2020 Our Year In Pictures

I don't need to tell anyone what a year it's been. 

I just realised that I haven't written a blog since October. So I thought I'd end the year with a summary in photos.  

January 

Life was good and we were carrying on as usual enjoying trips to London with friends. 

Come From Away , the wonderful musical was followed by cocktails and a visit to the Gaugin Exhibition at The National Gallery

Mamma Mia The Party At The O2 Was A Fabulous Night Out

First treasure find of the year - 18th c Meissen sugar bowl in a box of junk

February

We were all still oblivious to what lay ahead and had a lovely trip to London with daughter Sarah and our Scottish grandchildren.

The Science Museum was a highlight for them.

Just a few days later we took the Kent grandchildren to Whitstable for a break

They picked up this stone with an ominously prescient message 

This Sevres tureenand these fabulous porcelain plates bought for a few pounds were a big success on eBay

March

Mum came to visit

The best find of the year turned up at auction for £28 and, after a few months spent identifying it, went on to sell on eBay for £900

We went to Scotland to the caravan to visit the family but couldn't see them as Melody had a cough and the virus was just starting to take hold. So, within three days we headed back home.

Instead of the dinner at The Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews, Marion celebrated a major birthday with a pizza I cooked for her back in Framlingham.

And lockdown began.

We welcomed Jay and his online Pub Quiz into our house for the first time, little knowing that he would still be a regular feature in December. 

No gym meant no more of Alastair's classes at the college and, instead, Fitness Blender on YouTube was to become a daily routine.

A list of chores started with cleaning the garage.

It was amazing how many spiders had taken up residence.

Next job was cleaning my garden office

Poor Mum had a nasty fall back in Spain and ended up in hospital

April

Framlingham took the crisis very seriously. We started a neighbourhood WhatsApp group for our road.

I started taking an online iPhone photography course

Painting the office became the next job on the list.

That was a job I came to regret as I suffered a recurrence of the slipped disc that laid me low for much of 2019.

May

Thank goodness for the lockdown weather

The photo course continued

And the glorious weather continued too

June

We got out of the house and drove a huge 16 miles to Ramsholt 

No new clothes for Marion but at least she got a designer face mask

Further progress with the photo course

July

Mum paid us another visit

A small ray of light amongst all the darkness

A little visitor

A bigger one

Nature red in tooth and claw as we lost our favourite blackbird

Lockdown hair

August 

We lost our dear friend and neighbour David

On a happier note our Kent family visited for a couple of days

The long hot summer continued and we managed to get to Snape

September 

Granddaughter Melody turned seven

We managed to spend a few days in Scotland and see the family 

More photo experiments

Granddaughter Rose the bookworm

Best eBay buy of the month. 18th century delftware plates

October

All set for another grandchildren's visit. It didn't happen due to chickenpox.

Marion did some weeding!!!

The lockdown eBay hobby turns into a business

November 

A beautiful auction buy that sold well on eBay

Bought on eBay for £8.50 

Paid £84 to get it here but already sold a bit of it for £321 and got twenty pieces left

December

First cold snap of winter

Christmas tree up at the end of November

It's infested with bugs so it's down again in no time

Stripped of its decorations

Latest eBay buy - Lomonosov porcelain jug

Two fabulous auction buys

The tree is back up now

Have a wonderful Christmas if you can

And best wishes for 2021.