Happy New Year! - 01 January 2007
Welcome to the new year. We hope that everyone celebrated in style and that 2007 brings everything you wish your way. We are glad to greet the new year, although we did it quietly. We did the countdown listening to the 'Last Night of the Proms' and greeted 01/01/07 with a glass of red and singing Auld Lang Syne. Just after midnight, the street lit up with fireworks and our neighbour across the street conveniently aimed their fireworks so that they went off immediately outside our window...we had a tremendous view!
The last days of 2006 passed quickly, encompassing Christmas and a visit from my brother, Shaun. On the 19th, freezing fog decended across Britain and here in Hull it meant that we couldn't see the houses across the street from the 19th to the 27th. The fog meant we had a white christmas, just not the traditional type.
We had a lovely Christmas. It was the first Christmas with just the two of us and we made lots of effort to make it a special day. We decided to go to midnight mass but had to find a church to attend. There is a Catholic church about 5 minutes walk from us, so Fletch rang to find out mass times:
Fletch: "Is there midnight mass tonight at St. Vincent's?"
Priest: "Yes, there is. We do midnight mass at 8pm".
Fletch: "8pm midnight mass...that's innovative".
Priest: "Not really, we've been doing it that way for 10 years".
Apparently it stops people coming into church after spending hours in the pub. This way, they can get their absolution first.
Eventually we found a church in a town 15 miles away that was doing an almost midnight mass. After mass, we indulged in some mulled wine and yule log and opened a present each. We then headed to bed, intending to get up early and make some Christmas phone calls. However, we slept in until after 10am, so we had to dispense with most of the phone calls and started on the feast we had prepared. We had a lovely breakfast of croissants and opened our presents. At 3pm, in keeping with British traditions, we listened to the Queen's Christmas Message and then tucked into our delicious roast lamb dinner. Fletch fell asleep after dinner, leaving me to drink another bottle of wine and prepare the brandy custard. We then attempted to make the Christmas phone calls, but this time too much wine and strong brandy custard proved an impediment to being able to use the phonecard correctly. So we gave up and went to sleep. Thus ended our first Christmas in Hull.
Boxing Day dawned slightly less foggy, so we decided to go for a walk. We were undecided where to walk so drove around for a while looking for somewhere suitable. We ended up at the Humber Bridge, which is a major tourist attraction in this region. It is one of the longest single-span suspension bridges in the world; so long that the towers at each end are noticeably further apart at the top due to the curveture of the earth. We strolled up to the bridge to have a look and then thought we'd walk across. We had a lovely stroll, although once you walk across you've got to walk back, so it was a round trip of about 5km.
On the 27th we got up very early and drove to the Tees Valley, near Durham, to pick up Shaun. He has been on active service in Iraq for the past four months and has two weeks leave in the UK. His plane was due to arrive at 10am, so we left at 7.30am to make sure we got there in time. Of course, this ensured that his plane was several hours late, but it was lovely to see him when the plane finally arrived.
The drive back to Hull took longer as there was much more traffic on the roads, but the fog lifted and we were able to see the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, which is where James Herriot lived and set 'All Creatures Great and Small' and his other books. We spent the afternoon taking Shaun around Hull and then enjoying a nice evening out with him.
The next day we had to visit the doctor. England has the rather unusual medical system whereby it is necessary to register with a doctor in the town where you live before you can get treatment. This entails making an appointment and then having a checkup with the nurse, who will decide if they'll take you on as a patient. This process takes several weeks and after this you are then able to make an appointment to see the doctor if necessary. Doctors work between 9am and 5.30pm and you generally need to book at least several days in advance. God knows what happens if you're sick outside 9-5. Apparently the doctor we have joined used to run one late-evening clinic and a Saturday morning clinic as well, but the NHS (National Health Service) closed it down for being too popular. That's the English for you.
Shaun stayed until Friday and then headed north to celebrate the New Year in Scotland. He's going to visit some other friends as well and then come back to Hull the day before he goes back to Iraq, so we'll see him once more before he leaves.
That's about all we've been up to. I start my new job tomorrow, which is quite exciting. My job is in Grimsby, Northeast Lincolnshire, so I have to cross the bridge and travel about another 40km. I'm going to take the bus for the moment, which means leaving at 7am and getting home about 12 hours later. I do get flexi-time in my job, so once I'm settled I will hopefully be able to figure out some more reasonable travel times.
So best of luck for 2007, and thanks for all the wonderful Christmas cards.
Fletch's Analysis of 2006 and Forecast for 2007
(Don't worry - tips will be back next time)
I thought that for the last post of '06 / first post of '07 I'd give a quick summation of our lives in numbers, complete with forecast for 2007.
2006
Places of residence (>1 month) = 5
Employers (each) = 4
Countries visited = 8
Christmas cards received = 38
Number of alerts from DFAT to
get out of the country we're in = 1
Number of theses submitted = 1
2007 (forecast*)
Places of residence (>1 month) = 2
Employers (each) = 1
Countries visited = 4
Christmas cards sent = >38
DFAT warnings = 0
Number of theses requiring
submission = 0
Here's hoping anyway!
*Note well, the scientific methodology that forms the basis for these forecasts is a combination of 2 well known statistical methods: 1) Blind hope, and 2) Pulling a number out of the air without any consultation (which is likely to get me into trouble).
