November 2008

The beginning of November saw the American election. It was interesting to be here in USA at that time. We were amazed by how quickly the results came in and once that the west coast states had started to send in their results, it was decided on the president elect. Needless to say I was over the moon and even Melvyn agreed he is their best hope.

Just before our visitors arrived we drove to the east coast of Florida to see Rufus Wainwright in concert again. We made a mini holiday out of it, staying in a hotel, and saw the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Lakeland, Cypress Gardens on the outward journey and Epcot on the way back.

Bob and Hilary arrived in the middle of November, closely followed by Sheila and Paul. We had a good time as always, although the weather did seem to cool down for a lot of their stay, forcing us to do lots of shopping.

Check out more holiday photos on my blog http://www.getjealous.com/eileenbeck

October 2008

On the last day of September we headed west again to spend a few days with Helen and Martin in Boston USA. Helen and I used to work together before she married and moved to Boston. We had a super time discovering some of the area and finding out more about the War of Independence (from the other side). On one day Martin drove us to Cape Cod, a truely beautiful part of the north east. Thank you both very much for a lovely holiday.

On 4th October we caught the plane south and started our two month holiday at our condo. Usually we spend one month at a time there so this was a new venture for us. I'm writing this is the holiday ends and can't believe how quickly the time went!

September 2008

September continued to be busy with student houses, although we managed a few escapes, including a day trip to Bournmouth to see Alan and Rosemary's super flat. Melvyn drove Hilary and me to London for a session at the Pru Leith Cookery School. We can now make a fantastic soup and monkfish dish!

Carole organised a few days in Belton for the Challenor ladies, which went down well. The weather that weekend turned out to be glorious and we spent a wonderful time catching up on gossip and learning heplful survival tips from Joyce.

August 2008

It always seems strange not to have to have our proper holiday in August, having been restricted to school holidays for so long, so we had a mini break again this year in UK. Firstly we went to Yorkshire to see my brother on his 75th birthday, then Melvyn spent time with his family while I went to catch up on the gossip with the 5K gang from secondary school. It was great to meet Sylvia this time - first time for 45 years. The following day we went to Liverpool and spent a lovely couple of days. Highlights were the Gorms at St Helens and Gormley's full size statues on Crosby Beach, as well as the Klimt exhibition at the Tate. We also had a touch of nostalgia at the childhood houses of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

July 2008

Bettina and Klaus visited us at the beginning of the month during one of their regulars trips to the UK. Bettina first stayed with us when we lived in Whitley Bay and she was on a student visit and it's good to keep up the contact. Other highlights were seeing Rufus Wainwright ( a real favourite of mine), Evita in Bristol, a theatre trip with friends from school, Hilary's 60th birthday celebrations and a holiday in Crete. Melvyn spent a week at Katy and Mark's helping them put in a new kitchen. That makes it the 3rd Ikea kitchen they've installed and I'm not sure that they get easier!

June 2008

We had a lovely, busy June at home which included dinners out with friends, birthday and fathers' day celebrations, the school fete and 3 music concerts in London. One birthday was Jordan's 18th in Yorkshire so it was good to catch up with families during that weekend.

The month finished beautifully with Lara and Ivan's wedding. The weather was kind and the day went spectacularly well. We were pleased to be part of it.

May 2008

Once May comes it seems that the SATs papers come too. It certainly seems to take a lot of my time, but of course the cheque at the end of it is always welcome. This year a new company took over the contract and several teaching friends shared the frustration that this brought. Even now (I'm writing this after handing over my completed scripts to UPS) I wonder if all the papers will ever get back to the right schools.

Despite this, we did manage a few fun things in May including two day trips to Bristol, Josh's 1st birthday at Sheila and Paul's, supper for Helen (flying visit from Boston) and friends and a fantastic Bruce Springstein concert at the Emirates Stadium.