Blogs from Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Decisions. Decisions. We had just been to the North East for the Outlaw's milestone birthday, but the prospect of back to back home games - Saturday and Tuesday - was quite tempting. The continued wet December could scupper the idea - those in the know realise that despite recent drainage improvements, waterlogging is never very far off the radar. However, the statement by the Northern Premier League put paid to any wavering. Both games were postponed. It was nothing to do with water, although I suspect that the Saturday would have been anyway. No, financial infringements were at play. The "real" MUFC and their precarious monetary position were deemed to have broken League regulations - correctly it would appear, I might add - and the playing licence was withdrawn. The price of salvation? Guarantees of £120,000 ... read more

So, how did it happen that our last stop in the UK was Hemel Hempstead? Well, one of our blog entries triggered friends that we had made quite a few years ago while in Chatham with Tsamaya to make contact. My blog post mentioned we were going to St. Albans which is close to where they live. Unfortunately, I had to inform Martin that my blog post is never quite up to date as it takes me some time to pull them together before posting. In my response I happened to mention our tentative plans and that we were actually looking for a place to stay for a few days at the end of August to try to get a full 2 months away from Turkey. Why did we want to do that? It actually would ... read more

This is my second winter of non-travel. The New Year came in like a lamb - unseasonably warm (15 degrees in some places) and I was actually in bed but awake at Midnight and watched the fireworks over the Thames on my laptop. Kenji sent a New Year message , and Stevie in Tokyo and Maureen in Worcester. It was good to have some purpose in getting up this morning. I did some yoga, had a shower and waited for Carrie to come by and pick me up to go to a vintage car rally at Much Marcle. Carrie's vitality and interest in doing things and going to new places was one of the things that kept me going through last year, with long discussions and stories of our past lives and walks along the canal ... read more

It was a great relief to arrive in Hereford and finally unpack our bags; me for for a mere couple of days and Charlotte for the last time, at least for the time being. Up early the next day, the first thing Charlotte did was to collect her dog Pippa from the animal shelter where she'd spent a few days. Once Pippa was settled and we were breakfasted it was off to Hereford for a coffee and a bit of a wander around. Hereford, which is close the the Welsh border, does have a very interesting history and was heavily involved with the Civil War in the 17th century but that was something I'd followed up on my first visit there. After all the travelling we'd been doing in the previous days we felt like being ... read more

We spent three great days in Hereford with Emily, Andy and Charlotte. After arriving late afternoon,the following day we were treated to an early Christmas dinner, expertly prepared for us by Emily. The lucky recipients were Andy, Andy's mum Eileen, Charlotte, Kev and myself plus Nick, Holley and Hadley who arrived from Loughborough late afternoon to join us. It was a lovely family affair which we enjoyed tremendously. Thanks to Eileen for the Christmas presents she gave Kev and I which were most unexpected but greatly appreciated. After a delicious meal, with lots of Christmas cheer, it was good that Nick, Holley and Hadley were able to stay the night which gave us an opportunity the next day to hear more of their news before they headed back to the Midlands. During our stay Charlotte also ... read more