Guernsey, February 2017

Another visit to Guernsey for a few days to see our son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. and here's some of the photographs we took.

We had the early part of the first day to ourselves so went into St Peter Port where I took some photographs, including this alternative view of the lighthouse and Castle Cornet.

Later that day, in the afternoon, here's grandma helping Eliza with a jigsaw puzzle......

......and here's Edward and daddy reading a book before bedtime.

The next morning we went with Anna and the children to St Peter Port, and here's Edward charging round Jojo Maman Bébé on one of their scooters.

After lunch we went to Cobo Bay where we met Anna's sister Louise and here's Eliza and Edward on the beach with their cousins Barnabas and Eden.

And here's Barnabas leading them on a trek across the rocks.

They also had the loony dog which would chase after a ball that had been thrown for it, then instead of bringing it back would furiously start digging a hole to bury it in. You can see here the clumps of sand being thrown up behind the dog.

Another game on the beach - wait for an incoming wave and then run away before it submerges your feet.

On the Saturday we went to the Guernsey Museum in Candie Gardens and here Edward's taking a ride on daddy's back as we trek through the streets of St Peter Port on our way to the Gardens.

This is the uphill path in the Gardens leading to the Museum.

We'd gone to see an exhibition on loan from the Natural History Museum in London of some marvellous images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016. The above photograph is of the an item in the Museum's collection which is a bust of Victor Hugo by Auguste Rodin.

Outside the Museum this plaque on the wall commemorates the fact that The Beatles performed here in August 1963 - the month that their single 'She Loves You' was released, the record that really started the Beatlemania phenomenon.

Later that day the children spent some time on the swings in their garden......

......and grandad got rather too close to Edward's foot.

Eliza was much more sedate.

The brief visit was over all too soon, and here's a last look at St Saviours Reservoir and Vazon Bay as we took off from the airport.

Guernsey, December 2016

We paid our annual December visit to Guernsey recently to see our grandchildren and to deliver Christmas presents and presents for Edward's birthday. With the short days of winter there wasn't the opportunity to take many photographs, but here are a few that we managed to get.

 On the Friday it was Eliza's swimming lesson at the Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, after which she wanted to go on the outdoor playground, on the slide.....

.....and on the swings.....

.....and on what I believe is called a 'spring rider'.

Grandma keeping the children entertained the following day at home.

Edward briefly played outside on the swing.

Sunday lunch at the Copenhagen Bar & Grill at the Best Western Hotel de Havelet and Edward and Eliza commandeered Grandpa's iPhone.

On the Sunday we watched Edward unwrap an early birthday present from Grandma and Grandad.....

.....it was a camera and Edward and Daddy had to familiarise themselves with the controls. They soon knew a lot more about it than Grandad did.

On the Monday morning Grandma and Grandad looked after Eliza, and we went for a look at the Christmas display at Le Friquet Garden Centre where Eliza had to go on the big train there to ring the bell.....

.....and then watch the little train go round the big Christmas tree. This brought back memories of being taken to Wiles toyshop, next to Lewis's in Manchester, at Christmas when I was not much older than Eliza is now.

Afterwards another go on the slide in the play area at the garden centre.

In the afternoon daddy took us to the airport to catch the plane back home and here he is with Edward and Eliza at the airport.

York

Earlier this month we spent a week in York in the company of our eldest son Paul and his family who came over from Guernsey, and our youngest son David, who came across from the USA. here are a few photographs of the week.We stayed in an airbnb house on Bishopthorpe Road near the racecourse and only a few minutes walk from the centre of York,

Here we're crossing Skeldergate Bridge over the River Ouse, which was a toll bridge until 1st April 1914......

......and just around the corner is Clifford's Tower which was built in the 13th century, replacing the wooden tower that had been rebuilt in 1190 after the Norman tower built by William the Conqueror had been burnt down.

On the Monday we had a look round some of the shops in the Shambles area of York before visiting York Minster. (I don't know who the young lady is - I didn't see her until I uploaded the photograph!)

York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe, absolutely enormous and apparently taking some 250 years to build. A fascinating place, with an interesting exhibition in the Undercroft, and I'll show more of the photographs I took there at a later date.

The following day we visited York Castle Museum, just behind Clifford's Tower, which is housed in prison buildings that were built in the 18th century on the site of York Castle, another of William the Conqueror's buildings. The museum includes Kirkgate, this reconstruction of a Victorian street named after Dr John L Kirk who founded the museum.

That day we had bought tickets for the York City Sightseeing Red Bus Tour which is a hop-on hop-off service round the city centre with a commentary about the places the journey was taking you past. Anna has another angle on this photograph.

The Red Bus Tour tickets are valid for 24 hours so we used them following day to go into the city, and this is one of the gates, or 'bars' as they are known, that we passed. There are four of these gatehouses around York and this one is Micklegate Bar.

Our first visit that day was to the National Railway Museum adjacent to York Railway Station and here's Edward at the controls of the ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine just inside the entrance to the museum.

The main part of the museum is the former locomotive roundhouse which consists of a turntable round which are arranged a series of lengths of track so that locomotives could be kept inside the shed but easily moved individually to the mainline track by means of the turntable. The first locomotive here is the ex-LMS 6220 'Duchess of Hamilton'. The streamlined casing of this locomotive, as with the other Princess Coronation class locomotives, was removed during the Second World War in 1944 for maintenance reasons, but not re-instated after the war. It's been a static exhibit at the National Railway Museum since 1998, and in 2005 it was decided to re-instate the streamline casing, the work being completed in 2009. Next to that is an ex-GWR Diesel Railcar - Number 4 - which was powered by a 130bhp 8.85 litre 6-cylinder AEC diesel engine. At the end is the famous ex-LNER 4468 'Mallard', the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph. Again, I'll show more of the photographs I took here soon.

The National Railway Museum runs a frequent roadtrain service to and from the museum and Duncombe Place near the Minster, and here's Edward enjoying the trip after our visit......

.....and here's the roadtrain which I photographed a couple of days later in Duncombe Place.

After getting off the roadtrain we lunched in Nandos and this is Eliza enjoying a piece of corn on the cob. I know a lot of people like Nando's, but there was only one item on the menu that I could eat, and I found that caesar salad contaminated with peri-peri isn't a very appetising combination.

The next day we went to an out of town shopping centre which included a visit to a Toys R Us store where Edward was fascinated by a Star Wars character:

Paul, Edward, Eliza and Anna just before bedtime (but not necessarily sleep-time) for the children.

Friday morning it was a bit damp, but we went with Edward and Eliza to the nearby park and playground:

Later in the afternoon we had a last walk round the streets of York, and here's Uncle David with Eliza.

This was taken on the last day just before we left for home. By Edward. Not bad for a not-yet 4 year old.

Guernsey, July 2016

Another trip to Guernsey last week to see our grandchildren and, as a treat for me, to see the Val des Terres hillclimb on the Saturday and the Guernsey Motor Festival Seafront Sunday.

Eliza and Edward in the garden on the Thursday just before going out for a meal.....

.....at Crabby Jack's where there's a playground for the children.....

.....but Eliza also wanted to spend some time with grandpa.

On the Friday after the children's swimming lessons we had a 35 minute ride round St Peter Port on the Petit Train.....

.....which Edward enjoyed.

In the evening we took a picnic meal to Castle Cornet for a KPMG Castle Night of music and entertainment. Eliza appears to be thinking: 'The sandwiches and sausage rolls were ok, but where's the cake?'

Edward trying to produce bubbles from one of the bubble blowers they were handing out when we went into the castle.....

..... and Eliza looked singularly unimpressed with mummy's efforts.

On the Saturday morning we went to see the Val des Terres hillclimb on the road at the south of St Peter Port. This is the Ford Escort of Gary Duquemin nearing the finish line at the top of the climb..

Later we had a walk through the pit/paddock area at the bottom of the hill during which Edward needed to take a nap.

Later that afternoon there was a dip in the sea at Cobo Bay.....

.....then fish and chips on the beach,

The next day was the Motorsport Seafront Sunday in St Peter Port with a large number of vehicles on show and also in action on the North Beach car park. This is a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500.

Edward is always getting hold of Beryl's camera and taking photographs with it - usually peoples' feet out of focus and the like. But this was a picture he took of daddy during a stop for a bite to eat. Not bad for a 3½ year old,

Later in the day we had a barbecue in the garden at home.

It was back home to Hyde the next day and here are Edward and Eliza with daddy in the airport lounge just before we left.