Look at the picture books - people and places
It would be a good idea to write this diary month by month.Agreed. As it is, it is written by looking back at the Google calendar for the year. Apart from flu jabs and visits to doctors and hospital clinics for Pat nothing much seems to have happened!Besom of course, Open the Book school assemblies, Tot's Praise, Buggy at Wisley, yes all these but without Pat who - apart from the medical engagements - hasn't been out of the house since the Sunday before Advent. Just to think that if the doctor had bothered to mention it Pat could have had a shingles jab, having qualified at 70 (was it available all that time ago?).Paul is now engaged in a little payback in terms of housekeeping and cooking. For nearly 54 years it has almost all been one way - now it's the other way, plus nursing! All that hoovering, step cleaning, polishing etc. that has to be done - and then it has to be done again the next month. Again family pics for the year are in the picture book.
Regardless, we can still have our parties. This is Lola's 4th celebration
Lola with Zuzana, Stella and Lucie
And just the same story for February! Our 'church' is still the Radio 4 Morning Worship, then the TV show 'Church Without Walls' and, later on, Songs of Praise.
Don't know what this occasion was - but it's always eating whatever the reason for the assembly.
2nd March, Sunday before Lent, back to church, having missed Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.
No pics of Zuzana at her birthday celebration at Fosters but the children came in costume and preferred the freshly seeded earth to the grass around.
Stella presents her latest find for Simon's analysis.
We find that we attend the Maxillo Facial clinic 4 times this month. Why? The first time is for Pat to check on what is happening to her jaw bone. We are sitting in the waiting area when the doctor comes to collect Pat. The doctor kneels before Paul. Who wouldn't? some say. A finger points. What is that? asks the doctor. She is pointing to his beauty spot. How long have you had it? No idea. "We must remove it." On a subsequent visit the Consultant ignores Pat and confronts Paul in the same way. And so start visits to the doctor for referral and to the clinic for Paul as well as Pat. Meanwhile the Consultant remains adamant that there can be no connection between Pat's shingles in the face and the death of the jaw bone.
Apart from Church our outings are still restricted to the Doctors, the Dentist and the hospital consultants. So good to have a very comfortable home and a lovely garden to look onto. For a long time now all cooking is now done in batches - although for Pat eating, including swallowing, is difficult and somewhat painful.
Paul went with Simon to see the film of the live performance of Henry 4 Part 1 by RSC at Stratford. Very good.
Paul and Adie had their birthday bash at Wisley Gardens with delicatessen finger food from Sainsbury's.
Adrian entertains Lucie and Max
Our third family holiday - this time at the HolidayBond Property(in spitr of the name it doesn't all belong to us) at Sibton in Kent. We were without AA&B. We had three units next to each other and ate together once a day as well as 'tripping' around. Anita had to go back to work after the long week-end and Phill did the same. What a nuisance work is! The Sibton pics are within the picture book.
There are many Battle of Britain museums in the area with a vast amount of material. We were very moved by some of the displays at Hawkinge - both British and German. Even now the size of the museum at Lympne is being greatly increased. This is a model Spitfire - but full size.
Sunday was Rogation. There was a walk across the fields and with a bit of up and down and some woods from Elham church (where Audrey Brooks, late of Wisley RHS and Wisley Church, worships) to another two, with a short service in all three. We were so very pleased that most of the family was happy to partake - although they didn't all make it to the end where we had a pic of those who did. We visited Audrey during the week.
Simon's having a good knock. He made a half century on 30th May when most of us were still at Sibton and so he waited until 31st and took us all out to dinner at the Anchor
And so our two little chaps on the steps at Leeson Road - one of my favourite pics - are now both older, much older, than their picture-taking Dad when he snapped them!
Things came to a head, so to speak, on 21st June when Paul had his BCC excised. Not a pretty sight. It was done in the morning at St Peter's and in the evening Simon had another party gathering at the old school room in Pyrford. A good time meeting some of his friends until the forehead started to gush. All right at first as the serviettes of the day were deep red but it was causing too much consternation and so we departed. It looked at lot worse two days later when the bruising descended, the eyes almost closed and the whole area looked as though he'd had a thorough face bashing.
22nd June - the twins are now 5.
Pics from the celebration.
Good weather for the Flower Show again this year. Paul's duties were as last year - a stint on the car parking and then supervising and inflated Obstacle Course.
Through May, July, July and looking forward to August Paul has been able to take a good number of services at Blockley and Bourton on the Hill. Regrettably officiating and preaching has been an infrequent pleasure in the last couple of years. Because those parishes are in a vacancy there are diocesan fees payable but I'm inclined to think I would pay them for the privilege.
We had a new combi boiler installed at Blockley. It has the additional advantage of there being no water cisterns to burst when we are not there. It so happens that for a while Ezikiel has been in residence since losing the property he was renting. Whenever we or other guests of ours want to stay there he moves out to the Humphries in Charlbury. The idea is that whilst he is living at 19 he will renovate the back garden. We will see. At worst nothing much, at best a new back garden, patio and front grass reseeded.
RHS has not a few coffee mornings, lunches and dinners for volunteers. We don't normally go - after all our volunteering doesn't really merit any freebies. However we did go to an evening do this month: purely social with the David Brown School steel band playing. A very good time and tasty grub.
A 7 am trip to Heathrow to take Adie, Annie and Belinda for a trip to Berlin. It must be 30 years since I went - certainly the wall was still up as I took an illegal trip into the East. How different it must now all be.
After 31 years we - the members of the owning company - have decided to dispose of our Tenerife Property. 12 of us bought it and the next door apartment to set up a chaplaincy in South Tenerife. For various reasons nothing came of it but we still had the apartments. Two groups of owners were set up and and Paul has been a company director of one of them ever since. We have been to Tenerife in 30 of the 31 years. This year we went for 5 of our own 6 weeks and - as the periods are not contingent - stayed in a local hotel for 2 weeks: 7 weeks in total! Our balcony gave us a wonderful sea view. We will greatly miss the whole island and our own apartment in particular. To be able to walk in year after year, knowing that we would find it so well presented (thanks to Liz Mason, daughter of the only other original owner. Liz married a local and stayed there - and she is now a grandmother!).
There is a gallery of pictures - mainly taken before this year.
Taganana: as far as it goes North West. Great fish restaurant.
Loro Parque. Was just parrots when we first visited 30 years ago: now a brilliantly complete zoo with many displays.
Copying Sydney? The concert hall in the capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
From our balcony. The island, behind which the sun drops, is La Gomera. Frequently surfers and sailing boats - and a few ski jets, water skiers and para gliding
From 8 in the morning until 8 at night this was our outlook.
El Teide at sun rise. 12198ft - the highest mountain in Spain.
The same company produces a very spectacular show which generally runs for a couple of years.
Do keep your mouth closed
The day before we left Paul was signed off by the Maxillo Facial Clinic. The Consultant, not knowing our travel plans, said, 'take care - and steer clear of the sun, even from here to the car park' What a hope!
The biennial Parish Weekend was too close to our returning to want to stay so we went as day pupils. It also meant that Annie and Belinda's birthdays - celebrated together as usual - was on the Sunday afternoon of 5th. And, as the picture shows, it was a very special one for Annie.
All the way to Gloucester Diocese to safeguard the vunerable - technical this. The Guildford courses I've done are only safeguarding children and Gloucester demand both. Pat went as wel. Example of a vunerable adult?
Christmas 2013 overtook Paul before he had done his present shopping and so he gave out tickets/pledges to take folk out to dinner. Pat, still having no nerves operating round her mouth, never really got in a position where it was comfortable to go out to eat with company but with general well being returning somewhat - we had ditched all the dependency drugs by about this time - we thought we'd better do something about it before Christmas 2014!
The first one up was Simon and Anita. We went to lunch at the Riverside Restaurant attached to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and then moved upstairs to see Dangerous Corner.
The next was Adie, Annie and Belinda. With them we went to the Anchor in Pyrford.
October also saw the death of Ray Brewin who, 23 years ago, joined Paul in a weekly service in the Manor Residential Home in Egham. We had kept in touch (one phone call a year and a Christmas card) ever since - and Ray continued to play keyboard there for most of the ensuing decades. We went to the Thanksgiving Service at St John's Egham and were pleased, if a little embarrassed, to have the genesis of the service described with a tribute to Ray's commitment over all those years since 1991.
Mr Turner appeals to Mrs Bond so we take off to the Odeon in Guildford to see it. Let's see how easy it is to do with our bus passes. It'll save the hassle of driving in Guildford and finding a parking space. Funny sort of film. Reviews said Timothy Spall had spent two years learning how to paint. Guess it was just two years learning how to hold the brush as he didn't actually do any painting. Easy script to learn as well - all he did was to grunt! I wonder what we were expecting? Obviously hard to please in our old age. As for going by bus, we will give it a miss next time as coming home it took an hour and a quarter to cover the first mile and a half and nearly an hour's wait at Woking to connect with the last bus of the day - 6.30!
No keeping us in now. Barber of Seville by Metropolitan Opera this time - courtesy of a live film show. Odeon again. We did our home work and looked at the plot and read the lines and watched it on You Tube. The You Tube production was also the Met and had the same set and costumes. Nothing strange there perhaps but the strange thing was that every movement was the same - and yet the cast was all different.
And so to the last of last year's Christmas presents - our gift of an outing or meal. To the Stadium Guildford with Melanie, Phill, Lola, Zuzana, Timothy, Lucie, Max and Stella to see Sleeping Beauty on ice. A very young cast.
Stella - 3 years old - and Melanie - rather more - celebrated their birthdays together. Between them Zuzana and Melanie produced masses of splendid food much of which must have gone home with them (and some, of course, for bachelor Simon). The day after we went to Max's Nativity Play where he had a speaking part. It was only one sentence but he spoke loudly and clearly.
Christmas Eve we were joined by Simon and Anita for supper. Last year Pat couldn't go to midnight service and this year both of us called off because we were still suffering: Paul gradually getting better and Pat still getting worse of a cold type malady which has produced all sorts of unpleasant effects over 2 weeks - starting the day after a flue jab; so Simon and Anita went by themselves. The words of dismissal at the cancer clinic have only just floated back into memory; 'of course your immune system is shot!' And maybe with more than a year of PHN and her jaw still not sorted Pat is also rather vunerable. Christmas Day we had failed to find any who would have been on their own but we were very pleased to have Anita's mother who is a resident at a local Alzeimers home. It was lovely to see Adrian, Annie and Belinda in church for the morning service.
As for the past 3 years our family get together was Boxing Day. Melanie organised the three girls to distribute the presents. They were very good at delivery but had to be persuaded to take an interest in the contents - unless the parcel was addressed to one of them - although Stella was always on had to aid with the opening if requested. Indeed towards the end she considered it her duty to open Grandma's presents.
Over the past few weeks at Tots' Praise and now with our own grandchildren we've been getting accustomed to hearing words and more often names that relate to 'Frozen', the biggest grossing animated film of all time and fifth biggest grossing film of any genre. When all had departed on Boxing Day we watched it as it was being premiered on the box. Beautiful and brilliant. At the heart of is fear. The fear is broken by an act of sacrificial love. Ever heard of that before? (1 John 4.18)
There is a gallery of the year's family pictures within the picture book which you can access from here.
If you wish to go to a list of Picture Galleries
