Letter to Dad

Hi Dad, we will be thinking about you both and praying for you, for your comfort and faith during this difficult time.

I've sent you a letter which should arrive around 5th Jan. by registered post. It's a request, but please if you don't feel up to it, don't worry. Just give me a call when you have received the letter.

Love Nic

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

I think the pain is in Steve's right shoulder, but it hurts whichever one. He came over to see us yesterday and kindly bought us a digital photo-frame, which i will spend this morning trying to make work. It should not be beyond me but it IS sunday and I have always believed that Sunday is a poor day to be doing technical things as shops are shut.
Thank you for a lovely blog, Ruth. We are so glad you had such a happy Christmas. We all wish you well in your plans for our new granchild (Boy or Girl??)
Today's lesson from Ecclesiastes is a heart wrench, about father's getting old. Mum is also getting old and can do with all your prayers as she approaches her big test on 12th January. I am very worried at the results of her colonoscopy, as I am sure she is also. We don't talk about the possibilities as I do not want to distress her too much. Love to you all from us old wrecks. Dad and Mum

happy partying as they say

it was good to hear that y'all in oxfordshire got together.

we tried to call you hugh and margaret, but didn't have much luck. anyway had a lovely chat with steve and a cool video thingy with nic and jen. it was great to see them moving around their apartment in shorts!

we had a really lovely christmas. we have to admit that last year we felt a bit sad, and that sadness led to our acknowledgement that we still sorely wanted a family. this year things are looking a bit different as we have our agreement and are just sending off our dossier to mali!

one of my closest friends jane who, inspired by us, has decided to adopt as a single parent (she had a child who tragically died with her previous partner)has shocked us by telling us that even the home study in england costs £5000, then you are looking at another £15,000 for an international adoption wheras here it is free. so, despite quite an unexpectedly elevated social charges bill last week, we are feeling quite thrilled to be this far down the line without even having spent a penny on the process.

we have had a lovely few days in which, despite our problems with poo systems and the like we managed to relax: two gorgeous days of shopping in les halles and feasting and cooking and drinking and scrabbulousing and talking to friends and family, then a fabulous party at our friends' hugo and kate who run a very lovely vineyard, with all their leftovers - the bread and cranberry sauce and turkey julian always craves plus christmas pud ice cream and silly games and carols.julian says to tell you CP30 was there ( i don't know what he's talking about but if you're a trekkie you will) the day after tomorrow my other closest friend sally arrives with her family so we will have some kiddies around which will be nice.

i am off to paris on the 3rd and will be away for almost 10 weeks on and off. i am not looking forward to being away but the projects are very rewarding. don giovanni doing continuo and an opera by lully with emanuelle haim.

meanwhile, people of the african adoption forum are journeying to bamako to pick up their little malian angel. one day hopefully that will be us. get your last minute words in quick as i am trying to get the dossier together before i go to paris!

we wish you all so much joy and good health, and hugh and margaret in particular. we wish you all the best with your up-coming hospital appointments. i am sure it will all go well, but it must be so nerve wracking for you both. we are always here for you if you want to talk through your fears.

love and a very happy 2008 to you all in merrow-smith land.

We will soon be entering 2008.

We hope you all had a lovely time over Christmas time. We certainly did, thanks to Pete and family,

On Christmas Eve, Pete rang to say why don't you come over for a day or two and just after Cathy's lovely present of a colourful bunch of flowers arrived from the Banbury flower shop, we managed to unpack them and put them in water and hid them away from the heat in the shower room. We packed things into plastic bags and were on our way - a record packing up for us both. Luckily for us the M 40 was fairly empty and we were soon in Bledlow.

We spent four days with Pete, Jan, and the three girls. Jess and Beth gave up their bedroom for us and we were very grateful. Jan and Pete were so helpfull and loving, and gave us such a huge welcome that we were told to do nothing and just sit and rest. This we did quite well and only moved to eat some of Pete's marvellous cooking. We accompanied the family to the Church in Chinnor High Street and had a visit from Judy and Stanley in the afternoon, after turkey lunch. It was a lovely time for us all.
We had plenty of things to do and watched quite a bit of tv screen - some programmes and some DVDs and one evening we played a board game which caused much merriment. On our anniversary morning we went for a walk past Harry Enfield's house, where he was fixing up bicycles for his two children. They later passed us on their bikes. Pete's other neighbours live a few yards further on (Fiona and Will Austin with their three children} and we were invited in for mince pies and coffee. It was like a Hunt Meet only with bicycles. H/E seems to be a normal family man for all his loadsamunny. He seems to have plenty as his house next door to Pete is quite a big old rambling farmhouse.
Jess had had an invite from a friend at School who asked her to join with her and her family for a birthday visit to London to see Phantom, so she and jan had been shopping in Aylesbury to buy some new boots and othe clobber. She looked lovely just as we were leaving to return to KS. We hope she enjoyed the experience!
We got home in due course and back to our own bed. It was all great fun and we were entreated to stay, but we had things to do at home. We needed to replenish our pills stocks as holiday time still made things awkward for doctor's prescriptions.
So off we went to Brackley to deposit our repeat forms. We also popped into Tesco for some bananas and grapes.

Steve has been to see us today and he had spent a very quiet Christmas as he has not only been unwell ?Flu but his right shoulder has been causing him some grief. (actually he has had this trouble for a month or two, but it always hurts bad at a time when you don't want it)
We only have a few days before our hospital visits - me to Oxford JR2 on 7th and Mum to Horton, Banbury on 12th - so we are both getting a bit nervous. Think of us. Love from Dad (and MUM)

Here's an update on our Christmas and New Years. We went back to work on Thursday, should have been Wednesday but my boss generously gave us all the day off. I'm putting up this post from the comfort of my office.

So surprisingly, I followed the age old tradition of Boxing Day and got in a game of golf, (without the frosty shoes rubber shoes mountaineering socks, thermal under ware, corduroys, sweater, woolen jumper, waterproofs, woolly hat, mittens and hand warmers within and the yellow or orange golf ball you can still see on the frosty ground). Really folks I used to dress like that and play over the winter in England. We would have a Turkey Trot before Christmas and on Boxing Day the tradition is to play the course backwards. At Ivinghoe I think that's from the 1st Tee to the 8th Green, from the 9th Tee to the 7th Green, from the 8th Tee to the 6th Green etc. Well I played like I was wearing all those clothes but that's another story. I christened my new putter Jen gave me for Christmas and carried around my new golf umbrella just for looks. Dave, the guy I was playing with, wore a Santa Claus hat for the first few holes but a fresh UK import, 33 degrees C and the hat combined were too much for him. I've also been playing golf with Daniel and Claire but they are still of the opinion they must both win, so next time out they will be teaming up to beat me, so perhaps I'II be the one shedding tears.

I spoke to Peter, Janet, Amy, Beth and I think Jessica last night via skype, Mum and DAd were there too so were able to contribute. My family were around, jumping in and out of view. Steve, you'll be pleased to know Peter also got the Optimus Prime work over.

Christmas Day was a jolly affair. Lunch started at about 12.15. There was an array of food fit for a visit from from the Queen. Included fresh prawns with mayo, turkey (beautifully roasted by my brother-in-law Koon Hou) two choices of ham, turkey gravy, roast sweet and regular potatoes, brussel sprouts, broccili, noodles (for long life) and this Nonya dish which is very popular and has veggy and seafood in crispy edible cup. That lot was washed down with some Krug, a light Bordeaux and mince pies and fruit followed, with a wonderful Aussi dessert wine which was very popular.

This was all over at my in-laws. There was quite a crowd and the star was 96 yr old grandma Peck. Also Aunt Mary, Uncle Warren, two lady guests from Indonesia and a gentleman from Malaysia, Ivy, Bobby, our 4, Lee Hwei, Koon Hou, Esther and Joshua, Ming Hwei, Francis, James (3) and baby Grace (1), Koon Hou's Mother and Father and Brother, Auntie Ah Hah and two helpers. So quite a crowd. Presents had been opened earlier in the day. I had a walk after lunch and we stayed for tea.

So, I've been able to talk to everyone this year and apart from Cathy and her crowd, you've all been able to see us. Don't know what the new year has in store for us, but it could be an interesting year ahead. Enjoy the rest of your festive season and I look forward to having regular head to heads with you all of a Sunday (around 12 noon to 2 pm GMT).

Take Care, Nic, Jen (post some photos Jen), Claire and Daniel

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DARLING KATE

We all hope you have a very happy day, Kate. Did we judge the post correctly with your card? Love to you all and a Happy New Year to one and all from Forty Green. Mum wants to get back to K/S so that she can worry in peace. Love to all again, Dad

Kates Twelve today!!!

John,Kate and I am sitting around in the kitchen waiting for the boys to get up so that birthday girl can open her presents she is so exited..Me thinks she may have a long wait as Edmund is not an early riser and he was up in the night with tummy ache.
Now Thomas is up and they are hitting each other with empty wrapping paper tubes!!
I have only just remember everything I needed to know to get on the blog, although I left something under comments on Steve's Happy Christmas blog. So belated greetings all.....Happy birthday greeting to you Pete, Happy anniversary Mum and Dad and Happy Christmas to everybody

I..am....in.....need......

Yep, it's official. I'm fat. I have not been able to sit at the computer for two days due to over-eating and now I am in need of an ergonomic kneely chair to keep myself upright. Yet, against difficult odds I'm going to produce a last minute anniversary blog and a happy birthday Kate in the process.

Mum and Dad came over to us in the late afternoon of Christmas eve. We all spent a nice evening in front of the telly enjoying an audience with Ken Dodd while snipping Boddington's and snowballs (those beingfortheladiesofcorzzz)...hic! The Christmas Day morning was chaotic with small child number three up and about fairly early and the bigguns wanting to have their presents open before the traditional morning trip to church. We had a super breakfast though and got the turkey in the oven before setting off to Chinnor and enjoying a few carols there. On our return dinner preparations got into full drive while Mum sat and sipped a sherry with Dad before a frenzy of present opening and snack eating set the dinner back at least an hour.

I think I overdid it with the bird. It looked about the right size for a Merrow-Smith family of 7 but with mum and Amy being able to share a sparrow, 16 lbs goes a long way between two old boys and three girlies. We'll be eating it for a few weeks yet, what with all the trappings and the gammon. Needless to say we skipped pud and went straight onto cheese and cake in the early evening, when Judy and Stan came over. Dad managed to hook up with Cathy using his mobile and we exchanged a few shouts of happy Christmas across the air miles. By late that evening we managed to polish off the first tin of Quality Street and most of the beer in the fridge while watching a Shakespeare adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew.

Today we enjoyed more turkey (surprise, surprise) - or should I have said 'turkey surprise' (surprise, surprise)! We have yet to eat the Christmas pudding. Mum and Dad had a nice anniversary though, and a lovely day for it. We went on a short amble down the lane to give us all a bit of fresh air and to let Amy try out her new scooter. We bumped into the Enfields and the Austins and ended up having a mince pie and coffee at the latter's.

Mum and Dad stayed in this afternoon by the fire while Jan and I went over to meet up with Pam and Steve at Jan's folks' place in Chinnor. When we got back we got out the Christmas log and the Christmas cake and cheese but we are running out of eating steam! Tonight we got a game of Uno going but surprisingly our Mum didn't get her usual beginners luck and her granddaughter Jess stole the limelight. Mum and Dad have gone up now and to be fair, it's time for us all to turn in..... but with only one bathroom there's not much point in all going up together...which leaves me to wish you all well and best wishes for the Christmas season. Happy birthday to Kate in a few minutes...I hope that what you didn't get at Christmas will turn up today.

Nice kitty Julian and Ruth. The girls will 'oooo' and 'aahhh' when they see the photo in the morning. They miss our cat madly. Glad you managed to hook up with Nic and Steve. I'll email you contact numbers for here, but I suspect mum and dad will wish to go back tomorrow. I hope they will stay at least another night but I know mum is feeling a little away from the familiarity of home. I'll probably go back with them and set them to rights as they'll be tired, but maybe they will stay another night...who knows. There's plenty of turkey, after all.

Jess is off to the Phantom of the Opera tomorrow evening to help a girlie friend celebrate her birthday. To our amazement she informed us that it will be her first visit to London ever...and she's right of course! She's visited a few capital cities, but neither she nor Beth (nor Amy come to that) have ever visited London so we'll have to try to get up there sometime. The last time I was there the London Eye had not yet been built!

Enjoy the new year celebrations where ever you may be, and Nic, I'll try again to Skype you in the morning.

Love to all

Pete

Happy Boxing day!

Nic and I managed a midnight (Singapore time) video conference and I spoke to Steve, haven't tracked down ma and pa yet but happy anniversary for today and love to all in oxfordshire and Wales....

we have a new kitten who thinks she's a christmas decoration...

Merry Christmas Everyone

Well, our day is coming to an end and the turkey has all but gone,

The presents stacked and opened, the carols singing sung.

Asleep in the beds, the children dream away,

A merry Christmas and prosperous New Year to all, we say.

Good night, god bless you all.  

Nic and Jen.

ps. Yes Cathy, we received the Snoopy  Ecard

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Have been up for about an hour now, Amy was an early riser this morning (surprise surprise!) Unfortunately the tree will have to wait until after church... Have fun, be merry, don't eat too much etc! Lots of love Jess xx

foreign DVD's

Dad, play it on your mac it will probably say it's the wrong region but then you can switch regions about 5 times before it locks it permanently so if need be you can change it back later. ( just say yes when it asks you if you want to change region, and don't be scared!)

happy birthday Pete and Kate and if I don't speak to all of you have a lovely happy Christmas.

We have just had a mini waste water teatment plant installed in a big hole in front of the garage which will finally solve our no-drains problem. So i will spent much of chrimbo re plumbing the house to join everything to the rerouted drains .. sigh, looking forward to having a pee and being able to flush it!! lots of love to all, j

Been Shopping

Been shopping today, but after 24 hours on the beer (sober now) got the shits and stomach cramps enough to cut the spree short.

About Peter's email, he can skype me and talk to me, easy to do - no good putting emails on the blogger.

About your DVD, go out and buy yourself the cheapest DVD player in Carrefore (Shinco or some other no name brand) and all your problems will be solved. For some reason all this stuff is code and there are different regions, some DVD players (the cheap ones) are less sensitive to the technology.

NIC -- THANKS FOR THE BEER

If you cannot e-mail Pete, my email is hewsappy (at) gmail (dot) com, so pour it down my email!! Thirsty DAD

Just bought a pup - not a dog

I ordered a DVD through Amazon and it turned up yesterday from an address in USA. BUT I cannot play it on my DVD player - has anyone got any ideas. What about you, Nic could you play it on a Sg player?? Doleful Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY, TO KATE

Dear Nythfa
I just drove Henry down to the post office to catch the 7 am post. I hope Kate gets her card (and little present) ok. We hope you are all having a lovely Christmas - it looks a bit cold up here but it is very warm and snug in our little bungalow. Love to you all, from G&G

BEST WISHES PETER

Happy Birthday little brother, I'd really like to email you a card, can I have an email address please?

In the absence of a card, I've put a couple of beers on ice to drink with you later if that's OK.

Have a lovely day today, hope the sun comes out for you,

Love from Nic, Jen, Claire and Daniel.

Merry Christmas all!!

ElfYourself

Hope this works, click the link

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PETE FOR FRIDAY

Where are our latest blogs?

I posted two new blogs earlier on, but they do not appear. They were to thank Nic for his big-heartedness on our behalf and to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. By the way, julian did my bottle-opener arrive and does it work. Replies please on a registered pair of boots (as my old Dad used to say). HAPPY HAPPY TIMES TO ALL. love M&D G&G etc

Hi Gang

We hope all went well for you Steve at Henry's funeral and WAKE

THANKS NIC

That is just what we would have done had we known how you felt about it. All power to your elbow. We have bought a water carrier for some people in Ethiopia. Love to all the SNGS who gather round you at Christmas time and have a very Happy New Year!! Love from the senior Merrows.

Christmas Wishes - Wonderful Gifts from Singapore

We are having a pre-christmas bash at our house next Sunday for the Sng clan before the official do on the 25th at Dublin Road. Sunday 23rd at 6pm Singapore Time. If you Scype me (chillicrab_156) around 9am to 10am snowy England time, I'II get everyone around the computer for you to say hello to. There's a couple of additions with Ming Hwei's little girl Grace (now about 15 months) and the boy James (now about 27 months).

I've been busy buying christmas presents for you all again and World Vision charity are the beneficiaries.

For each family (Mum & Dad, Steve's, Cathy's, Julian's, Peter's) you're giving two pairs of shoes for kids in Cipinang Melayu community in Jakarta and a mosquito net and blankets for for 2 children in Bati community, Cambodia. This saves on silly postage charges and the gift goes alot further, hope you all understand and don't mind.

I've also bought a pair of milking cows for Bobby and Ivy  to go to a family in Sri Lanka. The milking cows are going, not Bobby and Ivy. The cows are a great gift and benefit 25 families. 

Check out www.worldvision.org.sg for more info.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Thanks Dad

Amongst my many duties this week has been to scour through ancient photo albums of Jean and Henry Smith's family, for a small presentation of memories for the many friends from Chinnor who will be coming to the wake on Tuesday, and here is one memory of the holiday we had with the band in the New Forest.
That was the time when Jean brought out her wind-up gramophone and played "The Laughing Policeman" over and over again.
(The 'b' side was of a man playing a solo on the cornet while watching someone sucking on a lemon)












Henry in all seriousness has been a model patient, never complaining, never bad tempered or demanding despite all his worries and trials and I feel humbled to have had the privelege to be of some help to him and his daughter carers.

Pat Whelahan who lives at Hempton Field nursing home now, worked at the Cement Works too (who Dad knows well from Chinnor Parish Council), was on the phone for an hour to Appin Lodge talking about his old mate.
Apparently-Fay told me later, as a staunch Labour counsellor he woke up one morning on election day to find his bungalow in Golden Hills absolutely covered in Tory banners and Vote Conservative posters and flags, so that he couldn't even get out of the door.
Henry and Jean had got up at 2 o'clock in the morning and done it all themselves.
I'm not sure what that sign says can anyone remember?

The "other" Henry

We were very sad to read that Henry (Titch) Smith died on 10th December. Henry lived in Farnham, with daughter Gloria and family and we visited them there a couple of times. Henry's other daughter, Fay is a great friend of our family and we will be sending letters of condolence to both girls. Henry was a driver for Chinnor Cement Co. and was called Titch because he had difficulty in seeing over the dashboard at first. Henry was aged 93 and his wife Jean was a great friend of our family, but she died of cancer many years ago. Dad

Happy home...

This is fine news! It's getting quite exciting, though the wait is going to be a little tortuous. Do you know if you're expecting just one or do twins occur on either of your sides of the.....er, well, application forms, I guess.

Looking forward to the next step.

As for us, it's a day off Christmas shopping as Bucks CC employees have a holiday granted to them in reward for the council's top performance last year. A trip to Oxford is on the cards, so love to all...dreaming spires here we come. Nice day for it too.

adoption news

We finally have the paper copy of the agreement in our hands, so we will sending off our 'pre dossier' tomorrow and compiling our dossier, including our little family album, in the next couple of weeks. I have been reading up on and talking with friends whom I've met through the African adoption forum who are going this Christmas to pick up their little babies in Bamako. Though for us it will be between 18 months and 2 years hence, it is good to know that (unlike with IVF) there IS a child at the end of this long hard journey;that we WILL have a family one day!

Anyway, any of you who want to send pics or words please send them soon! And again a big thank you for all of you who already have. For Julian and I, considering a 'non biological' family, the welcome, care, involvement and love that you have so generously offered (which, after all, is what creates a family) has helped us get close to the feeling of excitement we had when I was actually pregnant.

I must add that it was such a joy for us to have Hugh and Margaret enter into the spirit of our adventure so whole-heartedly when they were here - reading adoption stories and talking through their hopes ans fears with us, writing out family stories.... It made it all feel more real.

People say about adoption that you are in the first trimester of pregnancy for years (not to mention the years of miscarriages, ectopics, failed IVF's , whatever) and then suddenly you are in labour.

Hang in there with us! We'll get there in trhe end, we will!

We will of course be thinking of you with your various ops H and M. Did you get the hospital to guarantee an anaesthetic for Margaret? Any luck with your local organic store? i heard they do a nice line in bland cornflakes....!

Looks like a busy Jan for us two

At the moment we are both committed to visits to hospitals. I have to go to JR Hosp in Oxford on 7th Jan for an angiogram and Mum is scheduled to attend at the Horton in Banbury on Saturday, 12th Jan for a colonoscopy. Pray for us both.

TO NIC

I have tried to send a comical singing Happy Birthday song - I hope it all comes out OK Love from Mum and DAD

Hi Gemma

We loved your photos and hope you both had an enjoyable weekend G&G

Birthday coming up

On Saturday it is Daniel's 5th Birthday. Please remember that Singapore is 7 hours ahead of us and any emails or blogs should be sent with that in mind. For Daniel to get any surprise at all we must send our greetings before Midnight tonight, Friday.

IN THAT CASE TO DANIEL A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WE HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY BIRTHDAY PARTY, OR HAVE YOU ALREADY HAD ONE ?

Love from Grandma and Grand-dad

Long Weekend in Brighton

The remains of the West Pier




the window of choccywoccydoodah