We hired an electric VW in Dublin and drove to Kilcoona in Galway to visit Daniel, his partner Maria and their little girl Poppy, a toddler, who was extremely charming and cute. We visited Maria’s parents who live just down the lane and had an extremely cultural time talking about bog for heating and how…

We took the train to Manchester and flew across to Dublin on the 24th as the ferry we had booked from Holyhead was cancelled as the port is out of action due to storm damage. Its a bit odd being here on Christmas day just ourselves, the city is empty apart from the odd groups of…

We came to Morecambe because Pauline thought it sounded cool and it certainly is – the cold wind today could take your face off quite easily. We have a friend in Preston from the pharmacy school days, Gordon, who came up here to meet us so that was nice.

We wanted to visit our friend Louisa who Pauline has known for forty years so we planned to take the 11:30 train from Euston. The next day we spent some time with Louisa showing us around Kendal and we visited her mum. It’s a pretty little town but the weather was not conducive to taking…

Its been an enjoyable time here in London, tomorrow we are off to Kendal in the North. Looking forward to it! “I’m Henry the eighth, I amHenry the eighth, I am, I amI got married to the widow next doorShe’s been married seven times beforeAnd every one was an Henry (Henry)She wouldn’t have a Willy…

This morning we went for a walk to Notting Hill, mostly to see how Pauline was feeling because in the afternoon we had a guided tour called “the misfits of Covent Garden” scheduled and we wanted to be sure she’d be OK. Also it’s a nice area to look around. In the afternoon we went…

Yesterday we both went to the dentist and unfortunately Pauline had to have a tooth removed so she’s laying low today. She’s ok but just taking things carefully. Fair enough too! So I had a bit of a look round by myself. It’s a big city London, and Google maps shows things in miles so…

On Tuesday we took the bus to Rennes and the TGV to Paris. We are staying in a little hotel in Paddington. We both really like Paddington, partly because there’s a statue of Paddington the bear at the station but mainly because there’s lots of nice little restaurants and cafes and it’s central but doesn’t…

Pauline was keen to visit the Palais Garnier opera house so we walked down there after breakfast. The Palais Garnier has been called “probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica”. This is at least partly due to its…

It’s been a fantastic weekend and we are most grateful to Ulrike and Alex, it was really all about spending some time together and it was so great to catch up. What a lovely city to do it in, and how lucky we were with the weather.