| WTGC Winter Meal in late March... |
| At the end of March,
the lads from the WTGC got together for the first winter meal
- at PJ's Bar & Grill on Fulham Road in London. Nick, Mat,
Izzy, James, Dave & I met up at Nathan's place before the
meal, and I'd booked a limousine to take us to the restaurant.
Except that I told the guys it was going to be a minibus, so
the limo was a pleasant surprise. We discovered Mat had a tendency
to car sickness, and the lolling ride of the limo did not suit
him at all - he probably would have preferred the bus! |
Dave helps Nick do up his bow tie before we left for the meal. |
| We arrived at PJs and met Max, our Chief
Sneak who had done a superb job of arranging the meal. George,
the maitre d' was one of Max's friends so we were well looked
after for the evening. Early on we were accosted by a few young
ladies on a hen night, and had to help the bride-to-be with
a few tasks, such as collecting blokes' phone numbers, and Dave
obliged with his underpants. Great fun! |
Max got so excited at PJs that he accidentally ate his own tie. |
| We had an excellent meal and all the boys
were on good form. Nathan in particular was on a roll, and managed
to prove it is impossible to smoke a crispy duck pancake. We
were concerned to see that Nick's table manners had not improved
since his medical school days! New nicknames were discussed
for those members who hadn't been given one yet, but Izzy was
quite embarrassed when we explained the story behind his new
'Two-Steaks' moniker. |
James and Dave in Fulham after the meal. |
| We had planned to go on to a club after
the meal, but conversation and booze were flowing well, so we
stayed at PJs until they kicked us out at 2am, after a couple
shots of absinthe. We had about half an hour to wait for the
limo, so we mooched around Fulham Road and found everything
had shut. On the drive home there were a number of stops at
all-night garages to buy munchies for the early hours. |
Mat back at Nathan's at the end of the evening... |
| On arriving back at Nathan's in the early
hours, we broke out the beers and brandy, trying to push through
till dawn. This plan failed however, and most of us passed out
at about 5am. Sunday morning saw many hangovers, and a lot of
bacon sandwiches before we were fit to depart. Top night lads! |
|
|
Vanessa watches Raffy while he has a go on the rides at a park
in Cascais, on his latest visit with the Groombridges in sunny
Portugal. |
| Vanessa & Raffy's week in Portugal
(again...) |
| That son of mine has been galavanting around
the world again; this time on his third visit to Portugal, in
early May. Flights are so cheap these days that we can visit
Jo & James in Cascais for less than the price of a train
journey to my parents' house in Devon. Vanessa and Raffy popped
over for a week of slightly warmer weather - I'd just started
a new job so couldn't go with them. |
The three little monkeys - Sebastian, Annabelle and Rafferty
on a sunny day in Cascais. |
| After a mercifully uneventful flight, which
Raffy slept through, they arrived in Cascais on the 3rd of May.
The weather wasn't exactly tropical, but was a great improvement
on Canterbury's grey spring days. Raffy had fun playing with
Annabelle, and the two of them spent a lot of time making each
other laugh. Jo and Vanessa managed to do a little shopping,
but it wasn't quite the same with the little ones in tow; Raffy
came home with a lot of portuguese clothes though... |
Rafferty was trying to work out how to drive the tractor but
Auntie Jo insisted he take a passenger... |
| On one trip to the park in Cascais, the
girls met up with Tiphaine Modley and Sebastian, who were with
us on the beach on our last holiday to Portugal - her baby son
Sebastian has grown as much as Raffy, and we got a nice shot
of the three children lined up again, except that last time
they were all asleep in their car seats. An excellent little
break - and I managed to get a little more sleep and catch up
on some sci-fi videos (which I do when Vanessa is away because
she thinks they're really sad...) |
| Dad's Easter letter from Ghana: |
Hi Dan and
all the family,
Yes it has been a long time since I have been in contact with
you all, I have been so tied up on site with trying to clear
up things, and all I do is keep finding mistakes from the previous
people who were in charge before me. It looks like I might be
out here the rest of this year, as some of the remaining Medical
Equipment is due here later this year, and some of it needs
to be connected with power and water etc. It could be worse,
at least here is safe and peaceful so far, also there may be
some extra works to do, if they pay for it. I am due to return
on the 1st May for my leave, it is later than I had expected,
for two reasons, first Neil the project manager has to go next
week on leave because he has to be back on the 22nd April to
meet the Director in Accra, to present to the Hospital Authorities
a proposal for a new Police Hospital in Accra and secondly,
there is a two week running period starting on the 3rd April,
where the M & E contractor has to prove the full systems
work correctly to me for the full two weeks. So April will also
be a busy month, at least I have had a couple of days off, today
and yesterday, I have also had about 212 drawings to approve
for the Record Drawings, and they have been a terrible standard
with many mistakes on all of them, so that has taken most of
my time since mid January, only 9 more to comment on now. How
is spring in England now, you will need to be cutting the grass
again now, and having barbecues on the patio, if it's not raining.
I hope we can find the time for a visit while I am home, but
it will be short stay only just over two weeks. I found a very
useful web site the other day it is for comparing prices of
goods, it is www.pricerunner.com. I also hope the BMW will start
as well as the old car did when I get back. Well take care of
yourselves, hope to see you soon,
Love
Dad. 1/4/02 - and not an April fool... |
| |
|
|
| Rafferty's progress... |
| Our young man is nearly eleven months old
now (when did that happen?) and we are planning his first birthday
already. He is extremely mobile and inquisitive, which is great
but also rather tiring at times! He can stand by himself now,
and takes steps with a walker, so hopefully he will be walking
on his own soon. |
Rafferty on a sunny April day in Canterbury. |
| Raffy chatters away happily most of the
time, and seems to understand 'Mama' and 'Dada' now. He can
concentrate quite well and is started to sit and play with his
toys and books for quite a while. He is just getting to that
slightly clingy stage when he realises the difference between
mummy & daddy, and other people - although luckily he still
goes to nursery without any problems. |
Walking with a pushalong cart in our garden. |
| He still has 8 teeth, but I think we have
some more on the way now. We're all looking forward to his 1st
birthday party on the 30th June, which should be great fun... |
| Raffy's 1st Birthday Party on 30th
June: |
| We're having a party the Sunday of Raffy's
first birthday, at our house in Canterbury. The plan is for
a barbeque and drinks in the garden, weather permitting. We're
inviting all Raffy's baby friends and his grand- and godparents. |
 |
| A few of the chaps might be there to help
me drink a beer or two. It should kick off at around 1pm, and
invites have already been sent. |
| Dan's new job in psychiatry. |
| I've moved again, as part of my GP rotation
- now I am a Psychiatry SHO at St Martins Hospital in Canterbury.
The hours are great, with on-call from home and lots of free
time. Can't complain! |
| Crash Course update. |
| The second editions have all been written
now! All the manuscripts are in and the first batch of books
have reached the proofing stage. Hopefully, we should see them
on the shelves at the end of the year, or in early 2003, ready
for the first round of first year exams. |
| 
|
| Here's a sneak preview of the new design
for the second editions: the final version may not look exactly
like this, but it's nice to see they'll be as wacky as ever.
The inside layout has also changed, and is much easier on the
eye, and a lot less purple! |
|
