27^th October 2024

 

Dear All,

 It has been a week of catching up with the things cancelled the previous week. On Monday  Kate and Merv went swimming but I missed it to get my tooth recapped. The U3A office has been closed all week because they detected Legionnaires bacteria in the water supply.

I have been a member of the Thursday walking group for 16 years; this time we have also signed on for the Tuesday group – we do not plan to attend both each week but to choose the walk which is closest as some of the Thursday walks are 40 miles away. This week was our first outing with the Tuesday group which started at Haddenham and took in Aldreth and the River Great Ouse. We had good weather but it was a little soggy underfoot in places. The group is larger and they split in two alternating walks with one group aiming to walk faster.

 

 

Leaving Haddenham

 

 

Cattle by the River

 

 

Great Ouse at Aldreth

 

 

Break

 

On Wednesday morning I had both an Eye check and a discussion about hearing aids so I need stronger lens and hopefully a different hearing aid. We had a full turn out for the church group and Bulgarian friends Stan, Maya and Sammy Stoyanov called in for a drink.

Having a free Thursday was a novelty so we went to St Ives on the Guided Bus as Kate wanted to fill a shoe box for the Samaritans Purse Christmas appeal.

 

I called in the local Pharmacy to collect medications and the staff asked “have you had a Flu jab yet.?” I said “no” as I had to cancel with the COVD. They replied “Have you got 5 minutes?” - and they jabbed me on the spot!

I planted out Broad Beans and also sowed a row hoping mice, squirrels, Muntjac deer and all other pests will let them prosper.

I have continued digging at the allotment and managed to almost finish this week.

We were able to hold “Biographies” this week as we do not meet in the U3A offices but the Friends Meeting House. The topic this week was Sir Kenneth Clark of “Civilisation” fame. He had a strange childhood not being allowed to mix with other children but at boarding school got interested in art and after Oxford became director of the Ashmolean Museum aged 23. He later transferred to be director of the National Gallery and then chair of the new Independent Television Authority, never having owned a TV. The highlight of his career came when he was invited to present “Civilisation” by David Attenborough. It was the most expensive production at that time but because it was syndicated worldwide made money.

 

 

Sir Kenneth Clark

 

Over had a good win on Saturday thumping Witchford 6 v 1.

 

Regards

Mike & Kate

 

20^th October 2024

 

Dear All,

Not too much to report this week due to registering +ve to COVID since last Sunday I haven’t left the village all week. Kate and I have both had COVID before but this time it was about 10x worse with a few days in bed, a rasping cough and other flu-like symptoms.

A couple of photos from the quiz last week:

 

 

Punters

 

 

Organisers

I was able to tune in to both “The Balkans” and “Eat Well, Live Longer” on Zoom but had to miss “Adventures in High Places”, “Biographies” and walking this week.

I have managed to do quite a bit of digging both here and at the allotment and planted Chinese Greens in the greenhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

Allotment

 

Garden

 

 

Chinese Greens

 

Another gardening event this week was harvesting and sampling the Tudor Vegetable Skirret – verdict? not unpleasant but not a strong flavour.

 

 

Skirret

 

So, this week I have cancelled an Eye test, a Hearing test, a flu jab and to complete the week a tooth cap fell out!

On the positive side I have managed quite a lot of digging and had time to prepare my Biographies contribution which this time is “William Cobbett” of Rural Rides fame.

News just in from U3A is that the office and all class rooms in Bridge Street, Cambridge have been closed for at least a week due to discovering evidence of Legionnaires Disease in the water supply.

STOP PRESS I have tested -ve this morning after 8 days!

 

Regards

 

Mike & Kate

 

13^th October 2024

 

Dear All,

It has taken Kate sometime to recover from the COVID spending the best part of 3 days in bed and then having to rest for periods thereafter. However, she has managed two walks and a demanding Quiz night so is not one for succumbing easily!

This has been the first week of a new U3A term so the week has been quite busy again. On Monday Merv and I had a swim then I had two U3A classes on Zoom. First, I enrolled on “the Balkans” again as our tutor was taken ill last year and did not finish the course. This was followed by a second Zoom session “Eat well, Live longer”. I then had to rush off to the dentist in Bar Hill and still had time for a digging spell at the allotment.

On Tuesday I began a short course for 3 weeks entitled “Adventures in High Places”. The tutor has been a climber all his life and knows the Himalayas intimately. His photos are amazing and some of the climbs make your hair stand on end – and that takes some doing with my haircut! He has published a book:

 

 

Wednesday was the annual excursion to Lincolnshire for the Seed Trade Open Days. This time there were five us: Lawrie, David and Howard from walking and Vaughan who like two of the others volunteers in the walled garden at Wimpole Hall. We managed the usual 6 displays despite some rather muddy conditions.

 

 

Seminis Calabrese Titanium

 

 

Hazera Cauliflower Boris

 

 

Clause Pumpkin Collection

 

 

Sakata Pumpkin Pigs!

 

 

Sakata Red Calabrese Purple Magic

 

 

Syngenta Brussels Sprout Marcantus

 

 

Elsoms Vegetable Collection

 

We were due to lead the Thursday walk starting at Fen Drayton, unfortunately due to recent rainfall about 50% of the prescribed route was under water so Kate had heroically recced an alternative route while I was at U3A. In the end we headed for Swavesey and Over and back along the raised river bank. The floods had reseeded a little but there was still water, water everywhere.

 

 

Swavesey Fen from Over Flood bank

 

Swavesey Fen from the Ouse River Bank

 

 

The Great Ouse

 

 

The Great Ouse near Fen Drayton

 

On Friday it was Cambridge again for “Biographies” and the first session covered Nancy Pelosi the American speaker in the House of Representatives. She is 84 and still battling away trying to hamper Trump and still highly regarded by at least one side of American politics!

 

In the evening it was the annual Quiz Night which the chapel puts on to raise funds for the Day Care Centre. As usual Kate thinks up most of the questions although I get roped in for the Sport round. There was an excellent attendance of 111 people and 15 teams and the unconfirmed estimate is that it raised about £1,500.

Football was exciting on Saturday as Over beat top of the table West Wratting 3 v 1.

Stop Press after an uncomfortable night I have eventually succumbed to COVID myself today.

 

 

Regards

 

Mike & Kate

 

6^th October 2024

 

Dear All,

We have had a very enjoyable and action packed week in Sicily but sadly Kate has returned home with a nasty case of COVID and has been suffering ever since and has hardly left her bed.

Having left home at 3.00 am we started the holiday with a few hiccups as when we landed there was a forest of passenger greeting boards but not one for Travelsphere, so 34 folk were wandering around rather lost. It transpired that our guide Maria needed to deal with a medical problem with her previous party. When we eventually met up, we had to wait for a rather grumpy coachg driver who was promptly dismissed the nest day. The hotel in Giardina Naxos was excellent with a rather cool pool and an extensive buffet.

Our first outing was to Mount Etna and the next set back was a huge queue to board the Cable Car with the Italian idea of an orderly queue falling somewhat short of ideal. However once at the top it was worth the wait as Etna is a proper volcano with acres of larva and steam coming out of the top. The next set back was Andrew a retired vicar with prostate and dementia problems failed to return from the mountain. His wife had assumed he had preceded her down but in fact he was waiting up top. We were eventually relieved to see him after 2 hours waiting on the coach!

 

 

First View of Etna

 

 

The Summit of Etna

 

On the way back we called in at a honey emporium with 1001 ways to use and commercialise honey. We were each given a small pot to make up for the confusion at the airport.

Next day we travelled to Taormina a coastal resort with a large Greco-Roman amphitheatre. The views of the bays were good but the streets were crowded and I have never encountered a town with so many restaurants.

 

 

Taormina Gateway to Main Street

 

Entrance to Amphitheatre

 

 

Amphitheatre

 

 

Taormina Bay

 

We left our first hotel next morning and headed across the island from east to north via Piazza Armerina a fairly recently excavated Roman villa with an amazing display of mosaics. They really knocked any previous mosaics that we have seen into a cocked hat they were so extensive and well preserved.

 

 

Romania di Catalina

 

 

Small section of Mosaics

 

The interior of Sicily was seriously dry with very little productive agriculture. Our next hotel was about an hour from Palermo and the most extensive we have ever encountered – about the same size as Over! It had a large pool, a private beach and grounds which were much like a tropical Botanic Garden.

 

 

Acacia Resort Hotel

We managed a swim in the pool every day and one in the sea which was OK once in, but had a painful stoney section on the beach which was not good for bare feet.

Our next outing was to Agrigento Valley of the Temples. There was a ridge with a series of Greek Temples in various states of preservation.

 

 

Temple of Juno

 

 

Temple of Concordia

 

Temple of Hercules

 

 

Atlas Model from the ruined Temple of Zeus

On the way we were treated to Cannoli a local speciality as a treat for the delay at Etna!

 

 

Cannoli

 

On Tuesday our excellent guide Maria gave up her free day to lead an expedition to Cefalu a small seaside town the opposite direction to Palermo. It had a long central street with numerous small side streets and a central Norman cathedral which we were able to climb up to the roof for panoramic views.

 

 

Cefalu Cathedral

 

 

The deep Blue Mediterranean

 

Our final excursion was to the island capital Palermo starting with the Palatine chapel in the Royal Palace with highly decorated gold inlays. We also took in the city Hall and the suburb area of Monreale with an even larger chapel and even more gold. The hall was so large that I could hear my father saying:” You could stack a lot of bales in here!” Between visits were treated to samples of street food.

 

 

Royal Palace

 

 

Inside the Palatine Chapel

 

 

 

 

Paloma Cathedral

 

 

Large Hall in Monreale cathedral

 

 

Street Food

 

We had to get up at 5.45 am for a 7 am breakfast and our return journey which started with a 2.5-hour coach ride to Catina Airport. When we arrived, we learnt that the plane was still in Gatwick due to a medical emergency! We eventually had a 3-hour delay and arrived at Gatwick at 5.15 pm followed by a train to Cambridge. Kate was not feeling too good by this time so we were very relieved to arrive home in a taxi at 9.00 pm

When we started, we thought 34 people would be too many but actually there were some very nice people and getting to know them was one of the highlights of the week.

Meanwhile back in the real world both Emma and Esther had also succumbed to COVID and Emma was very poorly while Albert was Star pupil of the week. The wording of the award is quite tear jerking showing his parents must be doing something right!

 

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Mike & Kate