Another one of those spontainious weekends that just seems to work out well. Lovely bright sunny day so we went into Belfast to do some shopping on Friday and came across a Continental Market in the grounds of the City Hall. Lots of French, German and Dutch stallholders over with the most amazing produce. Gorged ourselves on free samples. Called up to Winnie's house and then met Linda & Freddie for tea. Rick & Katie phoned us and we all went and played Crazy Golf at the Ice Bowl. Really good craic and Linda won a Golden Dubloon with a freak hole in one which entitles her to a free game.Went round to the Stormont Hotel afterwards for hot chocolate!
Next day, (Saturday) we went down to Rick and Katie's in Greyabbey as Rick had two and a half tons of topsoil arriving for the garden which he is redesigning! Spent the day in the garden, laying a lawn and potting plants while Rick moved the soil!
Ended the night with a barbecue and came home. Nice weekend!

Not a lot of news at the moment other than Lilian is studying hard for her course, (inside in bad weather, outside in the garden in good weather, so I have included a pic of both!). Heading off to Canada towards the end of June and really looking forward to that.
Got talking to a guy about Spudgunnery. Worth clicking on that link to have a look at the site. Some of these spud guns seem pretty impressive. Have a look at the video and click the tab on how to build your own. Not the sort of thing that we could get up to in this part of the world I think without ending up in jail.

Great Weekend! Went to a friend's Passing Out Parade at the PSNI Training Centre at Garnerville. Somehow ended up with a VIP ticket and hob-nobbed it with the Deputy Chief Constable, and the Chairman of the Policing Board and so on. Got into conversation with the the Commissioner of the Ottawa Police, (who was the inspecting officer) and some Mounties who were there for the event, also some representatives of the German police and the Garda. Gotta say those PSNI recruits were pretty impressive! I thought I was tidy in my suit until I saw their uniforms! It looked as if their boots were painted on with black gloss! Should really buy shares in Kiwi boot polish! However compared with the Staff Sergeant who was their Drill Instructor they looked dowdy! I certainly wouldn't want to cross him on the parade ground. He looks as if he eats raw meat! That evening Lilian and I went with Rick and Katie to see Ulster hammer the Borders 63 - 17 at Ravenhill to come top of the Celtic League. Afterwards we all went back up to Winnie's house for supper. Went to the ABC Council meeting in Lisburn on Saturday and then Winnie came over and spent the afternoon with Lilian in the garden. It turned out a beautiful evening. Later on when the sun went down we watched a couple of episodes of the Barchester Chronicles, which were excellent.

Thursday 11th May: The significance of this army helicopter will become apparent in a moment!
I arranged to take Thursday off instead of my usual Friday as I am working tomorrow and it has turned out to be an absolutely cracking day, the hottest day of the year so far. Lilian and I decided to go geocaching up the Antrim coast near Cushendall. (Even packed swimming gear!) Stopped at Glenarm on the way up and had a walk round the castle grounds and had a look at the (Highland?) cattle.
Stopped at Waterfoot and had a coffee, (excellent coffee and very reasonably priced, recommended!) and watched all the bikers head up to the practice of the North West 200 which is on Saturday. If they get a day like this, they will be doing some speeds!
Eventually we headed on to try and find this geocache.
The cache was on the summit of Orra Mor which was the scene of the bloody Battle of Orra in 1559 between the O’Neills and the MacDonnells. The MacDonnells, being local, came up with a cunning plan and lured the O’Neills (and their henchmen the McQuillans) onto the boggy ground, where they floundered, and were easily finished off. A stone cairn raised by Sorley Boy MacDonnell, chief of the clan, to commemorate the battle still remains. (Right beside two mobile phone masts! Typical!) Hugh Phelim O’Neill and Daniel McQuillan’s graves are both on the slopes of the mountain. This is a fantastic spot with great views of Rathlin and Ballycastle and we had never been in this area before. I've come to realise recently that there is so much locally that I know little or nothing about!
Anyhow, found the cache and had lunch and then lay and dozed in the sun for a while before being awaked by an army helicopter hovering almost on top of us! Obviously they were checking out what two people were doing beside a comunications centre on a hilltop in the middle of nowhere! When I got the camera out and took his picture he cleared off but circled round and took another close look at us before deciding we were harmless and headed off towards Ballymena.
Made our way back down to the car again and slowly wended our way home in the evening sunshine. Smashing day out.

Monday 8th May: Had an Elders' Meeting tonight which ran on rather late. As the guys were leaving about 11.30pm we spotted this little guy ambling across the front lawn. Left a saucer of milk and bread out for him but when I looked out a few minutes later he was gone and the food untouched. Must keep an eye out for him for the next few nights.

Friday 5th May: Woke up this morning to clear blue skies which was a pleasant surprise after the wild day yesterday. Headed off to the Mournes to walk up the Trassey Track towards the Hare's Gap and Slieve Bernagh. It turned out a beautiful Spring day with the sun on our faces and the wind on our backs. Lilian and I first walked this track together nearly 40 years ago and it hasn't changed much. (Although we have!)
Found a geocache on Slieve Bernagh and on the way back stopped and had our lunch beside the Trassey River. Discovered that friends of ours were now living in a little cottage beside the gate leading to the track so went in and had an hour's craic.
Came back to Winnie's for tea and Rick and Katie met us there. Watched parts one and two of the Barchester Chronicles on DVD by Anthony Trollope. Excellent production. Nice way to end a day out.