Summary of 2021

 

Dear Friends,

 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

 

Family Matters:

In April my niece Laura gave birth to Sophie Marie, a sister to Connor who is now three.

 

June saw the untimely passing of my dear brother-in-law Steve Farrell (husband of my sister Jo), just eleven weeks after his diagnosis. His last few days were spent in the excellent Strathcarron Hospice, and I would suggest that your local hospice would be a worthy recipient of any spare cash you might have – hospices rely on charitable donations for about 65% of their income.

 

Travel:

Not having left Yorkshire for over 16 months, it was a relief when Covid restrictions eased in mid-May allowing me to travel to Glasgow to support my sister. Despite having had my second jab in mid-April, I was wary of travelling on a crowded train, so for my first two trips I hired a car for a week from Enterprise. This was the first time I had driven a newish car for many years (I gave up my own car in September 2011) and I was amazed at the developments: lights that come on (and dip) automatically; windscreen wipers that sense when it is raining; and if you cross a lane marking without first indicating, either you get a beep or the steering wheel resists your attempt to turn it! For my third trip I took the train to Glasgow and hired a car there from Sixt. Before doing so I had looked at online customer comments, most of which were variations on ‘incompetent cowboys – avoid!’. This would have put me off had I not decided to look also at the customer comments for other car hire firms and discovered that they were all just as bad! The Sixt hire turned out fine, but near the end of my hire week I got ‘pinged’ by the NHS app on account of being close to someone on the train who had subsequently tested positive. I was advised to isolate for four days, so had to postpone my return train journey. The following day I took a PCR test at Milngavie station which thankfully proved negative. For my fourth trip I braved the train again, this time without being pinged. My fifth trip was in September, and the rise of Covid variants persuaded me to hire a car again. My first two hires from Enterprise had cost about £220/week and Sixt had been a bit cheaper, so I was astonished to find that the cheapest quote from Enterprise was now £350. Luckily other firms are available, and I hired from Europcar for £173.

 

Health:

During the year I made 15 visits to eight different medical centres in Leeds (including two vaccination centres). Four of the visits were for intra-ocular injections to treat AMD, and the good news is that the treatment is very successful – my score on the eye test chart has improved and the little bubble that had formed on my retina has disappeared!

 

Following a telephone consultation with a urology surgeon who has never heard of ‘bedside manner’, I paid for a second opinion ‘facemask to facemask’ at the Spire hospital. From a list of six urologists, I chose the one who stated on his CV that he was a keen endurance cyclist. This was a good strategy as he understood my concerns, and as well as the 30 minutes I had paid for we chatted for another ten minutes about cycling!

 

In November I returned to the ENT clinic where 18 months before, a specialist had told me that he could not see the nasal polyps diagnosed by my GP. This time the same specialist pushed his camera a lot further up my nose than before, then said ‘I have to apologise – you do have polyps after all’. It was nice to get an apology, and even better to be told I can have an operation in February.

 

House & Garden:

In July, following months of emails encouraging me to install smart meters, I finally caved in. Unfortunately, when the fitter arrived, he took exception to the wiring for my solar panels. He claimed the wiring was wrong, despite the installation certificate, and aborted the job. Later it transpired that the meters meant for me were used for somewhere else, but they still had my customer number so my supplier’s computer assumed the readings were mine! The supplier is now under ‘special administration’ so I will have to keep a close eye on my bills.

 

Walks:

A good year for walking. As well as regular ‘constitutionals’ starting from home, I went on more than 14 planned walks including the Falls of Clyde and the Whangie, both with my nephew Rory; Conic Hill (overlooking Loch Lomond) with my sister Ged, Strathblane to Mugdock Country Park with my sister Jo; the Campsie Fells including Earls Seat (solo). Back in Yorkshire I enjoyed a solo circular walk from Settle to Victoria Cave, and two walks with ‘The Geezers’ – the first of these was the classic circular from Malham Tarn to Janet’s Foss and back, and I felt elated to still be able to scramble up Gordale Scar, given that my last attempt in 2012 had ended in failure! The most recent Geezers walk was a circular from Addingham on a rather damp day, memorable for our passage through Draughton where our rendition of ‘singing in the rain’ greatly amused the local children!

 

Cycling:

Covid restrictions meant that initially only solo rides were allowed. My first non-solo ride was on 28 February to the Rhubarb Triangle farm shop in Carlton with Andy Gibson. A month later the rules were further relaxed, and our group’s first ride under the new ‘rule of six’ was to Selby on 29 March. I cycled with Leeds Cycling Campaign most Sundays, the longest ride being 130km on 1 August to Thirsk via Easingwold.

 

Visits: 

On 16 September I cycled out to Kirkby Overblow to have lunch with my old schoolfriend Jack McConnochie and his wife Dorothy, who were holidaying near Knaresborough. Twelve days later I took the bus to meet my old friend John Walker and his wife Rosa in their new house in Stanningley.

 

 

Best Wishes

 

Frank Montgomery