20th March 2016.

Dear All,

Thank you all for cards, best wishes etc. I don’t feel too different and look forward to seeing you all next weekend. On the day, Kate and I were leading the short walk starting at Nuthampstead. When we reccied a couple of weeks ago it seemed too short and we decided to add a loop but as it was freezing cold ending in snow we did not walk the extra loop. In the end it was not quite so straightforward as anticipated and we ended up doing 9.3 miles (the long walk was 9.6 miles!) and we ended up arriving back at the pub 40 minutes after the long walk. However it was dry under foot and mostly sunny and an interesting walk including an obelisk erected for a horse in the Indian Mutiny.

Near Barkway

Newsells Park Obelisk

In the evening we had a meal with Kate, Gordon, Bob, Carol, Geoff and Hilary at the Old Crown at Girton. On Friday night Kate and I went to the Theatre to see “Hobson’s Choice” which was excellent.

Birthday Meal

We have finished decorating the bedroom this week in accordance with the “Forth Bridge one room a year policy”.

Decorated Bedroom

I started shopping for Moldova on Wednesday and managed to plant onion sets and sow a few seeds outdoors.

The subject of the last Biography of term was “Sir Stafford Raffles” founder of Singapore. He started as a humble clerk in the “East India Company” which was the largest employer in the UK at the time and worked his way up to be Lieutenant-Governor of Java. He suggested settling Singapore when no Europeans were living there and was an enlightened Governor but fell foul of the EIC because he was anti slavery at a time when they were using more than a few. He returned to England and was knighted but had a serious brain problem and died aged 45. Because of his anti-slavery position, he was refused burial inside the local parish church (St. Mary's, Hendon) by the vicar, Theodor Williams, whose family had made its money in Jamaica in the slave trade.

Sir Stafford Ruffles 1781-1826

Over pulled off a remarkable victory today against Eaton Socon who were 2^nd in the league and 2 v 0 up at half time but Over hit back in the second half to win 3 v 2.

Love

Mike & Kate

13th March 2016.

Dear All,

It was Street Pastors last night, Kate was in the cafe and I was on the streets. It was not especially busy but several incidents which made it worthwhile. An Italian mother and 17 year old daughter claimed to have lost their money passports etc and were camped out in the shopping centre hoping to last until Monday when they had an appointment with their embassy in London. They couldn’t speak English so their story was incoherent and we had to go to a pub to ask if anyone could speak Italian. In the end our leader took them home for the weekend. Another youth was comatose on the pavement and barely breathing having been celebrating his 18^th birthday and had to be taken to A & E. Another scantily clad young girl was crying and shouting that she had been robbed of all her money and documents, she refused our help and ran off only to be seen with a man with his arm round her. Fearing she was vulnerable we followed her up only to find that the man, who did not know her paid for a taxi and sent her home – two heart warming incidents in one night!

The toughest part was driving home at 4.30am in thick fog.

Kate and I went to the Fitzwilliam Museum on Tuesday to see the latest exhibition “Death on the Nile” as well as view a few of the painting galleries.

Fitzwilliam Museum

Inside

On Wednesday a former Sutton Bonington colleague, Paul Rennie, came to stay the night. He had worked abroad with VSO and CMS in Zambia and Pakistan. He lost two wives to cancer and the third, Sue who was with him had also lost two husbands. As they did not leave until 10 am on Thursday we missed the U3A walk but did our own thing round Swavesey Fen. IT was saturated after a day of rain on Wednesday so was more like the Lake District than East Anglia.

Paul & Sue

Swavesey Fen

In “Biographies” we studied “Joseph Needham”, he was a Cambridge Biochemist who through working with Chinese students became fascinated by China and specifically why they had led the world in discovering gunpowder, paper, printing etc fell severely behind. He first visited China on a diplomatic mission while the Japanese were invading in 1940 and travelled over 30,000 miles collecting material which he aimed to publish in a book. He soon realised that one book would not be enough and after the 7^th decided work should carry on after his death so he managed to set up the “Needham Institute” at Robinson College, Cambridge. He and his wife believed in open marriage and after she died when he was 87 he married one of the Chinese students, who had been his mistress when he was 89! Needless to say being Cambridge a couple of the Biographies class had met him and filled in a few of the gaps regarding his difficult character!

It is the Forth Bridge decorating season again so accordingly we have been repainting our bedroom this week – same colours, refreshed paintwork so not too difficult.

Esther is in Bulgaria again this week teaching “Posture Management”

Love

Mike & Kate

6th March 2016.

Dear All,

There is a character in “Lake Wobegon” – Clint Bunsen, who would only get ill when everyone else had taken their turn. Well Kate and I have been a bit like that this week – it was a quieter week so we have both succumbed to decent colds! We did a recce on Wednesday hoping to shake off the beginnings of snuffles but what started in sunshine developed into a very energetic cold wind and ended in a snowstorm. This brought the colds on quite well so we had to miss the Thursday walk this week.

Before the recce I had been back to NIAB to study their soil steam sterilisation technique as one of our contacts in Moldova is planning to buy a sterilisation machine to offer as a service for tunnels and glass houses. The machine is like a mobile boiler which heats water under pressure and pumps the steam under a heavy plastic sheet. The soil has to be worked and moistened to allow the steam to penetrate 8”.

Steam Steriliser

I have done a little sowing and planting this week much of it under protection in the greenhouse but managed to slide some early peas out of a gutter and cover them with cloches.

Our “Biography” subject this week was “Constantine the Great” a formidable organiser but ruthless having disposed of his son, one wife and mother-in-law on the way. Somehow he managed to embrace Christianity mainly as he saw it as a way of bringing peace to the Roman Empire. His other masterstroke was moving the capital of the Eastern Empire to Constantinople. He was preceded by Constantius his father and succeeded by Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans I – they were not very imaginative with names! He lasted 31 years as Emperor after a period in the previous century when there had been 9 emperors in 54 years.

Constantine the Great

Watching Over was hard work yesterday as there were swirls of hail and they were thumped 5 v 1.

Today is Mervyn Howard’s 75th birthday and he had a gathering at the Social Centre last night. He is looking very fit for 75 and tomorrow he and Pat are off to Barbados.

We have just returned from a baby dedication this morning followed by a shared meal. The parents are South African Matthew and Rachel, Grace Jane was born only 2 weeks ago.

Love

Mike & Kate