Emlyn gets a grooming and enjoys it shock! Sunday, 30th March, 2014.

The wire brush grooms his bonce.

It's enough to make his tongue go all peculiar.

Even better than the brush - a head rub.

Ooh yeah, go on mate, right there!

If one of 'em gets tired I simply get the other one to take over.

Chipping Campden, Saturday, 29th March, 2014.

Another glorious early-Spring day! So, a drive down to the edge of The Cotswolds it is then, for a visit to a tea shop and then a stroll up and down Chipping Campden's High Street.

You wouldn't catch us stopping to take a photo of a nice olde jallopy parked in front of a Cotswold stone building, no way.

In the cool shade of the Market Hall (built in 1627).

Messin' about in the Market Hall.

Flowers ready for Mothers Day tomorrow?

Splendid springtime magnolia.

Nice stone bay window.

Look at that blue sky! Take a photo quick.

Spring lambs not skipping about the place. 

They are already too old for all that.

Evesham Cats Protection, Sunday, 16th March, 2014.

About to go into action with the cat that scratched Vicky's shin last month. It's gonna be emotional!

Vinnie (also known to some as Vince) keeps lithe with regular Pilates sessions.

Another high-energy stress-filled Sunday morning at the ECP.

Big-faced old-scrote photo bombs Sox's selfie.

Update, Thursday, 27th March, 2014:
Just learnt from Mikki that Sox passed away on Monday.
He was a fighter and a loving cat despite his ailments and we shall miss him very much.
RIP Sox.

Worcester, Monday, 10th March, 2014.

Can you guess where we are yet?

That's right, we are back in Carluccio's: this time for both a celebration and a commiseration. Vicky's post-op recuperation is finally over but, of course, everything comes to an end and she has to return to office-based work tomorrow. The daily commute up the M5, along the M42, and down the M40 (and back again) is looming large.

Some of us confront the nasty realities of life with the healthy breakfast option............

..............whilst others, needless to say, don't.

(Note blurred knife poised over defenceless bacon. And, yes, it was yummy).

Worcester, Sunday, 9th March, 2014.

Never mind the church - look at that sky!

You have to take a photo otherwise, come April and with winter having set in again, we would forget we've ever had any sunny days. 

18 degrees by all accounts. 

All is back to normal on South Quay and the Severn is back to a more usual level and all the swans have returned to the river.

Both restaurants in the building behind, however, remain closed due to the flood damage.

People milling about all over the place and queueing up for ice creams an' all sorts. 

Bit of sunshine does that to some folk.

Loads of ruddy folk along the path under The Cathedral an' all.

2007 is the flood height record for the time we've lived here. 2014 was higher still and it will be interesting to see how it compares to the floods of the olde days once The Council find the funds to put a commemorative stone in the wall. 

It's a Tory Council, so we're not holding our breath (that was a short Political statement on behalf of The Disgruntled David, Vicky and Howard Party).

View back to the Cathedral from The Diglis Foot and Cycle Bridge (one day someone will surely think of a better name for it).

The canal basin has a tea room. Yay!

Unfortunately, just out of shot.

Refreshed by a nice cuppa tea, it's time to set off back home.

We calculate we've walked about 6 miles.

It's amazing what a day of warm sunshine and no humidity to speak of can make us do.

Tewksbury, Saturday, 8th March, 2014.

With a good weather forecast for today we've driven down the M5 to Tewkesbury to see what it looks like when it's not on the telly 'cos it's under flood from the Severn and Avon (the confluence is just outside the town centre - so it's not surprising it floods).

Here, Vicky is stood in the grounds of the Abbey on land that was surrounded by water just a couple of weeks or so ago.

Big olde gnarly tree.

Big olde gnarly tree and fairly big olde Abbey in context.

Stand there Dave, and look interesting.

Oh well, it'll have to do.

Inside the Abbey.

Lighting a candle for the gone but not forgotten.

On a bridge not above either the Severn or the Avon. Rather this is The Mill Avon. 

No wonder Tewkesbury floods. It's got nearly as many waterways as Birmingham.

Our second Tea Room today. 

Always a welcome respite from our wanderings and gawpings.

Worcester, Thursday, 6th March, 2014.

Pat and Graham have come down to Worcester today for a dinner at Carluccio's in celebration of Erin and Brett's successful emigration to Perth W.A. and the recent announcement that Erin is expecting. 

Here, all starters have been finished and the mains are keenly anticipated.

Two olde boys get all emotional about something other than BSA motorbikes for once. 

To help digest our scran we take a little stroll down Friar Street before heading back to the car park and then home in time for Pat and Graham to get back home before the motorways clog up in the rush hour.

Birmingham, Tuesday, 4th March, 2014.

With Vicky on a week of annual leave we have an opportunity to come into Birmingham (via Aston Cemetery and lunch in The Jewellery Quarter) for the second time in a few days. Our first trip was a cultural/culinary one; whilst this one is of a 'doing our bit for the economy' nature.

Here, two Feds keep an eagle eye on Vicky as she decides whether to support a demonstration against the closing of a local swimming baths. We contribute a few 'grrrr's' and shout 'Down With The Coalition' a couple of times (as you do) and then continue our quest to boost the economy.

This boosting the economy malarky is a tiring and frustrating affair. We've been to two shops so far and bought absolutely nothing. Debenhams didn't have a suitable breadbin that went with our kitchen decor whilst Next had trousers that fitted me (David) but didn't have them in the right style. 

Thank goodness for Char Wallah: a haven of quiet tranquility if ever there was one. We linger as long as we can and then reluctantly continue on our forlorn quest to spend some money.

Having then trudged to Gap, only to find that it is now a branch of Poundland (ye Gods), then gone across Corporation Street into House of Fraser to find that there are more shop assistants than customers and that all of them, to a man and woman, only want to point out that there's a better selection of products on-line, we manage to persuade them to let us buy two pillow cases. 

Thoroughly demoralised we plod back to the car park, via the grounds of St Phillips Cathedral, with just two bags (and one of those is of food from Marks and Sparks).

We conclude that as we can have a thoroughly demoralising shopping experience in Worcester any time we wish there's no need to come back in to Birmingham unless it's for a cultural/culinary experience which, we have to say, Birmingham does very well.

Then, just to cap things off nicely, the drive home takes over an hour and a half (normal time, 40 mins tops) thanks to roadworks on the Hagley Road and on the M5.

Not one of our better days then.

Birmingham, Saturday, 1st March, 2014.

We've come into Birmingham today to see The Birmingham Royal Ballet Company's 2:30pm performance of The Prince Of The Pagodas. 

We got delayed on the M5 thanks to about 12 miles of roadworks (didn't see one single chap doing any roadworks), had to make a brisk walk across town to get here on time, so didn't have time to take any photos on the way. Disaster!

Quite enjoyed the ballet. Really enjoyed the intervals. There were two in total. Each almost as long as the three segments of the ballet. We guess the dancers need time to recover from all that flinging each other about and....er....dancin'. Made us quite tired just watching them.

We originally had tickets for The Nutcracker in December but Vic's op put paid to that. Shame, but there you go.

It's now about 5:45pm and we're starvin'. Not had anything since breakfast. We originally intended to eat at our old favourite haunt, Bella Italia, but it was rammed to the gills with hungry folk so we had to walk up New Street another couple of doors and try out a 'Cafe Rouge'. Not too bad as it goes. Vicky had Caesar Salad........

.....whilst greedy guts didn't. He had chicken, leeks and mushrooms in a creamy sauce, with mash. 

It had a fancy French name but we can't remember that now. 

It tasted lovely tho', and that's the main thing.

Walking back to the car park we couldn't resist taking a slightly fuzzy shot of The Library of Birmingham (must not be called Birmingham Library) at night. 

Set the camera down on a wall an' all. Ruddy digital compacts.