Dear All,


It’s that time again; get ready to be bored stiff by all our news. In fact we have had a pretty quiet year all in all by our usual standards.

We had a great New Year primarily because we were up in Malvern with Nick’s sister Carole and family and as it was Nicks 60th we had a big party at the local Indian restaurant. Much food and wine was consumed. All of Nick’s sisters (with the exception of Debbie-who was in Goa) and most of his nephews, nieces, partners and followers kept things merry. In reality we enjoyed ourselves so much we had a low key New Years Eve as the previous nights excesses were more than enough!

One of the reasons that we haven’t done much was due to the fact that Nick has been having trouble with his ankle and after seeing a consultant it was decided he needed an op on it. After pre-admission checks in May he is STILL waiting for it to happen, the excuses made by the local Health Authority are the usual “no resources” and “no surgeons”. So he is still limping on and in fairness it has not really caused too many problems except for the limp. So as we have been waiting we haven’t been able to go too far away.

He has also been having prostate problems and together with an abscess in the most embarrassing place possible, which resulted in an emergency operation in August, he is still having treatment.

Kathie is still coping well with diabetes and high blood pressure and as well as tablets controls it by going to the gym for circuits, the occasional aquarobics class and has been exploring the New Forest whilst out Nordic walking with a local group. She has continued with her flower arranging and on top of that has run some beading classes for the local community centre.

Nick continues to mow and tidy up for two neighbours when his ankle allows, even Kathie has had a go with the mower to help out. Nick is still family history researching and has spent some sick time sorting out and archiving thousands of photos and videos although it was a bit difficult to sit down for a while! The computer ground to a halt in the meantime and although fixed made us go out and buy a laptop which Kathie spends many hours playing games on. We both have our bikes (electric of course) and have the occasional foray into the local area for some fresh air and gentle exercise. We also helped at the local election counts.

Kathie has had to do more of the garden this year with Nick being laid up (and lazy!). She has replaced our old pond which suffered tree root damage and we now have a bigger and deeper molded one to replace the plastic liner. It’s hard to believe how much soil comes out of a modest hole. It didn’t go to waste though. Our next door neighbour removed a huge Leylandii hedge between our two gardens and we now have a new raised border down the length of the garden to take advantage of the extra light we now have.

Crops this year have been mixed, few beans for some reason, another carrot failure but excellent tomatoes (4 varieties) and lots of potatoes, broad beans and salads, and soft fruit although the raspberries are on their last legs. Kathie has produced huge amounts of leaf mould and compost from her several bins and the garden flowers have been great this year. We still never have enough.

She also jointly won the local produce shows flower arranging cup and although Nick was laid up at the time we did get a couple of awards for flowers and produce.

The other main change to the house is that we now have a newly laid block paved driveway and gates which have smartened up the place no end and means the demise of yet another hedge.

Although we had no “big” holiday we have had the odd weekend away, traveling to Leicester to see Kathie’s relatives (their 40th Anniversary and cousins 60th and 65th birthdays), Worcestershire for Nicks nieces 25th wedding anniversary and a few days here and there to visit local “Yellow Book “ gardens. We also had a flying visit from Cousin Paul and Ruth and despite Nick being catheterized at the time enjoyed a great meal out and a trip around the Forest with them.

We did manage to escape to Cornwall for a week to visit Nick’s sister Jackie in her new house in Porthleven near The Lizard. We had great weather, even spending some time on the beach at Praa Sands, visiting St Michaels Mount, eating crab sandwiches and having some retail therapy in Truro. Jackie has settled well down there after her divorce and it’s a wonderful place to live.

We also spent some time traveling up and down the M3 to visit Susie (Kath’s cousin) who was in hospital in Frimley Park Hospital. She is in the army and was at the High Commission in Sierra Leone when she fell and re-injured a plate in her leg which then got some African infection. I think she was glad of the company and we were able to report on her condition to her Mum in Morecombe. She still isn’t fully fit but hopes to return to Africa soon. We may just have to visit her there next year.

Talking of next year we have decided that we can’t wait for ever for the ankle op to happen and are cruising to the Caribbean again in April/May 2012. This time though we are doing a round trip from Southampton on Oriana via the Azores on the way out and Madeira coming back. It should be a great trip although the cat is not looking forward to her imprisonment at the local cattery. Buffy is now officially the fattest cat at our local vets practice and despite all our efforts still cannot shift the weight. She is on minimal rations but still seems not to get any slimmer.

This Xmas we will be at home for the first time in a while and have already ordered the goose from a local farm shop. We are looking forward to spoiling ourselves with the best of local produce and it will be a nice change to have no long distance traveling to do for once.

We both look forward to hearing all your news and we wish you all the best of health, wealth and happiness for Christmas, the New Year and 2012.

All our love


Nick and Kathy