The Evening Hill Diaries: Our Poole Christmas Blog

Dear Friends

Instead of sending cards this year we have chosen a few pictures to show you what we and our family have been up to during 2019.

Most importantly, we pay tribute to Norman Pipler, Lindsay’s Dad, who died on October 6^th at the age of 95. Here are two of our favourite pictures of Norman; one more recent, enjoying himself with his daughters at Natalie's wedding, and another one, which we would love to have seen, standing nonchalantly by his Spitfire during WW2.

Our grandchildren continue to give us so much pleasure. Teddy at 18 months is an absolute delight and brings Nick and Catherine so much joy. We love having Coco and Louis to stay when they can escape from SW12 to the seaside for a few days. Coco such an angel and Louis a little more challenging.

Teddy

Nick, Catherine & Teddy

Louis at 2

Coco - first day at big school

Enjoying dressing up as a witch

Nati and Ben looking happily relieved from parental duties...

Anna and Graham have a house in Twyford near Reading. Anna’s cycling career (apart from working for Rapha) is going well, though with a (hopefully) short term injury at the moment. Katie is working in the city for Legal and General Investment Branch, and was not too far away from the recent London Bridge incident, so we are thankful that she, and indeed all of the younger generation, remain well.

Anna negotiating the Dolomites

This is what 'bikepacking' looks like

I just had to put this in - so envious

Katie - no prizes for guessing where, but which one of these was supposedly a 'work trip'?

Katie at Lake Garda

Finally, our lovely Joelle turned 40 this August. James not only arranged a wonderful party for her but followed it up by getting down on one knee and asking her to marry him. Their daughter Amira is now a gorgeous 18 month old toddler.

Lindsay and Joelle

In February we moved from Bury Road to Crichel Mount Road and in August to a rental property where we will remain for most of 2020 while rebuilding the house at Crichel Mount. As you can imagine, moving house once after 30 years at one address is bad enough; moving twice is – well I can’t really put it into words.

Our most enjoyable times this year have been walking and cycling in places ranging from Sicily to Yorkshire. During a lovely week in June we also walked, or re-walked, the Jurassic coast from Devon back to Poole. Just a few days of good weather in Dorset made us realise that exotic destinations are not necessary for true happiness and enjoyment.

The last few days walking the Cleveland Way - Robin Hood's Bay in the background

But our most unusual holiday experience was a visit at the end of a few days’ cycling in the Jura to the Fête des Vignerons, in Vevey, Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva. This only takes place every 20 to 25 years! It’s a pageant lasting about 2½ hours with no interval. It’s meant to tell the story of the vine, and to honour, in turn, each Swiss canton. The participants, clad in Swiss traditional costume, parade around the amphitheatre like extras in Ben-Hur. The music was specially composed for the event, but wasn’t memorable. What was memorable was the blazing sun and the ambient temperature of 38⁰C. Belatedly the attendants walked up and down the aisles spraying us with what might have been water from pump action garden sprinklers. No greenflies on us! The memorable part came right at the end – yodelling solos and alphorns singing and playing the ‘Ranz des Vaches’. This is a traditional chant or tune designed to call home the cows. The most beautiful version seems to be the one from Fribourg. These tunes have a long history, and induce what is called ‘Schweizerheimweh’, an irrepressible longing to return to the homeland. I had that feeling myself… But if you want to encapsulate the experience in a nutshell it would be like the Olympic Opening Ceremony with no other nations allowed, and extra cows and alphorns. I have written a slightly extended description in another post.