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Testing

Just a little postscript to see if this works.

Christmas 2011

This year we will be staying at home in Sutton Maddock and are looking forward to playing host to Shiona's brother Stephen for the immediate Christmas period.  We will collect him from John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, following a flight in from Poland, although he is currently working mostly in Spain.  Let's hope that there are no snowy problems to upset the apple cart, and that schedules run smoothly.  On Christmas Day, we will all be going out for lunch at The Horseshoe Inn, courtesy of June, and won't have all that frazzle of doing all the preparation and then the clearing away afterwards.

June

June still lives independently in her bungalow, handily just 10 miles down the road in Oakengates.  This year she has had a second cataract sorted out, and has even had a dose of botox - but not the cosmetic variety!  Patch has been with her a year now, and quite clearly knows which side his bread is buttered; he is having the time of his life.



Sundry Trips & Stuff

Over 50 years since we had each last been there, we took a weekend at the Welsh seaside town of Tenby.  Hardly changed at all.  Although it rained most of the time, we both enjoyed it hugely, and will go back to visit again long before the next 50 years have elapsed.  If you should ever find yourselves going that way from the Midlands, drop in for a snack or similar at The Honey Cafe, Bronllys, near Brecon, a delightful, old-fashioned tea room with an outstanding range of cakes & pastries.

Shiona took herself off to visit Charles' place at Highgrove, and had a good time seeing how the other half lives.  Alan took a rain check on that one.


Ken Dodd came to sleepy old Shifnal to do one of his famously long-lasting turns in a local hotel's function room.  Alan missed that, too, but not by design this time; he had a parish council meeting the same night, and, as clerk, duty had to prevail.

You may have watched the Songs of Praise 50th anniversary broadcast on TV from Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace, for overseas readers).  A few weeks before the event, we had seen that tickets were available on a first-come-first-served basis.  Not expecting to be successful, we had a go for a couple and were surprised to find that some were left.  Quite a long drive down there and back, but well worth it.  After all, Leanne Rimes and Andrea Bocelli for twenty quid between us can't be bad, even if we were in the next-to-back row!

In the first week of December, June treated us all to a 3-night weekend in Norwich, a most attractive city, especially the cathedral quarter, which I'd not really explored previously.  June took along her power chair to give her the independence she doesn't have when she has to rely on us to push.  She left us for dead a couple of times on the slopes, when she clicked it into high, and we trudged along trying to keep up.  We are now thinking of other cities of the same ilk, which we don't know well enough.  Lincoln, York, Cambridge, Ely head the list at the mo.

Shiona also did her annual girls-only weekend in Stratford - becoming a definite fixture, that one.

Work Things

Shiona is waiting to hear if she will get VR; the service is being restructured and her role does not feature in the new Telford & Wrekin layout. Along with many others, I should add; exactly who is going to do the work which still remains to get done? Anyone's guess. We should know something soon after Christmas, and she hopes to finish at the end of March 2012, making 37 years' unbroken service! She is looking to find something part-time so that we can continue to put food on the table and still get a holiday or two.