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It Comes in Threes

By Life, Technology, TransportationNo Comments

There’s a saying that things, especially bad things, come in threes. I’ve had two unfortunate things happen recently.

First my new laptop that I’ve written about here died in under 1 week. It crashed and froze on start up, meaning it was completely unusable. I tried reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows via Recovery Mode (F2 pressed repeatedly on switch on) but to no avail. However credit must be given where it is due, HP Support were fantastic. They arranged for my faulty laptop to be picked up and replaced it with a new one quickly.

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My new HP Laptop died in under one week.

Second the clutch went in my car. Luckily just after I got off the motorway. The RAC towed it to a garage. At the garage we discovered that my car would no longer switch on. This means that as well as the master cylinder that needing replacing, there’s also likely to be another problem with my car.

Currently my car is still with the garage, nearly three weeks later. Hiring a car is starting to get costly and it’s likely that my car will end up being an expensive repair job.

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The clutch went in my car. It’s still in the garage, nearly three weeks later.

This poses the question:

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Well I’ve got a few contenders. My boiler is playing me up. The speaker and microphone on my iPhone 6 plus is starting to go. This is particularly annoying and frustrating as I’ve only had my iPhone for just over a year. It was a replacement for a previous iPhone that also broke at just over a year old. On my next upgrade I’m most likely to switch to a Samsung Galaxy. Hopefully their phones are better built. My Washer/Dryer has started to sound like a noisy hovercraft taking off.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whatever the third thing is to brake, it holds off for a few months.

Write soon,

Antony

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Awesome A-Ha at Blackpool Football Club

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & JoyNo Comments
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Jayne and I waiting for a-Ha. I had even styled my hair into a mohican that were very in in the 80s.

At the weekend Jayne and I went to see A-Ha at Blackpool Football Club. I was Jayne’s last minute stand-in. I’m always happy to help a friend out, especially when it comes to going to a gig.

A-Ha was awesome. Superb singing and enjoyable light show. The atmosphere was amazing, with the audience singing along to many of A-Ha’s songs.

However I was disappointed with Blackpool Football Club. Before the two warmup acts had finished the venue had ran out of everything drinks-wise. They only had lager and cider left and that was only because it was on tap.

Here’s some photos from the evening, click on any photo for the full size image:

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a-Ha’s vocals were spot on, as was the playing of instruments.

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a-Ha (1).

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a-Ha (2).

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a-Ha (3).

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a-Ha’s singing and stage lighting reminded me of the time I saw the British Musical Firework Championships.

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Perhaps my favourite photo of the evening, except for the one of Jayne and myself of course. Rainbow lighting whilst playing the last few tracks. The last track of course was Take On Me.

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A close up of the rainbow lighting.

Write soon,

Antony



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Harry Potter Studio Tour and London with Mum

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, LifeNo Comments

This week mum and I went on a coach trip with National Holidays. We went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and spent some time in London city centre.

Here are some collages of photos from the Harry Potter Studio Tour, click on any photo for full size image:

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The Goblet of Fire Photos.

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Forbidden Forest Photos.

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Hogwarts Express Photos.

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Props Photos.

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Weasley Shop Props.

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Knight Bus Photos.

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Inside Privet Drive Photos.

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Other Cool Stuff Photos.

Even though mum and I had been before, there were plenty of things we hadn’t seen on our last visit. I’ve only included photos things we didn’t see last time in this blog post. Things we didn’t see last time included: The Goblet of Fire, The Forbidden Forest, The Hogwarts Express and inside Privet Drive.

There were plenty of things that we saw last time. I was great to see that they had significantly increased the interactive activities for visitors.

It was brilliant to see that they are building an extension to include things from the new Fantastic Beasts films series (of which there will be 5 films).

Here’s one final photo of Mum with a Hedwig puppet. We took a similar photo last time, how many times do you have to do something before it becomes a tradition?

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Mum with Hedwig Puppet.

The next day mum and I were released into the wild of London city centre. We saw the Houses of Parliament, the scaffolding-covered Big Ben, the High Courts and my favourite St. James Park.

St. James Park is a lovely park that is like a natural oasis within one of the world’s most busy cities. There’s a bit of a family story to St. James Park.

When my mum was a little girl, she lived in London with her mum and dad (my grandma and granddad). Every Sunday, while her mum was making the Sunday dinner, her dad would take her to watch the changing of the Guard and then into St. James Park to feed the ducks.

Here are some photo collages from photos I took in St. James Park:

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St. James Park, London. Photo collage by me (1).

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St. James Park, London. Photo collage by me (2).

Mum and I had a fantastic time and will no doubt do the trip again in a couple of years.

Mum and I did a similar trip at the end of 2014. You can read and see pictures here: London Trip, Part 1 and London Trip, Part 2.

Write soon,

Antony

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The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure (Part 4) – Warkworth Castle & Tynemouth Priory and Castle

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, NatureNo Comments
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Simon (right) and me (left) at a services stop for dinner.

This is the fourth part in my Hadrian’s Wall Adventure with my good friend Simon. You can read and see the photos from Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

Yesterday Simon and I set out to do the last leg of our Hadrian’s Wall Adventure. It was my birthday. The day was gorgeous, sunny, around 19°C all day and not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky.

There aren’t many specific Hardrian’s Wall sites near the Newcastle end of where the wall would have been. So we decided to do Castles near Newcastle.

Our first castle was the magnificent impressive Warkworth Castle. Before you see the photos, first let me apologise for any fingerprint marks on them. The lens of my iPhone had fingerprint marks on, but I didn’t realise because of the bright sunshine.

Here is Essential Info and are some photos:

Essential Info:

  • A castle including remains and a keep with Duke room’s.
  • Highly recommended.
  • Admission Fee: Adult £7.50 with gift aid (£6.80 without). Free admission to English Heritage Members.
  • Opening times: View here.
  • Parking: Plenty in front of the Castle. However even English Heritage Members are required to pay (rather than the usual free parking with sticker in car). The shop does refund the cost of parking, but this was disappointing and we could seen no reason for this.
  • Toilets: Available in the carpark.
  • Has a very small gift shop. Free audible guides available.

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Entrance to Walkworth Castle.

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Outside of Walkworth Castle.

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The most well preserved keep.

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Remains of Walkworth Castle (1).

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Remains of Walkworth Castle (2).

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A selfie of Simon (right) and me (left).

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An iron fireplace in the Duke’s rooms inside the keep.

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The view from inside the Duke’s rooms.

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A view from an archway (1).

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A view from an archway (2).

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One of the many tunnels to rooms in the remains.

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Our next stop was Tynemouth Priory and Castle. Here is Essential Info and are some photos:

Essential Info:

  • A priory, castle and World War 2 defence station.
  • Highly recommended.
  • Admission Fee: Adult £6.50 with gift aid (£5.90 without). Free admission to English Heritage Members.
  • Opening times: View here.
  • Parking: Follow signs for free parking.
  • Has a small gift shop.

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The view from the top of the hill near the entrance to Tynemouth (1).

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The view from the top of the hill near the entrance to Tynemouth (2).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (1).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (2).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (3).

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Stone coffins.

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Simon (right) and me (left) in the stone coffins. I couldn’t believe that we both fitted perfectly.

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (4).

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A carving that looked similar to The Green Man on the entrance to the priory.

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Tynemouth Priory.

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (1).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (2).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (3).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (4).

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Inside the Priory, photo of Priory door. Reminded me of the door to heaven.

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Tynemouth graveyard and World War 2 defence tower.

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Tynemouth World War 2 defence gun.

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Shells for the gun in bunker.

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Tynemouth Lighthouse.

We had a great time. Next year we are going to visit the fine city of Newcastle including Newcastle’s castle.

Blog soon,

Antony

Edit: 16/05/18 18:30 – Used GIMP to remove some of the finger prints in some of the above photos. If you click on the photos for full size, you will see the updated photos.

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