East Anglian Beer and Cider Festival 2025

It's that time of year again and I was able to make several visits to the East Anglian Beer and Cider Festival in Bury St. Edmunds cathedral.

Alex Clarke at the Hunter Club

Tonight we wen to our first concert at the Hunter Club for a while to hear a young up and coming saxophone player, Alex Clarke, play with the house band.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 136 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's my turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Weekend Quick Cryptic 136 - Chocomania

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it is my turn, Number 135 in the series, entitled "Chocomania", which is a clue to the theme.

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info. As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.  

Dunwich Walk

Today we had visit to Dunwich for a walk.

John's Walks Update

I've updated the page John's Walks 2025, which you can access via the menu bar at the top of the page or the "John's Walks" section in the sidebar to include all walks this year so far. John's Walks 2025 provides an index to all the walk blog posts so far this year. As usual, I'll continue to update it periodically during the year - every couple of months on average.

Tomato Time

Time to get out the tomato recipes.... Dawn's cherry tomatoes are ripening fast!

Needham Market Walk

Today we had an early walk from Needham Market Lake.

St. Michael's Singers Residence in Southwell

Last night I returned from a regular visit to Southwell with the St. Michael's Singers. We were in residence at Southwell Minster and provided the music for four Evensongs, a lunchtime concert, and a sung Eucharist.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 135 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Sawbill's turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Weekend Quick Cryptic 135 - by Sawbill

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it is Sawbill's turn, Number 135 in the series. 

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info. As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.  

Bridge of Allan Highland Games 2025

Last year (see here) we all visited the Bridge of Allan Highland Games and enjoyed it so much we said we must go again this year... and here we are!

Clan Gathering

Today we a had a meeting of local relatives at Kirsty and David's in Bridge of Allan. It was great to see everyone.

Blackness Castle and Pittenweem

Today we had a day for touring from Bridge of Allan. I thought it would be nice to visit the Fife coast and David suggested a circular route that would take us towards Edinburgh and then across the new Queensferry crossing to Fife.