ttomdavison@ntlworld.com
maggiedavison@ntlworld.com
Well, here we are almost at the end of 2009, another year gone, and what have the Davison clan been up to? Certainly not as much as the previous year but plenty to keep us busy. So get ready for the annual epistle – find a good glass (maybe even a bottle) of wine and something to nibble on and lets begin…..
Over the period of last Christmas, seasonal bugs hit most of the extended clan. Christmas was spent with Judy, Glen, Andy, Ninx and Scarlett accompanied by much coughing, headaches and general malaise. Tom and I were mercifully spared the bugs during this time so just helped administer pills, potions and TLC whenever and wherever required. Ninx was so disappointed that Scarlett was so poorly that she didn’t fully enjoy all her pressies. Andy had been made redundant just before Christmas so knew he had to start the search for a job in the depressed market, so was understandably not at his best. However, we still managed to celebrate being together.
Amy, Mario and Izzy were in Germany with Winfried and Ursula and all were also under the weather, so much so that they had to delay their return by a day. Once back at Luton Airport, Amy found that the car battery was dead, but was greatly heartened by the cheerful AA man who attended very promptly, and the car park staff, who waived the extra day’s fee – better not tell BAA, they’ll probably demand it back with interest!!
Our plans to all get together at Amy’s on 29th Dec fell through because of the bugs, but again, Tom and I were still standing so helped make it a part family celebration.
On 10 January, Tom and I departed for 3 weeks in Madeira, looking forward to the “Garden Isle”. Everything went smoothly until we reached overhead the island. Due to adverse weather conditions (!!!) we couldn’t land. We circled for a while, then eventually flew on to the island of Porto Santo, only a few miles away, where we landed, in brilliant sunshine, waiting for a break in the weather at Funchal. There was almost a riot when we were not allowed off the plane (security reasons) and one couple were threatened with arrest when they actually tried to disembark. You can imagine the commotion when the pilot announced that if we couldn’t fly into Funchal within the next half hour, we would have to return to Stansted! There was not enough accommodation on this small island for us to be put up overnight, and the pilot’s flying hours would not allow him to delay beyond this time. Tom and I were quite relaxed about the whole thing – well, what can you do? – but some people got very aggressive, quite frightening, really.
Anyway, luckily, the storm above Madeira abated and we eventually landed over 7 hours later than we should have – to beautiful sunshine! The drive from the airport into Funchal is quite spectacular, and a lot smoother than in the past, as a new stretch of motorway has been built linking the two.
We could not fault the smooth operation of getting a full coachload of tired, rather irritable people into various hotels scattered around the city, but we were rather taken aback when we reached our hotel and the bus reversed up this steep slope to the entrance. We knew that Madeira is a “hilly” island, but were not warned that there were 150 steps from road level to the entrance – we counted them later!
I shan’t go into further details here, as several of you have already read the saga of our holiday from our blog (any of you who are interested enough will find it on this same website prior to this entry). Enough to say that we then succumbed to the bugs that everyone else had had over Christmas, so spent a week of our hols in our bedroom. Overall, we weren’t impressed with Madeira, but looking back, it was not the ideal time to go, as it was low season. There were flowers around but not in such profusion; every business was desperate for custom, so we were accosted wherever we went; the Euro was strong against the pound so it was expensive and we weren’t really fit enough to walk as much as we’d wanted. There were some brilliant moments but on the whole, not a place we will be returning to.
Back to UK on 1st February – to snow! We only just made it home that evening before it really hit and for once we had quite a covering in Bedford, though not as much as other places. Later in the month, we celebrated Izzy’s 3rd birthday – how time flies.
So the routine life for us retirees continues – when did we ever find the time to go to work? What with St John duties and social activities, Tom’s Masonic commitments, his monthly website work for David, my sewing “business”, cardmaking and scrapbooking, not to mention my casualty role for the St John FAW courses several days per month….so it goes on.
March saw Andy in a new job –hooray! – he’s a Contracts Manager for NCP’s street parking division, in London. He’d interviewed for a similar role before they moved to Yorkshire, but this time got the job. There was no actual appointment immediately, so he spent several weeks doing courses (including one on how to write up parking tickets!) in and around London and staying with Amy and Mario, which was lovely for them to spend some time together. Izzy fell in love with her Uncle Andy. It also meant he could babysit for her, allowing Amy and Mario a few nights out. He and Ninx decided not to try to sell the house as the market was so depressed, but would move south and stay with Judy and Glen at Wellington until there is an improvement. They got a tenant for the house so at least could just about cover the mortgage, and we now have a garage full of furniture, etc.
In April, we went to Cornwall to visit Hugh and Maggie in their new home – and had a week of rain and wind, so didn’t go out much but it was good to spend time with them after so long.
When we returned, Tom had a cancerous growth cut out of his back and spent a couple of days feeling a bit “crook”, but it was not a malignant one so all is well.
In May, it was Scarlett’s 2nd birthday, and we managed a family get-together here – the weather was beautiful and the girls enjoyed playing together in the garden.
maggiedavison@ntlworld.com
Well, here we are almost at the end of 2009, another year gone, and what have the Davison clan been up to? Certainly not as much as the previous year but plenty to keep us busy. So get ready for the annual epistle – find a good glass (maybe even a bottle) of wine and something to nibble on and lets begin…..
Over the period of last Christmas, seasonal bugs hit most of the extended clan. Christmas was spent with Judy, Glen, Andy, Ninx and Scarlett accompanied by much coughing, headaches and general malaise. Tom and I were mercifully spared the bugs during this time so just helped administer pills, potions and TLC whenever and wherever required. Ninx was so disappointed that Scarlett was so poorly that she didn’t fully enjoy all her pressies. Andy had been made redundant just before Christmas so knew he had to start the search for a job in the depressed market, so was understandably not at his best. However, we still managed to celebrate being together.
Amy, Mario and Izzy were in Germany with Winfried and Ursula and all were also under the weather, so much so that they had to delay their return by a day. Once back at Luton Airport, Amy found that the car battery was dead, but was greatly heartened by the cheerful AA man who attended very promptly, and the car park staff, who waived the extra day’s fee – better not tell BAA, they’ll probably demand it back with interest!!
Our plans to all get together at Amy’s on 29th Dec fell through because of the bugs, but again, Tom and I were still standing so helped make it a part family celebration.
On 10 January, Tom and I departed for 3 weeks in Madeira, looking forward to the “Garden Isle”. Everything went smoothly until we reached overhead the island. Due to adverse weather conditions (!!!) we couldn’t land. We circled for a while, then eventually flew on to the island of Porto Santo, only a few miles away, where we landed, in brilliant sunshine, waiting for a break in the weather at Funchal. There was almost a riot when we were not allowed off the plane (security reasons) and one couple were threatened with arrest when they actually tried to disembark. You can imagine the commotion when the pilot announced that if we couldn’t fly into Funchal within the next half hour, we would have to return to Stansted! There was not enough accommodation on this small island for us to be put up overnight, and the pilot’s flying hours would not allow him to delay beyond this time. Tom and I were quite relaxed about the whole thing – well, what can you do? – but some people got very aggressive, quite frightening, really.
Anyway, luckily, the storm above Madeira abated and we eventually landed over 7 hours later than we should have – to beautiful sunshine! The drive from the airport into Funchal is quite spectacular, and a lot smoother than in the past, as a new stretch of motorway has been built linking the two.
We could not fault the smooth operation of getting a full coachload of tired, rather irritable people into various hotels scattered around the city, but we were rather taken aback when we reached our hotel and the bus reversed up this steep slope to the entrance. We knew that Madeira is a “hilly” island, but were not warned that there were 150 steps from road level to the entrance – we counted them later!
I shan’t go into further details here, as several of you have already read the saga of our holiday from our blog (any of you who are interested enough will find it on this same website prior to this entry). Enough to say that we then succumbed to the bugs that everyone else had had over Christmas, so spent a week of our hols in our bedroom. Overall, we weren’t impressed with Madeira, but looking back, it was not the ideal time to go, as it was low season. There were flowers around but not in such profusion; every business was desperate for custom, so we were accosted wherever we went; the Euro was strong against the pound so it was expensive and we weren’t really fit enough to walk as much as we’d wanted. There were some brilliant moments but on the whole, not a place we will be returning to.
Back to UK on 1st February – to snow! We only just made it home that evening before it really hit and for once we had quite a covering in Bedford, though not as much as other places. Later in the month, we celebrated Izzy’s 3rd birthday – how time flies.
So the routine life for us retirees continues – when did we ever find the time to go to work? What with St John duties and social activities, Tom’s Masonic commitments, his monthly website work for David, my sewing “business”, cardmaking and scrapbooking, not to mention my casualty role for the St John FAW courses several days per month….so it goes on.
March saw Andy in a new job –hooray! – he’s a Contracts Manager for NCP’s street parking division, in London. He’d interviewed for a similar role before they moved to Yorkshire, but this time got the job. There was no actual appointment immediately, so he spent several weeks doing courses (including one on how to write up parking tickets!) in and around London and staying with Amy and Mario, which was lovely for them to spend some time together. Izzy fell in love with her Uncle Andy. It also meant he could babysit for her, allowing Amy and Mario a few nights out. He and Ninx decided not to try to sell the house as the market was so depressed, but would move south and stay with Judy and Glen at Wellington until there is an improvement. They got a tenant for the house so at least could just about cover the mortgage, and we now have a garage full of furniture, etc.
In April, we went to Cornwall to visit Hugh and Maggie in their new home – and had a week of rain and wind, so didn’t go out much but it was good to spend time with them after so long.
When we returned, Tom had a cancerous growth cut out of his back and spent a couple of days feeling a bit “crook”, but it was not a malignant one so all is well.
In May, it was Scarlett’s 2nd birthday, and we managed a family get-together here – the weather was beautiful and the girls enjoyed playing together in the garden.
.
.
Izzy growing up too fast?!!
Scarlett holding court!.
.
The terrible twosome - pink's the thing!!.
Despite the fact that they don’t see each other very often, they are so close, and it’s a real pleasure to watch them interact. We had a little bit of drama when Izzy ate some cashew nuts, and showed the early signs of an anaphylactic reaction! Amy, Mario, Tom and Izzy disappeared to A&E with great haste, but returned less than an hour later with Izzy all sorted. The hospital staff were amazing, whisking Izzy off as soon as they saw the problem and after a strong dose of Piriton and a consultation with the paediatrician, all was pronounced sorted but to keep her away from any nuts until she’d had some tests. (These have since been carried out and she is sensitive to cashews and pistachios, but no others, she just has to be careful. We are so pleased she doesn’t have the severe allergy that some people have.)
The following weekend, Tom did a sponsored walk for St John round Stewartby Lake, about 8 miles from here, dressed as a clown. Unfortunately, it was a horrid day, so no other walkers nor supporters turned out to cheer him on! But he walked 15 miles and raised £840 all on his own (not least thanks to Fitch for donating £500 from their charities fund), coming home soaked and very tired, and rather dispirited.
At the end of the month, it was Liz’s 60th celebrations, so we stayed with her and
David and enjoyed a weekend of good company, wonderful weather, fine food and lots of laughs. The rest of our side of the family arrived for the afternoon on Sunday, and the 2 girls played in the pool and ran around until they were almost too exhausted to move! A very fine time indeed.
June saw us once again on the way to the villa with Bruce and Carole. This time, we drove down through France to the west of Paris, stopping off in Chartres on the first night and travelling over the Millau bridge – truly an impressive edifice – down to Narbonne for the second night. Thanks to Dora the explorer (our TomTom), and of course Tom’s brilliant driving, we had un uneventful journey and arrived at the villa in glorious sunshine. (David had been down there the week before and they experienced some of the worst storms the region has ever had!) Then followed 2 weeks of relaxing, soaking up the sun and generally overindulging ourselves – well, that’s what holidays are for, aren’t they?!
On the return journey we once again stopped in Chartres and had time for a visit to the cathedral and a short walk round the old city centre. The cathedral is awe inspiring but will be even more so in a few years time when they have finished cleaning it all up. The few areas they have already worked on show how amazing it was originally.
July was once again back to routine with still plenty activity to keep us from getting bored. At the end of the month, Amy started her new job. For some time she’d been fed up at Fitch where she was doing a data inputting job (on her old PA’s salary! as they hadn’t wanted to lose her.) Her old boss, Kim, had asked if Amy knew anyone who was looking for an office admin job. Kim and her partner, Henrietta, had set up Lily’s Kitchen, an organic animal food company in March and it was doing so well, they needed an extra pair of hands. Amy leapt at the chance and although the post meant she would have to take a drop in salary and work an extra day a week, after consultation with Mario, it was decided she should apply. She had what she says was a “proper interview”, and was offered the position there and then! She started at the end of July and has been so happy since.
We saw both sets of children and families in August although separately, then went up to Teeside to spend a week with Ruth and Kit. The weather was very mixed while we were there but we managed to get out for a couple of walks, and visited Castle Howard too. It’s such a lovely area of the country.
Once again back home, we signed up with the Retirement Education Centre, Tom to do a German course so he can converse a bit better with Ursula and Winfried when they visit and me to do Tai Chi as I want to do some exercise but find it hard to get up from the floor once I get down! The Rothsay Ramblers are part of the REC and we joined them at the same time. Walks are arranged every Monday and range from 3 miles to 6 miles, divided into groups according to fitness and ability. These activities all started in September so added to our already full schedule.
We had a lovely day with Jane and Peter Edwards and their extended family on a beautiful Sat in Sept. Nick and his family were back in UK for a visit from NZ. We hadn’t seen them since we were out there last year and the 2 children had grown so much. Peter and Jane’s daughter, Angela and her husband, Nick, were there too with their very new son, Connor. It is so nice to be included as honorary members of their family.
Later in September we heard the sad news that Dorothy, wife of the retired Head of Musical Services in the RAF, Barrie Hingley, had died and we attended her funeral on the 23rd at Ruislip. She was a lovely lady, one of life’s really nice people but had suffered from MS for over 25years.
At the end of the month I spent a week with Amy and Mario and went to work with Amy! As I already said, Liliy’s Kitchen was only started in March, but with its sudden take-off, they had not got round to setting up a proper computer accounts system. I was brought in to enter all the customer data and accounts history. I was using an Apple laptop (different layout to Microsoft) on a MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) system which I had never seen before. On top of that, it was wireless and the connection was bad so it kept stalling. For the first couple of days I think I entered about a 20th of everything I’d been asked to, but once Kim had sorted it out, I finished it all and added all the data that Amy had collected during the week. Although it was hard work for a retiree (!! – all that travelling on the tube) I enjoyed it and it gave me an insight into what Amy was doing.
Ruth’s daughter, Angela was posted to the Falklands from mid-November for 4 months, so we went up to Grantham to visit her before she left. Mitchell, her and Curt’s son, would be 2 shortly after she left so they had an early birthday party for him. As things have turned out, she was told 2 days before she was due to go that the posting had been cancelled and just to go back to work! Such is life in the armed forces these days – short notice postings and even shorter notice cancellations! Talking of armed forces, I hope all of you are wearing something red on Fridays to show your support for all the troops currently posted in war zones. We may not agree with the reasons behind their presence, but we certainly support them. I find it hard to watch the bodies being brought home and feel so much sympathy for the wounded and maimed who come home, and their families – their lives will never be the same. Meanwhile this b****y government seem to be more concerned about running our lives with more and more “elf” and safety measures which can no more be policed than fly in the air… Here endeth the party political rant!!
Hugh and Maggie came to visit us in early November, but on the way here, Hugh suffered a mild stroke. He was fortunate in that, when it happened, although he was driving, they were in Milton Keynes, on a roundabout and right behind them was an ambulance! Talk about getting help FAST! They were also within a few hundred yards of the hospital. We were able to get there within an hour and spent the next 8 hours in the hospital. Their daughters, Debbi and Jenny were able to get there too. After a night spent there, Hugh was allowed home to us where they both spent the next 2 weeks, waiting for Bedford to organise an MRI scan, which never materialised. So, having improved tremendously, Maggie drove them home to Helston where he has started the procedure to get a scan in Truro. I feel the NHS is failing sadly in many ways and it was so difficult to sit and watch while Hugh was so let down. There is so much emphasis put on getting help FAST, then the system doesn’t follow through. There is nothing worse than NOT knowing what’s happening. I think we can all deal with even bad news when we know what it is.
After our rather worrying time, it was nice to go to Norwich to Pat and John for a weekend culminating in an RAF band concert in the Theatre Royal. It was superb but we did miss Barrie Hingley’s sure touch as conductor. Their star soloist, Matthew Little, whom some of you may have seen perform at the Edinburgh Tattoo, is a wonderful singer and as for the xylophone player – Evelyn Glennie, eat you heart out!! We all waved our Union Flags with gusto during Land of Hope and Glory, some of us with just a trace of dampness in the eyes. The only downside of the w/e was that Pat’s neighbour reversed into the back of our Mondeo, taking out the offside light cluster and damaging two of the panels! She says she saw that P and J had visitors, then just got in her Range Rover and reversed straight into it!! It was drivable but not entirely legal, but we got home in daylight on Mon without being stopped. It has since been fixed.
So here we are in December again. I have made ALL my Christmas cards, many recycled from all the lovely ones we received last year and once again am putting this letter on the blog as it saves paper, printer ink and most of all, paying lots of extra postage. I do miss receiving the annual letter from those of you who don’t seem to have the time anymore. We may not manage to meet up but I still like to think of you and your families in your various “doings” so buck up and get writing!!
We have several Christmassy events between now and the Day, which we are both looking forward to and I’m sure most of you will be celebrating at least once, so bottoms up whatever you’re drinking. We shall be spending Christmas Day with David and Liz, and getting together with Amy and Andy and their families on Boxing Day with Judy and Glen at Wellington. We’re all hoping that none of us is ill this year and we hope the same for you all too.
One piece of good news to leave you with is that Amy is pregnant again. It is early days but the signs are good, but after 2 miscarriages, we all have our fingers crossed for them, and if any of you pray, please add her to your prayers. Baby no. 2 is expected in July.
So on that hopeful note, we wish you all a very happy festive season and hope that 2010 will be at least a peaceful and enjoyable year for you.
The following weekend, Tom did a sponsored walk for St John round Stewartby Lake, about 8 miles from here, dressed as a clown. Unfortunately, it was a horrid day, so no other walkers nor supporters turned out to cheer him on! But he walked 15 miles and raised £840 all on his own (not least thanks to Fitch for donating £500 from their charities fund), coming home soaked and very tired, and rather dispirited.
At the end of the month, it was Liz’s 60th celebrations, so we stayed with her and
David and enjoyed a weekend of good company, wonderful weather, fine food and lots of laughs. The rest of our side of the family arrived for the afternoon on Sunday, and the 2 girls played in the pool and ran around until they were almost too exhausted to move! A very fine time indeed.
June saw us once again on the way to the villa with Bruce and Carole. This time, we drove down through France to the west of Paris, stopping off in Chartres on the first night and travelling over the Millau bridge – truly an impressive edifice – down to Narbonne for the second night. Thanks to Dora the explorer (our TomTom), and of course Tom’s brilliant driving, we had un uneventful journey and arrived at the villa in glorious sunshine. (David had been down there the week before and they experienced some of the worst storms the region has ever had!) Then followed 2 weeks of relaxing, soaking up the sun and generally overindulging ourselves – well, that’s what holidays are for, aren’t they?!
On the return journey we once again stopped in Chartres and had time for a visit to the cathedral and a short walk round the old city centre. The cathedral is awe inspiring but will be even more so in a few years time when they have finished cleaning it all up. The few areas they have already worked on show how amazing it was originally.
July was once again back to routine with still plenty activity to keep us from getting bored. At the end of the month, Amy started her new job. For some time she’d been fed up at Fitch where she was doing a data inputting job (on her old PA’s salary! as they hadn’t wanted to lose her.) Her old boss, Kim, had asked if Amy knew anyone who was looking for an office admin job. Kim and her partner, Henrietta, had set up Lily’s Kitchen, an organic animal food company in March and it was doing so well, they needed an extra pair of hands. Amy leapt at the chance and although the post meant she would have to take a drop in salary and work an extra day a week, after consultation with Mario, it was decided she should apply. She had what she says was a “proper interview”, and was offered the position there and then! She started at the end of July and has been so happy since.
We saw both sets of children and families in August although separately, then went up to Teeside to spend a week with Ruth and Kit. The weather was very mixed while we were there but we managed to get out for a couple of walks, and visited Castle Howard too. It’s such a lovely area of the country.
Once again back home, we signed up with the Retirement Education Centre, Tom to do a German course so he can converse a bit better with Ursula and Winfried when they visit and me to do Tai Chi as I want to do some exercise but find it hard to get up from the floor once I get down! The Rothsay Ramblers are part of the REC and we joined them at the same time. Walks are arranged every Monday and range from 3 miles to 6 miles, divided into groups according to fitness and ability. These activities all started in September so added to our already full schedule.
We had a lovely day with Jane and Peter Edwards and their extended family on a beautiful Sat in Sept. Nick and his family were back in UK for a visit from NZ. We hadn’t seen them since we were out there last year and the 2 children had grown so much. Peter and Jane’s daughter, Angela and her husband, Nick, were there too with their very new son, Connor. It is so nice to be included as honorary members of their family.
Later in September we heard the sad news that Dorothy, wife of the retired Head of Musical Services in the RAF, Barrie Hingley, had died and we attended her funeral on the 23rd at Ruislip. She was a lovely lady, one of life’s really nice people but had suffered from MS for over 25years.
At the end of the month I spent a week with Amy and Mario and went to work with Amy! As I already said, Liliy’s Kitchen was only started in March, but with its sudden take-off, they had not got round to setting up a proper computer accounts system. I was brought in to enter all the customer data and accounts history. I was using an Apple laptop (different layout to Microsoft) on a MYOB (Mind Your Own Business) system which I had never seen before. On top of that, it was wireless and the connection was bad so it kept stalling. For the first couple of days I think I entered about a 20th of everything I’d been asked to, but once Kim had sorted it out, I finished it all and added all the data that Amy had collected during the week. Although it was hard work for a retiree (!! – all that travelling on the tube) I enjoyed it and it gave me an insight into what Amy was doing.
Ruth’s daughter, Angela was posted to the Falklands from mid-November for 4 months, so we went up to Grantham to visit her before she left. Mitchell, her and Curt’s son, would be 2 shortly after she left so they had an early birthday party for him. As things have turned out, she was told 2 days before she was due to go that the posting had been cancelled and just to go back to work! Such is life in the armed forces these days – short notice postings and even shorter notice cancellations! Talking of armed forces, I hope all of you are wearing something red on Fridays to show your support for all the troops currently posted in war zones. We may not agree with the reasons behind their presence, but we certainly support them. I find it hard to watch the bodies being brought home and feel so much sympathy for the wounded and maimed who come home, and their families – their lives will never be the same. Meanwhile this b****y government seem to be more concerned about running our lives with more and more “elf” and safety measures which can no more be policed than fly in the air… Here endeth the party political rant!!
Hugh and Maggie came to visit us in early November, but on the way here, Hugh suffered a mild stroke. He was fortunate in that, when it happened, although he was driving, they were in Milton Keynes, on a roundabout and right behind them was an ambulance! Talk about getting help FAST! They were also within a few hundred yards of the hospital. We were able to get there within an hour and spent the next 8 hours in the hospital. Their daughters, Debbi and Jenny were able to get there too. After a night spent there, Hugh was allowed home to us where they both spent the next 2 weeks, waiting for Bedford to organise an MRI scan, which never materialised. So, having improved tremendously, Maggie drove them home to Helston where he has started the procedure to get a scan in Truro. I feel the NHS is failing sadly in many ways and it was so difficult to sit and watch while Hugh was so let down. There is so much emphasis put on getting help FAST, then the system doesn’t follow through. There is nothing worse than NOT knowing what’s happening. I think we can all deal with even bad news when we know what it is.
After our rather worrying time, it was nice to go to Norwich to Pat and John for a weekend culminating in an RAF band concert in the Theatre Royal. It was superb but we did miss Barrie Hingley’s sure touch as conductor. Their star soloist, Matthew Little, whom some of you may have seen perform at the Edinburgh Tattoo, is a wonderful singer and as for the xylophone player – Evelyn Glennie, eat you heart out!! We all waved our Union Flags with gusto during Land of Hope and Glory, some of us with just a trace of dampness in the eyes. The only downside of the w/e was that Pat’s neighbour reversed into the back of our Mondeo, taking out the offside light cluster and damaging two of the panels! She says she saw that P and J had visitors, then just got in her Range Rover and reversed straight into it!! It was drivable but not entirely legal, but we got home in daylight on Mon without being stopped. It has since been fixed.
So here we are in December again. I have made ALL my Christmas cards, many recycled from all the lovely ones we received last year and once again am putting this letter on the blog as it saves paper, printer ink and most of all, paying lots of extra postage. I do miss receiving the annual letter from those of you who don’t seem to have the time anymore. We may not manage to meet up but I still like to think of you and your families in your various “doings” so buck up and get writing!!
We have several Christmassy events between now and the Day, which we are both looking forward to and I’m sure most of you will be celebrating at least once, so bottoms up whatever you’re drinking. We shall be spending Christmas Day with David and Liz, and getting together with Amy and Andy and their families on Boxing Day with Judy and Glen at Wellington. We’re all hoping that none of us is ill this year and we hope the same for you all too.
One piece of good news to leave you with is that Amy is pregnant again. It is early days but the signs are good, but after 2 miscarriages, we all have our fingers crossed for them, and if any of you pray, please add her to your prayers. Baby no. 2 is expected in July.
So on that hopeful note, we wish you all a very happy festive season and hope that 2010 will be at least a peaceful and enjoyable year for you.
Sisi was the Princess Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. She came to Madeira in 1860, ostensibly for her health, but biographers speculate that she was in fact bored with court life and unhappy in her marriage, because she made a remarkable recovery, although she did die here. (Tom’s note – Now that’s what you really call a recovery.) She was the great aunt of Charles I who was the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, exiled to Madeira in 1921, and died here in 1922. He was the one beatified by the Pope in 2004 and whose tomb we saw in Monte church.
Again, no photography was allowed and no guide books were available, although there was a very brief English description of each room, and I mean brief eg “Kitchen – this has an interesting wood-burning stove and a selection of copper utensils”. It’s a beautiful house and is exceptionally well looked after. The collections are varied and eclectic. There are some wonderful pieces of English furniture (Sheraton, Hepplewhite and Chippendale), French inlaid miniature chests, china from all over the world, and some exquisite pieces of carved ivory. The Mug room has a huge collection of mugs and jugs, ranging from priceless Meissen to “kiss-me-quick” seaside tat (bare breasted ladies whose bosoms form a perfect thumb rest while you drink!). The Library holds a fine collection of books,in Portuguese, French and English covering a wide variety of subjects. There’s a delightful, tiny Winter Garden inside with a glass roof and a door leading to the outside formal garden, for if the weather was more clement.
and the “Hanging Rock”,
have deep meaning, but we failed to find it. (Tom says that the most interesting part of the “Hanging Rock ” was the rawl plug in the ceiling that the hook to hang it from was screwed into.)
and, although we found out as we were leaving that we should have paid to enter, nobody had stopped us and asked for money.
Advertised as open from 3.00pm – 5.00pm, we couldn’t wait to see this “Baroque Jewel”, so on the dot of 3, we were hovering outside. The waitress in the café opposite said the man who opened up the Chapel, sometimes doesn’t appear until 20 past, so would we like a drink while we waited? This was a very good sales technique, so we sat and had a drink while we waited, and waited……..and waited. Then she said “oh, he sometimes doesn’t turn up at all”. Today was clearly one of those days!!
So it was a disappointing start to the day. We did have a nice drink in the tea rooms there, then set off on the next stage of our day – the levada walk from Palheiro to Romeiros, about 4 ½ miles.
Once on the flat it was OK and we set off towards Romeiros (the walk actually goes on to Monte, but this last part is the most difficult so Tom had decided we’d miss it out).
I wasn’t very happy but the man going the other way had to be led past us almost with his eyes closed! (It’s quite reassuring to meet someone else whose phobia is worse than you own!)
The clouds had appeared again, so we donned our fleeces before setting off on the next leg.
This is the Choupana Lodge Holiday Spa and Resort.
but it was much damper here and we had 3 streams to cross. These natural water courses coming off the hills are directed over the levada so that soil, leaves and stones don’t enter and block the flow. The streams were no more than 1cm deep so were no hazard.
Shortly after crossing the third one, we could see the bus stop at Romeiros, but still had to walk another few hundred metres round the valley walls, then down some very steep steps to reach it.
There were lots of pieces I really liked, but with luggage space at a premium, I only bought 2 small baskets.
Much of the furniture in the showroom is made by expert weavers from their homes in the town, and in the summer months, tourists can see them working in the back streets. Camacha is the first place in Portugal where football was played. In 1875, the English son of a local resident brought a football back from his public school, and taught others how to play. A garden now stands where this first pitch was with only a commemorative plaque to mark the spot.
There are meant to be fantastic views over most of the centre of Madeira from here, but we had to take Josef’s word for this as we could only see about 20m in front of us!
then into the warm hostelry for a lovely cup of coffee beside an open log fire.
There were lots of walkers around who had given up and were awaiting transport. Who wants to come to Madeira to walk in the rain when you can stay at home and do it more cheaply!
Faial is built in the shadow of a huge outcrop called Eagle Rock and the viewpoint is on a promontory opposite the rock. As we have come to expect, the views were amazing – yes, it had stopped raining and we could see in the distance again! We were due to have lunch there, so put in our orders, then set off northwest to the “city” of Santana. The largest settlements on the island have been given “city” status in order to be able to claim funding from the EU for the interconnecting roads and tunnels that have transformed the transport system. Pictures of Santana always show their traditional “A”shaped thatched cottages, so we were expecting to see lots of them. Not so! We saw about a dozen altogether, and could only get into 2 of them.
The A frame house still retains the original furniture from that time, and looks as though it’s still being lived in.
(In fact, judging from the smell in the tiny bathroom, it just might be!!). We gave him a contribution, in return for which he gave us a drink of very potent home made coffee liqueur and a biscuit, then insisted on showing us round his garden, which was actually fascinating.
All kinds of plants were crammed in so that wherever you looked, there was something different. He had lots of beautiful orchids, including a tiny flowered one which had the most delicious scent. Unfortunately, due to the language barrier, we couldn’t find out what it was called apart from “orchid”! He had a custard apple tree in one corner and gave us a large custard apple from it, which he said would be ready to eat in 2 days – so I’ll let you know the verdict!
This was set up as a workshop for a lady who weaves traditional Madeiran cloths on a hand loom, but she didn’t speak English and there was no literature either about the houses or the weaving, so I was disappointed. Apart from that, we saw nothing in Santana of interest. As with many of the smaller villages, poverty is quite prevalent with many empty and derelict houses, and land left wild.
we took the recently constructed new road through one of the innumerable tunnels. According to Josef, there are 146 tunnels here, with more planned. Lunch was at the Restaurant Grutas where we had pre-ordered meat as our main course. Fish was brought instead, so there was a short wait while they cooked our steaks, but they were very good when they did arrive. The restaurant is inside a cave
– warm in winter, “fresh” in summer as it was described to us. We had traditional cabbage soup for starters (delicious) and what we thought was a crème caramel (CC) for afters. Tom loves CC so tucked in with gusto – for one mouthful!! It looked like CC, it even smelt like CC, but it tasted like it was made with something like semolina, quite stodgy and with a very strange tasting sauce, which I think may have been passion fruit as there’s a lot of that here.
We watched a couple of planes take off after which we drove north to Canical, where the new container port and Industrial area has been built. All container ships used to come into Funchal harbour, and there was a huge container park right in the centre of the city, with lorries continually loading and unloading right where the cruise ships docked. The decision was made to move the commercial port to Canical, which has a sheltered location. It had the dual advantage of freeing Funchal from the heavy lorry traffic and providing employment in a very impoverished area. Canical used to be the whaling centre and with the ban on whaling, there were no alternative jobs so unemployment was rife. 5 years ago the port was opened and an entire new industrial area has built up around it. This forms the eastern end of the system of new roads and tunnels serving the north and south and with the planned extensions of infrastructure at the west end, there will eventually be a complete loop around the island.
Driving back on the Via Rapida to Funchal, you pass under the extended runway of the airport, built on 172 concrete stilts as they had already used all of the available land. According to Josef, there has only been one aircraft accident on Madeira (before the runway was extended) caused by a pilot attempting an approach in visibility below minimum. Over 100 people lost their lives when the plane hit the vertical lip at the end of the runway, broke apart and fell into the sea. Only 2 people were saved, a baby and a young boy, who still lives on the island but has never recovered from the trauma of losing his entire family in the crash. We’ve bought postcards of the airport with the extension clearly visible, and as Tom says, he would not wish to lose an engine at a critical stage as there is NO room to manoeuvre. Left or right, you choose the rock face OR the ocean!
No wonder our pilot wouldn’t attempt the landing in less that 5km visibility.
although Tom moaned that he couldn’t find the missing 5 degrees – perhaps they’re on Platform 9 ¾ !! As we were enjoying the view, the bells were ringing in one of the churches on one of the hills surrounding the town They were playing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and pretty well too.
Even today, there is no road access up the river valley and the main road now goes up the parallel valley then through a tunnel into Curral. Until the 20th century, the only access was up the parallel valley to the ridge between the 2 valleys, called Eira do Serrado, from where a narrow zigzag path had been built leading down to the settlement which had sprung up at Curral. In the 20th century, a precipitous road was built leading down to Curral, but with the construction of the tunnel, this route is now closed. 
We take for granted all this flat land we have in UK and there is nothing flat HERE. Truly amazing.
dropping 1500ft in the process and only over half a mile horizontally. The relentless downhill slope took us an hour and a quarter,
led by George for most of the way, chivvying us “girls” and trying to round us up like a sheepdog if anyone looked as if they weren’t keeping up. Tom appointed himself as back marker so he could make sure everyone was OK
– although what we could have done if anyone did get into difficulties, I’m not sure. It was the hardest walk I’ve ever done and I did slip at one point, sat down quite hard and had difficulty getting up again. But one of the men, who hadn’t mentioned that last year, he fell and broke 3 ribs and had a back injury, was in real trouble by the time we got ¾ of the way down. He ended up walking bent over to the right by about 20 degrees, using his stick to stop him falling over.
George still hadn’t stopped yakking! I’ve decided Tom isn’t SO bad after all – George’s wife must be a saint!
As I’ve already written, there is no road access up that valley from Funchal, so the only way in and out for these residents is to come all the way up to Curral, through the tunnel and down the other valley – it’s a very long way round!
just on the west side of the main street. A pod from one of the Kapok trees had burst and spread it’s contents over one of the lawns – it must think it’s February already. Like everywhere else, the garden is built on a slope with wonderful views over the harbour, where there was yet another cruise ship in – the Costa Serena.
After a perambulate round and an ice cream, we wandered all the way through town. As it’s Saturday, most of the shops close in the afternoon, but there was a craft market on in Avenue Arriaga, near the Palace of Sao Lourenco. There was lots of jewellery and sewn items but nothing we saw to make us buy. It was very peaceful to walk around unaccosted, although the accosting is nothing like we have experienced or hear of in other countries.