Life!

Aunty Edna died on 6th October.  I couldn't make the funeral as I was in Devon but John emailed a copy of the service booklet . I watched a lot of Rugby (World Cup) - mainly England matches.  It seemed very decadent to be sat watching TV on a Saturday morning. Mike did a half day choral workshop with Chiswick Choir which ended with a short concert.  I walked over to Grove Park (2.4 m) for the concert, and then we went out to eat with 4 other members of the choir (Caroline, Brian, Christine and Mike K) at  Tarantella .  It was nice to eat there at a reasonable time for a change - usually it is after a full concert and we only sit down at around 10.15 pm.   Geoff Willis died on 7th October.  We went to the funeral - which turned out to be a full on Requiem Mass - music by Faure with The Long Day Closes by Arthur Sullivan at the end.  It was a very long service indeed - the music was great but the clergy indulged in lots and lots of words ...

The main event of the month was Mike's birthday on Sunday 22nd with just over 50 family and friends joining him for drinks and a buffet at the George & Devonshire in the evening (6-9).  He had made all the arrangements, and even created the invitation. I was amazed at how good it all was - the pub provided excellent food and were very helpful and competent. We had the whole of the back bar to ourselves (there was Hungarian folk dancing in the function room) but it made for a very relaxed atmosphere with plenty of opportunity for people to mingle and sit down with different groups.  There was prosecco and canapes to start with, bottles of red and white wine on the bar, and other drinks available from the main bar (where we were running a tab). There was even treacle tart!  Mike had organised a cake to be made by Nikki's bakery in Chiswick - we picked it up in the afternoon.  It all went really well and was not all that expensive - £846.  Only 10 bottles o...

Devon (and handbells) Mike came to Devon again this month for the week.  We had hoped to scatter Mary's ashes on Dartmoor but the weather was too wet for Mike to get up there.  We spent 3 hours ringing handbells with Tim having several goes at his composition of the 41 minor before knocking off the usual QP of 23 .  We both rang a peal of Cambridge Major with David and Peter, at our house, and I also rang a peal of Cassiobury with Tim and the usual third Wednesday band, and failed to get QPs of Kent and 3xSpliced S Royal with the lunchtime band.  So a busy week for handbells. I got Rentokill in to remove a large wasps nest from the garden - £295 again.  It's becoming an annual expense! We went to Chudleigh Church for a cream tea which was my first this year.  It was a good one too and we were supporting their Summer Project. Mike and I went to the Christow show which made for a very enjoyable morning, despite the occasional showers.  The disa...

We didn't have a family holiday to Butlins this year, but during the usual week John stayed with Carolyn for a few days and arranged the traditional meal for the whole family on Dad's birthday at The Victoria in Peckham. Photos He also went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament with Lorraine and Ollie. Amanda came over with the kids and stayed with me for a few days.  We went to London Zoo for the day.  The children did really well to keep going all day until 5 pm - although we were all exhausted at the end and got a taxi all the way home!   John and Lorraine went to the Tower of London. Everyone had fun in the pool at Carolyn's - the weather was so hot! John started the week by going over to Majorca to visit Amanda for a few days.