March 20, 2024 by Mike Madden
Whoa! We’re Going To Barbados
It seemed ages since we had been on holiday, so we were really looking forward to Barbados. Even the normally laid back Zac was getting excited, checking that we had the “right plugs for the foreign walls”. I think he meant an adaptor.
Turning Left
Due to an astute use of credit cards and Virgin Flying Club Sally and myself had bagged ourselves seats in Upper Class, whilst Ole and Zac suffered in Premium Economy. All went well, until half an hour before we were due to land. Ole announced that he had lost his phone. I’m not quite sure how you do this in a sealed compartment at 36,000 feet, but he had lost it, despite rummaging around their seating area and under every adjacent seat. We sat back in Upper Class, resigned to the fact that although we should have been first off the plane we would now be last off.
Security Saga
I asked the stewardess if they could alert us afterwards if the cleaners found the phone, but that was not allowed. It was a security risk, and it simply must be found before we would be allowed to leave. The plane slowly emptied, and once everyone had gone I moved to where the boys were sat. Zac got up, and there at the side of his seat was the phone. They had had what most women would call “a boy’s look”, and on this occasion I had to agree with them.
As it turned out the plane was early, and as I had done the immigration forms online we were soon on our way. It was a wonderful week, and Zac surprised us all by eating conch samosas, barracuda, chicken and, of course, lobster. Red velvet cake was probably his favourite, though the English style sausages at breakfast were a close second.
Dinner time was always interesting, and we were never quite sure of the dress code. Zac claimed to have seen a sign that said “no toes on display”, but this might have been in his imagination.
Beaches And Buses
The snorkelling in the Caribbean is never as good as the Indian Ocean, but here it was as good as it gets, with moray eels and stonefish right off the beach.
Crowded shipping lanes
The reggae buses were an interesting challenge, finding a seat and then holding on tight as the reggae blasts out and vibrates throughout the bus. The driver and / or conductor are always trying to fleece unsuspecting tourists, but we managed to avoid that little game. One thing that we did realise is that the reggae is not just for entertainment. When it is turned off you can hear the full range of grinding gears, screeching brakes and other assorted noises from these colourful vehicles that have never had more than a passing acquaintance with an MOT.
This shirt is actually 23 years old!
Homeward Bound
All too soon it was time to go home, and there was more drama when my suitcase broke. The zip simply would not fasten! We got some tape from the hotel, and although it was flimsy it would hold until we got a more permanent solution at the airport. And what a solution! The Virgin check in staff placed the suitcase in a huge, heavy duty plastic bag, then it was sealed and stowed all the way to Manchester. It makes such a difference when you don’t fly with Ryanair.
On our return from the Caribbean I decided to try to recreate some of the flavours. Crab risotto was one such dish, and although it was ok it was probably too expensive for a repeat production. And anyway, it was from the Nigellissima book, so closer to Italy than Bridgetown.
Crab risotto
Curiosity…
One Sunday morning there was a disturbance outside that seemed to be hundreds of crows and magpies calling loudly to each other. I went out to have a look, and there was Thomas close to the top of our cherry tree. The birds had clearly lured him up there, but now that he was three quarters of the way up he could not get down. Every time he moved, the branches swayed and it was clear that he was stuck.
The birds taunted him mercilessly, and he was well out of the reach of any direct human intervention. However,we proved that we are smarter than the birds as Ole climbed into the lower reaches. I passed him a long piece of decking, and he manoeuvred it close to the stricken cat. Thomas continued to cry, but he eventually got the idea and took a few tentative steps down the wood. Getting bolder he reached Ole, and then settled himself on some lower, sturdier branches. He still had no intention of leaving the tree.
Ole to the rescue
All was well as he finally got himself down, and he has not dared to venture back up there since.
A Teenage Dream
Over Christmas the meteoric rise of 16-year-old darts player Luke Littler was big news. It was clear that Luke looked a lot older than his years, and Zac thought this was the ultimate gift, being able to buy all of your 16-year-old mates alcoholic drinks!
Birthday Bashes
February is always a busy time for birthdays. Sally’s falls earlier in the month, so we headed to Bakewell for the day. This gave her the opportunity to look in the expensive bag shops, before then ordering her preferred bag online for a fraction of the price. On our way home we called at the Devonshire Arms at Beeley, but we were quite disappointed by this supposed country pub with bright lighting and random music. Our next stop was the Red Lion at Litton. This pub certainly hit the mark, with centuries old architecture and characters straight out of the film Hot Fuzz.
We were due to return there the following Sunday, as we had been advised that their pork crackling and cauliflower cheese were second to none. Unfortunately the barmaid could not quite remember the last time they sold pork crackling, and as far as she could recall they had never had cauliflower cheese on the menu. Having said that, she’d only worked there for around ten years!
Sausages On Sunday
The following weekend we went back to the Red Lion for Sunday lunch. Although they struggled to swap meat for sausages on the Sunday roast for Zac as it would be too much for the chef to cope with, the food was excellent. Even Zac’s sausage and mash. Certainly on a par with the Royal Oak at Hurdlow, and we will definitely return.
Roast beef with all the trimmings
Biscoff cheesecake
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Temple
A few days later I accompanied Sally on a very peaceful walk up to Solomon’s Temple. Nancy came along too, and she was most amused when I slipped in the mud. Not as amused as Sally though!
A trek up to Solomon’s Temple
Peace and quiet at the top
Messy on the way down
Its All Rock & Roll To Me
The next birthday was rock and roll musician Mike Sanchez. You may recall that I wrote his authorised biography for his 50th.
Ten years later he came over from Spain to enjoy his 60th at an Indian restaurant in Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was a fun night, catching up with Ricky Cool who was Mike’s original schoolteacher and mentor, saxophonist Nick Lunt, and bass player Nick Whitfield. His roadie Will Wakefield was also there, he was a great supporter of the Buxton gigs we did for the launch of the book, and his “long suffering” assistant Jo Hill who ensures all of his gigs run smoothly, particularly with regard to getting the right PA. I certainly hope its not 10 years before we see him again.
The following day it was my mum’s 89th birthday, a slightly less raucous affair with a lot more cake!
Kitchen In Chaos
Back at home there have been a few experiments in the kitchen, most notably coffee meringue with coffee cream and walnuts.
Still trying to use up that bottle of Camp coffee essence! Pancake day produced a stack of buttermilk pancakes, the big fluffy ones, rather than the thin UK variety.
,Not quite sure what the next few weeks will hold as the kitchen is being completely gutted. There will be new doors, windows, floor, everything apart from the cooker.
First day nightmares
Second day nightmares
Just another six weeks?
The pizza oven has already been utilised, and our new slow cooker has proved invaluable. Chilli, curry, Italian chicken and pulled pork have all been created. I have read that you can bake a cake in a slow cooker. Hmmmm, I’m not convinced but I might just give it a go.
Artificial Intelligence?
In Barbados I introduced the boys to the infinite power of ChatGPT. After asking it countless questions Zac wanted to know how to rob the bank of England, but the rather clever AI refused. Its not allowed to provide information that might be illegal. There were some wrestling questions, which led to another knockback on the grounds that it could not promote violence. Finally, Ole settled on finding out whether the Starship Enterprise was faster than the Millennium Falcon. After being rather ambiguous in that debate Ole moved on to finding out what the best 5-a-side football team would be based on Lord Of The Rings characters.
All just a bit of fun, but I then managed to get Zac on a one day introduction to ChatGPT in Buxton. He was enthusiastic at first, but then as the date drew nearer his enthusiasm waned. On the morning he was trying to make excuses, but he did eventually get himself out of bed and to the course. He was back home before lunchtime, complaining that everyone in the room was at least 30 years older than him, and they all owned their own businesses. One day Rodney, one day!
A couple of weeks later he was in the process of filling in applications for degree courses and apprenticeships. One of these involved an online interview for HSBC. The interview involved him answering questions that were set by an automated robot, and he hated it. I guess he should have seen out the AI course!
Seeing Red
Some of you may remember that during lockdown I created a bench and painted it bright red. Well, I also used some of the paint on a cabinet in the pool room, but there was still an awful lot left. As part of the replacement of the kitchen, Sally has been rearranging cupboards in the garage, and one of these contained a lot of old paint tins. The red one was amongst them, but catastrophe struck as she dropped it on the driveway.
The lid flew off and a growing circle of crimson appeared where it fell. It was a bright red mess, and I offered to help by using newspapers to mop it up. I cleared the excess, but the fundamental circle of red was not budging. I ventured back into the garage, got a canister of white spirit and poured some over it, hoping that the incessant rain would do the rest. The following day Sally was adamant. I mustn’t have put the lid back on properly was her first accusation, followed by a scolding for walking paint into the garage in my search for white spirit. Just to put it in perspective….
She thought that this…
Was worse than this…
Greatest Show On Turf
The Superbowl was its usual spectacular self, and to make it even more spectacular the boys like to have a bet. Ole kind of gets it, but I’m not sure Zac does. His treble included Rice to score a touchdown (possible), Kelce to be the most valuable player (unlikely), and the colour of the gatorade poured over the winning coach to be red (who could possibly know?). As it turned out Rice did not score a touchdown and so the rest was academic.
Back In The Saddle
We just about managed to avoid racing whilst we were in Barbados, other than Sally accompanying some of the Barbadian racers into the sea. However, it was not long before we were back at the track.
A sea horse
Lingfield was first up on 24th January, and we had Kieran Shoemark as our jockey. Kieran had done his homework by watching Oisin Murphy win on Star Of Lady M at the same venue, which gave us a lot of confidence, but the favourite, Night On Earth, was strongly fancied.
Night On Earth got out very quickly as he tends to do, and this once highly rated sprinter kept up the gallop all the way to the line. We managed to finish second, with Kieran giving our filly the perfect ride. It was a good result, and we looked forward to our next race.
Kieran Shoemark at Lingfield
February First
This came along in February when we were again up against Night On Earth. For this contest Oisin was back on board, and he was very confident in the parade ring. It had been snowing in Buxton that morning as I headed for the train, but down south we were met with incessant rain. Oisin actually thanked me for making the effort in such weather, but it proved to be worth it.
Oisin Murphy was a shining light in the gloom of Lingfield
He tracked the leaders into the straight, and made his move late. She eased past the other runners and won by just over a length. It was an anxious wait to see what the handicapper would do, and it was no surprise but a little disappointing that he had increased her rating to 80, five pounds more than her previous mark.
Back in the winners enclosure at Lingfield
In Pursuit Of Points
We made a quick entry for a new fixture at Southwell, but the race did not fall as we wanted, so we waited for a Friday night at Wolverhampton. There were a lot of entries so we considered waiting for Chelmsford, but time was running out. We needed runs to pick up bonus points and to get into the vase day at Lingfield on Good Friday. So we declared at Wolverhampton and were rewarded with the worst possible draw.
There were discussions as to whether we should look elsewhere but I thought we might as well try. Danny Tudhope was our jockey, and he gave her a fabulous ride, The draw was just too much for her, and she was a fast finishing fifth. Just one bonus point, but Danny was confident that she would win again off her current rating.
Danny Tudhope on board at Wolverhampton
She ran her heart out again
We also met some old friends at Wolverhampton, and a new one in trainer Michael Keady. He led Northcliff into the winners enclosure, the first time the old horse had won in 25 attempts having previously been with Tim Easterby.
Wolverhampton once again impressed, and we look forward to heading there again.
Daydream Believers
Meanwhile, in January thirteen members of MMM Racing made the trip to David O’Meara’s to see Percy’s Daydream. Our two-year-old daughter of Derby winning Sir Percy was just emerging from her winter break. She cantered up the gallops oblivious to our eager eyes. She has a very good temperament, and David expects her to see a racecourse in June. Shares are still available for another couple of weeks, please get in touch if you are interested.
Percy’s Daydream at Willow Farm
You can read the previous edition here
Thud! Cake