It's that time of year again to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and to let you know what we have all
been up to this year - news of James and Rachel first.
James is in his final year at school now and will be applying to universities in the near future. He wants to stay in London (likes the home comforts!) and is looking at doing a music degree. He is still in the band High Jinks. They played a fair few gigs earlier in the year - they got through to the second round at the Emergenza competition, and won a local "battle of the bands" competition and played at the "Soul in the City" event in Orpington in the summer. James has kept in touch with his friend Brian who moved to Cologne, and Brian's father has some recording studio contacts in Germany who liked the band. So, Brian's family had the lads over for a week in November and they recorded the first four tracks of an album. They are planning to go back later in the year to finish this off, and the studio will then send it round to record labels, and they may also be able to set up a tour in Germany.
Rachel is doing her GCSE's this year, and as she is taking 12 subjects it's going to be a busy few months for her. Rachel loves drama and music still - she has started singing lessons in school and is going to a drama group at the local theatre once a week. They get the chance to audition for parts in plays put on there, but as she's doing her GCSE's she hasn't had time this year, although they did put on a short play in the local shopping centre over the summer following a workshop. Rachel's done very well for holidays this year. She went on a school trip to Italy in the summer - visiting Venice, Verona, Rome, Pisa and Florence. She really enjoyed it despite the fact it was a coach trip, so it took 24 hrs to get to Italy. She also went on holiday with her cousin Katy and family to Turkey in half term - my brother informed me he was offered 200 camels for her, but thankfully we got her back! She's off to Poland with the school next year, so is turning out to be a bit of a globe trotter.
We had some major building works done this year when we had a new kitchen installed. We stripped the kitchen literally back to the rafters, and had the wall tiles removed as well as having the floor tiles lifted, which extended to the front door. We also redecorated the hall, stairs and landing, so it was a bit like living on a building site. We set up a temporary kitchen in the lounge - it's amazing what you can cook in a microwave! As usual with any building works, the odd thing went wrong, and it took longer than anticipated, but we are really pleased with the results.
Our holiday this year was a busy one. As it was so hot in southern France last year, we decided to go to Northern France. We went to another Pierre et Vacances holiday village called Belle Dune an hour's drive south of Calais. We hired 2 houses as John's Mum and Dad joined us, together with James's friend Brian, Rachel's friend Kayleigh and her cousin Katy. It was a great site - plenty to do for everyone. The kids went sand yachting and John and I managed 3 rounds of golf.
We had a few adventures getting everyone together. As James wanted to go to the V festival over the first weekend, we arranged for him to join us on the Tuesday morning via the Eurostar. We had John's brother set up to drive him to Waterloo for the 6:30 am train - but we didn't think to phone him once the train was through the tunnel to remind him to get off in Calais, and as he'd had very little sleep over the weekend he fell asleep and ended up in Paris! Fortunately, his friend Brian was arriving into Gard de Nord the same day from Cologne and catching a train to Abbeville, for us to collect him there, and James managed to buy a ticket for the same train. Needless to say there was much texting (from me) advising him not to leave the station, only to have the reply that he already had and was in a café eating lunch and planning to look for a skateboard shop! We all managed a trip to Paris for the day on the train on John's birthday and went to Montmartre for lunch and managed to go up the Eiffel Tower.
We had our usual summer party this year - although it was a bit wet, we had plenty of music in the garden - James and his friends set up with some speakers and played some of their songs. Later on, John played guitar with our neighbour Bob, who brought round his keyboard, and we all joined in a bit of a sing song. We are hoping to have another musical event next summer.
John and I are still playing golf, although John has been playing a lot more than me. He has managed to get a handicap and has played in some competitions (he won his first competition recently). Unfortunately our local club only has men's competitions at the weekends, so I can't get to the women's ones. Rachel's also had the odd game with some friends from school.
John is still working in Leatherhead although I don't know how he copes with the drive round the M25 everyday. Having said that, it can take me over an hour to get the 9 miles to Greenwich in the mornings, and John can get there quicker than that if there are no accidents.
I will be starting a new job in January. I will be working in Bexley as the Service Manager for Older People's Mental Health Services. It's still with Oxleas NHS Trust, but will involve managing the whole mental health service for Older People in the borough, including in-patient units, so that will be a challenge! As I've had a few job changes in recent years I anticipate staying in this one for a while, and it should be a better journey as it's a bit nearer.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year, and hoping to hear your news soon.
Anne, John, James and Rachel