A James Bond girl by association - Spectre

I recently went to see the latest Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig in Spectre.  I have seen all the Bond movies, starting with Dr. No when I was a child.  I had a particular interest in Spectre as I have recently started a new hobby of being a film extra.

One dark wintry Sunday morning, I entered the London Film School for my second day of filming a short film set in a hotel reception.  I shared a makeshift dressing room with Nigel Barber who made an impressive entrance and introduced himself, quickly asking me how long I had been in the business.  When I revealed I had started only the day before he was very helpful in sorting out the timing for me in the scene we shared.

Back to Spectre, Nigel played the Head of the World and try as I might, I couldn't spot him in the film.  When watching the credits, his name came up under the Tokyo team and I realised he had played the Head of the World at the head of a table in the dark, withholding his identity to those in the room.  Complicated.  Now I want to see the film again.

Good restaurants are worth waiting for

I have visited Felixstowe for the last 20 years to visit my mum, either on my own or with my husband and son. Sadly on this occasion it was to organise her funeral and on the last day before returning to London, we decided to try the Alex. It was a Friday lunchtime and we had been advised by the Minister at the funeral to try to get a window seat upstairs in the Brasserie. It was busy, so we sat a row back. The restaurant was buzzing and modern which I like.

The food: Great choice and quality stuff.
We had the olives and bread of the day to start with...excellent.

 Hubby had the smoked salmon, crayfish and avocado basket with lime coulis from the Starters which he shared with me as I have a small appetite. Then I chose the Hot seafood medley (no idea why as I'm not mad about fish) which was really tasty. He chose the calf's liver and we swopped plates halfway through. The wine was excellent. I prefer French so chose the Picpoul de Pinet which was nicely chilled and served in a thin topped wine glass (I notice these things) and I finished with the Blood orange meringue pie.

Sadly, we have no reason to visit Felixstowe any more so we are unlikely to return. Wish we discovered you earlier. One night we were staying in a local hotel and drove all the way to Ipswich to buy pizza takeaway, passing the Alex on the way!

I nearly forgot the best bits.

1) We were relaxing with our aperitif when somebody vacated a window table and the waitress offered us a window table with the lovely view and helped us move our things over in a smooth manner.

2) The toilets are just amazing with coloured lights changing colour constantly.

Wisebuys, Narbeth High Street, Pembrokeshire, Wales - “An Aladdin's Cave for Foodies”

http://www.wisebuys-wales.co.uk/

Whilst staying at the nearby Bluestone Resort during really bad weather, we just wanted some nice food to cook in the Lodge and hide from Gale Barney. We grabbed the umbrellas and drove to Narberth High Street where we discovered a lovely butcher, tapas restaurant and the exceptional foodstore, Wisebuys. We bought beautiful baby potatoes to go with the lamb chops we bought from A J Rees and Sons.
http://www.andrewreesbutchers.co.uk/

Then we stocked up with a few treats to take home to London, such as Sakis Greek Baklava, pistachio soft nougat from Italy, the essential Welsh cakes, and a pecan and maple cake from Cottage Delight. The vegetables were very fresh looking with unusual mushrooms and other delights. Lots of ideas for gifts such as a pack of curry ingredients etc. or a choice of hampers.

They have an online shop and deliver around the UK.

The Spa at Bluestone in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK

“Beautiful lighting and aroma”

We went to Bluestone with a romance package which included 2 hours in the spa with a massage, as I understood it. No mention was made of the massage and I wasn't in the mood to complain. Was just happy to chill out having recently lost my mum. We arrived during Gale Barney, so the weather was windy and non-stop rain. After 3 days struggling to do anything with the heavy rain, we decided to visit the spa taking our umbrellas.

We got into our dressing gowns which were provided. I found the changing room to be well equipped with hairdryers and towels but the room was cold. We did the rounds of the 2 different types of sauna, 5 minutes in each room was enough with our high blood pressure (under control with medication), the salt room which I loved but my husband couldn't see the point of it, then 2 steam rooms, one herbal. All rooms had pretty sparkly lights in the ceiling and crystals everywhere, smellie candles, power showers with 6 jets, and the ice room....I was scared of the ice room but it was lovely after the sauna.....so after 30 minutes we'd had enough and went to the coffee shop and saw people outside in the jacuzzi under the rain. We decided to join them and walked along the non slip mat in the rain and got in just as the bubbles started. How invigorating it was. 35c. It's a shame they don't have an indoor jacuzzi.

We had a hot shower and capuccino after that and were done for the day.

We had a two storey lodge with the lounge upstairs.  This was the view of the bungalow opposite us.