2019

2019 has been a pretty good year, all things considered. It was, to be true, somewhat dominated by Mike breaking his shoulder (when Kate let him travel alone in London), and also by having to completely clear out the stuff in the loft due to woodworm; but we've had good holidays, good friends to see and good gigs to go to. Obviously political events are pretty dire as we approach the end of the year, but us oldies have been through all that before.  Kate's yoga teacher had the answer, on the morning after the election. "I'll spray a bit of lavender around to help you relax!" Anyway...

In January we went to a lovely exhibition which combined Impressionist paintings from the Courtauld Collection with those in the National Gallery. Some great Cézannes! 

In February Kate's brother Pete organised us two great concerts in Birmingham. The Transatlantic Sessions, and, even more amazing, a concert of songs based on Robert MacFarlane's Lost Words - Spell Songs. Is it OK to say 'spellbinding'? Kate helped run yet another Repair Café in Cambridge.

In April we grabbed a few days in the Lakes, to cheer us up after the trauma of Mike's shoulder-breaking exploits. Mike bought some new boots - and it snowed! Very exciting!  This the month when we discovered the dreaded woodworm, so started getting the garage upgraded to store all the stuff from the loft.

May saw us down in London again for the Bonnard Exhibition at Tate Modern. We'd been to a brilliant one about twenty years ago, when we first really discovered him, and this one lived up to our expectations.

In June we returned to Wales for a holiday. We decided to stay in a house we'd been to a couple of years ago, in mid-Wales, quite near Talyllyn Lake. Waterfalls, castles and steam trains! It rained quite a bit. Back home, the builders started re-roofing our garage and putting in a new window, and we learned a new word: 'Sarnafil'.  At the end of the month Mike's band Mystery Train played at the 150th anniversary celebrations for Girton College.  A proper stage and lights and everything! Wonderful.  A very uplifting event too.

In July we started clearing the loft in earnest, now Mike's arm was mended enough to lift stuff, with help from John and Chris. It actually felt good to get things a bit more organised, and we did manage to get rid of four Apple Macintosh Classics! Later in the month we met up with most of Kate's family at her Aunt Jane's 80th Birthday party, and visited Phil and Katie in Dorset. Then, at the end of July, the temperature rose and rose, and the hottest ever temperature for the UK was recorded in Cambridge Botanic Gardens at 38.7°C. 

In early August we spent a relaxing few days at the Cambridge Folk Festival, meeting up with our friend Martin, from our Birmingham days in the mid 70s. Mike went to Cardiff with his brother David to do some family research, and pick up a DVD of a film of all the Boursnell family at a wedding in 1966! Real time travelling. August was also the deadline for us to clear the loft completely before the woodworm was treated. At the end of the month we scattered Mike's mum's ashes in Great St Mary's garden, with a small ceremony.

At the start of September we went up to Sheffield for an 'open house' celebration at Andy's, to remember Sue and to mark her birthday. We also revisited Kelham Island Museum with David and Shirley. Back down south, we saw the Furrow Collective at Cecil Sharp House, and were reminded once more how brilliant they are. Using a complicated combination of trains and a rental car, we visited John and Holly in Glasgow, with a stopover in Garstang to visit Kate's mum, and in Birmingham to visit Kate's brother Peter, and Jane. We rounded off a busy month with Richard Thompson's 70th birthday bash at the Albert Hall, with Dave and Clare. As Dave said, "It would be rude not to go!"

In October Mike stayed with Dave and Clare to play in Dave's band at a small local festival, and also to finally get his mandolin finished! We left it late, but organised a last minute holiday to Antibes, on the south coast of France.

In November Mike spent a day on a Woodcut course at Curwen Print Study Centre. Good fun, but harder than linocut! All those pesky wood fibres...

In December we went up to Sheffield to see David and Shirley, and to see our friend Pam. And of course we went to the - now almost traditional - Kate Rusby Christmas concert.

Hope to see more of you all in 2020. Keep in touch! Click here to contact us.