Conrad and Donna Stevens Latest

WHAT's NEW? (This page was last updated on 21st December 2008)

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		What's Happening? This page is a few things about what we are up to nowadays. Where we are. What we are doing. Some recent pictures. This year has both given us a life in the family and taken one. We began 2008 in California with some of Donna's family and friends. Simi Valley in the north of Los Angeles. While staying in LA we also visited the beautiful San Francisco, the formidable prison on Alcatraz and the impressive Las Vegas. In LA we saw Hollywood, the observatory at Griffith Park and Ronald Regan's former home, complete with a step inside the former Airforce One. Crossing the Mojabi desert to Las Vegas and flying over the Grand Canyon showed me scenery I have never seen before, while the Napa Valley vinyards looked distinctly European. Donna's friend Andrew gave us an interesting guided tour of a US Navy warship, the USS Boxer in San Diegoon which he works. Conrad continued to work at the Leigh Technology Academy in Dartford, moving into an amazing new building. Meanwhile Donna started full time at the Wyvern School in Ashford; a school for children with special needs. She also completed her course in British sign language. My brother Jason and Wendy had a baby girl Emily Brooke on 27th February and we went to her christening in July. Other brother, Paul continued living in Hinkley with Sooz and Jude where he moved late in 2007. Donna visited California again in April for a friend's wedding. We got a new car that was soon rear-ended by a 4-wheel-drive. The bonus of a new Jaguar as a courtesey car took the sting off a little but it did look a bit out of place when we pulled it onto the campsite during a few days camping in the Lake District. The Girls Aloud concert we saw was OK but the Kylie Minogue concert was excellent, to my surprise. Donna ended the year witha trip to the Philippines to see family and for Sheryl and Boggs' church wedding. Congratulations to you both. Unfortunately, despite the good times of the year, 2008 has been overshadowed by the death of Dad. He was diagnosed with colon cancer after a routine screen and the tumour was successfully removed by surgery. Although there was no cancer still detectable, Dad decided to undergo a course of chemotherapy after this to kill of any that was still lurking. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse soon after the chemo started and side effects killed him. Click here for a web page in his memory Here are some links for information about colon cancer and a scientfic review about the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
		2007 We were in Portugal for New Year 2007 with Richard and Josie. Generally Conrad was kept busy with teacher training, being placed in schools in Chatham and Sittingbourne. However, we still had time to spend a week in northern Spain driving from Bilbao to Barcelona and back. Donna also had a few days in Rome with Tee after Tee's graduation in the Albert Hall. Donna resigned from P+O and in August we spent a week in Rhodes, Greece. The end of August sees Conrad beginning a new job and new career teaching science in a school in Dartford (east of London).
		2006 started with our second wedding and the associated holiday in the Philippines. Big and beautiful in Baguio. Donna got herself a job in the offices of P and O Ferries and Conrad, recently temping and tutoring, began training to be a Science Teacher at Canterbury Christ Church University. Some visits, most notably Mom and Dad's 40th Wedding Anniversary and Mom's 60th Birthday, both on 4th June. A large kidney stone required that Conrad had surgery for the first time in his life but we are both fine now. The rest, below, comes in chronical reverse order. Most recent first. CLICK HERE TO SEE OLDER NEWS (BEFORE 2006)

	Bye Tee. Congratulations on your PhD and good luck in Malaysia.	LYDAN (Donna's sister) in California gave birth to a daughter. Her name is Jaslan. Congratulations to you and Joval.
	Conrad started his teacher training on 11th September 2006 .... A new career direction. With two weeks completed and eyes open to the challenges of the job it is now time to start spending time in the school. My first placement is in Chatham, north Kent.
	Congratulations to Syed and Sriti They got married in Dhaka on Friday 1st September 2006, although the big ceremony will be in December. Wishing you a great life together. You both look great.
	Motor Racing at Silverstone We went to Silverstone to use free tickets that Donna was given from P + O for the Britcar 24hr race on Saturday 9th September 2006. There were various other races prior to the main event (of which we watched 3 of the 24hrs). Click here to see a few seconds of the action
	Visit of Faizi Faizi, one of our friends from Bangladesh, had been on a 4-week visit to UK and France. He hit places as far away as Edinburgh, Plymouth and Paris before popping down to see us in Kent. Good to see you Faizi.	Visit of Barbara Barbara, a friend from Germany who used to work in Wye was in UK for a conference and spent a couple of days with us after it ended.
	A Trip to Cornwall On the August Bank holiday weekend, after driving for many hours across southern England we reached Cornwall and made our first stop Boscastle. , well recovered from the violent flash floods from two years previous. Eating Cornish icecream we walked through the narrow rocky harbour to the Atlantic coast knowing that the next land was southern Ireland and East Coast USA. On the way back we visited the Witchcraft Museum and then had a good Cornish Pasty each. Our accomodation was the Headlands campsite in Tintagel a few more miles down the coast. Our tent was small, even dwarfed by the small car, but it remained warm and dry inside for the two nights that we stayed. It was a nice location although the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean and the wind-sculpted shape of many of the trees made us glad that it stayed calm. Tintagel feeds off the tourists that visit because of its association with the King Arthur legend. On Sunday we began by visiting The Eden Project This is a series of huge domes and some outdoor gardens established in an old claypit. The domes house climate zones from the humid tropics and warm temperate regions. The project aims to educate the public about the importance of plants. After that we checked out the fishing village of Looe. A bit crowded because of the bank holiday, it took a while to park. We walked along the river to the sea and hopped around rock pools next to the beach. The sea on this coast of Cornwall was much calmer being sheltered from the direct effects of the Atlantic. Mackerel, deep sea and conger fishing trips were advertised but crab fishing seemed to be a favourite pastime of many of the visitors; a way to keep the kids occupied, no doubt. And then the smaller fishing village of Polperro perched in a small steep valley. We entered it by accident at first as we weaved along the coast and down one of the steepest and narrowest roads I've seen. We entered a world of pedestrians in narrow windy streets and although, coming from such an obscure entry point we didn't see signs, it was meant to be an area that only residents could drive. We left immediately before re-entering by a more orthodox route and using the car park. Polperro is a really beautiful village and it is easy to imagine what it might have been like before the tourists in a very isolated place populated by fishermen with tales of pirates over a glass or three of Scrumpy on dark evenings. W ehad a meal there before going back to our canvas covered bed on the north coast later in the evening with a hoard of scrumpy and clotted cream fudge. On Monday we slowly made our way back after a visit to Tintagel Castle, the castle associated with the King Arthur Legends, a detour across Dartmoor and passing through Cheddar Gorge.
	Surgery - Uteroscopic Stone Removal Since I (Conrad) had a big kidney stone lodged in my left ureter, just above my bladder (See here) I required surgery to remove it. No cuts were made. The surgeon passed a telescopic device called a ureterscope through my urethra and bladder and into the ureter. The stone was blasted to break bits off so that it was small enough to catch in a basket and drag out. The piece I saw that they had removed was about 7mm across and knobbly. Luckily it was all done under general anasthetic but as I woke up babbling there was still a rather disconcerting tube coming out of me and entering a big bag catching my bloody urine. A second tube entered the canula in my hand to keep me hydrated. They were kept there until the next morning. Only once did I try walking across the ward carrying my in bag and out bag while trying to hold the rear entry gown closed.
	Mom and Dad's Ruby Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad's party to celebrate their 40th Anniversary was at the Sandwell Park Golf Club on June 3rd 2003. The actual anniversary date and Mom's 60th birthday being on the 4th, we took them for a meal on the actual day too. It was at The Chequers in Cutnall Green
	We spent the spring bank holiday weekend in Peterborough at Adam and Claires house. Kanj and Mark with daugther Amy were there too, as was Terri with partner Linda. And Harry and Jake, son and dog. Olive is due in July.
	At Easter we went up to parents in West Brom. Dossed around and ate plenty of good food. Went to the pub twice with Ced, Rob and Neil, reminiscing about the Philippines. Then we went to a concert by Il Divo, one of Donna's favourite groups, at the NEC, Birmingham. They were supported by Hayley Westenra.
	The big thing that happened recently was our second wedding in Baguio City, Philippnes. Go to the link for more info and pictures. A grand wedding combined with a trip to the Philippines has left us with lots of pictures and lots of stories. Only a few are here. Mom and Dad flew from England for the wedding and stayed just over week afterwards. We took them to Donna's hometown and to Boracay, Manila and Taal Volcano. Bruce, Ann, Paul, Ced, Rob and Neil flew over with me a week before and we spent an action-packed 4 days that felt like a lot longer before arriving in Baguio.