An easy drive down to Calais and the channel tunnel kicked off my annual pilgrimage to friends and family, something I really look forward to and which, on this occasion, found good news and good cheer at many turns. Arriving a little early i sought out some best buy Champagne but to no avail and joined the good ship Jonathan at Lydd airport. My eldest brother, an expert pilot, had kindly offered me a ride up to the place of my birth, The Isle of Man, a small island set in the middle of the Irish Sea. Travelling with his son Adam and fiancee Cecile, Dianna his wife and little Lilly could not have been easier, just hop on and go. After perhaps an hour and a half the grey outlines of the southern part of the island appeared out of the storm wrack.
The short ride to Douglas, the islands main city took us past the fairy bridge where, as those in the know do, we hooted out hello fairies. Arrival at Heather’s house and meeting her then boyfriend Adam (now fiancé) was an eye opener, a really large house in four or five floors, beautifully decorated for Christmas and overflowing with her special things, a passion for space, art and Lego! Food, wine, walks in Tholty Will, talking, Christmas presents, seemed to me fantasmagorical, culminating in announcing her pregnancy followed by an engagement ring! Wow, what could be a better way to remember Christmas 2023?
All to soon we headed back into the storm cloud’s direction Lydd where I said goodbye and sought out my friends Gary and Gitte in Rye spending two days reminiscing and catching up on the life I left behind. Gary has some challenges with health but is in a positive frame of mind and I feel sure he will come through these in a better and stronger place.
On to Brighton town to see Paul and Ashka, good friends from way back in their lovely house at the top of the town. As an aside I am frankly a lazy person and the effort that people put into Christmas decorating always makes me feel ashamed (even if I am not present in my own home over Christmas). catching up with Stella, their daughter and Dan opened more doors into the lives of others, the plans, ideas and hopes really do fill me with inspiration. Richard, a long standing acquaintance had baked a special cake and Paul had prepared a superb meal for the eight of us. An introduction to Frankie was most helpful, it seems he can help me to get some work done on my house in Brighton, painting the exterior, maybe more.
An interregnum to visit Johny, a real character, meet up with my house tenants, visit the local pub and a spontaneous catch up with Keith and Jane turned into a rather extended evening with me returning to Paul’s at 07:20! Good old Brighton.
Onwards and upwards to visit Simon who lost his mother Sheila at the beginning of December, a fantastic person who I will truly miss, Irish to the clover and just as much fun and vivaciousness in her last and 102nd year as when I first met her some 50 years ago. Simon nursed and cared for her these last years and he is to be commended and recognised for his undying love and devotion, easing her passing and, at last, taking on the importance of his own future. More power to your elbow SE.
Thence to my middle brother Peter and his wife Julie where I really feel at home, hearing of the plans for Peter’s skiing trips, the trials and tribulations of cars, the finishing of a lovely new room to their already delightful home and, as ever, being fed like a fighting cock!
My last port of call with Terry and Liz in their new home. Terry is a former Royal Engineer and has skills that I could never hope to attain. Thank you!
And now, on this dull boat crossing to Holland it seems like a good time to record some of these impressions, to thank everyone, to bid you all my best wishes as we start a new journey around the sun, hurtling into the future.
My last piece of news, and I hope it’s true, is a dramatic improvement in Asterix’s behaviour (Asterix the gall bladder). At some point during the period described above the world fell out of my bottom and since then Asterix has been happy with my rather more carefree diet culminating in FEB (Full English breakfast) on the boat this morning, the first for some three years! Hip hip hip hooray. I wonder if I have passed a gall stone?
Love and peace Robin
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Nice writing. Good news about Astrix!