Introduction: The Preston Monks

I'm Simon Monk and I though it was about time I got round to introducing myself and the cluster of Monk's that live up here in North West England. I'm Hugh's youngest and Andrew and Tim are my MUCH OLDER brothers.

I have two sons Stephen and Matthew from my marriage to Sue. They live with their mother most of the time about 10 minutes away.

Stephen is 15, and in the guitar and girls stage. He is very keen on his electric guitar, which he plays in a band of his friends http://www.facebook.com/gunstoafistfight. He's in his final year at high school and has been elected house captain and is especially keen on drama - I have no idea where he gets that from.

Matthew (12) is just finishing his first year at high school. He's keen on maths, science and anything technological and is really shining academically.

I have been living with Linda now for 6 years and we plan to get married next summer. Linda has two children, Jonathan (18) who goes off to Liverpool University this year to study English and Clare who is 15.

Linda is an insurance underwriter in Manchester and my day job is with a mobile software company that I co-founded 9 years ago. Recently I have also got into writing books about my hobby of electronics. More details of both can be found here http://www.simonmonk.org

We often have quite a houseful! and this August all six of us plus Stephen and Jonathan's girlfriends are all going to Italy.

Si.

INDIA WAS AMAZING

Of course the Rajasthan is not India but it’s a start.
We arrived in Delhi and visited the usual places, the tomb of Humayun, Qutab Minar (a beautiful sculpted tower), the president’s palace where they were changing the guard (looking just like English guards). Then off to Mandawa where we arrived after a nightmarish drive of 9 hours. Our chauffeur didn’t speak English or French but we gathered he was lost and we went for miles in the dark, on unbelievable roads(the potholes were so deep that it took us 30min to go 5km) All this honking all the while with the beams on highest blinding the people coming the other way! But then we arrived in a palace..all lit up..a fantastic room and were somewhat pacified! I must admit that the other days were fine road wise and that we had a good chauffeur.
Here we visited havelis, wonderful painted houses in several villages and got a feel for rural areas, peaceful little towns, no crowds, lovely weather (around 25°C and sunny) lots of cows, elegant women in colorful saris, garbage on the street but no obvious poverty. Even the women working on the street wear saris.
Our next hotel was even better in Khimsar.
The palaces of maharajas are really incredibly beautiful and refined. What a good thing that a lot of them are hotels and being restored.
Next we left for Jaisalmer, a desert town with another impressive fort, not very far from Pakistan. We heard a lot of planes and saw a lot of army convoys. The specialty in Jaisalmer is havelis covered in the finest sculptured stone, chiseled like lace, breathtaking! We went out to dunes, at Sam, where it’s a daily excursion on camel back for all the tourists to see the sunset.(just call me “Laurence”)It was fun to see all the people out there, mostly Indian.
Then on to Jodhpur (no I didn’t wear any!)Another fabulous fort, at last a “bazaar” Our “local guides” didn’t like to take us to bazaars much, only the big shops where we were always tempted! How many times did we say, ”no buys this time” and of course we did. The craftsmanship is wonderful. The patchworks, the embroidery, the pachminas, the silk, the jewelry etc. The best I’ve seen since Mexico, but finer. Every region has its specialty.
A very pleasant stop in a small town called Rohet, a charming family run hotel. On to visit Jain temples with again amazing fine chiseled sculptures. What refinement! On to Udaipur home of the “Lake Palace», a luxury hotel on an island on the lake only visible by boat. Udaipur would be a nice place to stay for a while. The hotel had a rooftop restaurant, very romantic with view on the lake all lit up. Visit of maharajas palaces in the town, always extraordinary!(I’m running out of superlatives)
On the way to Jaipur we went by Pushkar, known for it’s temples to Brahma (unusual apparently) and it’s “ghat” (cremation area on a lake) overrun by monkeys and pigeons and fake priests. Very touristy and hippyisty.The main temple was closed for a wedding.
Dad was stationed in Jaipur before the war (circa 1937) and knew the maharaja at that time (he called him Jai). The officers were invited by him for meals. I don’t know where the British army was stationed but there is another fabulous fort! But most interesting is “Jantar Mantar” an astronomical observatory built by a maharaja scientist in the 18th century, quite surreal! There is a lot to see in Jaipur!
Finally on to Agra, the Red Fort, the palace and of course the TAJ MAHAL. We were very impressed by the beauty of this monument. You see so many photos etc. that it seems a cliché, maybe it is, but it’s one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen! Back to Delhi where it had rained and the streets were all mucky and a flight at 1h45A.M.
We loved the whole trip which I have only given a partial account of, even the amazing traffic. For instance on the way to Delhi you have a real autoroute, two lanes each way and a partition in the middle. BUT you may meet a camel and cart, or a donkey, or a horse, or cows, or a herd of buffaloes, or people crossing over, or coming the other way towards you, not to mention thousands of overloaded trucks belching black smoke, tuctucs carrying 20 people (no exaggeration), bicycles with huge loads and no one uses the slow lane and everyone honks all the time. It’s fascinating! Imagine what it’s like on a road with just a strip of concrete wide enough for one car and huge potholes on each side…we did it and survived (as I said we had a seasoned chauffeur).
What impressed me too is the elegance of the Indian women in their saris or tunics and pants, mostly all slim (unlike the European tourists) and the wonderful colors! Also the refinement of the architecture, decoration and arts of the forts and palaces. I hope we will go back!

As the snow has now properly reached Anglesey, such that I am not able to go to work, I can finally put finger to keyboard and get the Christmas letter written, sent in Christmas cards AND posted on the blog. Since I started writing this last week, we’ve had 20cms of snow on Anglesey, a place where we never get snow because we’re too close to the sea! There was even snow on the beach right up to the waterline and glorious clear blue skies to go with it. We have even been out on cross-country skis (hopefully I will post some photos to go with this) and I had a very brief go but had to resist properly, having only just had new joints this year! Temperatures went as slow as -14 degrees 2 days ago, as well! Apparently Lapland (where a colleague has just been) was only -15. And we had more snow last night (21st) to add to what’s still there. Roads are less clear this time round but the sun is shining. In fact the only day it wasn’t clear skies was the night of the eclipse of the moon - typical.


This year has been somewhat dominated by my operations – new hip in January followed 6 months later by a (2nd) new knee in August. I have recovered well and quickly from both but realise that the knee will take a while longer before it truly feels natural and pain-free. Paul, as ever, has been a wonderful nursemaid – I don’t know how other patients manage without one to cosset, feed and boost flagging morale. He will no doubt be relieved that I have no plans to repeat the experiences for a very long time.

It was very sad for all the Griffiths that Paul’s Mum died in May after a few difficult weeks in hospital. We did however give her the most wonderful send-off in a cardboard coffin decorated with bluebells, something that Kate had arranged, much to everyone’s surprise. The secular and very personal service was equally appropriate and would have raised a smile for the guest of honour had she been there. In September, we had a second gathering in Dolgellau to scatter the ashes on Granny Wales’ mountain behind her old house in Dinas Mawddwy. My unintended choice of eccentric house and owners was thought very apposite and reminded us all of Granny’s home in Wales.

Some other significant news of the year is that James has been in Suzhou, China (near Shanghai) since July on a working exchange programme organised by Liverpool University. He is having a great time out there, slightly tempered by the fact that the company he is working for, have hardly any work for him to do as their Graphics Designer. Unfortunately, it seems to have confirmed his determination to avoid working for a living, his ambition now being to marry a doctor and become a writer! Meanwhile, he is learning Mandarin and enjoying the company of new friends.  He was relieved to find Suzhou is commercially astute enough to have Christmas trimmings even if the Chinese take no time off. He is going to Hong Kong for New Year to meet up with a Uni friend to enjoy more festive times. We meanwhile hope to not feel his absence too much for our own celebrations at home. Assuming everything goes to plan, he returns early summer to embark on his final year of Law.

Emma’s news is that she has landed herself the perfect job with Conwy council, working as a social worker for the Flying Start project (similar to SureStart) in a preventative role with families of 0-4 year olds.  Both she and Rich now work for Conwy and have dallied with the idea of buying a house along the coast but I think most recently are feeling that they would prefer to commute and live on or near Anglesey.  In the meanwhile, we are lucky to continue to have them as very well behaved tenants in our house in Menai Bridge.

Paul (and I but to a lesser extent) has been very busy getting the old dairy ready to let out for holiday lets (www.stickcottage.co.uk) and we have had a very satisfying first season with reassuring feedback and plenty of happy customers.  We are gearing up to a couple coming over Christmas, which will be fun and then hope to have lots of bookings pouring in for 2011.  Indeed, we have found it works so well that we are now planning long-term to move to Menai Bridge and let out Tyn Rardd as a second holiday house.  

Anglesey Stick in festive mood

Paul’s paddle-making business continues to attract customers but he is frustrated that his new product, the Anglesey Wobbler, has not had more appeal as a Christmas present.  He has decided to make another strip cedar deck sea-kayak in the hopes of promoting it at shows next year.  And when he isn’t earning money in all these numerous ways, he has been dividing off our building plot which, despite being on the market for 6 months, has not had a peep of interest.  We are now delineating the boundaries, in the hopes that prospective buyers will see more clearly what they are getting for their money.  Meanwhile I am propagating 50+ cuttings to grow a hedge next spring along the boundary fence. 

As for me, in between operations, I have been building websites and doing all things admin and marketing for the various strands of our businesses.  And when I can, I have been working as a relief secretary at the hospital.  I am currently working in Paediatrics, which is a very nice department.  My advocacy work also continues as occasional evening work as well, something I much enjoy.

Isabelle, James, Paul, Phoebe, Dad, Rich
Emma, Catherine, Mum

Mum and Dad continue to be remarkably healthy and thoroughly enjoy all the company they can get.  Dad has made an amazing recovery since summer 2009 and if it weren’t for his crumbling back and eyesight, he would be fitter than the rest of us.  He has gone from double carers twice a day to one carer 3 times a week. He is limited with his mobility but still makes himself do lengths up and down the ‘promenade’ using the wheelie-walker that social services have supplied, amongst many other aids.  We have been so impressed with the level of NHS community care poured on them and have been very fortunate to find a care agency with exceptional staff, who cannot do enough for my parents.  It is a great relief for us and Mum to have this reliable backup.  Christmas last year at their house went amazingly well and really was very special, even though the village was buried under thick ice and snow.  Mum was completely relaxed about other people taking over her kitchen and we even managed to organise the dining table to make a comfortable festive dinner at one end of their ‘bedroom’.  Some of us joined the annual Christmas Eve torchlight procession and carol singing round a bonfire, which is now attended by literally thousands of people and is great fun.  Isabelle and Phoebe seemed pleased to have family with whom to spend Christmas and even managed a Skype call to Charles and Liz in Australia (courtesy of the neighbour’s wi-fi!).

Emma, Shasha, Oliver

Mum and Dad have been so fit in recent months that they even made it to a wonderful family party in early December to welcome my nephew, Oliver’s wife, Shasha, into the family.  You may remember from last year’s letter that this was one of the many weddings of 2009 and this was the first time Shasha had left China.  We were all thrilled and impressed at how acclimatised and relaxed she was surrounded by 50 guests, all clamouring to meet her.  Charles and Liz laid on a lovely do in a local hall, decked out with winter greenery and even a huge real Christmas tree.  This will be the first Christmas for many years that C+L have had all their family together again and Isabelle and Phoebe are no longer orphaned.

Holidays didn’t feature greatly this year, what with operations and being new to cottage letting, but we did manage a short break (courtesy of Tesco Clubcard) in Buxton, staying in the grand Palace Hotel in town.  Thanks to my brazen ways, we managed to get upgraded to one of their premium rooms with a glorious view over the town towards the hills and free drinks, as I had the temerity to point out things were not quite up to scratch!  As a result we thoroughly enjoyed the luxury and revisited our favourite haunts in Derbyshire.  Emma and Rich managed to get to Gentle Jane again this year and even visited Ted in Kent too, putting Paul and I to shame for not having made the trip down to that corner of England in a very long while.  Needless to say, I have managed only one kayaking trip between operations but Paul, Emma and Rich have enjoyed as many as they can fit in around working for a living, the most recent being in November (brhhh) when our friend Rod was over from Milos.

Happy Christmas from Emma, Rich,
Catherine and Paul

I do hope you all have a good Christmas and happy New Year (in spite of the gloomy predictions of this sorry government).  Remember to enjoy the snow too!  With love from Catherine and all the Griffiths of Anglesey.

Monk News December 2010

Read all about it! 
Andrew Monk family branch news available at link below. 
When you get there ignore the unrealistically young looking photo and scroll down to the very end of the page. Click on the link to download.

            http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~am1/

Bangkok et le Laos Mars 2010

I just got back from Bangkok and Laos . I stayed with a nephew in Bangkok,he has been working there for 20 years so I had a good guide. It's an amazing city,a contrast between ulta modern skyscrapers and poor areas and all very active and busy. I loved the boat rides on the "water taxi" and on the Chao Phraya river, not to mention Chinatown at night, the splendid Wats, the little markets eveywhere and the weather!

Then François joined me and we left for a tour in Laos. We had an exciting time going down the Mekong for 2 days.

There wasn't enough water on the first day for a proper boat so we took a "speed boat",a canoe propelled by a car engine and canisters of gaz and skimmed along. The second day we had a "traditional boat",a sort of barge for the two of us and our guide and had a lovely 10 hr sail to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is a nice quiet town,interesting temples,good markets,friendly people.

The thing is you are in a thin smoky atmosphere all the time because of the fields being burnt before planting at the rainy season. Great patches of mountain are logged and burnt every year. Not good for views!

Then on to Vang Vieng across mountains on a very twisty road. Vang Vieng was full of stoned young americans with painted legs who go there to do rafting and tubbing and who watch "Friends" in the bars! Very strange!

And finally the capital Vientiane,also beautiful temples and people with an attitude as every good capital should have.

Now we are back in Paris in the cold and damp as I expect you all are too.

Charles Monk - family intro

Hi Monks etc

This is Charles [Charlie] Monk, eldest son of James and Diana. As already pointed out by my sister Catherine in her entry I am: “(b.1952), married to Liz
Children: Oliver (b.1982), Isabelle (b.1985), Phoebe (b.1987)”.

Liz and I are currently on a circuit of the globe for 8 months having decided not to wait until retirement age before we enjoy a bit of freedom and now that all our children have (for the moment) finished their full time education. We left UK at the end of Sept 2009 and have been spending the main part of the time based with Liz’s cousin in Castlemaine, Central Victoria, Australia, where we are now. If you want to see [much] more detail see www.monks-retreat.blogspot.com .

We started the trip with a visit to China where Oliver now has his first architecture job in Shanghai, currently one of the few places in the world where new architects are still needed. He worked there as a student in 2006 And met Shasha, kept up with her after he left, and went back when he qualified last year. Not long after that they decided to get married, 

so we were able to start our sabbatical by celebrating their wedding in the village where Shasha’s parents live. An amazing experience - also described in our blog. (http://monks-retreat.blogspot.com/2009/10/update-wedding-etc.html photos added later at http://monks-retreat.blogspot.com/2009/11/photos-oliver-and-shashas-wedding.html ).

We will be returning to UK via Vancouver amongst other places and are looking forward to meeting up with some of the MacLeod contingent in Salt Spring Island.

Liz and I were previously living near Eastleigh, Hampshire where I am assured I still have a job to go back to in May as a project manager for a Siemens r&d centre, dealing mainly with communications systems and equipment development. Liz was working as a carer in the community, but would like to get back to more artistic or creative activities when we return. We have rented out our house while we are travelling and plan to rent a smaller place nearer to where I work near Romsey when we get back, preferably with more of a community nearby.

Isabelle (left) has just completed an MA in human rights and is now doing internships in London which will hopefully lead to full employment in due course. Phoebe (right) has just completed a degree in Philosophy and working in Wales whilst considering options for the future. It is hard for both the girls to be job seekers just at this time.

We look forward to hearing more about you all in due course.

This is Tim Monk, second son of Hugh and Anne, brother to Andrew and Simon, and father to Dave. As noted by Andrew, my wife of 37 years Fran and I now live on a 90 acre farm in Western Pennsylvania. We moved here in 1997 when Dave went off to University. We have 19 angora goats, one llama, six hens, one cat and two dogs. I still work at the University of Pittsburgh where I am Professor of Psychiatry, but fortunately can electronically commute much of the time. Here is a 34sec. movie of our Pennsylvania winter on the farm.