The new year started at a party at the Rapley's - great evening had by all! Other noteworthy events were both Nick and Angharad starting music lesson, Nick on piano, Angharad singing. More to follow.
An eventful month. Nick had to go to a prostate cancer meeting in Stockholm and took Tilly along for a couple of day's sightseeing over the weekend. Weather was very cold (peak temp -8!) but we had a great time. Highlights included a ferry trip across frozen sea, a visit to the Vasa Museum, a restored 16th century Swedish warship which sank in Stockholm harbour on its maiden voyage and best of all a meal in a restaurant which Tilly decided was run by a real Viking who was about 7 foot tall and 4 foot wide.
Click photos for photo gallery
The following week we all went skiing in Grindelwald with the James grandparents, staying in the Schoenegg Hotel which has strong family connections. Remarkably, Alison's father and grandfather had both stayed there (the latter in the 1930's) as well as Nick parents staying there for 17 years. This ensured a warm welcome from the owners Thomas and Anja Stettler whose family have owed the hotel since the 19th century when it was built.
Click either photo for a web gallery of the holiday.
Sam refereed his first match having done his qualification before Christmas. It appears to have passed off uneventfully and will help give him a "poacher turned gamekeeper" perspective on the game! Angharad took part in her school performance of Oliver.
Nick and Sam had a three-day boys' trip to Chamonix for some extreme skiing - only black runs and off-piste allowed. Highlight was hiring a guide for the middle day. We were blessed with clear blue skies, sun and plenty of fresh powder which had fallen 2 days previously. The morning was spent in the Vallee Blanche underneath Mont Blanc but off the regular route which is relatively well trodden. The guide took us the opposite (Italian) side of the valley which we had virtually to ourselves and which gave us some more challenging powder. For the afternoon we switched to the Argentiere glacier for more off piste, again on fantastic snow. By 4 both Sam and I were completely shattered and had to stop, 45 minutes before the lifts closed as our legs were simply not up to even the gentlest slopes.
Click picture for photo gallery.
An eventful month! Sam got offered jobs for his gap year with Deloitte and KPMG, eventually opting for Deloitte. It means he'll be working for them in their Nottingham office from the end of August and so will be moving out for 7 months which will be very strange and leave a big Sam-shaped hole at home. He also played in the Warwick School Water Polo team which won the National Schools Championships, scoring one of the goals in the 5-3 victory over City of London School.
To cap a great month for him, he also passed his driving test. Achievements for the rest of the family were a bit more sparse. Nick got the global warming prize by travelling to Canada for 1 day meetings on 2 successive weekends. Tilly managed a series of personal bests in the Coventry and District swimming trials. Angharad played in a football tournament at Aston Villa and had a great day out with her friends.
Exam month and Sam's final month at school. Bit of a poignant moment after being at Warwick since the age of 7. I'm sure he leaves with many happy memories and some great friends. Tragically, both our dogs were run over towards the end of June, leaving us with a large, dog sized hole in the household - its very strange without them. On a more positive note, Tilly had a great birthday treat trip to the Climbing Wall in Birmingham.
Till summits
out!
The usual round of school trips and start of holiday activity. The girls spent most of the summer in New Quay, initially looked after by Sam. Tilly also stated learning the saxophone, inspired by Lisa from the Simpsons and took to it enthusiastically. Nick did another Triathlon, this time in Ironbridge which features a fearsome climb out of the steep sided valley and an even more scary descent at >60km/h back into it. For the first time Alison came and watched and we both camped the night before adjacent to the river - a novel experience, not least as the tent had last been used by Sam and his friends at a pop festival and was correspondingly smelly!
We were also really happy to go to the christening of Julie (our former nanny) and Matt's long awaited first child Amelia.
Another highlight of the summer was the purchase of a RIB for New Quay - we were lucky enough to get access to a mooring and Sam and Nick bought a rather overlarge boat to go on it - dubbed "King Rib" once we got it on the water.
The rather poor August weather limited the use of it a bit but nonetheless we had great fun with it! August also was A level results time - Sam excelled with straight A's in Maths, Economics, Spanish and General Studies and a Merit in the Economics Extension paper.
Back to school for the girls but for Sam it was off to work. Having got the job with Deloitte he ended up in their Nottingham office and rented a flat with another Deloitte scholar called Sonia. Not ones for slumming it, they chose a new flat in the centre of town with a gym and pool included in the facilities. On Nick's first visit, an inspection of the cupboard revealed multiple packs of Doritos but little else - apparently they were on a buy one get one free offer! Sam insists he eats a balanced diet! At home, Nick did another Triathlon, this time in Warwick, an occasion for much mickey taking by all three children. Tilly also competed in her first triathlon. Following on from the dogs in the summer, Sid, our cat died at the ripe old age of 19. He was getting very frail towards the end but nonetheless was sunning himself in the garden the day he died in his basket by the range cooker. The curious thing was that we got him the same week that Alison discovered she was pregnant with Sam and he died within week of Sam moving out to start work, almost 19 years later.
Notable events included Angharad going on a Calvert Trust trip to the Lake District for the week - a great favourite with her. Nick was invited for a weekend away with schoolfriends, some of whom he had not seen for almost 20 years. We had a great time white water canoeing or in my case green water capsizing) in Llangollen.
Older, greyer, but possibly not wiser!
Nick also did an 80 mile sponsored cycle with one of his patients and to raise money and awareness about prostate cancer. This resulted in a certain amount of media coverage and BBC news filming me cycling up and down outside the hospital in my lycra, much to the amusement of the nurses.
Early November we had a great weekend in New Quay for Bonfire Night - a particularly impressive display on the main beach.
The main highlight though was a trip to South Africa for Ali and Nick. Nick was an invited speaker at the World Urology Congress in Cape Town so for the price of an air ticket for Alison we were able to have a short break holiday around the congress. One of the other speakers, John Anderson from Sheffield did the same, taking his wife Sarah with him and we had a couple of great trips out together. We also met up with George and Jean Legg who were out there on holiday at the same time. Highlight of the visit for me was the trip to Robben Island, now a museum, where visitors are shown round by former political prisoners. Our guide was clearly in awe of Mandela and we both came away inspired by the triumph of the ANC over the very nasty previous regime. In particular, it was impressive that the ANC leaders had not emerged from prison bent on vengeance and destruction of the white majority, but embarked on a programme of rebuilding and reconciliation. The evident success of the economy is testimony to the wisdom of this approach and the best answer to the racists who insisted that only whites could run a successful country, particularly when compared to Zimbabwe next door. November ended up with a bit of a travelfest for Nick with additional trips to Paris and Rome.
Finally, the most unlikely musical performance of the year took place in Coventry when Nick performed 2 piano pieces at a concert organised by his music teacher. More impressive was Angharad's solo performance of John Lennon's "Imagine".
After all the rushing around in November, December was a bit quieter (though Christmas promises to be busier!). Sam got University offers from UCL, Cardiff and Nottingham and so was very pleased and excited. Nick and Angharad went and visited Sam in his flat to find the only edible object to be one remaining bag of Doritos (Sam still insists he eats a balanced diet!). Tilly turned in a series of PBs at the Nuneaton Long distance swim meeting and was very pleased with her performances. Sam continues to make good progress with his rugby, being a starting choice for the Nottingham Youth Academy and getting game time with the A XV, training with the 1st and 2nd XV squads - no mean feat as Nottingham are a League One club.
Finally Christmas passed in a blur of seeing members of the family - click here for the photo gallery.