Colin and Pat
Irvine's Pages
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Diary 2008
New Year
Colin decided to take up an additional, slightly less hazardous, hobby
this year and joined the St Andrew’s Choral Society in time
to practise for their summer series of concerts.
He wasn’t about to give up on biking, though. Having ruined a
jacket when he broke his collarbone in September, he decided the moment
was right to order the new made-to-measure leathers he had been eyeing
for some time. Very smart they are too.
Spring
Having allowed maximum time for the collarbone to heal, we set off in
March to drive via the Eurotunnel to Flaine for our skiing holiday. We
enjoyed using the tunnel – no worries about winter storms and
so quick! We broke the journey overnight in Calais. We were actually
renting an apartment in Samoens, which proved to be a charming, proper
town. The skiing was good, if
rather foggy on one or two
occasions. On one memorable afternoon we missed a turning in the fog
and found ourselves coming down a black run that Pat would not have
chosen to take!
At the end of April we were off on the repaired bike to the Black Horse
in Hulland Ward for the traditional bikers’ meeting - the
first outing for Colin’s swish new leathers. We had a
thoroughly good time as always but on the way home we had a bit of an
upset. Written off: one bike, two helmets, one jacket
(Pat’s), one pair of boots (Colin’s), one pair of
gloves and almost one hand. One of Colin’s gloves had come
off and his hand was badly scraped as
well as having a small
bone broken. No other injuries though, and the new leather suit was
able to be repaired.
Unfortunately, injuries and lack of a bike meant we had to forego the
usual May Day weekend biking trip to France.
Later in May we met up with Colin’s brother, Rob, and his
wife Sandi for an Old Boys’ day at Sherborne School.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, the hotel professed never to have heard
of us! We did eventually manage to book in elsewhere and we enjoyed our
weekend. On the Saturday we toured the school buildings (pausing to
admire the honours board)
and enjoyed an excellent lunch with
some old friends and the odd master or two. The trip down South was
rounded off with a stay in Weymouth and a mini tour of the Dorset
coast, part of
Colin's childhood stamping ground.
Amongst the old Sherborne pals was Jos Oswald, son of Colin’s
godfather, who turned out to be another biker. We enjoyed a visit from
Jos and his wife Caroline in June.
Summer
Our project this year was to dig a garden pond
, which we achieved with
a little help from our local handyman. We are delighted with it,
especially as we now seem to have gained a resident frog. We hope to
attract some newts eventually. The garden birds are equally delighted,
and are often to be seen bathing in the little rill that we have
feeding the pond. One day, while Colin was watching a sparrow having a
lovely splash about, a sparrow hawk swooped down, took the sparrow and
began devouring it beside the pond.
We’re hoping he (or she) is not going to look on the rill as
a personal delicatessen.
In June Pat visited daughter Jean and family in Massachusetts, sharing
in Charlotte’s last day at nursery and Ian’s final
ball game of the season, and reading Richard Scary books to
two-year-old Noah. Jean seems to have twice as many hours in her day as
any normal person; there’s no other explanation for the way
she stays on top of her lively bunch and still manages to write her
magazine and newspaper pieces. And for relaxation she runs!
July saw the (late) arrival of our newest grandchild, Jo and
Tom’s son Arlo, who weighed in at almost 10 pounds. His big
sister Iris was delighted with him, even if she does tend to treat him
like
a doll! Photos are, as usual, in the Family Album on this web site.
Please email or ring Colin if you'd like the password.
We enjoyed a cultural summer season with Colin’s choral
concerts, our usual participation (several concerts) in Saltburn
Folk Festival
and a visit to Edinburgh to see Colin’s nephew
Dougal’s play, Departure Lounge, having a very successful run
at the fringe.
August saw us in Bavaria on the new bike (as pictured on our home page,
write-up ).
What a beautiful part of the world it is!
Autumn
In September we took the train (wrinkly rail passes to the fore) to
Greenwich for Dougal’s wedding to Rhiannan. The sun shone,
the bride was beautiful, the 3 best men entertained us all brilliantly,
and we all had a great weekend. Greenwich Park was celebrating hosting
the 2012 Olympics with candles everywhere; we climbed the observatory
hill after dark to see the shapes they made.
For the first time, Julie’s daughter Ellen took part in the
Great North mini run along the Newcastle and Gateshead quayside. We
cheered her on from the cover of a bus shelter, glad that we
weren’t out running on such a cold, drizzly day. She was full
of enthusiasm and wants to do it again next year – her
brother Benjamin is determined to join her.
The St Andrew’s Choral Society started rehearsals for the
Gilbert & Sullivan production that takes place every February
– this (i.e. next) year it’s Ruddigore.
Pat cooked a Thanksgiving dinner on the last Saturday in November, to
which Julie’s and Jo’s families both came, together
with Mike and Liz, Colin’s daughter Kate and her partner Matt.
Winter
December saw us taking advantage of a late discount to go skiing in
Cervinia the week before Christmas. Unfortunately skiing was limited by
too much snow the first 3 days and too much wind the second 3 days, but
we still had plenty of fun. We stayed in a large Crystal club
hotel - a bit Fawlty Towers in organisation but with plenty of other
guests of all ages to entertain us of an evening.
On Christmas day we were due to host Jo, Tom, Iris and Arlo together
with Pat’s Mam, but all guests had to cry off with various
illnesses. So we delivered the former family’s dinner to
Leeds on Christmas Eve, and Mam’s on Boxing Day, and we had a
nice cosy Christmas on our own. Colin says Pat’s the nicest
stocking-filler he’s ever had.
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