2010 – Was it the beginning of a new decade or the end of an old one? Whichever way you saw it, 2010 was a year which for us was very eventful with some surprises. The year started out quite uneventfully. January was spent with Marisa in recovery from last December’s surgery, although she spent Sundays preparing for her Highland teacher’s and practical exams.
February was a different story. At just after 3am on 6th February, I received a call that my Grandfather’s house was on fire. Marisa and I headed over to find two or three fire trucks, police and an ambulance at the house with flames and smoke billowing from the downstairs apartment. According to the final analysis, my tenant’s (ex-)boyfriend broke into the house whilst drunk and fell asleep on the bed whilst smoking a cigarette. Fortunately everyone escaped the house safely, although the downstairs apartment suffered significant damage.
March saw another visit from Sandra Bald-Jones, the Highland Dance teacher from Canada to do final preparation for the Highland Dance Examinations which took place in April. The Scottish Dance Teacher’s Alliance (SDTA) sent down an examiner from Glasgow, Scotland and this ended up in 42 of our dancers receiving awards for Highland, Scottish National and Jig, including Marisa who received her Gold Highland and Scottish National medals, Pre-Bronze Jig in addition to her Associate Membership to the SDTA which qualifies her as a teacher.
Mother’s Day was 9th May this year. We took our mothers and Veronica to lunch at Coral Beach Club and had a great meal. The rest of the day was rather uneventful. That was until I heard the exclamations emanating from the bathroom. Marisa had taken one of those home tests and thusly we had just entered on the path to parenthood, starting on December 22nd. At various stages, we have had ultra-sounds and various other tests, at which my comments have ranged from the ‘sproglet’ looks like a “hamster in a wheel” and a “finger puppet”. She has also been doing 2 hours of yoga weekly and Water Aerobics to keep in shape and since I am ever the supportive husband, even I have been seen bouncing around at the back of the pool.
Marisa’s cousin Dora visited us from the US in June, so we were able to play tourist for a few days. June was also Marisa’s birthday and we flew to London and Budapest in Hungary. In Budapest we visited some of the sights we had seen in 2006 and a few new ones. We then went swimming in the hot spring Szechenyi baths. The water temperatures ranged from 28-38ºC, so we tried several. The most fun was the outdoor pool with the intermittent current pool, which would throw the occupants around in a circle using water current. It was a surprise the first time we tried it, as Hungarian is not one of my stronger foreign languages. Back in London, we spent a day with Roz, Alan and Elizabeth on a Thames river cruise to the Thames Barrier and Greenwich, crossing the Prime Meridian from West to East. The following day we visited Kew Gardens, climbed the Xstrata Treetop walkway and even found a specimen of a Bermuda Palmetto in the Palm House. The evenings were taken up with shows as usual, as we took in Dirty Dancing (based on the movie) and Warhorse (if you get a chance see this show!).
Shortly after we arrived back, we received a call that Marisa’s godfather Winston Samuels had not arrived at work in the morning and that no-one could get hold of him by phone. Marisa was his closest relative in Bermuda at the time and so we had to visit his apartment with the police. Unfortunately we found that he had passed away in the morning. He had a lovely funeral and I played ‘Amazing Grace’ at his internment.
Due to the high risk nature of the pregnancy, we were referred to Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital to see a high risk specialist in August. She gave us advice which has been very instrumental in keeping us from having to undergo an overseas delivery. We had dinner with Joe Mahoney and he showed us around Cambridge and Harvard at night. We also saw the headquarters of “Car Talk” (a weekly radio show that we listen to in the car) “Dewey, Cheatem & Howe”. Carrie and Louise came to visit also. The following week, I travelled to Toronto, Canada to spend a week with a forty person evaluation team to make recommendations on the new Bermuda Hospital, to be completed by 2014. As this was a working trip, I didn’t get to see much of the city, but I did come across a Nepalese street festival.
In September I travelled to Middle Wallop (near Salisbury) to the Army Air Corps Base with three of my Regiment colleagues to spend a few days with the Military band there and gain some experience in a professional musical environment. Our trip was delayed by three days due to Hurricane Igor. We spent time at Kneller Hall (Royal Military School of Music) for private lessons and I played saxophone for the first time. We also visited Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and the Museum of Army Flying. We met a former band member in London (Sarah Whitehead) for lunch and went to see the matinee of Les Miserables. In the evening we went to Rhythm Force, a rock concert put on at Kneller Hall by the Army.
November was another busy month, with the visit by HRH Princess Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, Colonel-in-Chief of the Bermuda Regiment. This was to present new Regimental Colours to the Bermuda Regiment, and included a parade at the National Sports Centre and in the evening a Regimental Dinner at which she was the Guest of Honour. Also the Annual St Andrew’s Day Ball by the Caledonian Society was another event which we enjoy. In amongst these events we also passed some major milestones, which allowed us to be able to deliver in Bermuda and we celebrated with a Maternity Photo Shoot.
Presently, it is raining and cold (relatively speaking). We even had hail yesterday. Marisa spends her days getting kicked by sproglet, who appears to be very active. I am just counting down the days to ……………Christmas.
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope for a Happy & Prosperous New Year.
