For some reason, and not through lack of planning, the first six months of this year have been very buys, mostly with happy events, but certainly with a variety of events! As well as our regular activities involving creative writing, art, music, gigs, and teaching English conversation, publishing my latest book ‘Raddy and Syl’,and all our other commitments, there barely seems to have been a week in which something different hasn’t happened.
In January we had a sad occasion, although it also became something of a celebration; an uncle died at the age of 89 and his funeral was a time to remember him and enjoy our memories of him. As with many funerals, it was a coming together of family and friends,some of whom had not seen each other for a long time. We also went to Oxford to see an exhibition about and of the works of William Blake, utterly fascinating.
In February my husband visited the S.S. Great Britain; he had been before, but it is the sort of ship which can be visited many times before you could tire of it or not find it interesting. he also went to see the tribute band, The Illegal Eagles. Meanwhile, I went to Manchester to see the Mavericks; sadly the concert was cancelled just before they went on stage, but they later gave us an impromptu mini-gig in the concert hall foyer.
March kicked off well for me – the Mavericks in Birmingham, and then again in Bristol! half the fun of going to their gigs is being with friends who are as mad about their music as I am! Husband went on another visit to Bristol, this time he went on a trip round Bristol Docks. We also went on a splendid weekend in Portsmouth – a reunion of my husband’s art college friends, and an opportunity for me to meet up with a cousin I hadn’t seen for a very, very long while. We went by train which made the trip very relaxing and enjoyable!
April was the annual family holiday; we had a splendid time in Kent – in fact we enjoyed it so much we have booked to go again next year! April was also a month for catching up with friends we hadn’t seen for a while, which is always fun!
May was very busy in a lovely way! It was our annual visit to see our dear friends in the Netherlands, and as ever it was wonderful to be with them, most relaxing, nd also a great family barbecue, and a most interesting trip to the Afrika Museum near Nijmegen. We also went up to Oldham for another school reunion – the school which we both taught at!
June has actually been quite exhausting and we seem to have been constantly packing and unpacking bags! We had the most gorgeous wedding of my most gorgeous god-daughter in Richmond, and then we went to New Jersey in the USA for a fabulous week visiting our daughter who we hadn’t seen for nine months. She is on an intern-ship there and while across the pond we also visited New York, Boston and Rhode Island. Last week we were at yet another reunion, this time at my husband’s old school, and tomorrow we are off to London to visit the Globe Theatre and the Rose Theatre. Sadly June was also a month in which we lost a dear friend who died very unexpectedly.
Goodness knows what the rest of the year holds in store for us!
PS: if you haven’t read ‘Raddy and Syl’ yet, here is a link:
Lois Elsden 