Dear People,

Whoooosh!  Where did that year go?  Nothing has changed – David Hicks still in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq is still a mess, John Howard continues to evade scrutiny and we haven’t finished renovating.  Change the date.  Wish everyone a merry Christmas.   Exit – letter finished.

Not so fast.  Paraphrasing Pink Floyd: ‘The sun is the same in a relative way, but we're older’ and as Mark Twain said “History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot”.  Yes, surely a letter’s worth of change in a year despite the similarity.  It was a good year for us, even if we don’t own a vineyard (if you don’t catch on, check out recent Russell Crowe movies); we hope your year lived up to expectations also.

We are still in renovation hell, a product of wanting to do everything ourselves (well, Poss would get people in but I like to ‘have a go’).  We removed all the external cladding from the existing house, and then reclad it and the extension.  This sounds straightforward, but we added or moved windows, and changed the front door from a plain door on the left of the front wall to a leadlight door with transom and sidelights in the middle of the wall.  Since then we’ve removed the old staircase and manufactured a new one in a different position.  This required a rearrangement of the upstairs floor.  Oh, and installing the upstairs bathroom – and the fireproof wall in the ceiling space between us and the neighbour – and removing the internal wall upstairs – and…  The list seemed endless but we are within weeks of completing structural change.  The outstanding item was to add a front veranda, but this is on hold for reasons outside our control so we are going to frame it up as if there were french doors to a balcony, then infill the door space with another frame with the original window in it.  That way, when we are able to put on the veranda, it will be simple to cut the external and internal lining back to the door frame and install the doors.  The plumber has done all the drainage, plumbing and gas fitting work, and the rewiring is imminent.  Hopefully the New Year will start with internal lining, then it’s architraving, painting and then moving in.

All this manual labour seems good for the health, I went to the doctor once for a routine check up, everything OK; Poss has not been quite so lucky.  She sprained her ankle while we were moving our stuff into storage, and had difficulty getting around for a few days, but recovered fully.  She also had a virus and had a day off work – not normally worth mentioning but it was the first time I can remember Poss taking a day off due to sickness.  We find heavy lifting a little difficult, but when our puny backs fail, ropes and pulleys and levers and wedges come to our aid.  And if the neighbours are not otherwise occupied they are pleased to pitch in.

Our social life is almost non-existent, where we are living is not set up for visitors, and Poss’s work and the renovating take up much of our time.  Poss wants to finish the renovations ‘to get our life back’.  We went to Emerald Beach (Poss’s sister Barb and husband Gordon) for Christmas last year, then to Maleny to visit Kerry and Nigel Harden for New Year.  K&N acquired a B&B, and were renovating so we were the first to trial the King Room (see http://www.cairncrosslodge.com.au/rooms.asp).  They are really hospitable people, Maleny is a picturesque destination, and Cairncross Lodge is set in lovely gardens (even lovelier if Nigel has anything to do with it) and the accommodation is very comfortable.  I think you can recognise a plug when you see it ☺.  We’ve been back to Emerald a few times during the year, also I spent a week with eldest daughter Emma in Melbourne.

Otherwise our lives are pretty routine.  Tennis Sunday morning, Subway for Friday tea, tree planting once a month.  I decided to withdraw from Rostrum, the public speaking group, as they meet at what is now an inconvenient venue at an inconvenient time.  Poss has taken on a few duties at the Carrington Community Centre, which is just across the road from us.  She mows as required and deals with the bins.  Fortunately ‘just across the road’ is quite a way, the road being nearly 30m wide, so we are rarely bothered by any functions held there.

One of our trips north was to help Norm & Dawn (Poss’s parents) move from the house at Bucca to a retirement unit in Woolgoolga.  We went up in the 1-tonner, with 500kg of NiCad batteries I want to use eventually for a remote power system, and some beds for their spare room.  The truck handled well with the extra weight, but it is not the most comfortable of beasts as it still has the original bench seat.  The move was over in less than a day, Norm and Dawn were well organised (as you would expect for people that move as often as they do – this is I think the 21^st, and one would think last, move since I met Poss).  We were helped by Peter (Barb’s son-in-law) making a trip with their horse truck, taking all the hard to manoeuvre items, and all the plants.  I’m sure Dawn has enough plants in pots to start a small nursery, and a covered truck was the ideal way to move them.

We were a little worried that they would not take to retirement village life, as they have normally lived in spacious and often isolated places.  But they have settled in and having the time of their lives it would seem.  For Dawn, the village is walking distance to shops.  Norm has a scooter (motorised chair) and whizzes around in it, bringing back the heavy shopping items.  They also are getting proper medical advice for their ails, so they are healthier and happier.  This is partly due to Barb’s interest, she has started her ‘never see a winter again’ regime and is in Australia until March.  She checks that they are following up on advice from their GP, and ferrying them to appointments in Coffs Harbour.  Barb has also taken up Grandma duties, giving her daughter Michelle a bit of time to herself.

My trip to Melbourne was at Emma’s suggestion.  We (Poss, me, Emma and Todd) mutually decided that we wouldn’t meet at Merimbula this year.  For us it was ‘been there, done that’ and for Emma it was advanced pregnancy.  Yes folks I’m now a grandfather twice over with the arrival of Leo on 25^th July (easy to remember as it is also Beth’s birthday).  Emma suggested that I visit them in Melbourne instead, and that airfare is ridiculously cheap for selected flights.  I went down in June and spent a week hanging out with Emma and Harry, and had a fun time.  I also was reminded why leaving Melbourne was not so hard.  The weather was good by Melbourne standards meaning that it was almost pleasant if I had enough clothing on, and the traffic was merely heavy, not gridlocked (much).  In a recent email Emma says she can see light at the end of the tunnel, a whole night’s sleep is no longer a distant memory.  We grandparents can smile sympathetically having suffered through it all and now if the little darlings are too fractious we just hand them back.  [I think I hear Poss saying now “you! Suffer! All you did was roll over in your sleep and I …… etc. etc.”   And she is right.]

Back to Newcastle.  Nicole moved out two days after the last Christmas letter was posted.  She moved in with a friend whose partner was in Goulburn training for the police force.  It was supposed to be a short stay as the training finished in April, but Nicole stayed on until a few weeks back when she moved into a share house with three strangers.  So far this seems to be working out, we see her quite frequently as we have her computer and an internet connection so she comes here to catch up on emails.  She has finally split with Josh her partner of some time.  We encouraged her to leave him a long time ago as the relationship wasn’t going anywhere, but she found it difficult to burn bridges.  She now has a relationship with a boy who lives in Port Macquarie – only time will tell how this one pans out.

Nicole’s work panned out pretty much as predicted.  She was offered a full time position at the clothing warehouse and is still there.  She has plans to find something more challenging but at the moment it’s ‘watch this space’.

Beth is now in her 3^rd year as apprentice chef and yearning to finish.  She changed employers around midyear from Bistro Tartine, a French style small restaurant, to the Newcastle Travelodge hotel.  The move was motivated by more varied work (she is allowed to set up her own menus for some functions) and better pay.  It also gives her an insight into organising the catering for large functions, something which she couldn’t do at her previous jobs.  She and partner Andrew have moved into a house in the next street to where we are renovating.  We share a rear lane; the houses are less than 100m apart.  Poss and I think this is pretty good, but Beth is worried that when we finally move in we may be too close.   Not a problem in her immediate future.  She has also joined us planting trees on Kooragang Island , and enjoying it enough to keep coming.

Joanne and Scott are fortunately slower than us at renovating.  ‘Fortunately’ because when they finish and sell the house they are renovating, they will want this one back.  Hopefully we can arrive at a point where both renovations finish at the same time, and when the music for musical houses stops, we’ll each be in our own house.  As hinted last year, Jo landed a full time job – in the library system of Newcastle Council.  At first she was at the central library in Newcastle, which is the library we use.  After her appointment, the council opened a new library (the first in the council area for 30 years) at Wallsend, and Jo volunteered to help during the opening weeks.  They needed extra staff to stack the shelves and to handle the influx of new borrowers.  Inevitably, the secondment has become a permanent position so she is a happy full time permanent employee.  It is an easy commute for her in their current house, but she might think of job relocation when they move to Carrington.

Sandra and Adam have moved from Cardiff to cohabit with Adam’s parents.  The house in Cardiff is now rented out (and I hope you didn’t send anything there as the redirect has run out).  The move was part of financial belt tightening required so that Adam could study to become a barrister.  The path to becoming a barrister is strewn with large debts and little income, so they are currently depending on Sandra’s income which, I gather, barely keeps the bellybutton off the backbone after barrister overheads are paid.  The good news is that Adam passed his exams and is now ‘apprenticed’ [there’s probably a legal term but you get the idea] to a local barrister.  He has undertaken some work but I gather it will be a while before he has established a reputation and becomes independent.  Their move meant we had to find room for all the stuff we had parked in their garage.  After a chaotic few days of sorting and moving (and spraining ankles) it is now languishing in a nearby storage facility.

Joanne, Beth and Nicole have joined a circus skills group, a good way of staying fit and learning interesting things.  Nicole has proven to be quite skilful on the trapeze, her gymnastics training shows through.  She did a short routine in public for a Wallsend market day in August, well received by the audience.  All three participated in the parade, with Beth and Joanne as clowns and Nicole twirling hoops standing on Josh’s shoulders.  Jo and Beth then went behind the scenes organising things so they ran smoothly.  Beth is practicing on a unicycle, she got one for her birthday, and she says progress is slow but steady: we await a public performance.  Joanne says she is getting better at juggling, but she’s really in it for the fun and fitness.  At the Wallsend show one act was local performer, Mr Doodrop, who has been around Newcastle for ages.  His party piece is to juggle 3 cricket bats while riding a unicycle.  Now there’s something to aim at.

That just about brings you up to date.  We have a few plans for the future.  We are staying home over Christmas/New Year; last year we, the girls and partners all stayed at Emerald Beach so this year we thought the partners might like to spend time with their families.  So if you are passing through Newcastle and want a cuppa then you know where to come (ring the mobile – see below).

In February we are going to Maleny to stay at Cairncross Lodge, to celebrate Poss’s brother David’s 50^th birthday.  He has agreed to drive down from Coalstoun Lakes, stay overnight, sing happy birthday and then get back to work.  We of course find this a great excuse to go back to Maleny for a few days.  Hopefully we’ll be joined by Joanne, Beth & Andrew, and Dawn.  After selling his house last year, David bought a block of land and at last contact had planted many thousand avocado trees.  We haven’t visited, he is currently living without mains power in a shed.  He has applied to get power put on but (being outback Queensland ) it will take a few months.

Further in the future we have plans and money put aside to ‘do’ NZ (on the cheap, it isn’t that much money).  This won’t happen until renovations are finished and we are moved, so could be 2007 (but don’t count on it).  Further down the track, cousin Lionel is organising a family get together, ostensibly for descendants of James Cashin my great grandfather, but I gather any Cashin would be welcome.  I’m hoping to get to this, either 2008 or 2009 in the Isle of Man.

Nothing has changed in either the car department or the pet department.  Nic talked of taking Klu but it hasn’t happened so we are still a 3 cat, 2 vehicle family.  The 1-tonner doesn’t get a lot of exercise; it guzzles fuel at alarming rates and runs on premium with leaded car additive.  The Peugeot is quite efficient and still returns around 7L/100km on a trip so is the vehicle of preference.  We run them both on a 10% ethanol blend and so far this has caused no problems.

Please take note that we now use the renovation address as our mailing address.  It is:
14 Anderton St.
ISLINGTON  NSW 2296

Of course, while we are at Young St, this address is fine.  But if you are amending your address book, Anderton St is the one to use; it should be good for a few years.  I have also acquired a mobile phone, courtesy of the girls on father’s day.  They were fed up that we were out of contact at the renovation so I have a prepaid: 0432423927.  I almost have my mobile discipline worked out so it is on and with me most of the time.   If it’s off, then try the home number 2 4965 4807 and leave a message (you have 30 seconds before it hangs up – use it wisely ☺).

Hope this finds you as happy and well as it leaves us.  May the season and the year ahead bring you health and happiness.

Best wishes from Alan and Poss.