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Quinton House, 10 Craneswater Park, |
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A reasonable year overall, considering what we have had to put with in the past, and some of the time it was really good. The saga continues... December: Well our new furniture arrived early in the month, and very fine it looks too! Beverley bought an “Optical Mouse” for his computer - it works really well and saves the regular cleaning that was such a chore with the standard type. He also managed to pour a glass of red wine over the walkabout telephone after which it didn’t work, so while it was away being repaired we purchased a new remote handset to go with the system. Valerie went to see Magnus McLaren (an orthopaedic consultant) about pain with one of her toes, apparently it needs shortening. We were invited to the Valerie’s old Practice Christmas party just down the road at number 18 so no drinking and driving problems. Alistair & Jane and Simon were here for Christmas and the New Year, we had a hailstorm and the boiler went on the blink - the engineer did a temporary fix, as a new part was required. Lesley & David (Roberts) visited and the month was rounded of with a visit to VAT BAR - a trendy eatery recently opened by the friends who also own MUMU January: Simon returned to Lichfield and Alistair & Jane to Eire (via Bolton). Beverley hurt his arm getting out of the bath, more of that later, and also developed toothache - it transpired the he had split the tooth in two and the only solution was extraction. This entailed an hour in the chair with both his dentist and her husband (who is also a dentist!) digging it out in bits, but no pain thankfully. Our beautiful stairlift stopped working but following an urgent callout the engineer had it fixed in two hours. The new part for the boiler arrived, a thermal cutout of some sort, and was duly inserted and the jury rig removed. We were delighted to receive a visit from two of Valerie’s cousins - Margaret and Elizabeth - whom we had not seen for years, and we all went to MUMU’s for lunch. February: Our hairdresser for the past twenty odd years, Pat Foster, sold her salon to a friend, so now Klippins has become Hair Techniques to match with the salon she already owned in Bedhampton, and our new stylist is Kelly. We went to a “French Evening” fundraising function for the local Conservative Party, which was fun, and for Valerie’s birthday we went to TRUFFLES, our favourite (French) restaurant for dinner. On 24th we departed for our timeshare in Spain accompanied by Lesley & David who were acting as our carers. The original purpose of the visit was to convert our “Options” points into “Vacation Club” points. However, this was negated by the fact that we sold the said points about a fortnight before leaving as we realised that we were getting too infirm to use them in the future - c’est la vie! March: While in Spain the biceps of Beverley’s arm (that he hurt in January) went bright red all over and then subsided to purple and then yellow, just like a bruise, more of this saga later. As we were returning from Spain Simon was flying out to the island of Roatan, off the east coast of Honduras, for a fortnight’s holiday with Samantha who is a diving instructor there. Beverley developed bronchitis, which took a long time to shake off. Following the difficulties we had experienced whilst in Spain getting out of the bath we had a demonstration of a product called “Bath Bubble”, basically an inflatable bag the lowers and raises the bather gently. It has the advantage of being totally portable which our “BathKnight” does not, but at approximately £900 we felt it was too expensive a luxury. We had a visit from Brian & Pauline Coyne who were on their way to the Costa del Sol for a few months to see if they liked it enough to settle out there for good. Simon returned from Roatan and a week later came home to announce that he was giving up his job with CTP Gills Cables in Lichfield. He planned to stay at home for a couple of months to think things through as he was seriously contemplating becoming a diving instructor like his sister. April: Beverley went to see Magnus Mclaren, as his arm was still very painful although it had resumed it normal colour. The diagnosis was a ruptured long head of biceps; the treatment was nothing at this time. Simon came home for the Easter weekend, left the Renault 5 here and returned to Lichfield in the Scenic ready to bring all his belongings home. Valerie had her toe operated on, under local anaesthetic (Ugh!) as a day patient, by Magnus McLaren, later in the month she was invited to TRUFFLES for a doctors’ lunch by Nola, our next door neighbour, who is a representative for one of the drug firms. We finished the month by collecting our travel tokens (courtesy of the City Council) and completing our census form. May: The first part of the month was taken up with Simon’s home coming, the house was littered with piles of boxes, panniers, etc, as he first brought his motorbike back, returned to Lichfield by train and then made a couple of trips in the Scenic. As Beverley still had bronchitis he was sent for an x-ray, which turned out to all clear. Simon went off to Eire to stay for a month in a holiday cottage near Alistair & Jane. On a very fine afternoon we went to Steve Fage’s (an ex colleague of Beverley’s) fiftieth birthday party - very pleasant. June: Early in the month we went to the tenth anniversary of Valerie’s old practice moving to Eastney Health Centre and met up with lots of old faces. Simon returned from Eire having sorted out his ideas for the future after having discussed them with Alistair & Jane. This was the month that the Independent Insurance Company went to the wall and guess what - yes our house (not contents) was insured with them. Luckily it was only a month before renewal was due so we contacted Royal & Sun Alliance (who insure our contents) and they quoted a premium that was significantly less than we had been paying to Independent, so it was not such bad news after all. With much assistance from Simon we visited the new development of Gunwharf Quays, we took Beverley’s electric buggy and an ordinary wheel chair for Simon to push Valerie around in. We had lunch in a tapas café-bar, sitting on the sundeck watching all the activity in the harbour, and did some shopping in the factory outlets which abound there, we even got a bit of a suntan. After much pressure from Simon, Beverley finally gave in and we had SKY Digital installed - it is very good for cricket and rugger but it is a problem deciding which film to watch! Valerie again went to TRUFFLES for lunch as Nola’s guest and we attended an ESNF meeting. July: We eventually gave up trying to look after our feet ourselves and started employing a visiting chiropodist (or now I suppose we should say podiatrist) a very pleasant young man, Scott Edmonds who used to be a fireman, who visits us every six or seven weeks. Alistair and Jane visited from Eire for a fortnight’s stay and were able to help us with the SERA tea party. We had a surprise visit from Malcolm & Lynne Dodds (over from Bahrain, flat-hunting) together with Vic & Lorraine Rappé. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with lunchtime drinks with friends and neighbours. The Renault 5 went into the garage for a service and an MOT. Unfortunately it failed the latter and the repairs would have cost more than the car was worth. After some weeks they managed to dispose of the car for sufficient money to defray the cost of the work they’d already carried out! So we’re now back to being a one-car family. August: The Scenic went into Liningtons for its first MOT, which it passed and a faulty part was refitted under factory recall. We went to a party at number 14 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the bestowing of the de Bathe title, and also somebody’s birthday. A Chas & Dave tribute pair provided live entertainment. Beverley went to the disability clinic for assessment and x-rays of his hip, ultimately this will result in a visit to a specialist physiotherapy unit. Simon was attending various sub-aqua courses, the Thai embassy for visas and having jabs for his forthcoming sojourn in Thailand as an intern in one of the dive schools over there. We were very pleased to welcome Derek & Val Ashby together with Peter & Evelyn Steers (ex-colleagues of Beverley’s from the Marconi days) for a weekend of reminiscing, eating and drinking. September: The month started with a bang, in this case a paint can being thrown through the conservatory window in the early hours of the morning. The police were alerted by our neighbour and while we were giving statements they were taken for a ride in a police car to see if the perpetrator could be found. Six days later, the trauma was continued when the intruder alarm went off a number of times one night. It turned out that this was due to a fault in a PIR rather than an intruder. Beverley was recalled by Magnus Maclaren to see how his arm was progressing, he had a cortisone injection which has been greatly beneficial. Simon departed for Thailand and Michelle (a 6th form college friend of Simon’s, who was coming to live with us for a year while continuing with her course in osteopathy) arrived together with all her furniture. Sam flew into the States just days after the September 11th tragedy and spent some time in Lake Tahoe with a friend from her Indonesia days. October: The Americans call autumn “the fall” and we have managed to make it that in practice. Beverley fell down the basement stairs when his crutch slipped resulting in bruises and carpet burns. He then fell over on entering the bedroom when the bookcase he leant on for support gave way. Not wanting to be left out, Valerie tripped over an uneven paving slab while walking up the road, and was rescued by passers by. During the month we both had flu jabs to protect us during the forthcoming winter. Sam had moved onto Washington DC, just in time for the Anthrax scares. She sent us regular e-mails to let us know she was still alive. November: Samantha came home. After an absence of over a year it was wonderful to see her again, but she didn’t look any older. We all (Bev, Val, Sam and Michelle) went to Truffles for dinner with John and Helen Buckwell (of Buckwell’s Butchers). Our Bath Knight fell off the wall, and so we had to go smelly for a few days while we ordered a replacement device. Getting in and out of the bath is very difficult and neither of us particularly likes showering. To impress upon us that autumn was not yet over, Valerie had a fall in the dining room, almost demolishing the door to the conservatory and Beverley, not wanting to feel out of it, fell off his barstool. Both Beverley and Valerie also had another fall each this month so the score so far is 3-3. They are both very grateful to their neighbours who have been called round to pick them up on a number of occasions. Sam went to Ireland to see Al and Jane and had a wonderful week on their sofa in front of their fire eating chocolate! .... now the personal notes:Beverley - Not a lot of change from last year although the legs are getting worse, and has developed a penchant for falling over (could be due to his fat feet caused by his blood pressure drugs). Driving and going out in his buggy has been out of the questions recently due to his injured arm, so he has been spending a lot of time at home propping up the bar. Valerie - Regularly goes to PDS meetings, which she thoroughly enjoys, and PIDFAS. Has her weekly trip to the hairdressers for a blue rinse (hee hee just kidding - this is Sam writing this for dad). Manages to walk down to the seafront or up to the shops a couple of times a week (usually without falling over!) Alistair & Jane - Still living in Curane. Loving their life over there and don’t seem to mind the cold wind too much. Al very much enjoys digging peat and making fires. They have chosen a plot of land they want to buy to build their dream home on, but have been held up waiting for legal stuff to be sorted out. When it is finally built they are going to have chickens, lambs, a vegetable garden and a beautiful view - very different to their life in London. Samantha - Is in England for Christmas but will be returning to Roatan in January where she hopes to be re-employed by Anthony’s Key. She spent the summer running the diving part of their Dolphin camp (a summer camp for kids aged 5-14). Very much enjoys her life out there - living just 2 minutes from a sandy beach, and with bananas and mangoes in her garden. For those of you who watched it, the programme “Temptation Island” was filmed on Roatan. Simon - Is having a great time in Thailand, has got to know some of the locals and is trying to learn Thai! He has almost completed his divemaster internship and hopes to stay on in Phuket for a while to gain some experience as a divemaster. Quinton - Good in the main but we are planning to have our bathroom re-tiled and the wall made good where the Bath Knight was fitted. We’re also hoping to have the final part of the basement damp-proofed in the coming year. .... the Glossary:ESNF - East Southsea Neighbourhood Forum, a Portsmouth City Council sponsored initiative to act as a channel of communication between the residents and the City Council. PDS Parkinson’s Disease Society PIDFAS - Portsea Island Decorative and Fine Arts Society. SERA - Southsea East Residents’ Association, a local residents group for the furtherance of the community interests and the maintenance and improvement of the amenities affecting its members. .... and finally ....We Wish You A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous Year in 2002 |
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