absolutely..

sorry I have ben hors computer but struggling to get house livable for all you visitors. Temperature here is 22 degrees in the morning (8.00 am) 34 afternoonish and still 32ish at eight in the evening - ie. bloody hot. (one has to drink plenty of rose for one's sanity - and thank god for air con cars). Kittens settling in well, initial amazement that they poohed straight in to the litter tray immediately followed by horror as they discovered - hey, we dont like you're organic, bio-degradable litter, so we can crap anywhere!! Save the planet lose a Duvet!

So of course you are welcome Peter and co. Steve is here mid August. Mum and Dad mid september. Yu may want to check dates - THIS IS NOT A BLOODY HOTEL!!! well maybe it is. We are pretty flexible as we can put up 6 at the studio and 6+ at the house (albeit not for ever arggghhh). Yours ever Rigsby

Weekend walks

This is Guadalest where we went walking this weekend beneath the castle. Quite pretty but a little hot. It's about 34 degrees in the afternoon at present, falling to about 26 at night. Windsurfing is the order of the day as we don't get surf on this coast...I'll start learning next week perhaps...unless I go up to Pamplona for the bull running!!





Love to all, Pete

ps Ruth and Julian - looks like an early August visit. Are you on?

kiddo update

hi everyone, and thanks steve for your wonderful postcard which arrived the morning after julian had a dream about being up a ladder suspended between two worlds.....sppoooky uh? in the next dream he was a small boat. perhaps you can furnish us with an image? yes, i think nude massage is highly superior to footie, but would love to know wot's going on in wimbers. not to mention e.r (gemma?). anyway our news is that we have two beautiful half burmese kittens, and at last our family feels complete! they spent the first day recovering from the trauma of being wrenched from mum (they would have been killed if we had not rescued them) hiding in the tiniest darkest place behind the c.d's, but now they are out playing and we can't wait to come home to them. today they are called manon and truffaut. it may change as they emerge from behind the c.d's. pics coming soon.
at the house the shutters are now grey/lavender/blue and one room is finally finished. meanwhile julian has decided (i'm sure sensibly) to entirely rewire the house. say no more. pete and jan do you have a rough idea when you might be visiting???? just want to make sure there's space for y'all. all love from me, and him testing the new catfood to see if it is goumet enough for our babies.

Pete - for your eyes only

I have had a phone call from Nicholle Anson, at the Supply desk in Southampton. She wanted to know when you are coming home. Ring her at 02380 574520. I will try to phone/email you as Judy says you may be finishing school this Thursday.

Chinnor Re-Union!

Hello Mum and Dad,

So pleased you had a nice time in Wales and I'm looking forward to next Sunday.
I rang Fay, to get the details. Henry's 90th was last week and they all went to the Manoir as well!
Fancy that?
Mike and Sally Gomme will be there next week and the Pullens too.
I done a map of The Barley Mow in The Sands, which is near the letterbox sign. And by the way, Henry doesn't go there every day Fay say's! Once a week, you cheeky...!

Gloria's gaff is Appin Lodge which is slightly north of the red circle on the map, actually up the left-hand fork off Long Hill. She's in Italy visiting daughter Sarah but will be back in time to organise I'm told.

Apparently the ol'boy likes cards with lots of nice words seeing as he's so deaf.
Job for Mum.


Sister Hayes (middle) has been nominated for Nurse of the Year with her colleague Gary in the white tunic and they've already won joint NOY for East Sussex for setting up a new practice in Crawley! Husband Pete will be there this time so you can find out all about what's going on in the world of your pension provider!

Who else?.. Sally Benham's coming.. you don't have Laughing Policeman on tape do you?

See you in the pub around 11.30 then!

Big Nearly

Usually when England get knocked out of the fooball, I always feel like I've been cheated. This time I don't feel that way, although I would rather have us still in. I've watched the games even though they are on here at 2.45am, and have realy been impressed. We have always looked liked scoring. Yep, we have a few players that can self distruct: James, Neville, Terry, Cole, Campbell, Beckham, Scholes, Gerrard, Owen, Rooney and Lampard, but the rest of the starting 11 are OK. The Portugese will probably go on and win, certainly the greeks and the dutch won't scare them.

It's been a bad summer so far for English sport, but you'll all be consoled to know that Daniel can slot the ball between the posts at the age of 19 months and I break 90 on the golf course regularly.

where and evers any.

Jen continues with her driving us anywhere and everywhere phase you go through when you first pass your driving test, so it's nice for me not to drive her the 200 yards down to the shops or her Mum's anymore.

Work is tough, but still have things to do. Daniel can sort of feed himself and anyone else for that matter, within 3 feet of him. Claire bathes, choses her clothes and dresses herself, now I have to help make sandwiches for the Barbie dolls, so signing off now.

Glastonbury on TV

Oh
My
God!
There's a new Aretha in the firmament and she's from Cullompton in Devon of all places... Joss Stone
I've got telly on this afternoon alright and was really getting into a fairly groovy band with a girl singer and I'm thinking who's that? when Clive comes in and said you know she's sixteen? I said What? WHAT?
Feel different now don't you? well yeah.. I do!
Hear me now!
come oWn little nieces! (she's 17 now..big girl)
The antidote to all this sort of thinking occurred later in the evening in the form of Jesus Blood
(play the little clip at the bottom)
Love to all.

Root it!

My usual plan to assist the national team (ie not to put them all off by watching) nearly worked, but I had to go and spoil it by listening to the penalty shootout on radio five live.....grrrrrr!

Consequently I have decided to give up footie and take up "being-massaged-nude-on-the-kitchen-table-by-women" instead.

(thinks) that could be one of the new olympic tryout events.
Imagine doubles catching on quite well too...

hmmmm....

either that or the standing in a wet field watching Festival Urine Tossing! to a musical accompaniment.

CR may suck.....but....

...chances are they'll make it to the semi-final. Anyone up for a bet? (wink!)

Commiserations to all on losing the match, Nic informs me that England never played better and that it was a good match. No doubt I'll hear all about it on digital radio today.

We hate football..

but we love tennis...come on Tim and Greg!! Absolutely speechless- subject over. Gem & Clive

T minus 35 mins...

We're En-ger-land aanndd we're-gon-na-score-one-more-than-you! ENGLAND!!
Well done Jen on your team pick. You picked better than I did. My pick out the office sweepstake was Croatia to win, and then Latvia for the Golden Boot award. £2 well spent (Doh!).

For you guys outside the UK, the radio predictably is full of Euro 2004 singles.
The Talk Sport Radio station have released a footie version of the 'hit' by Dexy's Midnight Runners 'Come on Eileen', renamed..any guesses? Yep 'Come on England'! Its at number 4 on the chart this week and if we win tonight, it could push Britney off the top spot...

There is also a revamped version of the 70s classic 'We're on the Ball'. Altogether now all sing along...Neville to Rio, Rio to Scholes-sy. Schole-sy, Gerrard, Gerrard to Beckham, Beckham to Heskey, Heskey to Owen, Owen then goal!! But seeing as they rewrote it before Sven put the dream team together, and before Rio's disgrace its not doing so well.
No mention of Wayne or my personal current favorite Frank Lampard Jnr. If he is at Chelsea next season they may have to become my backup team to the Mighty 'Boro. I forgive him for the new Sainsburys advert in whic he appears with his Dad and (gulp) that Jamie Oliver. Footie Fact: Steve McLaren who is Svens' assistant Coach is also Boro's manager.

Hey Nic, Oxford Utd have drawn their first pre-season friendly against Chelsea at home, which I got excited about till Clive pointed out that there was no way Chelsea would be putting out their first team. Nevermind perhaps with the gate receipts, Oxford will be able to afford to put up a fourth stand. At the moment if the ball gets put over the goal end, it flies over the 6ft wooden fence, and into the car park where they have to send one of the kids to go and get it!! No joke.

Well I've dug out my 1966 style World Cup winners shirt from the back of the wardrobe. (I'm Number 6, which is '66 Capt Bobby's shirt not Patrick McGoohans Number 6), and the beers are chillin'..keep positive England fans. And Grandad no switching off of the telly if we go a goal down first. Its all part of Svens Masterplan.

love to all footie and non-footie fans Gemsi xxx

ps Well done Rusedski!

Czech Republic..!!

I come from a nation which has a really crap football team.....we would even lose to a school of dolphins! In spite of that, almost everyone here is a football fanatic and Singapore seems to have 'adopted' Manchester United as their home team....and so by default, most Singaporean are supporting England for the Euro 2004. Being 7 hours ahead of Portugal, we've to watch the games at a miserable time of 3 am in the morning! All the pubs and coffeeshops are heaving at that 'ungodly' time though.

Of course Nic supports England.....I, on the other hand, have been supporting Czech Republic and Sweden. I thought Czech Republic was the dark horse before the tournament started and happily, I've also drawn them as a team to win in Nic's workplace sweepstakes!! I owe my allegiance to the team that I think will win :) Bit like a mercenary really, I'll support the team that will win a payout :)

Cameron Highlands was a blast....we had quite a good time though Nic would have you know that I'm just a 'mini' version of my mum so we had to have the 'occasional' disagreement much to the merriment of everyone else. The weather was perfect and we hope to drive up there more often.

We're both back at work.....I'm still finding it hard to settle back in. It's university holidays and most ppl are on leave till end of July...probably watching the football at home. Hope that everyone's well and we'll post again soon.

Jen

Back home

Here we are, just getting over THE MATCH last evening. 424242. I nearly turned off the tv after the first Croat gole - good job I didn't, or I would have missed one of our best games. When we arrived at Cathy's on Saturday we were told that cousin Rebecca had been on the phone about the failing health of my dear elder sister, who (sue says) was getting very shaky. June, together with my cousin Ray (from Oz) and Rebecca, who would be driving, would be travelling to Bewdley on Monday and suggested that I could meet them in Bewdley on Monday. I quickly agreed but Mum was not keen on my driving another 3 hours unless things were really urgent. After some soul searching, I phoned June on Monday to find out the situation, and was told that things were not that desperate, so I heaved a sigh of relief as we both have appointments on Tuesday. So, we left Cathy's at 10.15 Monday and called in 'our' hotel for a coffee at 1300. It is a lovely run from Llanddewi to Cardiff (stopping for the occasional P&P and a deluge pf rain at Llandovery Castle) past picturesque mountains and valleys, along good roads and past lovely stretches of water - dams constructed years ago. After Cardiff we soon cross the Severn to arrive back in England doing a Lotus Elise (I saw one in Cardff on Friday) along the M4, with the occasional arm grasp from my partner. "you're doing 90" she says. Stop at a blousy MSA for sausage and chips and off again to the A34 junction ( to which I am pleased to see they are in the middle of making some startling improvements) High tail down to junction 1 of the M27 and crawl down to Lymington 30, 50, 40, cameras. 30, 50, 40 tractors. Fairy just about to leave and we are waved on the 5.15 and arrive on solid ground at 5.50 - home at 6.15. Oh is the football on tonight? After a quick check to see that our potted outdoor plants are still alive (Thanks to Reg for giving them some water) I settle down to THE MATCH. That boy Rooney is some find, but then so was Owen at 18. Hope they both do not get too old too quick. Enjoyed seeing England moving the ball about so intelligently, and quietly cheered to myself after the 42. No rain on the IW for 4 weeks, so I am up early to water the plants that Reg missed. I showed Cathy how to use the blogger, but she said she would read it in a quiet moment - like Mother - like Daughter!! I am reminded how quick this Mac is, when I try on John's laptop. We had a really nice time at NYTHVA. The children were all so good, growing up beautifully, John was the perfect host and we all went out on Sunday to a lovely little pub/restaurant at Ciao, up in the hills, which offers venison steaks, lovely beef steaks and all day opening. It was a lovely day. If they had guaranteed sunshine, it would be perfic. Love from Mum and Dad

footie widows

OK gals, (apart from gemma who is obviously into it) what's it like for you?
here is the scene chez nous where we have a friend visiting for the unfortunate duration: rush home from wall painting; quick supper with our friend inbetween matches; first night we try to talk above the racket but that doesn't work; second night; on to j's ears go the earphones and two girls try and keep up conversation but with large telly in middle of room throwing out images or running fit bods and shouts of wahey and blast from the muffed man it is difficult; third night we find the perfect peaceful alternative and i lie naked on the kitchen (living room/ tv room / dining room) table whilst sally gives me a tremendous massage to more sounds of wahey and blast which, miraculously, i manage to shut out.
more stories from the ladies please.....
ruthxxxxxxxxxxx

Four Two four two four two four two four two four two four two four two four two four two four two four... Two

( to the tune of amazing grace obviously)

Stuffed Chilli Peppers

Who needs Chilli Peppers when the football's red-hot!! Who do we want to win? Spain or Portugal, that was the question. Of course, it's all over now. What a great game and of course the best team won. Just don't tell the neighbours I was cheering for Portugal..but having spent a year cheering for Benfica, old habits die hard.

Mind you, if you want my opinion, the Czecs will be hard to beat with Peter Czec guarding the old onion bag. They were my pre-tournament favourites until they played so badly yesterday. Significantly, though, they still won.

And as for England? They have the chance to do well but until they can score freely against eleven men I fear they will always be vulnerable to losing by a one goal margin because against a team such as, say Italy, you can't afford to score second. and one wouldn't be enough against a team that goes all out to score, especially with our defence. Each of our defenders is all right, but when have you ever seen an England performance where a defender doesn't slip up somewhere. Give me a German defence and a Portuguese midfield, a Czec goalkeeper and a French attack and I reckon you might have something.

Whether they could beat West Ham is another story!

Happy Fathers Day

Me and Gem meeting Sarah and pals in Hyde Park today for



Think we'll need umbrellas... ooer

news from welsh wales

here we are, having spent three days in a lovely hotel on the junction 32 of the M 4 We now know all about Cardiff and Newport. We went for one of those open top bus rides round the fabulous new Cardiff Bay and now we have arrived in Llanddewi-Brefi. Lots of improvements ncluding a new wall which looks super. Now we are going out for a walk up the mountains, so will write more we we return

Bianca Corfu

She's fast
She's cheap
Treat her mean
Give her a good thrashing ...regularly.
And she's got a 'Fire' engine with 999cc's
Have a fiddle under her bonnet to keep her happy
If that doesn't work, get the AA out!!!!


Gem fantasizes she's in the Italian Job or in Rome in her Super Mini.
One needs to leave one's handbrake off round here so we can all get parked
like inna Roma!

Welcome back Nic.

Good to have you with us again Nic and glad you all had a rest from the heat of Singapore.
We used to do the same thing when we were in Sri Lanka, as It was lovely to get away from the coastal belt and get up into the cool of the mountains in the tea country of Candy and Nuwera Eliya. This time it is us who are leaving the blogger as we are off to Welsh Wales in the morning. Only 5 days, but Mum has been packing all day. She rightly says "you never know what the weather is going to be up north and in the west." Anywhere on the mainland is "up North" to us. Cathy and John are always telling us about rain, when we are scorching in the sunshine of below the "Bristol to the Wash" line. We had an evening meal in the 'Dairyman's Daughter" last night with Celia and Richard, who had with them their 41 year old daughter Theresa (O'Sullivan), whose ex-husband is in fact related to Ronnie O'Sullivan, the world Snooker Champion. She had been to the IOW Rock Festival all week and was raving about The Who and David Bowie, etc. What a lovely friend you must be Ruth to say all those lovely things about a friend. I don't think we have many friends, although we have many acquaintenances. (People we send Christmas cards to) I suppose there is a danger in having only your partner as your best friend. The girls look super, Pete, in their riding gear. Of course, we know that they can ride really well. I'll bet you are thankful not to be in the Algarve at the moment Pete with thousands of football 'fans' about on the coast
I am going to try to get our web site on John's PC, but I don't think he is on broadband. Final chat before we leave you to blog away. We'll check when we get back next Monday. Cheers to you all. Love from Mum and Dad.

Big Drive

Hi, safely returned home today from Malaysia, the Cameron Highlands up north of KL. Lovely and cool, really quite restfull. Kids loved it, I got to play golf in proper golfing weather (not the usual 34 degrees in the shade stuff)and we visited a few farms and the like.

Nice to see the girls are riding Peter, quite a thrill to go out into the bush for a day, and Steve, what a great thing to do, thrash someone elses gear for the day. Must be a real buzz especially on a race track. Julian, good luck with the house, just finish one room and board up the rest until you can get your labour and materials organised.

Take care all,

Nic

Horses for Courses

Oops, did I see an apostrophe in my last post that shouldn't have been there? Apologies from the budding author. On chapter 12 now.

What about this for a car? Flat line speed and g-forces on cornering account for the paint having been burned off and thrown from the bonnet.

She's cool, ain't she? Wants one!! Yessss!





Ha, ha. Pete

musopower-NOT

racing cars and horses aside - all looking a bit grim on the musopower front in that not enough cellists have applied to the course i am supposed to be teaching on (partly because the bio they wrote from my website while i was in guadaloupe is RUBBISH and just says i am a teacher and a teacher and i run workshops and more workshops) and suddenly they 'can't afford' me for the whole week and the ha;f week they propose barely covers the travel costs i have paid myself. i think because i have a 'posh' accent (having grown up in south london i wish they could hear me aged 13) - do i ?-and live somewhere beautiful, they think i am riche and can add to their charitable gestures. they have no idea that the insulaion we have just paid for came out of the fee i should receive and that we are completely b*******ed without my bijoux income......and that after a concert at which only two people showed up andi will not be paid!
anyway house all a-trot. every day the process gets longer and the hot shower further away, but more exciting. another wall down today and ensuite beauties revealing thmselves to us in the space. it will ,it WILL (we chant) be beautiful! ONE DAY.....
meanwhile thought you might like to read what i wrote for my beloved friend (who read a rumi poem in our ceremony and did my wedding hair) sophie's hen night last week....
all love to all of you and can't wait to see you in oct. our new address and number is (during the days now but one day 4evah)
hameau les cougieux
chemin des demoiselles coiffees
84410 bedoin
tel 0(033) 4 90 12 79 40
ruthx

For Sophie On The Eve Of Her Wedding.

(As I wrote this in my garden a beautiful auburn butterfly circled around me, or perhaps she was circling around you,….)

My dear Sophie,

There is a Taoist story of an old man swimming in a turbulent river, playing in the raging water rapids, when suddenly he is swept under. Just then Confucius and his pupils see him and rush to save him. But by then the old man is standing up on the bank, vibrant and unharmed. When Confucius asks him how he was able to survive the raging river and rocks, the old man replies, “ I know how to go in with a descending vortex, and come out with an ascending one”


To me, you have always been a weaver of magic threads; an alchemist who transformed the energetic patterns of generations into gold; a poetess who stood with courage in the mysterious place between heaven and earth and drew designs never drawn before.

But when you met Ian, you became a woman.

You have braved a thousand raging currents to get to your inner wedding, and when you got there, he was waiting for you with the full and ever-expanding circle of his love, and you placed the magic cloak you have always been weaving around him.

From that moment it seemed to me that the vortex ceased and you rested at last in the natural rhythm of tides.

To be savoured and nourished at source; not to have to dilute your essence, and to be able to follow a new current at any moment without getting sucked into the vortex is something you have always craved. Ian has given you this most precious of gifts, and you him.

Now you know the great and archetypal gift of the mother; the colour which shines through all the darkness, unconditional love.

And now you are pregnant.

Sophie, Tomorrow is your wedding day. Tomorrow you will exchange rings with your beloved, rings that symbolise a life encircling and being encircled, in growing orbits of love.

Today, women encircle you, and we place a cloak woven of many friendships on your shoulders. Draw it round you if ever you feel the need to touch the feminine.

Today we hold you, dearest friend and sister, in our hearts, as you go - on the way to your wedding, and on the way to motherhood.


I live my life in growing orbits
Which move out over the things of the world.
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
But that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,
And I have been circling for a thousand years,
And I still don’t know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Talking of horse power, what I thought was an endless passage of high powered motor bikes moving swiftly along Station Road, turns out to be the distant sound of high powered speakers, of people shouting and of the sound of the Manic Street Preachers, preaching and the Stereophics in stereo. Actually they were on the TV last night in Highlights from the Isle of Wight Festival, but who needs TV or radio, all you need to do is open the windows. Mum has gone up to bed seriously thinking she is NOT going to sleep, having taken some sleeping tablets last night and been walking round like a forgetful zombie all day. Oh Dear! Having watched the English Cricket team complete the whitewash over the Maoris (All White All blacks), and settled down to an evening of nail biting footie watching - I even saw us take the lead from a Lampard header from a Beckham free kick, only to watch the beautiful David trying to fool Barthez by kicking the ball in exctly the same place as he always does, whereby the aforementioned Barthez just bent down and stopped it going in the net!!! One kick can change a whole game and that one did, as Zidane did not make the same mistake in either of his gift free shots at goal and we lost 2-1. Mum suddenly has a desire to see Cathy and we have booked the Wightlink from Yarmouth to Lymington on Wednesday 16th at noon, whereupon we will travel to Cardiff and stay at the Quality Hotel in Merthyr Road and visit Cathy et al on Saturday and Sunday, returning to this island on Monday 21st June. We hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Love from Dad

What horse power!!

For €120 a month we get 8 hours of driving lessons and have two horse power at our disposal. Mind you, what the horse's lack in engine power (and intelligence) they make up for in will power.

Keep up the advanced driver lessons and maybe I'll let you out in our knuckle whitening, power crunching, stomach churning Fiat Uno. The stomach churning comes from looking at its blistered, faded paint job - an original 1991 spray job I'm afraid. But it matches the general look of the rest of the car. I may have to put some go faster stripes on the side to really get the speed to match formula Ford but with its light-weight body and 1700cc engine it doesn't do badly!





Love to all

Pete

Bang On Herr Helmut Bonkers!

I mean bonkers helmet hair... and he's banging on a bit!

They've got six of these....

so maybees we could all have a go next time!

Rather than spending £150 a month on a new car, stick with the banger, and spend the same money instead on five laps in an Elise!

That comes with supervised drive in a Focus 1600 which was prettty stunning actually, then straight into the Formula Ford, which is a Cortina 1600GT engine on rail but more like a WWII Spitfire inside, very cramped with the whiff of motor spirit and the whine of differentials in your ears and Right hand gear change.. ooer!

Supervised Impreza Turbo... which was typical Clarkson/monster-within-exposed madness!

Finally five yes five laps in the Elise which was
Toadally and Udderly Sublime,

and by about here, you're getting Qumfortably Quick! He wants one!

Back home..

After an exhausting 3 days back in blighty including a wedding, the RA summer show, picking up my paintings, getting rightly thrashed by Ruth's dad at table tennis (twice), and a lightning visit to IOW (where you have to drive across fields to get anywhere!) we are home and looking forward to more gentle activities like breaking rocks, knocking down walls and more plumbing! Lovely to see you mum and dad. It was 26 degrees at Marseille (with a strong northerly keeping the temperature down) when we arrived at 9.00 in the evening - I will look forward to the next rain in November!

Lots of love J

!!!!ÙÏ„Œ~BLOODY™‹›fi~JEALOUS‡°ÈØ∏Á‰Â͉„„ËÁfi‡ÈØ°Èfi‡flfi

I wanna drive a racing car :-((

Where B4040?

Quiet round here?

I think not my friend, for this!...

This is the B4040 Chippenham to Stroud road, and just past the crazy metropolis of Tiddleywink lies the Hub of Motoring Excellence that is CastleCombeRacingSchool


Meet the contestants, Ford Focus, Subaru Impreza Turbo, and Colin Chapman's fabulous Lotus Elise, a track car for the road driven on a Track oh YESSSS!

Full Face Racing Helmet
and Four Point Body Harness enough for you? EH?
WHAT? You want to drive ALL the cars? (yes that is me)

Oh all right, do you want a photo?
and a Stifcut! (thank you to Val Steele-Colton who unfortunately couldn't make it, so I had the task of deputising!)

All's well on the Isle of Wight

Lovely to see you, Julian - hope you enjoyed the wedding. Thanks for your much appreciated Computeach on Thursday/Friday. I expect I will have forgotten most of it, except the bits I need most. After our CD burning sessions, I see that you left behind our burnt offerings - Goerge Shearing, Paul Simon and Ella. After dropping you off at the fairy we had a short wander round town, visiting the bank and buying June's birthday card for the 17th!!. On the 19th we will have been here 6 years. My, how time flies. How do you time flies?
We have had a never ending stream of traffic outside the front of the house watching us weeding, as they have got the road up between here and the traffic lights. Hope they get to Fishbourne on time. Good job we took the pretty road to Ryde. Once more - lovely to see you and we look forward to our September trip to see you again. Love the portrait of Ruth and of the wedding present still life. Love from Dad and Mum

Vasovagal underdevelopment!

Good morning :) I see that Nic has posted about his 'condition' that sent all the uninitiated into a mild panic, to say the least. Yup, I told him that I wanted a refund or at least a discount for slightly 'damaged' goods! At least, I've been reassured that it's probably not hereditary, wouldn't it be a sight....seeing the whites of both Claire and Daniel's eyes as well. No, thank the Lord he's ok and it's not anything else.

Hi Ruth, it would be grand meeting up in October and getting to know you better. Julian's done wonders with this site, reminds me of my IRC days....almost real-time :) Gemma, how are things? Hope you're gearing up for a visit Far East ;) We've been expecting you for ages :)

Well, we're almost prepared 'NOT', for our trip up North tomorrow. I guess it will be the usual mad-rush, trying to get everything ready. We'll be travelling in a convoy of 3 MPVs (15 persons in total). My mum's acting like a Sargeant-Major, all three son-in-laws are quaking in their boots (hah). We'll fill you in on the details when we get back, hopefully, we can get our temperamental camera to take some decent photos. Nic 'thinks' he's going to play golf everyday that we're in Cameron Highlands, hah....fat chance of that.

Hope that all's well on the IOW and that you're enjoying the hot weather. Sounds like yesterday was the hottest day! Will sign off now.......will return later ...

Big Rest

spent 2 nights in 'ospital 2 weeks ago after feeling odd at work and calling for an ambulance. Good news is, there is nothing wrong with me at all. Remember those fainting spells I have? well I had another but brought on by a muscle spasm, not an injury, thereby catching me unawares. So, the "low pain threshold" thing has now been diagnosed as Vasovagal Syncope. Apparently my reflex system's a bit duff and now Jen wants a discount. Good news is there's nothing to do and it won't get any better or worse - gave everyone in the office a shock though. Sort of performed centred stage in full view of everyone including the ambulance crew, you know folks, whites of the eyes and all that.

Had a really good rest in bed and watched a bit of golf.

Hope you're all well too and handling your fickle temperate climate with it the contempt it deserves.

Love Nic

retrograde this

Live Images of the Transit of Venus 2004

Patrick Moore was banging on about this the other (sky@) night but all I could think about was the time I played a xylophone duet with him in the officers mess at Buller Barracks circa 1984. Never my strongest instrument if you can call it that, only he was worse than me! Natty line in suits though..

People Patrick Moore has met not including yours truly...

Stuff ...

Evenin' all (just - heading for the late hours yet again)

Feel for you Ruth - sorry for the long hike-for-nothing, but glad for you regarding the audition. I'm sure the house will be super soon and will be worth all the grind you're both putting in at present. As Pete said, don't really know our summer plans but it certainly would be great if we could make our way up in your direction and lend some hands to the pump, so to speak.

Good to be back at the old typewriter again, if only for a couple of hours in the afternoons. Strange contract - as we see it I seem to be on a 31-day contract (until the end of term, as I'm only covering someone's sick leave really) with 31 days annual leave (I asked if I could take it all right away!) and a 31 day trial period. Ha ha! Amy is having fun spending her afternoons at the school Nursery class while I tap away in the office. Gets us out of each others' hair for a while. Otherwise, things going OK here, temperature rising and getting uncomfortable at nights, tourist numbers increasing - not looking forward to summer traffic jams! 'Spect you have the same problems Mum and Dad?

Really enjoy reading all your bloggings, sorry I've not been very forthcoming but it's not due to lack of interest. Love you all, lots, Jan

more sunshine

lovely news from spain. sounds like you guys really are ripe for something new and creative. how temporarily frustrating but long term exciting.....
house coming along slowly and solidly and we are looking forward to helping hands! I think Julian's euphoria is passing and the hard grind setting in, but we do have more fun things once all the diggin's a-done. we thought we'd be in by today, and we haven't got hot water or a shower yet though he has been working like a dog so i he's a little low. bit of moral support needed here.
meanwhile audition news fairly good if a little amusing. I was very sweetly and sensitively told that, though they were very touched by my playing and it was a tres belle audition, i was not quite the personality they were looking for for the solo cello, but that they would like it if i could come and play in the section sometime. since i was not auditioning for the solo cello, and would be honoured to play anywhere in the band,i was pretty pleased.
hope something comes of it as last night i drove 3 hours to play a concert where there were only two people in the audience, and in the end we didn't play, won't get paid and i drove back in a huge traffic jam caused by the 'retour de la plage', missing the final of the french open. (i think that Gaudio guy is pretty cute actually, even if he is not our beloved Tim, but the piggy eyed guy scares me) wot a life.
lots of love, ruthx

Saturday...bloomin sunshine....

Hi all

Woken by the sun, despite the shutters...gad, it's hot. The summer is now here and the humidity has risen to make it feel quite tropical. Evenings are very pleasant and deserving more of a garden than we can claim at present. The balcony doesn't have a great view but it's all we have once Amy is abed. We are considering a move to a house with a garden as Jan is doing some pin money typing with the school but in truth this won't happen until later in the summer if we decide our positions are stable for the coming year. You need to be in a place for a year really before you have the lay of the land and our present rent seems to be very reasonable although the flat is a little restricting (even with two bathrooms there's still no view!).

As we are not being paid over the July and August break I'll probably be back in the UK for July to try and do some supply work. Three weeks supply will cover our rent for the summer and I'll either stay on the island or in Chinnor (dare I hope that I might be able to stay, my darlings?), depending on where the work comes up. This is the plan, anyway. For the August month we'll look to go travelling to see the gite in France, if anyone is there, or perhaps on a tour of Europe for the children's education (they are so African!). I'm told you can buy a big five bedroom farmhouse with land in Bulgaria for £10 000?! Then again, Spain is pretty cheap in places and once our employment contracts are in place in October the local money box will probably allow us a mortgage...can we muster ourselves for another risk taking adventure? Is this the right timing? Ahhhh! Where's my mid-life crisis when I need it?

To be honest there are other things that might be more fun than risking everything on the housing market. Our thoughts have turned to going it alone in recent years. Not the whole hog. I'm not going to set up my own school just yet - more like full-time private tutoring or even a change in vocation to a slightly less child-centred environment. We have met so many people in the last two years who believe we have a massive amount of un-tapped talent that we almost believe it ourselves. We are doing research into other things that might pay and that we might enjoy doing for ourselves. At present I make a school owner very rich (on very meagre return for myself) and our landlord is not averse to rubbing his hands with glee either. Nothing remotely concrete yet but lots of ideas.....watch this space (assuming I haven't become a published author with thousands of pounds flooding in from royalties during the summer!).

The girls (Jess and Beth) had a lovely horse riding lesson yesterday and once again impressed their new teachers with their enthusiasm, politeness and love of the animals. We got more lovely comments. Really, they are such excellent ambassadors for us - we don't deserve them. They are both into exam revision and will no doubt prove themselves this week. Pray for them both as they want so much to do well. I wouldn't be unhappy if they did well, either. They are excellent students, love everyone, make friends easily, have a remarkable talent for smoothing the waters in choppy relationships and demonstrate a strong sense of moral responsibility that makes them a joy to teach and to nurture at home. As Jan has just said they are also excellent in adult company, besides freeing us up by working their magic on Amy. I cannot thank you, my family, enough for all the love and support you have shown us all over the years...starting with you, mum and dad. We learned all our parenting from you and if we do half as good a job, well we'll have 3 pretty good halves. This is not to suggest that we are perfect or anything! So, if I raise a glass of Sangria to you all, you'll forgive me if I drink the rest of the caraf without you!

¡Vivan los Merrow-Smiths!

Jan and Pete

go mandy and john

GREAT news about mandy and john! the more the better! gemma please send our heartfelt congrats. we remember fondly our time with them here and look forward to having the 3 of them in the new house.
still sad we can't add to your/our family -sorry guys, we did our best - and still a few pangs along with the joy!
hey gemma, we are missing Timmy here in France, as we are so busy with the house but want to be sure to catch his next match - d'you know when it is? ps no er and we are having post probs. did you send it?
pete and jan - any news on glynders dates????
nice to hear you Jen, and congrats on the driving test. hope we get a chance to properly meet in oct. my step sisters remember you very fondly from our wedding and often mention you and clare.
julian in the bath says to say he will be in wooton 10-11 june - we have a (pregnant) friend's wedding on the 11th, and i am doing fish pie for the girls on the 10th so sorry i won't see y'all. i think she is copying my hen night - fish pie and massage, facepacs, poetry and toenail painting!
house going well, julian a brill muscley plumber/electrician. architect and we are reducing the thing back to a pile of red stone which j stares at for long periods with teary eyes. i'm on cobweb/window frame painting (not reccomended on the day of a mistral as the entire insect world gets blown into the fresh paint), filling duty, mostly on wobbly ladders! looking forward to you all coming to help! it really is the most fantabulous spot, though and all our friends are in agreemant that we have a jewel in the making and a bargain.......
very busy though and we both have exhausted bods and paint and plaster covered rough hands. hopefully we will have a shower before we go to uk.
audition news pretty good, apparently i was auditioning for the principal cello position for the musiciens du louvre, but i didn't know, so when they said i hadn'd got the job but they were very touched by my playing and would love to have me play in the section i was very happy!
love to you all from me (and im exhausted in le bain) ruthxxxxx

Stop Press!

Hello Everyone!
Just thought I'd let you all know that the Oxford branch has had news that Mandy & John (Barbara's youngest sister) are expecting their first baby, due this December. After a well earned holiday in Napoli this week, they have had their first scan today so thought that its time the family knew. I have already been assigned knitting duty so I'll need some refresher lessons Grandma!

Shame about the England match Grandad but I'm reassured by my football crazy friends that we were just avoiding injury and overtiring ourselves ...urm yeah.. There is a sweepstake competition at work which I've entered so I'm hoping to pick a decent team out the hat. Either France, Portugal or maybe a dark horse team from Eastern European team. Anyone got any hot tips? The England flag has started appearing on car windows and bunting outside pubs and the BBC has started its advert campaign to get us all hooked. To be honest I'm more interested in local Oxford hero Henman this week. His performance at the French Open yesterday was described by the press as 'majestic'! come on Tim..

well ni-night for now love Gem x

England 1 , Japan 1

What a team! I think Sven brought on all those changes to save face. The Brazilian style upset England with its close passing. Poor old James - he should have kept his knees together. What did Mummy say? Time for bed says Zebedee. What are the odds for France v England

More that I missed.

Hope the family journey to the Cameron Highlands is a success, Nic and Jen. I expect you will be glad to spend some time away from the heat of Singapore. The furthest north we got was to Fraser's Hill, but that too was lovely. Pete, carry on marking. Luckily there are not so many pupils as in UK schools. Don't get too sunburnt, girls. Julian and Ruth good luck with the makeover. Steve, good to hear that Colin is still around - we were afarid that he was ill as we have not heard anything of him for years. Are you going to Founders day. Happy First of June to you all.

Hi y'all from Wootton Bridge.

Welcome Jen to our bloggers. Lovely to read all our news. We have had a good weekend, attending our Catenians (Local Catholic Businessman's Association) Ladies night on Saturday at the Fat Cat on the Bay
hotel and Restaurant in Freshwater Bay, A super evening, lovely place, lovely meal and lovely company. We spent the evening with Gloria and Eddie Minghella. They also have five children, one of them is Anthony, the film director and needless to say we swopped family accomplishments. They also have celebrated their Golden Wedding, but a couple of years ago. Sunday was a mad day here as hundreds of motorcyclists are on the Island and most of them seem to be roaring past our house. This is the first time that the Island has staged a world Moto-cross Championships competition and they reckon that 30,000 people attended the event in Arreton, a couple of miles up the road. Yesterday our Ryde Lions did their bit at the Bembridge Street Fair, selling books, hot dogs etc. in fact anything which would make money for our charity funds. The end of the day and the rain all happened within minutes, so we were lucky as we have had no rain for 3 weeks. We made over £600. Magic! Auntie Pegs 90 th birthday on Thursday, my Mum and Dad's 80 th wedding anniversary on the 4th, Eddie (Celia's son) in 40 on Saturday and we are attending for a 'free' drink. Sandown Operatic is putting on Sweet Chariy and we are going on Friday. The Isle of Wight Festival (a month of music),starts on Friday and includes a host of rock bands with the appearance of David Bowie, Midge Ure, and many "tribute" bands, jazz, blues, garage, country, even Classics. The whole Island is involved and we will be shaking the foundations.