THE ROUND-ROBIN

One thing that old flop-book has put a stop to it seems, are those round-robin catchup letters that get sent with Christmas cards. If you want to know Bob and Margaret's news, you can just scroll backwards on Bob or Margaret's timeline these days, rather than unfold a finely printed piece of paper. You'll soon see pictures of the grandkids or young Stewart, who's been backpacking round Thailand before starting his law degree.

I wondered whether we should have sent one from our house, just deliberately conveying some of the most boring things that have happened. I had a go at writing it. I should point out that what follows is only really loosely based in real events, and is written with the greatest level of respect to the Intrepids...

Dear________

Well, we can hardly believe it's been almost a whole year since we last sat down to write to you. So much has happened in our family this year. Alan completed an entire 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of Doctor Who and The Tardis, following a long search for missing pieces down the back of the sofa; young Matthew got himself a new monitor for his computer and Sheila finally got rid of her fifteen year old baking tray when it got warped in a hot oven!!! 

Way back last winter, we all had a very successful trip out to Portsmouth, where we saw HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and shared two jacket potatoes between the three of us! How we laughed when we realised they'd only brought out two sets of cutlery! It was good to see the harbour again though and Matthew always says he likes to see the sea at least once a year.

As a family, we've also taken to watching BBC One's 'Bargain Hunt' a show where ordinary people buy and sell antiques in an auction. We enjoy predicting how much money the teams will make on some of the daft things they've bought, and we always join in when Tim Wonnacot says "Join us soon for some more Bargain Hunting, yes? Yes!" and they all kick their legs up like they're in the can-can. So much fun!

The grandchildren are all well and continue to be a source of great joy for us! Sheila was 'less than amused' though when Ben (now 7! Can you believe it?) jumped off the sofa into the glass coffee table, pretending to be Batman. It's amazing what scrapes they get up to these days! Georgina is constantly online and watching videos on The Youtube. Young Liam is a bundle of fun too - he enjoys making guns out of Lego, Duplo, Playdough, Marzipan, bits of tree he finds in the park, an upturned game of Downfall and a candle holder.

The girls are fine. Rachel still enjoys music and this year upgraded clarinet reeds. Heather continues her work as a dental hygienist where she says she cares more about people's teeth than they do! Ha!

The summer of course, was a chance to get away from it all, which we both took with open arms on our trip to North Wales. We went by coach, which meant of course that we had lots of opportunities to chat to people. Plus, as an added bonus, we got there via Chester! We couldn't have been more thrilled.

Young Suzie continues her work in the depths of Surrey. We spent a day with her in the lovely town of Farnham, where a delicious food market caught our eye. We settled down that evening to a delightful meal at Pizza Express, lol! Matthew had a glass of red wine which made him a bit poorly. He was up at least seven times that night - into the bathroom, the little dear. We do love having him here, even though he's 36 and still single.

We're really very thankful that we've still got our health. Alan puts it down to all the quiz programmes he watches (Deal or No Deal, The Chase, Pointless, Eggheads, Countdown, old episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Tipping Point and Celebrity Mastermind), not to mention our favourites, Lewis and Foyle's War! It's a running joke though, because he sleeps through most of them. Nonetheless, we've made it to another Christmas and yes, more jigsaw puzzles!!! We're particularly looking forward to a nice bottle of elderflower cordial we got on special offer from Morrisons and a very nice leg of lamb we've procured from Sainsbury's with our accumulated Nectar points.

So ends another roller-coaster year! We do hope that you're well and that you'll come and see us up here sometime - it's like Piccadilly Circus sometimes, but we do love our guests and visitors to feel at home! Every blessing to you this Christmastide!!!!

Lots of love,

All of us.

-

Hmmm. Surprisingly easy to write, these things - though multiple exclamation marks aren't really my thing. Plus, it seems quite unnaturally easy to go off on tangents and talk about other people, deflecting what's really going on deep down in your own life where the rubber meets the road.

Good job I don't do that normally though, right.

Right?

Hmmm.