It is December and I still have
not done the Christmas Cake. Still, I say this every year
and we still manage to get everything done by 24th December. I
don’t know why it all comes as such a surprise, just like snow when we get
some.
Anyway just to let you know that
we are all fit and healthy. I am pleased to say that this is
official. I had to have an angiogram done, and spent last Friday
having day surgery. Luckily I have been given the ‘all clear’ and
the specialist does not need to see me again - Yippee!!!
It has been a very busy year for
all of us and I think it will be good to just relax at Christmas.
Nicholas has now been in his job
for a year and still finds it a challenge. He is doing well and
seems to enjoy the sales side of things. He still keeps his hand in
with engineering and does live ‘gigs’ at the weekends. This summer
he went back to Cyprus for two weeks and had a great time. He met up
with lots of old friends and spent most of the time down at Lemmings, our old
windsurfing club at Episkopi.
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| A very proud Chris |
Christopher has now finished
University and we attended his graduation ceremony in November, it was a very
proud moment for us. He has had two freelance contracts
designing and building websites, but is still looking for a permanent job in
the Bournemouth area.
Stephen has had a busy year, both
at work and with his aircraft. During the autumn he took the engine
out and brought it home to be completely overhauled – it really is a very small
engine to be keeping an aircraft in the air. Lately he has been
looking to add some new equipment to the ‘Avid’, and this has led to an
interest in e-Bay. He has now bought what he wanted from a chap in
Washington State and it has just arrived, so he will be up at the airfield
soon, getting it fitted. On ‘Children in Need’ day Stephen had his
head shaved at work and managed to raise well over £500 for the event; we are
all very proud of him. His hair is now about as long as Nick’s, but
is growing back quite quickly.
My year has been quite hectic as
well. In January I was asked to move job in Bristol, it is the same thing, but
looking after a larger group of libraries, including a new one which was opened
in February. I would not recommend moving to a job two weeks before
you open a new site, complete with all new staff. We have also had a lot of
people retiring this year, which has created vacancies . Anyway I
think I am beginning to see daylight, as we have appointed staff to two
libraries and are about to interview for the others
At the same time this happened I
was asked to take on a new role with the National Committee of Youth Libraries
Group – that of Exhibition Manager for our Annual Conference. This
involves talking to all the publishers and getting them to buy space at the
conference weekend, as well as actually organizing the exhibition space and
generally keeping everyone happy. Despite all the challenges, I have
to say that I actually enjoyed doing this and will be doing it again next
year. Of course I also get to attend the conference for free, which
is a great help.
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| The obligatory basket sled ride down the roads of Funchal |
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| A memorable evening in a local restaurant |
This year has been another good
one for holidays. In March we went off to Madeira for a week and had
a lovely relaxing time. The hotel was great and right by the sea in
the old part of Funchal. We managed to do all the things that we
missed the first time we visited the island and generally had a rest.
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| One of many temples |
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| An extraordinary floating market |
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| The war graves at Kanchanaburi |
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| The modern bridge over the river Kwai ironically made in Japan |
In August we had our main holiday – or as the tour manager said “ it’s not a holiday it is a tour”. This was to Thailand. We went with Travelspehere and it was a very exhausting two weeks, but absolutely fantastic. We started out in Bangkok and did all the sights including floating markets, the Grand Palace, temples, and the River Kwai. Then we started driving up country seeing many of their ancient monuments. We went to Chang Rai and then Chang Mai, visiting Hill Tribes and also having an elephant ride; there is video of me looking absolutely terrified during this bit. We finally ended up on the coast, south of Bangkok for several days, but whilst the hotel was very nice, the area was rather seedy; lots of bars and prostitutes. Still, overall it was a holiday to remember and I have the silk, jewellery and elephant dung paper to do just that.
In September I had my conference
and the following week we went up to Yorkshire to celebrate the 100th birthday
of Stephen’s Aunt Nancy. It was a fantastic time and 13 of us went out for
dinner in the evening; a real family get together. Last week I
was in London for a committee meeting, so Stephen joined me on the Friday
evening for a weekend away. We went to see the Tate Modern (very
weird), British Museum (great), ‘Lion King’ (what a show) and the London Eye
(the views are amazing)
At the moment Stephen is papering
part of the stairs and next week a new hall/stairs carpet is being
fitted. It is the last of the original carpet from when we bought
the house; it was new then, so has done very well lasting 10 years with us and
the dog wandering over it. I am determined to start getting ready
for Christmas and have actually got the Christmas cards out.
As usual we will be having a
quiet family Christmas. I think the boys will only be home for a
couple of days, but they have both got their friends where they live and no
doubt will be spending New Year with them.
We are looking forward to next
year and hope to go back to Cyprus in the Spring and to the Western USA in the
late Autumn (after Conference, as usual).
Anyway we hope that you will all
have a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year will be happy and healthy for
everyone,
