Okehampton
We started October with just over a week of celebrations for Mum's 70th birthday. On the 2nd we all travelled to Devon to stay at the Manor House Hotel in Okehampton. There were 19 of us altogether: Mum, her three children with two of their 'other halves' (Colin stayed at home with the dogs), eight grandchildren and two 'other halves', and three great-grandchildren.
The hotel has a large number of sports facilities which meant that we were active the whole weekend. On Friday night we all arrived and had dinner. We were last to arrive having left later than the others due to us all being at school and then due to breaking down three times on the way there. Each time we had to push the car to get it started again. We were unable to drive with headlights as the problem was with the battery but we manage to make it most of the way in the light and then, miraculously, the battery or alternator fixed itself for the last few miles when we needed to drive in the dark. It had taken some of the others a long time to get there as well and Dan and Helen and Sarah and Ian had only just arrived when we got there. After dinner we played games in the bar until late.
On Saturday morning I got up early to have a swim before breakfast. After breakfast, Ben, Brian, Paul, Josh and Joe went out to play a round of golf. Mum, Sue and Dan went to do some air rifle shooting and the rest of us had the only relaxing part of the weekend and hung around with the children, spending some time in the children's room.
Dan and Helen went to play some tennis while we looked after Alexander then gradually, we all joined in until there were quite a few of us playing and we had a mini tournament. After lunch, we played badminton, rounders, then did some archery and went swimming.
Dinner was next and then ten pin bowling, indoor bowls and games in the bar before bed.
Sunday morning we all started to drift off. Dan and Helen went first, they needed to get back by the afternoon. Then Natalie, Paul, Jodie, Josh and Izzy; they needed to drop Paul off in London so that he could go to the Chelsea match. Before the rest of us went we had another game of indoor bowls (the surprise hit of the sporting activities). The hotel catered for everyone of every age (goodness knows we tested that bit)! The babies could swim or play in the creche. Whenever we played a sport there was space for the babies to sit at the edge. The older children could play together or could play with the adults. There were tournaments that any of us could have joined in but we were far too busy. Paul won the highest score in the archery and I'm sure that I had the highest women's score but I don't think the instructor took my score in because my practice shots were so appalling that he probably couldn't believe that I actually scored 42 in the final round!
The car broke down again on the way home, but only once this time and we made it home by 9pm. We spent the whole of the next week recovering. The Okehampton weekend was so busy that it was exhausting. Everyone really enjoyed it. Mum is really keen to go again but I think she may have more energy than the rest of us!
Mum's 70th birthday
The day after we returned from Okehampton was Mum's actual birthday and Sue, Nat, Brian and I went with all the children to take her present - a Dutch style bicycle. We put a big bunch of flowers in the basket and Sue and I parked the bike outside the front door so that everyone else could get Mum to answer the door and see the bike. She was thrilled!
Mum, Sue, Nat and I took turns in riding it up and down the road to try it out. It is reasonably heavy but comfortable and easy to ride. It suits her down to the ground.
In our attempts to get an authentic bike, just like our grandmother's, Sue and I had bought two secondhand bikes very similar to this one. The first one was a 1960s or 70s bike, apparently a post bike, which we got from Clapham. It was a lovely bike and just needed a clean up and a new set of back brake pads but Sue said that it wasn't the right type of bike so we put it in the shed ready to resell. The second bike we got was a genuine 80 or so years old bike very similar to the one we gave her but it couldn't be repaired. That was also confined to the shed to await advertising as a garden ornament or a labour of love project. Having spent a bit on secondhand bikes, plan B was put into operation and a brand new one was bought. I can't now decide whether to keep the first secondhand bike we bought. The only reason I might not is that it is a lot heavier than the bike I have now but otherwise it needs less work and is lovely to ride (and it has a basket)!
I made Mum a cake and we had a small party at Mum's house to celebrate, keeping it as low key as possible as we were all still getting over the weekend.
Mum's final 70th birthday celebration
On the 10th Auntie Edna and Peter came over to see us all at Nat's house. Our cousins Debra and Beverley and their husbands, Andy and Jon came along as well. We managed to get all 19 of us together again and the house was full. Natalie put on some food that she had delivered by some caterers. Only Colin, who was at the wood, Mandy, our other cousin, and Bev's two boys who are both in Australia, were not there. It was nice to spend some time together. We used to see quite a lot of each other when us children still lived at home but since then we rarely meet up and it had been 10 years since we met up just for a family get-together.
Our anniversary
On the 22nd October, Brian and I had been together for 20 years. I had booked us some tickets to see Spandau Ballet at the O2 when I first heard about them months ago. We booked a table at a restaurant called Canteen in Canary Wharf for 6pm and caught the first train we could after work, arriving at 5.50pm at the Canary Wharf underground station. The restaurant was lovely, the service was very good and the food delicious. We started by ordering cocktails for each other, not giving away the names. Brian guessed straight away that his drink was a 'Smuggler' a mixture of apple cider and brandy. I was sure I could taste grapefruit in mine and guessed it was a 'Grapefruit 75' but I was wrong, I had a Rhubarb White Lady which is made with rhubarb infused gin and a fruit liqueur.
While we were drinking our cocktails we had a look at the tickets. I was sure that the show started at 8pm but, to our horror, the tickets said 6.30pm! We decided that we weren't going to miss the meal and so we would miss the support act if we had to but would try to finish our meal as quickly as possible. We asked if the main course could be prepared as soon as we had our starters and they were happy to do this. Brian had potted duck with piccallili and toast followed by skate, salad and chips . I had caramelised onion and sage tart followed by smoked haddock, spinach and mash. All the food was delicious. The puddings looked delicious too but we thought we should get to the O2 so as not to miss too much.
When we arrived at the O2 and found where we needed to go, we realised that nothing had started yet. It was 7.45pm and there was no sign of a support band. As it turned out, there was no support act and Spandau Ballet didn't get started until 8.30pm. We were cross as we could have had a pudding and another drink at the restaurant instead of paying the over-inflated prices charged at the O2!
Spandau Ballet were very good. We were quite a way from the stage but they projected images onto a screen behind them, some of the band on the stage and some of them 20 years ago when on tour. The audience were mainly over 40s like us - if there is one thing that makes you feel really old it is realising that you are one of the 'old crowd' and that the things you are there to enjoy are relics of the past. This is the only thing I've experienced so far that has actually made me feel old. The band were really good, really professional sounding and much better than I remembered them. The venue was the only thing that let the evening down. The drinks were far too expensive, the service at the bar was very slow and when Brian went to get us a second drink they had run out of cider and beer and he had to buy water. He was gone such a long time that he must have missed at least a quarter of the concert! Added to that, the lack of information about the evening meant that we cut our lovely meal short and it was all seated so we were kept in our seats by security guards there to ensure that people didn't rush to the front (surely that's part of what going to concerts is about). Brownie points to Canteen and to Spandau Ballet for making a wonderful evening and black marks to O2 and Ticketmaster for greed, bad organisation, lack of atmosphere and lack of useful information.
Dinner at Dan and Helen's
On the 25th we went to dinner at Dan and Helen's. Helen cooked for a change and we had a lovely meal of stuffed chicken, braised leeks, carrots and new potatoes. For dessert (which she usually makes) we had pumpkin cheesecake, a delicious baked cheesecake which was served with ice cream.
Dan showed us the newly published book Wheel-Rail Interface Handbook, for which he has written Chapter 23. It is a huge book costing around £195 to buy and aimed at company libraries rather than for public sale (http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1477). His chapter sits alongside those written by academics from all over the world. I’m so proud of him!
Microspot Halloween Party
Held to celebrate the first year of trading for Microspot Computer Services and Blue House Design, Brian and Jason organised a halloween party to be held in the office next to theirs. They decorated the lift to get up to the office, built a corridor to get into the party office complete with smoke, blood spattered walls and voices, set up a bar area and a sound system. Almost everyone who came dressed up. Brian dressed as Beetlejuice, I was a witch (no change there!), Beccy was a ghost and Ben, who was helping behind the bar, was Moe, the bartender in the Simpsons. Dan came as Zorro, complete with real fencing sword.
more pics at MCS/BHD Halloween 2009
The party went really well. The only hitch was when the fire alarm went off (which it did at least three times). Brian had to phone the fire brigade to stop them coming out and we had to check the building just in case it was a real fire. The alarm was set off by the smoke machine which eventually had to be turned off.
Half Term
On Monday of half term I went out for a walk with Claire. We walked Cosby, Claire’s dog. No children were available to come with us. For the last 13 years we have done things together with the children and now they are too old and too busy to need to come out. It was nice to have some time with just the two of us and completely unusual. Nathan had friends over and was cooking, Ben was out with friends in Rochester, Alli was at dance rehearsals and Beccy was out with Bradley delivering papers and playing in the park. With Nadia now at university things are strangely child free at times. Not particularly nice for either of us but something we both have to learn to live with.
On the Wednesday I travelled up to London on the train (Ben and Beccy were otherwise engaged again) and met Helen and Alexander at Liverpool St Station. We took the tube to meet Dan at Euston, where we had lunch at Albertini's. Dan obviously frequents it quite a lot as the staff even knew Alexander's name! After lunch Helen, Alexander and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum where we looked at the fashions, jewellery, ironwork and sculptures. Alexander was able to sit and have a feel of some of the sculpture materials and he was fascinated by the sparkly jewellery. I travelled back to Liverpool St with them then took my own train home after theirs had left. It's good to spend at least one day each holiday taking Alexander out, at least for me and I hope he enjoys it too.
Other notable events
Beccy seems to be very keen to help out at school. She did PE demonstrations at the school open evening and has been helping with the coaching of the school girls football team. She does extra English sessions after school and is playing in the school hockey team. She took part in a hockey tournament which her school team won. We have received two postcards home from school. One congratulated her on the excellent start she has made in GCSE PE and the other congratulated her for the excellent start she has made in GCSE French. Let's hope it continues.
Her football is continuing to be one of her favourite activities. She hasn't had a Kent match yet. Both scheduled fixtures have so far been cancelled because the opposition didn't have a team.
Ben continues to enjoy his tennis. On the 17th he attended the team presentation evening. He has been playing for the men's and the mixed doubles teams. He played his first hockey match for the men's team this season but this is having to take second place to tennis now as he is being paid to help at the coaching sessions at the tennis club. On the 29th, he acted as tournament referee for a mini red tournament and then he played and won, quite decisively, two matches.
His other interest is going out with his friends, which he does more and more often. With his friends from Explorers, he spends time in Rochester and has twice been up to London to Camden Market. He does the organising and planning, which he obviously enjoys. With his school friends he has been to a number of parties and has had a number of poker nights (at the house of someone different each time as they go on very late and usually involve a number of boys sleeping over). We have hosted two poker nights but the responsibility hasn't come our way again yet, thankfully! He has also become a Latin mentor at school, helping boys one and two years below him in the Latin revision sessions, an activity he readily volunteered for.
Brian's company is still struggling with cash flow and, sometimes, I don't think he is enjoying it. However, they have now been going for one year and we can at least be fairly confident that it can carry on as it has been for a while yet. A big Halloween 1st anniversary party is planned for the 31st, which we are all looking forward to.
I have been to two further choir practice sessions and still really enjoy it. I always knew I liked to sing and I sang in the church choir when I was a teenager, but I have been surprised at just how much I am enjoying it. I have also joined the staff netball team. This has given me the chance to get to know some of the other people who work at the college. we are all either new to netball or haven't played for a long time and so it is more relaxed than competitive. Our first match was lost 16-43 despite a 2 goal advantage at the start! Our second was rather better, we only lost 24-31, with only six players, a great improvement! I'm also enjoying the films we see at the Maidstone Film Society. This month Mum, Sue and I saw Milk, an autobiographical film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to gain public office in San Francisco. This was a good film and I would recommend it.
Getting to work is still quite a treat. The bus has been reliable so far, I have worked out how to get my cheap tickets and I have now read three whole books: Danziger's Travels by Nick Danziger, Small Island by Andrea Levy and The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock. All three were thought provoking, interesting and kept me amused during the journeys. taking the bus means that I can completely switch off between the chaos of getting out of the house in the morning, the working day and then the evening tasks of cooking, clearing and ferrying children to activities. I sometimes think that if it wasn't for the bus I would go mad. Having said this, I haven't been late yet and it has only rained once. I'll reassess at the end of the winter. I have noticed how edgy Brian is when he is in the car. On top of a stressful working day, this can't be good for him. The two of us drove into Chatham to get a pasta machine and the whole time we were in the car (me driving) he was shouting at me not to stop at red lights, to drive much faster, to overtake in order to get there quicker and then to park as close as possible to the shop. However, when I had parked the car and got the ticket, he was busy on his iPhone and complained that I was rushing him! It seems that the car is the place to be in a rush, otherwise life is quite laid back!
We bought our pasta machine with some vouchers Brian had been given at work and made our own pasta for the first time, which I used in a lasagne. We will definitely be making some more.
We had a wedding and a funeral in the same week. Brian's Auntie Glad was cremated on the Monday and Duncan and Gina were married on Friday. Brian went to the church service and we all went to the evening reception.
When we saw Auntie Edna she brought a census record for the family of my great grandfather. My great-grandfather had left his parents' home, married and had a home of his own in Hounslow. The rest of his family seemed to have been caught by the poverty trap. Five grown up sons were still living with the parents, the eldest of these being 40! It is likely that extreme poverty (arising from the depression which drove many away from the land at the end of the 19th century) had prevented these children from marrying and getting their own homes. The parents, dad 71 and mum 61, were both listed as still working, another indication of poverty.
I also had contact with lady in New Zealand who has the same ancestors as me and who had some information about one of my great great grandfathers who went to South Africa to mine for gold and, on his return, made a bigamous marriage for which he spent four months in prison. On his release his wife divorced him and most of the family emigrated except my great-grandmother who seems to have supported her father when he was released from prison.
