On Douglas’s birthday we finally achieved one of Christine’s wishes - a full day wandering around the book town of Hay-on-Wye!  As usual we paid a visit to London during the year for book shopping as well.

All three of us went to the new RHS show at Tatton Park which had several miles of traffic jams before getting to the park itself and it was crowded! We stayed for a few hours and came out laden with rose catalogues, fuchsias and geraniums J The photo shows a view inside the main marquee looking towards a curtain of orchids sponsored by Singapore Airlines

Again all three of us went on a day trip to Jersey at the end of June. We enjoyed an amazing coffee and cake stop at "The Poplars" tea room near Corbiere and a browse at our favourite bookshop "Thesaurus" and we were very glad to be able to spend time with our cousins on the Samares coast.

Our main holiday came in August when we went on a coach trip across to Austria staying at the Gasthof Unterwirt in the alpine resort of Saalbach.

It was mostly fine weather with the only cloudy days being our trip to the Eagles Nest at Berchtesgarten

and a thunderstorm when Douglas went to Kitzbuel and went on the cable car up the Hahnenkamm where there is a fascinating museum of winter sports. Douglas definitely does not recommend being in a cable car when lightning flashes close by.

We broke off from the main party for one day and went to Salzberg in a minibus group and sat in the stands used for the Mozart Festival close by the old Salzburg University where we had a clear cloud-free view of the total eclipse of the sun. Before totality we were fascinated by the reflections of crescent suns from the filters and goggles onto the old walls of the buildings. As the beads started everyone on the stand started clapping. During the eclipse there was silence save for the clicking of hundreds of cameras. Afterwards we were struck by the weird warm light – the closest description I can make is a cream-yellow strobe light.

In October, Douglas’s mother had her first solo holiday in over 40 years when she spent a fortnight in the Algarve with Saga Holidays. Apart from choking on some parma ham she thoroughly enjoyed the break.

We attended the book signing of Colin Dexter’s "The Remorseful Day" and of Terry Pratchett’s "The Fifth Elephant" ( We were 2nd and 3rd in the queue this time ). A highlight came when Christine asked whether she looked like the character Nanny Ogg, Mr Pratchett make a frame with his fingers and said "Not Yet"

Douglas got feedback on his web pages about the novelist Alan Hunter and his detective creation "Gently" from Mr Hunter and some of his friends.

Christine is still at Trafford Libraries Bibliographic Services and was amazed to hear that Trafford was chosen as Council of the Year for 1999 – which amazed all their staff and anyone who has come into contact with them! This is the council that responded to the Trafford Centre by starting to charge for car parking in Hale.

Our feline rulers kept scratching away at furniture but especially like our new desks and shelving regarding them as a challenge !

Regrettably Douglas’s mother’s dog Rusty had a relapse in February and after the vet tried amazingly high levels of insulin without success, Rusty was put down. We have taken over the evening walk of her remaining dog "Smudge".

Both of us now have mobile phones on the Orange network, which is an amazing turnaround considering Douglas’s comments on mobile phones in the past. The bombing in 1996 and Christine’s health in 1998 were the turning points in deciding to go for these.

The Trafford Centre has now been open over a year and the traffic patterns have stabilised – basically the traffic jams start at roundabouts about a mile from the Centre and seem to ease only about 7pm. Shops have closed in Urmston but others have taken their place. What used to be the Co-Op is now a "What Everyone Wants" and a Poundstretcher. What used to be a carpet and rug shop is now a computer shop. We mainly use the cinema at the Trafford Centre ( e.g. Matrix, Austin Powers, Phantom Menace ) and some of the restaurants and only visit the shops occasionally.

In 1996, the bomb in Manchester destroyed the existing Marks and Spencer store. On November 25^th 1999, after more than 2 years of rebuilding, Marks & Spencer Manchester reopened as the largest M&S store ever. It is huge - several times on our visit there we lost track of each other :-) but it is a magnificent shop - especially the food hall :-)

We went to the Xmas carol concert. We also went to a concert by The Hollies which Christine was very disappointed with. Once again Chris de Burgh featured in our plans with a Manchester concert in aid of the Michael Elliott trust and a free concert in the ASDA car park in Doncaster in aid of the NSPCC. ( Both The Times and The Sun misreported this event ). We were on the reserve list for the audience for the National Lottery show with Chris de Burgh but no-one dropped out. We were going to an evening of the button-down mind of Bob Newhart but it was cancelled 2 days before it was due to happen.

Subject to other events we hoped to go to several concerst before the end of the year. A Chris de Burgh show at the Royal Albert Hall, a seventies pop show with Belinda Carlisle and Culture Club and others, a disco era show with 70’s stars and hopefully the Xmas carol concert again – these have been booked for several months which leads onto….

We tried to improve our health by more exercise, walking the dogs for longer, growing and eating more fruit and vegetables and baking our own bread using a Panasonic Bread Machine which we bought second hand but...

On the 15^th January, Christine had another blood test and was admitted to hospital that night for further transfusions just 6 weeks after the last major transfusions.

Tests were carried out throughout the year until in September an endoscopy was performed. The doctor told her immediately that there was an ulcer-like growth and it looked malignant. After a frantic week waiting for the biospy results it was confirmed. Christine has a malignant growth in the bowel close to the junction with the rectum. For 4 days from the 23^rd to the 26^th November, she attended the Christie hospital as an out-patient for radiotherapy. Each visit involved 4 different treatments ranging from 20 seconds to 1minute 40 seconds of heavy dosage X-rays to locations in the pelvic area. No chemotherapy has been needed so far. Christine is due to enter Trafford General hospital on the 6^th December and be operated upon on the 8^th December to remove the cancerous growth – we hope she will be home for Xmas but she will be off work for 3 months. Which neatly covers Xmas, New Year, her birthday ( 3^rd January ) and Valentines Day !

Whether you believe in God or not, we do send you all our good wishes and hope that you keep in good health and have good friendships, prosperity and above all good luck in the remainder of 1999, throughout the year 2000 and onwards into the third millennium AD.

Douglas Ian & Ann Christine Smith