Diary 2001
Happy New Year To All Our Visitors!
January
2th Back to aikido with a great misogi.
6th Went to see Thunderbirds FAB at the Playhouse Theatre. Fantastic!
7th Annual New Year lunch at ZenCX restaurant.
13th The dojo has bought new mats and the big changeover happened today with a Spring
clean for the hall.
20th Nice day on Didcot with Nigel Sabine and our God daughter Karen who is nearly 18
months
February
11th Vinopolis, which we enjoyed very much.
12th Went to see Noises Off at the
National Theatre. Very funny play, excellent performances.
17th Went to see Stones In
His Pockets at the Duke of Yorks. Excellent.
18th Batto Ho course in Birmingham
23-27 To Ashford International Hotel for the Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention, also the
wedding of Lesley Rhodes and David MacIntee. Had a whale of a good time!
March
2nd Gary's birthday - 41
3rd Dinner with Mark and Alison. Yummy food - thanks!!
9th -11th Weekend break in Bournemouth. Somehow the weather held up and we had a really
good time. Visited the Russell-Cotes
Museum and art gallery which is strongly recommended.
31st Visted the Ideal Home Show, which we enjoyed very much. Main purchase was a
super-whizzy juicer, so we are slurping lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg juices
April
3rd Our 8th wedding anniversary
4th Linda's birthday. Went to see Blow Dry which was very good.
5th. To the Royal Albert Hall to see a concert with the Bootleg Beatles. Much fun.
12th To Hinckley to the splendid Hanover International Hotel for Paragon the Easter SF
Convention. Dinner at Barnacles a truly superb restaurant. Gary, Linda and Nigel Furlong put
together a fancy dress item called Sons of the
Stake in which Gary and Nigel were combat vicars fighting vampires and Linda got to be
all vampy. Won Best Presentation and Best In Show, much to our amazement. Gary's
diorama "Cracking Pod, Gromit!" won the fan voted Phlosque artwork award.
Had a lot of fun, it was a great convention. Sabine Furlong and daughter (Linda and Gary's
lovely God-daughter Karen) won a special award for their Dr Who and Tardis which was excellent.
27th Star Wars roleplaying event at John's.
May
This month we were delighted to have a visit
from Sensei Chiba to Shinmeikan Dojo.
12-13th Attended Batto Ho course in Birmingham
19 East met West at a combined Russian/Jamaican party
20 Saw The Mummy Returns which we enjoyed very much.
June
This has to be the event of the
year! A week away at Goddards, a beautiful house designed by Edward Lutyens, the garden by
Gertrude Jekyll, all organised by John and Paul who are plighting their troth.
It all started on Saturday 2nd when we arrived and sat down to a delightful catered dinner
entertained by a string quartet. On Sunday some of us relaxed on the terrace with drinks
while others played croquet. Monday was a trip to Groombridge gardens, a truly fantastic experience. On Tuesday people
were out and about doing their own thing - Linda went to Pew Corner to look at reclaimed
furniture. Wednesday was a country walk ending at Leith Hill Tower then at midnight a
solemn ceremony in the garden with John and Paul taking their vows in front of
family and friends. Thursday was another "out and about" day but we were all
back for games in the evening. On Friday we all went to Hampton Court Palace and the evening was taken up by a murder mystery
game. Sadly we all had to go home on Saturday. Thank you so much John and Paul for
making this all possible! Also thanks to the Landmark Trust the charity who restores some wonderful buildings and
makes them available for holiday homes. Their work is well worth supporting.
11th Linda visited Old Bailey to view the trials of Barry George and Lord Archer.
July
1st Day out at Newhaven Fort
again. The Film and TV Model Club won several awards.
8th We were honoured to be invited to The wedding of Kevin to Andrew. A wonderful eveing
with great food and entertainment.
14th Garden party at John's where he and Paul officially changed their names.
21st Course at the dojo. Linda laid low with stomach upset and unable to attend.
27-29th John issued a challenge to three teams to make a SF B movie in two days. Our team
filmed Aqua-men Attack the Universe.
August
4th To the Shuttlworth Collection flying day.
Superb!
11th. Dinner party. Starter was trout parcels with Thai stuffing, main was mediterranean
pork fillet, with summer vegetables and couscous salad with roasted veg, dessert was
cherry almond tart with vanilla icecream
18-25th Aikido Summer School
25th Janice's birthday party
31st Went to see Planet of the Apes which we enjoyed very much.
September
7th Globe theatre to see Cymbeline.
11th. Shocked to hear the news from New York. Nothing will ever be the same again.
14th IMAX to see Bladerunner.
28-29th Roleplaying event in Dover.
October
6th Lovely party at Gaby's.
20th Beer festival Oxford, visiting friends.
27th At York for Dronerama, the convention of The Film and TV model club. Gary won a prize
for "Go Pods!" and Linda won costume prize as "Return of the Mummy"
31st Linda's last day as a Civil Servant. 27 years and 4 months in all.
November
3rd Birmingham for the fireworks at the Old Edwardians, and
Memorabilia the day after.
10th Manchester for aikido and Batto-Ho course
16th To the Barbican to see the Kodo drummers. Sensational
17th Wimbleson theatre to see Yours
Truly Jack the Ripper. Excellent!
25th Saw Private Lives at Albery Theatre. The best production of this play I have ever
seen.
December
8-9 Xmas Aikido course at I shin
juku.
30th Gary went up to Tetsworth to do some fireworks, Linda with bad cold stayed home in
the warm!
31st Nice \New Year's Eve at home
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