2014: The Headley Year
If you were hoping to read a ghost story worthy of M R James, as I hinted on our Christmas cards, you’ll be disappointed. This is just the story of another year; part bad, part good, some tears, some laughter. But roll on 2015. 2014 was not a vintage year.
JANUARY
The worst came early: Yvonne’s mother Betty died on January 11th. It was on her late husband Toby’s birthday. In December we had moved her from her beloved St. Fillans, which she and Toby had built in 1951, into a bungalow in Elm Road, Bishop’s Stortford. She gave up. She lasted four weeks, then died in hospital in Harlow from complications following an operation. We had spent Christmas with her. She never got out of bed.
FEBRUARY
Betty’s funeral took place in appropriately turbulent conditions. A gloomy day with the rain lashing down; bitter, with a howling wind. The crematorium had had a power cut so we grouped there in the cold and gathering gloom, peering dimly at the service sheet. Nevertheless there was a wonderful turnout — I never knew she had so many friends, friends who loved her so much.
On February 14th a 110mph wind brought down four trees at Murmur-y-don, broke several panes of glass and blew down a garage wall. The garage stands alone in the grounds, and has solid stone walls 30 inches thick. What brought the wall down were the roots of a huge pine tree buckling in the wind.
The weather did improve — on the 22nd we had coffee in the garden in London for the first time this year.
MARCH
I gave up whisky for Lent. Wales promptly lost to England.
We went to Harlech via Runcorn where we collected 12 panes of hand-curved glass to fit the ones broken in the round window by the storm, at a mere £59.33 a pane. However the lovely Nationwide insurance company sprung for it — and rebuilt the garage wall for us. Meanwhile Milo enjoyed a brisk ten-mile walk with us from Dolgellau to Barmouth.
And in London we had the house repainted front and back, with nesting boxes for swifts installed under the eaves.
APRIL
To Wherwell for my sister-in-law Brenda’s 80th birthday. 80 is obviously the new 50. What a glorious day — best of the year so far. I got sunburnt and went scarlet.
I am also scarlet with shame and embarrassment. We installed a huge new window on the top floor in Mount View Road … and it’s plastic … I am so sorry. But to paint and maintain the outside of the wooden window we had to put up scaffolding every three years, and that’s £1,200 a pop and rising. At least we now have a crow’s nest balcony on which I can stand every morning looking out over London and bellow I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD!
MAY
BorrowMyDoggy.com came into our lives. This is a brilliant web idea whereby people who live in dog-free flats can borrow dogs to take for walks. Milo has ten times more walks a day in him than we can cope with, so we signed up with alacrity. Our masterstroke was remembering a lady in Crouch End had described Milo as “the George Clooney of Golden Retrievers” so Von put that up on Milo’s page and we got swamped. He was awarded “PAWsonality of the Month” and featured in an ad for the company. In addition he was awarded free Life Membership. Henceforth, he has informed us, he wishes to be addressed as Meighleaud.
We donated my Redactron, the first computer I ever bought (1979, £5,000), to the American Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. They sent a team of fine art removal specialists to take it away. Here’s a link to the story.
JUNE
To Berlin for the CEPIC picture library conference. We rented a penthouse apartment in the heart of the city on Unter den Linden (there’s posh, yes) with views towards the British Embassy and the Brandenburger Tor. Business was brisk; we held a party for foreign piclibs at the Embassy and spent the weekend after the conference as Berliner tourists. Many of you will remember that I lived in Berlin for three years in the 1950s. In the 96°F heat we got more walking done than we actually needed, but at Sans Souci we discovered the delights of the Eiscafé. So there is an alternative to beer on a sweltering day.
Damien left fotoLibra to return to France after nearly six years with us. We miss him. He’s still working for us, but now based in Lyons.
I went into UCLH for a radical robotic prostatectomy. The ‘robotic’ bit means that during the op the surgical team was off in the pub having a pint and a laugh. Apparently I was upsidedown in a St Andrew’s Cross position for 4-5 hours. When I came round there was an angel at the foot of the bed. “Oh God,” I thought, “I’ve died and I never had a chance to say goodbye.” It was Von. Of course.
I discharged myself the following day and the taxi on the way home hit so many sleeping policemen that my stitches burst and I emerged soaked in blood, thanks to Camden, Islington and Haringey’s traffic calming measures.
Dunno what happened in the last two weeks of the month, except I was a vegetarian teetotaler — by choice — for about ten days.
JULY
Both my sisters came to visit the invalid. I was very grateful but only dimly aware. To Lord’s for the first day of the England v India test with James & Bill Lake.
AUGUST
The swifts depart without even glancing at our boxes. Great garden party to celebrate 30 years at 22 Mount View Road. Martha and Mike Shatzkin come over from NYC before and after their holiday in Dubrovnik.
We joined the local YMCA gym and now go twice a week for strength training and once a week for their Pilates classes. Von was immediately promoted to the Experts Class; Gwyn remained in the Pre-Beginners.
SEPTEMBER
To Kalkan in Lycian Turkey to stay with our friends Steve Fallon and Mike Rothschild in their fab villa.
It was an amazing experience staying with someone who’d written the guide book to the area — the Lonely Planet Guide to Turkey. Steve was greeted everywhere we went — Hello Steve! Have drink! Have food! He may not have been sea-green, but unfortunately for us, he was certainly incorruptible. Later we moved to a villa with an infinity pool and eleven chickens in the garden. We gave each one a name: Chicken Kiev, Chicken Chasseur, Coronation Chicken, Chicken Marengo …
Completely lost my sense of taste and smell shortly after my old folk’s ‘flu jab.
OCTOBER
Got the Phaeton back, after 273 days without its 5 litre V-10 engine. Went to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Drove back with Shatzkin as usual. I realised, as I gazed at the sumptuous lunch laid out in front of me by Alex Hanbuckers at De Herborist in the flat farmland outside Bruges, that I couldn’t smell or taste a thing. What a waste.
NOVEMBER
My old friend David Redfern, the world’s greatest jazz photographer and my Frankfurt buddy for 25 years, died. Lawrence Duttson, a Folly stalwart, died. Lovely funeral.
Succeeded in seeing the heart-rending poppy installation at the Tower on the second attempt — we’ve never seen such crowds.
We had the suicidally depressing fly-blown neon tubes in the Harlech kitchen replaced by 18 LED lights buried in a false ceiling. They look great. Managed to secure an ENT appointment on January 30th.
DECEMBER
Lewis Hamilton won BBC SPOTY. I have a vision of Sam Warburton picking up the trophy next year, after captaining the Welsh World Cup-winning team. Still no sense of taste and smell. Between now and my ENT appointment we have the remains of the Christmas goose and a trip to Paris scheduled for Von’s birthday. I might as well suck wet cardboard.
You’ll have had your Christmas. I hope it was a peaceful and blessed one. Now for the New Year!
I still can’t fight off an unshakeable spirit of optimism.
December 31st, 2014 at 12:26
Happy new year to you and thanks for the interesting and well written story that kept me company whiley dear husband spent ages in a car shop!! Lovely pictures of your beautiful house and even more beautiful wife!!
December 31st, 2014 at 14:52
Happy New Year to you and Von!!!
December 31st, 2014 at 15:04
Oh you flatterer you!
January 1st, 2015 at 10:26
Thanks for an excellent news letter. It certainly has been an interesting year in the Chinese proverb sense.
I hope that you soon get your sense of taste and smell back and have a much better and Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2015.
January 3rd, 2015 at 17:46
Happy new year to you both! Hope your sense of smell and taste return. Spent Christmas in OKC and new years at home..Loved your new year letter. Even with the sadness your year beat mine!! Take care Lyn
January 21st, 2015 at 12:07
Loved reading your news. Very light touch. Was so sorry I wasn’t able to get to David’s memorial. Glad you did the eulogy.