After a painful night in bed with a red swollen & badly burnt belly we spent another day by the pool but this time I covered up and will never try for a sun tan again.

We stayed at the hotel for a our evening meal, which was very nice and once again mostly fish based but not as nice as the Italian earlier in the week.

Day 910 (23/06/2012)

We spent the day lazing by the pool in the heat which was very lovely.

I tried to do a panoramic photo of the view from my sunbed.

We then spent the evening on The Vagrant, a yacht once owned by The Beatles.

They did a very interesting Beatles cocktail.

The food was not great but by staying here we were ideally placed to see a fireworks display over the harbour which went on for 25minutes solid and was very good.

It was only when we got back to the hotel room did I realise how sun burnt I was, it was so painful.

Day 909 (22/06/2012)

We went for a wander around Jardim Botanio, which we took to be the Botanical Gardens, which was nice but very hot. Luckily we were walking through them going down hill, the other way around would have been terrible.

We found another lovely restaurant back in Fuchal.

Day 908 (21/06/2012)

Back on the bus (the tickets are for two days) and we went to the nearby fishing village of Camara De Lobos.

It was baking hot and we were in need of refreshment.

After a hard days exploring when we got back to Fuchal we were in need of a sit down, a drink and a large paella.

Luckily we found just the place.

Day 907 (20/06/2012)

We had another walk into town and caught the red double decker tourist bus for a trip around Funchal.

It rained a bit, well quite a bit. On the bus we had to put our feet up as the water got quite deep on the way downhill, when it all flowed towards the front.

Luckily we got off and took shelter under an umbrella at a restaurant at lunch time.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Madeira wine place for a tasting sensing.

Madeira wine is easy to describe in two words, Benylin & Disgusting.

In the evening we went to a nearby Italian restaurant and had some of the best food we have ever eaten. I had a sea food lasagna and my wife went for a sea food & squid ink risotto.
   

Day 906 (19/06/2012)

The morning was warm and we went for a walk into Funchal, the capital, but it rained a bit on the way so we found a place selling toasted sandwiches to hide from the rain with a late breakfast. Funchal is very nice and has quite a nice street art scene.

  

The sun came out and we needed to re-hydrate with a jug of Sangria before more walking.

That evening we tried another restaurant near the hotel the food was OK but they got no tip as the service wasn't great (felt slightly ignored). 

We noticed an interesting difference between the UK and Madeira with the sachets on the table. No malt vinegar & HP but olive oil & white wine vinegar.

Day 905 (18/06/2012)

Catch up on the blog and our holiday in Madeira. We flew from Bristol on Easy Jet which was OK but there are never any perks with them.

When we arrived it was quite warm but no blazing hot sun and we thought we were in for a mixed week weather wise. Our initial view of the hotel, The Pestana Carlton, was quite good and on the whole it was a quite a nice place but could have done with Channel 4 on the telly and free wifi in the rooms. The pool area was lovely and we had a nice room, with a view from the balcony out onto the ocean.

There was a model of the hotel which had the "Tracey Island" feel about it but either there were no disasters this week or there were no hidden rocket ships. 

The first night we eat close by and had some nice food. I had the fish skewer thing whilst my wife went for the fish in a curry sauce with a banana, which appears to be a local delicacy.

We also started the week of liquor coffee's (cointreau not whiskey), which seemed to come with a straw, which was actually quite a good idea, as you didn't burn your lips on the hot coffee, just your tongue.