I’m late writing this letter, but since it goes out with the Christmas cards, you won’t notice, but I am usually better prepared than this. The lateness is due to things being busier than usual recently, but after the events late last year, I’m pleased that this is the case. You will recall that a year ago I was anticipating a heart bypass operation in the New Year and hoping life would return to normal soon afterwards. I’m delighted to report that the operation on 20th February went very smoothly and I returned home four days later. I diligently followed instructions about resting and exercising and was free of painkillers within a month and by early April, I was discharged from hospital and back on my bike. I returned to work in May and felt at full strength soon afterwards. But enough about that – I’m just glad to put it all behind me.
Emily metaphorically spread her wings and flew the nest when she bought a lovely house in Hazel Grove close to her job in South Manchester. She lives alone, apart from a cat called Felix, and regularly experiences the downside of home-ownership, when everything that goes wrong in the house is the owner’s problem. Each week there is a new crisis for her to resolve, ranging from faulty patio doors, a temperamental boiler, a self-opening fridge and large spiders. I’m proud of her in respect of the latter: she caught one monster under a (very large) glass but then had to call me to ask how to relocate it outside. She is learning many new DIY tricks and has even mastered the skill of drilling walls after assessing the chances of there being pipes or electric cables behind. So far, so good.
She took my place on a cycling trip to Majorca in May and she and Laurence had a great few days. Everything went wrong very quickly after she and two others in the group had their hired bikes stolen on day 5, which led to two days in discussions with the hire company and the police. Even though everyone had taken out insurance, they were still being charged €4,500 for the three bikes. After much negotiation, they reluctantly paid an initial €1,500 and returned home. The outstanding amount was never repaid. Missing going to Majorca with my friends was irritating, but it wasn’t the worst thing: far worse was the fact that Emily cycled up Sa Calobra in a quicker time than I recorded the year before! I’m still smarting over this, so I’m presently in training to race her up the mountains next year when we are spending a week in Calpe, near Alicante.
It appears that both children have inherited the cycling bug. Laurence bought a lovely carbon bike last year and now often leaves the house before dawn on Saturday morning, drives to a youth hostel, spends a day on the bike, an evening in a local pub and the next day walking or recovering. Now who else do you know who did that very same thing about 40 years ago? He also practices jiu jitsu (does one practice it? What other verb should I use?) and trains very early two or three mornings a week. One day last summer, he left the house at 5:45, trained for an hour, went to work for 8 hours, cycled 7 miles to the club again for another 90-minute session before cycling 21 miles the long way home over the hills. Where does he get his energy from?
Since the early 1980s, we have had friends in the USA whom we meet too infrequently, but in June, they visited Southampton, so we arranged to get together for a catch-up. It was our first visit to that city, having previously only passed by it when heading to Portsmouth. We really enjoyed hearing the city’s history whilst taking a guided tour of the ancient walls. Here I bumped into a couple from America who were touring the UK before joining a cruise. As we chatted in 30˚C sunshine, they commented on the variability of the UK weather, and recalled a stormy trip across to Orkney a week earlier where they experienced horizontal rain and temperatures of 8˚C. I told them that I’d been there at the same time, and they recalled looking incredulously at some idiots on bikes who were actually camping in Thurso! I admitted that they probably saw me, and some similarly barmy friends of mine. I was there taking part in the Prestwick Cycle Challenge, an annual charity bike ride which this year completed a tour of Orkney on day two of a three-day trip. The weather was awful on the island, so I barely saw anything of note, but I have now visited the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness, which had both been on my ‘to-do’ list.
I enjoyed better weather on another trip to Scotland where some of us hired a bunk barn near Peebles to do some mountain biking. I’m not a mountain biker, so I stayed on the roads, but had a lovely three days amidst gorgeous scenery and great company. I was also in Scotland for two other trips during the summer: one was a business trip helping with the RAF Lossiemouth Families Day and the other was a great visit to the Edinburgh Fringe with Gee, where we were joined by Emily and Ellis.
The loose group of friends with whom I cycle have developed plans for 2018, and because I’m unwilling to say no to anything, I have signed up for three more cycling trips: one to Calpe in May, the Prestwick event again and also a trip to the French Alps in summer. For the latter, I realised that I would need to invest in a more suitable bike before tackling the ‘Tour de France’ mountain passes. This led to a shopping spree in my local bike shop in September where, after weeks of discussions, I finally ordered a beautiful titanium-framed machine which weighs just a fraction more than a mobile phone. It rides like a dream but I now find that I’ve no excuse for failing to keep up with anyone!
As mentioned, I returned to work full time in May and before I knew it, I was back in the thick of it, despite my best intentions to slow down. For the past few years, I have been a member of a group who are writing new apprenticeship standards for project managers and since it is a UK-wide group, quite a bit of travelling is required. In addition, it is a requirement to meet the apprentices every three months and since 19 of our 100+ students work away from the northwest in eight UK locations, barely a week passes without a trip somewhere. Whilst I still love the job, I’m feeling the need to hand over to someone else soon. The trouble is, I keep saying that I’ll just see this completed, or that delivered, but since the job is cyclical, each month there is a new target that I want to meet. In truth, I suppose I’m frightened to retire, but I’m really trying to get my head round it. I’ll report back next year to let you know if things have changed!
Gee is still working at Blackburn Council although she is very much looking forward to finishing her substantive job. The irony is that even with all the cuts to local government funding, the authorities still see a firm requirement for her skill set. Thankfully, she still enjoys her part time role as a wedding celebrant and reported that she has now presided over the marriage of over 260 couples over the years, and even has a booking on New Years day.
Live music still plays a large part of our entertainment. Gee and I were thrilled to receive tickets to see Caro Emerald as our anniversary present from the children which we incorporated into a long weekend in Manchester. Attending a concert with >2000 other people was an unusual experience for us, since we normally attend local house gigs or concerts in very small capacity halls. For example, the next largest venue this year was Settle Victoria Hall with a capacity of about 150. We went there for the Settle Folk Gathering in summer where we saw two of our favourite bands and also met Mike Harding, a long-time a hero of mine, who was hosting the event. Normally, we just stroll across the road to our neighbours who offer fantastic house concerts in the most intimate of venues. There’s nothing like it for really feeling part of the action: only this month I sat in the front row of the crowded room, literally touching knees with the band’s cornet player. (He was French, so he didn’t mind)
Laurence is now in his 10th year playing for Brindle Brass Band, where he now plays the B♭ bass (you may know it as a tuba). Brindle are a fourth section band and in early summer they won the regional championships making them eligible to take part in the national finals in September. This is the same competition made famous in the film Brassed Off, although it is no longer held in the Royal Albert Hall. Brindle gave a great performance, coming fourth overall. Celebrations went on long into the night.
With the uncertainty following my operation, we didn’t book any holidays this year, and instead, we arranged a few short trips, the main one being a few days in Cornwall. I was searching for short breaks in pubs whilst Gee was checking Secret Escapes for good deals. When we compared notes, we discovered that we could combine our plans and so we enjoyed three nights at the Carbis Bay Hotel in St Ives stopping at an old pub near Bristol on the way there and another in Tewkesbury on the way home. Our visit to Bristol incorporated a guided tour of the Clifton suspension bridge, another of my ‘must-see’ sights and well worth a visit. Cornwall was lovely, even in drizzly mid-October. On one day, we took a short train ride to Penzance and from there walked along the coast to Mousehole where we recalled memories of summers long gone. Other trips included Porthleven, Mullion, Lizard and Cadgwith where we worked up an appetite for the terrific food in the hotel.
I only managed one cycle touring trip this year and that was to Staveley near Kendal. This was my first venture into Airbnb and although it worked out fine in the end, it was decidedly odd living through it. I had booked a room in a woman’s house who told me that she may be out on a rescue when I was due to arrive at 5pm on Friday (she was a member of the local Mountain Rescue team). It seemed odd that she was able to predict this, but since she’d told me where to find a key and to make myself at home when I arrived, I wasn’t surprised to find the house empty. I let myself in and made a brew and after about an hour, I decided that I really needed a shower, so I used her bathroom (which had no lock) and since there was still no sign of the owner when I had finished, I wrote her a note and went out for a meal. When I returned at 9:30, there was still no sign, so I went to bed. She never appeared the next day and after breakfast I left the house wondering if she was OK, since she had failed to reply to any of my texts or emails. I received good feedback after the trip, so everything turned out well, but it has left me a bit wary of using Airbnb on future trips.
Finally, some may remember that I usually have a grumble about something or other in these newsletters and in 2015 I moaned about people overusing the word ‘so’ to precede every sentence. It was good to note that Radio 4 listeners have finally caught up with my thinking since they recently reported this as being one of the most annoying traits in spoken English. I’m glad it isn’t just me…
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and look forward to seeing some of you in 2018.