01/12/13  Happy Birthday Ann!

02/12/13  A change of laptop, with (unfortunately) Windows 8 and the latest updated internet explorer has now made almost every page of this blog display in different ways!  It is most infuriating but there seems to be little I can do about it, so I apologise if you are seeing the pages in a 'scrambled' fashion.  I keep looking at Wordpress as an alternative means of continuing my ramblings but still cannot get my head around it!

10/12/13  At the hospital today for my follow up appointment with the consultant.  After X-Rays, ECG, blood tests and a long chat, he gave me the all clear and discharged me from the hospital.  Now I can travel about a bit and get to see friends and relatives in other parts of the country!

12/12/13  Received bad news today that my friends Jacquie and Phil had been caught in the recent Philippine typhoon onboard their yacht 'Whitby Lass', and the boat had suffered severe damage on rocks.  Thankfully, they are both safe and well. Despite the local population's own major problems, they helped Jacquie and Phil to refloat the boat (taking 10 days), and in return J & P raised funds and bought hardware to help rebuild the homes destroyed by the typhoon........now that's what you call international aid and friendship!  Well done everyone.

13/12/13  A day of packing up my stuff in preparation for heading down to Kent tomorrow.,

14/12/13  Up early this morning and Clive drove me into Blackpool to get the London coach (Network Rail timetables were too tight....and expensive!)  Coach left at 0805 and arrived, after several stops, in London at 1500.  I crossed over to Victoria Train Station and caught the 1537 train to West Malling, where my mate Trev picked me up and took me to their house for a few days.

16/12/13  I went into Maidstone today for a wander around my old 'home town' - it isn't the same place!  So much has changed there, all the shops are different, it's nowhere near as good as it used to be.

17/12/13  Flew from Gatwick to Köhn today to see Astrid and family for a week or two and she met me at the airport along with Andreas.

25/12/13  Merry Christmas everyone!

 A whole bunch of Astrid's relatives and friends came round to her house last night for a meal (in Germany, Christmas Eve is treated like Christmas Day in the UK).  Today we were invited to Ellen's house for lunch, then Stephanie's house for another family gathering and dinner. 

26/12/13  One year to the day that I had my heart attack in Kudat!

29/12/13  Today would have been my Mum's 101st birthday.  Astrid's stepmum Ellen took us to Waldbreitbach for a look around and see the Christmas decorations in what is known locally as the Christmas Village. We had a look around inside the church and a coffee (thick enough to cut!) in the church hall.

31/12/13  Again we were at Ellen's for dinner, then back to Astrid's where Andreas, Leah, Jordan and I enjoyed fireworks as midnight struck on the village church bells.

 

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