New Lease on Life
Following Irene's great medical news, Irene and Peter felt that they had been given a new lease on life.They decided to upgrade Snowy, including rust work and a respray.
In other news, whilst at a tea dance, Fred met Pam, and it was love at first dance.
They married in January 1994, later moving into a lovely double mobile home in Hamble Park.
The six of us used to meet up regularly for dinner parties.
As they were walking around in wide-eyed amazement, they were approached by a drug dealer who offered to sell them a variety of drugs! After they politely declined he wandered off! 8)
The highlight of the visit was a cheese and wine tasting party in a narrow boat as they cruised around the canals.
In May 1995, much to Peter's delight, his contract was transferred from IBM Havant to IBM Hursley.
At this time, Peter got an opportunity to work from home writing embedded software for Symbol handheld, laser-based, bar code scanners.
For their Summer holiday, Irene and Peter thought that they would try a motorhome (which Peter could just about manage to drive) for a holiday in the Peak District.
At one point, Peter spotted a (very heavy) rock that looked perfect for their rockery and proceeded to drag it into the motorhome! 8)
Peter left IBM Hursley in November 1995 and started a new contract at Banctec in Maidenhead shortly thereafter.
Fred and Pam didn't normally join us, but we decided to give it a go.
 1995 Hilton Irene Peter_384x512.jpg)
 1995 Hilton Irene Pam_512x384.jpg)
To start the adventure off, Peter booked afternoon tea at The Ritz!
Next day, the intrepid pair set off for Sydney. However, the 23 hour direct flight was excrutiating with only a one hour stop to re-fuel!
On arrival, the accomodation that they had booked turned out to be a bit of a 'pit', so they got cleaning supplies from Woolies and set about making it habitable!
Their first visit was to the David Jones department store, where they were pleased to note that their favourite eating places were still there-including the basement coffee bar.
Friday nights were always fish, chips and Chardonnay, so they headed off to Doyles for great food in a fabulous location.
Autumn (our Spring) in Sydney could produce sudden short, sharp torrential downpours and during one such event Irene and Peter dived into a shop to avoid the rain.
This was the first time that they experienced Aussie advertising, as a loud strident voice informed them that they'd "NEVER PAY FULL PRICE, AGAIN!!" Hilarious! 8)
Apparently for their convenience, Paddy's Market had moved from Flemington (in the suburbs) to a plot near to Chinatown in the city.
They also revisited Irene's favourite Queen Victoria Building (QVB), Manly beach and the revolving restaurants.
One place that they had wanted to visit whilst Peter was working in Sydney was Perth in Western Australia. Turned out it was only a short flight from Sydney, so they hopped over for a visit.
After another awful non-stop flight back to the UK, they vowed to save up for longer, rather than ever fly "Cattle Class" again on a long-haul flight!
On returning from Sydney, Peter got a contract with Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. This meant living away in Edinburgh over the Summer and the Festival! 8)
Irene and Peter finally managed to find a nice flat for rent in the West of the city and proceeded to load up a hire car with six months worth of posessions and drive 440 miles to Edinburgh (staying with family in Lancashire to break up the journey)
In those days, British Airways did a direct flight from Southampton to Edinburgh which took around an hour (they still managed to provide a meal, though!) so I&P came back home on a regular basis for a visit!
Peter had always wanted to learn object-oriented programming and Napier University were doing low cost, C++ courses so Peter attended an evening course...
Of an evening they were visited by "tinnies" (discarded beer cans) rattling along the road, blown by the wind.
However, they could find no sign of them by morning!
Whilst Peter was at work, Irene used to drop in at what she called the "aussie cafe" on her walk into town.
In early July, Debbie and Mark flew to Edinburgh for a weekend visit and in addition to city sightseeing, Peter hired a car and they went off for a tour around the stunning Scottish scenery!
Edinburgh is a really interesting place to be, particularly during August when they put on the Festival. There is always something going on somewhere.
At the conclusion of the Festival, they put on a fireworks display and Irene and Peter got a great view for free from their apartment! 8)
In the middle of August, they decided to have a weekend break away and chose the stunning Lake District.
On another occasion in early September they took a Sunday drive around the Highlands.
During another visit home in late September, they went to a dinner dance at the Riverside restaurant (now called Little Canton) in Burseldon with Debbie and Mark.
After looking around for a new contract, Peter was lucky enough to get in at IBM Hursley, writing code to test a brand new object-oriented language called Java!
On Valentines Day 1997, Peter took Irene to London for a weekend break.
They were big fans of Agatha Christie plays, but had never seen The Mousetrap, so they gave it a go!
Sandy next door was always extolling the virtues of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, so over Easter Irene and Peter decided to check it out.
Lovely spa town on the edge of The Cotswolds with a lot of intact Regency architecture. They both loved the place!
Debbie and Mark rescued a kitten in the eighties and named her Pepsi!
On one occasion, they were looking all over for her (including outside) to no avail.
They were getting really worried, when she came flouncing down the stairs as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!
Irene and Peter loved Paris and towards the end of April, they visited there for a long weekend break from Friday to Sunday.
They arrived late afternoon on Friday to a chilled bottle of champagne in their hotel room!
Following which, they "floated" off down the Champs Elysees to a great litle pizza restaurant that they had found.
On Saturday, they did the city tour on an "open-necked bus" followed by a late show at The Lido.
The following day, they climbed up to Montmartre to watch the artists at work and came back down on Pepe's Train!
On 1st May, after eighteen years of Tory government, Labour got into power with a landslide victory!
Directly following this, Peter's contract at Hursley came to an end. However, he left with very rare skills that enabled him to get more interesting and lucrative contracts as a "Java Guru" 8)
His next Java contract was with Cap Gemini (a software house) working in Sunbury. At the interview, the manager asked Peter when he could start and he responded "Immediately!", so he spent the rest of the day coding! 8)
Towards the end of August, Irene and Peter decided to return to Edinburgh for a week's holiday. It was great to revisit the city.
In early October, Peter landed a prestigious contract with Reuters in the City of London! However this meant commuting from Farthings, including playing "Sardines" on "The Drain" (a fast, single stop tube ride from Waterloo to Bank) followed by a twenty minute walk to Reuters!
After a month of this, Irene and Peter decided to rent an apartment in Upper Berkeley Street which provided a much easier commute by tube!
Irene loved an ice show and they used to go to Brighton in January to see their splendid performance.
However, Wembley arena also put on an ice show, so in early January 1998, they decided to give it a go. Quite spectacular! 8)
Towards the end of January, to avoid the cold weather, Irene and Peter jetted off to Tenerife for a winter getaway!
Whilst they were still living in London, they decided to see Beauty and the Beast, which was a spectacular show!
On another occasion, they went to the London Waldorf in the Strand for a champagne and jazz Sunday brunch!
Towards the end of March, Irene and Peter moved their personal stuff into what Irene called "The Little House" in the centre of Winchester.
The following weekend, they moved in and Peter commuted to Reuters from Winchester.
July was also changeover time as Peter's contract with Reuters came to an end.
The next Java contract was working for Newcourt Financial Services at their Bristol and London sites
In the week before Christmas, Irene and Peter were invited to a party at the house next door and were surprised to learn that the owner was an airline pilot!
Winchester Cathedral has an annual carol service just before Christmas and since Pam and Fred expressed an interest, the four of us went along. The cathedral is quite spectacular!
Irene and Peter loved to wander round Soho, where they found their favourite Indian retaurant-the Delhi Brasserie! After many visits, the manager got to know them and even knew exactly what they wanted, even down to their choice of wine! On one occasion, they had not been there for a meal for a few years, but the manager spotted Irene, gave them a great table and proceeded to list their meal preferences. Amazing! 8)
Since the DVLC was closed, they decided to take a (long) taxi ride from Cork airport to the hotel and collect the hire car when Peter's license was verified!
When they finally arrived at the hotel, they were amazed to see a fireplace in the foyer!
After all the aggravation, Irene and Peter headed for the bar. Irene ordered her favourite white wine and Peter had the best pint of Guiness, ever! 8)
The hotel is in a stunning location near the Ring of Kerry.
During a walkabout in the town, Irene spotted a coach and horses and they went for a ride. The driver never stopped talking-he must have kissed the Blarney Stone! 8)
For Irene's birthday, Peter got a weekend deal to stay in the "Marie Antoinette Suite" at The Ritz in London! The package included dinner, bed and breakfast with a bottle of chilled champagne in the room on arrival! 8)
The dinner, being Nouvelle Cuisine was a little underwhelming, but the breakfast was excellent! 8)
The users were very impressed by Peter's screen demonstration with numerous Itchy and Scratchy images hitting each other in the background! 8)
To cut down on commuting, Irene and Peter moved into an apartment on Portman Street in Marylebone that was about 100 yards from Selfridges and M&S, delighting Irene! 8)
In September, Peter's mum came down to London for a visit and Irene and Peter took her to see The Importance of Being Earnest.
Towards the end of October, Irene and Peter treated Debbie, Mark, Fred and Pam to afternoon tea at The Ritz followed by Beauty and the Beast in London for Debbie's special birthday!
