Dec 24 2009
Christmas 2009
Our annual letter just to let you know how we’re getting on in our second year in Criccieth!
We started the year with a trip to southern France in early January to visit Rachel and Bill’s son, James. It was bitterly cold but it was interesting to see the area round Bezier and also to experience the wonderful hospitality of Rachel’s parents again. We had three more flights abroad which is very naughty of us. In March we visited Otivar, near Malaga, southern Spain to stay in our friends Sylvia and Arthur’s house. This is set amongst avocado, citrus and loquat trees in a steep-sided valley not far from the coast and we enjoyed the warmth of the spring sunshine and had a good time. Our next trip was our final trip to Villa Nova a la Geltru to stay with Bill’s other son Dougal, Jo and their children. They have now moved back to the UK so Gabriel, Olivia and Esme don’t have to cope with three languages. Our final trip was to Palma, Mallorca, to meet up with Mark and Fransesca on Nine Lives, their 37 foot catamaran. We spent a blissful 2 weeks on this craft and sailed round most of the island. Mark had made the boat almost totally self-sufficient, generating enough electricity from photo-electric cells and a windmill to power all our needs and also to run the reverse osmosis water maker so we didn’t visit a marina once. We had one further treat, a week’s trip with Mike and Jo on Clinton, a 55 foot Dutch barge, up the Thames.
We have managed to sell our house in Wrinehill in May and our flat in Porthmadog in November releasing enough capital to invest for our pensions, which is a great relief. The business still hasn’t sold in spite of our efforts so we are not entirely free from commitments. Of course we also have the flat we rent out for holidays above us to maintain and this year did the laundry and cleaning for this.
In April it was Bill’s 65th birthday and he didn’t know how to celebrate it so left it all to Sue who came up with a whole week of celebrations, most of which were a complete surprise. Brother Chris and Vicky came to stay as expected and the four of us went on a cycle ride down the Mawdach estuary. On our return I saw a familiar face through the window, sister Ros – a total surprise. We took the 3 of them to our local ice-cream parlour to the weekly jazz session and when we got back brother David was there – another surprise. Next day we all went, along with daughter Alisa and step-daughter Jo, on the Cambrian line to the centre for Alternative Technology. The final event was a hill-walk organised by Simon, a rowing friend from Croesor, accompanied by Carla, Bill’s other step-daughter and 9 friends, followed by cakes and tea at Simon’s house and fish and chips to musical accompaniment with yet more friends.
Rowing was a major part of our life this year with Sue joining in the sport with Bill. We rowed in 7 regattas around the north Wales coast and in the Great London River Race where Sue’s crew won the ladies Celtic trophy. Bill’s crew set out to win the supervets category which they did becoming Welsh National Champions. Sue’s crew won the ladies vets category, also becoming Welsh National Champions. We have made many friends from the rowing club and our social life has been greatly enhanced by knowing them.
We have also been active in the local tennis club which had been left to go to rack and ruin. Bill was made chairman and with a great team of tennis enthusiasts has managed to resurrect the club and make the courts playable again. However, we need to raise another £26,500 to put the courts back to where they should be.
Sue’s parents, Tom and Betty, need more support now Betty has lost her short-term memory and we have visited them monthly. We managed to persuade them to come here once as well.
We’re finishing the year in chaos. We’ve moved upstairs and are having the bottom flat refurbished to suit our future needs, insulating all the exterior walls and plastering over all the artex. At the same time Bill is stripping off the paint from part the staircase in the upper flat. All our children and grand-children are arriving here for a few days before Christmas into this chaos as the work has stretched beyond the original proposals. We’re looking forward to seeing them all.
Carla is enjoying her course at Manchester Metropolitan University and lots and lots of parties. Alisa has almost completed her training as a nursery nurse and is thinking of becoming a classroom assistant. Jo has bought herself a house off Butt Lane, just ¼ mile away from the flat Bill had when he first started his canal-boat business. Nicola still lives with Shaun in Wrexham and has been unfortunate enough to be made redundant again. Dougal and his family are living in Marker Harborough and James and Rachel are back in London.
We have ambitious plans for 2010. We plan to purchase a yacht and to live on it for much of the year, inviting friends and family to join us in our travels. With this in mind we have opted out of the rowing and asked some local friends to manage our apartment here but we still haven’t yet sorted out Selfcateringhols.