Christmas 2010 Newsletter

by Howard

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Food. Drink. Family. Jesus. Carols. Nativity. Mice pies. Turkey. Great Escape.

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Well hello fans of The Hilltribe. This is my latest Christmas newsletter…

How things have changed. In fact, the more things change, the more they’ll never be the same again. More philosophy. In theory, our house is now completely empty (except for all the things that are in it. Ooops, sorry, enough philosophy). Children have all flown the nest. Are we on our own? Are we lonely? Are we fiddlesticks?!

This is the dawning of the age of the lodger. Splendid people laden with money. Good honest people with cash to spend. Heavy and weary with the worry of having to manage large amounts of loot. Oh how I love helping to relieve them of some of their worldly burdens. Actually, it is young Annie who runs that side of things and thus she is now able to keep me in a manner to which I am rapidly becoming accustomed.

Alcohol

Annie and I teamed up with our friends Simon and Lesley and off we went with a car load of apples to Simon’s friend. There we washed and sliced apples, popped them into a mill (no trouble there) and thence into a press. We made galoons and galoons (or is that galleons and galleons) of apple juice. The said liquid is now lamenting, sorry, fermenting, in a vessel (a galleon?) in our dining room. It was designated as cider, but a democratic decision was made by Annie when I wasn’t looking, and it has been re-designated as Apple Wine. Oh goody.

A few weeks later, Simon called us and suggested we get together with some other wine-making friends and have a tasting. Ho ho ho. We did.

Music

Sold my tenor banjo, acoustic bass, octave mandolin and 6-string mandolin on eBay. I even got rid of my Pignose (yeah, all right). Bought a bouzouki. Hey hang on, that’s no sort of deal. Pass the Hobgoblin catalogue. No, I’m not going to buy a Hobgoblin. That’s the name of a music shop. that accepts lodger-type cash in exchange for things that make noises and are not children.

Various bands all going well. One of my favourite gigs was playing in the market square for the Wantage Heritage Day. I did a load of 15th – 17th century tunes with Pandemonium, then on to Playford tunes with Jigworks and eventually some Irish jigs to get the good people of Wantage dancing.

The Teignmouth Folk Festival with Cornucopia was rather excellent too. Playing on the seafront. Taking care not to get sand in my instrument. Ooo-errr.

Cornucopia recorded a program for BBC1 Country Tracks at the King Alfred’s Head in Wantage. It was really fun being filmed, but the programme still hasn’t been broadcast. Grrrr.

A brilliant Vale Islanders gig was held at Fallowfields Country House, where we took turns to dance and play, in between falconry displays. The falcons didn’t dance and sing, that was just us. Another gig we did was at Milton Manor during Oak Apple Day. Now that was fun and a bit weird to perform in front of all the toffs.

Pandemonium has been my busiest band (as always). Recent highlights include playing at the Dickensian Evening in the museum , followed by an appearance at the Mayor’s Carol service and finally taking part in Carols around the Christmas Tree along with the Domino Players.

Family

My lovely Mum (Irene, Gran, Auntie Irene) is still living at Framland in Wantage and is still very well and enjoying life. We all agree she’s totally brilliant and is as cheerful and positive as ever.

Annie’s lovely Mum (Win, Grandma James) moved to a bungalow in Wantage this year. Such a good thing! The move itself went very smoothly and she is really settled and loves living in Wantage. She’s not so good on her legs but on a fine day she manages to wobble into town on her frame, and wobble back again.

Jamie got a couple of promotions at work, passed his driving test and now has a car. His current pleasure is to play at Open Mic nights anywhere he can. He’s really, really good and has a superb repertoire of really excellent songs.

Joe graduated from SOAS with a first and is now back at SOAS doing his masters degree. The degree ceremony was really rather good with plenty of posh nosh and champers afterwards. Enjoyed that! Joe and Charlotte are getting married in July 2011.

Vicki has suspended her Fine Art degree for a year and currently has 3 regular part-time jobs as PA, receptionist and housekeeper. This is work that she’s not only very good at but enjoys the work. Its what you and I would call ‘proper work’. She is an excellent singer and sometimes joins Jamie at Open Mic night.

Gordon changed company halfway through the year. The shift work he was doing really wasn’t working out. He’s now working for a Danish company. They produce and sell rather up-market stuff for posh people. Gordon works part-time in the warehouse and part-time on their website development.

Rob still works for Stonewood Builders and recently passed his driving test and now has a car. I am so pleased, as his encounter with the deer on his motorbike last year was not good. None of us are sure how the deer got hold of his motorbike, never mind reach the controls.

AJ started at Harper Adams University. She’s studying Animal Behaviour and Welfare and seems to be enjoying it.