Exam fever

Big Tree on hold at present in favour of exam preparations! Lots of late nights, hot weather and lonely wives in our house!

Nice to hear from you Mama Sng. Can't help feeling there's a letter missed out there somewhere! What fun; passing your driving test and hacking into mail. It'll be the Italian job for you next, Jen.

Well done Jume; nice barn. Is that where the bathroom is? It'll be a fair walk, I'll be bound, in't middle o't night wi' nuthin on!

Does anyone know what the collective noun for lemmings is? Or how about Year 10 students? Could it be a dummy? A dummy of year 10s? Sounds about right. Right...now for question 2....back to the grindstone....

Pete

Colin Brookes

>forwarded from OT's email letter

> Dear Bridget,
>
> Colin Brookes Reunion 1968-1990
> To our great delight, we've managed to persuade Colin Brookes to come
> to the
> School on Founder's Day to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his first
> school production - Iolanthe - and all his subsequent triumphs that
> stretch
> through until he left the School in 1990. Everyone from those years
> should
> come as he has many magic memories to share.
> And for many of us, he was a mentor and inspirer and we hope to have a
> wonderful afternoon.
> Details:
> 6th November 2004
> Start 1.30pm in the 'old' School Hall and Gym.
> This will be completely informal and will last until tea-time. We will
> have
> wine, beer and soft drinks available during the afternoon.
> As this is part of Founder's Day, please feel free to join the morning
> Service and the lunch - but please let Bridget know on
> ota@waitrose.com if
> you wish to have lunch as we have to cater for numbers and there is a
> small
> cost.
> We will post further updates on the OTA web-site
> www.oldtamensians.co.uk
> Bridget, could you add 1:30pm Colin Brookes Gathering to your
> Founder's Day
> timetable. With best wishes.
> Graham Thomas
>
>
>  
>
> > Sunday 11th July, Lord Williams's Festival Chorus will be performing
> an
> updated version of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe. The supper concert
> will
> be performed in the Lord Williams's Upper School hall, from 7pm
> onwards.
> Individual tickets including food cost £9, concessions £7, children
> £3.
> Seats will be arranged in tables of 8, so you can book a full or half
> table.
> Drinks will be available to purchase. Tickets and booking will be
> available
> during the Choir's rehearsals on Monday evenings in the upper school
> hall
> (7:15-7:30pm or during our break at 8:30-8:45pm), or nearer the
> concert date
> from Thame Tourist Information. If you would be interested in
> advertising
> your business in our concert programme, please email rothwell@i12.com
> with
> the subject line 'concert adverts'.
> If you would like to join LWFC, rehearsals are on Monday evenings in
> term
> time from 7:30-9:30pm, led by our Musical Director John Gibbons, and
> accompanied by Rowena Gibbons.

Maiden post

Hi everyone! Managed to 'hack' into Nic's account so I'll use his for the time being. It's been interesting reading all the various blog accounts and 'getting' to know everyone through their postings! I do apologise for not having written earlier as I have been bogged down by the driving lessons and grant exercises. This is the time of the year where we try to write long grant applications in order to persuade (or rather trick) the grant bodies into giving us whatever little money they have to conduct 'useful' clinical research projects. Dateline was last week and I've submitted three applications 'begging' for a total of a million dollars!! Big dreams...haha.... keeping my fingers crossed....don't think I'll see any of that though.

As Nic's mentioned, managed to pass my driving test.....tester was a grumpy old man, ex-traffic police inspector....so I couldn't really 'seduce' him in order to pass (in anycase, I look like a fat ol' mama at present!). No orders in for a new car yet...I think I'll try to get through one year of no mishaps before I contemplate that brand new shiny car. In the meantime, we'll drive my mum's old battered (by Nic) 8 year old Hondo (which is likely to crumple upon hitting anything anyway!).

Must say that I envy the lovely scenic views that all of you have from your back windows, toilets, windscreens etc. Can't say much about ours here.. tall, bland towering condominiums are pretty much the norm over here. Boring hot, humid weather as well :) Next week's our equivalent of your half-year holidays....so the Sng, Mak, Lee and Merrow-Smith clans will be driving up to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia in order to escape the heat and humidity over here. That should be an experience in itself.....let's see how long we'll last before we're at each others throats...jjk! Mummy dowager Sng will probably takeover anyway :)

Ok, I won't bore you anymore of my drivel....I'm suffering from verbal diarrhoea at the moment....will go and disturb my work colleagues :) Talk to you all later :)

Jen

Nice Bloke Wrong Planet

Fantabulous show in Oxford until July.MOMA

This guy took me on a long and tortuous trip of understanding with his ICA show then Turner prize and now this.

Adrian Searle reviews Mike Nelson@MOMA

Nelson builds the sort of spaces you discover as a child, where it's not allowed to go there, where you must flee from if you see the man coming.



The tee shirt was a hit at the gallery by the way !---------------->

I seem to have lost what I was saying

I cannot reconcile the view of Mont Ventoux with that from Crillon. What is name of the village in the mid ground. Where is Bedoin?

The view from the barn...

at huit heure de soir (8.00 in the evenin you peasants!) ...Yes we have a barn, complete with hay chute into a manger in the garage [yes we have a garage]. The barn is about the same size as post office cottage!



I started with html at webmonkey Steve. You will be building yer own site next.

Link THIS!

I'm flexing my programming muscles so bare with me...

For those of us with a web wonder or a phobia of the web, "Yikes!"

why not tune in to Steve Wright in the Afternoon on the radio.

There's a regular feature called Website Of The Day, or those of us abroad can listen to the show again on the web..

What got me this far by the way is off that site and is a tutor designed for kids to get with HTML what is called
Web Monkey for Kids
oohoohoo..................................................................................yes!

tap etc.

no problemo re. tap just make sure you do something so that mum can fill the kettle otherwise your hot drink supply might dry up!

Here's one for Nic (with Ruths refund that makes nearly 2 quid!



Meanwhile back at the ranch had to knock the kitchen fireplace out to run pipes to the new hot water heater, it all works out fine but it means making a mess now in exchange for a shower. Good news is the 'Societe des Eaux de Rhone Durance" have got the sewers put in just down the road so we will be on mains drainage in a couple of years; a good thing as our septic tank is on someone else's land. Hurray

lots of love j

Congratulations all-round

Well done Jen - now you will have to buy a car!! Don't worry - be happy! Thanks for your lovely story Ruth. Put my name down for the book. I am sorry you had such a traumatic audition. I hope it will all be worth the pain. Is it for a full time post?
Fancy, now we all know about Bobby. Even Pete

audition etc

Dear MerrowSmithies,
thank you all for your enquiries about the audition - i've included a little piece about it I wrote for my book, which you may or may not want to read. I exaggerate not. Still waiting to hear if the good bit or the bad bit won.
bobby mc ferrin (sorry tardy response peter) is one of my fave musos of all time, and wrote a song with the words 'thinkin about your body/thinkin about your face' (which involves alot of suggestive body slapping) a recording of which an admirer once left anonymously on my answerphone. eh the good old days when! i highly recommend his albums, especially the early ones! he also works with the very funky cellist yo yo ma and they have made an album together...all very cutting edge and cool and i'm a big fan or was until 'don't worry be happy' (which was the song which was in when i was studying in the USA and brings back very happy memories) got into the charts, and made him so famous that he became watered down.....
meanwhile julian is digging holes and bashing up cast iron baths and piercing pipes and we have no toilet at the mo but the house will be, infact is already, a dream come true!
peter we would love to have you guys to stay and help out with the plumbing (stripping, painting. drinking) over the summer. I am away alot in july and we have various people coming and going but lots of rooms. just give us a ring to talk dates! do you have blow up beds ? julian could do with the support as i am just good at cleaning and cobweb dusting and buying strange things to weld on to pipes.....what fun!
so off i go on me bike, through the poppy fields to the mas en provence to be, to clean more cobwebs. pics coming soon, love, ruthxxxxxxxx

THE AUDITION
I feel nervous anticipation about my audition in Lyon but I am also confident that I am as well prepared as is possible.
I spend the morning riding through periwinkle-spattered lanes on my bike, alone and free to follow any path, which lures me. For sheer colour I spontaneously nestle into the red silk endometrium of Mother Earth, the most intense field of poppies I have ever seen. From it’s interior I watch the flowers nod to the beat of the sunlight and, when a breeze moves them, start up their barmy pogo dance. I take this wild freedom home with me and pack it next to my Bach score in the bag destined for Lyon.
In the car on the way we listen to a cassette of my favourite cellist, Steven Isserlis, discussing Bach’s Fifth Suite. He talks about the crucifixion, the resurrection; about main beats as telegraph poles and the phrases in-between the wires that join them, and above all, the feeling he aims for when performing the Suites; rather than being in a forest deciding which route to take, he is a bird flying above the forest seeing the whole network of paths. This beautiful image I also take, and place next to the poppies, planning to assemble these tokens of inspiration as I rosin my bow in the warm up room a couple of hours later.
I am unbearable in the car, going through the memory of the Bach note by laborious note in my head, and telling Julian, my faithful chauffeur, to shush whenever he makes conversation.
From the moment I arrive, however, everything goes wrong:
I show the doorman at the Opera house the letter indicating the ‘foyer’ where I can ‘chauffe’ myself an hour before the audition, and he shows me to a corridor off the pit. From there I get frightfully lost trying - on escalators that do not work and in red plastic padded cells - to find the harpsichord which, it has been brought to my attention, is tuned especially low for Rameau. When I finally locate it I discover my A is not far off, which means my strings will not slide into another key between the first and second halves of the Allemande, and I am greatly relieved. I unpack my tools (including poppies and bird) and do a calm hour of warm up exercises. I feel good. The door to the auditorium is right there, a mere quaver away. However, the hour of my audition passes and I still have not seen a soul. I have no idea where the noises of other cellists playing the same Allemande at various pitches and tempi are coming from on the loudspeakers - other warm up rooms or the auditions themselves - but I decide to call the director to ask if I am in the right place and she answers from the auditorium where they have all been waiting for 15 minutes. I hurry, button/cello protecting pink silk sheath dangling, music under my sweaty pits, bow hooked precariously over one remaining finger, to ‘the other side on the 4th floor’ wherever that may be. I practically fall into the auditorium, too flustered to take in the polite introductions, and am asked to begin with the solo Bach. I try to centre myself by calling up the bird and play the first chord. The bird has become a cockroach scrabbling at 90 miles an hour through my ‘walking pace’ baroque dance, and dragging me by the fingernails. My heart has decided to take its inspiration from the pogo dance of the poppies rather than the intense colour and I splash clumsily at top speed through the Courante. I am aware my eyes are following my bow-hand and must be whizzing from side to side. I must sound and look horrible. When I reach the finishing line, the harpsichordist walks up, it seems, in slow motion, and plays me an A, which is infact a G flat. It turns out the harpsichord was tuned to 392 after I tuned my cello to it. I try to explain that I was here an hour and a half early to check the tuning and I think they look sympathetic. I make a gesture as if to clean out my ears and begin. Suddenly I am aware that I am playing Boismortier, a 16th century French composer, to French experts in 16th century French music, and that I have no idea about the style. I have never taken lessons on this music and my ornamentation on the repeats – spontaneous whims in my practice room one day as I looked out onto the cherry trees and believed myself to be inspired - seems to evoke winces from the cellist. Meanwhile the conductor is walking out into the hall, presumably to see if he can hear anything at all from anywhere but the front row. He instructs me to play it this way and that: “Play it as if you were the tragic heroine of an opera, full of lament….”; “Play it as if the greatest tragedy had just befallen you and you are full of anger”. Damd. He is right. I am playing it like Amelie Poulat and not Jean d’Arc, but I have to change gear so radically whilst trying to remain receptive to follow his commands and it is like being pulled through a mangle.
I am asked to wait for a half an hour and come back for the ‘dechiffrage’. I know that a ‘bass chiffre’ is a figured bass in French and that is all. I am horror struck that I will be asked to sit at the obscenely low-pitched harpsichord and told to improvise a figured bass. Memories come crowding in of morning meetings at the Menuhin School being asked to get up in front of all the boys my palms were sweating and my acne bursting for and having to “play all the cadences starting on the second degree of the scale”. HELP.
I am shown to the very grand public foyer 15 minutes after Julian has agreed to meet me for a glass of pop in the Opera café. The half hour turns into an hour, sitting with all the other cellists making small talk about the baroque scene in Amsterdam versus London while my mind is still trying to find a less horrific possible meaning to the word dechiffrage.
Finally I am called up. As I re- enter I see that there is a quartet sitting in the pit with a missing link. Me. Ah. Sight-reading! For the next 10 minutes I am in heaven. I am the bird flying through Rameau on the wings of the Musiciens du Louvre. I become red gesture, wild colour, and a dance in the breeze. We are in the music like a big bath. and even if that is the only time I get to play with them I can say that my debut with the Musiciens du Louvre was truly glorious. I could go on forever.
Then it is over. Julian greets me at the stage door with a present of viol music on CD, and after a beer we climb back into the Megane and head back down the A7 to the sunshine. I did it. At least I had the courage to do it.

shezappy

Jen took her driving test today and passed, 36 lessons and 5 months, not bad for Singapore.

We had some other good news as we have received our tax bill for this year, you will be really pleased (don't forget that VAT here is only 5% too) to learn that our joint tax bill (IRAS) for 2004 will be about 800 pounds for the year. Now I remember why we don't live in Europe. Hah hah, The view from the bathroom looks really great today.

Thanks Dad for the compliments on our bathroom, actually in practice the island sink works really well as we can all use the bathroom (me , Jen and Claire) at the same time. I am also glad that we never installed a shower enclosure although we do have to squeegy the floor most times. Means we can all be showering more or less at the same time, not bad for a room 6' x 6' with doors on two opposite walls.

Julian, remember the balinese type bathroom, all happens without a roof!, can bring that idea to your home.

tap and that

hi dad, use flexible connections, like an oil pipe on your car, can?

The tale of a tap.

Julian - we tried to fit the tap you sent. Undo the old one, fit the new to the rising water tails and bob's your uncle. Unfortunately it seems that the installer of the sink must have fitted the tap BEFORE fitting in the sink, as it was not possible to reach the rising pipes under the old tap, as he had bodged it. It is not the simple job it should have been. We would have to disconnect the incoming water piping, undo the waste pipes, undo the sink clips and remove the whole sink. A simple matter to change the tap over and reverse the procedure. Now Mum thinks that as the tap matched the sink, a chrome tap may look wrong, so she is fatasising about a new sink - Forget it. I'll show you what I mean. Love Dad

All things Ozzie

We went to see Captain and Commander, a few weeks ago after reading the book given to me by Julian. It was a good film, but nothing like the book! We were watching an old Parky the other evening where he interviewed three Ossies, R. Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Kylie. I was struck by a resemblance to Gemma of the latter. Don't be offended Gem, I think she is a sweety also. Paddy

Where's Jerome?

He's brushing up on his techniques...



Apparently Photoblogging's the way forward but there's so much to learn!

Fortunately he say's he

Gnomes what he likes!....


groan

Don't Worry......Be Happy!

Here's a lttle song I wrote
You might wanna read it note for note
Don't worry
Be Happy

Lyrics Don't Worry

The guy who beats his own chest and whistles.. one hit wonder!

Funny you've never heard...

Cheques from Elaine and Steve Holt and Cara Chapman and David. Gemma's friend from college.



Here's one for the ladies...
My trailer today had a huge print of matey boy Russell Crowe all over it.
It's ink on sort of tough J cloth fabric 12ftx44ft.
(If I look rough it's because I've been awake all night.)
I like to think of what I do as drawing directly on the landscape with 18 wheels.
In this case the A34

I'm sure I could write a dissertation about that!

Exciting news about bathrooms.

For bathrooms, you should see Nic's. Not, however, suitable for rural Provence. Plenty of marble, almost a wet room with central wash basin. We loved it. I am sure we will also love yours if and when......Watch your shoulder troubles - your future depends on it. It is no good my talking as I am just as bad, digging in the garden with pneumonia, although I hope it has now cleared up. Looking forward to your visit to UK. Hope we will see something of you. What date is most likely? Love Mum and Dad

Bobby McFerrin

Seems to be an all-round musician. Jazz, classical, singer. Born in New York on 11th March 1950. Reams about him on Google. Hope all is well Pete. Have you thought about inviting Pam and Steve to our bash, either with or without the children?? Love Dad

Culture fix

Just enjoyed an evening in watching Bobby McFerrin conducting the Vienna Phil in a Concert for Europe. Probably a repeat from times past - I didn't catch all the español - but a very pleasant change to soap operas and bad news. I knew the tele can be interesting...if one is just able to watch it for long enough!

To tell the truth we've been in a cultural black hole for a number of years. Is Bobby McFerrin famous? He's grey enough to be old enough to be famous. He seemed to be really enjoying himself and so casual at times as to nearly fall off his perch...but the music was splendid and showed a very characteristic style, the intricacies of which I have yet to sort out in my head..but it was definitely different. Any arty types out there who know what I'm going on about?

Looking forward to the Gnome convention and all the peripheral events that are available to enjoy this autumn. Hope the audition went well, Ruth. How do you guys feel about having some help over the summer, or some kids, or perhaps even some helpful kids? Giisajob....I can plumb a bathroom. My old man showed me how to do radiators...

Pete

Dad

thanks, yes wees in, very tired Ruth gone to bed we are still sleeping at Crillon as we have no phone(?) and not sure about hot water. Went out and bought a new bathroom - ie ceramic shower tray, waste, ceramic monobloc mixer tap, shower head and accompanying thingy tube, toilet (complete - close coupled, siphoned, seat, dual flush)and flashy modern sink with mixer tap - total cost £160 (after going over budget by 40%!!). Why are bathrooms so cheap in France? Answers on a postcard please to: Jaques Chirac, Matigny, Paris France 92000. Tomorrow I will start to refit/rebuild the bathroom - dying for a wee.... nighy nite, lots of love j

For Steve

thought this was very bootiful, noticed they are part of photobloggers.org

http://www.mylife2live.com/

For Ruth's eyes only

How was the audition. Don't answer if you are embarrassed - whisper!! I expect you passed OK but where was it and what was it for?

Keys, Quays,Quais

I remember the keys to Les Gargolis. They needed a special handbag to carry them about. Does that mean that you are "IN". Congratulations!!
By the way, on a point of animology (new word) dolphins, porpoises, whales etc are not FISH, but big in spite of that. Had another chest X-ray yesterday - I hope that the pictures will show that the pneumonia has been cleared up by the antibiotics I had to take. You will all be pleased to know that I am not coughing like what I yoostoo. Such a bind.

We have swapped a...

..large bank draft(draught?) for two very impressive keys (not Yale) will send photos. The bathroom view competition will pale into insignificance next to the 'Big Key" competition. Sorry right out of fish.. errm you win Nic. lots of love J

Morning All

Ah..Fabulous Dawn (remember her?) on the A41 between Brill and Quainton... fell bit bleah though!

Have dumped old email(stevemerrowsmith@orange.net) for
1) ezappy@orange.net and
2) ezappy@mac.com.

So ezappy@orange.net comes through to the phone Dad, or ezappy@mac.com goes to laptop where I find it later in the day...
(when ezupoutabed.com! hah!)

Nic's got biggest fish in the fambly alright.
Hit it with a stick that's what you do on the beach to anything quivering isn't?
That poor little mite Clare.
"I don't like it Daddy".. followed by 'I like it(Gem)"

Big Fish

Claire and I have had an interesting weekend, sleeping in a giant aquarium on saturday night and visiting the dolphins this morning. Photo attached probably the highlight of the school trip though.

Solent Green

Gore blime luvva duck... guess who I'ad in the back o' me John Wayne..

..only the ol' Baked Bean and Phil the Bubble!

.

We all waved our Widow Twankies as they swanned past the Mickey Mouse....



on their way to Portaloo Station!

(nil comprendez vous por favor?)

This is Jerome le Nome for Soylent TV handing you back to the studio

Spanish lessons

Good tip, Julian.

I downloaded a 30 day free trial of Nisus Writer Express, which seems to do the trick quite nicely. I was able to write several paragraphs of Spanish in a couple of minutes with 49 points and no passes...which is an improvement on what I was doing. Whether my grammar is any good I've yet to find out! I'll put my Spanish musings past Marie José on Monday to see where I've gone wrong. The package is quite a useful language learning tool since it is continually auto-checking as you type, allowing you to check words and even select suggestions before you complete your own attempt! Trouble is, I don't know as many words as I'd like and I can't always be sure what the suggestions mean. The thesaurus operates in English, so I'm not sure how useful that is....I'll keep investigating.

Pete

000ps

Eat?s, Shoot?s and leave"s

Word processing in Spanish

Utilizo a escritor del 'Nissus Writer'. le permite escribir en español y agrega toda la puntuación cuando comprobación del deletreo (spell-checking). Very handy for us in French as there are so many accents and we have a british keyboard can get you a copy if you like. J

Oooops!

We were playing with the fonts earlier, selecting inverted question marks for use in writing Spanish questions. Now it looks like all my apostrophes have turned to question marks in black diamonds. I have gone back and re-edited my post but as it didn't show up on the first post preview, I don't suppose it will this time either, so maybe my editing has had no effect. We'll see. (Plenty of apostrophes in this post just to check for further glitches).

El campeon del Alfaz del Pi

Bang!

And it's Devereux on the inside who gets the best start, with McKinness, the 36 year old former UK athletics U17 100 and 200 metre runner in lane 7. And with 50 metres to go it's Devereux still just ahead but now Merrow-Smith in lane 8 is gaining, he's level and, yes, yes he's ahead...and as they dip for the line it's Merrow-Smith who takes it from Devereux and McKinness...oohhh and Devereux takes a nasty tumble as they cross the line....

Don't you just love those parents' races at sports day!!?

Jess and Beth also ran....

Steve..

Definitely interesting the mobile blog thing, I am/was going to use Movable Type (movabletype.org) for my studio diary and had just got it set up for photos (automatic thumbnails etc.[ you saw ]) but have decided to give WordPress (wordpress.org) a go before I go to far.. very healthy open source software.. they have a plugin enabling you to blog from your wap phone (like everyone else sans doubt). May move the merrow-smith.org over to something more sophisticated than Blogger when I have found me feet. If you want a blog, moblog it is all very easy. co.uk/com domain names are about £4.00 a year from easyspace.co.uk costs about £15 a year all in, running on my webserver including domain name and a couple of email addresses... ezappy.com has a certain ring! In fact I have 7 domains running on mine at a cost of approx £100 pa. (Ruthphillips.com,stillives.com,laserenissima.co.uk,Sue's -creating-space.com,merrow-smith.org,wintermane.com,permanent-red.com) Laserenissima actually pay me and as I add more paying/designed sites (that's the plan) the cheaper it gets. Love j

Dear Da

I have MS Word here and Nissus writer both read WordPerfect files will bring them over in June, I also noticed in LeClerc that a floppy drive for USB Mac/Windows costs about £40 so that really would make the ole' PC obselete. Dont panic it will all become normal in time, glad to hear you are writing.. its what the bl***y things for! Lots of love J

Word Diary

Dear Dad,

Shame about your photos of the Queen not good enough.

According to a googlesearch, there aren't any shots of the ol'bake bean at the railway yet so that would have been a first.

Got an email from Dixons yesterday for a decent Kodak digical camera for £50.
You need a better one which has a screen on the back. so you know what you've got on there. There's a jenoptik too for under £60 squids and I've sent details on to both hazelbank and wight365 accounts.

How are you getting on with WORDPERFECT we downloaded?

Take any photos of picnic?

Come on boy!

Who's a clever boy, then

Good luck, Julian on the Bromsgrove School portrait. I am afraid we have a double withdrawal - Mum's cousin Chrissie and husband Richard have had to cry off, as both their children require financial help with buying houses. Mum has written to Uncle Peter to get him to change his mind. Gemms, new email name noted. What did the other one say??
What a day here. The Station car park has been mown, shorn and litter freed for the past couple of days. At 1000 the police arrived and set up crowd barriers, people started arriving, Bus loads of schoolchildren more people, the halt and the lame, those in wheelchairs and people carriers until the car park was full. The Queen arrived at 11.30am in a beautiful red-brown Bentley, with her ladies around her. The children cheered and waved flags - we put up our old Union Jack towel and my Royal Navy white ensign, to join in the fun. We got our garden chairs in position at our front gate - I was tempted to sell coffee and biscuits, but we couldn't move for police outriders. All great fun and everyone was cheering. She caught the train (just in time) from Wootton to Havenstreet and officially opened the new railway repair shed, before continuing on her journey to Newport. She stayed for 5 hours, which is not bad for our little Island. There was good coverage on www.solent.tv. Perhaps it will stay until tomorrow. We can buy a video of the visit for £5 from solent.tv. I have just come in from dinner with the boyos and it is now 11.50, so time for bed Zeb.

Dinner was a little confusing... how do you spell tagliatelle? Made that meeself!



For those of you who know the vineyards of Gigondas and the Mont Ventoux this view will be old hat.. gaw blimey what a place.. eh?





Night, night

lots of love j

glyndebourne

for those of you interested in making a trip to glyndebourne part of the oct fun and games there is mozart's magic flute on the 12th and 15th, and puccini's la boheme on the 14th. let me know if you would like me to book tickets. it isn't too horribly expensive in the autumn. i know many of you have been and hope you would agree that it is unmissable, especially with yours truly scrapin away in the pit!
all too glorious for words here (as you can see from the pic of the parting of the red sea by me) - walks in the broom scented thyme fragrant dentelles and the honeysuckle covered coast at cassis....think of me on friday at 2.20 as i have le big audition. then it's all fun and games with the house. hey gemma, brian eno a good mate of ours and i even made a record with him and willie nelson! howzat for posh?! thank you margaret for you lovely card. love, ruthxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

..the answers

Airstrip One, Berlin Philharmonic, Billabong, Michael Collins, Cricket, Tokyo & Roxy Music!
Sorry Grandad you've had trouble with the yahoo address. I've set up a mail redivert so all emails now go my orange email account so in theory I can accesss all emails from my mobile. So I'm now using gemmamerrowsmith@orange.net. Maybe give that a go! Just seen the Queen on the local news visiting Osborne Hse and the gardens look wonderful. I believe they are celebrating 100 years of public access to the house. Last night I went with Mandy (Barbaras sister) to see a fantastic Irish comedian called Dylan Moran.He has a show on Channel 4 called 'Black Books'. Its very funny and in a similar vein to Father Ted. It was at the gorgeous Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Anyone been there before? Les Miserables was staged there for years and is now in its 19th year! They are planning to stage The Woman in White' there soon. We did lots of celebrity spotting including many of today top comedy people like David Walliams from 'Little Britain', Reece Sheersmith from the 'League of Gentleman' and Simon Pegg from 'Spaced'. For you guys outside of the UK these names won't mean anything but these guys are the equivalent of the Monty Python or the Cambridge footlights lot of the 80s. And there was a bit of a queue waiting for the autographs. I acted cool and ignored them...! Great to hear from you Jessica and that camping sounds great fun. We went camping last August in Herefordshire near the Malvern Hils. We camped in the grounds of Eastnor Castle which is actually a deer park. The weather was so hot and we ate so well cooking off the calor gas that when we returned friends thought we had changed our minds and bought an air ticket to southern climes instead.
love gem xxx Italians kiss three times on the cheek.

mail trouble

We are having some problems ourselves with sending mail. The problem (ruth spoke to tiscali this afternoon) seems to be with different servers like AOL trying to protect their clients against spam, if it came back then it went da, which means the problem is at the other end, either the address is wrong orsomethibg else is up with Yahoo's settings, thank god for the blog..

Made a complete hash of the Cassis/calanque photos(doh.. keep that setting on Auto!) but have lots of pics from yesterday and will put them up when the battery is charged.

Currently negotiating a portrait commission for Bromsgrove school passed on by Tom, they want a portrait of their retiring headmaster and Tom has recommended me which carries alot of weight.. budget £12,000

Got the bank draft for the house payment today, could have been a disaster as tomorrow is ascension day (bank holiday, as is Monday when we sign for the house!!) pays to have an on the ball lawyer!!!!!


Dad send me an email!!

Good morning world

How lovely to switch on and get news fom all our family. Who is the beauty in the poppy field? Sad to read the news about saving the genome, Steve. We'll have to save ours.
If anyone is expecting an e-mail answer from me - forget it. I am completel baffled by mac e-mails. My PC was so simple. When it says klik and I klik, nothing happens. Sorry, Gem, not to acknowledge your Yahoo greetings. I kliked and nothing happened - I tried to reply to your e-mail gems_merrowsmith@yahoo.co.uk and I get a Maeler-Damon (see Dad) i.e a non delivered e-mail. Jess - what a lovely letter. We will look forward to one from Beth, one day. Congratulations on your elevation to the Guides. Enjoy your life. My grandma once said to my Dad when he joined the scouts. They have got you into uniform now, son. You will be in uniform all your life - and he was!!
Yes carrefour means crossroads in French, I think. Good morning in Spanish!! Pete - keep trying on the squeeze box - we'll be expecting a virtuoso performance on the 13th. Someone has to amuse the children. Oh no we won't! Hope Jan is recovering from her hay-fever. Don't come here for the time being as the sky is full of tree pollen.
We went to the hospital, yesterday - the urologist said he did what was necessary, but as there is a small diverticulum inside the bladder (a small bubble of wee that doesn't clear), she will have to jump up and down or have it shrunk. Mum says not now - I'll jump!. Otherwise things are as well as can be for an oldun.
We had a lovely day on Ventnor Down yesterday - took a picnic and went for a long walk. Afterwards went down to the lovely Botanic Gardens and bought some plants with some of Nic's birthday money. Still a bit left so Mum is going down to our local Garden Centre. Wootton is expecting a Royal Visit soon - they have been tidying up the tidy car park opposite as Prince Philip is going fro a ride on the train!
The R.F are staying in Osborne House. Bye for now. Dad and Mum

big red bush..

Auntie Ruth... she likes that not been an auntie before!

lovely walk in the dentelles this afternoon will put up more photo's tomorrow bed beckons...

In one or two accords??

Big Tree re-write was about seven chapters in when Amy got bored with typing and distributed the un-numbered pages around the living room! It will be ready within a couple of weeks I hope, then I'll re-post it.

Mum, we hope the trip to the 'ologist was uneventful and that you are doing well (and that it's made a difference). Dad, hope the antibios have done the trick. Don't go off swimming in the sea now, the two of you! (Looks like it's got to the time when the children start telling the parents what to do and what not to do!)

Got a girl in my class (who has trouble socialising with other children) to start playing my accordion as a kind of therapy for her. Today the Head asked if we would play a duet at prize-giving. Fortunately I only have one accordion and a mouth organ. "That'll do," she says. That'll do? I ask you! Actually the girl has offered to play piano while I play the accordion. Not a chance! This is strictly my Sherlock Holmes violin and not a sound for public consumption! However, I do play the mouth organ on the way to school sometimes......

Dum-diddily-um-diddily-um-diddily-um-pom-pom-diddily-um-diddily-um-diddily-um-dum-dum!!

Not now Arthur!!

Jess gnoming in on the blog

Hello everybody
Just an update on life on the Costa Blanca!

How are you? Things are great here. Beth and I have just come home from our friends, twins Jasmin and Jessica, because we went straight to their’s after school. Their house is just accross the road from the school and they have a pony on their farm so every Tuesday or Thursday, depending on the amount of homework, we go over to ride, groom and help train the pony.
I’m not exactly looking forward to our exams but I’m not totally dreading them either. Tomorrow we aren’t doing any work (three cheers!) because it’s School House Sports Day. We come to school normally and then travel by bus to the Polidesportivo ( Sports Centre), which is within walking distance! Probably to save our energy. We’re doing 100m race, 400m race, three legged, potato and spoon, dressing up, long jump etc. It’ll be fun.
Beth and I have become Girl Guides since we came here and the weekend before last we went on a camping trip to the Orange House in Finestrat. We stayed there two nights in a cabin. We had to bring our own camping matresses because we were sleeping on wooden platforms. We didn’t have any so we nipped out to Carrefour (is that french?!) and bought a couple of self-inflatables which served very comfortably. We swam when the weather perked up and had to prepare a little show (eg. sing a song, dance) for our Entertainment Badge. Beth, my friends Gemma, Yasmin, Olivia and I did a couple of dances and a song.
How are things where you all are, in different parts of the world? We can’t wait to see you in October and to meet Auntie Ruth and little Daniel for the first time.
Hoping you are all ok and missing you.

Lots of love from Jessica xxxxxx........ these will take me ages because in Spain it’s a kiss for each cheek!

Blue Bush

Common name Californian Lilac (Ceanothus Arboreus) evergreen leaves. Not very hardy - needs protection of a wall. Height 13ft (4 metres) Small sky blue scented flowers, but as they grow in clusters they give an impression of a mass of blue, with little green showing. Copyright Margy MerrowSmith.

Quick work on the buzznet Julian and in subdued colours too. Memories of our trip to Cassis. What a lovely little town. We are off for a picnic today, after Mum's trip to see the urologist - Ugh!!. Beautiful weather and we are heading for St. Boniface Down above Ventnor. Got me T-shirt and sandals on! Don't forget the binoculars, Hugh. Trouble is, it is still a bit hazy over the sea. I want a photoblog too, so there. Dad and Mum

moblog

This is my photo blog address Julian so perhaps you could sort out a link at some point. Not in black type. I prefer the subdued lettering ta! (get him!)
If you select the address in this sentence Dad, with the mouse, and drag it to the URL address bar where it normally says merrow-smith.org and drop it in,
http://ezappy.buzznet.com/user/?img=1&id=245352
I can send photos from my phone like this and we can all see'em.
Anyone know what the beautiful blue bush is outside the house? Lovely scent...hmmm
Thanks for the tip Julian.

It's free to join buzznet so anyone can start an own-page or could have communal one.
www.buzznet.com
Gene (The) Nome reckons there is a Big Gnome Jambouree coming up in October where all the gnomes meet up in a posh hotel. Wouldn't it be funny if they all turned up at the Manoir, my my what an amazing coincidence it would be. Might be fun? Loads of gnomes and us lot?

Postcard from Provence

Had a day off went to the seaside, here's a taster..



cliff top walks..



2hrs to the calanque en veau a swim and then back to cassis for a muchdeserved Pastis



After dinner joliment

okay here's your starter for 10 points...

Clive works for the Oxford English Dictionary based at the Oxford University Press on Walton Street. He tells me that the 2nd edition of the full dictionary will be ready in another 30 years. Talk about job security. The University Challenge tv programme has challenged professionals (sadly no Scumbag College like in the Young Ones) to enter the competion. Tonight on BBC2 its the Home office versus the Foreign office current scores are HO 45-FO 25, still 16 mins to go and all to play for as Paxman reassures.
Anyway the department had a trail run versus a team of top boffins from St Johns, Oxford. Clive took the role of Rosemarie 'whats on the boards' Ford or Humphrey Lyttletons glamorous assistant Samantha-oh both women there can't think of any male score keepers!! So he manged to sneak the questions out of the building so feeling brainy??

1) In George Orwell's 1984, what was the name given to Great Britain?
2) In 1999, Simon Rattle left the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to take up the conductorship of which orchestra?
3)) Ox-bow lakes, formed when a river's meandering loops enlarge through erosion and eventually become cut off, are known in Australia by what 'aboriginal' name meaning 'dead water'?
5) What was the name of the astronaut who remained in the command-module during the Apollo 11 moon landing?
6) What was described by the British conservative politician Lord Mancroft as 'a game which the English, not being a spiritual people, have invented in order to give them selves some conception of eternity'?
7) Edo was the former name of which Asian capital city, which was renamed in 1868 and which in 1923 was severly damaged by an earthquake?
8) Brain Eno, who has been credited with creating the genre of 'ambient music', ws an original member of which British art rock band of the 1970s, being their keyboardsit and technical adviser?

Urm yeah think I'll stick to the Pub music quiz...love Gem

PS Genome has made it safely to Oxford so expect more pictures from his travels round the 'shire!

Here's a health unto his majesty

Too right Ruthy - What a wonderful idea this bloggy is ( if I can only remember my various passwords) If anything can bring us close together, this is it. Trouble is everyone else is cleverer than me. Steve with his mobile phone, Nic with his HSBC building, Ruth with her fiddle (well done, incidentally on you solo) Julian with his Canneletto? Pete with his photography. We are so proud of you all. Thank you, Steve for getting me out of my many ruts on this beast. we had a good BBQ on Saturday. I hope Genome was not sick on the boat. Oh, to be in Provence, now that May is there. We still have the poppy photo taken last year. If we can shake off our current ills, we would love to visit les demoiselles, and also Alfarz del Pi which looks enchanting in the sunshine. What place doesn't? We hope you enjoy your undersea experience Nic - I din't realise you had not visited it. We have a long video (by Pete) of all the lovely fishys back in Claire's early days, when Pete and les girls visited Sentosa.
So - well done Julian, don't waste the lovely sunshine trying to be the next Apple King. Sit back on your laurels and yes, it would be a good idea to have our own picture galleries, but would we ever get time to look at all the offerings??? I will soon be over my anti-biotics and should be able to enjoy this lovely Island's offerings. Love to all from Mum and Dad

Hi ho!!

Anyone seen Amelie?


Anyone seen Gemma??

with a bucket and spade and a hand grenade high ho hi ho hi ho hi oh HI Hello!

while julian sleepeth

Hi everyone, just a word as I wind down with a glass of plonk (from the vineyard outside our new house) from a lovely concert in a medieval village in the var....i was so excited about the venue i called Julian to round up all our neighbours and get them to take the day out. That's the trouble with our job. You just have a date in the diary and you get in the car and then you follow the map (or the GPS) and there you are in paradise (or not) and you want everyone to share it with you especially as I had a tasty solo sonata to play, but old grumps was on the computer and anyway i had stolen his car.
It is so gorge here at the moment as the poppies are floating everywhere and today (while grumps was on the computer) I cycled to our new house along banks of them and sat in the vines outside the house listening to the birds and dreaming about the new life a week away. Not quite a baby but not bad as projects go.
Anyway, while his highness sleeps, I just want to say a big HOORAH for JUlian who has set up this fantastic thing which has bought those of us who know each other closer and those of us who don't yet finally into contact. I cannot think of anything nicer to have done for the Merrow Smithies, and as a parent I imagine it must be lovely to see everyone chatting away. So I raise my biased glass of plonk du Demoiselles Cioffees (that's our new address - only part! - so you'd better get used to it!) to my lovely hubbie and your lovely son.bruv.unc.
LOve, Ruthxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

bathroom window and other views

I wonder whether our building management corporation would be agreable to commissioning a murial or a banner which we could hang in the light well, i.e. wonderful view sort of thing. Also we could change our view without moving. space is about 30 ft high x 8 ft wide, 2 nos.

Bobby came back from Shangrila & Kuming in China last night and we had dinner together. If your want to paint landscapes it looks like an unbelievable place to go, even your standard tourist photos are sureal and look like paintings, I'll see whether we can upload some pictures at some point.

Claire is going to underwater world at the weekend for an undersea experience.I am going to keep her company. We stay over night and sleep in a bag ("I don't wanna sleep in a bag daddy", so funny hearing her say that)in the tunnel that passes through the aquarium. Sounds a bit sureal too. Should get to touch the dolphins at Sentosa Cove too (captive)

Got a busy week this week, take care all,

Nic

Picture Gallery

I have discovered (whilst trying to set up my own blog[http://stillives.com/studio_diary/ ..currently in latin!] that we could also set up very easily and sans cout, a gallery of family photos all divided neatly into albums we could have an album each. It works like a sort of online iPhoto and converts your pictures into thumbnails and lets you put captions, gives it a drop shadow effect etc. Would we be interested in that, answers on a postcard? Steve the new thing is moblogs (which is probably what you are doing) ie. posting from your mobile including pics.

Here is the painting I just sold (one of a pair)

Ps. on a technical note do a ouple of line breaks before you upload an image to keep all the spacing nice...

bathroom views

bet you get some ineressin' critures roamin' 'cross that their wall tho.. probably worth thousands for that.

We is very excited about the house what we bought on a credit card... very very excited... money now in French account.. (That will give them something to think about!) must transfer it to the Notaire's account on Monday (drat... felt very rich for a moment). 8 days and counting, erm 1, 2, 3...


To reply Nic, to your much earlier post, yup sold the cottage and bought anuver wreck. We wil post stupendous photos of the views etc. when it stops raining.. actually thats not fair it is bliss outside it's just I never leave this bloody computer. Also on an earlier post just got 900 squids for two paintings from me Venice trip, bought by my solicitor, sight unseen, whilst I still owe him a painting for doing the soliticing (dodgy) for the cottage. You wanna give up that computer malarkey and get yourself an EASEL!! If it didn't do me 'ead in working 3hrs a day...


Will thrash you any time at Petanque, I WAS INVITED TO REPRESENT LUXEMBOURG at the word petanquein' championships in Stalybridge but we couldn't raise the necessary 40p for the entrance fee (despite guverment intervention.

Lurvely, we have those bleeding art things in our large stone trough come window box I must get a shot of it, bootiful Hostas coming on nicely

Language Timothy!

Lots to see at Hazelbank in Bloom.. proper name Dicentra spectabilis..
or...

Bleedin' Heart..

Art?

Nic's bathroom view looks more like art or something or radical painting. Sorry to have missed getting up to London to see Julian's painting at the Mall Gallery but perhaps we could have a j peg on the blogger. Was gripped by Euro vision last night so have had a dose of culture ha! Well it will have to do since I'm back at work tonight at six. Love to All Steve

bathroom views

We paid hundreds and thousands of dollars for our view, beat that

Les Frenchies beware....

Have been learning to play Petanque the Spanish way today at the local family fun day (150 years of Alfaz del Pi celebrations). Watch out the French contingent, you'll be quaking in you Crillons and needing to be 'les brave' once Jan has it mastered.

Also pictured is our artist in residence....not as accomplished as her French counterpart, perhaps, but very much at home with a paint brush in her hand. Perhaps a cello too?

This afternoon we went walking in Altea Vella and enjoyed some lovely weather and most picturesque scenery. There is a general lack of roads for our Fiat Uno to explore (for we who are used to travelling up dirt tracks in a Landy) but once out of the car the old Spain is simply charming. Unusual to find a small and pretty village like this one, so close to Benidorm, that hasn't been over-run with holiday villas. We were pleasantly surprised.





Also, see if you recognise these sweeties....

Beth.JPG
Jess.JPG
Amy and brushes.JPG
The painter at work.JPG

A day in the life.........

We spent the afternoon at a BBQ organised by the Lions Club of Ryde, in the beautiful gardens of our Secretary-elect, Harry Metz. He lives in a very large Victorian house with lovely views of all the ships that pass. Today we saw the Aurora and the Ariana, but the weather was a bit hazy. The company was great.

Guess who won this magic prize - Mum!!

Fortunately, our star photographer was on hand to catch this memorable moment

Quiet here innit..

'as Jeff bin in?

30 is the magic number

Gemma's Clive's Mum and Dad want to come too... That's Steve and Elaine Holt so we're up to 30 adults and 10 children.

I'm going over to the Island later today so if anyone wants a chat call the homestead.

Auvergne pics

Ooh those wellies, itwas like going to Wales for the weekend without the smell of burning cottages

welcome gemma

hey , great to have you on board gemma! how d'ya get to rick stein's too? lucky you! i cannot tell you what an angel you are to have recorded er for me. fancy you remembering that strange tic of mine! anyway you have made my provencal week! (where it is raining and cold actually and er would just be bliss) - send to our house: porte gerin , 84410 crillon le brave, france. so when are you coming for a working week at our new house? offers open to all: obligatory shutter scraping/lime washing but free plonk! julian and i talking about how lovely it will be to be able to put up children/grandchildren (not ours unfortunately, but all yours!)/half sisters etc in the future (after shutters have been scraped!) anyway, here we are, very excited about oct 13th and esp. cos it looks like i can come, atleast till about 3pm, though i can't get too pissed, unfortunately. julian is upstairs playing and singing loudly along to carole king. i think i better rescue him, poor love. all love to y'all. ruthxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tsk Spelling Gemma!

Before anyone says yes I know it should be 'now' not 'know'!! Sorry consider me tired from work...(poor excuse I now).

Hello Family!

Well Hello darling family! After seeing the wonderful messages on the grapevine I thought I'd better get in on the action. I'm now 7 months into my new job as a member of the student services team for the Open University in Oxford.I don't miss my old job at HMV at all. I know get weekends off and a decent Christmas holiday which meant a I could on a proper visit to the IOW (priceless). OK maybe I miss the HMV staff discount. I now work in a fantastic building in Boars Hill called Foxcombe Hall, which is just outside Oxford. You get a great view of the famous spires from the tower (yes we have a tower!). The building was built in the 1880s by a reverend of Trinity College. Then it was bought by the 8th Earl of Berkeley. Earl Berkeley (who had been written out of his fathers will and the fantastic Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire-a punishment for his reckless playboy lifestyle) set out to build his own castle. He added a tower, a west wing as well the great banqueting hall (where I work). The hall is decorated with a huge fireplace, oak panels and stainglassed windows depicting his ancestors. They used to use it for grand dances during the 1920s. He financed the work with income from property he owned around Berkeley Square in London! Alright for some eh? Then the OU bought it!
I have a work email address (g.e.merrowsmith@open.ac.uk) and one for more fun stuff (gems_merrowsmith@yahoo.co.uk) as well as the obligatory mobile (07977 914734). I gave Grandma my old phone along with the SIM card as I got upgraded last month so she has my old number. Will has an email address at work (wmsmith@borderstores.com)but I'm not sure of his home email address yet.
Grandma, did you get my Electronic birthday card? I sent it to your wight email address. I not I'll resend it.
Ruth, I've recorded the first 7 or 8 episodes of the latest series of ER for you as I promised I would last summer when we visited you and Unc. To what address should I post the tape?
Really looking forward to October and seeing everyone.Everyone I know is soooo jealous of us. Wow Rick Stein's and Raymond Blanc's all in one year...fantastic! Love to you all and consider me a fellow blogger..Gem xxx hey fellow cousins are you out there??

Change is good..

..if difficult. Keeps the old grey matter churning thou'. Sorry you're having to deal with so much of it at once.

Technical instructions: If you have the Mail program running so that Mail is what its say in the top left of your screen, pull down the File menu and click on import mail boxes and then follow the instructions>tick the box marked Outlook Express and then click the right arrow bottom right of this window>then the window says import mailboxes?> click continue(right arrow) it says it will now load classic and outlook express>now a window opens which will either have found outlook express or not if not click browse and then starting with your hard disc look for the outlook Express application (it may be in Applications OS9) . You can do the same with the Address book program under the funny looking scroll menu and import your addresses from Outlook Express.

Another thing is when you get emails highlight the email then open the drop down Message menu and click Add Sender to Address book. Voila.

Looking forward to the Pictures

why change

Everything seems to have changed from when I first entered my blogger. It looks as if they have updated the format and left me struggling. It says that hyphens are not acceptable. Now I have found that I have to clik on post. Here goes. I told you all that we went into a posh ladies shop in Ryde and sorted out Mum's gear for D Day. Yesterday we had a lovely steak - getting to be quite a habit. Then we went to Shanklin and walked along the front in the sunshine, came home and had cream cakes for tea. Today we have booked up at a nice little restaurant we know in Gurnard, then we will pop into Northwood to say howdo to my aged auntie Peg. Steve has been talking to Nic and I have been talking to Pete. Mum's brother Peter rang her up last night and he has not completely discounted the idea of 13th Oct. Cathy rang to say that she has to go to Court in London to try and get her back rent from the bas.... who has been spending it on food or something. She is hopeful that a legal man will represent her and save the upset of appearing personally in Court. You know what Cathy could be like under pressure. Did I say jelly? Pete and family are all coming - Nic and family are coming, Cathy and family are coming. Steve and family are coming, Julian is coming and even our Ruthy is pleading N/A at Glynders. Wha Hey. Hopefully we are going to a BBQ in Ryde on Saturday. Watch this space. ?Why Cotton? Luv from Dad and Mum

thanks Nic2

That is very kind and generous Nic thanks from us, gives us all a bit of breathing space.

Where's that chief blogger Patrick I hope you haven't been eaten up by the eMac? We want reports!

lots of love J

Thanks Nic!

Nic has kindly agreed to pay the deposit for the Manoir so there's no need for money at the moment. We can sort it out with him later. Hopefully Ruth will be able to join us so we're up to 38 now .It's definitely on and I can't wait...!
Ooooo what to wear?! love Steve

Latest news

Hold on to your cheques for the moment everyone as there are further positive developments. I didn't have time to inform you all before I had to leave for work so I'll let you all know tomorrow properly. There's no need to lose any sleep as in the words of Pop Larkin it's all going to be perfick.

bank account

Name for bank account. Deposit required of £30 per person (minimum)
Bank Lloyds TSB Thame Branch 13/14, Cornmarket Street, Thame Oxon OX9 2BN
Sorting code 30-98-56
Bank account number 00180331 in the name of P. H. Merrow-Smith
Nic has already paid in £250.

and by the way..

looking good for Ruth as Glynders starts at 6.00 not 4.00pm as previously thought, so will send the full monty.

Peter's book has been PUBLISHED by my good self see links top right. I hope you earn that advance back for me Pete.

My camera is back from the dead with a new €60 battery... ouch!! so will get some shots of the bathroom view up as soon as pos.

We cycled over to look at the outside of the house we are about to buy this afternoon, with an 11 euro lunch on the way in Bedoin. Took 10mins uphill to the house from the cafe - could be dangerous having a bar in walking/stumbling distance.

and finally on a personal note... Happy burfday mum, or have i got it wrong again? more false starts than Linford Christie (but a bigger pouch).

The poppy field I sent you a picture of last year is a sea of red which given it was poppy day on Saturday seems entirely appropriate. Will try and get anuver photo.

Thanks all for listening, signing off, Julian

Steve..

It may be a good idea to send out your account details then we can pay it into your bank ac. by internet banking.

bash at le manoir

I have put in a request for a N/A for Oct 13th, which means NOT AVAILABLE COS I WANT TO HAVE FUN WITH MY FAMILY IN LAW. I doubt it will work as it's a dress rehearsal but I have put a very strong (and rather delicious) case forward. it's 4.30 at glynders so a bit in the middle of the day, but doing my best to pop in and pop pop with y'all. Meanwhile beethoven is thrumming away in the studio which means j is doing some pretty heavy painting, and i'm off to do my scales. Did no-one get to see his portraits at Mall galleries??? and is today really the day margaret? If so hip hap poppy birthday from me and 'im upstairs!
ps I'm 40 too! All the more reason.......

My Mum

My Mum's a gorgeous girl and she's having a birthday today and he's not there to give her a kiss or nuffink.. Couldn't even get her on her phone nor the house phone not no how or nuffink cos he's in a queue see, to say happy birthday and he'll have to be patient won't he.. Must sleep now love ..enjoy the day and take it easy bye steve

Quorum

Excellent so send me the money and I'll book it. Steve

Big Tree (last chance as a text version)

Here goes..... goodnight John Boy. The Big Tree (Original)

We're in!

Just a general..

We are in. Me, Jan, the girls, the budgie...everyone. I've e-mailed the boys to explain but just to let anyone else know, I've already booked off time in October for this, so let's enjoy ourselves. I'm forty, Steve's fifty, Mum's seventy five, M & D are 50.....anyone else got something to celebrate?

As for the Big Tree!! You'll have to buy one in the shops by the look of things!

Nope!

That didn't work, though I don't quite know why. Any ideas anyone?

The Big Tree

Lets try this one as a way of publishing it....
.....but please remember this is not the final version, so don't waste too many nightlights on it. Wait for the real thing, rather.

The Big Tree (Original).cwk

Totally will be there..

would upload my thirty quid if it was an option.. Ruth looking into getting Dress Rehearsal off but many people involved in decision, (she) will be around for pre post bubbly.... where do I sign?

lots of love J

Me too..

cant access your BOOOOOK Ruth dying to get her mits on it... Cotton Coton coton cootoon help

Make your mind up time.

Following Peter's email, Dad say's let's scrub the whole thing which is not what I want but am coming under pressure from the hotel for deposits so need to know what you all HONESTLY think within 2 days. Steve

PETE, PUFFIN AWAY HERE TRYING TO FIND AN ACCESSIBLE WAY TO SPELL COTTON, BUT ALAS, FAILED TO READ YOUR BUK

typical menu

iz Franch.. PAS de rosbif PAS de livair... c'est formidable et magnifique


Regard!!!

(CC) = quoi?

equals creative commons the button over there..highly
original thinking----->

Tad ah!

Viola we want this only more and better with everyone

Desk Top Publisher!

Happy birthday Mum (for Tuesday, in case I forget...How could I? 75 years young and still beautiful). And hi to everyone else...hope all's well with the merrow-smith.org gang.

If any of you get really bored and you have broadband, you might try reading my book which I have published on its own webpage to avoid negative feedback from Puffins, Abacuses and the like!

You can find it on:

http://homepage.mac.com/pjmerrowsmith/TheBigTree/Personal2.html

and the password to access it is Cotton (a key character in the story). If it doesn't work, use lower case because I may have entered it as cotton. And don't forget (apart from never starting a sentence with 'And' and prior to reading 'Eats Shoots and Leaves') that this was a first draft...the final cut is better in my humble opinion, but due to only having a hard copy since my PC burned I must first get my secretary (Jan) to type it up before we can give it the same treatment! The copy on Dad's old PC is the same as the one I've published, I think. If not, let me know and you'll save Jan some work!

Enjoy some happy musings....

Mobiles already?

What a day! Was so pleased to get a call from the garden at Hazelbank from Dad with the nokia "buzzing in your pocket" phone.. then another one from Mum on HER phone (Gems old number) telling me she's going to read her book "Toast" and take it easy today ah!



View from Bathroom window at 31 Catherine Street. That shed/garage sold for £130k a month or two back, as an artists studio without any planning permission for a dwelling. My neighbour informs me she'll oppose anyone living there.

Liver's Off!

Thanks Nic for such a positive response and yes I agree you're in the right ball-park but unfortunately I don't feel we can set firm figure on drink. It's difficult to determine how much people will drink on the day. When we have deposits and firm numbers I will be getting back to the hotel to discuss wine prices etc. Have taken on-board comments on food but as previously mentioned, we will have to choose a set menu for everybody which Dad and I will be doing later. Don't feel that we can charge adults for an entertainer but if you want to organise one feel free to go ahead. Flowers and place settings are all included so we only need £30 a head deposit at the moment. Should be a good do. Steve

Manoir Menu

Steve, lets have a budget to work with for the adults PD120 per adult enough to cover the food and drink??. Perhaps you can suggest or we can all agree to that first. From there we select from a choice of menus complimented by wine, port, etc. In other words we lump it all together together and spend it as a lump sum. We use the money to buy flowers, perhaps a momento of some sort, party stuff for the kids, perhaps hire a gester or a clown, feed the kids, and the rest goes on the adults food and drink. I also don't mind chipping in separately for the kids too if that's more agreable with everyone,

Regarding the food, my kids will eat either chicken nuggets, fish fingers or sausages with Fries Anglais, or perhaps a better choice is spaghetti with meat sauce. Can do that with truffles right?

If i'm bringing Jen half way across the world for lunch at a french restaurant, she will probably insist on Goose liver, pan fried. She loves steak too. I also think some sort of a roast beef thing might go done really well with everyone. For me i'd love to have scallops or possibly oysters, a nice coarse homemade pate with a hint of alchohol, maybe a consome, then beef as a main course, I also like asparagus. Having said all that, I'm only really coming for the desserts, chocolate souffle of sorts, or one of mums lovely Pavlovas.

Hope that helps

Dad, you can give steve a cheque from me for PD250 to get the ball rolling.

Nic

Bit O'Reading matter

Needed a bit of padding in the birthday box (which I was most impressed to have arrive at yours in under 24 hours..) so I wondered if you'd be interested in me musings. I'm told they were the more accessible of the academic works that have ever been submitted at BCUC which I take particular pride in. Forgive any indiscretions contained therein. I've emailed a little video clip to Dad which needs unzipping which hopefully the Mac can deal with. Most impressed Mum's taken the plunge and gone public... oooo h hoo! She'll be ringing him up on her mobile next won't she! Blimey!

This is a picture of IOW resident Ryde, another old wreck I love and is about how I feel this morning. Cheek!

FROM MARGARET TO RUTH & JULIAN

Dearest Ruth and Julian, I was so thrilled to get the beautiful freesias - so many blooms with so many beautiful colours- and smell their delightful scent, so thank you both very much!! Actually it was very nice to get them before my birthday as they really perked me up when I came home from hospital on Wednesday, feeling extremely tired after arriving at 0730 as instructed and hanging around in a very cold room til the doctor arrived. Well all is well in the end and I was pleased to hear your mother felt the benefit as time progressed after her similar procedure. I believe it is quite a common complaint in the women's anatomy! I am still weak but feeling better each day. Steve was a great support, especially as Hugh had a chest infection and was looking and feeling very ill at the time, it was great to have him by me.
Fortunately, Hugh is much better now and has lost the pain in his ribs, caused by coughing, which was wearing him down. We were both working in the garden yesterday but there is far more work to do than we can cope with at the moment. Steve went home Thursday but he will be back gain in a week or two to help Hugh in the garden. The house and garden seem to be rather a lot for us as we get older but we do love it here. We were sorry that the mortgage has fallen through, restricting your plans for the house, but we do hope you will find a way of carrying out the improvements.
Good luck with your audition. You didn't say who it was with. Much love from Margaret

Mortgages

R&J. Sorry about the disappointing mortgage. Have you tried our No.1 Mortgage King in Wales. He specialises in obtaining difficult mortgages and his living relies on it. He is very thorough and has helped out friends of mine.

wordperfect

http://acmfiles.csub.edu/

I've downloaded wordperfect 3.5 for mac and it works even if it looks dated.

I'm afraid clicking on this link won't work so you need to open another window and type in the address. Then we go to some downloads at columbia uni. love Steve

house

hi guys. this is the house a french stone mason built and that julian will rebuild...exciting, but we're gonna need a lot of help as our mortgage was suddenly and last minute refused which was a bit of a shock, so the cote sud dream with range cooker will have to go on standby as will the gite...but it's very beautiful and scary! having a pretty strange spring here, very cold and un-blue. i am practising for an audition which was fixed up while i was in Lyon where I seem to have been a bit of a hit.

margaret, hope you are feeling better and glad you like the flowres. my mum had that op and felt like a new woman afterwards, able to go out dancing in the evening without popping to the loo every few mins.

our roly poly neighbour continues to entertain (steve you will remember) and was shouting in the street at 4am yesterday waving his horrible wife off to the states. i'm afraid we hope she will never come back. Bonnie's house - or one of them - is being built next door so there is lots of opportunity for him to stand and shout at anyone who touches his pansies. he's on permanent patrol and he seems to love it - any excuse to have a rumbling rant.

nice to hear you janet! i loved the bit about the fashion statement and remember those precious outfits and how no-one understood how truly innovative they were. i thought it might be fun if bethany, and jessica went on the blog along with my lovely step-sisters flora and arabella (just 14 and 12). i've been hoping they could meet somehow. what do you think. also maybe thomas and edmund and kate???
that's all from CLB for the mo

much love to y'all, ruthxxxxx

relief

Knew you could do it my dear ol' Dad. If there are any cheeky messages in my name we'll know who's behind them.. tee hee! Great big pile of post including Red Hot Chilly Peppers tickets for Sarah's birthday party in Hyde Park in June.. another Manoir brochure if anyone wants a peruse let me know. Gem agrees with me that your neighbours are taking advantage of your good nature.. don't do too good a job. there's loads down Sainsbury's. Glue gun. oh dear two nil night night Mama night night Papa

POOR OLD CHELSEA

Nic, Settled down to watch Chelsea, but after a while I couldn't stand it so switched off i am going to try Newcastle tonight, but they are already 1 down!

Sorry you won't be with us Ruth, but we have to earn our crust.

Julian, we are happy for you both that in a couple of weeks the house hunt will be over. We look forward to our next visit, probably sans paint brush!

Jane I couldn't find your link to poetry. Hope Mum is now feeling better.

Steve. Lovely to have you with us. I have remembered my sign-in username and password, and have now written it down.

Pete. Do I detect a note of pessism? Don't move before we get to see Alfaz.

keep meaning to say...

...Ruth will not be able to come due to Glyndebourne commitments, she is doing all three operas and won't can't get time, off needless to say she would have loved to be there. I'll be there though, whole thing sounds great, my particular dietary requirements demand I have the childrens portion of egg and chips and a bottle of 1958 Marguaux.

love j

New house/old wreck

Well, we have done the deal bought our Euro's today to pay for the house. Wont have any spare to do it up so we will be offering work holidays for those who like to plaster and paint (mum?). I will try to put up some pictures of the old homestead soon but for now they are all on Ruth's Palm. Final signing is on 24th May when we have to sit round with the seller, the notaire, and the agent, just like in Jean de Florette, so think of us and raise a glass of luke warm tea.

Hope your visits to the little girls room will be more infrequent mum. Sorry the flowers were a little early for your birthday but there was some accidental good timing anyway.

Off to bed, night John-boy....

Manoir Latest

I'm going back to Oxford tomorrow around lunch time and Dad and I would like the discussion to move on re October so a letter is being drafted and will be sent out.
Here is a copy of the menu or at least a typical example, from which we have to agree, for us all to have the same.
There is room for individual dietary requirements as you would expect and I am assured that children who eat nothing but sausage egg and chips with tomato sauce for instance will be catered for.

We have twenty seven adults so far with ten children who'd like to come which now needs to be confirmed to the Manoir in the form of a non refundable deposit of £30 per adult.

It's quite awkward answering questions about what it all will cost, further than saying the private suite is £350, Adult 3 courses from £62.50 children £19.50. All booze is extra. Menu to be agreed.

We're not including the children in the calculation for the suite.

A fund could be set up for a bar tab which we need to talk about.
letter.jpg
menu2.jpg

Merrow Freesias

Thank you to you guys in Provence. Just arrived as Mum came out of hospital (see below). We have just had kleftica for lunch (lunch at 1815) and are all flup. This is how they looked after a bit of motherly love. Love Dad. Mum and Steve.

Big Game

Dad, have you got the beers on ice for the evenings big game? Last night was a bit of an upset with Porto going through, so another of those would be good.

Been out for a sort of run tonight, posted Mums card, paid a cheque into the bank, checked out the gym membership and the price of a new swatch watch strap, mine is broken, back home and showered in 30 minutes. Now I have room for a beer if I can stay up for the match. Every night Dan wants to play footie so must get a bit fitter.

Nic

Sheezome

After taking Mum into the Orchard Hospital this morning at 0730, she had an op at 10.10 and by the time we rang up at 1100 she was out of the op room and was sleeping. We went back at 1230 and she was awake and raring to go home. Nurse said it was ok and here we are at 1330 back home with no apparent after effects. Time will heal and after a good sleep and summat to eat, she will be back to her old self. Thank you all for your concerns and thank you to Ruth and Julian for the lovely freesias. Love from Dad and Steve, and of course from Mum.

Spain-ish news

I get three or four junk mails a day Steve....all on the blog!! Answer them all, that's what I say, then change your e-mail address the next week. I've got three email accounts, myself!! Arf..arf....

School is full of surprises! There's trouble at t'mill this week and we are fire fighting some bad press. Meanwhile I'm trying to decide whether to teach here in September....this teaching malarky is a thankless task sometimes. Still, got the GCSE coursework in and so can relax for a few days, especially as we actually get paid at this school. Not much, but it does happen. And of course, the sun shines.

Might be easier to take up a new career, though. Which are the best art colleges to enroll at?!

Hooze a clever bruvver?

Do you do all the inside as well Mum asks.

Splendid work sir.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, there was a most tremendous storm this morning which tested Dad's land drainage scheme to the max.


Then off shopping this morning for supplies for tomorrow and had a great laugh going round Sainsbury's(me and Mum), Dad to GP. Cooked a great big rib eye steak each and got the news from Dad all about his new gorgeous young pert lady doctor who say's he's got a strain in his "spare rib" at the back. Doing what I'm not sure.
Dad say's he's been feeling as if someone has been hitting him in the back with a stick. Previous man doctor asked helpfully if anyone had been!
So then opened a bottle to celebrate, followed by long snooze then chocolate covered strawberries with Richard and Judy on tv talking to Tony Buzan about geniuseseses' and whether or not they're born or made.
(Abandoned and then sh*t on I think then ignored if you live in the UK.)
Ooo look the sun is out and we've a pair of jaybirds in the garden.. no ... they've gone!

Any tips on dealing with junk mail from outside the UK? Canada specifically? There are 5 or 6 letters arriving each day promising $140,000 dollars if you respond.. yeah right. Need to send the boys round for the money I think.


The newly completed works at the south gate Hazelbank!

New land drain..That was Dad's idea!

These black 2lips are Mum's idea.