Alive, if not kicking...
Year after year, I seem to start the ramblings with a good grizzle about the year past. This year is no exception. The good news is that we have so far avoided the pandemic, and have arms like pin cushions to show for it. Unfortunately, Martyn developed shingles, diagnosed the day of the jubilee Bank Holiday back in June, and is not out of the woods almost six months later. My old joints are complaining as usual, and cutting a long story short, none of which reflects terribly well on Benenden, the orthopod tells me to go home and get a walking stick.
The year began with a couple of irritations. On Boxing Day, the central heating boiler went on strike. When I went to report it to British Gas, I found that the phone wasn’t working either. British Gas were worse than useless - as usual - and failed to fix the problem at all, let alone promptly, but charged us £60 for each call-out, in addition to the monthly subscription. My respected and generous pension payer did rather better. Although the fixed phone line stayed out of action for some time, broadband service continued, and a helpful Indian chap at the call centre quickly arranged for incoming calls to divert free of charge to my mobile. It took about ten days to fix the fault, but we were amply compensated for the break in service. British Gas hasn’t even replied to my letter of complaint, so guess who no longer has our boiler maintenance business?
Domestic tribulations continued in March, when I came down one Sunday (of course!) morning to find a damp patch on the carpet. A glance upward showed a dripping bulge. Our insurers sent a fellow all the way from the Surrey-Hants boundary to misdiagnose the problem. Next morning as the ceiling continued to drip, I got on the phone to Deb, who adjusted plumber husband Jez’s schedule, and got him to us next day. As we thought, the hot water cylinder was leaking, and had to be replaced. That wouldn’t have been covered by the insurance, the plastering and DIY redecorating would have been, but cost less than the excess on the insurance, which LV wanted paid up front (at this point I told them to take a hike).
January marked the fiftieth anniversary of my starting work, and March the twenty-first of stopping it. Though there were good times, my warmest feelings about my years with BT result from the arrival of the pension each month.
All that said, we've been out and about again after a couple of years living like hermits, and have taken a couple of trips away, of which more anon.
As for the world of politics, some might say that our country continues to reinforce its image as the laughing stock of Europe, changing increasingly incompetent and miscellaneously immoral, self-serving, lying, dogmatic, thick and/or hopelessly weak Rt Hon First Lords of the Treasury about as often as some change their socks. Not that I could possibly express a view.
We’re gradually working down the home projects list. This year's main job was the refitting of the bathroom with a drive-in shower, and not without a couple of months of ach und Krach, we are content with the result.
Garden
The new bed at the top of the garden is beginning to mature as the subjects we've planted get their roots down into the clay. Transplanted roses have not done well, so are on the transfer list this winter - to the garden waste bin. Unfortunately, kneeling makes things worse with the knees, so we're having to GSI for the gardening. But the S is our old friend Ben with his sidekick Duncan.
The box tree moth caterpillars devastated the little hedge at the front, together with a couple of globes that I had raised from cuttings. All went up in smoke, together with many hundreds of caterpillars. Oddly enough, the cuttings we planted at the back didn't attract the little blighters. We had toyed with getting Ben to dig the lot out and replace them with dwarf yew, but now that much of the box hedge is growing back from the roots, we'll leave it for a season and see what happens.
Spuds and tomatoes did very well this year, so we plan next year to grow charlottes in bags as usual, but also to expand our tomato repertoire to San Marzano, which will cook down well. Our Sweet Olive seed packet contained exactly six seeds, only four of which were viable. Nothing daunted, we propagated a few dozen side shoots, and got a good crop. Great for bruschette and caprese salads, but too small for cooking on a larger scale.
Arrivals
We had an enjoyable family lunch in September with seven of us round the table: Pip and David, John, Canadian cousins Susan and Jack and yr obed servts. Celia and Andy came round one lunch time for a plate of broth, charcuterie and a cheeseboard (which we're still finishing - we like cheese, but only a little at a time!)
My old friend from Switzerland days Thierry and his son Vincent came down one rather wet evening while the latter was installing himself for his Bachelor year at Imperial College, following two years at the Lausanne Polytechnic. (And there's a heart-breaker in the making: a chip off the old block!)
Departures
We love Switzerland and train travel, but have had to review things lately. We'd planned a week in a hotel in Luzern, but the weather forecast persuaded us to head south of the Alps, and Martyn found a flat in Bellinzona with much more space and a better price. We decided to take the old railway route up the Rhine from Cologne. On the day we left, the taxi didn't turn up, so once again we'd to drag our bags to the bus stop. We only just caught our last-resort train to London, and did not enjoy the crammed waiting area at St Pancras. The rest of day one went perfectly: an easy connexion in Brussels to Cologne: we stayed a night in the Ibis near the station (not cheap, and at best ausreichend). Day two, however, was ill-starred: the Swiss train from Hamburg to Basel arrived an hour late, and took us no further than Karlsruhe. Cutting a long story short (changes in Karlsruhe, Offenburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel (twice) and Zürich) we arrived at our flat in Bellinzona five hours late and soaked to the skin. The Swiss railways did the job for the tail end of the journey, but Deutsche Gründlichkeit seems to be a thing of the past, certainly where the railways are concerned..
Though the weather remained mixed, we had a fine time in the Ticino, enjoying Bellinzona and visiting Lugano (v. infra), Locarno and Ascona.
We took a day trip to Luzern in fine weather, and enjoyed exploring the city (not to mention a rather decadent fried fish lunch). The Kapellbrücke has been well restored after the awful fire, and this year was finely adorned with begonias.
We then took the boat to Flüelen to catch a train over the Gotthard, and enjoyed watching kite surfers at the windy end of the Urnersee. As always we enjoyed the wonderful scenery of the north ramp, and all three views of the church in Wassen. Soon after emerging from the tunnel, the train stopped in Lavorgo because of signalling problems further downhill. Absolutely no information on what next, but someone spotted that there was a Postauto a bit later heading south. Said bus took us to Bodio, where a train was waiting, so this time we got to Bellinzona with only an hour's delay.
Another day, Martyn planned a trip to the Monte Generoso, and it went perfectly to plan, despite my surfacing too late for the train he'd intended us to get. Excellent trip, with fine views down to the lakes, and a bit of entertainment from hang gliders and fixed-wing gliders swooping round the summit. Not cheap, but our rail passes got us 50% off, making it merely eye-watering.
Perhaps the nicest day was in Berne, where we got together with Pam, Geoff, Lesley and Carlo for an alfresco lunch, followed by tea and cakes at Pam's. We dined at the same restaurant as Pam had booked for Geoff's 80th, only this time we sat outside, watching the honey bees on the hedge at the end of the table. And we'd a faultless train ride back to Bellinzona.
The return trip was the mixture as before. No problem as far as Basel, where we had a nice lunch in a pitta shop on a gallery spanning the station platforms. The TGV ran late, not helped by heavily armed gendarmes arresting a skinny kid from our carriage in Besançon. Another stressful, sweaty episode later in the grisly Gare du Nord, we got standby tickets on the Eurostar an hour later than the one we'd missed, and had a pretty uneventful ride home. So Bellinzona to Disgustedville can be done in a day, if a tiring one.
We aimed for some sunshine and warmth for Martyn's birthday, so booked a villa in the Algarve for a week, and gritted our teeth for the airport experience, hoping to make it more bearable with Club Europe tickets. True, the BA lounge at Gatwick was pretty good, but the cabin of the ancient A320 was cramped and grubby, though the free seat between ours at least made a bit of elbow room. BA has taken to leasing old aircraft first bashed about in the third world: our rides to and from Faro had started in service in Brazil decades ago. The catering on board was mediocre, and the Faro airport lounge, when we found it, was cramped, and offered next to no catering.
But grizzling aside, the villa was clean, spacious and well equipped (once we'd swapped a kettle that tripped the power supply). The terrace was generous - enough space for a dining table and chairs, a barbecue and a couple of loungers. And there were a couple of evenings when we could enjoy it.
Wheels
Egg 2 has passed its umpteenth MoT, and buzzes along like a new car. The Ateca passed its fourth test in September. We doubt whether we need to keep two oil-burners, but the amount we consume doesn't really justify going electric on environmental grounds - between them, the two cars have covered fewer than 2000 miles between their annual tests.
We booked a 'C4 auto or equivalent' in the Algarve and got an Audi A3. I was quite impressed with its refinement as we left Faro, and its performance was what I'd have expected from a 1.6 VW. When I pressed on a bit, I could hear a three-cylinder beat, and so it proved to be: a whole 999cc coupled to a 7-speed DSG box. Pretty economical too, but low-slung and thus a bugger to get in and out of. It was rather short of the refinements we expect of lesser VWs, eg a reversing camera and satnav. And I blame the blind spots for nearly crashing us twice!
Talking of shunts, we had a real one, if minor, a couple of months back. When we were collecting Susan and Jack from the station the day of our family lunch, I saw the car jump a little as we approached it. A man in a red BMW had swept into the next space a bit too sharply and biffed the front of mine. Not a big deal, since the damage was slight, and the fellow paid up the moment I told him the repair cost. Not wishing to tempt fate, it's worth recording that, of late, the only damage to our cars has been at the hands of others.
Food and Drink
Forget the Hotel du Vin here in Disgustedville unless you're feeling assertive. Although my birthday dinner there, Martyn's treat, was very good, our dinner with Thierry and Vincent was embarrassingly awful. Had I been feeling better (I had a cold), I'd have made a serious fuss. Lunch at the Veranda in Berne was OK, and the company was a delight. Schnitzels at Gaffel am Dom in Cologne were excellent - almost as good as home-made.
We are into the soup season, and as I write, a pot of soup is simmering: chicken stellette, using stock I made earlier from the carcass of the Sunday chicken. Martyn’s latest soup creation used broccoli, spinach and sundry other healthy ingredients.
We have started making more use of the air fryer, if only for things like sausages, chips and (less satisfactorily) scampi. It’s handy and a shade more economical for small tasks than heating the oven.
Arts
Not a lot to report this year. We've knocked out a couple of pieces for the Christmas cards. But as I scribble, Martyn is composing at the clavinova, so the house is not lacking in creativity. Our friend Kate's play Mayflower was performed in the summer at the Hen and Chickens at Highbury Corner, so we made a trip to London for the first time in ages. Good piece, well performed by the Historia Theatre Company, made up of some familiar and some new faces.
2023
We hope the new year brings us peace and health, though I doubt very much whether it'll bring prosperity for many. With index-linked state and occupational pensions, we think we can keep the wolf from the door. But the main source of our wellbeing is the friendship of lovely people like you. Thank you!
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