Cumberland Hotel, Bournemouth

I spent 3 days in Bournemouth last month and booked myself into the Cumberland Hotel for 2 nights. I had a single room, comfortable enough but I found nothing especially interesting or outstanding in the hotel. It was an okay stay. The only grumble I had was that when I returned to the hotel on my first evening, I needed a meal, but I found room services to be very unhelpful when I phoned them. My second call was a bit more successful. I got a sandwich and bag of crisps for a mere £13. I should have gone out to a chippie instead but there was nothing around.

Burger at the Marquis of Granby

The Marquis of Granby near Streetgate is less than 2km from where I live. I've had lunch there abut 3 or 4 times this year. The most recent was last Saturday when I attended a Sunniside History Society event at the pub to launch a local history DVD.

I had a burger for lunch. Competitively priced and good quality food. Helpful staff as well.

Glendale Show - the video

I recently got round to editing the video I filmed at the Glendale Show in August, so here it is.

Pizza at the Palace

I needed to be in London overnight on Saturday so I stayed at our flat in Crystal Palace. There was no food in so I headed up to the Crystal Palace Triangle and opted for Pizza at the Palace, on the grounds that it wasn't heaving with people and, on past experience, it does good food at a competitive price. Again, the restaurant came up to expectation. I went for the £10.95 meal - a starter (olives), a pasta dish and a bottle of beer. I added to it a dessert (ice cream) and a coffee.

The Bowes Show

Every year we go to the Bowes Agricultural Show in Co Durham. We were there again on Saturday. Despite a few sharp downpours, we had a good time though our performance in the various preserve-making and baking competitions did not match our performances in previous years.

Photos above were taken on the day.

Glendale Show

I was actually due to be in North Wales this bank holiday weekend but plans were changed after a friend became ill. We stayed in the North East but took the opportunity to go to the Glendale Agricultural Show near Wooler in North Northumberland. Our arrival was delayed by an accident on the A697 but we spent 3 years at the show. A good time had by all though at £14 a ticket, the entry fee was not cheap.

My Costa Coffee visits to end

In July I visited Costa Coffee more often in that one month that I have in the rest of my life. The reason was a friend was in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There is a Costa branch there so I took him there to get him out of the ward. Thankfully my friend is now home so the daily dose of overpriced coffee and the occasional cake is now at an end. I will not shed a tear. I'm not a fan of this chain.