Dear Friends,
This year has been an interesting one for us as a family, with its highs and lows.
We are now back full-time at our address in St Margaret's, since Barbara was made redundant from the school after ten years. We had to dispose of quite a lot of our furniture as not everything would fit in so the summer months have seen us busy unpacking and taking stuff down to the charity shops and the council tip. To top it all in April during the holidays we had a major fire in the boarding house losing three fifths of the building. Our quarters suffered only smoke damage but we all had to move into temporary accommodation provided by the MOD. During this time Barbara's mum had a fall in her flat and was hospitalised for several weeks but is now back home and doing fine.
Rebecca has spent some time in hospital with a recurring problem but is now in good health. She and Jay enjoyed their first holiday together to Portugal back in the Spring, which they thoroughly enjoyed. They have since been to several pop concerts together. Whilst keeping herself occupied working on the ferries she is still looking for teaching vacancies in the area.
Andrew is still working as a traffic officer (control room) with the Highways Agency at the regional control centre in Godstone (Surrey, M25 Jct 6). His disco company is still running and doing well. He is also a proud holder of the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award. Ruby is nearly eighteen months old and is keeping him and Sophie fully occupied. They went to Lanzarote in the summer and enjoyed themselves. At present Sophie is between jobs.
Barbara is registered with a teaching agency covering supply work but is looking for a more permanent job teaching maths. These seem few and far between. The advantage is that she can be flexible so we were able to go to Malta in November for ten days staying with friends Ken and Maureen in their time-share apartment. The weather was beautiful and we saw some marvellous sights. It made it all the harder returning to sub-zero temperatures in the UK.
During the Whit half-term Barbara and JR went to Oberammergau to fulfil a lifelong ambition and see the Passion Play. Even the coach being written off in a crash on the motorway near Dunkirk (nobody hurt from our group) couldn't spoil our enjoyment. In December we are going with the same firm for a weekend to the German Christmas markets. I imagine there will be a new coach this time!!!
Our summer holidays this year saw us in a campsite near Les Sables d'Olonne in the Pays de la Loire region of France. It was an area we knew quite well as we had made several trips to the Vendee when the children were younger. The weather was good and we visited some new places, such as the Marais Poitevin which involved Rebecca and JR rowing through the canal system with Barbara acting as coxswain. Next summer will be a complete change when we go to a campsite at Cantobre in the Cevennes not far from the famous Millau viaduct. We shall need to read RL Stevenson's book about his journey on a donkey to get us in the mood. We are going in June so will take advantage by spending some extra days in Burgundy and the Loire valley.
Finally, we look forward to having friends from different parts of the country stay with us or simply call in en route from their continental holidays. You can email us using our contact page.
Best wishes and God bless.