Mersea Island

Today we have been the house of ill.  Yesterday we went to a friends house for New Years drinks.  I felt terrible, though got better while I was there (paracetamol is a wonderful thing).  However I crashed on getting home.  The downside was that my wife then started to become unwell as well.  So today we went out for lunch.  We have been to the West Mersea Oyster bar before (the picture above is part of the amazing view that can be seen if you eat outside) and have always loved eating there.  Today was no exception and

for the kids, they found a Pokéstop there.  Considering how busy it is there, the service, for the price you pay is great, and the food was fantastic.  Parking as always is fun there, but there is a car park just down the road from it now which we have used at times in the past.

After this meal, it was a drive to the beach, though we did make a slight diversion to allow the children to get more Pokéballs.  We left my wife in the car to read and enjoy the view while we went down to the beach to walk along it.  With little wind, I found the sound of water lapping against the shore to be very calming, and it was not too cold.  The children entertained themselves looking for shells and also by throwing stones into the sea and also playing chicken with the waves.  That last bit was why our walk was cut short, as my son, when distracted ended up with this shoes being soaked through!

So home again, and my wife and I took it in turns to help cooking, me peeling the potatoes and preparing the sprouts, while she did the clever bits.  After dinner, a bit of Modern Family and now, it is time for the kids to get ready for bed.  They are not too keen on this, but they will be back at school soon and need to get used to waking up early.  While my wife rests, I may get a chance to use the Fire Stick that I was given at Christmas to watch Vikings.  Though I will need to make sure that it does not wake her!



Anyway chess now.  I did spend time going over a bit of chess with the kids.  My daughter hates it, but they are both improving when it comes to thinking about it, and I hope this will help them with logic in the future.

I on the other hand have not done as well as I would have liked since my last update.

33rd Chess.com Quick Knockouts (1201-1400)
GALAXY TOUR 1000 - 1499 #1
THE BIG EASTER PARADE CHESS TOURNAMENT 2015
Super-Fast Mega Tournament
Top Of The Pops 23
Bird Watchers Winter Season Tournament
1st Arsenal Chess Championship
Oliver's Tournament-(2) 5-2
31st Chess.com Quick Knockouts (1201-1400)
GALAXY TOUR 1000 - 1499 #4

Our Bank Holiday Weekend so far

It has been a great weekend so far.

Yesterday we went to Mersea.  I was hoping to go to work and then have the weekend free, but after getting the worst haircut in the world and then having breakfast in The Bungalow Diner, we went out to travel to the seaside.  I had thought that as it looked cold, that it would be better to travel further away so that if it was cold, that we could do other things than freeze on the beach.  My wife however, like on many occasions, was right, and I was wrong.  It was great to go there.  Despite it being a bank holiday weekend the sun came out and it was a great day.  Watching the waves come in was relaxing and we spent time wondering on the beach and also going to get ice cream and playing in the park.  And as you can see from the picture, one of them (my daughter) found a remnants of a dead crab.  The interesting thing was that my wife pointed out that the children have practically grown up there, and it is true.  My old blog has at least one post on this, and like the post featured there, we went to see if we could eat at the West Mersea Oyster Bar.  As usual, parking there was an issue, but there is a new car park down the road where we parked (my daughter had to guard the car for a few minutes), and we had a great meal.

Today though we went to a different beach.  Our friends Isobel and Tony let us come over to Walton-on-the-Naze and visit them in the beach hut that they use with their kids.  We have been there in the past and it was just as great to be there again.  My son loved the pier and when he did finally come back with the two teenagers who were brilliant in looking after him, he brought some of the items that he said he had won.  In the meantime, my daughter and I went for a walk allowing my wife to rest her knee, which while better is not back to full fitness.

The next thing to post is how I have been doing in chess.  My record of some of the tournaments I have lost includes
Premium Member Open #3
ruy lopez tournament
Top of the Pops 17
Space 8
Speed King #132 - Very fast players 3(2)->1 U1500

Now I have to get some rest as I do intend to wake up early tomorrow morning and cycle to work.  Good night!

PUPIL – “Would you punish me for something I didn’t do?”
TEACHER – “Of course not.”
PUPIL – “Good, because I haven`t done my homework.”

A horse walks into a bar. "Too late," says the bartender, "we're joking about the pope now." "He's right," sighs Richard III

Well, it was a good weekend. I had a course in London, the kids had fun on the Golden Hinde, and we picked up my Mother who kindly agreed to look after the kids.  Come night time, we went to a birthday party were we had a great time together.  I may have drunk a bit too much, but it was still a great night playing games with good conversation.  Come the morning, and it was a great morning today, the kids had loads of fun with my mother while my wife and I had a lie-in.  I got to ride my bike, something I need to do a lot more and we went to the West Mersea Oyster Bar.

And once again, just as it has been the other times that we have been there it was a great meal.  As has happened almost every time I have eaten there, there was too much food for me to eat and as has happened each time, I have been annoyed that I have not been able to eat the food.  My daughter took great joy in grossing me out by sucking out the brains of the prawns she was eating!

Afterwards, a walk along the beach.  Now when we decided to go, it was sunny, but by the time we left the house, fog had fallen.  It had lifted by the time we went for our walk, but it was bitterly cold and the kids while they enjoyed the walk, were disappointed that they did not get to spend time playing with their kites.  They got to wade in the water and have a run around, but with them being unwell at times in the last few weeks, we took them back into the warm.  And while my mother kindly agreed to look after the kids again, my wife and I went out to watch a film!

I Give It A Year was a surprisingly good film.  Like many films that are made to target the American market, it had a view of the UK that seemed to tick many boxes, posh characters, stately home and a London setting.  But, it had a sense of humour that appealed to me.  We loved it, though many would find it too sick and twisted, I suspect loads of others would say that it struck a very fine balance.  It had the right amount of sentimentality and I thought that considering it could have gone all so wrong, it struck the right balance.  I might even be tempted to get the soundtrack!

And of course, it made for a pick me up, which I needed after Arsenal were dumped out of the FA cup.  To quote the Guardian "Great teams always find a way to win, no matter what. Arsenal keep finding ways to lose." Which is getting depressing. Arsène Wenger has said the season is not over.  And he is right.  We have to fight to finish in the top four, but we are not going to beat Bayern Munich over two legs.  All we can hope is that Chelski and the Scum drop points and we do not drop anymore.  But lets, face it, that is not going to happen.  I would love to be proved wrong on this though.  Apparently David Moyes may be a possible contender to take the managers role at the club, though I think that Martin O'Neill would be a great catch.

Anyway, time to go, take care all. 

 

West Mersea Oyster Bar review

What a great day and great food.  Worked last night, coming back home late.  In the morning, my wife kindly let me stay in bed and took the kids to do the weekly shop.  When she came back, the kids and done the best to drive her mad.  After a bit of time to calm down and some food we decided to go out, and went to Mersea Island.  It was great there.  We have been there several times before and the kids love it.  After a very relaxing morning, we went to the West Mersea Oyster Bar.  It is somewhere that we have been on many an occasion for many years.  Being a sunny day, needless to say it was a tad busy.  Might be something to do with the weather, might be something to do with the great food, or even the mention in the Telegraph today or of course, the face that today was a brilliant sunny day.  Anyway the kids loved the food, as did my wife and I.  Which is no surprise as the only thing wrong with the place is sometimes the food portions are too large!