2008 Retrospect

February 14th - 18th.

Pat and I in the Uk for Quinn’s birthday. Click here to download a video of his birthday.

March 10th - 17th:

Pat and I made a trip to northern Italy : Bologna, Brescia, Verona, Venice and Ferrara. Click here to download a video of our trip

April 7th:

Hernia operation. For the next six weeks Pat was landed with dog-walking! Spring arrived very late. We ran out of wood for the fire and had to buy a fourth lorry-load in April. We used 9 tons in total!

May 16th - 23rd:

We spent a week in Provence with Candy, Quinn and her friend, Fiona, in a cottage Candy had rented. Click here to see photos of the holiday.

May 31st:

Penny and Paul’s wedding. The ceremony was held at the Town Hall in Amandola. The reception was held in a beachside restaurant, La Perla, at Cupra Marittima. A magical occasion - blue skies, blue sea, good food, good company. Click here to download a video of the day.

June 25th - 29th.

Pat and I in the UK to see Candy and Quinn. Click here to download a video of Quinn at Sandringham and the zoo.

July 24th

We went with Gordon Fleming to a performance of Nabucco in the open air theatre at Ripatransone.

July 30th - August 7th:

Dave and Sue came for a week. The day after they arrived we all went out for a meal at Lupo’s together with John and Judy Cairns and Shona and Tony Rogers. Two days later we were all ill, Sue and Pat so badly that they daren’t venture out for the rest of the week. On their way back to their holiday home in Burgundy, Dave filled their diesel car with petrol!

August 28th.

We went to a free concert of mediæval music by Chominciamento Di Gioia in the romanesque church of San Marco at Ponzano di Fermo.

September 22nd - September 30th

Chris Bell came to stay with us. From June to the middle of September we had continuous sunshine with temperatures from the high twenties to the mid-thirties. Then the temperature dropped overnight by ten degrees. We had to light the central heating. The day Chris came it was sunny as was the day after and the day before he left. In between it rained unrelentingly. The day after he went the temperature rose into the twenties and we no longer needed the central heating! During his visit we visited Fiastra Abbey. Click here to see our photos.

September 25th.

We went with Chris to a free concert of 18th century music in the cathedral at Ascoli Piceno.

November 13th - 17th.

I went to Bristol to attend the Old Elizabethans’ annual dinner. Met Philip ‘Faber’ Eyles in a pub off the M5 on the way down. It was the first time I’d seen Faber since he went up to St Catherine’s, Cambridge in 1960. Stayed with Mike ‘Sam’ Jefferies and his wife, Pam, in Westbury-on-Trym. Sam, like me, had gone to Keele so it was only 44 years since we’d last met. Should have flown home on the 16th, but owing to an accident on the M11 missed my flight. So booked into The Radison and took a coach to London to meet Chris. Arrived back at Stansted in the small hours rather pissed.

November 19th - 26th.

Pat and I went to Dubai for Sophy’s 30th birthday. Unfortunately, I’d made the mistake of booking with Alitalia some six months earlier. At the beginning of November they rang me to say that instead of flying direct from Rome to Dubai we’d be going via Charles de Gaulle with an eight hour wait in Paris. During our stay Pat and Adam had their cash and Adam’s phone stolen from his car while we were visiting some rock pools. When we arrived at Rome on our way home we were told that the flight from Fiumicino to Ancona had been cancelled. After a four hour train journey to Ancona, and a 90 minute drive to Force to pick up the dogs we arrived home to find the electricity had gone off resulting in the contents of the freezer melting! Click here to view photos of Dubai. Click here to download a video we made of Dubai in 2006.

December 23rd - 29th.

A wonderful Christmas with Sophy and Adam here from the 23rd to the 29th and Candy and Quinn from the 23rd to the 27th. There was plenty of snow on the mountains for Sophy and Adam to ski. It snowed in the village on Christmas night so Quinn was able to toboggan on the sledge which Father Christmas (aka Adam) had brought him. Click here to see the christmas video. Click here to see our Christmas photos.