Well we had the usual fun time at the carol concert and looked forward to a quiet Christmas ( or as quiet as it can be when our niece and the rest of Chris's family are over for Christmas tea ! ) until the devastating Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 hit and wiped out places we've visited.
Our first trip of the year was on the 5th January to London to see the Raphael exhibition at the National Gallery...and for the first time saw the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square
January 27th we went to the Bridgewater Hall to hear a concert in aid of the Tsunami fund where both the Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic played and ended up jointly playing Jupiter with about 200 musicians on the stage.
| 4th February and the annual Astrofest trip at Kensington Town Hall with an emphasis on the Cassini results from Saturn. As usual the place was packed and the Campaign for Dark Skies was busier than ever. |
|
1st March and off to see Dionne Warwick at the Manchester Opera House
16th March and to the Middleton Civic Centre to see Belinda Carlisle in concert
2nd May and for once good weather for the annual May Day Steam fair at Abbotsfield Park in Flixton
25th May and we were just about to set out for Birmingham to see The Shadows when we both felt queasy so sadly missed out on this
18th June and a day trip to Jersey and to see our cousins there
23rdJune. Douglas reached 45 ! We went up to Cumbria for the day and stopped on the way back at the amazing Tebay motorway service station cum farm shop. That night we were due to go to a Hallé concert but Chris fell ill.
25th June and to Arley Hall for the Arley Garden Festival - a bit damp but fun nonetheless
30th June and an RHS event at Adlington Hall which was somewhat disappointing as the rose gardens had been dug up for a new planting scheme and shortly after the start it really poured down
10th July and off to Chatsworth for the Meatloaf concert and thanks to the fan club we had front row tickets row A seats 1 and 2
23rd July and our annual trip to the RHS Tatton Park flower show followed by a visit to Fryer's Roses
28th August and our usual trip to Eyam Well Dressings and then to Chatsworth Farm Shop
13th September and finally the insurance work on Douglas's Mother's house was completed !!
| 15th September and we took Chris's mother to Chatsworth for the day. She was especially taken with the Willow Tree Fountain ( seen here amongst the real trees ) and the water driven sculpture of Revelation |
|
24th September and someone drove into the back of Chris's Ka, parked outside the house, at 3pm on a sunny Saturday then ran away
-
fortunately his car was highly decorated and very memorable and he soon realised this and gave himself up to the police. Chris was without the Ka for 2 weeks after that!
7th October and another Hallé concert this time Elgar ( excellent ) and some Strauss songs which we disliked
|
14th October and Terry Pratchett visited Manchester again to sign his latest work Thud! Douglas was number 23 in the queue this time - mainly because Waterstones changed their minds about where the queue started after about an hour of being there! |
25th October and off to the eBay University which was being held in the old Umist buildings...Of course this was also the day for the Chris de Burgh 2006 concert tickets to go on sale....interesting how quickly the good tickets went
|
26th October and a flight down to Heathrow for Autographica. This was also the day that the Cliff Richard 2006 concert tickets went on sale...50 minutes in the queue on the mobile to get really awful seats...never mind next came the show and within a few minutes Douglas was talking with Buzz Aldrin ( a very courteous and friendly man ). Other amazing guests included Scott Carpenter ( one of the original Mercury 7 spacemen ) and Mai Ling and Clifton James from the James Bond films. At about lunchtime Douglas queued to meet Ursula Andress - what a great lady. On the way back we heard of an extra Manchester date for Cliff and managed to get some floor ( i.e. Safer ! ) tickets for his Sunday show |
|
3rd November and the Volvo conked out at the traffic lights on the A56 at Dunham ( a very busy junction ). Thank goodness for Douglas being in the AA Relay scheme and several hours later he was home. The Volvo itself had a broken timing belt but the engine itself was luckily undamaged!
13th November and a tailback from the NEC back onto the M42 for the Hobbycrafts show. That was just as crowded as the BBC Good Food show usually is
26th November and a VERY early start...we had to get to the NEC for 07:30 to attend a breakfast at the Hilton Metropole hosted by a major US and a major UK trading card and memorabilia manufacturers. It was a good spread and Chris helped Caroline Munro to battle with the toaster!
After that we got early entry to the Memorabilia show. This time we spent more time talking with Caroline and with Jenny Hanley and Carole Ashby before starting to queue for Doctor Who autographs.
After the show we skipped the Good Food Show and carried on to David Austin Roses.
Right at the end of November Chris was told she needed to have some extensive heart tests ( the doctors at the local hospital think she may have angina but need to be sure ) sometime over the next 3 months or so.
Still to come this year is the annual carol concert and possibly a Carl Davis concert after that !
There have been no real changes with cats, dogs nor jobs so all that remains is to wish our readers a very happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2006
Douglas & Christine Smith
Douglas I. Smith, dismith@dis.cix.co.uk Copyright © 2005 D. I. Smith
Created 9th December 2005