Sami and Sharon's Web Site - Christmas Letter 2003

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Christmas Letter 2003

Hello and Merry Christmas, we hope you’ve had a good year.

2003 has been an eventful year for the Khans. 2002 ended with Sharon finding herself a (real!) job, although it is at the same place as her father. After finding her job, she made the finishing touches to her PhD and submitted in late January. She started work at Silsoe Research Institute (SRI) in February, where she can continue to do research, but in a standard 9-5 environment. She is currently working on a 3-year project studying the diffusion of proteins in cell membranes.

Obviously an hourly commute there and back each day from Cambridge was not ideal, and as Sami still works from home, it was decided that a move closer to her new workplace would be a good plan. So we said our farewells to our lovely house and started to look for a new one.

After about 80 estate agents’ worth of particulars, several days out looking at residences in the Bedfordshire area, and a cancelled offer, we discovered our ideal house in a small village named Campton, 5 minutes drive from Silsoe (outside of rush hour). The new house is pleasantly located, being adjacent to the village church (bell ringing practice on Tuesdays), and across from the village Manor. It is somewhat larger than our previous 3-bedroom semi though.

The owners wanted a quick sale, and so did we, so everything looked promising for a while, except for one tiny flaw. No one seemed to want to buy our house. Conveniently, after we threatened to change Estate Agents, on the last day before we were to switch a buyer was found. Both sides wanted to move from/to rented accommodation, and so everything proceeded smoothly from that point onward. We ended up moving on Easter Thursday, which was our original target date. We went shopping shortly afterwards to discover that all the Easter Sales were on – definitely a good time to move.

The house had been left in very good condition, so we didn’t require much work to get it set up. We paid a visit to MFI and stocked up on some furniture for Sami’s office, and acquired a table for the “Gaming Room”. Paint and curtains were the only other things required to make it look like our home. Unfortunately the front door mat gave the local peacock (quiet outside mating season) the impression it was his sunbed.

In mid June, Sharon went for her PhD viva, on less than two days notice (usually people get at least a fortnight). The examiners seemed happy, and gave a relatively small number of corrections, after a very short viva, for which Sharon was very grateful! [She finally graduated, after a long arduous paperwork ordeal, in December, and now has the title Doctor].

In July, Sharon’s sister Carol married Gary, whom she met originally while studying at Shrivenham 6 years ago. They were married at Sharon’s parents’ local church in Lilley, and are now based in Little Milton, Oxfordshire. Gary works as an engineer for Mars (although we are yet to receive any free chocolate!). Carol is still working as a radiographer at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where she is going from strength to strength.

In August, Sami decided that working from home was doing very little for his fitness, and decided to start cycling to the local bakers (3 miles there and back, up a hill), in an effort to improve it. In October, with renewed strength and vigour, he resolved to extend his range of physical exertion into new areas, and so volunteered to accompany Sharon when she went ice-skating with some of her ice hockey friends. After a huge burst of speed pushing off from his right leg, he started pushing off from his left leg instead. The fellow skaters at Peterborough Rink were fortunate to see the dramatic half toe-loop. With a crack, Sami fell to the ice, the twisting action having broken his leg in a spiral fracture. Unfortunately this has instigated the demise of his fitness regime, although Sharon has commented on Sami’s new shoulder musculature.

Sharon and Sami are both still involved with board games; they are still attending two of their clubs in Cambridge, and have this year attended a few conventions as well. The board gaming highlight of the year was probably their very first convention, in which they entered a competition as part of a team of four. Sami went on to win in the individual rankings, whilst Sharon came joint second. The team ended up coming third overall. Unfortunately we are yet to find a board game club in the immediate vicinity of Campton, although the proximity of Sharon’s cousin Colin may aid us in forming one of our own.

While Sami has been nursing his leg, sitting in front of his shiny new laptop on a wireless internet connection in bed, Sharon has proceeded to do her best to make up for his lack of inactivity, by participating in as many sports as she can. SRI permits her to try out a variety of sports during lunchtimes, including unihoc, football, volleyball, badminton, netball, and for those quiet days, pool. In addition, she has started playing for the SRI mixed field hockey team in the evenings. Of course ice hockey is still her main sport, as has been commented on by some of those who play unihoc and football with her.

That’s a quick summary of what has happened with us this year, we hope you have a great Christmas and New Year, and that your 2004 goes well. We personally are hoping for a less eventful one, whilst Sami is rueing the fact he has to stay in bed to work (he was looking forward to making use of his new dressing gown).

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