Nigel Is A Guest Of The Royal Hop Pole, Tewksbury.

As Nigel’s rendezvous with the PE and Finance Lady was timetabled for early to facilitate a charity shop shopping trawl, Darrell decided it best to book Nigel a room for the night in Tewksbury at The Royal Hop Pole …. as mentioned in Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers (The Royal Hope Pole, not Nigel’s stay!!)

The reviews were good and let’s just say it did not disappoint especially in it’s position to the charity shops, its romantic allure and it’s historical pedigree …..

…… which gave it its little quirks.  Nigel’s found that his room was on the top floor with it’s very own staircase leading up to it, which for Nigel was like he'd been put in the Presidential Penthouse Suite.

However, said stairs did have issues .......

..... as Nigel's door opened directly onto them, so he made doubly sure he had all his wits about him and was doubly cautious when leaving the room.

Inside the room he had real life old beams ………………..

….. and you can’t get any more historical or romantic than that.

If our beloved Derek Acorah had popped in on Nigel during his stay, goodness only knows what spiritual entities he could have picked up pouring from those rafters and with whom Nigel could possibly have been sharing his room with.

There were rules to be obeyed too, but not ones that were too onerous, however rather than have the embarrassment of having the alarms go off during his ablutions, Nigel took the precaution of putting a spare towel along the bottom of the bathroom door to prevent any unintentional steamy leakage and showering in his pants just in case there was an “evacuation”, ....... you can never be too careful in historic hostelries!

The light fitting in his room, Nigel felt, was somewhat disappointing for such surroundings, he was sure Darrell would have installed a far grander antler type affair or at least some sort of minor chandelier.

However, it was on the floor below Nigel's room that gave the Royal Hop Pole it’s real X Factor ……….

….. with it’s very own medieval banqueting hall (but sadly no longer used as such)

…… just how historically brilliant is that?  Nigel said he could almost smell the roasting suckling pig and again Derek Acorah would have had a field day, perhaps even telling Nigel what the many suckling pigs had been served with and what was served for pudding afterwards.  Nigel was most impressed.

He was also impressed by the staircases  which all appeared to have a tendency to lean, with no lift Nigel thought it might be advisable for guests to stick to beverages of a non alcoholic persuasion despite it also being a public house! What is he like?

The Royal Hop Pole did not disappoint downstairs in the bar and restaurant areas either……..

The chimney/fire place must have offered many a cold and weary Dickenson traveller warmth and comfort in the past ........ and as for Father Christmas, coming down such a chimney must have bought soooooooooooooooo much pleasure! Happy Days!

Nigel Is Dispatched …….

There is almost unbearable level of palpable and tangible excitement thronging The Towers ……… 

….. Nigel has been dispatched and is currently enjoying  the historic pleasures of Tewksbury ……… including the many very romantic alley ways …….

……. while Darrell and I make preparations for the most honoured of guests who he has been sent to rendezvous with and then bring back …….

……. to wit …. the PE Lady (as was) and the Finance Lady what we used to work with in our heady days at the Girls School, back in our spiritual homeland of Wolverhampton!!  OMG, OMG, OMG!!

Nigel is staying overnight in said historic town for an early meet up as the PE and Finance Ladies also both fancied a bit of charity shop shopping in foreign climes, so we sent Nigel ahead to do a through reci of the town to make sure they don’t miss anything and then he’ll bring them back to The Towers for an overnight stay. 

It could look both rude and remiss of him if he failed to also check out the local cafes just in case The PE and Finance Lady required a little refreshment before/during and/or after their perusing …….

….. and as such the little fella found a most excellent eatery that just happened to “do” all his most favourite puddings …… and again it would have been rude not to sample erm …… one, two, three, four of them ………

….. what is he like (if not on expenses)????!!!

Nigel also carefully noted that almost all the table coverings in the establishment were of a faux, plastic lace type nature and wondered if this is a new en-trend trend that Darrell should possibly be aware of!

Peanut Butter Marmite

We all agree that Easter was pretty wonderful, thanks to Darrell and his superb organisational skills, however there was one thing he confessed this morning that he hadn't been able to secure for us something that he had hoped would have made our festive Easter, in particuar our breakfasts even  more special and complete and in that respect he felt that he had been found wanting.

In short, he'd set his heart on finding us a pot of the new Marmite Peanut Butter, Marmite being our very favourite savoury spread of choice.

So with all things Easter now put away, including our very fabulous festive bow ties from Jan the Fan, he has announced that he now feels he can really put his full attention into finding the holy grail of all marmite type products for our delectation, a possible taste review and hopefully some wonderful nomming!  What is he like?

When is Remiss Not Remiss?

It was only when we were on our riverside stroll yesterday afternoon in order to work off the  excesses of Easter Sunday that it suddenly dawned on us that all the seasonal activity and games Darrell had organised for our Easter afternoon pleasure had gone by the way side because our inability to move from the sofa after his/our wonderful lunch ...........  I don't think it could even be regarded as remiss, we just weren't capable! 

To quote Victor Meldew, I just don't believe it!!!!! However, all is not lost, Iris and Bertie have now returned from their Easter with their other Granny and Granddad in Telford and there is still another week left of school holidays, sooooooooo there is nothing to say we can't have a retrospective post Easter afternoon of egg and spoon races, toss the chicken and pin the tail on the bunny later in the week, goodness only knows we need the exercise,  but what on earth are we like?  

Egg Bound .........

Let's just say that the Easter Bunny did not leave us wanting when we woke up yesterday on Easter Sunday fonding our bed awash with chocolately comestibles. We felt truly blessed in a totally Hello Magazine type way.

We had an eggstremely eggcellent day.  We started off with scrambled egg on toasted muffins for breakfast, followed by an eggceptional Sunday lunch as prepared by Darrell. This year it was pork, with  all the trimmings plus sixteen veg. It was a little difficult to extract ourselves from the table afterwards, but somehow, very slowly, we managed to move on to the sofa for the afternoon to watch The Greatest Showman and Titanic, which laterly, was a bit like how my stomach was feeling, i.e going down, especially after Darrell insisted on cracking open the festive Thorntons Continentals!

I am afraid we by-passed an Easter tea in favour of a light supper of a tiny morsel of Darrell's most wonderful Simnel cake, an assortment of cheeses with a few crackers and a Kinder egg or two, before retiring to bed.  It was a lovely, lovely day, just chilling out all together, buI think we need a stroll along the river some time today to work off a few of those aforesaid excesses!!  Happy Days. 

The Greatest Showman is one of our most favourite films at the moment so you can imagine how Nigel was almost beside himself after getting the impression that Hugh Jackman was coming to Evesham with his Greatest Showman Tour, after spotting a poster outside one of the church's on the school run.

The little fella arrived home in full fluster, however after relating his story and a little research on my part sadly I had to gently burst his bubble. What the poster was actually offering was a five week course, of a religious type nature, using  excerpts from said The Greatest Showman to offer discussion points, biblical reflections and prayers.

I didn't want to put Nigel off, but I wasn't sure if he really wanted to explore what liberation and hope might look like for an outsider in the world in the song “A Million Dreams”, question the temptations of false fulfilment that can lead us to betrayal in “Never Enough” or ask what forms of resistance can be placed in the way of salvation in `Rewrite the Stars',

I wondered he might find it all a bit heavy especially when his beloved Hugh would definitely not be there in all full ringmaster regalia to, how shall I say, jolly it along.

It was up to him, but as an alternative I did suggest that on Easter Sunday, after Darrell’s much anticipated roast dinner we could perhaps settle down on the sofa to watch The Greatest Showman curtsey of Netflix, joining in with all the songs, in between tucking into our Easter eggs …..  and keep the questioning of temptation, betrayal and redemption for another day!  He’s still thinking about it! 

Tis The Season

Tis the season to be eating les hot cross buns ...........

....... and this year, right up to 23rd April, St Georges Day we shall greatly be enjoying the pleasures of Lidl's most excellent deluxe apple and cinnamon buns 

Darrell Starts Just A Little Primping And Prepping

Easter wouldn’t be Easter without Darrell adding just a little of his festive frou frou around The Towers …….

...... but he’s not gone too overly overboard this year because Iris and Bertie will be spending their Easter with their "other" Granny and Granddad in Telford and as Darrell has said, what fripperies he has put out in the past has been (mainly) for them in an effort to make lots of happy memories to carry with them for when they are all grown up. So this year it’s just for us, plus he is being mindful of the dusting and the inevitable boring putting away afterwards when all the festive excitement has died down.

So, we have a wreath crafted by his own fair hands on our front door and a scattering of bobble headed chicks and bunnies on our festive shelves …….

…….. but on the day itself  Darrell has promised that we will certainly not be found wanting in the Easter activity stakes with more than enough fun and games.

It’s Beginning To Look Like Easter

Yesterday there was almost too much tangible and palpable excitement thronging through The Towers…….

…….. after our lovely postman arrived with a parcel addressed to “The Boyz”, there was only one person it could have come from …….

…….  our No. 1 fan and cereal serial  follower, Jan The Fan who has been with us almost since we started way back in 2009!

As with all of Jan the Fan’s parcels it was wrapped for full impact, like a wonderful pass the parcel parcel …………

…… with the tension and exquisite excitement mounting as each new layer was revealed

……. until the final reveal … which left us all in momentarily silent awe, quickly followed by oooooooo’s and ahhhhhhhhh’s and then, it has to be said, a few tears, yes, it was emotional, of an Oscar acceptance type nature.

Inside, was a festive bow tie for each of us to choose.  Darrell went first, he chose the one with the carrot (knowing which one Nigel would really, really, really, really want) ……

……. that being the one with the Lego bunny on …….

…… and I chose the very gay one with the Easter chick, with which I decided to buck the trend and wear on my head in a sort of Easter Tide homage to Hilda Ogden. Well, when Darrell saw that his own bow tie was swiftly moved from his neck to his ears saying that he had thought of doing it too but wondered if it might have been a little too avant-garde for this particular time of the year.  Me? Avant garde and trend setting, who would ever have believed it!!????

There was a card inside the parcel too …….

…… written in Jan the Fan’s own, real life handwriting, with “love” and three kisses (one each), it was again emotional. I don’t think even a card from our own beloved Her Majesty could have ever meant as much.

What can we say ……. Thank you sooooooooooo much, Jan the Fan we love you too, and thank you for making our Easter so very special.

And thank you Frankys Bowtique for making it all possible!

Waste Not, Want Not

Nigel seems to been on a bit of finding streak at the moment …..  mostly he is finding things that you might expect to find when out for a stroll or on the school run, things like hats or the odd single glove or two ……….

……. but yesterday he stumbled upon a perfect red pepper. Now he’s found the occasional fallen apple or plum and once a half eaten banana  …… but never a perfectly formed pepper.

And its finding put him in quite a quandary, what should he do, there was nothing wrong with it, in fact it looked better than some he’d seen in the supermarket. There wasn’t really anywhere to put it safe and visible in case the owner came out looking for it. Should he just pick it up and take it home?  Would that be technically “stealing”?  He didn’t really want to risk prison for a pepper related offence.

In the end, after much inner debate and soul searching he chose the later option presenting it to Darrell on his return to The Towers, who in turn decided to simply but flavoursomely stuff it just for Nigel. Lets just say it went down a treat without conscience.  Good call Nigel!!!

Artesian Water

Who would have believed that you'd be able to buy real live volcanic water from the island of Vitu Levu in Fiji for under a £1 from the Poundstretcher on the retail park in Evesham,m surely such stuff is more worthy of Hugh's exclusive London emporium and shop to the stars Harolds?

It has to be said that Nigel was both overwhelmed and very impressed ...... what with it being all rich in colloidal silica. which gives you, according to the bumpff, a "....soft, smooth mouth feel" and the reassurance that throughout all the au natural filtration process Fiji remains completely untouched by human hand until you actually unscrew the cap.  It's all just too romantic for words.  However, it has to be said that no considered purchase was made as Nigel knows that we need to get through all the 17p two litre bottles of Tesco's Chase Spring before we can begin to enjoy such pleasures .....but as soon as we do .........I dare say the world of Fiji water will be our lobster.

When Does A Puddle Become A Pond?

The owners of the yard under the bridge at the top of our estate spent a quite a bit of time and effort in the autumn filling in all the large pot holes where the ducks liked to congregate after any particularly abundant showers of rain.

Unfortunately, despite the owners best efforts it seems that said pot holes have only gone on to reappear further up under the bridge, greatly increasing in size at the same time, to now form more of a pond than a puddle.  So far the ducks haven’t seem to have noticed it yet ……..

…… however if Nigel knows his ducks like he says knows his ducks it’s only a matter of time before they do and they descend upon it.

Needless to say one of us will be down there with our camera to capture the proceedings as soon as they do.  I wonder what would happen if a fish catching bird doesn't accidentally drop it's live tea in there ......... now that really would make it a pond!