First Blog of 2014

By now, the wishes for a good new year must have been made to one another. Christmas, though not many weeks ago, seems to have been consigned to ancient history. Forgetting what was behind may not be easy, but already we press on forward into what we hope the new year has for us.

For Irene and I not only will our annual adventure into the normal continue, but we shall be treading into foreign territory. Some of this territory will be familiar, but some will be strange indeed; especially the China part. Bag packing is underway, foreign money bought, tickets filed and maps of Guangzou printed.

So far the year has been far from boring. There have been reasons why this year is not having the joyful start that we hoped for. But good things have happened.

Today, as I write, I am not overjoyed as I sit in the increasing cold waiting for plumber to call an hour ago. As you will know, there is Dr Who time, normal time and plumbers’ time. I should be going off to our Monday afternoon café. Perhaps the heating will be fixed in time for me to walk down.

Apart from the trip to come our big news is the installation of solar panels. They were fitted efficiently by friendly staff at a good price. (£0.00). Thanks to sunny days we have already seen the meter stop sometimes, go slow sometimes and go backwards at other times. Stopping is good; it means that we are not buying electricity from our company, nor is the solar panel company being paid for supplying power to the grid. One thing we did not bank on was having half the roof tiles removed and stacked in the garden.

 Despite the frequent passage of rain storms over us we were able to have a short walk. On Wednesday we had to go to our friend Margaret’s solicitor and pass over her financial affairs. This gave us a chance to have some recreation. This started with cream covered scones at the garden centre near Ilkeston. We then parked at Cotmanhay and crossed a bridge at the well named ‘Bridge Inn’ and walked along the Erewash canal until we came to Shipley lock where, in an interesting way the canal crossed the Erewash river.

The start of the walk

Muddy path

The wind turbine had it sails a few days after this.
Apparently the residents did not know
about it until they saw the mast

The river below and the canal behind

Before getting back to the car we spied the entrance to a community farm and went to look. We were greeted by a young man who informed us that it was now closed for good. Apparently the new landlord of the pub wanted the land back to put caravans on. This is so sad given that this is a ‘deprived’ area and the farm is well used by schools and other groups. Apparently the local residents have also objected to them re-siting the farm on an area next to an existing farm.

Our friends Paul and Mary have invited us for dinner and Monday night and Joni and Fiona have invited us to dinner on Wednesday night.

So now to ring the plumber again.

From next Monday the blogs will be via http://wearekiwisnow.blogspot.co.uk/

December 2013

Just when we thought that our walking season had come to an end the sky went blue and the sun came out, so on the 4^th we set off to Draycott. Why Draycott you may ask. Apparently the charity shops are not worth visiting (Sadly we can testify to some truth of this as there was only one and that was on two sites.) The reason for the visit was Irene’s manicure session. She was still using her birthday vouchers.

We arrived early for the appointment and parked in the village square, visited a charity shop, walked down the street and marvelled at the church building. In the beauty parlour we both enjoyed the free coffee and I tried the various sweets while the nail process went on. From the shop we walked down to the ‘Courtyard’ to enjoy more coffee and mince pies.

The walk was almost the next thing on the agenda. Part way along we parked alongside the River Derwent and went on the embankment which was too muddy to go far. A little further on we came to the church of St Chad’s in  the hamlet of Wilne. The only building that I could see in the hamlet (Courtesy of Google Earth) was the church. We parked in the car park opposite facing St Chad’s Water, where we had our picnic before making the fairly short walk around the blue water of the ‘Water’. Despite the lateness of the year the golden colours of autumn were still in evidence.

 On the 5th Joni and Fiona had their Christmas party. Something like forty people had been invited. The highlight of the evening was bauble making. There were lots of polystyrene balls and stuff to stick on, or paint on. There were some beautiful creations, as you would expect from such a group. It was a great evening, but Irene and I left the young folks to enjoy themselves. (See Facebook entry concerning a weird entry about Fiona and Joni. Don't be fooled by it. Do not take Facebook seriously is the lesson.)

On the 7^th we made one of our regular trips to Milton Keynes. We were told that there was a winter wonderland event in Campbell Park. (Campbell Park is the central park of the city and named after its founding father.) However, when we were able to park, the only event seemed to be cross-country athletics. Again it was bright sun and autumn colours.

There was a spectacular sunset on the following day. There were beautiful swirls of colour. The event was witnessed very widely.

The last Monday cafés followed. There were few people at the morning one and we said our goodbyes to Marie and Lorentz as she left to await the delivery of her third child sometime in January. In the afternoon we had our ‘Mince Pies and Carols’ event at Leicester House. However, we had to supply an alternative to the traditional pies as even some of the oldies do not appreciate them.

Once more we were in Milton Keynes, where we spent a happy time with the girls around the Christmas tree. At this time the family were awaiting news about Isla’s mum, who was ill in hospital.

On Monday 22^nd we were mostly ready for Christmas and took the chance of a short walk to blow off the cobwebs. Throughout the Christmas weeks the weather was very unsettled, with damaging storms crossing the country on a regular basis. Many people in the south experienced flooding and some thousands of people were without electricity for days over Christmas. Irene’s brother Martin spent Christmas day in a hotel at bl…dy Gatwick. (See my diary entry for summer 2005) Their delay was due to a power failure.

Christmas for Irene and I was set to be different. On Christmas Eve we met up with our friends, Paul and Mary, to walk with them to St Giles church in Sandiacre. The Christingle service was well attended and very atmospheric, despite the number of children in this beautiful old church. The vicar was very creative and had written a song, to the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’, to celebrate the re-installing of the bells, which had been restored after being away for some seven years.

After this we walked back through the town to Paul and Mary’s house, where we were served a splendid meal. The starter was magnificent and would have been a meal on its own.

Irene and I then had a quiet evening at home.

Continuing the ‘very different’ Christmas theme came Christmas morning. For the second time, we opened our presents alone. This Christmas was different, because Joni and Fiona came to join us for dinner and more present opening. I suppose that last year was stranger, because we actually left the house at Christmas for the first time in over 40 years; firstly to see our friend Margaret in her nursing home and to have dinner with Joni and Fiona and her friends and family in their home at Margaret Avenue.

All the boys got a Chartbuster game

The Christmas Wave

In the evening, once more alone, Irene and I enjoyed a good evening playing our new train game. If I have any resolution to make this year, it will be to win the game a few times.

We continued to enjoy our time together. The weather was not particularly good and so, apart from playing the train game, we spent time model making. Irene was engrossed making coal bunkers and a lawn mower, while I set out to put lighting in the coaches.

Sadly, Isla’s mother had died on 23^rd and we were asked to look after the children while Tim went with her to make the necessary arrangements. On Sunday we went down to Milton Keynes. Joni and Fiona met us at Nan’s nursing home and then the four of us went into the city for lunch in Weatherspoons. They stayed on to do some shopping and we went over to Tim’s house. In the evening Tim and Isla left for Maidstone. On Monday we spent a nice day with the girls before Tim and Isla returned in the evening.

We left there on New Years Eve to arrive home to a hand written missal from our plumber friend’s dad. About two weeks ago, a leaking boiler had been diagnosed. Having got thoroughly fed up of water all over the place in the garage, radiators not fully hot and increasing uncertainty about the boiler we had called in the expert. He had managed to stop the leak. However, he had left us with no hot water. After a considerable time of pushing buttons in different orders he left with no progress. We await a solution in the new year.

The New Year celebrations began at 6.30 pm. I went over to help set up for the dance, but was soon back to solder a lead to the large reflecting ball. Mission accomplished I returned and continued with other tasks. As predicted, almost one hour early, the first of the revellers arrived. Our friends Paul and Mary joined us and the evening got under way at 8.00 pm. It was an enjoyable time. The food went well. David (the chairman) put on a good dance and on the chimes of midnight we joined with most of the UK in the traditional welcoming in of the new year.

Trifle, courtesy of a guest

The last supper of 2013

Blackpool Belle - line dance time

Irene and Mary - sequence dancing