News of the OVs Dinner, Dec 2007

News from John Asplet of the OVs Dinner, held, as it is each year, in the Great Hall at Victoria College.

John had issued an email in October, hoping to get folk from the Class of 1982 to attend the dinner on December 20 to mark 25 years since we left Vic.

As you'll see from the following report from John, his call to arms wasn't met with an overwhelming response, and, unfortunately, three of the crew were seemingly unaware of John's attempts and were sat elsewhere in the hall. I know Rob Reid won't have received John's email because Rob is yet to enter the dangerous online world of electronic mail. He's such a traditionalist!!

Anyway, here is the report from 'Asplet':

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"Well what a poor show! There were just 6 from the class of 82, and three of those were very wise and got seated well away from the other three. These lucky folk were Mike Stein, Stuart Gower and Robert Reid. However them seemed to be too friendly with Senator Philip Ozouf if you ask me. [[RAY NOTE: PHILIP OZOUF -- IS HE WORTH BEING FRIENDLY WITH?]]

We also had two empty seats as Richard Boleat and Barry le Cheminant had both booked tickets but unless they are very thin didn't show up. Roger Bartley's promised bottle of 1982 Opus One was obviously confiscated at customs!

So this left three lonely souls of myself, Trevor Dearsley and Andrew Wadman. Oh well, at least we had extra wine and port between us, something of a mistake come Friday morning!

Apparently it was the usual sort of chaos for this event, although I had never been to one before, the Headmaster speaks before the meal and then they had a guest OV afterwards although I have no idea who he was, and he was rather dull."

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So, who was this "rather dull" speaker? We must find out...

Anyone with any ideas please post a message or send me an email at
ray.lemaistre@gmail.com
and/or
ray.lemaistre@ntlworld.com

All and any reports from The Rock or from any of the Class of '82 -- or '83, or whenever -- from Vic of Girls' College most welcome.

In the now famous words of Delia Smith -- "Let's be havin' you!! Come on!!!"
(Check out YouTube if you don't know what I am on about...)

Ray

Return to old haunts

As Ray's previous post points out, 2007 was a fairly momentous year for the McGregor/Keehner household. No reverse culture shock so far and while life in Dundee is a far cry from the west coasts of the USA and Australia, there have been a number of compensations.

Spending the festive period in a small cottage in Plockton (with no TV, internet and cell phone reception) reminded us of how beautiful NW Scotland is and how you can still experience wilderness close to home.



The trip North also allowed me to take Mad to the Isle of Skye for the first time, although the howling gale and horizontal rain may have ruined any chance of a return visit. Similar weather conditions had curtailed my last stay on the island, when in 1982 an attempt at camping in the shadow of the Cullins with one Ray Le Maistre ended in dismal failure - and a tent rendered useless by the loss of several poles and a giant tear in the roof. 25 years later I went to the very same spot of said disaster and couldn't help laughing at the memory of Ray and I clinging to the flapping canvas at three in the morning in pitch darkness with no idea what we were going to do. You can't buy that.

Here's looking forward to further exploration of Scotland in 2008 and all the best to all who pass this way.

Catching up...

2007 was something of a watershed year for the little community addressed by this blog.

The boy McGregor returned to these shores and, after years in California and a short stay in Australia, has settled in Dundee.

In May I went back to 'The Rock' and saw a few folk -- Ben Bryant, his wife Casey and their young son Harrison (now about 18 months old), and Rob Reid, who has the most amazing house in St Lawrence, a lovely family (three children, the boy is a Man Utd fan, much to Rob's chagrin), and about 37 cars.

Rob tells me that Peter Titterington is now a grandfather!! And that Charlie Mullins is a property tycoon who lives in a country mansion somewhere in England and who is slowly buying up chunks of St Helier commercial property!!! Extraordinary.

In July I met up with Adam Newey (works at The Guardian), Andrew Phillips (still writing music and in a new band, Passenger), and Tim Pozzi (freelance travel journalist) for dinner in London. A great catch-up and, like all the best meetings with old friends, it seemed like just a few weeks ago we had last seen each other, instead of more than a decade.

Then in October an email arrived from John Asplet, suggesting a meet at the OVs dinner on December 20 to mark 25 years since the class of 1982 left Victoria College. I couldn't make it, but would love to hear from anyone who went along. Who turned up, are there any pictures, and did anyone make any headlines by the end of the evening? :-)

Looking forward to 2008, when I will attempt to post on thsi blog more than twice...

Ray