At least there is no table

When I found out who Arsenal were to face in our first three games, I had a feeling of dread.  I was aware that we may have ended up with no points after them.  I was hoping to have one point at home by now and I am also hoping to get three in the derby game against West Ham next weekend, but we could be at the bottom of the table when the first official one is published.

I have not watched any of the highlights, or in my case low lights, of the game against the Team that rhymes with City, but it was painful to watch the game against Chelski.  It was great how the team came back from two goals down to get the score back to two all, but our defence for the first two goals was terrible.  I was appalled by the way Sokratis left Shkodran Mustafi alone for the second goal and it was our inability to defend which destroyed any potential of the team to build on our impressive home performance last season.  All Arsenal fans were hoping that a new manager and new blood would correct the issues with defence that have plagued our team in the last decade.  But there still is time.  

I am not looking forwards to tomorrow when the manager at work will want to talk about football.  A lot... 

Ocean's 8 as well as Love and Other Drugs

My wife and I had some time away from the kids as we travelled into London to have a meal together.

We went shopping at first, nothing too fancy, but my wife bought something simple and flattering to wear.  We had a sit down in the M&S cafe on the outside terrace and then made our way to the restaurant. Ember Yard is near where my wife and I went to one of our first dates, a location I almost remember as it was the first time that I had eaten meat in a year (it was chicken kiev, though the actual restaurant has since closed down).  My wife had arranged for us to go there and I have to admit that I was not too keen on this at first, as having had Tapas in the past, I was not a big fan.  I was very wrong.

The service was a bit frosty at first, though it was attentive and could not be faulted.  But it became warmer.  The food however was outstanding.  It had a good selection of beer and my wife loved the cocktails, but the food was amazing.  While I have had some excellent meals recently, this was the best of the best for at least a few months, with nothing as good as this eaten since we ate at Grain, and possibly before then.

After this, we watched a film, Ocean's 8.  My wife liked it more than I did.  I did like it, but it lacked the character development of Ocean's Eleven.  Also, as enjoyable as it was, there were a few loose ends, such as why the insurance company settled for part of the haul, and the morality of planting the decoy. I am glad I watched it, and it is hard for any film to follow Ocean's Eleven.

Anyway, now everyone else is in bed and I am watching Love and Other Drugs while they sleep.  While it is a very amusing film, it is also very sad.  But any film dealing with Parkinsonism is going to be so.  Rude and certainly not suitable for children (they observed a few things in it and my son is now asking awkward questions).  Ocean's 8 is an okay film, Love and Other Drugs is better.  It was a bit disjointed at times, but I was watching a television version of the film.  And as enjoyable as the film was, it reminded me just how lucky we are in the UK to have the NHS (despite the faults that it has due to the way the Conservatives have not funded or staffed it properly) and it amazes me that the Americans continue to have the healthcare system that the have, and fight for it.  We do not see bus loads of pensioners travelling across borders for medicines.  Well, we may do after Brexit, but that is a different matter!

And now for some pictures from our meal...

A trip across the channel

We woke up early today for a trip abroad again.  This time, it was a quick dash across the channel.  Many years ago, when we had returned from one holiday, instead of heading home, we surprised the children with a trip to France.  Then, they were very excited to drive onto a train.  Since then, we have done this on a few more occasions, and I actually think that they are bored with this!  But, we decided to just go for the day, and having booked this at the last moment, we had to travel early in the morning to get on the train.  We made good time and in fact, it was good that we travelled so early as when we arrived at the Eurotunnel terminal, it was quite empty and was filling up when we left.  When in France, we did shop for some wine, but also cheese and yoghurt.  It was an expensive day out, but it did expose the children to French, which my daughter will be learning more about in the upcoming academic year.  What was interesting was the queues to get back into the UK, and I cannot but think that if a hard Brexit occurs, that this will result in longer queues on both sides, and a lot of economic damage to Calais as well.  My daughter is keen to travel by ferry next time, and while it may take longer, this is something I think we should consider as it will be cheaper if we do this again in the future.

PokémonGO in Madeira

This is one of my sad posts on PokémonGO.  When in Madeira, my son and I played is, but before we went, my limited searches found little information on this game there.  For those who do travel to Madeira, enjoy the climate, sights, wine, food and history. But for some, like my son and me, we can enjoy catching Pokémon! And for us, we were able to catch two Pokémon that we could not find otherwise. Tropius and Illumise.  In addition to this, Seviper can be found here, which was present in the UK a while ago.  I had tried to see if any regional specific Pokémon could be found there, but had no luck. Hopefully this will be useful to any who do play there.

We found that the best hunting was in the centre of Funchal, around the fort and the gardens.  There are lots of Pokéstops and a few Pokégyms there as well as plenty of things to look at in the real world.

Last of all, I just thought that I would add that I still have a Pokémon in Sri Lanka!

Day eleven in Madeira

Our last day in Madeira has been a relaxing one.  I went for my last early morning walk on the island, hopefully for now though and got back to the rest of the family at breakfast.  Afterwards we did some packing and afterwards split up.  While they enjoyed the pool, I stayed in the room overlooking the sea which was a lot more blue than it has been in the last few days and relaxed.

We have enjoyed our stay on the island but did not do a few of the things that we could have, notably the trip at Monte, or travelling on the cable cars.  I would love to return, and considering the many advantages of the hotel we stayed at, I would love to return to the same place.  But, I am also open to staying elsewhere on the island.

Day ten in Madeira

Today was spent out on the open sea.  Well, the most memorable part of it was.  After my morning walk, I got back to a trip into Funchal.  We had breakfast in a little cafe where we tried some Portugese pastries and then the kids went shopping with my wife while I had a little walk in the city.  The kids loved the birds in the shop they were in but both were looking forwards to our planned trip to see dolphins.

The outing was also marketed as an opportunity to see whales, but a German lady with us told us that this is not the best time to see them.  In fact we almost did not see any dolphins, but we got lucky.  However, the kids loved the experience of being on a boat as we traveled out into the Atlantic.  My wife and I have seen dolphins in the wild, but this was when we had travelled to Bali, in a time before children.  Those dolphins were a lot more acrobatic than these and jumped out of the water, not that we have any evidence, other than a picture of a tail!  But if you look closely, you can make out the dolphins here.

Anyway I type this as we listen to Karaoke in the hotel lobby on our last night on the island.  I would be happy to return and am glad we came back to show the kids the island.

Day nine in Madeira

Today we spent a relaxing day at the pool, mostly, though we did leave the hotel for lunch. While my wife ate a healthy option, the children and I had a McDonalds which was a bit different to what we are used to.  The kids were very adept at managing the touch screen menu, putting me to shame.

But for dinner we had a much more healthy option visiting a nearby village and having dinner at a fish restaurant.  I think that, I, the one who dislikes fish the most in the family, enjoyed it most though!