The way things are looking the rest of the summer and then out trip to Majorca are going to be just great. Today I'm going to get in touch with Shepherd's Walks who should have contacted me by now as I want to get my MiniVentures up and running. I'm also going to do some more investigating about buying the kit I need for Majorca to switch the gearing on my bike to a compact setup.

Telephoned the guy from Shepherd's Walks about the Garmin GPS, the Oregon 650. Not at work today but they are going to send him a message and we will see if he gets back to me, if not I will just buy from elsewhere, not waiting any longer.

Lorena and I went out for a walk, Lorena turned back early to allow her knee to continue to improve but I pressed on around the circuit, got back as usual at around lunchtime. Had an interesting chat with the guy on the gate of the park, he told us that currently they are doing some filming for Downton Abbey at Alnwick Castle and will be filming a shooting scene in Hulne Park on Saturday. The chap is going to be in it as an extra (beater I think) and apparently The Duke of Northumberland is going to be shooting in the shooting scene itself! Be great to watch the episode when it comes out which I think is going to be around Christmas. Bumped into Elaine and her husband on the way home, they were on their way to Alison Slassor’s place.

Different experience for lunch today, a real treat :-) Got the single burner camping ring out on the decking and fried some lovely pork chipolatas (Taste the Difference, Sainsbury’s) which we had with burger relish in white finger rolls. Cooking outdoors just for some reason makes such an enormous difference to the taste and they were truly lovely. Burgers planned for tea!

This afternoon edited some of the video material I shot the other day which I quite enjoyed. Uploaded a clip of Lorena and I in the back garden and am currently uploading a much larger 15 minute clip (2GB) introducing MiniVentures and my little scheme.

This evening we had lovely beef burgers for tea, again in white rolls, with some feta cheese, olives, sun dried tomatoes, sliced fresh tomatoes and a little serving of pasta. What a splendid meal it was, couldn’t eat that sort of thing all the time, well don’t want to, but we really enjoyed it as a one off. I say one off but we still have some more sausages left and another couple of burgers!

The big news of the day came from Facebook, Glen Hogg posted that he was looking for anyone who fancied a trip on his boat for a cruise he is doing off Scotland next week. Oh the joys of retirement, I can go! Lorena showed me the post and seems keen for me to grab the opportunity so grab it I have. Looks like we will be taking the "Caledonia" cruising for a week, leaving this coming Friday! I feel pretty apprehensive about this but I just can’t pass up an opportunity like that, I think it will be fantastic. Glen is coming round on Monday evening to chat through it and hopefully then I will know more but I see this as an excellent recording opportunity, its going to be great :-)

Here is Glen's boat, the Caledonia, beautiful!

Video uploaded to YouTube: Loafing Around @ Home.

Facebook Updated: July 26, 2014 at 11:28PM 2GB video file uploading to YouTube, I'm going to sleep and it can just get on with it.

Facebook Updated: July 26, 2014 at 11:40PM Torrential rain here at the moment, heavy enough to cause local flooding for sure.

Facebook Updated: From cigarettes and alcohol to marathon man http://ift.tt/1o0Q0yQ Steve Way, 40, will compete for England at the Commonwealth Games, despite only taking up running in 2007. Now that is one hell of a story, truly inspiring.