23rd October 2016

Dear All,

It has been an “interesting” week. Kate was called back after a mammogram as they had found a small lump and she had to endure a painful biopsy. Unfortunately we will not get the result until after our holiday. Then on Friday I was delivering my contribution to the “Biography” group subject “Angela Merkel” when I had a funny turn and cannot remember what happened. Evidently I went back to the beginning three times but eventually finished the talk. I have been checked over and nothing was amiss except high blood pressure. In the evening Esther phoned to report she had been violently sick and was covered with spots as a bad reaction to an antibiotic which she had been prescribed for an ear infection.

Kate travelled to Hove on Tuesday by train as I had a talk on Wednesday. The journeys to and fro went well despite the threat of strike action on Southern Rail. The highlight of the trip seems to have been Kate pegging washing on the drier and Albert watching then taking his own socks off and arranging them on the rail!

My talk on Wednesday was to Newmarket U3A and this week I have to address Cambridge U3A Gardening Group.

Our Thursday walk started at Monk Street and took a wide circle round Thaxted. It is still dry underfoot, most fields are ploughed and drilled but there are some very lumpy seed beds.

Monk Street

Boyton End

Break time

Cutlers Green

We had a work party at chapel yesterday removing the kitchen cupboards as we have been donated a new kitchen. It was quite hard work especially removing the vinyl floor covering which had been stuck to the floor.

Mary-Ann, Andy, Amélie and Albert are flying to Budapest today for a couple of days.

If all goes well we fly to California on Thursday after spending the night in a Heathrow hotel.

Love

Mike & Kate

16th October 2016

Dear All,

It has been the start of the new U3A term this week, Kate has enrolled for a course on “Joints, Muscles and Nerves”, I am back on “Biographies” and we are both going to “60s Music” as well as “Rambling”. We are not teaching “Just Vegetating” until after Christmas as we plan to miss a couple of weeks in the USA this term.

“60s Music” is headed up by Rob Turvey who some of you may have met at my 70^th. It is nostalgic trip but amazing how many of the records don’t seem to sound quite as good as they did then!

Q. What was the best selling record of the 60s?

A.” She loves You” – The Beatles

Q. What was no.3 on the list?

A. “Tears” – Ken Dodd!

The topic of “Biographies” was Brendan Bracken. He was quite an influential politician but I had never heard of him. He was born in Ireland, ran away from school at 14, sent to Australia, conned his way into teaching jobs, became an MP then Churchill’s private secretary in the war and Minister of Information after the war. He was a Jeffrey Archer type of character who was always stretching the truth and claiming things that were fantasies.

I had a garden club talk in Hitchin on Wednesday night talking about “Costa Rica” and Thursday missed the walk in favour of visiting the seed trade open days in Lincolnshire accompanied by David Cook and Lawrie Gray. We managed 6 out of the 7 sites mainly featuring new varieties and developments in Brassicas. The main trends were developments in long stemmed broccoli to replace Tenderstem and the reintroduction of Collards.

Collards

Calabrini long stemmed broccoli

New purple cauliflower

Sakata display

New Beauty Heart Radish

Elsom’s Kale trial

We were on Street Pastor duties on Friday night and it was fairly busy with new students and the continued increased presence of street life folk. The two low points were finding a young couple of street people in a doorway who had been urinated on by a drunk and a boy who had only been on the streets for a couple of weeks – he had gone to sleep and someone had stolen his shoes. “Jimmy’s” the Cambridge night shelter is full every night and the excess have to rough it, but folk come in hoping for easy pickings from tourists as well as access to the night shelter facilities.

We both had ‘flu jabs yesterday, (me for the first time) and helped Gillian & Richard Law celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary at the Crown in Girton. We are out again lunchtime today joining the leader of “Biographies” David Miles-Dinham for his birthday.

Love

Mike & Kate

9th October 2016

Dear All,

We have been down to Hove again this week entrusted with looking after Albert for the first time now that Mary-Ann has returned to work. Before we left on Tuesday, Kate’s sister Sue and husband Bill called in on the way to a reunion at Stratford upon Avon. On the way down we stopped for a walk at Devil’s Dyke on the South Downs from where the views were excellent.

Albert is having to adjust to Nursery so is understandably a bit clingy, but was fine once Mum was not around. We walked along the seafront away from Brighton towards Portslade and had lunch at a seaside restaurant owned by Fatboy Slim. After we sat on the beach and moved a few tons of stones! There was one hardy soul swimming and another optimistic topless sunbather. Amélie seems to be coping with school quite well and is very good with Albert.

View from the South Downs

Devil’s Dyke

Keen Gardener?

Hove Beach Activity

Our Thursday walk started just up the road at Dry Drayton and took in familiar places: Bar Hill, Lolworth, Boxworth, Knapwell Woods and Childerley Hall.

The Black Horse, Dry Drayton

Later in the week it has been fund raising. On Friday it was the annual quiz for Over Day Centre. Kate had compiled the questions and there over 50 attending. It seemed to go well and my job was easier as we had a working sound system so less shouting.

Last night we attended a concert at Little Paxton in support of CEEM and Moldova. The music was from “Damascus Road” a local St Neots group and there was an excellent curry midway.

Keen gardeners amongst you will know that autumn digging has begun and it is time to plant shallots, garlic, and broad beans for over wintering.

Love

Mike & Kate

2^nd October 2016

Dear All,

It has been a fairly busy week culminating in Harvest Festival this weekend. On Monday, after swimming Kate and I did a recce for Thursday’s walk that we were due to lead from Abbots Ripton. We also have the Day Centre Quiz next Friday so Kate has compiled the questions and I have been computerising them.

This week we hired the Cricket Association trailer of equipment to carry out the winter maintenance on the square. I cut the pitches on Tuesday then on Wednesday it was scarifying, fertilizing, reseeding and applying 50 bags of Ongar Loam. There were three of us but it takes a bit of time and the equipment is showing signs of ageing so there were a few breakdowns. In the afternoon Kate and I travelled down to London for a theatre trip in the evening using tickets paid for by my children for my 70^th. We saw “The Entertainer” with Kenneth Branagh in the lead role at the Garrick Theatre.

Before the performance we had explored round Kings Cross a little: Camley Street Park, Regents Canal, Old St Pancras church and the new Francis Crick building. Later we took the tube to Charing Cross and had a quick visit to the National Portrait Gallery before meeting up with Ben for a meal before the show. Ben has achieved a promotion at Kings but still putting in long hours. We got home at midnight and were up for walking next morning.

Regent’s Canal

The Hardy Tree, St Pancras churchyard

Francis Crick Building

The walk was not in spectacular scenery but the views northwards were panoramic and decidedly autumnal.

Abbots Ripton, The Abbots Elm

The rest of the week centred round collecting material for the Harvest Festival. I took Jim Burr for a ride to Biggleswade to collect a few extra vegetables on Friday morning then Kate and I were on a St John’s ambulance First Aid course at Cherry Hinton in the afternoon.

We had a men’s breakfast yesterday with a heavy metal guitarist as speaker. I watched football in the afternoon, and we had the Harvest Supper in the evening.

Esther is in Lisbon this weekend, part work, part holiday and we are due in Hove again next week.

Love

Mike & Kate