Monthly Archives: November 2018

Christmas 2018 Letter

Version including pictures: Christmas letter 2018

64 Lambs Lane, Cottenham, Cambridge CB24 8TA, United Kingdom

Tel: 01954 204610, Email: adrian.stephens@ntlworld.com

Stephens Christmas Letter 2018

Well it’s that time of year when we review the address list, print the labels and think about what to say about the year.  The turkeys are starting to get nervous (or for our friends in the USA, the turkeys are past caring).

This year has been momentous and notable in many ways.  We are hoping that next year will prove less momentous.

In March, Adrian did not stand for re-election as IEEE 802.11 chair.  The then vice-chair Dorothy Stanley was elected.  Adrian attended the meeting in May in Warsaw to say goodbye, and has since bowed out of all things to do with the 802.11 working group.   Adrian is now mostly retired, but is doing a little consultancy for law firms related to 802.11. Adrian also took on the editor position for the local community association.

In April our daughter Ruth was married by Tina to John in Chicago, USA. This was a first in so many ways! Although it was cold outside (there was snow on the ground) the welcome was warm. We enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Chip and Lito, who hosted the event.  John’s family are Filipino (I’d never typed that word before, isn’t spell-check wonderful?), which means some interesting cultural and culinary learnings for us.

In July we celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary.  We had a party and invited lots of people to celebrate our wedding anniversary, my retirement, Tina’s 60th birthday, and Ruth and John’s wedding (because it being in the USA folks could not attend easily from the UK).

In August, Tina’s Aunt Elsie died. She had been part of Tina’s life, and the relationship was closer to mother-daughter than aunt-niece. She will be greatly missed.

Aunt Elsie left her house to Tina.  Adrian’s Mum decided she wanted to move to be closer to family, and has just moved in to Elsie’s old house.  We’re still struggling with what to call it.  As you can imagine, we have been busy doing clearance at Elsie’s house and Mum’s house and are still working on unpacking and getting records updated.  With Mum just down the road we can support her much better.

We had three holidays-ish this year.  The wedding in March also gave us a couple of days of holiday.  We both attended the May Warsaw meeting and spent a couple of days touring the city.   We did have a proper holiday in Santorini.   Tina was adamant that we needed a rest from the various comings and goings, so we took off in November for a week.  It was really nice there.  Warm sunshine, photogenic buildings, sea, sunset boat cruise.  Hot and cold running cats.  Breakfast on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Walking up and down endless steps.

On the baby front David and Eleanor’s Florence continues to grow.  She is very good at understanding and making herself understood.  Sarah and Derek’s Isabella is likewise growing up, but not quite at the walking stage.  Her vocabulary is limited to “ootcha”.

David and Eleanor have signed contracts to move house to Northstowe, which is a new village being built about 6 miles from here.  This will give them more room as they are expecting number 2 baby soon.  Eleanor’s parents also moved to Northstowe from London earlier in the year.  And as it turns out they will be just round the corner from each other.

Ruth stayed in the UK after their marriage in order to get the paperwork to live in the USA.  It has taken her almost 9 months.  She leaves in December to join John living in Virginia.  They have a house there with lots of trees and visiting deer in the garden.

Tina has had problems with her knee, requiring a steroid injection.  Adrian’s health has been stable, for which thanks to God.

We wish you a blessed Christmas.

With hugs/kisses/etc… as (in-)appropriate to our relationship.

Adrian and Tina Stephens

Relaxing holiday in Oia, Santorini, Greece.

An enjoyable week of warm weather and sunshine; a beautiful property; supportive local staff.

Plusses:

  • The property managers looked after us well. They arranged a porter to take us from the taxi to the property on arrival, and pick us up on departure.  A porter is not a luxury, because it is 80 twisty steps down from the main path to the property.

  • The property is simple and beautiful. It is on two levels with a balcony view from each.  At the top level is a hot tub with a view of the caldera.  At the lower level is the bedroom, with a view of the caldera/ocean from our bed.

  • We did not expect to be brought breakfast every morning. They arranged for breakfast for two to be delivered.  This included an egg sandwich or eggs and peppers, plus home-made breads, croissants and buns as well as fresh orange.
  • Santorini is beautiful. When the sun shines, it is hard to take a bad photo.  The people are welcoming.   The food is good.

  • My wife likes cats. There are lots of them.  They are everywhere and friendly.  We even had one jump on the bed while we were in it.

  • This was the quiet season. While there were busy times corresponding to the arrival of a cruise ship causing a momentary crush, most of the time the streets were quiet and there was plenty of room in restaurants.
  • We went on a sunset cruise. Not cheap,  but well worth it.

Negatives:

  • Last minute did not provide us contact details for the property, even though they told us we had to contact the property to arrange arrival. It took an hour to two of telephone conversations with last minute and following up wrong numbers to finally make contact with the property managers.
  • The geography is very up and down. If you find stairs difficult, you need to be very careful where to stay.
  • November seems to be building/renovation time. From 8:00am, the jack-hammers were busy a few houses away.  On the final day they started work on the property adjacent, and the noise in the property was loud.