Holidays and Travel In February we spent a weekend in Amsterdam, and at Easter went to Berlin. For Anna's birthday we travelled up to Yorkshire in June. Later in June we flew to Washington DC and had a week at the University of Maryland for John's conference; hired a car and drove to see our friends Charlie and Diana in northern Virginia, visiting some Civil War sites.
Then we drove down the superb Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Highway which follow the tops of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The weather was extremely hot, but we managed to do a lot of walking in gorgeous scenery, seeing many animals and birds, including a black bear. The lodges in which we stayed were superb, as was the food! We ended up crossing Virginia, looking at Civil War and Revolutionary War sites, the Confederate capital Richmond, and the original settlements of Jamestown and Williamsburg. The night we flew back Andrew fell ill, and was diagnosed with and treated for Swine Flu, although it then became apparent that he actually had Lyme Disease (caught from a bite by an infected deer tick) and was on double-strength antibiotics for two weeks. Now completely recovered.
In August we had a long weekend in Paris with Anna and Christopher, went up the Eiffel Tower and also saw it lit up at night. Andrew tackled another 2-month German course at the Goethe Institut in Berlin during September and October, and stayed on for the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November. John joined him for a weekend in September, and Andrew returned to England for the celebrations and parties for John's retirement in October.
Singing John sang in a concert of English songs in March, and in a superb first UK performance of the Swiss composer Hermann Suter's Le Laudi, with Italian words by St Francis of Assisi, in June. The December concert was choruses from Bach's B Minor Mass and Handel's Messiah, plus carols. He has also sung with a small madrigal group called The Silver Swan. In April he had another opportunity to sing in the amazing 40-part Motet Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis.
(Grand)children Rory and Morgan greatly enjoyed the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk early in January, as well as the inflatables at the Computing Service sports day, and the children's Christmas party at Wolfson College. They have stayed with us in Baldock for a couple of weekends.
Theatre John saw Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in Robinson College gardens, and for his birthday Louise took him to see Measure for Measure also at Robinson, preceded by a picnic. We saw Victoria Wood's very funny play/cabaret Talent at the Menier Theatre in Southwark in October, and John took Fran to see the marvellous play War Horse in London for her birthday.
Work John continues with his genealogy work, which brings in (a small amount of) money. He was contacted by two more of his second cousins, and met them at Wolfson College in September. John is also being paid to work at home on the brief biographies of everyone who has ever been connected with Cambridge University, 1200--1900 (the project which he had been doing at work).
Exercise John has joined the same gym in Letchworth as Andrew, and we try to go two or three times a week. Ouch! And John continues to go for country walks locally.
Building work The builder who did such a good job replacing our floor last year has absconded with the £1500 deposit we paid him to replace our windows, so we used the online Small Claims Court, which found in our favour. However, the bailiffs have been unable to locate him, so we haven't received any money back as yet.
Plans
5 Raban Court, Royston Road, Baldock SG7 6PL
01462--893410
andrew@rabancourt.co.uk
john@rabancourt.co.uk