After a number of weeks away, and travelling through Belgium, Holland, and Germany, to get to Austria, and then afterwards to Italy, Nikki arrived back in England on Thursday evening. I picked her up after I finished work on Friday evening, and after driving on to Northampton from Hatfield, picked Robbie up. And so we have the family all together for the weekend. Ellie was rather excited to have her brother and big sis home for the weekend.

Nikki raced in Cesana on Wednesday. They came 14th again. On their second run they had an excellent start, 4th quickest off the top, but couldn’t keep the speed all the way down. Its a learning experience for both Nikki and the driver Gillian, but the fact they are getting some quick starts means they are showing plenty of promise. Their coach was particularly pleased with Nikki on the second run, and said that was her best ‘push’ so far. Nikki is back at uni for a week, then off to Winterberg in Germany for the next set of races. She has shown us her ‘battle wounds’, which are a series of bruises on her right thigh… on one of the trips down they had some ‘bouncing’ off the ice walls, and Nikki bashed her leg in the bob.

These pictures were taken by the official team photographer of Nikki and Gillian on Nikki’s first race in Igls. Nikki on the left.

It has been a busy week for Tricia… she was providing flapjack, chocolate brownies etc to an event at Waddesdon, she had two Xmas bazaar’s yesterday, and another on today. But it is her busy time of year… and of course this is the first week of advent. So Nikki and Robbie went out yesterday and collected the holly for the Xmas Advent wreath we do each year, and then because Tricia is busy, they put it together. And did a pretty good job…

This morning they have put the festive lights up outside the house on the big conifer. Nikki normally does this, and as she won’t be back until around Dec 17th, she and Robbie put them up.

Last night Ellie was at her dancing club Christmas show / party… the festive season is upon us… and it isn’t December yet.

We had a smattering of snow yesterday, and when you go out it feels like walking out into a fridge. Oh well, just got to get on with it.

It has been good having all the hoolies at home.

Well Nikki is now a fully fledged GB athlete, having competed twice this week. On Thursday an extremely nervous Nikki took her first run in GB colours. They finished 14th overall, which was a little disappointing as in both runs they managed to get quick starts – top 6 in the phase of pushing, sprinting and jumping in the bob, but they lost time coming down the run. Nikki’s partner Gillian is a World Champion – in 2009 – but she was brakeswoman then, now she is the driver, so it is a learning experience for the both of them. So, 14th was pretty good in that context.

On Saturday they had the second run, also in Austria on the same track. They had a slight improvement and finished 13th. Nikki was pretty pleased because they improved the start time again, which is her main job. They have now moved onto Cesana in Italy for the third race before she returns home.

Needless to say we are all proud of Nikki, and fulfilling her ambition of representing her country… She won’t be at the 2012 Olympics, which was her main aim a few years back… but maybe with hard work, and some luck she might make the 2014 Winter Olympics.

It has been an odd weekend. A busy Friday at work, then I dashed home… saw Tricia briefly before she went off for the weekend. On Friday evening she went down to Thatcham and stayed over at our friends Wendy & Rob, before going onto Cardiff on Saturday where she met up with others that had been to New York last year. Of course Nikki wasn’t there, she was required elsewhere.

I did rehearsal on Friday evening for the local play I am producing / directing, then Saturday morning I was at the Waddesdon school Xmas bazar … Ellie with me. On Saturday evening we went next door and had a take away curry. Today has been quiet. Ellie and I went to church, where we were doing the prayers. I then cooked Sunday roast for the three of us, and had a quiet afternoon.

Not much news from Robbie, but he has spoken to Tricia a couple of times, so we know he is ok.

Just a quick line to say ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ to Nikki, who has just turned 22.

But also to say ‘GOOD LUCK’ for today. After many years of hard work, injuries, and disappointments, her persistence and belief in herself finally comes to fruition when she represents Great Britain in the Bobsleigh Europa Cup in Igls Austria. It has been a long road for her, but she fulfills one of her life ambitions today… and it is an achievement she will always have, she represented her country. Obviously we hope it is the first of many times she competes for GB, but Tricia and I know what effort it has taken for her to get this far…. and we are very, very proud of her.

…and I haven’t blogged in November yet. The problem is where do I start ? There seems so much to say, and I don’t know where to begin. Lets start with the little one first and go from there…

Ellie

Well she is now out of plaster. A visit to the hospital last week showed the elbow is healing, and it was decided to leave the plaster off. So, some progress. The boots we ordered Ellie for her birthday finally turned up, and she was pleased with them.

Robbie

Rob came home for the weekend just gone, he enjoyed home comforts and home food for the weekend. The uni course seems to be going quite well, and he has made some friends and seems to be enjoying it. I picked him up Friday lunchtime and he was looking quite hairy ! Tricia gave him a hair cut, and trimmed his beard for him, so when he went back Sunday evening he looked a little tidier

Nikki

Nikki is in Igls Austria where she will be making her GB debut on Thursday, at about 2pm. She has been in ‘bobschool’ for the last week, and did a number of practice runs which sound like they went quite well. Fingers crossed they do well. Tomorrow Nikki is 22…. and I am not quite sure where all the time has gone.

Tricia

Tricia has been busy producing cakes, chutneys and a new line called ‘medler jelly’… Medlers don’t smell too good when being boiled up, so I am glad it has all finished… but the end result tastes great. Tricia is off to Cardiff with Wendy and Deb this weekend.

Me

Back to work after a relaxing week off last week. I enjoyed a couple of days in Hay on Wye in the second hand bookshops, on the Monday I spent seven hours just in the bookshops… for me a pleasant and relaxing few days.

We have finally got the heating sorted out… after we had the hot water tank replaced some time back, the heating stopped working… boiler man came out and sorted it out… but we then noticed that whilst the radiators would come on, the water in the tank wasn’t being heated, and also that the thermostat which we control the heating with didn’t seem to operate. So, out came boiler man again… its all sorted now though.

Saturday night we had some friends round to celebrate a few birthdays. A terrific evening… but I was tired in the end. I had done a few hours on the bike earlier in the day, and the fresh air and late evening caught up with me. Now these are what you call birthday cake candles!