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12.12.2012

My dear Reader

I have been neglecting you and I apologise most sincerely. It's not that it's been an uneventful period, it's quite the opposite, but getting down to document has been the issue.

So, what's been happening these past 8 months?
Our "age profile" has been somewhat raised by two notable events; Dominic's announcement of his engagement to Naomi (the wedding is set for 30th March 2012), and our daughter Tammy adding to our "portfolio of advanced age" by producing for us a grandson named Oliver, a brother for Amy.

Sunday April 10th saw Rob once again participating in the Brighton Marathon, which he finished in spite of the unseasonably warm weather. He was slower than in 2010, but there was a considerable number of participants who "dropped out" during the race.

Monday April 11th saw us boarding a plane bound for St Lucia (in The Caribbean). This was to mark our wedding anniversary, and also to commemorate Rob's ascendancy to the list of Retired Civil Servants! It was truly a superb week and one we will remember for the rest of our days. Our hotel was right by the sandy beach and to be able to step out for a swim at 9.30 in the morning was magic. We also got a little wet when we decided to take a guided trip to the tropical rain forest area! It's really weird going that far south to realise that daylight hours are consistently the same all year round, with sunset being around 6.30pm. We do, of course. have loads of pictures which I might yet upload!

The remainder of the spring and early summer was spent in a pretty routine way, with Rob keeping himself occupied doing stuff for people, some paid some not, and Marie continuing to look after Amy 3 days a week. This along with regular church activities and caring for aged parents.

July/August saw us once again working as driver volunteers for Chanctonbury Community Playscheme, which is a play scheme for physically and mentally handicapped children and young people  up to 19 years of age. I never cease to amazed at the willingness of high school/college students to give up some of there summer holiday days/weeks to help these disadvantaged youngsters have 4 weeks of fun. It would not have been my idea of "fun" during my teenage years, sadly.
We took a week out during the month of August to spend it on The Isle of Wight with Tammy, Paul, Amy and "bump". We rented a large holiday house in Bembridge this time around. This suited our young family better than the chalet we usually rent at Pondwell Holiday Homes. This different location didn't prevent us from doing the usual walks and tours, however, which is what the island is all about for us oldies!
We had a week after the play scheme to run a Children's Holiday Club in Tarring which was well received by the fewer-than-usual children that attended, and managed well by all the volunteer staff.

Tammy has taking a break from her teaching career for now, which means that Marie no longer looks after Amy under the previous formal 3-day a week arrangements. So, instead she cares for her each Friday, which often means a sleep-over on Friday night. Thankfully she sleeps through the night nowadays! You might think that this would have freed Marie to do other more relaxing things with her time. It's a funny old world isn't it. The time still seems to pass for her, being busy without any of the the fun things happening much!

A cousin of Marie's Father, Evelyn Fryer, who had been living in Colwyn Bay for many years, died in early October. We had been closer to her than Marie's father and were honoured to be invited to attend the funeral service, so we had one-day trip by train to Colwyn Bay. We have never done this before, and probably will not ever do it again. There's not a lot for us at Colwyn Bay. We'd be more likely to base any holiday in and around Llandudno and the Mount Snowdon area.

Baby Oliver Paul Vernon duly arrived on Wednesday 2nd November, weighing-in at a healthy 7lbs 6oz. Mother, baby and rest of family doing well. He continues to put on weight daily. His big sister adores him, for now anyway, which is a delight.

We arranged a day trip to Bruges for Sunday 11th December, taking Dom & Naomi with us. Due to unexpected, but nonetheless significant, family commitments Marie had to pull out last minute. She was insistent that I should go however which, considering the events of the day, was probably just as well. So we three had a good time strolling around Bruges and taking in a couple of Christmas Markets and some highly-decorated shops. I would happily recommend this trip to anyone who would be interested in the opportunity of going on a similar trip.

Rob's 8 months of activity.

You may recall, dear reader that, upon my departure from the Capgemini Aspire Contract team, and my determination not to become a full-time  employee elsewhere, I decided to supplement my income by setting up a business - letstalkaboutthejob.co.uk. This was fun for a while but, when the bank started to make monthly charges on the account, and the income from the company was hardly lucrative, I decided that the experiment should come to an end! I had a short list of clients for whom I was providing support on a fairly regular basis so this has continued. I have added one or two additional clients, and dropped one or two, and this keeps me busy. I'm still available to anyone who wants their gardens tidied, lawns mown, paintwork repainted, computers etc installed, website built/administered, internal communications wiring updated, and any other small jobs that might be within my scope!

I suppose the most significant additional "client" is Heart of Sussex, a bi-monthly newspaper providing news and insights for Christians throughout the county. My major activity here is to co-ordinate and arrange for distribution of the newspaper around West Sussex (up until now) to churches and groups that wish to receive the newspaper. I say up until now, because the paper (formerly Heart of West Sussex) is to be made available throughout East Sussex as well, and we are still sorting out the practicalities associated with this expansion.

I also have a considerable collection of pre-recorded films/programmes on VHS video, for which I would like to find new homes. I don't propose to charge anything for the tapes, although I would expect payment to cover the cost of postage should any need to be despatched in this way. I am planning to create a website for this process - videostogo.co.uk. I will let you know once this done. I just need to complete the catalogue!

That's all for now.

Until next time .....

Rob (and Marie)