Debs and John in 2005 - "A year in the life..."
bruges At Febraury half-term we had a short break in Bruges. We had no idea till we got there what a beautiful city it is, or how cold it could be.
bruges_brewery After touring a brewery in Bruges it would have been inpolite not to try a glass or two of Belgian beer.
garden_1 In May we decided it was about time we turfed the rest of the end section of our garden. We put down this outline using some of the slate we'd dug up whilst clearing out all sorts of random items dumped by the previous owners.
garden_2 ... and here's the finished product a month or two later, along with some perennials which Debs bought on eBay of all places.
bardolino At Easter we found a cheap break to Lake Garda, and enjoyed boat trips to different points on the lake. On the last night we were just planning to walk back to the campsite from Bardolino when we came across a local wine festival.
grandma_90th Grandma was 90 in May, and we had a great time celebrating with her and all the family.
tennis At the start of the summer holiday we had a lovely couple of days staying with Tim and Beth at their cottage near Newmarket. We managed to play golf and tennis in the same day, so that was my exercise for the year sorted out.
silhouettes In a fairly packed summer holiday we also got to stay with our friends Sarah and Michael in Borth-y-Guest, near Porthmadog. We had a little picnic on the bench here on a beautiful sunny day.
live_8 We managed to get tickets to the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park which took place in July. It was a great day with a great atmosphere. In this photo you can just about make out the Stereophonics on stage.
canoe In August we met up with our friends Sharon and Adrian for a canoeing holiday down the Wye. The reason we're smiling is because at this point we hadn't done any paddling yet and we were still under the impression that the river would pretty much carry us along.
swan_mist One of the best things about the caneoing holiday was the feeling of getting away from town/city life, and seeing the English countryside and wildlife. This was the scene which greeted us one morning as we got out of our tent.
kayak Debs demonstrating the latest in kayaking fashion accessories.
coastline August also saw us have a go a surfing at St. David's in Wales. This was taken on a coastal walk a little further south.
barcelona Probably the highlight of the year was staying for a week with our friend Edu and his family in Barcelona. Here Edu was giving us a guided tour, and this photo was taken in Placa Real, just off La Rambla.
nou_camp Edu treated us with a surprise trip to the Nou Camp to watch 'Barca' vs Juventus in a pre-season friendly. Wow! The stadium is amazing. It took me a while to get over the vertigo from being so high up, but once the game started it actually felt like you were quite close to the action somehow. Oh, and there were about 100,000 other people there too (for a friendly!) An amazing experience.
coniston_old_man Back to school in September, but we had a great day in the Lake District one weekend, and climbed 'The Old Man of Coniston'. From the top we could see for miles.