The Long Awaited Hickley Family newsletter January 2011
Well we said it last year “what happened to 2009?” and we’ll say it again this year - what happened to 2010. They say time flies when you’re enjoying yourself but we’re all still waiting for the enjoyment to start.
This was written this year whilst eating the quality streets that were destined as presents. So sorry to those who were expecting them, but they were very nice. Christmas shopping for me [Brian] was still on the agenda for Christmas Eve with Sam (remember him? He’s Lisa’s man friend and the one I went Christmas shopping with on Christmas Eve last year, and we both completed it) but due to workloads I didn’t finish work until 4:30 on the 24th. So I didn’t go shopping oops!
If you were expecting a Christmas card, sorry, but you’ve got this instead. The reason, if you remember, for not sending cards is that we donate the money we would have spent on said cards to local charities. So for last year we purchased 8 sleeping bags for the Slough homeless charity, SHOC, to distribute to those in need. They were well received. Unfortunately the lady who organises this at St Michael’s church had a stroke during the year and has mostly recovered but is unable to continue in her full capacity. We wish her and her family well.
Our year started badly with the rapid health failure of Benta’s uncle Geoff. Suffering from prostate cancer he was expected to make it to at least the summer but took a turn for the worse over Christmas and finally succumbed on 16th January. From a modest man we had no idea of his influence on young people’s cricket and sports until the funeral: the crem was overflowing with friends from football, cricket, jazz, quiz nights, classical music fans and colleagues from 40+ years previously that he had kept in touch with. It was humbling meeting the attendees and Niki stumbled across a touching obituary on the Oval Cricket grounds website (Google Geoff Richards Oval if you are interested). A year later his estate is only just being finalised. Why does red tape take so long?As for holidays this year I believe I had 4 days in Florida and with the time difference this meant I could work via phone or email in the morning before everyone got up, and still enjoy the Floridian sunshine and whizzing around in Neill & Eileen’s new convertible mini. The upshot of that enthusiasm is a mobile phone bill of over £100 for a guy whose monthly phone bill is normally a fiver. Oops.
Benta managed to get away for a week in June, with a friend and four teenage girls to Norway (Niki and three of her friends she’s known forever). This was a rather rustic expedition but they all coped. She has only just paid the fine for an overly enthusiastic shopping trip.
Benta managed to get away for a few days in January to Norway with her mum for her Great Aunt’s (Berit) 90th birthday. A gathering of many of the Oslo clan, and a great time spent with an astonishing Nonagenarian! This is a picture of the quilt that she spent many hours making for the birthday girl: it represents the family holiday cottage on the Oslo fjord, and is much appreciated by Tante Berit
Benta also managed to get away (have you spotted a theme developing here?) for a long weekend in October to visit Florence with some girl friends. All Brian gets is a few days in north wet Wales and he has to work through the nights too.
Oh, and in July Benta managed to get away …and allowed the rest of us to join her … to Norway where we met up with her father and a whole load of Bergen relatives! For the beginning of the family trip, we all spent a couple of days with Benta’s cousin in a house under renovation. You know the type - where the dining room table is 20 sheets of plasterboard and the stunning view of Bergen harbour ! is through scaffolding. We had a lovely time and took Lisa’s Sam with us for an experience - driving abroad on roads that are traffic free and islands that are many ferries away from the mainland. They had fun exploring the island by car
Whilst there we had a family party with relatives travelling from far and wide and in the evening launched some of these Chinese lantern thingies. The air was so still we managed to recover them after the fuel pod was exhausted … but with a few manly modifications to the burners (white spirit, wire and a few feminine hygiene products) we saw them float much higher and further than was expected. Must try this at home under Heathrow’s flight path!
Benta and I got away for a weekend in March to Newquay. This was the result of Nix and a friend getting invited to a 16th birthday party in Cornwall and us not being able to organize them getting there and back by public transport - it seemed easier to drive them and at least we got a break. In April we provided parking facilities for friends holidaying with Neill & Eileen in Florida, and in exchange spent a lovely 24 hours in their converted barn near Bath
Well, work wise, busy, busy, busy again this year with ever more challenging problems and ever more technical solutions requiring lot’s of research. 2011 looks like it’ll be even more challenging again. Some of the requests are beyond practicality and more in the realms of fantasy, but we’ll see, and maybe I’ll get the magic wand I need for my birthday.
Our house has continued to evolve – again we think the last bits have been added. After saying last year that all we wanted was a half decent summer to test out the air conditioning we did get 2 days! Well actually for about 4 hours on each day. Ahh the luxury.
The kitchen is still not in, despite almost agreeing what is to go and where, but now we’ve had another idea so we’ve compromised, and decided to finally complete the lounge floor instead. Meanwhile, Niki’s room is nearly complete, and Lisa has spent much of her Christmas break learning how to remove shelves and rawlplugs, fill the remaining holes, and paint her room
Benta’s main job finished (as expected) at Easter, but she didn’t get the normal pat on the back and a good luck card… due to a ‘clerical discovery’ on just what job she gave up to take on that role … she got 10 years redundancy payment. With a nod and a wink, a month off, and brown envelopes being passed under the table, she re-applied for a modified job description in her old role and was re-employed! So for once she beat the system. In her new role she has been even more effective and now raised over £100,000 in grants for the school and other local projects. She is currently ‘babysitting’ the school’s After School Club four afternoons a week. She had a trainer for the first two weeks of September but since then has been running it with the help of a junior. Her trainer … was Lisa, she found that a bit of a challenge – you normally expect to teach your children, not learn from them! She’s working longer hours at school but has finally dropped the childminding so that gave her more time to pursue her patchworking, and now teaches about once a month at local libraries, and has been asked to teach crafts at a local holiday club, a children’s centre and possibly a museum too. If you want to stalk her, she posts her work at www.SLIKstitches.blogspot.com 
Lisa has finally left home (boo-hoo) and has taken up residence in Greenwich university. While she’s there she may attend a few lectures and aim for higher things. This is in stark contrast to our last newsletter, with her not knowing what to do in her gap year. Now and again Lisa will come home for a weekend, work at the nightclub and go back. Lisa’s car is – astonishingly (second year of saying that) – still on the roads. Still has a bit of a sulk in the wet weather but with Sam’s big stick and hammer always seems to get going again. Whilst at Greenwich last term she was inconvenienced by a film crew moving in to the Uni grounds, but once she realised it was Johnny Depp she allowed the filming to continue! She’s been working really hard, and already had enough ‘points’ on her essays to be guaranteed a place for her second year. She’s loving Philosophy, it’s just us parents that are concerned that after 3 years she’ll be ten thousand pounds in debt and will be able to argue even better than she does already!
Niki has had an interesting year getting presented with her DofE award by the Mayor, swimming in glacial meltwater at about 2ºC, clocking up some pretty darn impressive GCSE grades (more A grades than the rest of us put together!!!) and attending her school prom. As well as all this she managed to talk Benta, Lisa, and her friend Polly to do the Race for Life raising £200 in sponsorship – thanks to all those who egged them on!
As always Niki managed to be in the right place at the right time and has managed to secure a job at a new bowling alley in Slough. The pay is good (although the hours are long and unsocial), but she’s happy. This is in addition to her getting a place in college to study Psychology, Sociology and other ology’s in Windsor, and she has now decided to go to Uni too. As the college is in Windsor she was in the right place again when our ‘Uncle’ Rolf walked past, so a quick shout and a photo opportunity later… This year will be different – she’ll be learning to drive – so ‘watch this space’.
Well we all think the weather’s changed but I’ve noticed a little fact from our solar panels. The first year supplied 1538 hours of heating for the hot water tank, last year only 1368. That equates to almost a month without sunshine. Now we all know the sun has been extinguished!
Benta has now decided to contribute …Brian’s family are all well: Oldest nephew, Scott is dating the perfect girl – by the strange laws of serendipity, mixed in with the circumstances of Lisa’s 18th and his interfering brother, Scott is dating our Au Pair, Slavka, from when our girls were little. As we claim relationship with both him and her we are delighted! Youngest nephew is married to another perfect girl – she may refer to herself as Monica (from Friends) as a put down, but she is just a beautiful, and as kind, and she is wonderfully efficient: organising the family as well as being a super licensed Conveyancer, (especially contrasted to the useless bunch who are acting for the vendors of Geoff’s flat!) Remember the red tape taking so long?
Brian’s sister Terri’s ‘Gentleman friend’ (you can’t have a boyfriend when you have a bus pass!), David, gave us all a scare earlier this year, but Terri put her foot down with a firm hand, told the doctor how to do his job and David’s new pacemaker has made a huge difference, and all is well.
Brian’s mum is still doing well. She has a little bit of help in the house, but is still very independent. She recently converted from TV and video to virgin Media and freeview, and has mastered all the new remotes and channels, and even sorts out the sales calls trying to sell her broadband. She only makes a few wrong calls on her mobile now, but the only coherent text we ever got proved to have been written by the hairdresser, so we’ll stick to mobile calls not texts!My mum had another fainting fit earlier this year, and although suffered no ill effects, while the doctors, consultants and specialists argue about the cause, the DVLA is hanging onto her driving licence. Luckily the train service to us is quite efficient so Liz can come to us on the train, and I (Benta) have managed to keep one day completely clear of work commitments so I can get to Portsmouth without fear of being late back, – we probably see more of Liz now, than we did when she lived in the next village! [POSTSCRIPT … a phone call today from a very happy Liz – her licence arrived in this morning’s post – yippee!]
We never did get to visit Australia in 2010, but Benta and Liz ARE going in December 2011 to visit Stig and his family. This will be the first time Benta has met the “babies” (who, to be fair, are 4 and 2) but we do get to see them on Skype, and through loads of photos and you tube clips!
A reminder about a date for your diary - nothing like forward planning - 20 December 2012, (20 12 2012) we’ll be holding an open house party. There is a reason (but we can’t and won’t tell you) and a prize will be given for the best guess as to why. Guesses in a sealed envelope please.
That’s it for this year. More excitement next year from Brian, Benta, Lisa and Niki
PS. As usual, donation will be given to a local charity in lieu of Christmas cards. If you have received a printed copy it is because we don’t have your email address. If you have one, please let us know so we can reduce costs and therefore increase our donation next year.
