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Monday, January 1, 2024

2023 Round-up (part 1)

 Not a great year sadly. As recorded elsewhere, my Father passed away in July at the age of 90  - much missed particulaly during our recent visit to England for Christmas. However, 2023 had not finished with us as Em’s Father Tony suffered a series of falls at the beginning of December and although he was discharged for a short period from hospital, had contracted pneumonia and sadly passed away on 8 December. Very difficult time for Em and her Mother.

Tony was a lovely chap and whilst never the most voluble of personalities was a real salt of the earth chap who was lovely to chat to and had a wry sense of humour. Although he was 86 and had not been in the best of health, it did nevertheless come as a shock to us all and our trip down to Bristol over Christmas was certainly tinged with sadness although it was good to see Em’s Mother.

Friday, December 1, 2023

Easter Travels

 In celebration of my series of Trials finally coming to an end, and notwithstanding that November has finished and I now no longer am aiming to post a blog per day, some bonus posts updating on our adventures this year.

We were back in the UK for Christmas and New Year but the main focus was on Dad’s 90th birthday in April which we celebrated  with the family in Kent with some glorious weather which also brought the best out of the beautiful Magnolia in Dad’s back garden.



We had a lovely lunch and piano recital by a concert pianist for his birthday and of course Dad also demonstrated his piano playing skills:


After all the Parties we headed off to Amsterdam by Eurostar for the Vermeer exhibition and were also able to take in some of the other galleries (including the Van Dyck museum and MOMA) as well ask managing a enjoyable (if somewhat damp) bike ride around the canals and major tourist sites.







Thursday, November 30, 2023

Last Post

 My love of a play on words finds a suitable outlet today as this is the last day of the month and, while I have not managed a post for every day, I have managed something on most days. I must admit that the one post that I fully intended to prepare but have not done so until now is one foreshadowed right at the beginning of the month regarding my Father passing away in July.

It was certainly no great surprise as he had not been in the best of health. However, we had held a lovely 90th birthday party for him in April where he was in good spirits and we had gone out for a meal at a local restaurant with my Sister and her family and my cousin K and his wife A as well as dad’s friend J. Thereafter, he had a couple of falls and as a consequence agreed (after much debate) to go into a local nursing home. I went back to see him in June for a couple of weeks and stayed on as his health continued to deteriorate so I was lucky enough to be with him and I guess to mentally prepare myself. 

We had spoken via zoom/teams on most days during the pandemic lockdown and had continued after this had finished, incorporating a regular quiz or crossword in our chats - usually fixed for around 6 or 6:30pm UAE so I could catch up with him after work. He generally saw J on Wednesday’s and one day at Weekends when he would be otherwise engaged but for the most part we spoke pretty much every other day and on either Saturday or Sundays I would speak to him from the back garden with a G&T shortly before firing up the BBQ.

One of Dad’s great strengths was his enthusiasm whether it was for travel, sport (rugby and chess in particular), music (the sound of his jazz or classical pieces played on his baby Grand piano regularly wafted up through the house while I was lying in bed of an evening all through my childhood and whenever we stayed with him), travel and of course technology - he was an early adopter of the latest Hifi and music systems, computers and communication technology and so zoom/teams/skype held no fears for him (although like the rest of us he did get a bit grumpy when the tech did not work as planned). As a result we were able to keep in close contact over the last few years and I guess this has been the most difficult bit to come to terms with as I still find myself  - when reading some bit of news or watching a rugby/cricket/football match  - that dad would have enjoyed a chat about this.

His final illness and his funeral came at a particularly busy/stressful period at work so July was a bit of a blur. The funeral itself was lovely with a huge turn out or friends (mainly from the Bowls Club where he was a stalwart member and honorary secretary) and family that reminded us all of how much he had touched and influenced so many people. 

My Sister and I delivered the Eulogy - must admit that it was probably  the easiest  piece of public speaking I had to prepare as there was so much material from his life (and the fact that he had published 4 volumes of memoirs meant fact checking was not an issue) but also one of the most challenging to deliver (a fact that I had not really considered until around half way though when it suddenly struck me - just as I was saying that I always ran past him for his feedback what I was going to say when I had a really important presentation/speech to give - that I had lost a friendly and very insightful sounding board for life’s big issues…).

He was a lovely chap and I hope that I will have the same drive and enthusiasm as he had when seizing the opportunities  life presented and to live it to the full (his retirement in particular was an objective lesson in travelling the world and fulfilling ambitions). 

Much of this I suspect was driven by the challenges  he faced in growing up in the 1930/1940s in war-torn Britain without a Father and he has set the family terrific example of how to make the most that life has to offer. I hope I can emulate him.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Nice cup of tea

 I have always enjoyed a decent cup of tea and have inherited from the Irish side of my family (particularly my Mother)  a recognition of the importance of ensuring that the right ingredients, added in the right order,  in the right combination and at the right temperature is of critical importance.

I am quite happy to make a single cup with a bag although I recognise for purists a nice pot and loose tea-leaves adds to the theatre of the preparation (and is likely to lead to more consistent  and perhaps better outcomes).

Accordingly, all I need is freshly boiled water, and a decent brand of tea (currently enjoying Two Birds) at the right strength (English or Irish breakfast in a bag is fine). It must be allowed to brew for the correct period of time - Em bought me a set of sand timers for 3, 4 and 5 minutes and I find 5 minutes gets the colour to the right shade of brown.

Half or full fat fresh dairy milk is a must. I find that some hotels simply cannot produce decent milk for tea - it does not seem to matter how long you leave the bag to brew, as soon as you add the milk it developes an acrid taste. The worst offenders are in continental Europe although I have been struggling to make myself a decent cup during my current hearing and I can only ascribe it to the UHT milk they provide. At least it is not heated milk (I always order tea here in Dubai specifying “cold milk on the side’’).

There is nothing better than a nice cup of tea.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Same Direction of Travel

 Although I decided to give myself more time to get to my hearing this morning, in the event, I managed to leave the house even later than yesterday. 

The traffic was just as bad and so I was getting increasing nervous as I crawled along the highway into the centre of town along with pretty much everyone else in Dubai. I used a different route guide which had the advance of actually announcing the directions I needed to take (the Waze app I usually use (and which I used yesterday) is for some reason silent on occasions as was the case yesterday).

Although the route was the same I managed to avoid yesterday’s error of taking the overpass so managed to get to the Hotel in just about enough time to get to the hearing room just as everyone was taking their seats. Still a bit close for comfort.

Monday, November 27, 2023

Direction of Travel

 I have another Trial which is being held at a Hotel in the Business Bay Area of Dubai. This is a relatively new area located between the Al Khail and Sheik Zayad roads and is notoriously difficult to get access to during the rush hour so I deliberately gave myself around and hour and 20 minutes to get to there notwithstanding the predicted 30 minute travel time.

I usually use Waze on my IPhone to get me to new destinations - not sure how we used to get anywhere before the ubiquitous travel apps that now proliferate. However, despite increasing sophistication, the route finding apps are still not really up to the task of dealing with multiple roads and severe traffic as was demonstrated this morning when I got stuck in the (expected) heavy rush hour traffic but once I was through that, I followed the direction of travel indicated on my phone but it transpired that I should have been on a route running parallel with the road I was on because I suddenly found myself on an overpass (the road I wanted was running underneath me) and I sailed past my intended destination at around the level of the 4th floor.

One of the main drawbacks of driving around Dubai is that if you do happen to take a wrong turn, the straight, long roads and the grid system (and reluctance to allow too may U turns) means that you can easily travel for 5 or 10 Kms before getting a chance to get back on the right track. 

So it proved today as I had a 14km drive along a relatively quiet dual carriageway heading towards Abu Dhabi before being able to do a U turn and head back to where I wanted to be. I also managed to hit a whole series of traffic jams so that my 50 minute “buffer” for arriving on time was being rapidly being whittled away so that by the time I arrived at the hotel, I had just over 10 minutes to take my place in the hearing room. I might just give myself 2 hours tomorrow.

Sunday, November 26, 2023

What a Goal!

Regularly readers will know that I enjoy my sport and watch the Premiership football whenever I can.  Over the many years I have been fortunate to see some excellent goals including when actually at the match in person. This includes what proved to be goal of the season at Selhurst Park by Dalian Atkinson for Aston Villa against Wimbledon in October 1992 which consisted of a mazy run from what felt like the half way line and a great lobbed finish which left the entire crowd momentarily stunned into silence as well Demba Ba’s aerial acrobatics against Manchester United in the cup replay Alex and I went to at Stamford Bridge in April 2013. However this evening I saw (on TV) an absolute peach of a goal by Man Utd's  Garnacho against Everton - a bicycle kick with his back to goal that rivalled Wayne Rooney's a few years ago - it was absolutely stunning and reminded me why I enjoy watching football so much!