Lee & Lucy’s Travel Blog

This is the letter-opener that I’ve been telling you all about!

We bought this little fella at an antiques fair a couple of weeks ago with the Christmas money Lucy’s granddad gave us (Thanks Michael). It’s around 90 years-old!

The lady who sold it, told us that we need to name him…

So if you’ve got any suggestions, please leave a comment!

We will get around to finishing our Christmas & New Year recap, we’ve written-up half of part 2 so far, so we should finish it off sometime this week!

In the meantime, we’d like to show off some photos we’ve been taking whilst on our Sunday walks.

The week-before-last, we took Danny, Alex and Jacob out for a walk around the fields of Claverham - which was nice and muddy! Then today, Emily, James and Thomas took Lucy & I for a tour around the farm’s fields. Which was also nice and muddy!

Now we just need to go for a Sunday walk with Sophie! … and speaking of Sophie, it was her 3rd Birthday party yesterday! See some photos here.

Last Sunday we met up with James and friends for a countryside walk in Dundry. We met at noon at The Dundry Inn to start our 6-mile rural amble.

Not having fully recovered from the “man flu” … I was suffering from a (chronic) tickly cough - which started to slow me down after the first few miles. The thought of a good pub lunch was enough to keep me going!

The walk itself was great, the views from Dundry Hill are amazing - you get a great panoramic view of Bristol and beyond. The Parish of Dundry website has some good photos of the views (along with other information about Dundry).

Photo by kokeshi.

We didn’t take any photos during our walk… We actually took the camera with us, but when we weren’t enjoying the views, we were too busy getting out of the numerous muddy situations! By the time we got back to the pub, our shoes were caked in mud! James was an old clever-clogs, as he brought an extra pair of (clean) shoes! (We’ll know better next time.)

Early Thursday evening, James asked me if I was looking after him on Friday night because his Mum & Dad were going to the theatre. To which I replied, “Erm… You’ll have to check with Aunty Lucy.” A little later, Lucy informs me that we are also going to the theatre and the tickets have been booked! “Oh,” I say, “What are we going to see?”

At this point I start to get scared, I knew that “pantomime” would be the next word that would hear, “… and the tickets are already booked?” There was no escape! I found out that Steve was going too, so I wouldn’t be out-numbered by the singer-alongers!

As we arrived at The Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare to see Dick Whittington, I glance at the poster - it’s only gone and got Barry from EastEnders in it! I was stoked! (I kept thinking of him in Extras).

The panto was quite good… Emily jokingly told us that Amanda Holden was in it too, (as Fairy Bow Bells), she had us going for a while! How cheeky! (There are reviews of the panto on both The BBC and The Stage, if you want to know more about it.)

After the show we went down to the bar/lounge area where there was a nice buffet ready, (the evening’s event was in association with the local council). Most of the cast came down to say hello to the local councillors (including Lucy’s Dad). I wanted to get a photo Lucy & I with Barry, but he was a bit busy with the hardcore ’stenders fans - so I went to the bar - by the time I got back, Barry had buggered off home! Typical! Nevermind eh!

We did get talking to some of the other cast members, all very nice people! Gareth Davies (who played the Sultan) told us some amusing stories about his other types of performance work.

Today Lucy, Emily and the Kids have gone to some camping related event (I can’t remember the name of it, Tizwas or something to that effect) - I managed to get out of it by pulling a sickie, whilst Steve is fixing the woodburner’s chimney!

I’m still in the process of writing up our Christmas and New Year postings… watch this space!

We hadn’t mentioned that Lynsey & Kieran are now expecting… We’d been keeping it a secret for some long now, that even we’d forgotten about it! (just kiddin’)

They went for their second scan today… it’s all hush-hush on the sex of the baby though!

The last 2 weeks have been a bit of blur - yes the amount of alcohol consumed would justify that, as well as traveling up-and-down between Bristol and Liverpool. Here’s what we got up to over Christmas and New Year…

On the Eve of Christmas Eve (or the 23rd to everyone else) we were invited to Lucy’s Aunty Jane’s house for a pre-Christmas lunch. All of Lucy’s cousins (and husbands + kids) were there, so it was good to see everyone before Christmas.

Lunch was great… although Jane did have a slight panic as she’d forgot to pick up the Christmas turkey from the butchers - which was only open for a couple of hours that day! (It was one of the most surrealist moments of my life!)

After lunch, Jane started to herd everyone into the lounge for some traditional Christmas carols… at this point I thought it would be a good time to help clear-up the table! My cunning plan didn’t last for very long… I was soon summoned into the lounge for my vocal participation (or lack of).

Once all the carols had been sung, (the grand finale being O Come, All Ye Faithful in Latin!), we headed back to the farm. Lucy and Emily were meeting up with some ex-Lord Nelson staff for drinks.

We didn’t much during Christmas Eve day… we, meaning Steve and I, were preparing for a night at The Rising Sun (I’m told that it’s the busiest night at the pub all year). We didn’t stay out too late, (unlike last time), as Steve had some early morning milking to do… and hangovers combined with very excitable children don’t mix too well with me!

As the evening was reaching 10pm (our planned home-time), Steve got a call from someone… “The cows have escaped!” - Steve phones Emily to pick us up from the pub. Luckily there were only 10 cows that had escaped (or gone missing), so we headed off in the Shogun to round-up some cattle!

We arrived at the field, which was very wet and mudding - as soon as we got through the gate, Emily got us stuck in the mud!  So Steve takes over the driving… whacking it into 4×4 drive!  Now this was slightly concerning, as he’d had several pints down at the pub - however he owned the field - so no laws were going to be broken (or so I’m told).  We soon found the cows (plus a bull), it seems that they didn’t “escape”, they just got a little lost!

Steve jumped out of the car to round them up… for some mad insane reason, I jumped out of the car too - I blame the booze!!!  Steve is now talking to the bull, so I start talking to the bull too… then the bull decides to butt me - in my butt!!!  I think my beer armor protected me from any injury, but it was enough to get my ass back in the Shogun!

Once the cows (and the bull - who we’ll call Hutch from now on) were safe, we headed back home!  That was enough excitement for one night! I only wish I’d take some photographs of the cows! Nevermind eh!

I’ll tell you all about Christmas day in another blog posting… and then New Year’s Eve in one after that! (It’s almost like a trilogy?!)