Lister Family Christmas Newsletter 2022

Jane mentioned that our newsletters were becoming more like travelogues as in “we went here and we went there..”. I looked back at a couple of recent newsletters and realised that, as usual, Jane was right. On reflection I think that this was partly because I don’t keep a diary, so to find out what happened during the year I look back at my stash of photographs; these tend to be taken when we are away on trips, and partly because we are increasingly spending time going on trips! So I am going to try a different and hopefully “chattier” style of newsletter this year – let’s see how well it works.

For several years now our kitchen has been in need of refurbishment. Just before Covid struck Jane had finally persuaded me to take the idea seriously and we had even had some initial plans drawn up; however we couldn’t fit everything we wanted into the space available and so applied for planning permission for a small extension. This was refused in 2021, despite being rather similar to an extension that was build next door a few years ago, so we appealed and the appeal was refused in 2022. It is often frustrating dealing with the National Park planners, but this time they excelled themselves, refusing permission because the extension would “obscure some original barn features” – these features being stone arches over window openings that we added when we re-built that wall as part of the barn conversion project in 1998! So, the kitchen refurbishment still hasn’t happened, but watch this space for some progress next year!

Last year we bought an oldish camper van – a 2006 high-top VW – and we had some good trips in it but realised that whilst it was fine for short duration trips it wasn’t very practical for longer durations, so we started looking for an upgrade. It turned out to be quite hard to find a van that had a long enough bed and a high enough ceiling for Jonathan, and that plus a couple of other features that we wanted led us to choose a more modern motorhome style of van. The new van is a bit wider and more of a challenge to drive on small country lanes, but so much more practical when camping. In addition to trips to Bosham we have stayed in Swaledale, made our first trip with Harriet and crazily made one trip that started off in Bosham for a long weekend celebrating Harriet’s 5th birthday, moved to Lyme Regis midweek, then to Portishead for Tasha’s birthday the following weekend and finally up to the Trossachs for a week!

Mum had a hip replacement in May and came to stay with us for a couple of weeks to convalesce followed by a trip to Northumberland.

Jonathan has reduced his hours at work to 60% of a full-time equivalent – in practice this means that he works 3 normal weeks and then has 2 weeks off. He initially thought this would be plenty of time to catch up on all those “estate management” type of jobs, but actually what we seem to do is head off on more trips! He is still doing some sailing, but much less than before due to all the other fun things.

Tasha still still works as a Naval Architect for the MOD and is heavily involved in new RFA support ships recently announced in the news (see RFA support ships.) The link will open in a new tab.

After many years working at sea Graham started a new job on land in March as a trainee train driver for South West Rail, based in Bristol. He also volunteered for the local Portishead RNLI and can be at the station within a few minutes of getting a call on his pager.

The Covid pandemic had a negative impact on the Gym business that Ben worked for so he has left, started his own company and is now offering technical consultancy on various projects to several other companies. Meanwhile Eddie was strongly tempted to move jobs to a new startup competitor but stayed put and started an exciting new role helping companies understand their climate related risks.

Harriet transitioned from nursery to school in September and takes part in lots of extra curricular activities such as yoga, “diddy dance” and tennis. The school has its own swimming pool and Harriet loves the weekly swimming lessons.

Robbie moved nursery in Sept to one attached to Harriet’s school making the daily drop-off and collection run much easier for Mum and Dad. Robbie has settled in very well, making new friends. At home he has inherited Harriet's two wheeler bike and has learned to ride it before he is 3.

Just as we go to press both of us have caught Covid for the first time! After several years of managing to avoid it this caught us by surprise. We can’t be sure but suspect that we picked it up when visiting a friend in Crewe Leighton hospital on our way home from Pembrokeshire, despite being up to date with vaccinations, wearing masks and distancing.

One of the reasons for including lots of photographs in previous newsletters is the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so here is a link to an album with a selection of favourites from 2022: xmas newsletter album.

Some highlights to look out for:

2021 ended with a timely snowfall so that Harriet and Robert could try sledging for the first time whilst visiting Yorkshire – they both loved it of course!

We visited Bosham for Robbie’s 2nd birthday in February, coinciding with storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin – the first time that three named storms have occurred in one week – with a gust of 122mph on the Isle of Wight, and quite a bit of mayhem and destruction including a fallen tree that blocked the main road to Bosham.

Tasha joined us for a week skiing in Austria – a trip that had been booked a couple of years ago, before Covid.

Ben and family joined us in the Dordogne in April, Harriet joined in with all of the kids club activities and Robbie loved collecting the bread from the baker’s van in the morning.

Various trips to Bosham in the camper van and a first van trip with Harriet for a long weekend. H really enjoyed staying in the van and took a shine to drying up  the dishes after every meal – she can come again!

Jonathan and Jane stayed in a cottage in Rosedale, North Yorkshire Moors, for Jonathan’s birthday in what turned out to be the hottest week of the year with temperatures up to 40C. On the hottest day we hid indoors doing a jigsaw! Fortunately the cottage had thick stone walls and stayed relatively cool.

Ben, Eddie, Harriet (with her arm in a sling) and Robbie visited HillTop later in July; Robbie enjoyed his first attempt at being in charge of a sailboat! They all enjoy living near the sea with plenty of paddle boarding, sailing, wing foiling and swimming. Tash and and Graham sailed right up Chichester Harbour to Bosham Quay on a spring high tide in August and we all paddle boarded together. A video of Robbie’s infectious giggle in the bath.

A long weekend in Swaledale.

A trip to Pembrokeshire to celebrate Jane’s birthday – Wales is often wet and wild in late November and it didn’t disappoint, but we were able to enjoy sections of the coastal path and huge waves each day in between the hail storms.

With best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year,

Love from Jane and Jonathan.

Click here for the 2022 photo album