MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just a brief blog to wish every one who visits this Blog a very happy Christmas.

Meals and a Walk

Another working week and still no wind-down to Christmas on the horizon. Pete was in London for a couple of days to attend meetings and a Christmas event. The snow that hit the east if England didn't impact Pete directly, but did knock onto his journey home delaying him for over an hour due to points failure near Reading (sounds very Reggie Perrin). Fortunately the 19:03 was delayed leaving Paddington and he managed to catch that instead of the 19:45 so who knows what time he might have got home had he got the later train.

On Friday we went out for a meal with Julie's work friends at the Royal Oak in Malborough, which was very nice. They had a live band too and although always good to hear live music it did rather kill the conversation.

On Saturday we spend the afternoon at Buckland Tout Saint celebrating the birthdays on friends Linda and Ken. There were 11 of us in total and nobody had anything but good to say about the place and their meal. The restaurant is in the hotel, which is a great location and what with the large flakes of snow falling outside the window it made for a lovely setting. All we needed would have been a log fire and that would have topped it off.

On Sunday we went for a walk at Bantham and as the tide was out it would have been possible to walk across the sands to Burgh Island. If we had we might not have got back.

The attached photographs were taken on today's walk.

Birthday Trip & Exams

Every year as we near Christmas we have another celebration to prepare for our son Matthew's birthday. This week Julie took a train up to London on Tuesday to meet up with Matt for his birthday. She stayed overnight at her mum's and was able to meet up with our daughter Gemma at Hammersmith on Wednesday before making her way home from Paddington.

Pete was, as always, busy with work and at the time of booking for Julie didn't know if he would be in London or not - it was not and so he stayed at home to look after the cat.

Matt's meal of choice would be Pie & Mash and if he is out of the country this would always be his first trip on returning home. To celebrate his birthday Julie, Gemma, Callum and Grandad John went off to the Fiddler's Pie Shop where he was first introduced to Pie & Mash. Julie had a great time with the kids and was pleased she went, as it gave her a chance to spend time with Gemma on the Wednesday too.

Gemma is currently engaged on a L'Oreal Colour Degree at their college in Hammersmith and after her exam on Wednesday she was able to go shopping with Julie in the West End.

This weekend we had friends round for an Indian takeaway on Saturday evening with Mike, Lyn, Ken and Lin. On Sunday we went for a walk around Snape's point, again with friends Ken and Lin, but planned by Mark and Sue with Rufus. It was a bit fresh, but really worth it. Pete did a bit of DIY in the afternoon and in the evening we returned to Mark & Sue's for dinner.

Preparation for Christmas goes on and our plans are coming together. The decorations are up and the Christmas cards are sent (not quite all though).

Not a lot to photograph this week except the mist in the valley so I have uploaded one along with a couple of images from the last couple of weeks.

Funeral and Furniture

On Monday, as advised last week, Pete attended the funeral of Joan Perkins. It was sad to see Diane and her family so distressed by the passing, but considering how ill her mum had become Pete believes they think it was a merciful release. The funeral was followed by a wake at the Jobbers Rest PH in Upminster - strange we should have had Sunday lunch there the day before by pure chance.

The funeral was really well attended and many of them were from Pete's family. Pete's mum's brothers Brian and Kenny were there with their wives and cousins David, Darrell and Anouska also made it. Pete's brothers and their wives came along and brought niece Emma-Jane along too. The link to Joan's family was via Pete's uncle Brian's friend Doug, who brought Pete's stepfather John with him to the funeral, as John has recently lost his car. Doug's daughter Kim and her husband Peter with two of their triplets were also there along with their oldest daughter and her husband.

Stepfather John (who married Pete's mum once her sons had all left home) drives a Reliant (a-la-Delboy) and lost his car to an accident some months back. His replacement car went up in flames after only having it for ten days whilst he was driving it and it was only the shouting and horn honking of others that probably stopped him being badly injured. Flames were licking around the sides of the car and it sounds as if he got out just in time. To add insult to injury he thought the molten mess had been stolen and was told to report it as such by the police, but it turned up in their compound. Undeterred John is looking to buy another three-wheeler - we wish him more luck!

On Tuesday the furniture we bought for our spare bedrooms was exchanged bringing to an end a saga that has been ongoing for some months now. The way this has gone is somewhat akin to a farce and not worth the writing here, but it certainly was a catalogue of errors. As we might have expected all didn't end quite well, as one of the cabinets had sticking draws. It was returned to the warehouse so only time will tell when it might return.

Julie continues to attend her flower club, rowing, keep fit classes, etc.. There is so much for her to do here that they are starting to impact on one and other and what with friends and work she really has a full life. Pete finds himself working a lot and as such his days are tied up and he certainly doesn't have the interests that Julie has found. Even time for photography is limited with the shorter days. As testament to that there are no photos this week

Weekend in Essex

Nothing much to report this week - no photographic opportunities so a few more from last week's storm.

The winds have continued and although our garden was covered with pine needles we have had the garden tidied this week and it looks a lot better. The beds have been cleaned up and we can now see the wood for the trees, so to speak. In the spring we can decide what we might do to replant.

Pete was in London from late Tuesday and has been very busy with work. He managed to take a few days off so we could have an extended weekend back in Essex to celebrate Pete's brother Paul's birthday and we had a Mexican meal with Pete's brothers and their wives on Saturday.

Generally planned as a quiet weekend to catch up with the family, it never pans out as expected. On Sunday Gemma had a shunt in her car and although minor it cast a shadow on the day. We had also heard that Diane's mum Joan had died this week and as the funeral was on Monday Pete would be able to attend. Pete has known Diane for as long as he can remember, being related to a close friend of the family and Pete would normally refer to her as a cousin. Diane and her family flit in and out of our lives as things change for us all, but it's always great to see them. The funeral will be a sad affair, but Pete will meet up with most of his close family there, as they all knew Joan.

Julie is working now and spends a lot of time at Ajanta trying to help out and promised to spend Thursday at Kitely House near Plymouth at the Christmas Fayre. Because of this she had to travel up by train on Friday, but was able to meet up with Gemma at Hammersmith for a bit of Mother Daughter bonding. Her next trip back will be for Matt's birthday in December where she will again go back by train.

It's been a while since our last Blog and whilst we have been busy with work we have also had our adventure; friends visiting, a birthday, a twisted ankle, a broken tooth, a car accident and a myriad other incidents, both good and bad. We have been logging some of the happenings as drafts and have had some technical issues when trying to publish, but we do intend to revisit past weeks and make retrospective Blogs from the drafts that have been deposited.

This week has seen some violent winds and the pine needles in the garden have come to a head. We never realised they would be this prolific and nothing in the buyer's pack gave us any clue it would be like this (thanks Giles - the house is great though). The garden is covered in pine needles and other debris from the Monterrey pines that border our property, due to the Autumn generally and to the storms. They are majestic trees and are protected by tree preservation orders. We have a resident owl, but the over hanging branches probably add to the needles so we are going to get the branches covered by an outstanding planning consent taken off.

As you will see from the pictures the winds created a storm and the sea was ideal for the surfers. It was the worst we have seen in the year we have been here, but talking to friends it appears this was as bad as any other year. The gusts blew you off your feet, but it was strange, what with the sun breaking through the clouds.

It's been a busy week for us both with work and social activities. Pete had to go to London and Birmingham this week, whilst Julie had her keep fit and new NIA class. She is also working at the rowing club on Saturday mornings getting the Gigs ready for next season. We had friends Mark, Sue, Nola and Brian round for dinner last night, which was really great.

We decided to walk through town today and have lunch at the Salcombe Coffee Shop and met Clara and Martin in there. Seems we are getting to know a lot of people down here now (Julie more so) and the opportunities to mix are ever increasing.