Patsy and John's Web-site

2013 has again been an up and down year. Stephen and Clare got married, our grandchildren are progressing well, we had an enjoyable holiday in France, visited the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition in Durham and had a successful visit to St Andrews. We continued the modernisation of our house, refurbishing the downstais bedroom. However, although John's cancer has been brought under control, he has suffered a few setbacks.

Patsy and John in Forgan's Restaurant, St Andrews (Highly Recommended)

A Family Gathering at Stephen and Clare's Wedding - Margaret (Patsy's Sister), Justin (Her Son),
Patsy, Stephen, Seth, Clare, John, Jan and Dave

The Hail, 45 Minutes After Falling

Church in Dinan (John's Annual Dose of Culture Which Seems Remarkably Similar to Last Year)

In August, we had a short trip to St Andrews which involved more beach walking, the usual mandatory rounds of putting on the Himalayas course and the odd meal out. We also had a quick look in to what used to be Hamilton Hall, the residence that both of us had stayed in back in the 60s. It has been converted into apartments which are available to millionaires and above. We explored the old baggage storage area (ie where we left our empty trunksand cases during term time) which is now a bar/restaurant.

Nostalgia; Sitting on St Andrews Pier with the Cathedral and Castle in the Background

Hamilton Hall (that was) Next to the R&A Clubhouse and the 1st Tee and 18th Green of the Old Course. John's Room was on the 2nd Level on the Extreme Right

The visit to St Andrews was slightly earlier than normal as we were still hoping to get to Oz and we had flights booked for September. Unfortunately, the bone in John's leg was not regenerating as expected so the risk of breakage was still just as great. The consultant suggested that he should have the leg 'nailed' so we again had to cancel. John was told that the operation was straight forward and that he should be fine after 5-7 days; unfortunately this was a slip of the tongue and the period was 5-7 weeks. In actuality, at the time of writing, 12 weeks have elapsed and the leg is still not fully back to rights. However, on a positive note, his right leg is now considerably more valuable than his left one. It has not prevented John progressing the decorating although he has had to carefully move the furniture around so that he always has something to lean on when painting the ceiling. Oz has now been replanned for April 2014 (hopefully). John is also hoping that the patched up leg will allow him to return to the golf course in 2014.

Patsy is still volunteering with an organisation that provides work for people with special needs. This is very rewarding and keeps the grey cells ticking over. To make sure that John isn't the only one with a medical condition to winge about, she has developed an arthritic hip but with her various keep fit classes, walking and cycling, she has managed to minimise the impact.

Stephen and Clare got married on 2 January. They didn't have a honeymoon but did go to Australia in July. Seth is four and three quarters and is now at school. He is already quite numerate (you have to be as a Sunderland supporter to keep count of the goals conceded and the players sent off) and is currently learning to read. He continues with his taekwando, football and swimming, all of which ensure that he uses up some of his abundant energy. Seren is 15 months and has recently started walking. She is quite constructive and whereas many children like to knock down towers of bricks, she prefers to try and build them; I can see a future female engineer developing. So far, the two get on well together which owes a lot to the efforts of Stephen and Clare.

		The Happy Couple
	A Pair of Poms in Oz	Seren Showing that Trains are More Interesting than Dolls		Sticking with the Transport Theme
Where One Goes, the Other Will Follow		She Can't Follow Me Here	Anyone for Taekwando	Can I Go Down?

Jan is still commuting to London from Breedon on the Hill. She has got herself involved in village life through being a member of its forum. Her role is Treasurer but Jan being Jan, she does interfere, sorry, get involved in other areas. Dave is still with Rolls Royce and has become a bit of a globe trotter. This year has seen them become chocolatiers (they attended a training course at the local pub) which was a great bonus for John's birthday as he received a box of fabulous and slightly alcoholic home made chocolates. They have also added a largish patio to their garden complete with BBQ and reluctant chef. More recently, they have come under attack from former residents of their converted barn who feel that the building is better suited to muridae than homo sapiens.

I think that this is a chocolate penguin

Dave cooking, or possibly just keeping warm

Link to 2012 'Letter'