News of Mum

After a very confused week, Mum was taken into the Horton Hospital, in Banbury last Saturday morning, 29th March. (Happy birthday, Dad) Friday night she was particularly confused and I stayed up with her all night. On Saturday, Steve and Fay arrived to help me and Fay assessed Mum's trouble as a urine condition and Steve collected some Anti-biotic tablets from the Health Centre in Brackley. After taking some tablets and showing no improvement Steve asked for a priest to come to her to give her some spiritual help and our local Monsignor blessed her and annointed her, which gave her a great deal of comfort. He also phoned for an Ambulance and she was taken into hospital. Pete accompanied her in the ambulance and I waited in as Cathy was on her way from Wales and I was too bushed after a long night, to keep awake. Cathy duly turned up and we were able to have some lunch before popping into Banbury to see Mum. We learned that she had had a blood test which showed that she had a salt deficiency and was having a drip feed containing salt. I should have realised that this was the cause of her troubles as there was a time on the IOW when the doctor in Ryde faxed through a message to the local chemist to ask them to prepare a supply of salt tablets immediately as she was deficient of salt. This cured her and she got better from then on. Mum was admitted to the MAU side ward (the medical assessment unit). Next day when we visited her, the change was remarkable as she looked pink and rosy and was talking quite well. Later that day she was transferred to Laburnum ward and we have all been in to see her and thankfully seeing that she was making steady improvement. We have not contacted her doctor yet; perhaps we will have some encouraging news when we visit this afternoon. Thanks to Steve and Fay, Pete and Cathy for helping me to get through this, and on behalf of Mum, also many thanks. love from DAD

from Mali

Greetings from a v.hot Bamako - it's nearly 40° and the air full of saharan sand. Having a great time, been living in mud houses where people wash their pots and everything else in the river now we are in Bamako a crazy traffic filled metropolis with more street sellers per square foot than you would believe possible.

Happy Birthday for yesterday Dad and I'll give you a ring this week when we get back. Love to all. Julian

Pete

Pete, I haven't you're phone number! Could you give me a ring today. If you haven't got mine I have sent it to Beths email, couldn't make yours work love Cath.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Daddy,
Happy birthday to you.

Lots of love Cathy

P.S

2009 is also the year of Julian's 50th and Mum's 80th. PPS How do we get to Mauritius. DAD

Wedding 2008

There is another event next year to be organised!

The thinking is that a wedding package holiday to Mauritius would be a lovely way to celebrate Gemma and Clive's tying the knot.
Nothing is fixed yet as we are wondering about who would like to come along.

The best time to go for value is beween Easter 2009 and the summer holidays, probably in May.

There will be a celebration party as well in the UK on our return for those unable to be there, so it's not the end of the world if you can't come.

What a spendid opportunity/excuse though for an amazing holiday.
Let us know your thoughts folks.

Saturday Event

I'm organising a trip to the Gaydon Heritage Motor Museum which is about 20 mins up the M40 from KS this Saturday 29th March.(which is Dad's birthday)

It will be a great trip down memory lane for those of us who began our motoring in the 20th Century!
I went up to recce the place for loo/restaurant/stair/car-park facilities and it is a first class day out.
A family ticket is £28 otherwise it's £9 a head. Dad, Mum and I will be a family.
Ford now own it not BMC/Rover, so there are marques apart from the Cowley and Longbridge efforts.
P.s. As you now know Land Rover and Jaguar have been sold to TATA, a well known Singhalese Motor Lorry firm!

For instance how big would you say the engine out of a Model T Ford is in cc's?
What about 2800cc or nearly 3litres!

Grandpa Morgan had one of these!


and as a toddler I managed to reach forward and remove the ignition key while we were going along. Well it was dangling in the middle of the dash.. jingling away!

What a lovely meal!

I had the largest and thickest pork chop (actually two stuck togather - about an inch thick). We had a bit of fun when the waitress said "I am getting all hot and bothered, so I said to her "That' s alright you should treat us just like ordinary people". which made her smile. I think we all had a nice time at Gemma's 31st. I had to leave early as I had left Mum on her own, but we managed to deliver the Easter Eggs to Steve, William, Gemma and Clive, to mark the occasion. Today we went into Banbury to buy Mum some Sloggis (pants for the uninitiated!) and also a heating blanket and some beer glasses (Steve). We also bought some books at Woolies and caught the12o'clock (free)bus back. seey'all G&G

THE BEN JONSON

It was nice to meet up for lunch with Dad today at the

Ben Jonson named after one of the most eminent writers for the Elizabethan stage. (He used to stop over in Weston on his way to Stratford to visit his great friend Will Shakespeare.)

Sorry Mum that you weren't able to get out today after your fall last week. Hopefully you'll feel more like it by the weekend.
love Steve

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

hope you are all having a wonderfull Easter , we've just had brecfast and shared out the chocolate eggs yum yum =)

hopeing you're all well and have a great rest of Easter
love from Kate and everyone here in Wales

Happy Easter Bunny Birthday Gemma

click on picture!

Parkhurst. Hugh at the wheel

little Hugh sat in a Wooler Mule
Originally uploaded by ezappy.

Happy Easter to all our Readers

Here's Grandad at the wheel outside next door's at no.12 Rooke Street . The 3 wheeler we thought might be a BSA, but the rad looks like a Wooler Mule
wiki

ain't he sweet!

travels

We are flying off to Mali this evening from Marseille via Casablanca (arriving at 3am!) and returning on the 2nd April, so in advance Dad have a lovely birthday on the 29th, (happy birthday Gemma for now). This trip is part holiday and part preparatory visit, putting our faces out there for the adoption. We will meet our lawyer and visit the orphanage and it's director.

A friend has lent us his house in Djenne a 10 hour bus ride from Bamako so we will spend a night in a nice hotel on the banks of the Niger and then hire a car and driver to take us to Djenne later tomorrow afternoon hoping to get to Djenne market on Monday. We will return to Bamako later in the week for our meetings and in the hope of seeing/hearing some music next weekend.

Have a lovely Easter everyone and again we'll be thinking of you on the 29th Dad.

Lots of love Julian and Ruth

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GEMMA

Happy Easter Day when you will be having not only lots of cards (I hope) but also some choccy eggs and some champers (perhaps). We hope to see something of you over the weekend. Good luck on your visit to London!! G&G

itv.com/itpaystowatch

Welcome to the It Pays To Watch website, the accompaniment to the TV show, presented by Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis.
Each week you'll discover how to reclaim unfair charges, get products and services at the cheapest price possible (and maybe even for free!) plus you'll learn how to be a savvy consumer and show companies who's boss. You'll also be able to take a look inside a celebrity's wallet each week to see if Martin can save them cash, you'll discover thrifty oldstyle ways to avoid wasting money plus extraordinary MoneySavers will surprise us with the lengths they go to nab a top deal.
Every week this page will be updated with uber-savvy MoneySaving tips featured on the show so make sure you tune in to five on Wednesdays at 7:25pm and pop back regularly to the site to stay up-to-date on all the top bargains, tips and deals.
It is free to sign on! Dad

Still cannot get over it

My friends on the Island, Eddie and Gloria Minghella, are both quite a bit older than us and they worship their five talented children as indeed do we, but Anthony was the favourite and was just getting going - first with Precious Malotswe this weekend and there were plans to put on a stage play of that Pinkerton/Butterfly story.
Happily for us though he managed to finish one or two of Mr McCall's stories for TV.
We have no plans for the weekend. Gemma's birthday is on 23rd and we will have to get some choccy eggs! We will be attending our Easter services on Good Friday at 3.pm and Easter Sunday at 0900 but otherwise we are free as the birds,
How long is school holiday this year? Love from G&G

No.1 Ladies Detective Agency

Looking forward to this adaptation which airs on Sunday. Should bring back a few memories, eh? So sad about Anthony Minghella though. Our thoughts are with your firends on the island, Dad.

Whatayadoin at the weekend?

Pete

Happy Birthday Beth...

from the Lemur!

To London to London...

We'll be in London all day tomorrow. I'm hoping to take Amy around the Natural History Museum while the rest of the bunch are at a Christian music gathering in Central Hall. We'll not be back in daylight and leave on the 8.10 from Risboro in the morning.

Thanks on behalf of Beth for all her Birthday wishes. She'll get round to thanking you herself I'm sure, but while I'm here I'll just mention that for those who sent cards in the post I think they all arrived. Well done Gemma and Clive...and congrats once again. Now we're a bit more settled I'll see if I can get cards off and that kind of thing whenever there are birthdays on the horizon. I'm not proud of my track record on that kind of thing.

Beth dyed her hair tonight so we'll see in the morning what it looks like!

Love to all

Pete

Happy Birthday Beth!

Hello Beth, 

Card went in the post yesterday so hopefully should have reached you if not today then tomorrow. Many happy birthday wishes!
Oh yes and Happy Birthday to Auntie Mandy too!

love Gem and Clive xxx

Happy Birthday Beth

Card Card
lots of love from Uncle Steve

Happy Birthday Bethany

We've sent a card but as I don't have your full postal address I don't know when it will get to you. Much love, have a lovely day, Cathy, John, Edmund, Thomas and Kate. xxxxxxxxxx

HAPPY BIRFDAY TO BEFF

To our darling Bethany, have a very happy birthday and we hope to see you over the weekend. Love from G&G

'The March winds will blow'.

Tuesday night, the much promised storm winds came in and kept me and Kate from a good nights sleep, it blew it's self out during Wednesday and apart from one overturned dustbin didn't seem to have done any damage, largely thanks to John going out and tying things down tuesday evening. But I have just been down to the end of the garden to empty the compost bin and I see that the roof has blown off the shed and is leaning up against the wall of Charlies shed in the garden next door!!!! I'm glad no one was about when that was happening!!!

Congratulations!

to the cheeky minx and her betrothed. No! serously very very happy to get the news, much love and good wishes to you both, three cheers for Gemma and Clive, love Cathy and family

Homeward bound!

I'm glad to see that you got home safe and sound, I hope you didn't have to drive to much in the wind and rain. It was lovely to have you here. I started work on the pattern cutting for the 'footmans' jackets but I still feel abit daunted, I expect it will all be fine once I've realy started

Hi, Everyone

Left Cathy at 0850 this morning and after various stopovers, got in at 1440. First stop was at Llandovery for the usual, then along the A 40 as far as Abergavenny, with another usual stop, then continued along A 40 to Ross where we stopped for an hour at a very large discount store called Labels as we turned on to the M50. Mum bought a new skirt and a very fetching blouse and I managed to find a super pair of black shoes (£95 down to £53, so not bad). Left there at 1300 and joined the north bound drivers past Worcester and up to the M42, where we joined the M40 and home by 1440. If you can stand motorways, this is the way to do it!
June has asked me to pass on a congratulatory card to G&C which I will put in the post. love from G&G

The Dove

More fun films, this is a very funny Bergman parody from 1968. It was apparently oscar nominated and has the most hilarious mock swedish.

Hello to tout les gens

We are waiting for the promised 80mph gales up here, away from the coastal areas, but thank goodness they seem to have missed us.
Thanks, Julian for showing us what we are doing wrong!! We are driving too slow, but that is how I like it.
We are being spoilt by Cathy and John and eating like mad. A clutch of birthdays is on the way with Bethany on 14th, Gemma on 23rd and some old guy later in the month, as Steve would say Hint Hint G&G

So that explains it..

We are all packed for Wales

Just in case anyone had plans to head this way to K/S over the weekend, Cathy has invited us down to Ll/Brevi as Edmund is away in Sweden and his room has become vacant. We packed in record time and we will be moving off in the morning, before the rains come. The carpet is down and we have been left enough to cover the floor in the office.
love to all from G&G

Gemma & Clive

Dear everyone,

Just to let you all know the happy news that Clive and I got engaged on Friday evening, well it being leap year and all! We're very happy and its all a bit of a head spin at the moment, so no date set but perhaps next summer!?

Love to all

Gem & Clive
xxx

More Pictures...

more early days

spent the day yesterday altogether taking in Gem and Clive's news!!!!
that hats are optional.. next year!

Grandma & Grandad!

Want to talk to you but your phone has been 'engaged' for 2 hrs !!!!

love Gem xxx