May
For
the Bank Holiday weekend of 3 – 5 May we had both Helen and Jay to visit. The main excitement for the girls was the
Wii Fit, causing some degree of merriment.
But it has a serious purpose, and, though the girls have gone back,
Teresa is following her own programme with great determination. She also goes out for an evening walk,
though has been paying the penalty – hay fever from the bright fields of rape
around at this time of year.
As for Roger, bowls was getting into full swing, with
matches on successive days of the holiday, accompanied by a welcome improvement
in the weather. Club competitions
started later in the month, though Roger made an early exit from one of them.
On
Friday 9 we had our first barbecue in temperatures (in the sun) of well over
30°C.
Roger cooking the lazy way
On
Monday 19 we visited Jay in Oxford, mainly to deliver items she would need for
her biology field trip in Wales the following week. On the way, we saw these visitors to the Pear Tree service area
just outside Oxford.
(click to enlarge)
We also reconnoitred the location of Jay’s Honour Moderations, which she sits at the end of term in Ewert House in Summertown.
Finally we walked into Oxford for lunch: passing through the University parks, along Keble Road past the college chapel, and down St Giles past the Martyrs’ Memorial.
In the parks Keble College
Chapel
Martyrs’ Memorial
(click pictures to enlarge)
Jay was away in Wales on her biology field trip from 23 to 30 May. Poor Jay. The weather had turned cold and wet again, so we can only imagine the long hours she must have spent cold, wet and hungry, and sympathise.
Meanwhile, Helen visited again for the Bank Holiday, and we found two interesting local churches to visit, both with good claims to Saxon origins:
St Mary the Virgin at Great Washbourne
Helen and Teresa also walked over to the railway, where there was a Bank Holiday ‘Festival of Steam’.
They saw the latest locomotive on loan – the Lord Nelson (above left), and had a ride on the narrow gauge railway which shares the site with the GWR. Its locomotive (above right) used to be on Southend pier.
The horsebox MOT expired towards the end of the month: thankfully, it passed the test with the minimum of work necessary, so we could start again to try and sell it.
On
Saturday 31 we were visited by Mike and his mother. They came bearing generous gifts, which included a bottle of
champagne – a very pleasant surprise, which put us all in the right mood for
the sumptuous meal which Teresa had prepared.
A salmon terrine followed by Beef Chateaubriand and a choice of
chocolate souffle or raspberry panna cotta – I say ‘choice’ but in fact we all
had both. Everything excellently
prepared as usual, with all the trimmings including homemade bread and
shortcakes, and washed down with a fine Rioja from one of Mike’s previous
visits.