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14 Anderton Street, Dear Friends, Another year nearly done and dusted. Our first Christmas card arrived over a week ago, with greetings and a prod for me to produce the Christmas letter “even if it’s now an email attachment”. Yes mam, I’ll get onto it right away, or next week, maybe. We hope your year has been a happy one, and 2024 lives up to expectations. Our 2023 had no spectacular highlights, but no really rough spots either. It was said if the first topic of conversation is health, you’re getting old. But many people now greet me with “how ARE you”, implying they really want something more than “I’m fine”. In summary, we really are both fine. Poss bounces out of bed at 5 a.m. most mornings and, apart from a couple of days in winter with flu like symptoms, has no health issues. I had my biennial cardiologist check up in June and was told I was healthy and come back in two years. Last year I went to the doctor to renew scripts and he asked how I was. I replied that I had a few little issues but really I was OK and left it at that. So early this year, now Covid is not running doctors ragged, I decided I would get those issues sorted. Referrals were made to various specialists. The podiatrist and skin specialist cleared up their specialities, an ultrasound found I had a small hernia. In a subsequent talk with a specialist it was decided the hernia was not too bad and just monitor it. That was fine until November, when the little hernia decided to become a big hernia. Consequently I had a hernia repair at the end of November, and after a couple of weeks recovering I am now back to normal. Our only trip away was in February to visit Kerry and Nigel Harden in Inverell. They moved to Inverell a few months earlier, purchasing a grand old house. A rambling, many times extended house on a double block with innumerable bedrooms (5?) and multiple living areas. We spent a few wonderful days renewing friendship and investigating Inverell. I was particularly interested in the National Transport Museum, a huge collection of mostly cars of all ages, but a fair smattering of other vehicles too. K&N have applied much TLC to the house since we visited, it will be interesting to go back to see the transformation. We didn’t go to the Coolangatta time share this year so we missed the chance for our annual catch up with our friends to the north. Joanne and family used our timeshare week and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, we have not been stay-at-home either. After selling the block of land near Woolgoolga, I wanted to buy some property close to Newcastle. It was all too expensive, but in June I saw a house for sale in Quirindi. It was further than my target area, but affordable. We drove for three hours, spent an hour looking, and drove three hours back. In a word, it was a dump. But a dump with a crude but large shed on 1000 sq m of land. At first I was enthusiastic but there was a lot needed repairing. So I put in a low offer expecting a knock back or extended negotiation but in the end we agreed to a price only $5,000 more than the initial offer. So now we are the proud owners of a dump. A man needs a project (I tell myself). We picked up the keys in August. At first we intended to book into some accommodation as we didn’t think the house was livable. Our accommodation inquiries were all greeted with “sorry, we’re fully booked” which seemed odd until we found out it was the week of AgQuip Field Days held at Gunnedah. Accommodation is booked out for 100km around Gunnedah (80km from Quirindi), and many people book a year ahead. So we ‘camped’ in the house. Before we committed to buying, we had a plumber check the plumbing. He said most things appeared to work although the hot water was not tested. ‘Camping’ turned out to be quite acceptable. The kitchen sink was usable, the hot water heated, the loo and shower were in need of a good clean but worked. The power was on, but the first night we discovered only the front verandah and toilet lights worked. The next morning we made our first renovation purchase, a multi function ladder (to get at the lights) and some lights. The rest of the stay was cleaning, cleaning and some more cleaning. I have been spending a couple of days a week there up until the hernia repair. At first it was making the place more livable – get some doors to open and close, oil the locks, fix the screen doors, replace cracked louvres, more cleaning. CLR is now my friend (Calcium, Lime, Rust remover). The Quirindi water supply reputedly comes from a bore, and leaves lime deposits everywhere. Then the grounds needed attention – I was fortunate to pick up a non functional mower from the nature strip and fix it. A recent model but had suffered some damage to the throttle mechanism and needed a few parts replaced. With new blades, new air cleaner element, it’s a beaut. Another acquisition is a new electric reciprocating saw, which does a good job of pruning branches that are too thick for secateurs. Also in the armoury are a long handled pruner and a hedge trimmer, both of which have been cluttering the garage as we have no use for them in Islington. The grounds look less scruffy but are some way from being manicured. And that is how things will remain until the building are renovated. Poss decided she needs to keep an eye on things, so goes with me once a month. There was a palm growing right next to the house, it really needed removing. So last visit together we decided to tackle it. We hacked it and dug around it for hours then set up a tripod and a winch and tried to lift it out of the ground. It didn’t budge. Poss watches a lot of USA renovation shows, she said when they have this problem, they pull plants out with a chain hooked to a 4WD. Well, the Honda has a tow bar and we had a chain and … it worked. The real problem with the house, and the shed, is they are built on reactive soil. When it gets wet, it expands. When it dries, it contracts. Unless the foundations are deep, the buildings move. The house has moved a lot so the floors are very uneven, walls are cracked, many doors won’t close. This is somewhat familiar territory as we straightened the house and replaced the foundations here in Islington, and we put concrete piers under our house in Armidale. One justification for this purchase is emptying our storage unit. There are old computers I would like to restore, but in Islington there’s no space to do it. So the idea is to move it all into the shed at Quirindi. The shed is large, about 6 x 9 metres, big enough for storage and a workshop, but in need of repair. I’ve started on this, jacking and straightening the frame. Once that is done, the uprights can be underpinned with concrete so they won’t rot or move again. Then work on the roof to fix a few leaks and add gutters. I am really enjoying the process, even though as always it is taking longer than estimated. Many people ask, what is the long term plan – move there? Rent it out? Holiday house? The answer is – there is no long term plan. We shall see how it evolves. April was our 50th wedding anniversary, daughter Joanne let the authorities know. We received congratulations from the Prime Minister, the Governor-General, our local Federal member, the NSW premier’s department, NSW State Governor, NSW government Speaker, and our local state member. Your taxes at work. We celebrated with a High Tea with the family at Ms Mary, a restaurant in the Newcastle CBD, then on the day a drive to the Hunter vineyards with lunch at Baumé restaurant. It was fun to catch up in July with Tyse and Tavish, friends from nearly 60 years ago. They were spending time in Sydney, and suggested we meet. We each travelled to Gosford, about half way between Sydney and Newcastle, by train. We met at the station and spent a few hours aimlessly walking and lunching and chatting. The Gosford weather was on its best behaviour, cool and clear. Then home again. Although we use the train infrequently, the hourly service to Sydney is very convenient when we do take advantage of it. And it is only a couple of minutes walk from home to the station (or, hint hint, should you be inclined to visit us, from the station to our house). A few weeks ago, Poss and daughter Beth had a girly weekend in Armidale for the inaugural New England Garden Festival. They met up with Barb, Poss’s sister, and Kate, Barb’s daughter. Reputedly a good time was had by all. Beth was also interested to see our old house. I could do a roll call of the family but there’s nothing significant to report. Sandra has settled in her ‘tiny house’ and that arrangement seems to be working well. Joanne and family are still chaos corner, excelling academically, musically and not very good at time keeping. Beth seems not to change and we haven’t seen Nicole and Ivy since 2022 but they are arriving today – whoopee!. My Amateur Radio enthusiasm didn’t lead to much (yet). My project was published by Silicon Chip magazine in May. I am still licensed, but the transmitter is still awaiting an antenna. Quirindi is the current focus. Our day-to-day lives are still similar. The volunteer planting days have become a bit more organised so we are back to going once a month. Wednesday find a local restaurant for dinner, third Thursday of the month gather with neighbours for a meal and a drink at a local pub, Friday night is still takeaway night, Saturday morning tea with neighbours around the corner. I’ve settled on a preferred stay in Quirindi of Monday through Thursday so the “local restaurant for dinner” is the Quirindi Bowling Club Chinese Restaurant. It is in the same street about ten houses away, that’s definitely local. There’s also a recently opened refurbished pub within easy walking so there are choices. Joanne gave me a book to fill in – “My Father's Life: Dad, I Want to Know Everything About You”. It’s a slow process and is bringing back many memories. It also causes me to think of the pivot points of life, where a different decision has a different outcome. A decision by my parents to come to Australia stands out as perhaps the defining event in my life. How lucky we are to live in Australia. No volcanoes, no catastrophic earthquakes, defined borders surrounded by a moat in a quiet corner of planet Earth. Sure we have floods and fires and cyclones but looking at the Ukraine or Gaza or the famine ravaged parts of Africa there really isn’t any way to compare. Life’s good, I’m enjoying it and I hope you are too. With Love – Alan and Poss
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