MEAL OUT: Coal (Meadowhall)

Our second visit to this Coal, Rose found the burger a bit overdone, but I thought it was fine. Nice chips and 'coalslaw' too. 

SHOPPING: Meadowhall (Sheffield)

As ever, it was well worth the effort of getting up early and getting to Meadowhall at 9:10. The car park was pretty much empty when we got there and pretty much full when we left about 6.5hrs later. Lots of Christmas shopping was done, but I still found time to try on four watches. All in all it was a splendid day of shopping, although Ernest Jones failed with their complete lack of TAGs.

DAY OUT: London (Shopping)

Royal Exchange

We started our day at the Royal Exchange in the City, where we visited Watch Finder for the first time. As we entered we noticed a small window display featuring three Richard Mille watches! Inside we found a fantastic array of Hublots, Audemar Piguets, IWCs, Jaeger le Coultres, Rolexes, Panerais and a fairly small selection of TAG Heuers. I tried on a limited edition Monaco, but at £3600 it was still a bit pricey for me today.

We left Watchfinder and went outside to check out Lulu Guiness, then the rather small Watches of Switzerland, before heading over the road to the Pitcher and Piano for a nice burger (get there before the 12 O Clock rush!). After that we went back for another look at the Richard Milles, before checking out the Omega boutique where Rose tried on a Constellation.

We headed off to Covent Garden and quickly found Floral Street, and just off that we found the Kate Spade shop. We were looking for a bag for Rose and there was much pondering of bags, in particular the purple/pink/orange sparkly bags. It looked like a done deal until Rose spotted a green bag hidden in a corner with a sparkly top hap rabbit charm hanging off the handle. 

KATE SPADE Mini Candace Glitter Satchel Pink

Turned out the charm was a separate item, but it looked really good on there and Rose was concerned about the glitter coming off the pink bag. We had a bit of a discussion with one of the ladies in there about the relative merits of the green bag and the pink bag and when Rose said she thought the green bag without the glitter was more suitable for everyday use I said 'But a sparkly top hot is perfectly fine for everyday use?' she rather hilariously asked if I had one.

KATE SPADE - Cameron Street Lane Emerald

In the end Rose went for the green bag (with the rabbit charm) and they packed it up in a box the size of a small car for us to carry around London, but at least it wasn't heavy. God knows what sort of box you get if you buy this amazing bag!

KATE SPADE - Rabbit in a Hat Shoulder Bag

We had a look in Radley too, but nothing really stood out.. then on to Kurt Geiger, which was an experience in itself! The place did your head in, there was mirrors on every surface creating a virtual infinity of shoes. In actual fact it was rather disorienting, but it was certainly impressive.

KURT GEIGER - An infinity of shoes!

After that we had a look in the Oakley shop, which had some cool new shades in stock which I had never seen before called the EVZero Prizm (although I can't remember which exact ones they were which is a bit annoying).

After a lot of wandering around aimlessly trying to find Lulu Guiness, we eventually stumbled across it... and Rose got a cat broach for her coat, and then we decided to walk to Picadilly Circus (which was the right decision because the Picadilly line was chaos today). 

Before we started up Regent Street we made a beeline for the Nordic Bakery in Golden Square, which purported to sell the best cinnamon buns in London. Well, all we can say is they must have been having an off day, because they weren't that exciting, in fact they were rather overbaked.

From there we cut back to Regent Street and found the flagship Watches of Switzerland store. Here Rose got to see the Tudor Clair de Rose watches for the first time (and tried a couple on) while I got to snag a Tudor catalogue. The selection of TAGs was reasonable, but there were plenty of cool watches to look at including IWCs, Ulysse Nardins, Hublots, Rolexes, Audemars Piguets, Vacheron Constantins, etc etc...

KATE SPADE - Regent Street

We crossed the road to the flagship Kate Spade store, where Rose got to see the blue bag with the seahorses on it, and then headed up the road to All Bar One (which was rammed). So then we decided to walk down Oxford Street to the other Watches of Switzerland store, but ended up stopping at Selfridges first. Their watch selection was shit, but then we realised that all the good watches were in the 'Wonder Room', and once again we were surrounded by Brietlings, Audmar Piguets, Hublots (including a £70,000 tourbillon), TAG Heuers, Panerais... I tried on a TAG McLaren 1974 Carrera, which is quite nice, but also quite pricey (£4150 and not much chance of a deal).

Selfridges - the Wonder Room

Leaving Selfridges we wandered further up Oxford Street until we realised we'd gone too far and that Watches of Switzerland was opposite but because we'd come out a different door of Selfridges we needed to go left not right. This W.O.S. was a bit of a disappointment, it was the only store with pre-owned watches (but there were only about 10 pieces) and no TAG Heuer display. They did have a Calibre 1887 Carrera which I tried on, but I wasn't sure if the price was a good deal or not (or if I liked it enough).

Our plan was to go down Bond Street next, but time was getting on and we decided maybe we should go straight to Kensington (principally to visit Harrods and another Watches of Switzerland). However, having taken the Jubilee line from Bond Street to Greene Park, it became clear that the Picadilly line was still in a right state, and since it is the only line which goes to Kensington that was a bit of a problem. We contemplated getting a taxi, but then realised that we'd probably have to get another taxi back as well...

So we started to look around for somewhere to have a drink and maybe something to eat. But like All Bar One, most places were rammed, or tiny places where people perch on stools to eat. I guess this is something you just learn to live with if you live or work in London, but we don't and we like a proper chair thank you very much.

Fortunately, we stumbled across a place on Picadilly (just up from The Ritz) called Richoux, which is a patisserie that also does food. It was a lovely place to sit down and relax and we had a splendid bowl of fries and a garlic baguette between us.

Richoux - Picadilly

After that it was time to head back to the station, where we discovered our train had been cancelled due to a death on the rails at Rugby. In the end the train was reinstated and we only lost about half an hour or so, and luckily we got a seat, where we could read our free copies of Grazia in relative comfort. 

MEAL OUT: Pitcher and Piano (Nr the Royal Exhange, London)

Arriving early proved to be a good move, since what was an empty pub at 11:45 became a hive of activity by 12:15. Like last time, the food was great and we got to sit in the same booth as well. Well worth another visit, but only open during the week of course (as is the Royal Exchange, being in the City of London). We both had the cheese burger and fries, and along with Richoux could become our new go to place in London since the the sad demise of Adam's Rib.

MEAL OUT: Admiral Hornblower (Oakham)

Our second visit to the Admiral Hornblower and this time it was majorly let down by the service, it took about an hour to get our order taken. Having said that, when I finally did get my sausages they were lovely although Rose's steak was a bit crappy. Sticky toffee pudding was quite nice, but I think we got it well past ten and probably didn't even really want it any more. 

Dad's Funeral

Dad was cremated in Kettering on the 17th of November 2016.

MAJOR PURCHASE: Front porch

Gigs of the year 2016

ROSE'S LIST
------------
1. Faderhead
2. Ayria
3. Neonsol
4. Combichrist
5. Aesthetic Perfection
6. Pain
7. Nachtmahr
8. Delain
9. Grendel
10. Mesh
11.Shiv-R
12. Cyferdyne
13. Terrolokaust
14. The Vision Bleak
15. Millencolin
16. Overkill
17. Vader

ROB'S LIST
------------
1. Faderhead
2. Ayria
3. Neuroticfish*
4. Neonsol
5. Exodus*
6. Combichrist
7. Aesthetic Perfection
8. Shiv-R
9. Pain
10. Delain
11. Grendel
12. Mesh
13. Nachtmahr
14. The Birthday Massacre*
15. Cyferdyne
16. Terrolokaust
17. The Vision Bleak
18. Millencolin
19. Overkill
20. Iszoloscope*
21. Vader

GIG - Delain (Wolverhampton)

Our fifth time seeing this Dutch band, and the third of those in Manchester... this was one of the best times we'd seen them, perhaps since they now have five or six albums of material so there's a greater selection of 'hits' to fill the set. They got a fantastic reaction from the crowd who were very vocal in their support and the sound was excellent too (our only previous visit to this venue was to see Millencolin - who had very ropey sound).
Unfortunately we managed to park in the wrong car park and had to trek to and from the venue and despite the 10pm curfew it took us nearly an hour to get out of Manchester due to the horrendous traffic. Not only that but the junction was closed where the A50 joins the M1 so that added a load more time as we went the wrong way at the diversion. So we actually arrived home at about 1:50am!

SHOPPING: The Trafford Centre (Manchester)

A quick trip to the Trafford Centre on the way to see Delain at The Ritz, had a look in a few jewellers and tried on the TAG Heuer Senna Carrera, the chrono version of the Aquaracer Black Phantom and the black PVD Aquaracer with the nylon strap.
All attempts to eat at the Trafford Centre were hopeless on this extremely busy Saturday afternoon, and we eventually gave up and grabbed a snadwich from a Tesco Metro down the road from The Ritz.

R.I.P - Dad