19th December 2010

19th December 2010.

Dear All,

I hope you are all well, there are plenty of casualties around here but Kate and I have escaped so far. Discussing Christmas this week I said I enjoyed the build up but Kate said she much prefers the aftermath when all the food has been prepared and she can relax!
Plenty of celebrations this week, a meal with some of the walkers on Monday, the Astronomy party on Tuesday, NIAB Christmas dinner Wednesday and Carols 60th birthday dinner on Friday.
On Monday I had an appointment with a new dentist as our old one had left the practice. Talk about thorough, X Rays, jaw check, gland check, mouth and tongue check not to mention actually looking at the teeth! The U3A class visited Kettles Yard which is an art gallery set up by a former director of the Tate Gallery.


Kettles Yard

It was interesting but not many of the exhibits matched my taste. Kate had a Takeda do on Monday so I went to the northern Cambridge walker’s dinner at “La Mimosa” an Italian Restaurant, myself to meet up with a dozen others. It is situated on the banks of the Cam – an excellent position in summer.
The Astronomy party was not the wildest event I have ever attended – we all took a little food and were shown round the observatory and the oldest books in the library.
It was the last session of the “Maps in the Digital Age” on Wednesday, this has been an excellent course and covered not only maps but the internet as well. The NIAB Christmas lunch was held at Girton College this year and was decent food in grand surroundings even if we did lower the tone.



Girton College

On Thursday the walk was rather damp and windy but not as cold as the other days of the week. We started at Arkesden and touched Wicken Bonhunt, Clavering and Rickling.

Damp Arkesden

In the evening we had a visit from David Stearn a missionary from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He and his wife are working with AIDS/HIV victims and experiencing death every day – a really tough assignment.
On Friday I collected a Christmas tree from Richard Fenwick’s plantation – £1 per foot and still the best value for money hereabouts. I did a solitary walk round Swavesey Fen which was looking splendid in the frost and snow.

Swavesey Fen

We were joined by Jane Gregory (husband in N. Ireland) and Rebecca Smith (husband poorly) for Carol’s 60th dinner.
We have escaped the worst of the weather again with just a thin covering of snow but of course very chilly. I hope travelling does not prove too difficult and everyone gets to where they hope to be over the next week.
Happy Christmas to all our readers!

love


Mike & Kate