Blimey oh Riley -- More Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Well I was beginning to think the Lynda and I were the only daft buggers that laid out in the mid day sun of the likes of Palm Springs but then along come a whole bunch of others.

first there was this English couple who it turns out that they have been coming to this hotel for about the last 15 years and they sensibly went in around 1pm and then there was this other English couple, Mike and Di, from Warwickshire who have been coming to this hotel every year for the last 12 or so, that we started talking to in the pool and stayed chatting for a good hour or more, until they left to get some lunch. Turns out that Mike is a county councillor, following early retirement from the police-I suspect he might well have been fairly high ranked.

 Then finally this couple from Seattle turn up late afternoon, via San Diego, which followed with  much chatting including to a Dutch couple in the pool, and then we had to feed them, no , not the Dutch , the Seattle folk.

Ok so it was Hugh and Lisa and how great it was that they turned up her to spend a few days with us--not sure about them being in the next room though.

Anyway--talking of brits or English, the restaurant we were hoping to go to this Saturday is shut and it has been shut since june until October--that is some summer break--but we forgot that they have always done this ---and its not called the Red Lion as I thought--its the Lyons Restaurant and the signs are red--well its close.

 

This place has been owned by the Lyons family for decades since the brothers David and Arthur opened this bit of England here in the desert.

 

So we wont be going there then!

 

We decided that we would do a Bar-b-q at the hotel last night as we didn't know what time that Hugh and Lisa would arrive and it went pretty well---

 

 

Funny how it is about 9 weeks ago that we were having dinner with them in Seattle on the day we arrived in the USA. Amazing how much catching up there is when you tend to keep in touch via FB and the occasional cards.

 

I saw this mornings big news is the Prince William is retiring from the forces--- must be the stress of the new baby , well its only right that he doesn't have to go charging out , fighting wars and stuff they do in the forces, when Kate needs him at home.

 

We were talking about retirement and such last night and I think my mate Hugh was saying he cant retire till he gets to 97--the old pensions not going quite as far as they do for a 30 something bloke who can retire from the forces--wonder what rank they will give him --Wing Commander or some such, that will up his pension a bit--well I mean , hes got Cambridge to support hasn't he.

 

Great to have our friends here so need to get ready for brekkie as we are off to the desert this morning for a trek