5^th December 2021

 

Dear All,

Early signs that Christmas is on the way locally with the lights eventually being turned on at the Green and the Garden Club Christmas party. The lights were a low-key event after the Saturday weather caused a postponement but there was carol singing, mince pies and a cove with red coat and flowing white whiskers.

 

 

Lights & Carols

 

The Garden Club do involved a quiz, photo competition, Secret Santa and raffle. The quiz had 6 rounds on trees, fruit and vegetables (in which we did well), national gardens and Over history (moderate) and ladies in gardening (in which we performed badly). Did you know that the patron saint of gardeners is St Dorothy? We won the quiz (a team of 6), I got a 1^st and 2^nd in the photos, some plant labels in the Secret Santa and chocolate Matchsticks in the raffle – so a good night all round.

 

Winning photo

 

Mini crisis this week with the fish tank leaking and causing considerable dampness in the cupboard below. As it is only the second tank we have had in 50 years we decided to replace it rather than patch it up. This is quite serious business trying to move the old one, keeping the fish and plants alive and swapping in the new one. The old one was half drained for moving and letting the area dry out, the new one is taller and this meant having the electric socket moved involving filling and painting – so we have not achieved completion yet. When we have there will be a 3’ vivarium available to the highest bidder!

 

The Old Tank in emergency mode

We did a walk recce on Tuesday at Orwell as we received a leading request at short notice as someone dropped out for next week. Our Thursday walk started at Chrishall and took in Duddenhoe End, Littlebury Green and Elmdon. It was a bit sticky underfoot but mainly sunny after a cold start.

 

 

Near Chrishall

 

 

Jerseys Lunching

 

 

Half a mile of Sugar Beet clamp!

 

We were so involved with fish tanks on Wednesday that we both forgot to tune in for our History session. Fortunately, the tutor puts his presentation on-line straight away so we could catch up. This week it was about conflicts between Mercia and Wessex with Wessex becoming top nation, the Book of Kell’s, Vikings attacking Iona and Wessex and the arrival of Alfred who was sent on a pilgrimage to Rome at the age of 3!

Kate and I met up with ex NIAB colleagues for lunch at Girton Golf Club on Tuesday. It was good to catch up with them even though the discussions tend concentrate on ailments and medications!

The Biography subject this week was Charles James Fox a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-rival of the Tory politician William Pitt the Younger. He was very bright, very spoilt by his father and an immoral womaniser. In his youth he wanted to watch the demolition of a wall on his father’s estate but the workmen completed the job before he arrived so his father made them re-erect the wall so Charles could watch the demolition!

 

Charles James Fox

 

Esther and Emma went to Hyde Hall on Friday night to see the illuminations which look quite impressive.

 

 

Hyde Hall

And Over beat Fulbourn 5 v 1 yesterday in rather more pleasant weather that the previous week!

With love

Mike & Kate 

 

28th November 2021

 

Dear All,

Winter arrived suddenly yesterday causing the postponement of Santa arriving on his sleigh to switch on the Christmas lights on the Green. A large do was planned with stalls, carol singing, brass band etc. The chapel had booked a stall to distribute books and 200 mince pies so hopefully a smaller event will take place this afternoon if Santa can rearrange his schedule.

After a few chilly swims the pool was virtually back to normal but the uncertain temperatures had reduced the participants so there were only 4 swimming apart from our car load of three, so almost a private pool!

Arthur helped (?) us erect a fence at the allotment on Tuesday but later in the week failed a Covid test so is now isolating and we are checking!

Our History session this week concentrated on Offa who was king of Mercia for 39 years during which he built the dyke and went to great lengths to ensure the succession of his son Eegfrith. When Offa eventually died in796, Eegfrith took over but only lasted 141 days. Then the Vikings started to raid the first raid was to Lindisfarne in 793.

Our Thursday walk this week started at Leighton Bromswold along the A14 beyond Huntingdon. The pub, the Green Man is one of the oldest in the country and the landlord sensibly dispenses with his normal menu when 30 walkers descends and makes a large vat of Irish Stew. It is not the most scenic walk but was enjoyable because it was wall to wall sunshine and dry underfoot. Highlight was spotting a fox in broad daylight.

 

 

The Green Man, Leighton Bromswold

 

 

 

Leighton Bromswold Marker Stone (for public meetings)

 

 

Castle House, Leighton Bromswold

 

 

A few Autumn Leaves

Our Biographies subjects were two black ladies who were slaves but were adopted by wealthy families and experienced very different lives to what they might have been. Dido Elizabeth Bell was the result of a liaison between a rear admiral and a slave in the West Indies in the 1700s and was adopted by Lord and Lady Mansfield, he was Lord Chief Justice of England at the time. Sarah Forbes Bonetta was captured by the King of Dahomey in 1850 and sent to Queen Victoria as a present who adopted her and gave her an education.

 

Dido Elizabeth Bell  

Sarah Forbes Bonetta

 

I helped Adrian finish digging his garden yesterday before it started to rain then watched football played in a freezing gale - Over 3 v2 Hemingford.

Natasha sent a photo of the Derbyshire weather yesterday:

 

 

Bolehill, Derbyshire

 

Esther and Emma are having major work in their garden involving a fence replacement and building a garden room and shed, work started on Wednesday and so far, it is chaos!

 

 

19 Alpha Road, Hutton

Discussing Estonia with Ben I came across photos of eccentric English folk dressing in traditional costume!

 

 

Lady Mary!

With love

Mike & Kate

 

21st November 2021

 

Dear All,

We missed swimming on Monday as we were having a Smart Meter fitted following a plethora of emails as the date was changed numerous times. We are trying to ignore watching the £ & p clocking up on the display. Mary-Ann & Andy were hoping to move this week but unfortunately their buyer dropped out at the last minute so it is back to square one – there really has to be a better way? They have already had more viewers and the Housing Association that they hope to buy from have given them more time. To add to their household gloom Albert was very upset at not getting his preferred roles of King or Camel in the school nativity play and sobbed for 45 minutes – he is narrator which I am sure he will perform very well.

On Tuesday we took Arthur to Coton Garden Centre to restock the fish tank and buy a few Christmas presents. He was greatly impressed by the singing reindeer and the large replica railway engine.

 

 

Arthur and the Engine

 Headlines for this week’s History session were:

Events Outside Mercia

Church Councils

The Anglo-Saxon Class System

And

Northumbria and Wessex

The Class System was:

Anglo-Saxon Class System

Ætheling

Ealdorman

Thegns

Reeve

Ceorl/Churl

Villein

Slave.

I am sure I don’t have to amplify the differences to you but if you are unsure send a stamped addressed envelope…….

Our Thursday outing started at Hardwick and took in Comberton and Toft. It was dry and sunny (only 2mm rain so far this month).

 

 

Near Hardwick

 

 

 

 

Comberton Pond

 

 

Autumn Leaves

 

 

New Cow breed in Toft

 

Adrian called to have his photo taken to renew his bus pass. Kate was going to sort the paperwork but needless to say it did not sail through as they had him down for a different expiry date to the one on his current pass!

 

 

Would you buy a 2^nd hand car………

 

Biography subject this week was John Monash. He was an Australian WW1 General praised at the time for possibly being the best on the Allies side but since largely forgotten – even in Australia (the presenter is Australian). He survived Gallipoli, Passchendaele and Ypres. He was driven, had a strong self-belief, a brilliant organiser but with a large ego and libido, ambitious and not very nice – perhaps all necessary ingredients for a successful military figure?

 

 

Sir John Monash

I met Kate after the class to view another possible site for “Just Vegetating” after Christmas as the Friends Meeting house have stripped their kitchen and it is not likely to be restored in time. We were shown round St Clements in Bridge Street near U3A HQ and it looks suitable.

 

 

St Clements

 

We has a message that Ben might not make the family Zoom on Friday as he was in Tallin. He had not mentioned this the previous week, just that he had the week off so it was a bit of a surprise. He had contacted Mary-Ann for information about Helsinki as he was hopping over there for the day.

Esther and Emma have plans to replace a garden fence and erect a garden room this coming week so they have some preparation to do

I spent yesterday morning helping Adrian again, one more session should complete the job?

 

 

The Cambridge News photo page topic was “Signs & Notices” and my contribution was this one from the Yorkshire Dales.

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

14^th November 2021

 

Dear All,

We began the week with another chilly swim as the heating sensor in the pool had gone wrong. It was OK once you were in and probably compared well with many dips in the North Sea!

Arthur was here Tuesday morning and I planted out over wintered Broad Beans. Garden Clubs seem to be revving up again after lockdown and I managed two on Tuesday: Cambridge U3A group on Zoom in the afternoon and Histon GC in the flesh in the evening.

Our Wednesday History session on Zoom covered:

Oswiu The New Overlord

The Reign of Oswiu

Wulfhere a New King of Mercia

And

What was happening with the spread of Christianity

Evidently, I fell asleep during the most interesting part!

In the afternoon I had a rather severe haircut delivered by a very chatty Belgian barber with an Art degree!

On Thursday we began our walk at Great Chishall and circled through Chishall Common, Chrishall and Heydon. Highlight was a herd of over 30 deer. It was very misty to start with but eventually cleared,

 

 

Misty start

 

 

 

 

Horse with Burdock Hairstyle

 

 

Heydon Village Pump

 

 

Heydon Old School house

 

 

In the evening we held the AGM for the Over Produce Show and a Committee meeting. As the attendance for both was low, we made progress and suggested a few alterations for next year.

Biography subject this week was Neville Chamberlain, who was of course widely condemned for attempting appeasement with Hitler, but in fairness very few wanted another war and at one stage he had 87% backing for his policies. When he came back from Munich waving the “Peace for our Time” document he received 20,000 letters of congratulations, cart loads of presents and an invitation to Buckingham Palace.

 

 

Peace for our Time

 

I spent Saturday morning helping Adrian again and we have now tamed ¾ of his garden! In the afternoon I watched Over 0 v 1 Witchford. For the second time in recent weeks Over should have won and then conceded an 89^th minute goal.

After my kidney stone adventure, I was required to have blood tests to assess any kidney damage and two tests have shown high Creatinine readings so I have to have another tomorrow – it could explain periodic low energy levels.

Esther brought a new car recently and appears to be happy with it. And not to be caught napping they must be amongst the first people in the country to install and decorate a Christmas tree!

 

 

Proud owner

 

 

Avoiding last Minute Panic!

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

7^th November 2021

 

Dear All,

We have new neighbours at No. 17, both parents work for Astro Zeneca and they have Jessica 9 and Ben 7. We took them some vegetables to welcome them to Willingham Road – they have only moved from King Street – but have clearly gone upmarket!

Meanwhile the wall that a car demolished at No. 21 is being repaired by the UKs slowest bricklayer, I was reading about Hadrian’s Wall which is 82 miles long and was completed in 10 years, our man was obviously not on the job!

 

 

21 Willingham Road

 

We had three white over frosts this week so that has hurried digging up dahlias and chrysanthemums and harvesting peppers – we have a serious glut of chillies so most of our walking group were forced to take some on Thursday.

 

 

Chilli harvest

 

After swimming on Monday, we had an outing to St Ives mainly to collect items for the Christmas shoebox scheme. We entertained (or were entertained by?) Arthur again on Tuesday as his mother is preparing for some accountancy exams.

Our History class on Wednesday is still in the 5^th to 7^th centuries when Mercia and Northumberland were strong and spent much of the time fighting each other and anyone else who was interested. Christianity was introduced from two directions and most kings’ names were prefixed Aethel…

Our Thursday walk this week started at Wrestlingworth near Potton and took in Potton and Sutton. It was mostly on sandy soil so dry underfoot and although we did not see much wildlife were surprised to see 25 people spread out in a field, which on first look seemed to be a shoot, but on closer inspection they all had metal detectors!

 

 

Potton Rectory

 

 

Treasure Hunters

 

 

Spindle Bush

The cricket club mowers were returned after winter maintenance – an expensive operation, but hopefully guaranteeing a trouble-free year ahead!

The Biographies topic this week was Lyndon B Johnson the 36^th President of the US of A, a slippery politician if ever there was one! His style was to agree with whoever he was talking to and to know everyone’s weaknesses. He was funded by the Texas oil industry and had a secret rake off from every deal struck in the state. His biographer Robert Caro is currently working on the 5^th volume page 650 of LBJ’s life story!

 

 

Lyndon B Johnson

 

I finished digging Elsom’s garden on Wednesday and spent all yesterday morning helping tidy and dig Adrian Hart’s Garden. Adrian is a professional gardener but runs out of enthusiasm and energy when it come to his own patch.

Over did not have a game yesterday so I went to watch West Wratting and Foxton on my own this time as my usual buddy Dave is poorly in bed.

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate