HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY, WASSAIL!
Well! What a year it’s been for the Virtue Family!
Firstly Poppy.
Poppy and the Twins are thriving, it was a bit cramped at first, but then we moved my father and mother out of the Granny flat, and they all fitted in just beautifully! For those of you that want to know, Phil and Doris seemed to have eventually settled right in at the Home, they always seemed pleased to see us when we can get there, and there are often tears when we leave! Of course we don’t get to see them as often as we would like, but as Margaret says they’re probably not in any condition to notice. Thank God she got them to sign the trust forms all those years ago!
Poppy had a wonderful time cheerleading at the Olympics, she was very popular, especially with the East European teams, and indeed she must have been, because she sometimes didn’t get back until three or four in the morning. What a dedicated little Games Maker she was! Of course while she was away this meant that Granny and Grandpa had lots of time to bond with their Grandchildren. Believe me it came as quite a wrench to hand them back to Poppy, but then term started, and back they were!
GCSE’s this summer, what a lot she’s already crammed in to her life, sometimes I’m quite envious!
Jeremy.
As most of you know, Jeremy was a little troubled last year, and had to drop out of the University of Buckingham, but he has bounced back and is expected to be out of the Priory by Christmas, Marvellous News! Bye-the-bye, if any of you want to write or send a card to Jeremy, please remember he’s now calling himself Gemmy. This may seem strange to some of you, but it’s the compromise recommended by the counsellor after Margaret felt that she couldn’t cope with Gemma, as she said, “It’s all very well to have to cope with one diva in the house [Poppy], but two is one too many!” We laughed quite a bit at that one! Ha ha! Ah well, boys will be b……….
Now, sad news. Pluto had to be put to sleep. Margaret said that with her back she couldn’t re-plant all the bulbs he would keep digging up. What an enthusiastic digger he was, dig, dig, dig like there was no tomorrow, and after last Friday, there wasn’t! Still, I’m sure the display of early spring flowers will easily dispel the guilt!
Close friends will have sensed a bit of tension in the air over that last few months, but I’m happy to report that whatever “Marital Difficulties” Margaret and I were having are now firmly behind us, who would have thought that all that tension could be eased by us taking up ……..HOBBIES! Yes, I now spend the weekend painting in my studio (AKA the shed!) and Margaret spends her time entertaining a veritable cornucopia of potential clients for her lingerie franchise, in fact, quite shockingly I sometimes find her swanning about the house in a state of , dare I say it, deshabille , but then I realise that she’s just modelling some of her frillies for a franchisee.
Well, I think that’s our news, so:
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year
Alan Virtue and Family
