April
Roger’s
indoor bowls came to an end with his last match at Malvern on Thursday 2 and at
Littleton on
Wednesday 15. On Saturday 11 he mowed
the green at Overbury for the first time with the new mower – a pleasure to
use. The opening of the green was the
following day – a good turnout for Easter Sunday, and the players were rewarded
with a fine sunny afternoon for their bowling, followed by the usual bring and
share spread. By the end of the month,
the usual programme of competitive and friendly matches was under way.
Helen
was also at home for the Easter weekend:
we used our voucher for a Thai meal at the Pheasant Inn over the road on
Friday 10. Very enjoyable, and, before
leaving, we heard the first few singers in the Karaoke evening – an unexpected
bonus!
The
following day, Teresa did a turkey lunch plus all the trimmings, excellent as
usual, and after that distributed a sumptuous assortment of Easter eggs.
On
Tuesday 14, a late birthday present for Jay, when we redeemed her voucher for a
private lesson at the Talland
School of Equitation near
Cirencester. She had been once before,
last September. The satnav maps had been
updated this time, so no problems finding it, and we arrived in time to see several
of the earlier lessons in progress.
Jay
in her lesson
With her instructor
Her
mount this time was a stallion – a first for Jay – but she appeared to have no
problems, and is keen to go again.
When
in Evesham one day, we joined the Worcestershire
County Library: the library at Evesham itself was new and
well-stocked and a useful addition to our usual choice of libraries in
Winchcombe and Bishop’s Cleeve. We can
also use the branch in Broadway – as close to us as the Winchcombe library and
of a similar size.
Jay
returned to Oxford
for the summer (Trinity) term on Thursday 23 and on Sunday 26 we visited her
again for the Lady Margaret Hall Boat House Day. Teresa had seen this advertised on the
college website, albeit on the Alumni page.
However, she had checked and was told it was open to all. We could see that it would be a very popular
event: as LMH is one of the few Oxford
colleges backing on to the river, with its own small boat house keeping a
selection of punts and rowing boats for college use, it offered opportunities
to go on the river, to sample a buffet lunch and to mingle with the many
parents there. The girls planned their
outfits carefully; even Roger thought of wearing a vaguely nautical blazer for
the occasion. On the Thursday before, we
reconnoitred the boathouse, where a group of workmen were repairing the guttering,
obviously to be ready for the great day.
Roger knowingly pointed out the landing stage where the punts would be
lined up and we wondered whether there would be a marquee for the buffet lunch
(or perhaps it would be set out in hall).
On
Sunday we arrived at college early – we had to unload the second tranche of
Jay’s belongings, and also meet Helen’s train from London before the event started. The river bank was still very quiet –
enlivened only by a family of young ducklings.
And it was still very quiet when we returned from the station with Helen
and we began to realise we were in the wrong place. Even the porters were not sure about the
event, but finally established that ‘The Boat House’ in question was not the
little boathouse in college, but the competition boathouse on the Isis (Thames)
shared with Trinity
College. To cut a long story, long drive and even
longer walk short, we eventually arrived about an hour late to find a motley
selection of about a dozen parents and families, and the remains of a sandwich
lunch. Luckily the weather had been kind
to us: the sun shone and it felt quite
warm; the sandwiches were OK and the drinks went down well: Teresa and Jay got their trip on the river,
though to their horror it turned out to be on the rowing eight’s training rig
coping with a full-size oar. They
acquitted themselves well, and we all enjoyed the day despite its being not at
all what we expected.
You can see some pictures
here
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