We lucked out and got just enough of a sunny day to make our annual trip to the bluebell wood today. It’s always a special day in a very special place for our family. Charlie’s bluebell slideshow 2008

Ridey.net is changing to a new internet service provider some time on Monday, so the website and email will be unavailable for a day or so. But rest assured that no email will be lost over the down time. We’ll soon be back up and running faster (we hope) than ever.

Charlie with the yew tree we planted today along the route of one of our favourite walks. It first sprouted up in our garden when we were living in Bletchingley and had been confined to a pot ever since. We hope it will thrive in its new home, and we’ll be checking up on […]

The first stage of this year’s Tour de France passed through nearby Tonbridge so we hopped on a train and got a very close look at the race. Here the peloton climbs a Quarry Hill Road going out of Tonbridge. I managed to find a good spot on the hill, where there were no barricades. […]

I’ve spent the past three days trying to avoid the internet, television, radio and anywhere else that might reveal something that I didn’t want to know until I saw if for myself.
Now, having “acquired” the final episode of The Sopranos (it won’t be aired in the UK for months) and watched it tonight, I’m […]

Oh, no! Look what’s turned up in the real estate section of the New York Times! Just what we don’t need around here, New Yorkers! We’re not sure about the figures they quote for average house prices here, though. Seem a little on the low side. And just look at the place those poor people […]

Our viburnum has bloomed like never before this spring. I think it must be the combination of our very warm and early spring and the fact that I never got round to pruning it back last fall. Hard to believe it resided in a pot when we first got it!

We had a great view of last night’s total eclipse of the Moon, thanks to a rare clear winter night. This is the best shot I could manage without a tripod, which I was too lazy to set up!

Well, British Airways may offer the only non-stop flight from London to Phoenix, but we’ll be damned if we ever fly with the money grubbing bastards again! They’re going to charge £240 ($480) per bag if you want to check in more than one bag per person. That’s on top of the £70 so-called “fuel […]

We had more snow overnight and it was the perfect snowman making kind (but definitely too wet for snow angels), so Charlie and Daddy hurried out before school and quickly made this big fella. Couldn’t find any lumps of coal so had to make do with rich tea biscuits for the eyes and mouth! Sadly, […]