JOAN AND TED JOHNSON'S WEB PAGES
HAPPY NEW YEAR
2004 Have started an embryonic new website.
2003 DIARY
December. Have been messing around on line –
like you do – and just for fun here’s a link to a jigsaw puzzle of one of our
photos. Jigsaw
The RA Christmas Lunch was held at Louth Golf
Club this year and was generally agreed to have been a most successful
event. As I write this on the 6th,
the cards are written, most of the presents bought and I’m having a break
between preparing festive vegetarian dishes.
I’m beginning to feel that Christmas is in hand. Keith and Kate are staying with Helen this
weekend. It will be the first time they
have seen her new home. It’s just
possible that not a lot more will be added to this page until the end of the
month.
It’s now the 30th December. We were pretty well organized in time for
Christmas. Barry and Pat came over for a
day on the 13th so we had the tree up and decorated in time for
that. Joan finished work on the 18th
and so we spread the jobs over a few days. Sidney arrived on the 22nd,
followed by Helen on the 23rd and Keith and Kate on Christmas
Eve. Kate had had to work until the last
minute. We had a lovely few days, marred
only by the fact that Helen finally succumbed to a bug that had been going
round work and wasn’t feeling wonderful.
The neighbours came round for drinks, we visited friends on Boxing Day
evening, Ted, Helen, Keith and Kate fitted in a couple of football matches and
we had one or two short walks around the boating lake. Helen is still here but Sidney has returned home and Keith
and Kate are now in Brentwood staying with Kate’s parents.
Today, we have walked over nine miles doing a recce for a Ramblers walk
which Joan will lead in February. It was
a really frosty morning and the ground was quite hard underfoot. We had a lovely day. Well the year is nearly over so this will be
the last entry on this particular page.
All the best for 2004 to everyone.
November. Our final trip away this year has been a visit to the North West. We stayed with Sheila on the Wirral for three
nights and spent two days birding. We
were lucky to have fine, clear days for this and saw lots of interest, notably
the Hen Harrier and Short Eared Owl.
Then we went to Liverpool and spent the weekend with Helen.
It was the first time that we had seen the house since she had decorated
the lounge and dining room and fitted her bedroom furniture. We were quite impressed – especially as the
bedroom furniture was described as a two-man job. One woman is obviously much more
capable! We did some of our Christmas
shopping in Liverpool and
Cheshire Oaks and now I really must focus on the preparations.
We’ve been on
what has become an annual trip to Calais to replenish the wine
stocks before Christmas. We stayed at
the Copthorne Hotel again and enjoyed our quick
trip under the channel.
We've had a
short break in Keswick The weather was really good and we finally saw the views
from Great Gable. It was just like a summer day on the top – what a contrast to
our last visit when we could hardly see two yards in front of us. The picture below on the left was taken on
the way up Great Gable from Honister Pass
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View of Buttermere and Crummock water
from Moses Trod
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Autumn Colours beside Buttermere
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Keith and Kate have had a holiday in Italy, staying with friends in Siena and then having a few nights in Rome. Helen meanwhile has had a short holiday in North Yorkshire staying at a little place called Keldy. She too enjoyed the remarkably
good autumn weather that we've been experiencing.
October. My birthday coincided
with Caroline and Damian's wedding day. This was at St Nicolas Church, Great
Coates, with our friend Jenny officiating. Caroline looked beautiful, the
service was lovely and the reception at Stallingborough Grange went well. We
stayed the night and the next day went to Noreen and Jim's and along with
several family members and friends watched it all again on video! Here are just
a couple of pictures.
Helen, Keith
and Kate came for an early celebration of my birthday (as well as for the Scunthorpe match.) The glorious
weather continues!!
John and Pauline have been to stay for a weekend. We walked in the
country park and on the beach, went to Blacktoft Sands, where we watched the
Marsh Harrier, and did walks from Binbrook and Laceby.
September. We got back from
holiday on the 19th. It was raining in Manchester but it was clear by
the time we got home and we realised that it had been glorious for most of the
time we were away. We spent a lot of time working on the photos (only to have
to redo all the work thanks to problems on the computer – renamed Voldemort).
Happily we haven't actually lost anything. We had a quiet couple of weeks after
our return.
August. Bank Holiday week-end
was most enjoyable. Helen came over on the Saturday and then we went to Keith
and Kate's on the Sunday for a barbeque together with all Kate's family. On the
Monday after lunch at the Brewer's Fayre with some of the family we set off for
Manchester airport and our holiday in South Africa where we had a wonderful time
staying in Pretoria, on the coast at Umhlanga and in the Kruger Park. For more
about this click here.
Sidney came over for a week. We're having fantastic
weather. We've had a day out to Alkborough and Far Ings. Jenny and John and
Jennie's Mum, Elsie came for a meal. We had a day in Lincoln, Sidney and I
walking up Steep Hill while Ted was at the football match.
Joan led a 7
mile walk from Laceby. This was an experiment. There were just 7 of us and it
was a beautiful day and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We went at quite a
leisurely pace and that seemed to be appreciated.
July 5.
Keith and Kate's Wedding. Keith and Kate were married at the Church of Holy
Cross and All Saints, Warley, Brentwood and the reception was
held at The New World Hotel nearby. We all had a memorable day. For pictures click
here.
Visit Jon's
website for more wedding photos
Well it's all
seemed very flat since the big event. We had such a fantastic week-end and it
just flew by. Keith and Kate have been to Mexico for their honeymoon
and arrived back at Heathrow today (22nd).
We had a
really good night out in Lincoln at a performance of
Romeo and Juliet by the Lincoln
Shakespeare Company. It was held in the Bishop's Medieval Palace – a superb setting.
This private showing was Joan's firm's Summer Social event and Romeo was played
by one of our young Commercial Lawyers – and very good he was too.
Helen has been
to stay for a few days and we've had a couple of shopping trips and a barbeque
and generally relaxed and all of a sudden another month has flown by.
June. We had a lovely day for
our coach trip to Grassington. Ted led the group of 30 on a super 9½ mile walk
and Joan was back marker. We did a circular walk which included Linton Falls,Threshfield, Height
Laithe, Malham Moor, Conistone Dib, Conistone Pie and the Dales Way back to Grassington.
Pictures are on the Ramblers
Website Please note that following this link takes you off our website. Use the
back button to return.
7 June. We set
off for the Cotswolds (via Lincoln to get some more card for the wedding
stationery) and drove as far as Tewkesbury where we spent a couple of hours
wandering round before going to the Corse Lawn House Hotel where we were booked for a night.
The purpose of this trip was a reunion – after 36 years with Tony and Mike who
were doing PhDs with Ted in the Proctor Department at Leeds University, and their wives,
Margaret and Janet. We had a great evening and we hope to meet up again before
too long.
The
next day we went for a walk in the Malverns before driving up to John and
Pauline's, which was not too far away, where we stayed for a few days. We had a
lovely walk over Brown Clee – the highest point in Shropshire. The next day we spent
birding at Upton Warren. We saw a pair of Avocets with four chicks. This is the
first time that Avocets have been recorded breeding in Worcestershire. On our
final day we walked over Caer Caradoc Hill.
May. Joan started the month
working as a Poll Clerk in the local elections. The next day, Helen, Keith and
Kate all arrived for the Bank Holiday week-end. On the Saturday they went with
Ted to Lincoln's last match of the
season. The draw ensured City's place in the play-offs so everyone was in high
spirits.
14 May. YES!!!
After two fantastic matches against Scunthorpe we'll all be off to Cardiff for the final of the
play offs. Who would have thought this possible twelve months ago?
It's been a
busy week. On Tuesday (20th) we were outside City's ground at 08-30
queuing to collect the 5 tickets we had bought on the internet for the Cardiff match. By 09-45 we
were on our way to Windermere. The children have paid for Ted a balloon flight
for his big birthday present. This was booked for this evening. As the morning
progressed it became clear that we wouldn't be flying this day due to the
weather conditions. We were provisionally booked for Thursday evening hoping
for better weather.
We stayed for
three nights at Holly
Lodge Guest House. Here's another guest house that we found very
comfortable with super breakfasts and we have booked in again next month.
Unfortunately the weather didn't really improve and so we still haven't had the
balloon trip but we did do some walking. We spent a superb day in the Coniston
fells with the clouds swirling around. We did two more Nuttalls including Walna
Scar which is one of Wainwrights Outlying Fells and also went up to Dow Crag
and The Old Man of Coniston. We walked from the guest house on a very wet day
and included another two Outlying Fells – School Knott and Brant Fell and on
our last day walked from Staveley and climbed two more - Reston Scar and
Hughill Fell.
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Goats Water
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Staveley
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We drove down to Liverpool on the Friday afternoon and
stayed at Helen's before our trip to Cardiff. We set off soon after
08-00 and had a good journey down but wished we'd left earlier. The atmosphere
at the service station on the M4 was fantastic. We were sent on a devious
journey into Cardiff and although it took
longer than we'd thought there were no major delays. We eventually caught up
with Keith and Kate in a Wetherspoons full of Lincoln supporters and made
our way to the stadium. We had a super day even though a win would have been
wonderful. It was just so amazing to be in this great stadium and to have got
this far after wondering twelve months ago whether we would have a club at all.
Bournemouth played well and
deserved their victory. It was pouring with rain as we arrived at the stadium.
Kate was trying to suggest that we get inside but Ted needed this photo.
We stayed another night at Helen's and went for Tapas at Lark Lane before returning to
Cleethorpes on the Sunday.
We finished the month off with a visit to John and Jenny who have
settled well in the area.
April. We've had a trip to the
Lake
District with Noreen and Jim and all their family and friends Eva and Malcolm.
We stayed in Threlkeld (at the Horse
and Farrier). On the Saturday (5th) we all drove to Glenridding and 13
of us in total set off to climb Catstye Cam. This was Noreen and Jim's 214th
Wainwright and granddaughter Lauren's first!!! We drank champagne on the top
and more later with lunch beside Red Tarn. Ted and Joan went to High Spying How
to tick off another Nuttall top. The next day eight of us climbed Bowscale Fell
via Bowscale Tarn (pictured below)
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The Summit of Catstye Cam
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Red Tarn from Catstye Cam
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Bowscale Tarn
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Can't believe
the weather this month. Not only did we have a beautiful day for Catsye Cam but
we've even had fantastic weather for our holiday in Scotland. We travelled with
Noreen and Jim up to Tyndrum on Saturday the 12th and stayed at Glengarry
House for eight nights. We spent seven days walking the West Highland Way ( Glasgow to Fort William - 95 miles) with all meals
and transport included in the package. We can certainly recommend this way of
doing it. Not only did we not have to carry our packs, but we had memorable
meals in the evening without having to cross the doorstep again. After we'd
finished the walk we spent a day pottering and admiring the scenery in Glencoe,
Glen Etive and Glen Nevis and we exercised the plastic in one or two visitors
centres. We spent two nights at another good guest house - Lochan
Cottage Guest House - and on our final day to round things off we climbed
Ben
Nevis. This was when we saw the only rain of the holiday. As we were
descending it poured for about 20 minutes but this did not dampen our spirits
as we have lots of sunny memories and we were all on a real high having climbed
the Ben without any problem. Click here to read more about
this holiday and view some of our photos.
March. This month is flying by
and seems to be dominated by wedding plans and Helen's house move. We've been
down to Brentwood to spend a week-end with Kate's parents – Dave and
Maureen. Keith and Kate were down as well and so it was a good opportunity to
discuss the wedding. We are getting on with printing the stationery. We've also
been over to Liverpool to give Helen a hand. She is now installed in her
house in Aigburth and has lots of DIY jobs to keep her busy over the next few
months. We managed to spend a day with Sheila while we were in the North West and visited Martin
Mere and Marshside for some bird watching and went to Formby to see some Red
Squirrels. We've had a trip to Grassington with Derek and Glenys to do a recce
for a walk we'll be leading in June. There were lots of really tiny lambs.
February. Joan led the 10 mile
walk from Wold Newton. This was a first! There were 38 of us and we were so
lucky to have a glorious day. The ground was reasonably hard so the potentially
muddy stretches weren't too bad. There was still snow on the ground in some
places.
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We're delighted that out
friend, Jenny, who was ordained a few years ago in Coventry Cathedral, is
coming to Grimsby to be part of the West Grimsby team. She has been to stay for a couple of odd nights while sorting
things out at this end prior to her move from Rugby and it has been super to
have chance for a good natter before she gets busy in her new role. Her
licensing on 18 February was at St Nicolas, Great Coates and was a lovely
evening. The picture of Jenny and her mother was taken after the service.
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We had our
usual get together with Helen and Keith to celebrate their birthdays. It
doesn't seem two minutes since I typed something similar last year. We've
usually met up in Liverpool in recent years, but this time we
paid our first visit to Keith and Kate's new house, which is really lovely. Ted
met Helen and Keith at the football match in Scunthorpe and I took the
opportunity to have a browse round the shops at Meadowhall which is so very
handy, before driving up to the house. Kate cooked a lovely meal on the
Saturday evening and we went out to Tankersley Manor for Sunday lunch.
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Our last Wednesday walk of
the month was on the most beautiful day and we walked from Mareham on the
Hill. We saw so much of interest on this walk – including a Red Kite and a
Yellow Hammer singing away. The snowdrops were everywhere. We had a coffee
stop at the Ostrich farm at Moorby and a few of us even had ice creams.
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January. The start of the
month has been fairly quiet. It has been good to start walking again, having
had quite a break over Christmas. Now, having done three 10 mile walks within
eight days we feel a bit fitter again. We've been on our usual Wednesday walks
and have also done a recce for the walk from Wold Newton, which we shall be
leading We've had a couple of walks along the sea front where as usual at this
time of year there are lots of waders.
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We have just had some early
celebrations for Ted's forthcoming 60th birthday. Helen, Keith and Kate came
over on Friday (17th) and on the Saturday Helen had arranged to take Ted
into the Directors' Box for the match against Shrewsbury. He enjoyed this experience - even though the result
was a draw. Left is a picture of Ted with the chairman Rob Bradley.
In the evening Ted's brother,
Barry and his wife Pat came over and friends Noreen, Jim and Judith all
joined us for a dinner party. Pictures below -
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Barry, Helen and Joan
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Keith and Kate
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Jim and Judith
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Noreen, Ted and Pat
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Ted was in Paris for his actual
birthday. We travelled the day before, taking the train to London (first time we'd been
anywhere in the U.K. by train for donkey's
years ) and went via Eurostar to Paris. It was all very
relaxing and nice to be able to read. We stayed at the Hotel
Batignolles Villiers which was quite comfortable and handy for everywhere.
On the birthday we walked 11 miles as it was a glorious day for seeing the
sights. The next day was raining but we walked to and around Montmartre before going to the
Louvre and staying dry. We had super meals on each of our three nights in Paris. The weight I had lost
since Christmas temporarily reappeared. Here are a few photos.
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Pont Alexandre III
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Tour Eiffel
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Montmartre
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The View from Tour Eiffel
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