Quigley News 1999

or Raskelf's answer to " Hello" magazine on the net - (Jill's always wanted to be in Hello!)   ...

"Hello, Hello, Hello"

This week our special feature is Jill Quigley at Home - otherwise known as "Ypres re-visited"

Into the Millennium we go

The Quigley family plus one (At Christopher's 21st)   Left to right Pascal (Danielle's boy friend), Danielle,  Chris,  Jill,  Les (I 'm the one whose just had the bill!)

Jill thought I should do a short news letter this year.  She reckons I'm a boring old "fart" !  Since I never listen to my wife - why change the habit of a lifetime now - I'll ignore her as usual and bore my reader(s) - This year I've saved paper at least, and you can always close down now!

As you can see I decided to enter the year 2000 using the medium of the next century - "the super highway".  I've produced a web page (or two?).  I hope you like it - if you do, I'm giving lessons - very reasonable I am too - Around one pint an hour!

A start to 1999

Another year has gone by, (where have I heard that before?), and as I begin writing this, I haven't really got a clue what we've done or achieved other than "we survived it in tact" and without too much pain - without any really!  So we do, at least, have a lot to be thankful for! .....  I hope that goes for my reader(s).

There weren't many highlights, so I'll give you what I can remember!!!!!

As usual 1999 started with a holiday - this one at our little house in Spain.  We actually spent New Year in Spain! In a small restaurant in Mojacar Pueblo ("village" for all you non-speakers).  It was really good fun and made a change from the usual (super) drunken orgies at Dave & Angela's (They have sold their holiday complex and gone into semi-retirement?).  It was interesting to experience some Spanish culture, of which we were previously unaware!  Apparently if you are to have a good year, you have to eat vast quantities of grapes whilst the church bells are chiming midnight. We don't remember how many we ate, but we have had a good year, so it must have been a lot - or was it the ones in the champagne that boosted the count?

Whilst there , since the swimming pool was too cold, we went to Granada for a few days. We stayed in the Parador inside the Alhambra Palace, and went up to watch the skiing in the Sierra Nevada.  Sierra Nevada is only a couple of hours drive from our house in Mojacar, but in 18 years we had never been.   It was fantastic - plenty of snow for skiing, easy to get too, cheap and incredibly beautiful - I would recommend it to all you skiers out there!

	Jill before I persuaded her onto the chair lift!
Jill outside the Parador which was inside the Alhambra Palace grounds.	(She wasn't smiling so much when she got on and was dangling 100 feet above the road!)

Me (incognito) posing after skiing     (Well after! - I last skied in 1969)   For more on Spain - click Spain (Otherwise just plod on down to Building)

Building (or lack of it!)

One of the reasons that we went away for New Year was to get away from our builders yard!  After many years fighting planners to get permission to re-build the house, we had at last commenced building.   Well sort of - the builder that we had employed to do the job, and who came highly recommended, turned out to be "the builder from hell" - One day on, 4 days off, and very shoddy to say the least.  Fortunately, as we work from home, we could keep an eye on them. (when they bothered to turn up!)  Their work was still awful. 

They needlessly wrecked our garden and had the place looking like "Ypres 1916" for months on end.  The original schedule was 10 weeks to completion - I eventually threw them off the job some 6 months after they began and when they were still only half way through!!!! 

	"Ypres" 1916?  - No! The Quigley's place late 1998!
	The "East wing" some 3 months after starting!
Our dining room (And this was already there!) - you can see why no one was invited to dinner for a week or two!

I took over control of the job myself and subcontracted the remainder of the work to various skilled tradesmen. We eventually completed the building work around the end of August - almost exactly one year after we had started.  Mind you I still had to install the central heating boiler and finish off a lot of the electric's.  This I didn't finish until the end of September.  I still have lots of odd jobs to do, but the house is basically finished and can now accept "boarders" so all our friends are welcome anytime. (But not altogether unfortunately.)

Holidays?

As you can imagine, with all the building and having to run the business from the building site, we didn't manage our four week holiday like last year.  We did, however, manage to go to Spain a lot more....  So many times that I've lost count!

Jill relaxing on the patio - Note the oranges on our "lemon" tree - Jill always wanted lemon tree so that they would be handy for her G&T's - so she went out and bought one - snag is it grew oranges and died! - it was obviously as confused as me!	Jill fighting her way off the crowded beach to the bar! This is about 100 yds in front of our house - you can see why everyone likes it - not a sun bed in sight - hence no towels and no Germans!!!

After a few days lying in the sun, I get bored, so I decided to set up business there.   This I have done, hence, my losing count of the number of times that I have been. I have been going there for at least one week a month since the middle of the year. Jill has been with me on many of the trips - she often stays on for 2 weeks to my one.  She also went for a week with Shireen Shuster. (Yes - Dick actually managed a week on his own without his "batwomen!").  They obviously had a good time for Shireen is now keen to buy a place near us!

On one of our trips (about the end of June, I think,), we went for a long weekend to Morocco.  We drove to Gib. where we stayed overnight. I did some business and then we took a ferry across to Tangier.  This was quite interesting since we hadn't booked any hotels and didn't have a clue were we were going.  I had bought "Rough Guide to Morocco" whilst in Gib.  The "rough" maps in there, were the only maps we had!  Our normal policy is to pick the oldest, highest rated hotel wherever we go. We picked the "Hotel El Minzah" right in the centre of Tangier.  How I found it, Jill still doesn't know? - she had her eyes closed most of the time! - Arab drivers are notoriously carefree (and careless!) - the traffic- trucks, buses, cars, carts, donkeys, etc., - was horrendous - every time I stopped to ask a policeman I caused gridlock - the policemen didn't seem to care - they seemed very happy to chat - in French fortunately - to Jill!

The hotel turned out to be a real find - I would recommend a few nights there to everyone.  It is right in the centre of old Tangier and only a few hundred yards from the "Kasbah".  On our first night, whilst Jill was recovering, I went for a wonder around on my own - apparently it's not recommended at night - people disappear - I got a few funny looks since I was the only person wearing shorts, but had no trouble.   I even stopped for a hair cut - only cost me £1 - It took about 30 minutes and the barber seemed very happy - I was obviously being ripped off!!!  Still it was a good haircut! Better than the one I had in Egypt a year or two back. (Mind you that one was only 20p !)

The 2nd Hotel we stayed in was at Volubilis, an old Roman town. This was not so good!  It was supposed to be 4 star, however the signs outside proclaiming that all the staff were on strike should have warned us!  The hotel itself was not bad and had obviously seen better days - Prince Charles had stayed there in 1996 - his photographs were everywhere!   Anyway I checked the room and menus before booking in - room was fine - dinner menu seemed good.  The menu might have been good, but unfortunately the chef and all his staff were camped out on the hotel veranda - on strike!

The huge restaurant was empty save for a party of  noisy Germans, 2 Americans and another couple of Brits!  The meal turned out to be a choice of tinned food - soup followed by two types of tinned meat - bully beef & dried camel - served with, you guessed, tinned potatoes and tinned peas followed by tinned fruit! - and this in a country overrun by fruit trees and vegetables!  If this wasn't bad enough, half way through this romantic "compo" dinner, the electricity failed. The place went into total darkness - and I mean total - sabotage? we thought!  We expected the "strikers" to strike at any second and steal our "compo".  The waiter (he was the receptionist, bell boy, manager, chamber maid, electrician and, we believe, the tin opener) eventually found some candles - now it was romantic - cos' we couldn't see what we were eating! 

The biggest insult came the next morning when we were checking out.  They tried to charge us full a la carte prices - naturally, I did a Prince Charles's dad, and told them were to stuff their "foreign" prices - I also mentioned that Prince Charles and I were mates - well we went to the same college and stay in the same hotels! - I told them he wouldn't like it, so the charge was reduced accordingly, and with due deference!

We spent the last day of our quick, eventful and very enjoyable trip in Rabat - here we picked up a few bargains in the market - I look really good in my "jalabah" and fez - mind you, I do get some funny looks when I go shopping in Easingwold!

Danielle & Other places!

In March we had a long weekend in Luxembourg staying with Danielle. It was really very pleasant visiting her in her new home. She has certainly picked a superb place to live and work. 

The flat she shares with her boyfriend Pascal, is located in the country over looking Luxembourg city, yet it is only 15 minutes, by bus, into the centre and her office.   She works as a personal assistant for the Japanese banking conglomerate "Nomura" - she started at the beginning of the year having worked for a short while for another financial institution - Luxembourg is all banks!  However, it means that she is incredibly well paid, at least 1.5 times more than she could expect in London, yet without the travelling and accommodation problems faced in London, and with a cost of living much cheaper than the UK. (Petrol at less than 50p!)    Furthermore, Luxembourg City is  a superb place. It is about the size of York, but has all the advantages of being a "capital".  Being at the edge of the Ardennes it also has beautiful countryside. 

During the weekend I managed to persuade them that we should visit sites of the "Battle of the Bulge".  They thought we were going to health farms and were a little miffed when they realised that we were visiting battlefield museums!

	Rastus when not swimming We managed the odd family day out - in the MG's.  Yorkshire is a beautiful place - you should come and visit us Left - Yorkshires answer to "Nessie" - Rastus Below Left - Danielle & Chris relaxing over their MG's Below Right - A couple of old farts recovering from a ..? mile walk - probably about a mile!

Danielle had taken her MG to Luxembourg for the summer, but as they only have one garage and the winters can be very severe in Luxembourg, she thought it should come back for the winter.  We therefore arranged to meet her in "Ypres".  We drove Danielle's old Fiesta out to exchange for the MG.  It turned out to be a bit hectic since we went overnight on the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and had to be back next night.  However, it we did have an amazing and memorable lunch - undoubtedly the best meal we have ever been served - the quality and presentation was unbelievable.  The place is called Hostellerie St Nicholas and I would recommend the 3 course lunch. (which turned out to be 7 courses?) 

The trip back was eventful - we were late - the check-in was closed - I got lost in the lorry park - had to be led back to a special check in point by a police car - the MG then overheated and stopped - we then had the ignominy of being pushed onto the ferry with all the passengers hanging over the rails watching - Jill refused to sit in the car and walked on board  trying to ignore me. Needless to say we were last on.  This gave us a problem as we had to be first off!  No one else could get off at Hull without us getting off first!  Luckily I scrounged some water - the car started, and off we drove - for about 3 miles when, in a rush hour traffic jam, it overheated again and stopped - causing grid lock in Hull!  - We came home on the back of an AA truck - more ignominy - shades of our Cranwell days!!!  (Chris, the poor student,  regularly travels on the back of AA trucks in his MG - he says it saves petrol - so I telephoned Chris on the way back to tell him we had joined the MG-AA club just like him - he found it highly amusing but was right - it does save petrol, we still have that cheap Luxembourg petrol in the MG!!)

Chris "Big Hair" Quigley

Left - "Big Hair"  Chris (The curls are real - eat your heart out Kevin Keegan) Right - "Big Hair" the guitarist

It was Chris's 21st birthday year - and we all remember when we were 21 don't we?  Non stop parties!  Actually I can vaguely remember mine (and Chris Saunby's), so I must only have been in a part alcoholic haze?  Anyway back to Chris - He is still at Bristol, still reading Philosophy, and is still growing his hair!   He is apparently known as "Chris the Big Hair" throughout the University, and is working on the theory that at least he is noticed!  The rumour that he spreads our way, is that he is working hard for his degree - we shall see? - soon!

He seems to have had an enjoyable year. It started in Marrakech where he, and some other friends, where staying as a guests of Arnoud. (Who's Dad has a house their and in Paris)  He then went into overdrive on parties since many of his friends were 21 this year. It seemed as though he was spending every weekend in London at someone's party - his £5 Oxfam DJ seems to have paid for itself!  -This culminated in his own in June!

Arnoud, Gervaise and recovering after drinking	Bringing home the dinner - Marrakech

He spent most of the summer at home, helping me finish the house.  He became an expert cement mixer, tiler, painter and general odd job man - without him we would never have finished!  He had a few weeks off for his annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, stopping off at various points throughout France to stay with old school friends.  Just before he was due back at University, he and I took a quick trip to Spain.  We drove down in the Twingo, which I needed in Spain. (it hadn't been back to Spain for 2 years, although it was Spanish registered).  We had an enjoyable trip down, going via St Malo, Bordeaux (where I got lost), Segovia and Madrid.  We stayed a few days in Mojacar and flew home in time for him to head back to University.

The sequel to this was that, about a month later when I returned to Spain, I used the car for the week and then Jackie, a friend of ours who was helping me set up our company in Spain, drove me back to the airport. She dropped me off and 10 minutes later had written the Twingo off.  Fortunately she wasn't badly hurt, just bruised and shaken up.   But the car (I went to see it a few weeks later) was about two feet shorter at each end (and it wasn't very big to start with) - the fact that she wasn't injured must be down to the modern design because the drivers area was intact even though the engine had shifted backwards. No one else was involved, it was an empty motorway, and Jackie still can't remember what happened?  A cautionary lesson to us all!

Chris is 21

Chris might look soft, but he isn't!   All that thinking has obviously been useful because he does come up with some good ideas - at least if he doesn't, his mates do!  The best one, as far as we were concerned this year, was to come up with the idea of sharing his 21st with 2 old school friends, Ben & Dominic, who were also at Bristol. (Takes after his Dad who shared his with Chris Saunby - we were both born on the same day! - and have consecutive service numbers?) This was especially good since it was decided to hold it at St Mary's School for "Young Ladies", which is in Shaftsbury.   It was possible since Ben's mother, Sue Pennington, is the headmistress.  Fortunately for the "Young Ladies", but not so good for the young men, an Exeat weekend was chosen, so the young ladies were all away.

The place was perfect. It had a superb Ball room - appropriately built in the 19th century for a son's 21st - an excellent reception Hall and of course plenty of bed space for the guests.  The school is set in around 40 acres of park land and is a former 18th century stately home.  We did very little in terms of the organisation, Sue did it.  The party was superb.  It was basically a formal dinner dance for 120 guests. (Mostly students from Bristol, Oxford and London).  Sue's catering staff did an exceptional job.  The dinner was amongst the best we've ever had at function of this size, and I only remember one boy being carried to his "billet" - actually he was ordered to it by the "Headmistress" - Having seen the way he moved to her "orders" I now know how miracles are performed - fear!!!  (It was funny to see the re-action of 2nd year female University students to Sue - the loveliest person you could meet -they came to ask me things and when I directed them to Sue - they said they couldn't ask a "Headmistress" it was "Too scary"!) 

Our thanks, and I know those of all the guests, still go out to Sue for a very memorable event!

Chris "Big Hair" and some of the guests	Chris and Kate (Not the Saunby's!)

Above - Jill, Father Hugh, Sue Pennington  (Father Hugh is a Benedictine Monk in "Mufti" - He was Chris & Ben's Housemaster at Ampleforth) Below - Holly, Pascal, Danielle, & Jack Arbuthnot	Above - Jill & Les mixing it with the young folk! Below - "Have you heard the one about the Rabbi, the priest ......" Father Hugh joking with Jill, Danielle & Pascal!

On the way back from Chris's 21st we paid a brief visit to Lulworth Cove with Danielle and Pascal, to show Pascal some of England's natural beauty spots.  We then headed north spending Saturday  night and Sunday being hosted, wined and dined by the Winterburns......

	(Top Left) - Pascal,Danielle & Jill above Lulworth Cove (Top Right) - Jill at Lulworth       (Left) - Paul & Mary Winterburn with "The Editor"   (hanging on to something important!)

TENNIS

No "Hello" would be complete without an interview with an international tennis star.  In this edition we're meeting - guess who? - Jill Quigley - star of Boroughbridge-England and Mojacar-Spain with the odd visit to Wimbledon!

Editor - "Well hello gorgeous, how are you doing in the rankings this season?  Have you been seeded?"

Tennis star - "Ooh! You are saucy!" (Thwack around the head for the editor!) "You know I'm not that sort of girl!"

Editor with back to wall - "Bugger me!  I meant how's your tennis?"

Tennis Star - "Incredible, as usual - I play at least twice a week, either in England or Spain - I won the both the Boroughbridge Ladies and Mixed doubles championship this year, and of course made the Wimbledon finals!"

Editor - "That's funny big shot - I don't remember seeing you on centre Court?"

Tennis Star - "How odd, I definitely remember seeing you sat next to me - mind you I thought you were asleep! .... I know it wasn't very exiting this year, but you did get two finals for the price of one!"

Editor - "Thank you star! - Tennis is so exiting!"

THE BUSINESS

Whilst the building was going on, because it included a new study and library, from where Jill and I would work, business development was a little inhibited.  However, now that we are organised once again we are starting to expand again.  Our business has chiefly been based in Yorkshire, although we do cover from the borders to London.  We have however been a bit thin on the ground outside Yorkshire, so we are now commencing marketing nation-wide, working south and west from Yorkshire.  As already mentioned we are also expanding along the coast of Spain, aiming our product at the 'ex-pat.' market.

The first thing we have done is open up a web site.  This is designed to back up regional advertising by explaining the product AFID.  We are currently spending time and money building up the "AFID" brand awareness - hopefully this will pay off in the long term.  Our policy is to give good value - and hopefully generate volume business - we are around 50% of the price of the majority of our competitors! - So tell your friends!

Take a look at our web site, it is still being developed, but is on its way - www.afid.co.uk

We wish you all a happy, healthy and long millennium