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1998

St Augustine's Musical Theatre Company

Sondheim's Follies was very successful - critically and financially - with fabulous reviews in the press. It will probably be our last show for a while whilst we work on our new home

Community Radio

Centre FM's radio franchise bid has been successful but whether or not Barry will be broadcasting now the station has turned professional is debatable.

Other Events

On Ginny's birthday, at the end of July, we got engaged.

In late October

we visited Helga and Christian in Leiningen, (Nr Koblenz), Germany. A cool 500 miles, setting off Wednesday evening in a car with problems. Just before we left home the engine developed problems and the engineer we called out advised us not to continue our journey. However, as stupid as it might have been, we ignored his advice and got going. The problem was petrol-based and actually turned out to be a worn-out petrol-pressure regulator (this we did not know until we returned). In the event we were lucky to get there and back without problems but we did use far more fuel than we normally would have due to the regulator fault.

On the Thursday we visited a local pub that serves only chicken and wine and that is so popular that we had to wait some time for seats. The chicken was huge (turkey size) and we had a great time.

On the Friday evening we visited Klaus & Babs in Darmstadt. Klaus is a former colleague of Barry's from his previous job. Klaus runs the German office of Gill's Cables and often sees Barry & Ginny on his occasional visits to England on business. We were once again made very welcome and treated to a very tasty gulash-based meal before we returned to Leiningen. Klaus, Babs and the family all speak very good English so Barry gets little chance to practice his German there.

Saturday evening was spent at home with Spiesbraten, a kind of hot roast pork log with a spicy tang. This seems to be a local delicacy made from Wildschwein (wild boar) and it really is superb. We introduced our hosts to "Pass The Pigs" with a promise to send them a game for Christmas; alas, we have since found out it is no longer available in Britain and the manufacturers have no plans to restock at the moment.

On the Sunday evening we visited Winningen where there is a local winebar (for want of a better word) where one samples wine and can eat traditional German food. We were joined by Waltraut and Klaus, Helga's mother and father, who always like to meet us when we visit. A great evening of wine, food and humour.

During our stay we were well looked after by C & H. There are some wonderful walks in the locale which is very rural and has some beautiful wooded areas which are perfect for their little terrier "Frodo". The days were cool but sunny and the evenings expectedly cold but their house is so cosy and quaint with a cheery, wood-burning stove, that the atmosphere for the stay was great and suitably wintry.

We thank them for their hospitality during our stay and extend our offer of accommodation if they should visit England. The current quarantine laws however make it impossible for them to bring Frodo and so until they find someone they can trust with their dog a visit seems unlikely.