Ben, the Peacock, and that nasty Washing Machine

Not much to say. The only thing James and I did today was go have lunch at The Peacock (the old inn that the Vidlers owned in Tenbury) with Ben Russell, my old boyfriend and James' friend.

Here's the outside of the Peacock:


It was a nice lunch. Good food, good drinks, and a great moment of catching up with Russell. James and I also gave Russell some late birthday presents and Christmas present. It wasn't too akward seeing Russell, but it was a bit, for him and for me I think.

We had a drink in the bar after and spent alot of time talking, catching up....overall it was a nice couple of hours (about 3 and a half actually).

When we were driving home, the window frosted over just a bit so James had to pull over and wipe the windshield.

James also showed me where his Primary(elementary) school was.

And he showed me where his old High School was. :)

When we got home (about an hour and a half later...the drive to Tenbury is long, but we wanted to see the Peacock--for James, how it's changed under new ownership).... it was nearly dinner time again. So James cooked us a nice dinner. Some left over chicken roast for me, pork for him, and then potaetoes, cabbage, honeyroasted carrots, and a little mustard sauce for the meat. It was quite good. I like James' cabbage. :)

The last few days we've been doing laundry as well, today was the last of it, except the washer was being a bit of a pain. The washer leaks....ALOT, some hoses disconnected or something, and the hose has to be put into a bucket to drain all the water out. Half the time we've been home, we've all been trying to clean up spilled water and come up with a mechanism of making it leak 'neatly', hence the bucket.

My First Official Snow Day

TODAY…. “is the greatest, day I’ve ever known”. :P Smashing Pumpkins lyrics. Anyway….today James and I went to Puzzlewood, but first thing this morning we had to drive Sam to the hotel, to work (he does the sweeping and pot washing on the weekends).




After that we came back home for breakfast then went out in the garden and played with Tony, Tilly and Lock. Tony wanted to ride his bike around, so we let him….James kept a close eye out for him and he didn’t fall. Tilly and Lock were play fighting It was interesting and cute.







ANYWAY! On to Puzzlewood. Puzzlewood is part of the Forest of Dean which is this HUGE forest in and around Ross, and other towns in this region; Puzzlewood is just a commercial part of the Forest of Dean that has paths and stair cases and bridges….it’s quite cool. Pictures below. Anyway, besides the fact that I LOVE pathways and forests (and the fact that it was snowing and we thought it’d be gorgeous to walk through today), we went to Puzzlewood because it’s featured in things we know of: J.K. Rowling got some inspiration for the Harry Potter books here, so did J.R. Tolken for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy(actually spent a bit of time writing it in this part of the Forest of Dean), AND, my absolute favorite bit. An episode of Doctor Who was filmed here. There’s a bit in the 5th series, “Flesh and Stone”, where Amy Pond is sitting on a rock in a forest with her eyes closed and the doctor comes up to her and tells her, “Amy. Listen to me. No matter what, doesn’t open your eyes…”




At puzzle wood there was a bunch of animals too. There were goats, cows, chickens, ponys, donkeys, a pig and two small kitty cats who LOOOOOOOVE attention. One of the kitties we found in the barn with all the other animals and the other one met and then followed us inside the forest for about a good 20 minutes. The snow on the ground and all around was absolutely breathtaking. It was like walking through a winter wonderland.

At the end there was a little children’s play area with a sand box and an obstacle course. I did the obstacle course just for fun. :)

Goodrich Town

Can't be bothered to do a proper blog, so here#s the short version.

James and I went to Goodrich Castle and part of Symonds Yat today. it was lovely, lots of trees, good views, lots of castle history, and it was COLD! the view of/from symonds yat was good....it looks very much like the bit of Hermione from HP7 where she bends down to the river to get water.

The goodrich castle was alright. James and I got into a little fight because I hopped the gate to walk up the restricted ruins--up some 'unstable stairs' to see the view, but it all worked out in the end.

...Then we went to the post office to sent something off in the post for his mum. it was alright. Then we went back to the house, watched Toy story with Tony and had some dinner--cesar Salad with tuna and corn.

then james and I went to the pub down by the river wye in goodrich and I got ABSOLUTELY PISSED. well, i did....James only had two pints over a bit of time because he had to drive. I have 2 ciders and a rum and coke witch was quite strong, but nice. then when i got back to the house i've proceeded to have Malibu and coke, and now i'm having malibu and orange soda so i#m still buzzin' about. I'm gonna sleep well tonight. um, anyway,......while i've been pissed at the pub down by the river, James and \I played pool and I won 2 times in a row...COMPLETELY DRUNK. Yay me. :) oh! and it snowed just a bit as we were leaving the pub. It was quite nice!
Below you can see snow just above the car and wall.


Then when we got home we watched old home movies of the boys in Ireland. They haven't changed really. James is still loud and outgoing. Sam is all smily. and Harry this chubby little nusence of a kid. it was quite funny laughing with all of them about how they used to be. :)

##anyway that's the short version of it. forgive me typing and I'll see you tomorrow. :P