Wishing you a very, very, very Happy Christmas! 

We wish we could have added some music to this short animation, but if you just hum your most favouritist festive tune you'll get the gist!!!

The Queen's Life In Style

As you all know we all loved and adored The Queen so much, but it has to be said, that Eric has always had the greatest affinity with her, though never presented in person, he has been an actual, real life guest at one of her garden parties way back in 2013 (where he did however partake in polite conversation with the ex Duke who we no longer mention) ........

 ....... so it goes without saying that while in London, it only seemed fitting to pay homage to the great lady by visiting the Kings Gallery at Buckingham Palace for the "Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life In Style" exhibition.

It was, as I had expected and according to Derek, very emotional for the little fella, perhaps not so much for Derek, but just seeing his beloved friend so enraptured and captivated was, he said, very, very moving in itself!

The Queen, Eric sighed, was just as petite as he had imagined (and, of course, having seen her from a distance at said party), with small, delicate feet.  Her shoes, were, he thought all of a very practical and comfortable nature, even the sparkly ones, worn in, he believed, by her various ladies in waiting with the same size feet, beforehand.

The Queen with a blister plaster on each heel and a slight limp, stepping out of her carriage or royal car is simply unthinkable. 

Obviously, it was her posh frocks that drew the most gasps ........

 ...... however, for Eric it was her wedding dress that captured his heart, imagining how our own, dear, fragrant Alice would look in it.  It was the stuff of true fairy tales.  

As for Derek, he fell in love with the Coronation dress with all it's symbolism, although he thought it might have been a bit heavy for the poor Queen, what with all her other regalia on top.  No one ever said being a Queen was easy. 

To Derek's keen eye, The Queen didn't appear to make many mistakes with her clothes  ........

...... but he wasn't exceptionally keen on the blue ensemble behind him, however, after tutting under his breath, Eric told him that it was very much of its time and obviously of some significance to be included in the exhibition, considering how many outfits she must have got through in seventy years of reigning! 

Being in Buckingham Palace again was enough of a thrill to be honest, walking where royal people may have walked, without being within inches of clothes worn by The Queen, as I said it was emotional.

The gift shop was impressive too, if a tad expensive, so no considered purchases, on this occasion were made, Eric said his memories were more than enough, although he might still have a bit of a mooch online when he got home! 

As for the "facilities", probably never used by The Queen, unless in an absolute, dire emergency ...... 

...... they were exemplary, with, as you can see, an ample sufficiency of supplies!  As for the handwash? Well, we always knew Darrell had the taste of a connoisseur, as it was the exact same flavour of Molton Brown that he always puts out on high days, holidays and when we have visitors!!!  What are we like? 

Derek And Eric Board The Titanique ........

Sooooooooooooooo .........

Picture courtesy of https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/titanique-criterion-theatre-london-uk-february-rd-billboard-above-entrance-piccadilly-circus-promoting-musical-391554143.jpg

........ after their slightly disappointing sojourn to the Tate Modern, Derek and Eric were still very much up for even more London culture ....... 

....... this time of the musical theatre persuasion.........

 ...... which I believe DID NOT disappoint. In fact, according to Eric, it went far beyond anything they had anticipated, to wit, it was William Hanson's final night playing Ruth (he of the last word in etiquette coaching fame, author and podcast host). Darrell was so unbelievably jealous, as Mr Hanson really is one of his idols when it comes to anything of a protocol, formality and decorum type nature.  

Plus, as their seats were at the very end of the third row where the actors came in from the sides of the stalls all through the performance, they were literally inches away and up front and personal with them, this was such a totally unexpected thrill, if they dared, Derek and Eric could have copped a cheeky, yet discreet, accidently on purpose touch!

Then, add our beloved Celine Dion to the mix (Darrell and I having seen the real Celine three times, in concert, in real life), what's not to go head over heels, overboard about!

According to our intrepid tourists, it was an absolutely wonderfully glorious night, from the second the curtain went up to the second it, sadly came down.  There may have even been a few tears, including from Mr Hanson.

Derek and Eric's sides were sore after laughing so hard and then they were left with a whole plethora of ear worms stuck in their heads on the bus home, with "I Drove All Night" being the most persistent. If they could have done it all over again, trust me, they would have, in the blink of an eye. Let's just say, it's already on their bucket list of second time rounds.

And, any regrets?  Well yes ........ they wished they'd done a more classic Titanique pose on the ships bow, they just couldn't decide who should be Jack and who should Rose! I said they should have taken turns, which they hadn't even thought about!  What are they like?  

Derek And Eric Bonding In London

This week we find Derek and Eric bonding ....... 

...... in London over common interests .......

...... deciding to be tourists in their own country and, I gather, having a fantastic time.

Their first port of call, Tate Modern ...........

....... for the Frida: Making Of An Icon Exhibition.

 ...... where even riding the escalator, in such exalted climes, was an adventure!

However, excited as they were at being able to share their mutual artistic loves  ........

...... and certainly not wishing to appear to be total philistines ....... 

...... they said couldn't help being left a little disappointed and wanting, as they had really hoped to see an awful lot more of the artists own original works (in this case, only 21 paintings and 11 drawings). 

They drooled over her beautiful outfits, pieces of jewellery, painted body casts, shoe and sketch book among the exhibits  ........ 

.... but, to be honest, all these could have been displayed in one large room ........

...... while the rest of the exhibition, seemed to be padded out with an awful lot of other work by artists and designers influenced by her.

I believe, at first, Derek and Eric were both a little afraid to tell each other what they really thought, thinking it must be just them and that they weren't entirely understanding of it all .......

...... however on reading a few reviews by several much more eminent critics than themselves, it appears that their observations and opinions was also expressed by others, private owners, it seems, were reluctant to lend Tate Modern their treasured originals by Frida (including Madonna), hence their sparsity and the gap fillers!  With that Derek and Eric felt vindicated. The gift shop was also disappointing leaving any momento that our intrepid duo had hoped to perhaps purchase lost, however, from what I hear, this was the only slight blip on their trip.

We Review Seaside Karen's Portuguese Regina Chocolate

On a slow news day and with everyone else out and about, Derek and I decided to review the chocolate bars our beloved Seaside Karen gave us during our Southport Meet Up, from her half way around the world cruise earlier in the year .....

...... it was a tough task, but we felt we were well up for the job! 

Coming in three flavours, orange, strawberry and pineapple what wasn't there to like?

We went for the orange flavour first, being, we thought, the most familiar .......

We liked it, Portuguese chocolate isn't as creamy as we're used to, but the flavour was there in quite a delicate infusion, we liked it.

On to the strawberry, which again was very subtly balanced. The chocolate tasted "darker" if you know what we mean and if we hadn't known otherwise, we'd definitely have thought there was something of an alcoholic persuasion about them, perfect with a festive hot chocolate perhaps?

And finally to the pineapple, something we were totally unfamiliar with dans chocolate, BUT, we loved it, it was, by a long way, our flavour of choice, really unusual and seemed sweeter than the other bars.  A clear winner.

And no, we didn't snaffle all the chocolate ourselves, although tempting, we only sampled one piece between us and then kept the rest for Darrell, Alice and Eric when they get home.

It'll be interesting to see if they agree with us.  Anyway, thank you Seaside Karen for breaking up a long, nothing to do sort of afternoon, if not emotional, it was a very bonding experience for Derek and I.

Derek Does A Double Take

Obviously, Derek has quickly become aware of Eric's spooky "affinity" for finding hedgehogs or perhaps that should actually read as the other way around, they find him, but yesterday Derek, for a second, had a moment of his own ........

...... when he spotted something on top of a hedge that made him do a serious double take, was that a hedgehog, maybe injured slightly, put there for it's own safety, out of harms way???????

Let's just say, Derek approached said "creature" with some trepidation, wondering if he needed to call Vale Wildlife to come help rescue it.

However, on closer inspection, his little heart stopped pounding, it was, thank goodness not a hedgehog in distress ........

........ but a very realistic looking clump of that sort of moss that grows on roofs and drops off now and again  ......... phew, panic over!!!

The Scrapyard Is No More

We thought it had been very quiet of late ......... 

..... no loud rumblings or banging's from beyond the railway bridge .......

........ and come to think of it, no passage of very large, metal laden, lorries trundling up and down the road leading to our estate, allowing the hedgerow to flourish a little wilder than we're used to! 

Then there's the gate to said yard, now with hindsight, it's been bolted every time we've gone past .......

We'd obviously missed something of a major type nature!

Sooooooooo, a cheeky message on our local Facebook page brought us the answer ......

...... said scrapyard is no more!  Il est mort or to be more precise, presumed sold.

Ever curious, naturally Eric went to explore some more ........

Goodness only knows how such a development went under our usually very acute radar, it must have been some undertaking, but, yes, it has all gone.

The site completely empty, bereft of all scrap metal, not even a rouge nut or bolt has been left behind, as far as Eric could see.

The next question (perhaps, at this stage, one not for Parliament), what's coming next?

As and when we get the tiniest inkling, you of course will be the very first to know.