This place we went to on our roadtrip to Villamartin probably pips our other firm favourite The Mexican Grill.

Top quality food and drink. A very welcome stop on our cold journey throw France.

Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne

Doesn't time fly.

e-mango is 10 years old this year. Actually it is 10 years old on Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year Sunday.

Happy birthday, Valentine's day and Chinese New Year all wrapped into one.

Just in case you were wondering, we eventually made it to Spain through the snow blizzards and wind in France, up mountains and sleepy, stressful times.

up on a mountain

I have got a lot to type up and post. Hopefully grab a chance this weekend.

Snow stops play

We are going to take three days to drive down, Max and Paddy style/boys holiday tour, but the van is stuck at Matt and Hien's due to the snow. They were only able to move it 6ft forward and 6ft back and still managed to nearly hit another car.

We'll see if things get better over the next day or so as we may still be able to make the journey but depends on whether the weather continues to be so bad that people end up sleeping in their cars on the main roads. It's 20 degrees as well in Spain.

Brrrrrr.

Spongebob Day

Saw the nephews, had Spongebob Squarepants Day with them and a new nephew was born on the Tuesday.

Sun, wind, snow and rain plus 909 miles in the car.

It was also Ken's 21st party that we had in As You Like It, Jesmond. Thanks to Duncan for putting a good spread on and great to see everyone there.

Westpoint Bistro in Bournemouth, seafood restaurant.

Mae Ping in Epsom, Thai restaurant.

In peace and not far away

Her wishes were not to talk of her in hushed tones and to celebrate her life on that day. Well Sarah, I certainly did that. I stopped off in Kenilworth and stayed at the Loch Fyne hotel there. In celebration I thought it fitting to order the seafood platter for two, although it was only me, and a nice bottle of Sancerre. I scoffed the lot and raised a glass to you.

I never did drink the Remy Martin nightcap, but what I did do was go to the car and get my Kit Kat as I thought I would have the munchies late at night but then ended up going to the Chinese takeaway next door and ordered a Special Chow Mein as I was still starving! Well Sarah, I had a good night in your honour.

Don't worry, we will look after Paul and the children.

We managed to have some time together this weekend and finally went for our complimentary meal at the High Cliff Grill in the Bournemouth Marriott Hotel.

Review is here: Highcliff Grill, Bournemouth

Due to the power of the fong.co.uk web site a colleague has asked for this link to be added so the world wide web can see it.

Japanese flower arranging - Bournemouth, Dorset

At the Louvre with parents

The Euro/Sterling exchange rate is so bad. Everything was so expensive. OK, being Paris might have been part of it but it did make your eyes water when a can of coke was 4 euro at times and a large beer 8 euro.

And to the pickpocketeer, who I doubt will be reading this so this is purely for my own gratification, I hope you flashed the cash about a bit too much yourself and got done in by your lowlife scummers.

Someone mentioned about having some wine and food down on the Left bank and I didn't get what he meant. When we were on the river boat we saw loads of people sitting on the concrete river bank, bottle of wine opened, cheeses and bread out, all just enjoying a relaxed picnic. How bloody civilised. Looked fun.

Click for: Paris 2009 photos

Free food, for us anyway.

Free food at the Marriott Hotel

We had a pleasant surprise in the offer of a complimentary meal with wine from the Sales & Marketing Co-ordinator at the Bournemouth Marriot Hotel.

Looking forward to it as the menu looks right up our street. Lots of seafood....

We will of course be doing a review for this website. In the meantime you can check out their web site: Highcliff Grill

Nephews visit

Busy week for them - BBQ on the beach, BBQ at home, Adventure Wonderland, visit to the beach and another BBQ.