John Dawson's 2000 Newsletter
House and Home
Following last year's bathroom rebuilding, 2000 began with furious bathroom decorating and carpet tile laying,
and on 7 January the shower was finished.
With the acquisition of a
blanket box (for towels and toiletries) the bathroom was finally
complete by March.
However, the remaining building work - lowering the cowl over the gas
fire in the living room - wasn't done until September. So we couldn't
start decorating the living room until then, and finished it in
December. Beautifully black and white.
To celebrate the second anniversary of moving into our house, we gave
a dinner on 25 March for our friends Michael and Graham, who were among
our first visitors.
Travel and Exercise
On New Year's Day Fran, Andrew, and I went to London to watch the
parade. It was nice being in London with a lot of the roads still closed
from the previous day.
At the end of January we spent five days in the Netherlands (booked
months ago on a very cheap flight), based in Amsterdam as usual. We took
a (very slow) train to Groningen and looked round, and on the last day
went to Gouda and Leiden.
Fran, Andrew, and I went to Whipsnade Zoo on 6 February. Very few
people there, but it wasn't as cold as Whipsnade can get! The
chimps were very entertaining.
On 12 February Andrew and I went to the Dome, which we enjoyed
immensely. Seven hours wasn't nearly long enough to see it all, and the
show in the main arena was worth the entry price.
Andrew and his mum went to Paris for the day on Eurostar - a good day
out, but very tiring.
On 9 April I surveyed the first of the two canal walks I had planned
for this year, from Paddington to Limehouse. Lovely interesting route,
and a fabulous sunny day.
In April Andrew had a badminton tournament in Berlin, so we combined
it with a visit to our friends Alexander and Jörg in Greifswald, a
lovely old town in the far north-east of Germany.
They took us to the
island of Rügen, where I paddled in the Baltic sea - very cold
(there were swans on the sea - apparently the Baltic is becoming much
less salty).
We went into Poland twice, once to Szczecin by car,
and once to Usedom island, where we walked across the border and took a taxi
to the Polish town of Swinemünde
(can't remember its Polish name!) We walked back along the 4km street market,
but couldn't find anything worth buying.
Jörg took us to see his signal-box late one evening (he's a signalman),
which was fascinating. Despite our interest in trains, Andrew and I had never
been in a signal-box. His equipment ranged from a state-of-the-art flat-screen
computer to manual signalling equipment built in 1909 and still working.
The visit was made more exciting by taking place in a violent thunderstorm,
during which all the lights went out.
Back in Berlin, we managed to combine doing a lot of sightseeing and
having fun in
the evenings, with Andrew's badminton. He and his partner won the silver medal in
the level C doubles! We were amazed at the rebuilding in Berlin - it's now almost
impossible to see where the Wall once was, and Potsdamer Platz is surrounded by
wonderful modern buildings. A trip out to Potsdam to see the palace of Sans Souci
was very nice,
and ended with an unexpected ride on a 1947 steam train.
The bank holiday weekend of 29 April - 1 May was again spent at the Great
British Bear Bash in Manchester, where I met some old friends and made some new
ones. Unfortunately I twisted my ankle very badly on the edge of a pavement, and
that injury troubled me for several months.
The following weekend (while Andrew was on a week's retreat at the
Temple in Wimbledon) I drove up to the Lake District, camping as usual at
Grange-over-Sands (the only person there). Because of my ankle I was restricted
to the lower hills and to looking at Sizergh Castle and Dove Cottage
(Wordsworth's home), but had a very good time.
On 29 May we went by train to Hatfield House - fine day between showers. Nice
gardens, fascinating pictures, not too many people.
The first canal walk took place on 24 June, but only six of us turned up.
Interesting walk from Little Venice (Paddington) to Limehouse on the Thames.
On 1 July we went on the Pride Parade (no longer called a March) in London,
but didn't go to Finsbury Park for the events afterwards. Saw a lot of friends.
After my Glasgow conference in July, where it was fiendishly hot, I stayed
at Glendevon Youth Hostel for two nights,
but the weather then broke - rain and
low cloud on the hills. However, the last morning was gorgeous, so I galloped
round the ring of 2000ft hills above the hostel before setting off to Dundee to
stay with Matt and Davy. They took me to Dunkeld,
and Glamis Castle, where there was an
interesting exhibition of memorabilia about the Queen Mother.
Andrew and Kevin had fun in Berlin while I was in Scotland.
On 11 August (my birthday!) I surveyed the other canal walk, from Paddington
to Alperton, on a very hot day. Looking round Kensall Green Cemetery was
fascinating - it's a beautiful (though run-down) place, with the graves of many
famous people, and amazing architecture.
Louise and Fran took us to Kentwell Hall
in Long Melford (Suffolk) on 13 August to celebrate my birthday.
From 17-20 August Philip drove Kevin, Andrew, and me to Stekene in Flanders
(Belgium) via Eurotunnel. We stayed in a marvellous guesthouse, and were served
enormous meals of mostly home-grown food. Looked round Bruges, Gent, and Antwerp,
and went for a nice walk along a canal.
9 September saw the second canal walk, again with only six of us
(Andrew was away on retreat again). Most of us
made it to Alperton, though it's not as interesting a walk as the other way.
Our main holiday was 12-28 September, to New England. We flew to Boston,
looked round there for two days, then rented a car and drove to Provincetown on
Cape Cod (3 nights); Weston, south Vermont (2 nights);
Stowe, north Vermont (3 nights);
Franconia, New Hampshire (2 nights);
Bar Harbor, Maine (3 nights), which is the main town on Mont Desert Island,
consisting mostly of Acadia National Park - stunningly beautiful;
and Portland, Maine (1 night). All planned on the Internet.
Extremely successful
holiday, combining sightseeing, walking, eating, train excursions, whale
watching, and meeting people. I managed to miss the moose which crossed the New
Hampshire freeway on a rainy black night. Andrew and I simultaneously yelled,
"MOOSE!", I slammed on the brakes, and swerved round the back of it. It didn't
even notice us.
Alexander and Jörg visited us from 29-31 October. We took them to Audley
End (Essex), looked round the Cambridge colleges, and took them to evensong in
King's College Chapel.
Finally, Andrew and I are going to Finland for a few days just before
Christmas. I have a work meeting in Jyväskylä, and we're spending three
days in Helsinki.
Friends
It's been a year of friends emigrating. Greg and Scott
have gone to Baltimore; Kenny and Peter to New Zealand; David Garner is off to
Dallas; Tony Cumberbatch is going to Canada for a year. So many goodbyes. Thank
goodness for the Internet and email - it's very easy to keep in touch.
Our friends Tanya and Bob from California visited at the beginning of April,
and we had a nice barbeque in the courtyard.
Jean and Honor came for the weekend of 3-4 June, and Fran joined us for an
evening barbeque.
Peter and Sheila Bowler from Belfast visited on 11 July, and we had a nice
dinner and chat, and showed photographs.
My Chinese friend David Ho visited from Stirling 5-8 September, and we had a
good time looking round Cambridge and Wimpole Home Farm.
Families
Louise is engaged to Andy Slade (there are too
many Andrews in this family!) No definite wedding date yet.
My uncle Bill died on 28 April, aged 87. Fran, Louise, and I went to the
funeral. For the first time for 40 years, all four cousins were in one place
(Bill's children Valerie and Rob, my brother Mark, and me).
The weekend of 10-11 June Andrew and I drove up to Fangfoss, where his sister
Anna now lives. It was Anna's birthday on the Saturday, and on the Sunday Andrew's
mother Anne (a Methodist minister) christened her first grandson
Christopher in the local Methodist church - a lovely occasion.
On 16 July Andrew was presented with a certificate by the Thai Ambassador at
the Buddhapadipa Temple in Wimbledon (where Andrew teaches meditation). It was
for services to Buddhism and to the Temple.
Andy (son) is working in Cherbourg and Bordeaux, plating aluminium yachts. He
writes and phones from time to time.
Louise has changed jobs and now works nights selling software packages, by
phone, to customers in the Far East and Australia.
My step-father George has died in Zimbabwe aged 79.
On 2 September Fran and I drove to Tonbridge to attend the wedding of our
niece Catherine Cooke to Tom Baigent.
The weekend of 21-22 October was spent in Yorkshire, celebrating Andrew's and
Christopher's birthdays. Christopher was extremely good all weekend, and we all
enjoyed playing with his new toys.
To celebrate her birthday, Fran came to lunch on 5 November, then we took her
to Willers Mill Wildlife Park (the only visitors!)
Animals
Our cat Lucy (now 11) is much more sociable than last year, though she
still won't willingly sit on anyone's knee. Despite Andrew's attempts to
revive it, one of the goldfish died, so we now have only four.
Music
The Ionian Singers gave a very good concert at St John's Smith Square
on 18 February, which Andrew and his mum enjoyed. The university choir
(CUMS) gave an excellent performance of Bernstein's Chichester
Psalms and Orff's Carmina Burana on 10 and 11 March, and
repeated it in Oxford on 18 March. Ionian sang in a lovely old church
at Duffield, Derbyshire, on 8 April. Because of the stress of travelling
to south London every Tuesday for rehearsals, I have reluctantly left
the Ionian Singers, so my last engagement with them was a recording
weekend (20-21 May) in a very cold church in Paddington. CUMS performed
Berlioz' Grande Messe des Morts in Ely Cathedral on 17 June, then
on 19 June we unexpectedly took part in a concert in King's College
Chapel, followed by strawberries and champagne on the back lawn. I drove
to Chipping Norton to hear the Ionian Singers on 8 July.
The
highlight of the year's singing was performing Britten's War
Requiem in Ely Cathedral on 11 November, and in Coventry Cathedral
on 14 November (the 60th anniversary of the bombing of the old
cathedral).
Andrew and I went to hear CaOS doing the Mikado on
24 November, and the following day went to the Barbican to hear
Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony and Orff's Carmina
Burana. The year's music will end with the usual involvement of CUMS
in the Christmas concert in the Royal Albert Hall on 18 December (before
which Fran, Andrew, and I are having a ride on the London Eye).
Email me at my old work address: JLD1@cam.ac.uk
or privately: john@rabancourt.co.uk
Web site: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jld1/
Following last year's bathroom rebuilding, 2000 began with furious bathroom decorating and carpet tile laying,
and on 7 January the shower was finished.
With the acquisition of a
blanket box (for towels and toiletries) the bathroom was finally
complete by March.
