Starting 2015 with a Bang..!

I have a bit of time on my hands .... as you can probably tell.

Anyway, it is the start of a new year and so i decided to revamp the Blog slightly.  Maybe reflect some of the energy I am detecting from friends and family .... everyone getting excited about what 2015 is going to bring!

So, with a slightly electric new look - and one of my Mum's positive drawings - I am looking forward to a fun, friendly, frantic & fantastic year.

I am told by those who have a really positive outlook on life and are always 'half-full' (rather than my usual 'just about in the middle' viewpoint), that this promises to be a really good year.  For myself and my family, I am pretty sure that will be the case - new jobs, engagement(s), new homes .... all looking good.

For the poor souls who have no option but to scratch their survival from the bomb-ravaged hell that is Syria, or the unfortunates who have to live a semi-life under the scourge that is ISIS, the millions in Africa, North Korea and numerous other repressive regimes .... I can only hope for them that their lives improve.

For those who suffer illness, my fellow cancer fighters, the aged and infirm - I'm right alongside you in your battle.  And, as the numerous fundraising challenges (who can forget 2014's 'ice bucket challenge'?) attest - so are millions of other people around the world. Don't give up guys.

And to all my poor friends & family in South Africa, who suffer the slings & arrows of incompetent leaders and have to battle without basic infrastructure like electricity, or any sort of half-decent postal service .... believe me, it could be a lot worse .... but our thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with you all!

So come on 2015 .... SHOW US WHAT YOU'VE GOT ...!

An 'Engaging' New Year's Celebration

Welcome 2015 ... you have shown every sign of growing into a really good year...!

On the 31st December, as the sun rose over the water in Camps Bay, Cape Town, marking the final day of 2014, something special was afoot. 

It had been quite a year, all in all - we sold our flat in London (Battersea) and our home in Windsor. That took a while, as regular readers will know. 

But it all came right in the end and we moved into our lovely new home in Ascot.

We had a few lovely holidays - caught up with old friends in Turkey and family & friends in South Africa and Switzerland (and Julia did some shopping in the US..!)

I completed a consultancy role at Thames Water and took a few weeks off ... then was asked back again to 'babysit' the role again for a few more months.  

And that too came to an end just before Christmas ... just in time to spend some quality time decorating the new apartment and settling-in.  

Julia was in and out of the UK on various business trips during the year, generating loads of dosh for her company and spreading her educational IT around the globe.  She joined a group of Colleges & Higher Education academies as a Governor (on their Board of Governors).  

She is also advising business leaders, government ministers and even royalty on how to use technology to improve education for children (especially girls).  Not bad for a 'Northern Lass' ...!  

My Mum flourished in 2014. It takes a while to get over losing a husband (especially when you've been married & together for over 50 years), but despite the trials & tribulations of family life, she had developed a whole new life last year.  

Organising & decorating 'her' home was a seminal event and the newly recovered chairs were a triumph.  All topped-off by her Christmas present - a lovely large painting of a fox, with a big silver frame, that now has pride of place in the lounge. 

Not to mention the new-found 'career' volunteering for the Save the Children Charity.  Twice a week she manages the shop selling donated clothes, jewellery, crockery, toys, books, CD's, etc.  And massively increasing their turnover .... something to do with a skill in talking to customers!  Dad would be so proud.

Daughter Lauren, an Account Director at a PR company, helped the business develop and grow new business with big brands like BMW.

There was even a trip to New York to develop an alcoholic drinks client.  Not a lot of shopping though!  And just before Christmas she accepted a new job - handling 'Consumer PR' for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).   I hear Wimbledon calling..!  #prouddad 


And she and Ryan celebrated their second wedding anniversary and even managed a cheeky two weeks in Croatia to catch-up on some sunshine...!  

Son Joe's business is no longer 'new' ... he and his business partner have been building the company for over two years now and it is coming along nicely.  Watch out Richard Branson - new kids are on the block..! And I'm looking forward to enjoying the fruits..... 

Joe and his girlfriend Kate had moved into their new house in London and set about deconstructing it - and refurbishing the place into a snazzy little two-bedroom London 'pad' (those of you not familiar with the excruciating costs of London accommodation, or comparing to what could be purchased in South Africa, should adjust your mental image accordingly.  No indoor swimming pool, for example).

Anyway, the house is now coming along in leaps & bounds and Kate's 'nest' is looking really cozy.  We all visited them (and the two cats) on Boxing Day - for a lovely, relaxing Festive celebration.  And then they were off for a two-week holiday to South Africa.


Which brings us back to Joseph and the beach at Camps Bay.

After being frustrated in a bid to climb Table Mountain (wind!), Joe & Kate decided to spend the early morning on one of South Africa's most beautiful beaches.  It is a place I know well and I too have spent mornings there watching the sun creep slowly out of the sea, breathing its warmth into the sand and, quite frequently, waking the slumbering revellers too drunk to move after passing-out on the beach..!

In any event, a short trip over some rocks and they settled down to watch the sun ... whereupon he produced a rather lovely ring (if I may say so) and popped the question ... and she said YES!

It is rare that I start a new year off with quite such a spring in my step, but this year we are all skipping.  Joe is the son I would have chosen, if I could have .. and Kate is a beautiful young woman.  A delicate soul and has already captured my heart - and those of all our family. 

So - CONGRATULATIONS guys.

And a happy, healthy, prosperous and fun-filled New Year to you all.....!

A White Christmas...!

Hello ... and Merry Christmas!  

The trees are still up, the fairly-lights twinkling; the piles of presents now disappeared and replaced by swirling tufts of wrapping paper & ribbon; turkey/chicken bones picked clean and round tummies betraying the post-lunch snooze .... Christmas 2014 is DONE!

And what a happy time most of us were lucky enough to enjoy.

Santa has a strange old time in London this year.  We moved into our new apartment on the 2nd December, so he didn't have much chance to get organised in Ascot.  

The apartment took-up most of Santa's budget too - which was a very welcome gift by the way..!

Mind you, he did manage a fair old pile of presents, given the financial constraints of moving (although again, once the children visited just before they went off to celebrate Christmas with their families, those piles reduced significantly...!).

Julia and I decided to have a low-key, quiet Christmas this year, just the two of us and my Mum.  

I collected my Mum at 9.30 in the morning and brought her home - and immediately dialled-up her grandchildren in Australia using Apple's 'Face-time'.  Granddaughter Sarah was with her mother, but the two boys had spent the day with their Dad and they were winding-down in the evening over there.  Beers in hand and looking well fed and 'presented'..!

It is difficult to express the joy that a face-to-face call can generate.  

Mum sat in front of the large iMac with its big screen and was able to talk to her grandsons and see them in high-definition, brilliant colour and crisp as anything.  She BEAMED...!

I said to (ex) brother-in-law Harry: "it is so easy to just be normal and allow life's little, normal things to happen - which can bring such simple joy".

Then we sat in the lounge and opened our presents, before the expertly-prepared roast chicken was consumed and a bit of quiet TV was watched (despite the slight snoring which may have occurred...!).

And now we look forward to the new year.  

It is freezing cold outside at the moment (snow up north and temperatures below freezing outside here). Tonight is due to go down to about -5 deg ... luckily we'll be wrapped-up warm and enjoying our little nest.

The little Robin is about and some daffodils are already raising their heads (a few even flowered, although this week's temperature may have taken them out..!).  But we have passed the mid-winter solstice and can start looking forward to 2015.  

The possibilities, the opportunities ... Spring isn't too far away.

In the mean time, wishing you all a very festive (remaining) holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Cheers!

Festive Cheer!

Today is the 12^th December and Christmas once again approached, bearing gifts and goodwill, like a benevolent M&S Fairy trailing sparkles and fairy dust.

December will always be bitter-sweet … we lost my Dad in December three years ago.  Every year we celebrate his life with my Mum, sometimes with an early Family Christmas meal (complete with turkeys, silly hats and party games) but this year, having just moved into the new apartment, we went low-key and took my Mum to see the movie Paddington.

For all of you who are children at heart, this is a movie for you.  His little bear face, innocence and love of marmalade will set your heart strings humming and you cannot fail to simply `feel good’. 

My Mum was SO excited and she was completely caught-up in the wonder-world of `the bear from darkest Peru’ for almost two hours.  

If I was of a mind, I might be tempted to think the old man was manipulating us and making sure Mum wasn’t too sad.  He of all people knew how she loves such child-like fantasies.

Anyway, today is also my last day with the current contract - with Thames Water, the largest water utility company in the UK.  Hooray … time for a break and away from the politics.  

Don’t know how anything gets done sometimes with all the posturing, manipulation, backstabbing and nonsense ….  but I’ll be sad to say goodbye to some of the team who are really lovely people and deserve so much better!

 It does allow me to focus on the new apartment though!

As readers will know, this has been a long time coming. We started planning to `downsize’ in February 2014.  We sold our house in Windsor in April/May, but a combination of legal issues (the actual house boundaries did not align with the registered Land Registry plan) and lazy/tardy lawyers (not ours!) meant that the process was drawn-out so that we ended-up only moving into the new apartment on December 2^nd 2014.  A ten-month process, but it was worth every minute of that…!

Our new home is a penthouse apartment in Ascot, about four minutes’ drive from the famous racecourse, with its own roof garden (not much use at the moment, aside from providing a snow patch in which to keep wine chilled..! But will come into its own in Spring, with a lovely BBQ/Braai, outdoor dinner table and separate chill-out seating area).  

The main room (Lounge, kitchen, Dining room) is a large, open- plan area and the installation of the new speakers (that I bought myself as a present earlier this year) provide a sumptuous, relaxing area.  

I just pour myself into the couch, turn on some good music and chill.  Lovely - one of life’s great pleasures!

Mum & the children are suitably impressed and wander around with amazed looks on their faces. For a girl of humble beginnings (from her family’s little terraced house in Luton), my Mum sometimes marvels at the journey she and her family have taken over the past 80 years. 

She really loves the new apartment and couldn’t be happier for us.

So, on to Christmas, once the decorator has finished painting & some of the `statement’ wallpaper has been put up …. the big pile of presents under the Christmas tree will be reduced as children visit us ahead of the actual Christmas (one is going off to a country Manor House in the Cotswolds, the other off to SA for a bit of sunshine) and Mum, Julia and I will be left to celebrate a quiet Christmas by ourselves. Low-key, very relaxed, lots of telly and nibble-food (no great big roast). No need to dress up, travel, or obligations to do/talk/listen/perform…!

I shall be enjoying the sound system though, even if it is Michael Bublé singing Christmas songs…!

Winter Wonders...

So … it seems like ages since I wrote something here. In fact, it is ages since I wrote.

Partly this is because we went travelling and spent time in South Africa (visiting friends & family) and then also in Turkey, where we worked on our tans (a faint blush in my case … almost black in my wife’s), ate too much and spent time at the pool or on the boat in the magnificent Turkish Bay.

The boats known locally as a `Gulet’ are almost floating hotels … food, drink, sleep if you want, dive in & swim in the sea if you want ….  It was, as you can imagine, a real chore and deeply difficult to endure.

Well, leaving and coming home was, at any rate…!

And then I was immediately requested to take up the role I had only just finished, as the guy who they had appointed was needed on an urgent `mission’, so would I mind terribly holding the fort for him.

Not really, said I, as long as we bump-up the day-rate and resolve some of the concerning issues……  Consequently I have been a tad busy since then.

And then there was the whole issue of the house.  We had it on the market you see.

We sold it and had an offer accepted on a lovely penthouse apartment in Ascot.  With a roof garden for my wife, so she still has plants to grow - and for me so I still get to listen to the birds and watch the trees…!

At which point we discovered a small sliver of land on our property that didn’t appear on the original deeds.  Cue multiple lawyers, management committees, the Council, Land Registry and any number of other hangers-on.

I have no wish to denigrate the honourable legal profession, but let’s just say it has taken an awful long time for everyone to sign a legal document, that everyone all agreed was correct and necessary to begin with.

God knows what must happen when someone disagrees….!

To cut a long story short though, we have formally exchanged contracts today. YAHOO…!  And we move into our new home in December, just in time to celebrate Christmas as we start another new chapter.

And all of this as Jack Frost starts to make his annual appearance and the Winter season fastens its grip on our lives. 

I’m hoping for a bit of snow this Christmas – the trees in the new garden are immense and will look fabulous groaning under the weight of layers of crisp, white snow. 

And we’ll have a little roof garden to feed the Robin, who follows us around and sings to me whenever I’m outside.

To my wife, who has managed this legal torture garden … Well Done and Thank You.  You are a wonderful, special, talented lady. 


With spectacularly good taste, by the way…!

To our friends and family who are looking forward to visiting us in Ascot - and that includes you Janet, with your Ascot Bucket List, Brenda, for your next trip, the McNaughties, who have been on this journey with us for years already (and not forgetting joining us in Turkey), my Mum, the children in all your guises ... and many, many others..



.... we’re looking forward to seeing you!

A little bit of Sunshine ...

Today is the 12^th December and Christmas once again approached, bearing gifts and goodwill, like a benevolent M&S Fairy trailing sparkles and fairy dust.

December will always be bitter-sweet … we lost my Dad in December three years ago.  Every year we celebrate his life with my Mum, sometimes with an early Family Christmas meal (complete with turkeys, silly hats and party games) but this year, having just moved into the new apartment, we went low-key and took my Mum to see the movie Paddington.

For all of you who are children at heart, this is a movie for you.  His little bear face, innocence and love of marmalade will set your heart strings humming and you cannot fail to simply `feel good’.  My Mum was SO excited and she was completely caught-up in the wonder-world of `the bear from darkest Peru’ for almost two hours.  

If I was of a mind, I might be tempted to think the old man was manipulating us and making sure Mum wasn’t too sad.  He of all people knew how she loves such child-like fantasies.

Anyway, today is also my last day with the current contract - with Thames Water, the largest water utility company in the UK.  Hooray … time for a break and away from the politics.  Don’t know how anything gets done sometimes with all the posturing, manipulation, backstabbing and nonsense ….  but I’ll be sad to say goodbye to some of the team who are really lovely people and deserve so much better!

 It does allow me to focus on the new apartment though!

As readers will know, this has been a long time coming. We started planning to `downsize’ in February 2014.  We sold our house in Windsor in April/May, but a combination of legal issues (the actual house boundaries did not align with the registered Land Registry plan) and lazy/tardy lawyers (not ours!) meant that the process was drawn-out so that we ended-up only moving into the new apartment on December 2^nd 2014.  A ten-month process, but it was worth every minute of that…!

Our new home is a penthouse apartment in Ascot, about four minutes’ drive from the famous racecourse, with its own roof garden (not much use at the moment, aside from providing a snow patch in which to keep wine chilled..! But will come into its own in Spring, with a lovely BBQ/Braai, outdoor dinner table and separate chill-out seating area).  

The main room (Lounge, kitchen, Dining room) is a large, open- plan area and the installation of the new speakers (that I bought myself as a present earlier this year) provide a sumptuous, relaxing area.  

I just pour myself into the couch, turn on some good music and chill.  Lovely - one of life’s great pleasures!

Mum & the children are suitably impressed and wander around with amazed looks on their faces. For a girl of humble beginnings (from her family’s little terraced house in Luton), my Mum sometimes marvels at the journey she and her family have taken over the past 80 years. 

She really loves the new apartment and couldn’t be happier for us.

So, on to Christmas, once the decorator has finished painting & some of the `statement’ wallpaper has been put up …. the big pile of presents under the Christmas tree will be reduced as children visit us ahead of the actual Christmas (one set going off to a country Manor House in the Cotswolds, the other couple off to SA for a bit of sunshine) and Mum, Julia and I will be left to celebrate a quiet Christmas by ourselves. Low-key, very relaxed, lots of telly and nibble-food (no great big roast). No need to dress up, travel, or obligations to do/talk/listen/perform…!

I shall be enjoying the sound system though, even if it is Michael Bublé singing Christmas songs…!

Even More Family Matters

Well, it has been a few weeks since I put finger to keyboard, so to speak.  It has been an eventful time - I joined my wife for a quick trip back to South Africa and spent a very pleasant few days (Spring was definitely in the air there..!) visiting friends and family in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.

I caught up with ex-schoolfriend and fellow Blogger Janet and it was a fabulous few hours.  Amazing how the years just melt away when you meet someone who you knew so many years ago.

Both of us have lives, bursting full of news, stories, laughter tears and wonderful friends & family - those two hours were never enough to catch up.   More please ... when you visit Ascot ...!

And the visit to my Aunt Joan and cousin Brenda and family proved wonderful, as always ... and is partially responsible for the radio silence since then (well, that and the fact that I have been whisked back to work by a client who urgently need me to go back in and help them...!  Just as I was enjoying the break too...!

Anyway, the family time allowed me to catch up with Mum's sister and her daughter & family ... and as we were discussing this Blog and the various family connections I have been making, Joan mentioned that she too had been preparing a book, documenting her life.

I offered to transfer that to a Digital format ... and so, here we are a few weeks later and I am now able to release her story.  Joan's Memoirs.

I recommend it in particular to the Luen families, the Stevenson families, the Downes family and the Klonowski's ... and anyone who is interested.  It is a fascinating story.

I will include the link here (Joan's Memoirs) and wish you a pleasant read.

My Mum (who acted as a consultant on the Memoirs) and I will return soon with more of our own stories & pictures.