January
The main news concerns Mark (Steve's brother) who has parted company with his wife Brigitte. Tom and Charlie, their sons, are still living with her. Mark, after several short stays with various friends, has settled down sharing a house with a woman who used to live across the road. Her name is Lindsey.
February
Ruby turned nine. She and a few friends went to the cinema in Burgess Hill to see Monsters Inc. Afterwards they invaded a local Italian restaurant for pizza.
Deirdre resigned from her job. She'd been there for five years and was getting a bit fed up of it.
We went to East Anglia to catch up with some friends and relations. We entered two pub quizzes - and won both of them!
Steve resigned as Barcombe Bonfire Society's treasurer.
Ironically, one of the reasons given was that we now live four miles from Barcombe,
yet the bloke who was volunteered to take over lives in Upper Dicker!
(A lot further away, for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of East Sussex.
Click here to look at a map)
March
The Lewes Arms pantomime this year was Snow White (for the umpteenth time!).
Mark was Happy and Paul was Sleepy (got that Jill?).
BJ (another of Steve's brothers) turned 40. We all went for a meal in Lewes, then back to the Lewes Arms for cake.
We went to see Long Rope Skipping at the Rose Cottage (a pub) in Alciston. Uncle Edgar and Aunty Chris were there,
as they'd come down to see their son Jon who now lives at Bexhill (I think!)
Olivia finished her second term of Sing and Sign.
She has been learning some sign language, the idea being it encourages children to communicate earlier.
She knows quite a few signs - one that comes in very handy is "more"!
Steve took Ruby to London on the train. We had a look at all the usual sights (Houses of Parliament,
Westminster Abbey etc. - we were going to see a lot of them on the telly over the next few days!),
then we went to have a look at the Natural History Museum. After that we went in the Victoria & Albert Museum,
then strolled up to Hyde Park for a look at the Albert Hall and Albert Memorial.
Finally we got a bus across Tower Bridge and came home. On the train a bloke listening to the Spurs game on his
radio was complaining that the Queen Mother had died and they'd interrupted the match coverage.
April
Deirdre turned 40. To celebrate, we left the girls with Mum and Dad (who stayed at our house)
and drove down to the West Country for a couple of nights. We stayed at a lovely old coaching inn called
The George
in a village called Norton St Philip. A certain funeral caused a minor interruption to the shopping experience in Bath,
but we both had a very relaxing time.
Everyone except Olivia went to see Lewes Operatic Society's production of Oliver! in Lewes Town Hall.
BJ had his stag day (he is getting married - see May).
The day began at lunch time in the Elephant and Castle in Lewes, then off by train to Eastbourne for Ten Pin Bowling.
On the way back we stopped off for a couple of pints of Harveys in the Trevor at Glynde.
Back in Lewes, another pub, then an Indian restaurant and finally a couple more pubs.
Went over to Barcombe for tea with our ex-neighbours. Saw the five planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury)
all lined up really clearly.
This time of year is lovely with all the bluebells out.
Steve took Olivia for a long walk (nearly a mile - and she walked almost all of it!)
across a local common which for some reson we'd never been to before.
Later we all went to Mark's new house. It is about 550 years old, right in the heart of Lewes - very nice.
May
BJ and Kerry's wedding took place at Lewes Register Office, with photo opportunites in Southover Grange Gardens.
(When we figure out how to get the pictures out of the digital camera we borrowed, there'll be some here!)
The weather was sunny. After a very nice lunch at the White Hart, we went to Paul's house towatch the F.A. Cup Final.
(En route, Paul, Steve and Ruby had a look round the Lewes Freemason's Hall, which was having an open day!)
Then in the evening it was back to the White Hart for a buffet tea and disco. Half of Lewes seemd to be there!
Deirdre's brother Daniel and his girlfriend Lauren are expected to arrive on their working holiday.
They will be staying with us.
June
Daniel and Lauren are now living with us. Both of them have got jobs at the Five Bells in Chailey -
it is close enough to walk to, although Daniel usually uses Steve's bike.
Now that England are out of the World Cup
(a narrow loss to some nothing South American side I seem to recall) life is pretty much back to normal.
It was nice to see Christine, an old friend who now lives in Hong Kong, for a brief drink in London on one of her rare
visits to the UK. Tonight we are going to Fred Dean's birthday party. I don't know why he's having it today -
his birthday is in March!
July
Mark had a party for his birthday. Did nothing else happen this month?
August
We spent two totally relaxing weeks in a little stone cottage (La Chaumiere Pierre) in Brittany, France.
For those of you with an atlas or who can be bothered to go to
multimap
it was half way between Rennes and Vannes, near Ploermel.
We crossed the channel (Portsmouth to Cherbourg) and then drove for three hours, arriving at eleven at night.
Despite the directions, we eventually found the cottage, but found that there was no cot for Olivia!
Luckily everything was sorted out the following day. The weather was perfect - not a drop of rain.
September
Mark is no longer living with Lindsey - he is looking for a flat in Lewes with little success so far.
However, Daniel and Lauren have found somewhere - on Cliffe High Street -
they move out (taking their hampster and their BMW) on 5th October.
Steve took Daniel and Lauren to Mayfield Bonfire night - their first ever experience of such things.
Ruby came too - for her the best bit was the funfair afterwards!
October
Olivia actually marched in a bonfire procession (at Nevill) for the first time and did pretty well considering she's
not even two yet!
November
As usual the Fifth in Lewes was an impressive spectacle, well documented elsewhere on the internet.
We got absolutely soaked clearing up the firesite the following day,
but this was all forgotten as we rewarded ourselves with several (or more) pints of Bonfire Boy.
Ruby and Steve were awarded "Cliffe Set Piece Team" membership for their hours, if not minutes, of hard work.
Daniel and Lauren's hamster died (and was buried in our garden next to Sophie, Ruby's ex-pet.)
December
Christmas was a relatively quiet affair, with just Mum and Dad here all day. Daniel and Lauren were working,
but popped in when they could. Mark brought the boys for breakfast.