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29 November 2012

It's (nearly) Chriiiiiiiiis-maaaaas!

Christmas 2012
Most of my family and friends are too polite to tell me if my gift choices are naff so I thought I'd try to elicit the opinions of others, prior to buying some 'surprises'. Please feel free to comment and help me out!

1. Italian Cooking & Language Lesson, £69 per person + optional meal (held in London). I'm thinking of booking this for husband & son (ulterior motive - they can cook me some yummy Italian food)

2. My husband uses Canon camera but has some old lenses for Olympus so I'm looking for  a converter so that they will work together.

3. Son likes The Riddler and Big Bang Theory: how about this T-shirt?

4. Amazon lets me print off vouchers and/or email them to multitudes of teenage nieces and nephews who can then shop on-line so I lazily opt for this. Other shops are losing out because they don't offer this flexibility.

5. Gino D'Acampo's latest book, "La Dolce Diet" - maybe for myself? Seems a bit rude to give someone a book with 'diet' in the title unless it's actually on their wish list!

6. Very impressive selection of stocking fillers -  wallet tools from TouchOfGinger.com

Other than that, I'm still searching...

28 November 2012

Rape of Schoolgirl in North London

2012: a recent news story made me reflect on my years as a schoolgirl and the lucky escape I had at that time, not far from there.

1970: Two teenage boys were walking a few paces behind my friend and me. As we reached the entrance to playing fields, they caught up with us and pulled us away from the street. I was being physically overpowered but trying to distract the boy with conversation while my friend, who managed to escape, went to get help from a house opposite.

The man from the house shouted and the boys then ran off.

I never told my parents as I didn't want them to worry or over-protect me. I'm now a parent...

06 November 2012

Red Lion, Welwyn, Herts

Tuesday 6th November 2012: with a few minutes thought, we suddenly found ourselves heading out to dinner in the Welwyn area. Having not tried the Red Lion (just south of the village) for a couple of years, we decided to give it a try and, from a possible 5 stars, it rated a decent 4.

Arriving at 8.20pm, there was ample parking and, on entry, a welcoming atmosphere. Recently decorated and nicely furnished. Possibly understaffed as we tried for 3 or 4 minutes to find someone to ask if we could have a table for two.

It was about half-full and we had a choice of tables. The waitress was pleasant and friendly, the menu looked good with a variety of food and a range of prices. Because we didn't have a starter, there was a bit of a wait for the main course, enough time to finish the first drinks and replenish as the main course was served.

We chose a mushroom tagliatelle - excellent - and organic sausage with crispy bacon, pureed potatoes and butterbeans - also good. For pudding, one of us had frozen yogurt with fresh berries and the other one chose cappuccino which, unfortunately, did not arrive by 9.40pm when we had to leave.

Summary: atmosphere, decor, food and drink all good, maybe slightly understaffed but the staff we encountered were good. Website: www.theredlionwelwyn.co.uk