Golden Junketings in Scarborough

When I was young, the occasional elderly couple that reached their Golden Wedding anniversary seemed frighteningly old and frail.

Golden Wedding Tea PartyNow that John and I and many of our friends have reached that stage, I am glad to report that we all feel – and who would argue – look extremely youthful and vigorous.  Continue reading Golden Junketings in Scarborough

An Unexpected Outing to York

John had an appointment in York last week.

Having been given very precise details about the timings, at the last minute the date was postponed until August. We had already made arrangements to stay with Piers and Mary, some very special old friends (old as in longstanding you understand) who live in York, and were most reluctant to cancel the chance of seeing them so drove up as planned.

So, we had a really lovely unexpectedly free day… Continue reading An Unexpected Outing to York

New beginnings in Nagoya

We are delighted to include a post by Guest Blogger/our friend Shelley, who moved to Japan a few months ago. We asked her to write this post as we were intrigued to learn how they were getting on.

Shelley is a very talented photographer, and she and her husband Jonathan helped us a great deal a few years ago when they were staying in Douglas’s Barn and John was wondering what camera he should get.

We spent a delightful evening with them as we drank wine and they let John try their cameras and talked him through the pros and cons of various models. Their advice has proved invaluable.

Shelley’s website is http://www.www.shelleybray.com. Do have a look. She tells me she hasn’t had much time on it recently, as they have been rather preoccupied with getting to grips with all that is new for them since their move to Japan.

After an amazing 3 years in Hong Kong our Japanese visas finally came through.

We could pack up and make our move to Nagoya, Japan’s 3rd largest city, our new home for the next 3 years.

The start of Shelley's stint in Japan
All set for Japan
This was a day to celebrate, getting to this point had taken the best part of 7 months, at times it had been hard to believe we would ever get approval to be resident in Japan, but the months of paperwork and hurdles we’d had to jump were now passed and at last we were in our new home reunited with our belongings. Continue reading New beginnings in Nagoya

A Short Break on the Norfolk Broads

We expected dreadful weather, and so felt pleased to enjoy not dreadful but mixed weather, some rain but lots of sunny spells – but never warm enough to sunbathe in our bikinis and thongs (?). After a hectic few weeks and a busy drive to Wroxham mainly chugging slowly behind tractors and numerous heavily laden trucks full of veg we felt more than ready for a peaceful few days with our very good friends Erica and Colin whose company we so enjoy. Continue reading A Short Break on the Norfolk Broads

A Week in Wales

As seems usual these days I seem permanently to be at least one step behind…

A long time ago, it seems, but actually only last week, after our memorable family gathering in Wales, the Australian and retired F-S section of the family – accompanied by still hard working Ruthie for a couple of days – stayed on in their holiday cottage to enjoy some time together in west Wales. Continue reading A Week in Wales

Africa House Revisited: a second Shiwa Ngandu Snippet

Another big hole in my Africa posts, about to be part filled at last. As you may remember, we had such difficulty with internet access while actually staying there, posts were skimpy and infrequent. No such problems now, although come to think of broadband is not brilliant in Parwich either… Continue reading Africa House Revisited: a second Shiwa Ngandu Snippet