Ahem
This was hardly a simple month. It was more of an odyssey, comprising a cycle of memorable encounters with friends and relations, some after inordinate gaps of many years. At the very end of November our friend Geoff visited us, with two of his daughters. We packed in a lot including a gig in Zurich which I had told him would be an unforgettable experience – listening to an elderly Swiss folk band. During the train journey there his face, drained by the realisation of imminent boredom, etched by stoicism and further strained by a valiant effort to stay polite, made me and Ella realise that he had actually believed us. In fact we saw the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a top American band we both liked, the truth only revealed as we went into the gig. It will take some time for this particular corporate lawyer to live that one down.
While that was going on, Meggy and Mimi were with Gwen at a Wizard of Oz singalong at the school, where Gwen won first prize for a very convincing witch outfit. We also went to the zoo, ice-skating, and shopping at the Christmas markets in Basel and Freiburg. Freiburg was as lively as ever and once again very successful pre-Christmas shopping was done. I particularly appreciated the gluewein, resting my laurels and purchases by a table and drinking the hot wine in the cold air as my breath made frosty patterns on the transparent polythene of the caravan. On the following day, Gwen and I made candles in the Basel Christmas market by repeatedly dipping a wick into hot liquid wax. Just afterwards, I went to Brussels on a business visit and was spontaneously given tickets by my friend Lieve Roosens to see the Proclaimers in great form at the Ancienne Belgique.
Gwen’s ninth birthday party nearly brought the house down, as the first large-scale inclusion of boys at the party resulted in complete mayhem, especially during the opening minutes when violent scuffling upstairs resulted in a huge bang and a bedroom door forcibly removed from its hinges. The rest of the party was more peaceful as my specially written quiz / treasure hunt diverted their attention often enough for no further major damage to take place. However, our brief experiment with entertaining little boys under ten is now over.
The Basel English Panto Club’s annual pantomime, Frankenstein, went well. After I had been publicly fondled in the stalls by a large hairy man in a dress who was playing the dame, we watched Jessie in her role as Ethel Ready, billed as a hypochondriac moaner. Jessie was actually feeling quite ill during the last few performances, which made her acting all the more exact. This theatrical commitment meant that Jessie did not accompany us as we drove mid-month to England via the Miles Sorensens of Luxembourg, spending the first weekend as the favoured guests of the Tallis Locks of Forest Gate in their dream house just by the Wanstead Flats. I took Ella and some Tallis Locks walking down the road to see West Ham United, who lost convincingly to Everton 2-0. Then on to Burgess Hill to stay with Alli’s parents and their unending largesse and unfailing hospitality, in the hearth and heart of comfort that is Broad Oaks.
It was marvellous to meet family friends John and Arbell Billinghurst shortly afterwards and to compare notes over such a long time of a close but not always regular acquaintance that started in Nigeria over fifty years ago with my parents. Similar visits were made to other friends locally and a freezing cold day was spent in London with Debbie Harper, the assignation serving also the purpose of a minor walking tour of some London sights arranged around St James’s Park (including a quick look into Little Dean’s Yard, the Abbey Cloister and Westminster, my old school) and an inspection of Harry, Debbie’s rabbit. After Christmas I played a game of tennis in an icy gale with Robert Talbot and friends in Hurstpierpoint, then on the next day we drove to Oxford, staying there overnight with Robin and Peggy Frith, my friends from thirty years ago. Neither had really changed in the slightest (unlike my ballooning self) and it was a great experience to revisit my other Alma Mater, the Dragon School. We also wandered extensively around Oxford, ate at the Turf Tavern, engaged in shopping, gazed across the incomparable Port Meadow in the mist, hung out in North Parade, and took in the calm sights of those serene colleges with their Italianate quadrangles, where over thirty years ago I was so studious, serious and well behaved.
Jessie has written and recorded a song called Running Back to You together with some of her friends, and this featured heavily in our listening preferences over Christmas. It is as good a song as any that I have heard and I think it shows real song-writing ability. If you want to hear it and have itunes installed then I can send it to you with great pleasure (m4a). On the four legged front, Bonnie stayed over the holiday period with our Swiss neighbour and Licorice (I call him Chris) went to kennels locally. They have both now returned with tails wagging furiously.
Our New Year’s Eve was also spent as guests of others, the Davis family of Paddock Wood. It was another fine meal with fine company, and although I have a perfect memory of the 2007 part of the evening, the first few hours of 2008 seem somehow to have eluded my immediate recollection. I think it must be a good sign, a harbinger of great success to come. So I hope you all have a very happy and successful new year. As in previous years, please advise tactfully and politely if you do not wish to receive these award-winning monthly newsletters in 2008.
Yours from memory lane,
Lionel