Sunday, 17 January 2016


Dear All,

It has been an interesting week! I came home from football last Saturday with tooth ache and Tuesday afternoon saw me in the chair as the dentist explored my root canals – “there should be four roots, I will have to dig around for the last one” Cue a drill bit resembling something from my woodwork kit! Actually it wasn’t too bad but I need two more 1.5 hour appointments and he slyly introduced the price while I was anaesthetised.
Monday we had a meeting to plan the church events for a year, followed by a deacons meeting and then Tuesday a group meeting. Three meetings in two days is not what I retired for!
On Wednesday I was due as Wisley for the final trial assessment of 2015 trials of Brussels sprouts and Leeks. I was travelling with a colleague from Bury St Edmunds and we were caught in a serious fatal accident on the Cambridge ring road near the start of the M11 where a car exploded and caught fire. We were trapped for 2 hours and arrived at Wisley just as the meeting ended!  We did manage to examine the plots later. The road still hadn’t opened at 7 pm when we returned.


Flower Sprouts (our newest vegetable) on the end of the Brussels sprouts


Leek trial with 29 entries

Our Thursday walk was round Potton, Sandy and Sutton. Although it was chilly and wet the soil is sandy and well drained so not as sticky as it might have been.


Sandy Pits


Sutton Packhorse Bridge


Potton Centre

U3A term started again this week and the “Biography” subject was “Sir Joseph Rotblad” a Pole who took UK citizenship and was involved in nuclear fission research. This led to the development of the Atomic Bomb initially in the UK, then jointly with the USA in Los Alamos. He was deeply opposed to developing weapons of mass destruction but persuaded that the Germans were doing so and his research would create the position which would stop them being used. When it became clear in 1944 that the Germans had stopped their programme he asked to be released from the project. The Americans immediately accused him of being a spy and banned him from the USA until the 1960s. He returned to the UK and spent his time developing nuclear applications in medicine and campaigning against nuclear weapons. He was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1995.



I watched Over lose 1 v 0 to Cottenham in “cool” conditions yesterday afternoon then we were on “Street Pastors” last night. Kate was in the cafe and I was on patrol. It initially seemed to be quiet but cold with snow flurries, but after midnight there were several fairly serious incidents not least a Portuguese chap who had been beaten up with a black eye, bloody nose and torn coat and no buttons left on his shirt. The police got involved and took him to the cafe. Kate said he got quite belligerent and kept muttering about “Jesus” which led them to believe he was some sort of fanatic. It later turned out that his name was “Jesus da Silva!”

Love


Mike & Kate

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