October – November - December

In the early hours of Tuesday 2nd Teresa and Juliet left for a week’s break in Portugal, staying in the villa in Albufeira we have used now for several years. They returned on Wednesday 10^th.

Cakes and coffee

The town beach

Meanwhile Roger’s indoor bowling commitments were well underway, with one or two games every week. He also had two pre-op appointments, one in Cheltenham and one in Gloucester, for planned cataract surgery, which was performed on Wednesday 12^th December in Cheltenham. It’s an out-patient procedure, but does require at least a couple of weeks recovery at home avoiding any physical stress. So Roger eschewed bowls for a month.

Otherwise, Christmas preparations proceeded under Teresa’s directions, including her by now traditional attendance, with Juliet, at Tewkesbury Abbey for a performance of The Messiah. We also attended the Tewkesbury Town Band’s Christmas concert, in which Juliet was a fledgling performer, having joined during the summer, learning to play the euphonium.

Helen was, of course, back for a week at Christmas, which proceeded this year without the snowfalls, power cuts and water supply problems we had in 2017.

Christmas at Old Forge House

To round off the year, we celebrated New Year’s Eve quietly, time-shifting to an earlier time zone so as not to break our routine.

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