2008
The start of the financial crisis. Not a great time to be employed in the City, although fortunately neither of us was at risk of losing our jobs. The year that Fidel Castro stepped down after 50 years in power.
This was the year we began to reconsider our future. We loved living in Steve and Ian’s magnificent home in Dalston, but were aware that it was a temporary arrangement and that when they returned in 2009, it would be a huge shock going back to living in a poky city appartment. And so we began to talk about the idea of a year off somewhere to escape the madness.
In April, Steve & Ian had another wedding (well, a civil partnership). As they’d already had one ceremony they decided to do something a bit more low key this time. So it was black tie for 150 at Woburn Abbey.
June was another double-whammy of concerts with two nights of Radiohead at Victoria park, just down the road from us. A couple weeks later we saw Joe Jackson at Cadogan Hall, West London.
We also travelled a fair bit, beginning with Amsterdam in March for my birthday. Gerald joined us and he and Matt took an additional trip (mushrooms) that left them useless giggling wrecks for a day.
In May we headed to the Dordogne with Jan. It was Matt’s first time, and a nostalgic experience for Will, being his first time back there as an adult. We tracked down Will’s old house in St Felix and his primary school in Pressignac.
In July we returned to America to see the family in Minneapolis for what would turn out to be our last trip to the lake together. From there we headed to Massachusetts where we acquired huge hangovers in Boston, just in time to take a choppy, vomit-inducing crossing to Cape Cod where Will got to experience Province Town.
We ended the year of travel with an October trip to visit Andrew & Tony in their gorgeous new home in Valencia, stopping by Madrid en route home.
