Rory Alexander John Slade
| Who's Who? | |
|---|---|
| For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of my family, here's a crib-sheet: | |
| Fran: ex-wife, lives in Cambridge | Andy: son, lives in France |
| Séverine: Andy's former girlfriend | Jake: Andy & Séverine's son, aged nearly 3 |
| Louise: daughter, lives in Almere, Holland, with husband: Andy Slade and their son: Rory, aged nearly 1 | |
| Chris: grandson, aged nearly 12, lives in Bournemouth with his mother | |
| Andrew: my partner | Anna & David: Andrew's sister and brother-in-law |
| Christopher: Andrew's nephew | Anne & Peter: Andrew's parents |
| Family |
|---|
| Louise and Andy had a difficult few months starting at the end of 2003. Just before Christmas Andy Slade's father John died, sadly without seeing his grandson Rory, who was born on 27 December 2003. Louise had a very rapid labour, and needed a couple of operations afterwards to stop blood loss. John Slade's funeral was then on 5 January. But Rory Alexander John Slade is delightful (my third grandson, fourth grandchild). Andy's job was then moved to Amsterdam, so they had to sell their flat and move to Almere (on the new polder north-east of Amsterdam) in February. They have now bought a house in Almere. Louise is expecting another baby in June 2005. |
| In the midst of all this came Christmas, which Fran hosted very successfully. Then Andrew and I stayed with his family in Yorkshire for New Year. |
| On 7 February I had a call from a man in Zimbabwe saying that my mother had lung cancer and was weak and confused. I hadn't spoken to mother for more than 30 years, but they contacted me because my brother Mark (in London) had no phone at that time. I kept in touch with Zimbabwe by phone and email, and with Mark by letter. On 13 February I received an email to say that mother had died, so I drove to London to see Mark and tell him the news, and to arrange (and pay) for him to travel to Zimbabwe for her funeral. Mark travelled to Zimbabwe on 26 February and the funeral service was held on 4 March. |
| In March, Fran and I drove to Bournemouth to see our grandson Chris, and we took him out for the day to the Tank Museum in Dorset. |
| Andrew and I visited Amsterdam in early April, and we had an amazing family get-together: Louise, Andy, and Rory, from Almere; Andy, Séverine, and Jake, from Bordeaux; Chris (brought from England by Louise and Andy when they returned to Holland by car and ferry the previous week); Andrew and I; and (just for the day) Fran. We had lunch in Amsterdam and travelled round on the water buses. Incredible to get both children and three grandchildren together, with Fran and Andrew as well. On (Easter) Monday Andy, Séverine, Jake, Chris, Andrew and I went to a wonderful water park called Tikibad at Duinrell where we had a fantastic time swimming in the heated indoor pools and playing on the [terrifying!] water-slides, then we went on some of the fairground attractions. The following day Andrew and I went to Almere for lunch, and brought Chris back to England on the plane. He then completed his journey to Bournemouth by taxi. |
| In April Andrew's talents were at last realised and he was given the title of Senior IT Project Manager at BT. He works mainly at home now, just travelling to various BT sites for meetings once or twice a week. |
| In May Andrew and I had a weekend up in Yorkshire with his sister and family, and visited Beningbrough Hall for the day. |
| At the beginning of May Séverine and Jake left Andy and went to live with Séverine's mother in Cognac (though they still see each other). |
| In July Anne and Peter spent the weekend in London; Andrew and I went with them to a party given by our friends from Tuscany. |
| At the beginning of November Andrew and I drove to Yorkshire and watched the firework display at Fangfoss. On the Sunday we visited the Railway Museum in York. The following weekend Andrew and I were in London to watch the Lord Mayor's Show fireworks from Blackfriars Station, after which we had a meal out to celebrate his birthday. |
| On one of Louise's trips back to Britain we managed to get her and Rory, Fran, my aunt Pat, and Andrew and I together for lunch in Baldock in November. And on her next trip Louise and Rory, Fran, my aunt Joan, and I met up for lunch near Leicester. So all the near relatives have now seen Rory. |
| For Christmas, Andrew, Fran, and I are flying to Holland and all staying with Louise and Andy, though to prevent the need for too much Christmas cooking we're all eating out at a hotel in Edam on Christmas Day. |
| Animals |
| Our last remaining goldfish (which had grown huge) had had several attempts to die; it finally succeeded in March while we were in Berlin. |
| Having found some lumps on our cat Lucy's neck, we took her to the vet (the first time we've had to do so in the six years we've had her). The diagnosis was not good -- probably lymph cancer, and she has about 6 months to live, as long as she's comfortable and still purring. She'll be 16 in February, so she's done fairly well. |
| Travel and Entertainment |
| In March Andrew and I had a long weekend in Berlin, one of our favourite cities. At Easter we went to Amsterdam, very enjoyable as always, staying as usual at the Golden Bear hotel, and had the family reunion (see above). |
| I attended a series of concerts in the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, which were excellent (though the venue isn't ideal). Andrew and I listened to Fran singing in Elijah, and I attended two opera performances: Turandot, which was fabulous, and La Cenerentola [Cinderella] which was good but not spectacular. |
| Andrew and I enjoyed a stage production of the radio show 'Round the Horne' which was really excellent. We later saw it on television as well. |
| In May my friend Frank and his new wife Nadya celebrated their wedding with a lunch party in Versailles. Andrew and I stayed in Paris for that weekend, and I had a great time at Frank and Nadya's party -- Frank is a school friend whom I haven't seen for 40 years! Andrew and I visited the huge arch building at La Défence, the Bagatelle Gardens (where there was a wonderful display of species iris), and Notre Dame. |
| In June my work conference was held in Gothenburg in Sweden. Very long committee meetings, but my last as I've now resigned from that committee. The conference itself was excellent, and Gothenburg is a lovely city. I visited the Botanical Gardens, and we were taken on a day trip to the ancient rock carvings at Tanum. The conference dinner was held in an old fortress on an island, which we reached by going down the river by boat. |
| Fran and I saw 'As You Like It' in the courtyard of the George Hotel in Huntingdon, which was great fun. Andrew and I saw 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' in London, with Maureen Lipman as the Chinese madame -- wonderful! |
| Another long weekend in Amsterdam at the end of July (I'm sure it would be cheaper to buy a flat there!) Andrew stayed on for an Open University course in Leiden the following weekend, with a trip to Cologne in between. |
| Our main holiday (August/September) started in Seattle, where we visited various attractions. Then a car trip to Mount Rainier (fantastic weather -- hot and sunny). I was extremely relieved that despite my leg trouble I managed to walk quite a bit, including up and down about 1500 feet. The scenery was wonderful, and we could see Mount St Helens, and Mount Hood in Oregon (50 miles away). |
| We then drove through eastern Washington State (not very interesting) and over the Rockies into Montana, where we stayed with our friends Alan and Johnna Kay in Great Falls. It happens that my favourite 'cowboy' artist Charles Russell worked in Great Falls, and we visited his museum there. Our hosts took us on a boat trip on the Missouri through the amazing gorge called 'Gate to the Mountains' where we saw several bald eagles and a variety of other wildlife. |
| The last part of our holiday was to the Glacier National Park on the border with Canada, where we stayed in a wooden railway hotel. Everyone went out to wave to the two passenger trains a day that went past. Again we managed some good walks (though not on the mountains, as many of the trails were closed because of grizzly bear activity). We finished with a 9 mile walk round a beautiful lake, which I managed all right, but this brought on my slipped disk trouble again, so I was walking round doubled-up for the rest of the holiday. Fortunately I could still drive. We returned via a lovely place in Idaho called Sandpoint, and the Grand Coulee Dam (unfortunately their laser display show had finished for the season). |
| We had two accidents, one of which could have been very serious: on the outskirts of Spokane, when we were doing about 40mph, a large rock hit the windscreen and made a big hole. Luckily it didn't come right through, but bounced back onto the bonnet, otherwise it would have hit Andrew on the forehead and could easily have killed him. The car rental company were very good and exchanged our car at Spokane Airport. Then in Missoula (Montana) we were driving round the town trying to find a parking space while we had dinner when I turned left against a car that was coming straight on beside me. Neither car badly damaged, and nobody hurt, but it's worth taking out all the insurances with car hire! |
| Health |
| Not a good year. In February my slipped disk trouble returned with a vengeance. My osteopath soon sorted out the back problem and the pain, but my left leg remains numb from the knee downwards and across my foot to my big toe. This makes walking extremely difficult, and I keep damaging my toes because I can't feel them properly. Walking awkwardly also brings on pain in my ankle and knee, and walking on holiday brought sciatic and back pain again. |
| The doctor referred me to the neurologist at the hospital, and after a 6-month wait he confirmed that part of my L5 nerve is trapped in my spine. He has put me on the waiting list (another 5 months!) for an MRI scan, and he will see me again next April. One possibility is an operation on my spine to free the nerve, but I want to avoid that if possible. I am having regular physiotherapy to try to convince my brain that it knows where my left foot is and what it's doing! |
| Exercise |
| Because of my walking diffculties, I have been unable to organize a London walk this year. It's gratifying that I've had many messages from people asking when I'll be doing the next one! |
| Our gym in Baldock has downgraded itself, and we have not been going as much, though we're still members. |
| In May, while Andrew was on his week's silent retreat at the Buddhist Temple in Wimbledon, I visited my friends Jim and Eean in Birmingham for the weekend, then continued to the Lake District, where I camped on my usual wonderful site (alone there as always) overlooking Morecambe Bay. Because of my leg trouble I couldn't do much walking, but had a good time. |
| On 20 June, as it was nearly Midsummer, we of course had to put the central heating on because it was so cold! We went for a walk along the route of the Baldock bypass that is being built -- very large excavations through the hills. |
| Tony as usual organised punting on the Cam in July. 50 people again turned up despite the appalling weather forecast! Several people swam in the river at Grantchester, and I stripped to my swimming trunks to punt back in a thunderstorm. |
| Andrew and I went on the Pride parade in London in July, but not to the festival afterwards. We met quite a few friends on and around the parade. It rained very hard part of the time! |
| Friends |
| In April our friends Michael and Graham gave an excellent dinner party. |
| My friend and colleague Douglas retired in April, and at his leaving party I've never seen so many people in our office before! |
| My good friend Scott from San Francisco has been over to England several times this year on business, and we've been able to meet for dinner in London and to chat about old times. |
| Through the FriendsReunited web site I've met several old school friends again, and I'm corresponding with several more. They are widely scattered throughout England and the world, but some meetings have been possible. |
| Work |
| My main work continues to be the conversion of the brief biographical details of the 150,000 people who have ever been associated with Cambridge University (1100--1900) into a database which can be searched and sorted. We have also added the details of the women who were at the original women's colleges (Girton and Newnham) from their beginnings in the 1870s until 1900 -- the printed biographies were of men only! |
| Singing |
| After a year with no singing, I joined Trinity College Music Society choir, and we performed a selection of Christmas music in Trinity College chapel. In March 2005 we're performing Brahms' Requiem. |
| Genealogy |
| I am progressing slowly through my course for the Higher Certificate in Genealogy (by correspondence and email) from The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies. So far I have achieved one A, seven B+, and ten B. Unfortunately these results don't count towards my final qualification, which is by exam only. |
| With the help of the computerized 1891 census, I have at last found my maternal grandfather's birth. His birth name was not HICKLING but HICKEN! He probably changed it when he ran away to fight in the Boer War against his father's wishes. |
| On 18 January I had a lovely drive through the Hertfordshire and Essex villages to photograph my ancestor Stephen Whitbread's refurbished gravestone in Abbess Roding churchyard. I also found and photographed the house (that may once have belonged to ancestors) called 'Assers' (built 1453) in Good Easter. |
| My professional service is called Abacus Genealogy Research and already has its own web site. |
| So, if you've always wanted to know why you had three grandfathers, or whose daughter your auntie Cecilia really was, or if you're a long-lost branch of the Rothschild family, just contact me -- a snip at £40 per day! |
| You can email me at JLD1@cam.ac.uk or at john@rabancourt.co.uk |
| Our web site is at http://www.rabancourt.co.uk/ and my web page is at http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/jld1/ |