Hello everyone, and welcome to this year’s verbal stroll through the past twelve months. The metaphor fails immediately, however, since the first thing that comes to mind when reviewing 2013 is cycling, not strolling. A few years ago, I had an idea that I needed to cycle from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, but the logistics of getting my bike and me there and back was proving a headache, so I simply decided to cycle the equivalent miles along more scenic roads. People have suggested that this may be a mid-life crisis thing, but since it doesn’t involve other women, Harley Davidsons, nor going to Glastonbury, Geraldine was happy to indulge me.
Rather than taking off for eleven days at one go, I chose to break the ride into three sections. On the first 4-day trip in May, I did the Coast-to-Coast, including York and Whitby, returning via Hawes and Arnside. After that, I tackled a sponsored ride from Prestwick to Portree on Skye in early June. To finish off my 900 miles target, in July I cycled from Achmelvich Beach on the west coast of Scotland to John o’ Groats, returning along the north coast to Cape Wrath, and then back to Achmelvich. This was a very special trip, especially the ride out to Cape Wrath. The only way to get there is by a tiny ferry with my bike only just fitting across the width of the boat with the front wheel turned through 90 degrees. The six other passengers were driven the 12 miles to the lighthouse in a minibus already stationed across the Kyle, but on my bike, I was truly alone in the most remote scenery you can imagine. For the whole trip I could not have asked for better weather, enjoying unbroken sunshine each day.
On the way back, Gee came to meet me in Glasgow and the next day we had a lovely visit to the Isle of Arran. We boarded the ferry carrying brollies in grey, drizzly weather, only to see the sun come out once we arrived so that I came away with sunburn! This was directly after spending four days in the saddle in full sunshine with no ill effects.
Heading back in time to the start of the year finds us in a less pleasant place. Those with good memories will recall that Geraldine had a mole removed from her foot in November last year, but this proved not to be the end of the story. She had to return in January to have more tissue removed from around the site since the specialist didn’t like the results from the tests. Thankfully, the threatened skin graft was not required in the end, but Gee was still on crutches for several weeks, just managing to get fully fit by mid March in time for her trip to Málaga with a close friend. I hope that we won’t hear any more of the matter – the foot, I mean, not the Málaga trip.
Laurence has had an interesting year, having being made redundant in April after just 9 months in work when his company went into receivership. Undeterred, within 6 weeks he had secured a similar role with a substantial salary increase working for another company. He had a nerve-wracking time when he was invited to two interviews 35 miles apart on the same day. Both companies offered him a job, but he accepted the one who told him that he’d passed due to a mixture of 30% knowledge and 70% enthusiasm. He has settled in well, even to the point of being warned during the summer never to mention his age (19) to the two interns who were reporting to him – they were two years older!
He’s had less good fortune with cars, though. In November last year he swapped his VW Polo for a very clean Peugeot 206, but in January, things started to go wrong, starting with the radiator. Every month saw another garage bill for something or other, and this pattern was maintained right through to August, culminating in the clutch failing two days before he was due to trade it in for a Ford Fiesta. He was not sorry to let it go.
Emily celebrated her 21st birthday in March and seemed to be partying on the strength of this for the weeks either side of the actual date. As a family, we limited our celebrations to taking a most civilised champagne afternoon tea at Cloud 23 in Manchester. Em still lives in Sheffield with Jack, her boyfriend, where they rent a lovely flat overlooking the River Don, and although she currently has a full time job, it isn’t doing Occupational Therapy for which she is now qualified. Although she has attended several interviews for OT posts, so far she has not been offered her ideal job.
We had a marvellous time attending her graduation in the City Hall in Sheffield. Gee and I had booked into a beautiful boutique hotel in town and enjoyed a very relaxed meal with Emily & Jack the night before. Unfortunately, the afternoon was a bit rushed since I had to dash off soon after the ceremony to travel to Barrow-in-Furness where I had a business appointment that evening.
I am finding that work life has suddenly become a lot busier since my immediate boss moved on last month. He’s not being replaced, which has left just two of us to do the work previously done by three. Thankfully, I really enjoy the job, which is proving to be interesting and challenging in equal measure. Recently, I was asked to prepare some Higher Apprenticeship case studies for The Sunday Times for a feature they were running. I was pleased when not one, but two articles appeared in the paper with several of my phrases remaining intact. Didn’t get any credit, though, and I had to pay full whack for the paper too!
In addition, I have appeared in a cameo role along with some of my apprentices in a local TV advertisement produced for Blackpool & the Fylde College. The college were searching for some interesting backgrounds, so they asked to film in the Eurofighter Typhoon final assembly hangar at Warton. I have not seen the rushes, but I understand that our seven seconds of footage came out OK. Watch out for the advert in mid-January if you are in the North West of England.
Geraldine and I celebrated a big milestone in April when we visited Paris for our 30th wedding anniversary. We wanted a special hotel, and I spent hours checking Trip Advisor to select the right one, being very particular about location. The hotel we selected turned out to be a gem, situated in the Triangle d’Or, and at the time we visited, it was rated 17th out of the 1,795 hotels in the city. We did all the romantic things including locking a padlock to a bridge and throwing the key in the Seine, but the highlight of the trip was our evening at the Moulin Rouge. We had fantastic seats, and apart from some feathers from the costumes falling in my drink (we were that close), I could not fault it. Just don’t ask about the cost. I couldn’t let Gee know the ticket price, or she would have refused to let me book it, but afterwards we both thought it was worth every Euro.
We have recently returned from a cultural week in Andalucía visiting Mijas, Ronda, Seville, Córdoba and Granada. Fantastic few days, but we realised too late that when you book a three-city holiday with coach transfers, you are actually getting a coach tour, complete with all the implications. We managed to hide from most of the ‘organised’ elements and actually enjoyed a great deal of freedom. We still haven’t mastered the art of eating tapas, however. Although we never went hungry, we did end up with some rather unexpected dishes. I was really looking forward to my ración of acorn-fed Ibérico ham, only to be very disappointed to find it comprised just six palm-sized wafer-thin slices and nothing else. The previous tapa of rabo de toro (bull’s tail) only partially made up for it. More practice needed, perhaps.
In June, I was persuaded to act as driver for a few colleagues who were tackling the National Three Peaks Challenge. We left Preston in a 12-seat minibus at 1pm on Friday, and stopped overnight in the Glen Nevis Hostel in Fort William. This was the last bed I saw until Sunday evening, and even there I barely managed to get it warm. Since I wasn’t walking, I felt I obliged to help make breakfast, not realising that this meant a 4am start. The rest of the weekend is a blur, with just a few short periods of sleep snatched whenever possible. The team raised loads of money for charity and there was great camaraderie, but the best thing for me was I didn’t get any blisters.
So, onto gardens. Despite what you may think, this is probably where Geraldine and I spent most of our spare time, and this summer has been a great time to enjoy it. For years, I’ve been resisting digging a pond for Geraldine, mainly because I don’t fancy the maintenance they appear to need, but this year, I succumbed and spent weeks sitting in the back garden thinking where a pond may best fit, and what shape it should be. You’ll remember the phase “Sometimes I just sits and thinks, and other times I just sits”? Well, that’s been me. Ponds need very careful thought and after many weeks, I cut the first sod in August, with a plan to fill it with water by March, when the plants will go in. Therefore, for all those acquaintances who’ve said all autumn “Have you not finished it yet?”, the answer is, “All in good time”. I now have a hole to the correct depth and shape and I think the rim is level so that I don’t get any liner showing. All I need to do now is smooth off the base, fit the liner and then add water. Easy.
I am fitting in this between doing the routine garden stuff, and also around planting a forest. You’ll probably be aware that we bought a patch of land in 2010, and I’ve decided to plant a few trees in it. OK, perhaps more than a few. I’ve planted 36 so far, with as many yet to plant. They are all native species, carefully selected to grow in the dreadful clayey, rocky stuff that masquerades as soil in the field behind our garden. Just waiting for them to mature, now, so that in a few years time I can sling a hammock between a couple of them and enjoy retirement swinging, reading a book and drinking Pimms in the shade.
For the rest of our entertainment, Gee and I have been enjoying regular meals with neighbours around the Close. Ten of us take it in turns to host a meal in the ‘Come Dine with Me’ style, but without the voting. They are lovely evenings, but they do tend to finish rather late and are accompanied by an over-supply of wine. At least we haven’t far to stagger home afterwards.
Also, one of the couples regularly holds house gigs and invites some fantastic acts to perform. The latest one was Henry Priestman (formerly with the Christians) who gave a superb performance in November. Geraldine was very much in favour with him, since, after seeing a comment on his Facebook page, she offered to bake him a lemon drizzle cake. He hardly stopped talking about it all evening, and for a while it was even referenced on his website! Geraldine’s culinary skills are very widespread. Last year, a Canadian band, Miss Quincy, came to a house gig and enjoyed one of Geraldine’s dishes. We went to see them this April when they were on a European tour, and whilst chatting in the interval, they were recalling fondly the fish pie they enjoyed in Brindle. Other favourite artists this year include Blue Flint, an Edinburgh-based band whose two lady singers both play banjo. You must believe me when I say that they sound much better than my description.
I’ve just been reviewing my Facebook entries to verify a date, and realised that if you were all friends on FB, you could have just read the posts for 2013 and saved me a job. And you’d have seen photos too! There’s a hint… I hope that your year has been as pleasant as you wished it to be, and that 2014 is as good or better.
