Monday swimming

Last Monday swim before Xmas - mainly larking about but a very swift 25 m was on display - so not bad at ll

2006 and all that

Well this has a been slightly less dramatic year than 2005, although not without its' own excitements. However, most importanly I got a clean bill of health after last year's scare, although I am still on a standard range of medications for blood pressure and chloesterol and are part of a normal post heart-attack regime.

On a more mundane front, the highlight of the year was to spend the whole of March in Australia with the Jersey Commonwealth Games team. To say it was a truly fantastic experience would be an understatement. I had the time of my sporting life, and if you are interested in seeing what I got up to have a look at my blog or the official Jersey Triathlon blog JTC. I managed to meet a whole range of individuals which included the odd member of the royal family and several Olympic gold medallists. All in all a once in a life-time experience which made all the time spent at the interminable meetings I had attended over the previous four years worthwhile.

Fina was left to look after the family, and coped admirably as always. Fortunately, I've managed to be able to take her away for a number of breaks over the year and we've had weekends in London and Edinburgh. In the summer we cruised the eastern mediterranean, departing from Venice on a glorious summer's evening. A truly breathtaking experience which rewarded us for our slightly unconventional route to Venice which included: a boat-trip to St Malo; train to Paris and 2 incredibly hot days there; a flight Paris to Venice; and 2 more hot days before joining the cruise. What made the cruise particularly interesting was that we had chosen an Italian cruise liner, which was lots of fun and made us feel we were on a little bit of Italy as we steamed round the Adriatic. We really enjoyed the cruise and would recommend it for the combination of excellent service and the ever changing scenery.

As for Millie, she is no longer my little girl as she now attends secondary school. She has had another successful sporting year reaching national finals in 6-a-side soccer competition; regional finals for cricket; captained the Island's U11 netball team and is now being fast-tracked into the local netball academy. The other day we were in town and I wondered where my little girl had gone as she was trying on ladies sized clothes. Indeed, she's even trying to educate me and attempt to change my dress sense, as I am not allowed to go out with her in town unless I look at least presentable.

Pippa will soon be returning to Jersey after her three and a bit years at Oxford Brookes University. She spent the summer at home, living here with boyfriend Ali. Given the amoutn of time they spent in the house, we had a very pleasant summer and celebrated both their 21st birthdays. They'll be back here soon for a prolonged stay, before they can find work and their own living accommodation ( a flat for them is all I want for Xmas!!!)

One of the best things I've been able to do this year is meet up with lots of old friends, so if we haven't been able to meet up let's try and make it happen in 2007.

Finally, Fina, Amelia, Pippa and myself wish you all a merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The season's greetings

Welcome to the Jones family blog and christmas greetings
I know many of us get and receive Christmas family newsletters, and for some people they are part of Christmas and for others .... well the less said the better. So rather than send you a the traditional newsletter, I thought we would try something different with this blog. Bottom line is, if you want to find out what we've been up to you can, and you can send instant feedback and maybe start a dialogue which lasts all year rather than just an exchange of pleasantries at Xmas. On the other hand, if you are not interested then you've probably not even got this far.

Our individual blog pages will be available as we approach Christmas and the New Year, with the all our individual sections being posed by the beginning of December.

Anyway if you are reading this Fina, Pippa and Amelia and myself all hope you are having a great Xmas and New Year. I hope you've been to at least one Xmas do, where you have completely disgraced yourself through over indulgence, and have danced the 'funky chicken' if not worst. Yet, I hope the revelries were restrained enough so that you will not end up in either the Magistrates or Divorce Courts.

Have a great time and I hope you get some great presents, though most of I hope you just have a great time and enjoy the moments (see my section for why I'm so mellow)

But before you read the rest of this blog have a look at this to see what too much spare time can lead you to doing.

Millie's year

Well not including the shock of my dad having a heart attack, I have had a reasonably good year! I have been very successful in my sport and as well as school. In early June I competed in the island championships and from, that became island champion of 75m sprints, I also came 3rd in 55m hurdles, 3rd in High jump and 4th in Long jump I also ran on the last leg of my school relay team, and we came 3rd. Following that success I was invited to compete in the Channel Islands competition which was hosted in jersey and became 60m sprint channel Island champion for under 11's, jersey also won that competition! Could you believe three days before that competition I was pouring my heart out next to my Dad's bed in complete and utter shock. Then in September I again competed in an end of season championships again against Guernsey, and also was successful in that, as I broke the record which was 9 seconds flat and lowered that to 8.9 seconds, I also was awarded the girl of the summer season trophy. I also have been successful with my swimming and netball, as I have just recently been selected for the island netball team!

I am also looking forward to starting secondary school in September and meeting new people as I start at J.C.G.

But at the moment I am still at J.C.G. Prep currently in Year 6, and still swimming, running, playing netball and Football, playing piano, and some how keeping up with my school work!

Fina's year

As you can see from Millie's and Gary's posts, I have had a busy year, so busy in fact that Gary's had to end up writing this. To say Fina's year has been unusual is to say the least. Fina was absolutley magnificent when I was ill, there's not many wives who are with their husband when they have a heart attack in A&E, and what was most impressive was that she kept it together throughout my time in hospital. She could not have been stronger or more caring during that time, the only time she really got upset was when I went on my one man consumer spending spree in the summer, as I didn't see the point of waiting for Christmas.

That said we had a really great summer, taking advantage of this lovely Island that we live on, and Fina had a well deserved break in November when we went to Gran Canaria for a week. Hopefully, we'll be able to have a relaxing Christmas as we'll be spending a week in Hereford, before we have a weekend in London in early January.

Gary's year

Well what can we say, other than in the summer had a series of adventures with young women in uniform. Seriously though for those who did not hear on the grapevine, I had a heart attack in June. A bit of a shock to say the least, fortunately it happened in A&E, so got away with next to no damage to the heart. I subsequently had an angioplasny procedure, which led a couple of bits of metal being inserted into a coronary artery. So now I'm fully recovered and back at work. Ironically, we had one of our best summers, with the good weather allowing us to make the most of this lovely island we live on, doing loads of touristy things. We were also able to get away for a break to Gran Canaria in early November. Indeed before my heart attack we'd been able to have a week in Majorca plus a weekend in Rome, so things can't be bad.

Anyway, hopefully 2006 will be just as interesting but not as dramatic. In March I hope to be off to Melbourne and the Commonwealth Games, where I will be manager of the Jersey Triathlon Team. So look out for me at the opening ceremony and the triathlon is on Saturday 18 March .

Hope all is well with you and your families, and that if we haven't met for a while we can somehow make it this year. Indeed, let's make it this year - as you never know what is around the corner.