Day Trips

  • Wrong Turns, New Friends and Ukulele Heaven

    Wrong Turns, New Friends and Ukulele Heaven

    It was time to leave Bridgwater and head back towards Southampton, but naturally I wasn’t going…

  • Friends, Family and the Range Rover Population of Somerset

    Friends, Family and the Range Rover Population of Somerset

    After my slightly peculiar adventures in Glastonbury, Christine and I continued our journey to Bridgwater, where I was going to stay with my lovely friend Barbara and her family. And what a lovely few days it turned out to be. There’s something wonderful about catching up with people you’ve known for years. You don’t have to explain yourself, you can pick up old conversations, and before long you’re laughing about things that happened decades ago. Barbara has two daughters. One is my actual goddaughter, Suzie. The other is my adopted goddaughter. I’m not entirely sure when the adoption took place or whether any official paperwork was involved, but she’s mine now anyway. And this time I got to meet the newest addition to the family — my adopted goddaughter’s beautiful baby girl. Oh, she is just the cutest little thing. There’s something rather lovely about knowing a family for so long that you remember the daughters growing up, and now there’s another little person joining the proceedings. We spent hours catching up, swapping stories, laughing and remembering all sorts of things. Some stories probably shouldn’t be repeated. Others have almost certainly improved considerably with age. And then there was Barbara’s husband. He’s just the best. I seem to have been particularly fortunate on this trip because I’ve now spent time with two families who have something rather special about them.…

  • Glastonbury: knights, druids and Made in China

    Glastonbury: knights, druids and Made in China

    I was heading down to Bridgwater to stay with my friend Barbara and her family, and…

  • The Sainsbury’s Safari

    The Sainsbury’s Safari

    Some people come to Britain for the castles, the countryside or the history. I was ridiculously…

  • As if it were yesterday

    As if it were yesterday

    Julie and I have been friends for nearly 44 years. We’ve worked together in several places,…