Our long weekend in Stratford started with another telephone call from a carer about Dad managing to fall out of bed despite having a bar fitted by Phillip last night (who I envy being so good at practical things). I went to Milton Tesco after seeing Mum's grave on the anniversary of her death four years ago, and got some supplies for Dad and us on our holiday. A little bit of a rush to get Tabitha and Amelia to the Cattery so Phyllis can look after them til Monday (we forgot the tablets for Tabitha!) and then off on our weekend break. And right into a traffic tailback from a fire on the A14... We stopped at Cambridge Services (which is still being built) for a visit to KFC (I ordered more than I needed) and then rejoined the A14 traffic jam - when that eventually melted away we had an easy drive to Stratford with the Satnav reliably leading to the Macdonald Hotels Stratford Swan's Nest Hotel there. Which happily had parking (I like to worry about things). The hotel was very well situated, we could walk everywhere we needed to go! It was good enough but I wouldn't give it four stars. The hotel had wi-fi - to make this work one had to register / login each time. We ate at the French bistro restaurant in the hotel, I had French onion soup then chicken which were richly cooked perhaps too richly cooked for me. The chef was rather too fond of salt. We kicked off Saturday with breakfast in the hotel - cereals and croissants not worth the price of the buffet at £9.50 really. We walked into Stratford and did some shopping at Marks and Spencers then visited the Stratford Butterfly Farm. Plenty of butterflies! Hot and humid making my glasses and camera lens steam up. Mayan decor, not too badly done. There were insects and snakes and also a colony of leaf cutter ants commuting over ropes - the previous colony died out after chewing their way through power cables and the queen getting electrocuted. Well patronised by those ignoring the signs about touching the butterflies. When we emerged it was raining, but only light rain and we were within a stones throw of the hotel. We had sandwiches at the charming Fourteas - a forties themed tea room where the waitresses were suitable accoutred, the tea came with egg timers, and the menus were 1940s ration books. Another hit was the Stratford MAD museum, an unmissable collection of kinetic sculptures - vibrant and eye catching. Made me miss the ball bearing clock I had once - and remember a visit to see work by the artist Jean Tinguely. Hotel laid on a fire alarm for us, then we went for an evening cruise on the Countess of Evesham down and up the River Avon. They steered the long boat with skill through the three locks, where we were lowered or raised at the speed of bath water emptying. Saw a swan carrying two chicks on its back, on the return the insects in the boat lights swirled like krill in the ocean, wan ghosts of plastic bags were caught in the trees. A four course meal, reasonable charm. Back late though after 11pm and Virginia's lens dropped out again! The return journey was rather stressful. After going to the service at Stratford Baptist Church we found one of the tyres on Virginia's car had been deflated. So pumped it up, and followed the Satnav up to Coventry to find the route we should take closed off. We retreated to a Starbucks back the way we came, and then hesitantly tried the A429 then A445 north to skirt the Circean city of Coventry. Washed out when we got home, not only by the rain which fell.

Virginia and I had a long weekend in Stratford-on-Avon. We booked Tabitha and Amelia into the Jobil Cattery in Histon so not far from us, and booked ourselves into "Brook Lodge", a slightly more comfortable Bed and Breakfast place in Stratford. Jobil Cattery was adequate, perhaps a bit bare bones, but did for the weekend. True we didn't ask the cats their opinion! The journey didn't take long to get there, partly because all the service stations we tried to stop at for a bite to eat, and a comfort break, were closed as regards eateries. In the end we checked into the guest house, then had oversize plates of sandwiches at the Bell Inn in Shottery. As we were in the area we decided to cross Anne Hathaway's cottage off the list. The cottage has undergone revision over the years. When Anne Hathaway grew up in it was two rooms, open hearth fire vented through the roof. The guides were very pleasant and informative, they explained that people lived on bread rather than potatoes as they didn't have potatoes then. They didn't even have carrots as we now know and love them, the garden had skirrets growing which were poor weedy root vegetables now superseded in the modern diet. The guides also commented on Shakespeare's life with Anne Hathaway, giving a contrary opinion to the populist one that Will ran away to London to write plays and act because he was tired of his 8-years older wife. Shakespeare did marry young (at 18 when 21 was the norm) but stayed with Anne apart from the half-year seasons when acting took him away. Perhaps as people remodel buildings to suit their fancies, so we have remodelled Shakespeare to suit our fancies of how the bard should have been.

Adventure Convention held at Allesley Hotel in Coventry

I went to the 2004 Adventure Convention in Coventry, staying at the "Allesley Hotel". This is partly a social occasion to catch up with friends I see each year. Most of those there started with text adventures and some still produce them. Each year someone does a text adventure which is is used for the Megapoints Competition - the only time I play text adventures now. There is still life in text adventures - this year's game by David Hebblethwaite entitled "No Milk Today" was fresh and amusing. After a hunt through Coventry for a firewire cable I showed my efforts in the line of graphic adventures. Some there were inspired by how possible it is to do a game just using pictures from a digital camera. I look forward to what they may produce.