December, 2004
Yes, it’s that time again; pages of old news of only marginal interest to people more concerned with getting their nut roasts ready…
We have (naturally) been busy little bees during the year with lots of holidays, short and long, and lots of theatre. Judith continues to work, post retirement, at the university and Graeme has set up a small e-Bay trading business so he has the long commute from bedroom to study; sometimes he even bothers to change out of his dressing gown before he sets off. This went international within the first month, and Rory has had to upgrade his computer for him and install a wireless network. More recently, Graeme has even installed a generator to ensure continuity of business (we get frequent power cuts in deepest, darkest Essex).
January saw us (with all children) in Marbella and Gibraltar; the apes couldn’t get enough of Graeme so he may be turning into Dr Doolittle (make up your own jokes here). March was Florence and Siena with Judith’s Art History class, full of culture and good food. May was Tenerife with a little light whale watching, and June saw us back in Tuscany at a wonderful Borgo in Colleoli for some much needed sun. In August we had our usual week in Edinburgh for the Festival, but this time it rained for most of the time. Even so, it was nice to catch up with the family and we also managed to visit a few old friends as well as Hopetoun House, the Falkirk Wheel and a good range of art exhibitions and Fringe events.
 Our man in the tropics… |
The undoubted highlight of our year was October in Australia with Rory, Fleur, Keith and two of their friends (Alisha, a lively lass, and Julie, a white witch) not counting two of ours (John and Sally) who joined us in Sydney. The occasion was Graeme’s 60th birthday, and few birthdays can ever have been so comprehensively celebrated over so many weeks. We went out ahead of the others and had a few excellent days in Singapore staying at a wonderful hotel, full of orchids and with our own butler. Outside our patio was a small lawn, and palm trees leading to the swimming pool – perfect for morning t’ai chi – and all on the 5th floor! We did all the usual touristy things including a dinner cruise on a giant red and gold junk (new slant on the term junk food) and a lot of market research to find the perfect Singapore Sling before travelling on to Melbourne to experience the Great Ocean Road (not to mention the set of Neighbours).We got to Sydney a day ahead of the rest of the party to find that Graeme had inadvertently managed to book us all into one of Sydney’s leading gay hotels; in his defence there was no indication of this on the website and we all had a great time there. We do not plan to change our lifestyle as a consequence of this experience! We intended to celebrate THE BIRTHDAY on the steps of Sydney Opera House, but we hadn’t expected torrential rain and a howling gale. Still, we managed a celebratory glass of champagne under cover and then did the job properly in the evening at a friendly Italian restaurant where Graeme produced a bottle of 60 year old dessert wine to go with the cake. We had an excellent day trip to the Blue Mountains which included breakfast with the koalas and brought us back via the Olympic centre and a river cruise. Fleur bravely did the Sydney Harbour bridge climb, and Judith and Graeme did the bridge as well but in leathers and at ground level on the back of a very fast Harley Davidson to the shock/horror of the children who now know for sure that their parents can’t be trusted out on their own. However, not to be outdone, Fleur and Keith then did the same. And since the bad weather continued for most of the next week we became expert at finding things to do in Sydney in the rain, not least shopping for an opal for Judith’s birthday. Finally though, on our last day there, the sun shone and we were able to take to the water during the day and enjoy a last meal at that Mecca of seafood, Doyles at Watsons Bay – looking back to see the sun setting over the Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge. |
From Sydney we flew to Cairns and stayed at apartments in Palm Cove – a tropical paradise with a lagoon pool in front of our apartments, a strip of roadway, a fringe of trees, and the beach within 50 yards. We hired a car and drove north to the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation (where the road ran out). We visited Kuranda, high up in the mountains, and experienced the world’s longest cable car ride (7km, broken into three sections). Graeme, Rory, Fleur and Keith went on horseback into the rainforest, and didn’t fall off. Rory went skydiving [couldn’t bear to watch our baby boy throw himself out of an aeroplane so we went shopping – Ed], and we all snorkelled and submarined on the Barrier Reef. There may just have been a few cocktails consumed along the way as well AND WE ALL WANT TO GO BACK. You might find a few pictures on our family website, if the chief tekkie has got his finger out…
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Sunset view of Sydney from Doyles Restaurant, Watson Bay. Their vegetarian selection is not up to much though… |
Cultural highlights (as you may remember we use the term very loosely) of the year included Les Miserables (children’s birthday treat), Pirates of Penzance, Mayerling (Judith’s ballet fix), We Happy Few, Russell Watson, The Old Masters, The Boy Friend, History Boys, and The Producers. Not to mention the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, some nice local theatre and art exhibitions at the rate of better than one a month. Judith is also trying to learn Italian but doesn’t have time to do any homework; even so, she sure knows how to order pizza and coffee…
| Having accompanied Graeme to the Saturday morning cardiac rehabilitation exercise class for the past two years, Judith is so fit she took up running [geriatric jogging – Ed] and can now jog the length of the Ridge while delivering the church magazine. An active highlight of the year had to be Judith and Fleur’s participation in the ‘Race for Life’ at Hylands Park, raising funds for cancer research, a most moving occasion with all participants wearing on their backs the names of the people in whose memory they were running.Next year we have Fleur and Keith’s wedding to look forward to, so it will be house-hunting and party planning from now on, then kilts, big hats and posh frocks on 17th September. |  Keith was amply qualified to assist Santa over the Christmas period at Doe’s |
As before the young laird has supplied his own his perspective on the year, but before you get to that we want to wish you a very happy Christmas and another happy, healthy and prosperous year in 2005.
Graeme & Judith ([email protected], [email protected])
Hello all,
I’m sorry we’ve taken up so much of your valuable time already, so I’ll keep my bit short. I have moved house – still in St Albans – just traded up for a semi with a garden and three bedrooms. Selling was very quick, actually moving was the hard part thanks to my buyer’s slapdash mortgage provider – which decided to have a systems failure during completion and have no backup systems. By 4pm we were stuffing all my worldly goods into the garage of the new place and wistfully peeking through the letter box. At well past what expert opinion said was the last possible moment, all the money moved and I got the full set of keys (and then we promptly unpacked from the garage into the house). I’m actually quite happy that all my contents fit inside just one garage, and I think I’ll try to keep my detritus at this level for next time… I now have a garden, garage and shed. Pipe and slippers are no doubt waiting for me under the Christmas tree.
| I’m sure the rest of the family will have told you all about Australia and how everyone wants to move there. The only thing I shall add to this is Skydiving – I did it for the first time in Cairns, and I highly recommend it. I did the 8,000 ft drop where you get about 20 seconds of free-fall and then a couple of minutes of parachuting down to Earth. I really would recommend everyone give it a try at least once – It’s perfectly safe these days…I am still with T-Mobile (coming up for the five year mark in 2005). So suffice to say I have been there far too long and really need to get my CV in order… (I think I might have said this every year). 2004 has seen me on an endless round of meetings across Europe. I am now an expert in flying BA (I would recommend almost anyone else) and the airports and hotels serving Vienna, Cologne, Prague and The Hague. I was bitterly disappointed that our BA flights to Australia for some petty bureaucratic reason do not count towards getting a silver executive club card, so I’ll still be slumming it in the departure lounge with everyone else next year.
On the sports front, I have joined the company squash league and been soundly beaten by all but one member of the lowest league. Possibly these are all new members who have modestly started in the bottom league or (more likely) I have a long way to go… I have also experimented with Aikido (the Japanese martial art that George Lucas based the Jedi on). They use a mystical force called Ki (or Chi if you are Chinese) to help defend themselves. I witnessed the grand master going round a seminar putting his hands on student’s heads and watching them collapse. This worked on everyone until he got to me… It had absolutely no effect… he tried again… nothing… I was told that I had “a stubborn mind”. I think most would probably agree… (no comment – Ed) |
 Hello from Oz. |
For brownie points, I have joined the St John’s Ambulance. No heroic tales of saving lives yet, although I did help make a large supply of jacket potatoes. I am now also an active IEE ambassador for Science and Engineering, and have been travelling the world (ok, the small world of Hertfordshire schools) conning literally tens of young students into pursuing almost worthwhile careers similar to my own.
Season’s greetings and happy New Year,
Rory [email protected]