Bank holiday preparations

It is August bank holiday weekend. One of the busiest of the Lake District's year. All the hotels and bed and breakfasts will be fully booked. Caravan and camping sites will be full to bursting. If the weather ( howls of laughter) forecasts are good or reasonable a lot of people will decide to come for a day out. The traffic will start getting even busier from lunchtime as tourists and visitors pour in endlessly. It is already busy because many people are already here.
It is the last hurrah for many people- the schools go back next week. All the little darlings will have to go home to iron their school socks ready for the start of the school term. So they will make the most of these last few days of freedom.
Yes- there is real buzz about the place.
And there is a real buzz in the microcosm of Lakeland Jo. I am off for a pedicure this morning after a busy two days work in the North East. I am then shopping ready for the weekend, and for the dinner I am cooking for friends tonight. Tomorrow and Monday it is CARTMEL RACES.
We are members of the race course and love to go as much as we can. There are only a few meetings a year, but they are a real treat. Cartmel is a beautiful village, and the race course is a delight. It is particularly enjoyable when the weather is nice. It doesn't have to be hot or even sunny, BUT DRY WOULD BE NICE PLEASE!!
Teenager comes along with a friend to hang out with, and our friend M ( also a member) comes to stay with us and join in the betting. We always have a jolly time- lovely picnics,and much amusement choosing our horses. Much excitement when we win too.

Back to dinner tonight.... this is an annual bet based on whether Bolton or Newcastle United come higher in the premiership. One of our friends is a Bolton supporter ( poor man). 2006/7 I won ( or rather NUFC came higher in the league) and had dinner cooked for me by him. 2008/9 Newcastle United were relegated, and Bolton stayed in the premiership. So I am getting round to cooking for him tonight. Steak chips and english mustard has been requested, and I intend to make a homemade pudding. Not sure what.

I am hoping he will be fairly subdued. NUFC are doing brilliantly thus far in the championship, Bolton are doing horribly in the premiership. A glimmer of hope perhaps? ( I am sure he will point out that comparing the leagues is like comparing apples and oranges but...)

In the middle of all the preparations, the spare bedroom furniture fitter should be finishing today, ready for our guest coming tomorrow. I am so excited about getting it all finished. We need to get it decorated and re-carpetted next week, completely ready for our Australian exchange visitor who arrives on September 19th.

Hope your holiday weekend is everything you plan for. Enjoy!

The raccoon

When we stayed at Wildwood Manor in the San Juan Islands, we saw a raccoon in the garden one evening. This photos was taken by our good friend S who is a great photographer ( and a great cook while we are on the subject of talents). Anyway.... I digress.
We don't have raccoons over here in the UK, so they are rather fascinating creatures to us. I know that those of you who do have them think of them as a menace, but this one is rather cute don't you think? I suppose if he was raking through my bins I wouldn't be so happy would I?

It's been a funny old week in the land of Lakeland Jo. Had a brilliant trip to Newcastle to see the Toon beat Sheffield Wednesday. One nil, another goal by the brilliant Shola, and lots of happy fans. Even to my untrained eye, the football appeared to be rather ugly and untidy, but a win is a win. Loved being away with teenager- we had a great time as ever. And Man Utd losing to Burnley on the same night? Priceless ( other half was pretty unhappy I have to say).

Lots of techical stuff has been going wrong this week. Mum's tv had a hissy fit one night, our new sky remote is being a pain, my computer cursor has been acting up. I lost a ring ( which I got in San Fran Cisco) and an ear-ring went down the sink. Do you ever have frustrating weeks like this? And the weather? Over here in the lakes....don't get me started. Rain Rain and more Rain. Wish I had been born a duck.

Relegation

I suppose I had to pop a quick post in about the Toon Army's relegation to the Championship next year.

Controversial perhaps. But they deserved it. The last match against Aston Villa was dire. It was a reflection of an awful season.

I know a lot of fans will be heartbroken. It is disappointing. But the attitude of 'we deserve success because we are big club' has to stop. We deserve to be relegated. No excuses.

And hopefully, they will rise up and fight next year in a spirited way until they deserve a premiership position once again.

Until then, we will enjoy visiting some new football grounds. Preston North End- here we come!

Days of mixed fortune

The last few days have been a roller coaster.







The bad things:

• The weather ( boo hiss)



• The Newcastle United versus Fulham game result ( we lost one nil and still face relegation)



• The traffic in the North East- awful. It never fails to amaze me how dreadful it is. It took me 1.5hrs to get from Darlington to Newcastle City Centre on Friday



• Jonny Wilkinson finally announces he is leaving the Falcons for Toulon. ( I don't blame him but he will be such a miss)



• suffering from a very late night on Saturday- not enough sleep and the old bones can't deal with it these days



• did I mention the ( dire) weather?



• my wonderful friend facing breast cancer. Damn that wretched disease. You know who you are- I am with you every step of the way girl!



• shutting down the office when you are self employed... so much to think about... will we ever get away...?
  
  

The good things:

• going to the test match at Durham on Saturday, England beating the West Indies,and teenager seeing us live on the TV all the way from Oz


• a night out in town watching all the fashions, and having a good laugh with friends


• staying with our good friend M in Newcastle in his lovely city centre flat- what a convenient urban treat, and only minutes from Starbucks. He is a great host. Cloudy Bay with dinner, Champagne to kick off our night out, haddock and poached eggs for breakfast. Lovely!
  
• being out on the town and being three and a half stone lighter, and feeling very confident


• the decorator starting in teenager's room. We have somewhere found the time and strength to get it all stripped down. It is going to look brilliant. And the paper has arrived!


• looking forward to flying out of Heathrow on Friday to Seattle ( a couple of days work in Birmingham first)... we are all packed.
  

Just need to finish all the office work, and check we have remembered everything....

Over and out!

Toon Army at the Reebok Stadium

Tomorrow we are going to watch Bolton Wanderers play Newcastle United at the Reebok stadium at Bolton.

We will be sitting with the away supporters. With our own people. Dressed in black and white. And best of all singing loudly. Our good friend and BW fan Chris will be there too- with the Bolton fans. He is a season ticket holder ( poor lad).

Whatever the results we will win on noise and atmosphere. The toon army usually do anyway, but at Bolton it won't be difficult. They are notoriously quiet.

The fabulous Mr Jonny Wilkinson

You may have noticed that I haven't been on my blog since Christmas Eve. My laptop was attacked by a horrible parasite virus which kept telling me I had to pay $100 to solve it. This happened on Christmas day. Other half is still trying to sort it out for me.

Our desk top is in our guest room which was occupied..... I could have borrowed teenager's new laptop but he ( as you can imagine) was too busy with it. (He has now graciously offered it to me so I can do this entry). And...

...... we have been rather busy since I last posted. Other than a lovely Christmas day with wonderful food and wine, good fun and fab presents ( more about this later), we have been to two sporting fixtures.

On Boxing Day we went to see Wigan Athletic versus Newcastle United. We lost 2-1 but the atmosphere was good ( and at times extremely interesting...).

Today we went to see Newcastle Falcons versus Worcester Warriors. It was a 16-16 draw. Sigh.
We went corporate and had lunch there ( three course carvery and unlimited wine- lovely!). During lunch, guess who wandered in? See below...


I would walk a thousand miles to see that smile...


Jonny and teenager

Lakeland Jo with teenager. Can you see any likeness?

We had a great time. It was mum's Christmas present from other half and I and it was very jolly, especially with our lovely visitor. The match was very exciting- I wish we had won. Never mind- next time.

I hope everyone had lots of fun over Christmas. I hope I will be back on my own computer soon.

Obafemi Martins and two goals

The Toon Army have moved six places up the table tonight and are now 14th. They scored two goals against the much fancied Aston Villa. Both goals scored by the wonderful Oba Martins who is loved as much for his celebration gymnastics as he is for his goal-scoring. It is wonderful to see them start to win again.

Our friend Chris is a great fan of Bolton Wanderers. We have great fun bantering about football all season. I am delighted to say that they are back in the relegation zone. This is mainly because he has to cook for us if the Toon finish higher in the table. Looking good at the moment....

Toon Army and the mighty Shay Given

Not strictly Lake District but felt I needed to say a few words about the my favourite goalkeeper, and favourite football team Newcastle United. I am sad that rumours persist about the morale at the club and I hope it is all rumours: we have had enough trouble to last a lifetime!

Losing to Arsenal yesterday wasn't our finest hour ( and a half) but the season has been pretty good so far, and we have a shed-load of injuries.

Here's hoping for a good run this season: as long as there are plenty of goals and plenty of effort the fans are kept happy I think.

Teenager and I need all the good luck we can get: the other half is a Manchester United fan, and you know how modest they are. Yawn. Keep eating the prawn sandwiches lads... we stay black and white all the way.