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This has been a year of holidays and charity business.
This has been a year of holidays and charity business.
We started 2012 with a cheap one week holiday to North Cyprus.
I have uploaded more photos to myFlickr account here.
We had great weather and made friends with a young couple with whom we dined out most nights. We had hired a car for four days – which was quite enough as we could see all the territory had to offer in that time.
Cycling
Having finally ascertained the headaches that plagued me last year were after all only muscular skeletal, the only remedy the doctors could suggest was taking large doses of Amitriptyline and wait for it to go. Not wishing to follow this route, I asked my GP whether a visit to the osteopath might help. She wasn't really in favour. The surgery is in a financially depressed area and she worries her patients may get fleeced by alternative physicians who charge large fees and expect repeat visits every week. However, I went to the practice in Fareham I had last visited 10 years previously. Because I was already on their books there was no initial registration fee. The osteopath treated me and said he was confident I wouldn't need a return visit but if it hadn't cleared up by the weekend to phone for another appointment. That weekend the headache was really bad and I thought I'd be on the phone first thing on Monday. However the next morning it had gone and hasn't returned since.
And I started my morning cycling again. It's now settled down to a 23 mile loop via Eastleigh and Romsey. Mainly level and mostly off-road, it makes for quite a pleasant ride. Some mornings, when I feel like a bit more, I extend it via waterside to Hythe and return on the ferry.
Our friends, Simon and Zelda had obtained planning permission for a house on half their back garden but it had to be started before they went to visit their son in San Francisco in April. The fine weather in March meant I was able to help Simon erect scaffolding to screen protected trees (a requirement for the build) and he managed to get sufficient ditch dug to constitute a start on the foundations. He doesn't have to do any more until he wants to.
Barrett's Wessex
At the end of May, I took a day trip to Bath, with my bike on the train, for Barrett's Wessex, to meet with the gastroenterologists there and have a drop in coffee session at a garden centre in the afternoon. I had forgotten Bath has some really steep hills! A few days later, Lynne (BW secretary) and I visited Salisbury gastroenterologist with the same mission.
The Barrett's Wessex committee meeting in March had unanimously agreed we should seek independent charity status - to help us better manage the growing membership, proposed new hubs and our own finances. The proposal was later put before the full membership at
the AGM who unanimously approved it. In preparation for a new identity, Barrett's Wessex had held a competition for a new logo and strap-line, which was revealed at the AGM.
The AGM at the beginning of July was very well attended by about 160 people – many of whom signed up as new members.
Southampton held a SkyRide again on 1st July and I went with Megan (the 11 year old daughter of a friend of Karen's, who looks to me as a father figure whilst I regard her as the daughter I never had). Prior to the event, the local paper had run a competition which I'd entered with the prize of a bicycle. And I won! It arrived a few days after SkyRide a few days before I set off for Holland. Having no room to store another bike, I later sold it on eBay.
Holland Sponsored Cycle
Karen took me and my road bike to Hayling Island on Sunday 8th July from where the cyclists set off (by coaches and bike vans) to Harwich for an overnight crossing to Holland.
I have uploaded more photos to my Flickr account here.
We had a great time despite the almost continuous torrential rain we experienced and cycled about 350 miles in 5 days (by which I raised about £350 for the national charity, Barrett's Oesophagus Campaign) before boarding the overnight ferry back and coaches and vans returning us to Hayling Island where Karen collected me on July 14th.
Wales family holiday
The next day, Karen and I set off to Alchester where we were to spend the night in a Travelodge which I'd managed to book on a special £10 deal. This was en route to Wales where we were to spend 5 days with the family: Ian and the girls, Colin and the dogs, Graham and Lori.
Although the weather wasn't great, we had a good time in the cottage equipped with a games room and a play field with a zip wire slide. We did get a walk and a picnic though we abandoned plans to climb Snowdon as the rain was against us that day. For me it was a good opportunity to get to know Karen's sons better and the granddaughters, Lucy and Charlotte.
In August Karen had a few days away in North Devon with an old friend who lost her husband last year.
Whilst she was away, I took Megan to the New Forest Wildlife Park where she enjoyed the butterfly house. (My pet name for her is “Petit Papillon”.)
Barrett's Wessex
Meanwhile, the Charity Commission had requested a minor change to Barrett's Wessex's proposed constitution requiring a special general meeting.
We convened that at the Nomansland summer fayre where we had a stall, and had it unanimously accepted. The next day, an hour after emailing the details to the charities commission, we had our registered charity approval. Now we could apply for HMRC recognition for which I had to submit forty-one printed pages.
September saw us spend a week dog and house sitting at Colin's where Karen cleared a considerable area of stinging nettles. We also spent a long weekend at her sister's, Moira & Ray's. I took my bike and on the Saturday Ray and I went on a long cycle ride meeting up with our wives at various points en route.
HMRC recognition of our charity took eight weeks. When I received a letter thanking me for my application, I phoned them. It takes ages with numerous multiple choice options taking you to different menus and long periods of holding listening to muzak before being able to actually talk to someone. When I explained the situation I was told the letter I had been sent had been in error and that it should have been the one acknowledging our charitable status which I should receive in a few days. She couldn't give me the acceptance number on the phone because of data security.
I had emailed Virgin Money Giving with whom we wanted to set up an account and had a speedy response saying the application process takes about three weeks.
When the HMRC document eventually arrived, I attempted to apply for Virgin Money Giving on line. Hitting a snag (they wanted me to send the latest bank statement (not a copy) and our treasurer was out of the country), I phoned VMG. The phone was answered almost immediately by a human voice who was extremely helpful. I said I needed to get the application completed as soon as possible because I was setting off on a sponsored cycle in a few weeks. They couldn't have been more helpful telling me if I could send certain documentation, they would expedite matters quickly – which they did with the process taking less than a week. With three weeks until my next cycle challenge, I had my site set up and could start receiving sponsorship.
Meanwhile, during Megan's half term, I had taken her out again to the venue of her choice – the Sealife Centre at Portsmouth.
And she told me all about her new school.
Saigon to Angkor Wat Charity cycle Challenge
It was Thursday November 22nd Simon picked me up at 6:30 to take me to Heathrow for my greatest cycle challenge.
I had been planning this trip for ages: my cycle challenge (arranged with Charity Challenge) to cycle from Saigon to Angkor Wat.
I had wanted to return to East Asia but Karen didn't. I liked the idea of cycling. Karen doesn't cycle. This was to be my big adventure just before my 65th birthday.
And I was to raise funds for Barrett's Wessex (via VMG) at the same time. (To date, I have received £1400 sponsorship for BW through this challenge.)
The trip was amazing. A great group of 21 people between the ages of 21 and 67 all cycling for different challenges. The friendly inhabitants of both countries with the little children running to the road to shout “Hello” and the braver ones attempting a “high 5” as we road past.
We didn't get much time for sightseeing as we were up at 5:30 each morning for breakfast and to be bused to our bikes outside town for the day's cycle. And it was hot with temperatures nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We did, however see the floating market, spider town (where I handled some large bird eating spiders bigger than my hand) and a temple. And we visited the killing fields of Vietnam and Cambodia and the harrowing S21 re-education (=torture) centre of the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh.
After a celebratory meal in Siem Reap, it was up at 4:30 to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat – a spiritual experience with hundreds sitting on the ruins of the walls and outer buildings in the darkness with the only sound – the incessant whistle of the cicada. And the sky gradually changed colour.Later that day we were taken on a guided tour of the Wat and the Jungle Wat where they filmed “Tomb Raider”.
Then, a coach ride to the airport and return via Bankok to Heathrow where Simon collected me about 7:00 am Sunday morning 2nd December.
When I eventually got to bed that night it was 48 hours after having got up to see the sunrise.
It was a fantastic trip. A number of us are determined to do another. Provisionally we're considering cycling from Machu Picchu to the Amazon in October 2014 – again with Charity Challenge.
Hundreds of photos available on Flickr here. And see here for more details.
Christmas 2012.
We have been taking it in turns to visit Ian's and see the girls on Christmas Day (alternating with his in-laws) and visiting Moira (Karen's sister). It should have been Ian's turn but , having recently taken up a new post of consultant oncologist (lung and gynae) at Stafford, he was obliged to work on Christmas Day. So, the closest to Christmas when Ian and wife Melanie (consultant neo-natal paediatrician) were both free, Saturday 15th December became our family Christmas with everyone gathering at Colin's in Swindon for traditional fare and presents.
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