Categories
Christmas Letters

Christmas Newsletter 2002

Another twelve months navigated, more or less safely, and we seem to have reached that time of year when the memories get committed to paper as an enduring record of the continuing exploits of the Johnston family; could be a soap opera somewhere in there…

America has featured large this year. Judith and Fleur had a mother/daughter bonding/shopping/even more shopping trip in January to New York where Fleur was taken to Tiffany’s to choose her 21st birthday present, and then we all went off to Florida in February/March to celebrate Fleur’s 21st birthday and Rory’s 24th. They both brought current partners along, and to even up the youth/wrinkly balance we also took Dorothy, a local friend of long standing. We did all the theme parks along with the Kennedy Space Centre, lots of shopping, parties for the birthdays and a couple of super evening shows. Rory and Amanda drove off for part of the time to explore the Keys and the Everglades, so altogether a very full, fun but exhausting trip. Fleur also got accepted by Camp America and set off in June (her third trip of the year) for three months at the University of Michigan’s camp in deepest, darkest Michigan. Mere parents are not allowed to know all the details but are pretty certain that she had a wonderful time there and would go back tomorrow if only she didn’t desperately need to earn some money (to which end she now has a new job at the local university managing criminal records checks). Her boyfriend Keith went to New York to meet up with her when camp finished (more shopping, more Tiffany’s – their corporate profits should be good this year), then they took the Greyhound to Boston to stay with our old friends Virginia and Richard Munkelwitz; it goes without saying that they were entertained quite superbly and we are grateful that they took such good care of our wee bairn. They returned to New York to be part of the 9-11 commemorations, and we are glad to have had members of our family associated with this event.

Hospitals have also been something of a feature. In June, Graeme had a small heart attack which, fortunately, did no real damage. However, when investigating the cause, it was discovered that he needed a complete replumbing job due to lots of coronary artery blockages. So, once Fleur was safely home from America he went into the London Independent Hospital (good job we kept the private medical insurance going) for the necessary (quad) bypass operation. Home again after nine days, lots of roadwork after another three, he is now back on the local cardiac rehabilitation programme, more than a stone lighter and (almost) as good as new. But he will never forget having his nipples shaved by an over-enthusiastic Australian nurse… Judith took lots of annual leave so that she could be with him every day and ensure that he was not ‘over-fraternising’ with the nurses, especially hot Doris… And Fleur did sterling work manning the phones and issuing bulletins. In passing, many thanks for all the cards, flowers, bottles and general good wishes which arrived in overwhelming numbers.

Keith took Fleur to Edinburgh at Easter (as an extra birthday present) for sightseeing and so that her aunt could check him out; I think he passed muster… Fleur also did jury service in March but let everybody go…

Rory travelled to Thailand in November with a couple of girlfriends and obtained his PADI accreditation (SCUBA diving) in between overdosing on Buddhist temples. Before that, he spent about three months rebuilding and refitting the kitchen in his apartment in St Albans; the result is great, he saved lots of money by doing the job himself and we eventually got our tools back…

Judith and Graeme did manage a very pleasant holiday in May to the timeshare in Benalmadena (plus an interesting day out in Gibraltar), and a nice week in Edinburgh coinciding with the anniversary of Graeme’s mother’s death. The latter was during the Festival so we were also able to take in a few of the more significant cultural opportunities available this year – ‘Jerry Springer: the Opera’, and a show about musicals featuring Gyles Brandreth (former Conservative MP) in fishnet tights and extravagant gold codpiece; as he explained, it has become incumbent for such shows to feature former Conservative MPs, and he was the only one available, the others all being in prison… This trip was memorable for the fine weather and the opportunity (in fact necessity since it was so hot) to eat outside on the pavements – continental café society has arrived in Edinburgh. And memorable also for the opportunities to visit HMY Britannia, now moored at Leith as a tourist attraction and a first rate day out, and Rosslyn Chapel near Dalkeith, one of Scotland’s greatest treasures and mysteries. We also took the opportunity to stay with cousins Neville and Lorna at Easingwold on the way North (great house, wonderful hospitality and we enjoyed the home-made bread so much that we just had to buy a bread-maker on our return) and sister Karen and her family in Chester on the return leg. However, the imminent bypass surgery meant that our holiday to Venice had to be cancelled along with plans for a long-anticipated Nile cruise.

Domestically it has also been a year of renewal with one appliance after another (including the boiler) needing to be replaced; we are certainly doing our share of keeping the nation’s white goods business afloat.

Culturally, it has been a really wonderful year. West End highlights included ‘The Royal Family’ with Dame Judi Dench, Humble Boy (the most stunning set we have ever seen, and the trip enlivened by unwitting participation in the May Day riots), My Fair Lady, Onegin (ballet) at Covent Garden, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Vincent in Brixton, Breath of Life with Dame Judi Dench (again) and Dame Maggie Smith, and Mrs Warren’s Profession. We also enjoyed a lot of local and provincial theatre, including very nice days out at Sonning (in the front row of The Mill theatre your feet quite literally are on the stage) and Southwold (for Jill Freud’s summer theatre). Closer to home our village celebrated the Golden Jubilee with a wonderful 17th Century Faire, and with Judith’s Art History class we visited Paris, the Imperial War Museum (for First World War art), Tate Modern, Eltham Palace and Dulwich Art Gallery. In addition we explored Bletchley Park and the splendid new exhibition hall at Sutton Hoo. There have also been several visits to the Royal Academy (and other galleries), resulting in just a few wee impulse buys. Finally, on the cultural front, Sky TV has now touched down at St Martins…

Party-wise, we have also been busy with the local Guild of Arts (Graeme is secretary this year), with work reunions (nice meals at Pru Leith’s and L’Escargot), our local Sunday lunch club and, in November, a great 60th birthday party for Judith; yes folks, she is now in her 7th decade but as compensation the Government will be paying for her hair and nails from this point on… Her party, organised by Fleur, was fancy dress on a 60’s theme. Judith dressed in her favourite fab/groovy 60’s gear and Graeme hired an Elvis costume – it’s not every day he gets to be a Rock God and 4″ taller…

Sadly, during the year we lost a few old friends. Clive Shepherd died in May, devastatingly followed in June by Jim Leaf, one of Graeme’s closest friends from IBM. In August Terry Holliday’s mother died, and while that was sad the reception after the funeral turned into a memorable Old Dumbartonians reunion. We remember them all with great affection.

As before, Rory has supplied his own his thoughts on the year, but before you get to that we want to wish you a very happy Christmas and another happy, healthy and prosperous year in 2003.

Graeme & Judith ([email protected], [email protected])


Hello all,

I have no great news or achievements this year.

Progress report on last year’s objectives

For those who have binned last year’s letter (I had), they were…

  • We will have built or bought a new kitchen,
  • Rory will have started planning the house he will eventually build,
  • We will have been on some more holidays,
  • We will have been forced to write another bourgeois end-of-year letter.

Updates:

  • I have built my own kitchen. Its very nice – hasn’t fallen down yet. All plumbed in and working. Did everything except the gas.
  • Don’t have a new job. Am still wasting my life at T-Mobile, but on the plus side the office has moved to 5 minutes drive from my flat.
  • No progress on building (or planning to build) my own house. I am looking for a nice plot of land to buy as an investment.
  • Have been on holiday to Thailand (Bangkok and Koh Samui). Gained a PADI Open Water Divers certification and lots of pirated DVDs. Seen enough statues of Buddha to last a lifetime,
  • Yes, have been forced to write another bourgeois end-of-year letter.

Objectives for 2003

  • More holidays (probably Egypt),
  • Am building my own computer (not much of a challenge these days),
  • We will have been forced to write another bourgeois end-of-year letter,
  • Will have investigated doing an MBA, MSc or jacking it all in and doing a PhD,
  • Will read more books,
  • Will take more exercise in 2003 than I did in 2002 (shouldn’t be too hard to manage)

Rory [email protected]

Categories
Christmas Letters

Christmas Newsletter 2001

Back by popular demand (OK, so I’m fantasising again, no change there), the Johnston family Christmas newsletter…

January started with the usual boiler failure which in our house can always be guaranteed to precede the coldest point of the year. OK for Graeme who was away setting up a new Internet bank in Norwich, not so good for everybody else. Judith attended the funeral of an old friend and Thistle, our senior cat, was in serious decline (and had dwindled away by Easter). Fleur was having problems with a knee, consulting an excellent local (but Scottish) surgeon, getting physio from his wife and lots of TLC from everybody else. With retirement less than a year away Graeme’s office e-mails contained as part of the heading the number of days left to go, talk about rubbing it in …

February got off to a good start with a delightful weekend in Southwold at Sally and Max Johnson’s new holiday home. Very bijou and a squeeze for the four of us but lots of fun. Graeme’s project moved briefly to Edinburgh for collaboration with the Royal Bank of Scotland (déjà vu, since that’s where his career started). Fleur had her (third) knee operation, has the keyhole pictures to prove it and started a two-month period of sick leave involving lots of pain-killers and physio at least twice a week. The parental taxi service was in full operation to support her social life until she could drive again. The month ended with Aida in the Round at the Albert Hall; visually stunning even if musically just so-so.

Graeme’s project ended abruptly in March when the customer realised that the black hole into which it was throwing its money was probably bottomless, but he ended up back in Edinburgh almost immediately managing a project for the Bank of Scotland. Visited old friends in Cheltenham for a very enjoyable murder mystery weekend, Judith a very dippy Madame Arcati look-alike and Graeme a sort of Blashford-Snell action man (how appropriate) [dream on, sunshine – Ed] in a military moustache. Graeme joined Judith’s Art History class once again (anything for a free trip) for a whistle-stop tour of Antwerp, Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague to study Dutch Masters; lots of Vermeers and Rembrandts, and a splendid evening out in Amsterdam. At one point we had a good ten minutes alone in a tiny room with five small, almost pocket-sized Rembrandts – Oh! the temptation.

Got back from Holland all cultured-out with just enough time to unpack, repack, get two hours sleep and then set off (with Fleur) for a very welcome week of R&R in Paphos. Sunshine, nice meals, lots of brandy sours (for Judith), shopping, relaxation and convalescence for Fleur before returning to work. No other big events in April, other than that Judith took up salsa dancing and the Bank of Scotland gave Graeme a nice serviced apartment in Edinburgh, used from this point on by the family for occasional weekends.

May saw our little friend Alexander christened in Little Baddow. Our lady Canon has a great fund of wicked stories; she could be a stand-up comic as a sideline (maybe she is). Perfect family service with a nice party afterwards. Open Gardens day in Little Baddow was the usual success with cream teas at a neighbour’s house and an opportunity to look over the garden of our old house, transformed by pots of money into finely manicured but completely sterile perfection (along with memorial garden and urns!). At least Rory and Fleur were pleased to find that their ‘Secret Seven’ shed had survived.

In June Fleur visited Alton Towers by car (her first really long solo drive) and we enjoyed a great party at the golf club to celebrate a friend’s 75th birthday. Mid month we very sadly lost Maurice, an old, dear friend. The funeral was held on a beautiful summer day in our lovely English country churchyard; the service was very moving, and so well attended that it was standing room only for latecomers. The following day Judith and Graeme set off for a few days in Rome. Perfect weather, wonderful food and breathtaking surroundings. Walked miles, and Judith wants to go back soon for the chocolate ice cream. While we were there Roma won the Serie A (football) championship. There then ensued several days of enthusiastic flag waving, car horn tooting and generally amiable intoxication which made the holiday unforgettable. And we managed to get to the Vatican museum twice, but still haven’t done it all.

Edinburgh in July for a short break to see the family and maximise use of the apartment. Fleur went to the Milton Keynes open air Bowl for a Robbie Williams gig and came back sunburnt on one side only; very fetching. Judith gave up salsa’ing (far too strenuous for a lady of her advancing years) and transferred to ballroom and Latin American; also spent much time bobbing about in an inflatable armchair in the pool perfecting her tan (both sides). The little red car was sold and Judith got a splendid new set of wheels chosen very largely because of its leather seats, sunglasses holder and handbag hook; the good news is that it has a fantastic sound system; the bad news is that this encourages Judith to sing; the good news is that she only does it when on her own (by order).

August was Graeme’s retirement month. Never has a (second) retirement been milked for so many parties. Nice end of project parties in Edinburgh, and a wonderful garden party at home on a hot, sunny Sunday (yes, there was one), for which old friends Andrina and Les came to stay. And then a splendid seven-hour lunch with lots of IBM friends in London; we had planned to do the London Eye after but were in no fit state… Later in the month Judith and Fleur enjoyed a trip up to London to see Martine McCutcheon and Dennis Waterman in My Fair Lady.

Many celebrations were planned for Graeme’s mother’s 80th birthday in Edinburgh mid month, but unfortunately she became too unwell to attend. Such a pity since all of her family was present and that would have given her great pleasure. Her condition deteriorated a week later and Graeme rushed back up to Edinburgh in time to be with her and the rest of the family at the end. She had made it to 80, but her last few years were dogged by ill health with poor quality of life and many periods in local hospitals; we used to joke with her that she was compiling the Bedpan guide to Edinburgh hospitals. She bore her many tribulations with great courage, never complained, kept her sense of mischief to the end and is sorely missed. If there is a consolation, it is that Graeme worked in Edinburgh for most of the year up to her death and was able to visit her twice a week, a rare treat when we live so far away. We were especially pleased that Graeme’s cousin Neville managed to get up to Edinburgh for the funeral and we are looking forward to visiting Neville and Lorna when next travelling through Yorkshire.

In September Fleur signed up for two evening classes a week, psychology and human biology; this only slightly curtails her otherwise hectic social life, and she still manages to get to the gym most days. After eight years, Judith managed to shed her school governors responsibilities. This should provide more evening time for dancing, gym, Tai Chi, etc., but in practice provides more time for falling asleep in front of the TV. The month also saw a new kitten, thought to be a boy and named Campbell; a subsequent trip to the vet put us right and she is now officially Amber, unofficially Psycho. Very pretty, ever so slightly spoiled, and George (the senior cat) is close to a nervous breakdown.

We were in London enjoying the Vermeer and ‘Ingres to Matisse’ exhibitions when a taxi driver told us about the World Trade Centre disaster, which we then watched unfold in a bar. Words are not adequate to the task of describing our emotions either then or subsequently, and we fear that through this madness the world has changed forever.

Rory and Amanda told us to keep Saturday 15th September free for a surprise. Could they? Would they? Should Judith buy a new hat? Sadly, no. After many devious (but not very subtle) investigations she discovered it was Proms in the Park with a picnic; a really nice night out and fitting that an American (Leonard Slatkin) should be at the helm this year of all years. A very appropriate Last Night of the Proms programme with much sympathy and support all round for the victims of the terrorist attacks in the USA.

To celebrate retirement and birthday Graeme bought himself two flash presents in October, a new computer system for faster Internet surfing and a shiny new Jaguar [taking a leaf out of John Prescott’s book, he’s now known as One Jag Johnston – Ed]. All Johnston cars are now in matching silver. The car arrived in time for us to take it up to Edinburgh to inter his mother’s ashes in the family grave at Polmont and join in a lovely party in Linlithgow for nephew Jordan’s sixth birthday. Rory and Amanda joined us to share a surprise birthday meal, and Graeme and Judith had an amazingly full day out in London. This included an antiques fair, the Rembrandt and Masaccio exhibitions, lunch, the London Eye (at last), the Imax cinema, the Coutts Pensioners’ Christmas party and, finally, Buddy. Yes, we oldies can still rock and roll with the best of them, even if 1000% knackered the next day [I had to work next day but wilted badly in the afternoon – Ed].

Events in Afghanistan have put paid (at least for the time being) to Graeme’s plans to do occasional consultancy for IBM in the Middle East. So for now he has registered as a government statistic and delights in driving his Jag down to the broo to sign on… [For non-Scots readers, broo = job centre – Ed].

Judith’s birthday arrived (as usual) in November, celebrated with a trip to the theatre and a splendid family meal at a local restaurant. Terry and Rita wrenched themselves away from the shop in Weymouth and arrived for an overnight stay; really good to see them even if Terry has secretly started smoking again (yes, we did notice). And the boiler failed just in time for the coldest point in the year (this winter to date) (déjà vu) [like the rest of us it’s showing its age – Ed].

Otherwise, the pace of social life continues to accelerate as we approach Christmas; only four more parties to attend before our own, not counting dinner parties. Judith and Fleur are going to New York for mother/daughter bonding (but mostly for shopping) in January, and we managed to get some ridiculously cheap flights for two weeks in Orlando in February to celebrate Fleur’s 21st birthday. Rory and Amanda will be coming with us, now all we need is a nice cheap villa …

If you think we have neglected Rory in this newsletter, think again; his text follows (we thought it was only married men who had to spend alternate Sundays in IKEA). But before you get to that we want to wish you a very happy Christmas and an outstandingly happy, healthy and prosperous year in 2002. Go on, have another mince pie; go on, go on, go on …

Graeme & Judith ([email protected], [email protected])


Hello all.

The whole thing’s boring, smug and very middle-class. I can’t believe anyone really wants to read this. This is our final word on this matter, well, except for these…

We have been on holidays to excessively carnivorous Sardinia, crime-filled Barcelona and terrorist-infested Pamplona in Spain, Edinburgh (three times), Cornwall, the over-crowded Swedish enclaves of IKEA, the disappointingly flat Chilterns and the Peak District. We have also been go-karting, quad-biking in torrential rain, gliding, been in the audience of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’, got fat, joined the gym, still doing Ju-Jitsu, realised the futility of life and work, watched far too much TV, and we have decorated everything in our flat except the kitchen.

Amanda has left her high tech career with an Internet company and started undermining KPMG. Rory has almost done 18 months with One2One (and is due for parole soon) [hopefully not the enforced kind – Ed].

Rory’s greatest crime this year: being drunk in charge of a Scrabble board (and a Christmas letter).

Amanda’s greatest crime this year: not telling her boss what she thought of him when she had the chance.

Amanda’s greatest crime this year (according to Rory): getting us lost in the Pyrenees after saying she’d been on that route millions of times before, knew it like the back of her hand and then giving me a guilt-trip when I dared to suggest that this didn’t look like the way we’d come up. We ended up having to sleep in the forest without any tents or sleeping bags (and it was freezing!!).

Coming up in next year’s letter (yes, I bet you can hardly wait)…

  • We will have built or bought a new kitchen,
  • Rory will have started planning the house he will eventually build,
  • We will have been on some more holidays,
  • We will have been forced to write another bourgeois end-of-year letter.

Now, go back to your sausage rolls and prepare for the revolution.

Rory [email protected]

Categories
Christmas Letters

Christmas Newsletter 2000

It’s that time again – where has the year gone! Whatever it is we have been doing, it hasn’t left any free time! But looking back –

SPRING……

We saw in the New Year with champagne and fireworks at a nearby party. It was surreal to see the fireworks being lit by a burly Margaret Thatcher who never let go of her handbag – it was one of those parties. The Y2K bug struck in the form of streaming colds and coughs. The Yule’s New Year walk was delayed slightly, but as it was raining that day, we went straight from the bucks fizz to the long boozy lunch and omitted the walk in the mud.

It was all too soon before Rory returned to Edinburgh, and the rest of us went back to work. Fleur by this time was working for one of the University departments at Danbury Park, and sharing the driving. Graeme embarked on a top secret project codenamed “Vienna” which, sadly, was not in Vienna at all, but East Anglia. This project collapsed in ruins every two to three weeks, (Goodnight, Vienna), then rose again phoenix-like but in a slightly different form. This went on for some months, but fortunately IBM continues to pay, work or no work. He also fitted in another trip to Riyadh.

New Year – new activities! Johnstons go to the gym! A super health club opened up in Chelmsford, so the Millennium resolution was to get fit. Fleur was driving the little red car by this time, and it was hardly ever off the road.

Rory came home (briefly) for Easter and demanded the big blue car to go to interviews in Borehamwood and Reading, and then on to Somerset (to see Amanda, as they had been parted for several days). By the end of March, Rory had been accepted for teaching in Japan, accepted for a PhD course, and had three job offers. Needless to say, he sold out to Mammon, so we put away the airline timetables.

Once again Graeme joined Judith and her art class for a short trip to Paris, taking in the Musée d’Orsay, a chunk of the Louvre, and Rodin’s house, along with a few nice meals. On returning to Danbury, we were met off the coach by Rory and Amanda, who had been brought back from Somerset to meet us.

Fleur and friends went to Wembley Arena to see Puff Daddy, Sisco, Donell Jones, L’il Kim (only those under twenty will have any idea who these people are).

We were very concerned about relatives and friends in Zimbabwe, especially as e-mails and phone calls failed to connect.

SUMMER…..

Early in the term Rory had exams, but we didn’t hear very much about them. How could we help, anyway? Fleur had more physio on her knee, but this was not very effective. Graeme and Judith went to the West Country to visit friends in Minehead, Rick Stein’s in Padstow, Louise and new baby in St Blazey and Rita’s special birthday in Weymouth. Judith and friends appeared on Kilroy(!), and Fleur and Judith visited the Tate Modern in the opening week – great spider! Fleur applied for and succeeded in getting a job in Chelmsford, to start on return from holiday.

Fleur’s favourite club in Chelmsford closed for refurbishment, and to everyone’s amazement, she decided not to go to the re-opening, but gave up clubbing, late nights and alcohol in favour of the healthy life and going to gym several times a week!

Three Johnstons set off for Florida early in June. We arrived in Miami and drove south to the Keys in a tropical storm, but got more and more relaxed with every passing milemarker. The Keys are a delight, very laid back to completely horizontal. Key West was super, and very, very alternative – even the taxis are pink. We followed in the footsteps of Michael Palin to visit Ernest Hemingway’s house and see the five-toed cats. Harry Truman’s Little White House was also very interesting. Now totally relaxed, we cruised through the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands to Naples on the Gulf Coast (Florida, Rita, not Italy!). Added airboats to our forms of transport! We stayed in a villa in the grounds of a splendid hotel, with our own swimming pool. Naples has the largest Barnes & Noble bookstore in the States, and the smallest Saks Fifth Avenue, both very close to the hotel. Naples was great, too, terrific restaurants and shopping. We had to go away earlier than usual in order to put in a brief appearance at work before going to Edinburgh for Rory’s graduation.

Fleur started her new job in Chelmsford, and drove the little red car until we found a little silver car for her. Rory had bought a little navy blue car in Edinburgh to bring his stuff home (and Amanda and her giant pot plant), so the front garden became a car park – much shuffling of cars with Ecosse stickers if anybody wanted to get out. Rory started work for One2One in Borehamwood, but subsequently got moved to Barnet. The daily hundred mile return trip on the M25 was not much fun, and the property search began.

Edinburgh put on a scorcher for Rory’s graduation day in July. He pleased us all very much by getting a first in nerd studies (Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering). Amanda collected her Masters in Gender and Society that afternoon as well. Her “specialist subject” is women and martial arts (the moral of this is, don’t mess with Amanda, or you’ll get a good kicking!) Rory’s graduation photo is too ghastly to reproduce here – but we can see what he’ll look like at forty!

Fleur had seen another orthopaedic surgeon about her knees, and began yet another course of physiotherapy. Surprise, surprise, the surgeon’s wife is a physio, but a rather special one, being physio to the British Olympic team. Fleur is still athletics mad, and struck up a very good relationship with the lady who massages the legs of Linford Christie, Darren Campbell, Steve Backley (phwoar!!!) and knows all the athletes well.

Not much swimming for us this summer, as although there were some hot days, they did not coincide with the weekends. There were, however, some memorable barbecues and garden parties. The guys and gals in Judith’s office decided to take up croquet on the lawn in front of the office. We reduced the simplified game to fit our half hour lunch break, and played almost every day. We had the Grand Championship during the week that She Who Must Be Obeyed was on holiday! The more co-ordinated people also used our pitch and putt course, and some even played tennis after work. Some of us just went to the pub.

AUTUMN…..

Early September sees International T’ai Chi Day, and all the local clubs give demonstrations in the pedestrian precinct. (Overheard conversation between small boy and his mother: “Mummy, mummy, what are they doing?” “That’s line dancing, dear, come away”.)

A great two-day wedding of friends Rachel and Toby in Danbury. We have now experienced the cataclysmic effect of champagne and Archers on empty stomachs!

Operation Vienna has turned out to be in Norwich where Graeme and his team are supposed to be creating an internet bank, but in fact are doing very little as no decisions seem to be made about what is required. But at least the client is still happy to pay for them. We hoped to have a little holiday in October, but holidays were vetoed for the team, until it was too late. They owe us one.

Graeme’s sister Karen was 40 in September, and unbeknown to her, umpteen Johnstons descended on Chester and threw a surprise party for her!

WINTER…..

The days grow shorter. The round of committee meetings gets underway again, as do the candlelight suppers and Sunday lunch parties.

Operation Vienna has at last got organised, and Graeme spends most of the week in Norwich, working long hours again.

After many delays and frustrations, Rory exchanged, completed and moved into his flat in St Albans on 8 December. Amanda has a job with an Internet company in the City and has started to commute. (Oh, I remember commuting – a long time ago…) Rory is learning Iaido which involves wearing voluminous black skirts over the jitsu pyjamas and whirling wooden swords round and round.

At the time of writing, Graeme’s mother has had three falls and a broken hip, (but no submissions) and is now recovering well in hospital. She will have soon done enough research to compile the definitive guide to Edinburgh hospitals. (The Royal Victoria gets only one bedpan in the Una Johnston Good Hospital Guide).

Only a few more drinks parties, office dinners, the panto, midnight writing of cards, then it’s Christmas Eve and time for turkey – and bliss, vegging out for a few days, before preparing the Harry Potter Millennium Party – this is where we came in. Then Graeme and Judith are to work on their retirement plans. (There is already a draft Gantt chart…)

With all best wishes for Christmas and the New Millennium.

Graeme & Judith ([email protected], [email protected])