Congratulations to Andy Murray

I can’t have been the only person in the country who missed Andy Murray’s final game at Wimbledon. Banished to the dining room in case he lost any more points when I was watching, if I was a nail biter, they would be considerably shorter than a week ago.

I thought that the semi-final against the petulant Pole was stressful enough but the final was almost unbearable to watch.  But, I am in awe of his achievements, his total focus throughout the game, with a resilience and determination that belied the 3 straight set win over the gracious Novak Djokovic

York

The white magnesian limestone walls of York were glittering like a diamond tiara in the brilliant sunshine last week.  York is one of my favourite cities so it’s never a hardship to visit, even for work. My professional life being dominated by teleconference calls, I was delighted to find, thanks to geocaching, a delightful  little haven where I could sit and enjoy the glorious weather, Blackberry earphones in situ while dialled into a call.  To any curious onlooker, I no doubt appeared to be mumbling away  to myself but from my perspective, it was a most enjoyable outdoor office alternative

We caved and we went

Caving or potholing creates all sorts of images in the minds of those who’ve never tried it with thoughts of tight and narrow spaces bringing on feelings of claustrophobia.  And so it was with our party last Sunday.  Most were apprehensive, even fearful, about what to expect, but Long Churn is an ideal beginners cave. Almost immediately, it was evident that the winding passages are roomy with beautiful, water smoothed walls and rock sculptures. And although there are some tighter spaces, deeper into the cave, they can be avoided or are exciting enough to allow people to forget their fears. 

Caving

We’re going caving tomorrow.  It’s a few years since we’ve been, despite once spending a lot of our time underground, but age, family life and a lack of time mean by necessity, hobbies have to change.  We’re only going to Long Churn as we’re taking colleagues from work, but it’s a nice easy beginners (or retirees) cave  and hopefully, the party will enjoy it.  I’m intending to take a small camera so all being well, I will be able to capture some photographic evidence of the adventure as I and others will inevitably fall into a plunge pool or two

Roses

Despite the wet spring we’ve had, the roses in the garden are absolutely glorious at the moment.  They’re my favourite flowers, especially the old fashioned, scented climbers and I particularly like them growing against a wall.  My mum loved roses too; perhaps because she was born in June, but whatever the reason, she passed that love onto me. I adore them so much that along with daisies, I carried white roses in my wedding bouquet.  Most of our garden roses are from David Austin and have lived upto all expectations; hardy, disease resistant, abundant, heavily fragranced and quite simply, glorious. 

Welcome to Wesley

Sadly, dear Daphne has gone to the great garage in the sky.  Because she needed a lot of work to keep her on the road, we decided to bite the bullet and get something a little smarter for Nerea.  So welcome to Wesley (don’t ask).  A silver and black Mini Cooper, it’s a lovely car with only 40 000 miles on the clock.  We’ve had to send photos to Nerea; needless to say she was excited, despite being a thousand miles away.  I’ve just had a little drive in it and was impressed, not a mysterious rattle to be heard!

Orangutan tendencies...

My colleagues were probably justified in looking bemused when I mentioned that Andy and I’d been tree climbing on Monday.  Naturally, it was a geocaching adventure and therefore completely normal for us but to an outsider, I suppose it was a little odd.  Well, a lot odd actually!  We’d teamed up with a caching friend who preferred to climb safely with a rope so we arrived at the scene “geared up”.  Inevitably, Mr Glis ignored the kit and was up the tree like a rat out of a drain pipe, I was equally reckless but at least Gerri acted responsibly!

Andy

Gerri