Weddings last year – special birthdays and lots of travel this year!
Hattie arrived on 4th November – a gorgeous daughter for Ben and Susie and I am now proud to have a bus pass and Winter Fuel allowance!
My Touch Therapy work is growing well – I’ve been doing some therapy work with the Probation Service which might become a permanent contract in the New Year. I kept my 10.5 hours in Arnold Library with the last restructuring, but now council cuts and the installation of self-service are putting jobs at risk again. Déjà vu with possible redeployment or redundancy. Still working with Red Cross as a Therapeutic Care volunteer at Framework Housing and TC trainer.
John and I finally did our ‘trip of a lifetime’ to South Africa in January/February – (some of you may have ploughed through our blog –www.thehusons.com!). It was i) a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ to where my Grandmother’s 3 sisters emigrated and where Mum enjoyed a year as a 13 year-old with one of her aunts and ii) to see a small bit of this awe-inspiring country. Having no relatives over here I was very moved to meet up with about 25relatives with whom I shared the same great-grandmother. We were spell-bound by our safari trip and spotted lions, giraffes, elephants, warthogs, rhino, crocodiles, wildebeest to mention a few –and I also got to hold a lion cub and stroke a cheetah. We enjoyed it so much we decided it needed more than ‘a once in a lifetime visit’ and have just finalised arrangements to go again next year.
Then we went on our now customary family ski-ing trip to Ruhpolding in March/April – Daniel was unfortunately unable to make it this year as he had a final degree assignment to complete. We enjoyed meeting up with our friends Brigitte and Philip (ex of Southwell and who have a house over there) and some great ski-ing – one very challe
nging day in the fog and Rob, ably guided by Brigitte made the big run ‘from the top’.
Since then I resolved to continue to travel somewhere every month as a way of celebrating my 60th milestone. So it was
- London in May for the Chelsea Flower Show for a 60th reunion with schoolfriends Bev from Switzerland and Dot
- Krakov in June – a delightful town full of history
- Nice Jazz Festival to see Melody Gardot in July,
- Norfolk – camping in August with Sam and Sophie, later joined by Sarah, Rob and Daniel in our ‘tent village’;
- Marrakech in September – colourful, exotic and hot with Jenny
- Limoges for lunch (Limousin steaks of course) with John in October (rest of International Luncheon Club (ILC) couldn’t make it!)
- Aldeburgh with a neighbour in October,
- London in November to see Hattie at 14 hours old; then Liverpool for mini sightseeing and a massage workshop
- London a few times in December to see Hattie, be moved by ‘Les Miserables’ and watch Sarah play in a Christmas concert at The Albert Hall.
John’s done less ‘Ryanair’ travelling this year – but has nevertheless been to Beauvais (ILC) and Dublin (Jacky’s first initiation into the ILC!) for lunch; Portugal golfing plus the family travel mentioned earlier. He’s very much enjoying creative cooking, his social life and continues his lifelong support of Nottingham Forest.
Ben and Susie have been working hard to get the flat decorated and ready for Hattie’s arrival –
Susie passed driving test first time – interestingly in Morden where I took my test! They enjoy a full social life and after a spate of weddings, they are now visiting friends for christenings. Ben’s website design work at Camber and some private commissions are surviving the economic climate very successfully, thankfully.
Sarah’s quartet work continues to flourish with a variety of gigs including an acoustic and electric gig at Worcester Cathedral to set the scene for a Jon Simpson talk. Her cello teaching also continues at Trent College, The Elms and private students. Sarah together with Sian (viola in quartet) founded Youth String Camerata (www.youthstringcamerata.co.uk) to give their pupils experience in playing in small ensembles – they made their debut in May the Minster with Guy Johnston (Young Musician of the Year 2000) doing masterclasses with them. We also saw Guy at Royal Concert Hall with St Petersburg Orchestra and Guy honoured Sarah by presenting her with his bouquet – he was living in hotels while on tour, so not very practical – but still a lovely gesture.
She had a planned operation on one of her kidneys in October which went well, but then got an infection after 6 weeks. She’s back at work but still waiting for further tests.
Rob has passed all his tests for a Detective Sergeant’s post and is now chafing at the bit for the right position to come up – he’s been ‘acting up’ at many stations, so he’s certainly proved his ability. Work on the house is just about complete – moving walls, new bathroom. Their ‘Good Life’ garden has cropped well under Rob’s attentions and the 10 Betty hens give a bounty of eggs regularly.
Sam has started his GSCE’s and is getting glowing reports from school. He successfully completed and enjoyed Bronze D of E and is looking forward to Silver.
Sophie too is doing well at school, got grade 2 cello with distinction (guess who’s her teacher!) and plays in the school orchestra.
Dan graduated in July with his Sports Events Management degree, but then struggled along with many others in this climate, to get a job. He took a well-earned holiday in Portugal with his Uni friends and after a couple of interview disappointments, he was delighted to get a 3 month internship with Nottingham Forest’s Marketing Department which he has enjoyed and given him invaluable hands-on experience, which will hopefully help him in future applications. Hot off the press – he’s over the moon that Nottingham Forest have juggled their budget and found some money to offer him a paid temporary contract until the end of the season – they just didn’t want to let him go. Who knows after that? He’s obviously proved his worth. As one of the 12 host cities for 2018 World Cup, let’s hope we win the bid – that’ll generate more work surely.
Our warm wishes for Christmas and all the very best for 2010.