Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Such was the rallying cry of Henry V according to Shakespeare. And it is once more unto the breach for my Dad. He is in hospital next Tuesday for an operation. After the health problems he has had this year, and the visits to the hospital, he won’t be looking forward to this (who would ?), as he knows there will be some pain and discomfort afterwards, and that it will take some time to make a full recovery.

I saw him and my Mum yesterday. I thought my Dad looked as well as he has this year, and seemed quite sprightly. So, all things considered he is at least in as good as health as could be expected before going into the op. Mum looks after him well, and it showed.

He will be in our prayers and thoughts over the coming weeks, and especially on Tuesday.

Well the title of the blog sounds hedonisitic, and suggests a very racy lifestyle. The truth however, is always somewhat different.

Tricia and I went out on an evening in the village yesterday, in pursuit of the Team Village Cup… this is a trophy Tricia introduced a few years back, and for which we have silly competitions. In the past we have done boules, qasar shooting, It’s a Knockout etc. Tradition is, that the winning team organise the next competition.

So, the winners from our tennis tournament in June, organised last night’s evening. We started with wine tasting and answering questions. We then moved onto playing roulette. Not for real money of course. The team with the best combined score won. That explains the gambling and the drinking. The teams were pairs, and names were drawn out of hats, so you didn’t go around with your wife / husband. Hence the wife swapping. It was probably a good idea as some of the more competitive husbands and wives may have got into arguments over the wine. All in all a good evening.

During the day on Saturday, Tricia was selling her wares at Waddesdon school Xms fayre, and had a good day with the cakes and chutney’s. I was working on the bbq, and cooked about 3 million or so sasuages. Nikki had come back to play hockey for Bicester – they won 5-0 and she played well – and was then supposed to be going back in the evening so as to play rugby for Hertford Ladies today. However, she was full of cold, and we convinced her to stay overnight. We were greeted by a light snow covering this morning, and so she was quite pleased to get a text to say the rugby had been cancelled. So, she stayed for lunch, and went back this evening. Robbie stayed over at a friends on Saturday night, so haven’t really seen much of him. Ellie is walking around the house singing Christmas carols. (aaagh).

This afternoon, having cooked lunch, and eaten well, I was in the armchair… and dozed off. Not the most flattering picture ever taken of me. Mind you when I awoke, I saw West Ham win 1-0 at Sunderland – woohoo ! (with apologies to Father Keenan).

Good grief, I have a daughter who is 20. That makes me positively ancient. Mind you, how do her grandparents feel ? They have a grandaughter who is 20.

Nikki arrived at 10 to 1 in the morning, of the 17th November 1988. I can remember it like yesterday. Tricia and I had spent weeks, months even, debating names, etc as you do. We had agreed that if we had a baby girl she would be called Amy. When the baby girl arrived after about 8-9 hours labour, the Midwife (who was called Louise) gave her to Tricia, who simply said, ‘she doesn’t look like an Amy, she looks like a Nicola’… and so, Nicola it was. In fact, she became Nicola Louise. Or, as she now calls herself, Nikki-Lou.

Having realised that all the debate on names was futile, as Tricia would just decide when the baby was born, I didn’t get into any debates for names for our son who arrived in 1992. Poor Robbie was unnamed for a few days as Tricia didn’t have the same post birth inspiration.

Anyway back to the present. Nikki came back to see us over the weekend. It was great to see her, she is looking fit and well, all her exercise is paying off. All the hockey, rugby and weight training has helped. Tricia’s Mum and Dad came across on Sunday afternoon to see Nikki, and she had a cake with 20 candles on it.

Nikki is off out with her uni friends tonight. She had a practical exam this morning, and an essay she has been fretting about had to be put in. She starts a 5 week placement at a hospital in Finchley on Wednesday.

Cycling

I have been getting back into my cycling over the last few weeks. I have been driving part of the way into work, getting the bike out of the back of the car, and cycling an hour into the office, then an hour back later in the day. It seems to be working I have lost 4lbs since coming back from the cruise holiday.

Remembrance

A week last Sunday was Remembrance Sunday. Tricia and Ellie marched with the Brownies in Winslow. I watched the cenotaph service on the television. I saw a programme called the Last Voices of the First World War (or something like that), which was the last of the survivors recalling their experiences. It was quite moving, even after all this time, they recalled their experiences, and were upset by them. My maternal Grandfather fought on the Western front in the Great War. He never really spoke to me about his experiences, but then again, I didn’t need to know much. He was there, it was enough to just know that. He passed away a few weeks before Nikki was born. Before he passed away, he gave me a maori walking stick he had. My Nan had bought it for him in New Zealand. It hangs in the study at home. I had also bought him a rug, to put over his legs to keep them warm. The rug was given to me after he had died, and I have kept it in the car (and there have been a number of those over the 20 years) ever since. It is a constant memory.

My paternal Grandfather died when I was 9, in 1970. I recall the year, simply because the Mexico football world cup was on. I have memories of him, but not as strong, because I was younger. I know he was in the British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War 2, and I know he was evacuated from Dunkirk.

Both men would have experienced the fear of war, and no doubt saw things and lived through experiences they would rather have avoided. I always think of them on Remembrance day.

Other bits…

My old friend Longead (nickname) has finally been given hist stripes. Longead (Kev) met and became friends in 1977, and are still in touch today. He has been in the police force (now in West Yorks) since 1983, and will become a Sergeant on Dec 1st. He passed his exams some time back, but it has taken a long time for an opportunity to come up. So, good luck to him.

Tricia has been busy making chutneys and cakes for the Xmas season, so the house seems to be full of jars and cakes in foil.

Ellie was given a certificate at school last week, for her efforts in class. Here she is, along with a photo from Halloween night.

Robbie played his drums in school assembly again. Unfortunately his drum kit is back home now….

I had a falling out with my blog earlier this week. I had spent some considerable time writing up on events… hit the save button… the computer seemed to think about it, then came back and said it couldn’t acces the page, and all my writing was lost. After working with computers since 1979, I have realised that unlike plants, talking to a computer does not help. However, that did not stop me delivering a tirade of abuse at it…. I have just got over my sulking, and so will start again.

Mum’s birthday

Going back to Nov 7th, it was my dear Mum’s birthday. I popped in to see her with a card and some flowers. It was good to see her, she looked well.

West Ham 0 Portsmouth 0

I support West Ham. My Dad supports Portsmouth. A draw is I suppose something that will ensure both of us can’t grumble. On the positive side, it was West Ham’s first clean sheet of the season.

Ninja, our cat who has been missing for the last 10 days, and if we are honest, most of us had started to think had met an untimely end, sauntered in this morning at 7am.

A little bedraggled, but otherwise fine, he made straight for ….. his food bowl. Everyone was very excited at his return, and we are all a little amazed. I don’t think Tricia will be letting him out again…. ever !

Day 2 of the cruise was spent at sea. Beautiful clear skies, warm sunshine, and lazing around on deck. The Med was quite still, so there was no need to get used to the motion of the sea, you could barely notice the movement. I spent some of the day reading Michael Parkinsons autobiography, Ellie was in the pool, and Tricia sunbathing. Unfortunately, Robbie wasn’t faring so well. He awoke with a stomach ache, and headache. He spent most of the day in bed, was ‘ill’ at around 3pm, after which he declared he felt much better. We were worried it might be a bug, that would spread around. Fortunately this didn’t seem to be the case.

We did find out that Robbie and his mate Alex had been chatting up two young ladies. They were twins. Both Rob and Alex thought they were about 18… only to discover later they were 13. Having seen them I could understand why they made a mistake… they looked considerably older than 13.

In the evening we all retired to the Blue Bar for cocktails before dinner.

Day 3 saw our first port of call – Limassol in Cyprus. Tricia and I went on an organised cycle trip. Robbie was supposed to have come along, but still didn’t feel a 100% so stayed on ship. Again, the sun shone, and we had a pleasant ride, although the views were a little uninspiring. The best of it was seeing some orange groves. We eventually stopped at a beach, and I swam in the sea, then sunbathed with Tricia. I can’t say that I saw anything in Cyprus that inspired me to want to go back there.

We left port at about 6pm, and set sail for Rhodes.

When we came back from holiday late on Thursday evening, there was only one cat here, Lilly. We weren’t too concerned at the time, as Ninja is prone to some wandering, and doesn’t always come in at night. However, he failed to appear on Friday, and we then learned from the neighbour that was feeding them in our absence that she hadn’t seen him since the Sunday.

We still haven’t seen him. We have walked the fields at the back where he normally goes, called the local Vets, RSPCA etc, but to no avail. Naturally we fear something has happened to him, and the longer he is away the more likely it is he won’t be coming back.

Back at work for me today, and back to school for Robbie and Ellie. Rob has had his drum kit taken into school by Tricia, as he is playing in assembly on Friday. Nikki played rugby for Thurrock yesterday against Harlequins, and they won 40 something – 0. She played full back again. She is playing for the Uni again on Wednesday, and then hockey for Bicester on Saturday, and possibly rugny for Thurrock on Sunday. She is weight lifting on Wednesday…. but, most importantly, she did some track work, sprints, in her spikes on Saturday. First time she has been able to for a very long time, with no affect to her back.