28th January 2018

Dear All,

‘Tis the time of year when a young (?) woman’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of DECORATING! I dutifully passed the cold I was suffering from last week on to Kate, but it did not deter her from the above – this time the dreaded Hall, Stairs & Landing. She has been IC preparation and I am entrusted with final application – it could be a long job but the upstairs corridor is more or less complete.

Kate opted out of swimming on Monday but was well enough to go to her “Osteoporosis” class (keep taking you vitamin D in the wintertime). As spring was in the air I assembled the heated propagator and this week have started 40 germination tests.

Tuesday was a busy day, I attended a new class on “The Silk Road” – however it was rather disappointing as the lecturer has spent 2 weeks talking about ancient Greek and Persian dynasties and does not have a captivating delivery style. I’ll give it another week! Kate and I then attended a lecture by Ottoline Leyser, the director of the new Sainsbury Research Centre based at the Botanic Gardens entitled “Thinking like Vegetables” – it was all about hormones (mostly Auxins) which control plant growth and it was a very good example of how to put a technical subject over to a non-expert audience. After this we joined up with some of our walking colleagues for a Polish meal. There were 14 of us all told and the meals were interesting – some were more enthusiastic than others but most were very happy.

On Wednesday we hosted a chapel “Events Committee” which started with a meal to make it more enjoyable, painting got underway the we watched “The French Connection” on DVD (for the first time).

Thursdays walk started at Gravesend near Furneux Pelham south of Saffron Walden and Buntingford. It was a long journey as the A14/M11 are always clogged these days and the last 8 miles were narrow twisty lanes (a bit like Devon). However the sun shone throughout and despite being wet underfoot it was an enjoyable walk sighting a herd of deer and avoiding most muddy fields.

The Catherine Wheel, Gravesend

Briefing

Patmore Heath

Park Hall Water Tower

Green Hall Farm, East End

“Biographies” this week featured “Barbara Bodichon” a 19^th century educationalist, artist, feminist and joint founder of Girton College.

Barbara Bodichon

We had a church “Awayday” yesterday but stayed in Over! to discuss the vision for the future with the age profile creeping ever upwards. If this seems familiar it was the topic last time Graham led the discussions about 10 years ago!

Love

Mike & Kate