Dinner at Chelsea cafe

George out somewhere so Jayne & I went to Chelsea Cafe for dinner.

Day trip to Leeds - agile topics

Flew to Leeds for the day for some meetings on agile topics.

Went AirSouthwest- small propeller plan. Bounced around alot in the wind

Hector afternoon tea & surprise party

Vivienne here for the weekend. Went to Andy & Elaines for afternoon tea to celebrate Hectors 1st birthday - a bit belated.

In the evening went to new restaurant in Bath, (One Beaumont) just down the bottom of our road. It turned out to be a surprise, very belated, birthday dinner for me. There was Tim & Sheena, Lisa & James, Vivienne, George, Jayne & myself. Excellent evening and really enjoyed the restaurant - would definitely go back. Good food and well priced.

Pizza Express & Goats

Jaye, George & I went for dinner at Pizza Express and then onto the cinema to see "Men who Stare at Goats".

Children In Need night. Vivienne arrived to stay for the weekend

Hudsons for dinner

Belated birthday dinner for me - just the 3 of us. Went to Hudsons Bar & Grill in Bath. Nice evening but food was a bit expensive £25 for a T-Bone steak.

Old car new car

Picked up our new car - Toyota Aygo - in the morning. Lovely

Sold the old Lupo to webuyanycar and dropped off in Aztec West. Didn't quite get the price I was hoping for however at least it was convenient. Point for future - they are very particular about the bodywork and take off about £100 for every scratch/dent. Don't seem to worry about mechanical condition.

Jamies for dinner

Jayne & I went to Jamie's Italian restaurant for an early dinner. George was at Beechen at an open evening and sleep-over.

The antipasta was excellent & the mains tasty however my pasta was overcooked and stuck together. Got a refund for my main. Overall not as good as expected.

First real day at Beechen

Georges first real day at her new school Beechen Clif. I dropped her down the road to catch the bus at 8:00. All went well although need to organise taxi between drama lesson at Hayesfield and Beechen.

Bank holiday weekend - digging dirt

Stayed around home and spent most of Saturday and some of Sunday digging out part of the front garden.
Sunday roast lunch was chicken - went down very well. George & I took Mabel for a walk.

Georges GCSE results

Picked up the results this morning at 11:00

Drama - A*
English language - A*
English Literature - A*
Religious Studies - A*
German - A
Music - A
Science - A
History - A
Maths (calculator) - A
Maths (non-calc) - A
Additional Science - B

Summary - 4 x A*, 5 x A & 1 x B

Fantastic

Pizza for dinner

Jayne, George & I went to Solo Pizza for dinner.

Food was very good, service excellent, however the place lacked something - can't really put our finger on it. Probably would go back. £40 for three

Edinburgh festival week

Drove up on Saturday and stayed near Roslin chapel, about 1/2 hour south of the centre. Saw lots of shows, the best being Paul Zerdin - a ventriloquist. One of the funniest things I've seen.

Sun 16/8 - Wandered around the High St area - very busy. Milkshakes in Wannaburger went down a treat. Blue Bar restaurant for dinner, Cambridge St. 6 people (£113). I am writing this about a month later and I can't remember the restaurant, so it can't have been that good!
Tue 18/8 - Gourmet Burger Kitchen for dinner. Good food and very reasonable - £82 for 5
Wed 19/8 - Tattoo. It poured, luckliy Jayne & I were under cover; the others weren't so lucky.
Thu 20/8 - Mussel & Steak bar restaurant. Starters of seafood were excellent. Steaks were tough. Long tim to get the bill. Webcam in kitchen was good - we could see our dinner being cooked.
Fri 21/8 - Last meal, all of us together - Filling Station restaurant on High St. A typical american style restaurant.
Sat 22/8 - Drove back, George stayed on for even more shows - total of more than 20.

Morrisons here

The Morrisons were here for the night. Went to Bathwick Boatman for dinner. Nice food but felt place needed more marketing - it wasn't very busy.

Cinema

Jayne & I went to the cinema in the evening - Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1.

Saw Pelham 123 - film about a tube train hijack with John Travolta. Great action fun - Jayne wasn't as enthused

Working week and then home

Spent the week working under the umbrella on the terrace in the mornings and early afternoons. Started to get quite hot especially after 3pm.

Did some food shopping to take home in Aulla.

Final bike ride to Pontremoli on 29th.

Left the apartment about 10:00 on Thursday - a couple of hours later than expected. A good drive until Gottard tunnel where there were hugh delays - about 2 hours. Eventually got through. Not much of a delay at Swiss border but had to pay road tax.

Stayed the night at Novotel in Saint Avold - good location, nice hotel.

Started about 08:00 on Friday, stopped at Luxembourg to fill up with petrol. 4pm ferry to Dover. Scenic costal route to Brighton, arriving about 8pm. Stayed at Gary & Lisa's then headed home on Saturday afternoon.

Aulla, work & coffee

I rode into Aulla in the morning to download emails. Worked quite well and had a cappuccino to boot.

Saturday - Aulla

All of us went into Aulla for a wander around. Did some food shopping.

La Spezia for the day

Went to La Spezia for the day - very pleasantly surprised. The centre is lovely, nice shops and easy to walk around. Lunch at funny little place - Osteria di Mimmi. Tiny. The owner cam out, took our order and then went into the kitchen and cooked it. Quite rich food but very tasty.

Bought a bottle of grappa for Tims belated 50th. Excellent wine shop (Casa del vino). Went into a clothes shop and Jayne & George bought a few things for the children

Bike ride to Pontremoli

Bike ride to Pontremoli in the morning - it was market day. Lazed around the apartment and had takeaway pizza for dinner.

Bologna for the day

Went to Bologna for the day - well worth it. It took about an hour & half. After a coffee we split up - Jayne & George doing some clothes shopping and me looking around food markets. Definitely a foodie heaven. Bought a few bits and pieces, some for Stephen & Bridget. Nice coffee in a bar behind market - portraits on the wall

Lunch was at a place called Clive T, down a quite back street and very enjoyable. Excellent pasta with pumpkin (totelloni zucca). Lunch was 58€ Afterwards an ice cream at Sorbetteria Castiglione - a bit of a walk but worth finding. On the way back passed the posh shops - Louis Vuitton, Prada etc.

Had a look in the cathederal

Before returning to the apartment stopped at Doro centry supermarket just outside Villafrance.