A section each for my 3 children, though I rather doubt they’ll ever add anything at this rate… plus a bit about Family-type things.. You know the sort of stuff...

The youngest and prettiest!

The eldest, but this is a really old pic of him with our cat, Peanut.

Once I thought that I'd never actually reach the unimaginable age of 50 ("Hope I die before I get old..."  etc.) but it seems like I was wrong on that, as with so many things! Still, I managed to have a party, and I'm pleased to say that many friends came from various parts of this and other countries. Judging by the beer consumption, and one or two stories I heard, a good time was had by all (mind you, I don't know who the good time was...).

We stupidly did not think to use our camera until late, so I have no good pictures, however, there are a couple below, with a few dodgy characters in view, (those who weren't in the garage where the beer was!) before everyone got plastered…

I and Ang would like to extend our thanks and love to all who made the effort, and of course to those who I know would have liked to be there, but could not be. Thanks also to all for cards, presents etc., I'm afraid that as a non-gregarious person really, I got a bit overwhelmed by a stream of people, some of whom I'd not seen for many years, walking up and saying "Hi", and started to lose the plot a bit (or was I just pissed? -don't answer that!). Still, I hope I managed to speak to everyone!

Thanks again to you all, should you read this, I hope we get to do it again, the garden is almost back to looking like a garden rather than Isle of Wight 1970 now.... :v)

-Dermot and Ang.

When I go on holiday, it's usually to the South of France, as I have a soft spot for the place, for lots of reasons....this year, we went with my friend Frank and his family. This made a total of 5 (us) plus 6 (them).

We drove the 1000 miles or so south in our Citroen CX, plus Frank's newly acquired Aston Martin...

The CX managed the journey down happily with us 5 plus luggage etc, as did the Aston, though the travelling conditions for the 3 of them in the Aston (the other 3 were flying) were not so comfortable :)

We had rented a very nice villa. The picture shows the view up from the pool, with the villa (in fact, a Napoleonic bastide) just visible behind. It was complete with pool and terrace, but Frank's Aston starter motor started sulking when we arrived....the starter motor then became an object of attention on the terrace....

When not attempting to fix the Aston, we spent lots of time (a) drinking beer and (b) arguing about whose turn it was to go to the supermarche for more beer, or sometimes (c) arguing about whose turn it was to take the rubbish (mostly beer bottles) to the bins....

We managed to get the starter to function well enough to get home, with a few pushes, but apart from that and our CX's fans not coming on while we were going up a pass (fixed by hitting every relay under the bonnet) everything was fine, and we cruised back at 95mph or so all the way.

Overall, a good time was had by all. Perhaps I'll go in a Scimitar one day (but no A/C, arrgh).

Middle son and has been known to be a bit of a clown...

Honor

1999 family holidays

My 50th birthday

David

Andrew

The Family

Zed lives in Poland, and he had his party at a very nice palace in the north of Poland, as you can see...

One of my friends, Zed, recently also reached old git status

All 3 of them posing back in 1999...