Dear People,

First things first:

• Best wishes for Christmas (hopefully this missive arrives before then) and the coming year.  Travel safely and stay healthy.
• Please, please update your address books.  Some people are two moves behind, which fortunately is Sandra’s address so we do get the mail.  For those that are only one move behind, that’s Joanne’s address and we get those too.  Although a few people ring Joanne thinking we are still there.  Do not be fooled by the phone book, which still lists Nicole at Joanne’s address.  Our number is 02 4009 1774 (for those overseas +61 2 4009 1774).  Go write it down.  Now.  Pretty please.
• Health warning: This letter contains mention of children, grandchildren and trips away.  May cause drowsiness.  Not recommended reading while driving.

The unpleasant bits first: Klu the cat is no longer with us, he had organ failure and was put to sleep.  He joined us in 1994, already a mature cat, so a good innings.  Still, we’ll miss him.

The perpetual renovators amongst you will be pleased to know we are upholding the renovators’ creed, and haven’t finished.  The major work this year was the upstairs bathroom, which is transformed from unlined walls to the finished item.  This saves having to descend the stairs in the middle of a cold winter’s night to visit the loo, but of course it was finished this spring so we have not yet enjoyed this benefit.  The kitchen trim is also completed and looks good.  The internal works yet to be done are the banisters on the stairs (there aren’t any), trim around the stairwell, and the trim around the front door.  Then all that is left is the front balcony/veranda, making a back yard, and organising the garage enough to get a car into it.  Should knock it over in a year or two…

It is proving an interesting place to live.  Prostitution is a local hazard, the ladies of the night are out in force on nearby streets.  Not sure why they are called ladies of the night as they seem to operate 24/7 around here.  A block away is the home of the Nomad motorbike clan, known for drug related activities.  Which all sounds bad, but our street seems not to be affected by all these goings on.  In fact, it possibly is a good thing as the police tend to keep an eye on the area.  The great upside is that we are within walking distance of most facilities.  The train is a 2 min stroll, the shops are an easy walk, and there is a huge choice of eateries in the area.  You may remember from last year’s letter that Poss has started the 'eat our way from one end of Beaumont St to the other' regime - a different restaurant each Tuesday.  This onerous task was completed only a few weeks ago, about 40 in total.  We are now doing a ‘pick your favourite’ as we have gathered a small group of regulars and this will keep us going for a few more weeks.  And in the year there have been changes that need further investigation, so we’re not done yet.

Sandra delivered us a grandson Michael William Mooney on February 17^th; 54cm and 3855gm (21” and 8lb 8oz in real speak).  Having two grandchildren in the immediate area has been a source of great delight and not a little effort.  Sandra and Joanne have both gone back to work so Poss (and I on the odd occasion) have been on grandchild duty.  We (meaning, mainly Poss) have Michael every Thursday, and look after Anna some days.  Fortunately the other grandparents share so the load is spread.  Also Scott is home to look after Anna if his roster allows.  Some Thursdays we have both, and it needs two carers to keep things under control.  How mothers of twins cope is beyond me.  Neither Michael nor Anna is walking yet, although both are close.  Anna is a knee propelled rocket, Michael is not bothering with the crawling bit and looks like he will go straight to walking.

Apart from grandchildren, Thursdays also feature in our week as we go to trivia at a pub near Joanne’s house in Carrington.  This is a family affair, usually Poss and Me, Joanne and Anna and when work allows, Scott, and Nicole, and Alison who is a friend of Joanne’s.  Poss is the backbone of the team, she is a mine of miscellaneous facts.  Nicole is good with society activities, Alison is a film buff, Joanne has a literary orientation (as one would expect of a librarian), Scott is good on music and I fill in the science and some geography.  We are sunk if they ask a lot of sports questions.  Usually we place well, and the last two weeks we have been top team.  However, we have not been able to crack the Jackpot questions with a prize now up to $1000.

It’s not clear if life is in a comfortable groove or a rut.  We have not done many exciting things this year, the big exception being our trip to the UK.  We walk the main street on Saturday morning to do some shopping and go to the library.  We still play a bit of ‘tennis’ on a Sunday morning.  Poss is working about 9 hours a week.  We plant trees on for the Kooragang Wetlands Rehabilitation Project (KWRP) once a month as we have done for the last 10 years (the project has now planted over 150,000 trees).  And Friday night is still takeaway night – Indian last week and Subway this week.

Our 6 week UK trip was based around a Cashin family reunion on the Isle of Man.  It began at the unsociable hour of 2:30am when we walked to the station to catch a train to Sydney, arriving at the airport at 6:00am to board a flight at 9:00.  We arrived in Korea 10 hours later and after a 1 hour bus trip from the airport to Seoul (about 70km) we were able to fit in a bit of sightseeing before falling into bed exhausted around 10pm (don’t ask what time zone).  Next day, back to the airport, arriving at Heathrow late in the afternoon of the same day.  We were met and cosseted by cousin Pamela for the next few days, then off to cousin Elspeth in North Wales for a couple of days, then to Liverpool for two nights.  Joanne and Anna joined us in Liverpool, where we embarked to the Isle of Man on the ferry and stayed in timeshare accommodation at Port Erin for two weeks.  Back to the mainland, Joanne headed for Heathrow while we continued the cousin tour.  Over the next 10 days we stayed with cousins Doug in Cheshire, Lionel in Yorkshire, and Keith near Edinburgh , then a 3 day stopover in Seoul on the way back.

It was a great experience.  For me the highlight was meeting all the cousins and their families that until then were names on Christmas cards.  Now there is a context for things mentioned over the years, which previously were isolated thoughts looking for an appropriate nook in which to be stored.  And I can see why people wax lyrical about the Isle of Man; it is a quiet and picturesque corner of the world with many enchanting idiosyncrasies, and a rich and interesting history.  Many thanks to those that pressured me into the trip, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet my extended family.

Apart from the UK, our wanderings have been confined mainly to trips to see Poss’ parents in their Woolgoolga retirement home.  Norm is becoming less mobile, and not in the best of health.  Dawn is as busy as ever, but becomes tired more easily.  She had a second (successful) cataract operation recently and we went up to be ‘minders’ for a few days while she recuperated.  Our niece Michelle keeps an eye on them, and Poss’ sister Barb is now in residence nearby at Emerald Beach for the summer, so they are well cared for.  I guess when you get to your 80s things aren’t quite as easy as they are when you’re in your 60s – something to look forward to….?

For a change, almost none of the family have moved this year.  Beth looked like being evicted from her house as the property changed hands and was bought by an air conditioning company who basically wanted the land for a car park (their business being on an adjacent property).  They were going to level the house but Beth convinced them that they didn’t need all the land, the house was sound, and she would like to stay.  So they did some repairs and she is still there.  She completed her chef’s apprenticeship and is now qualified.  She’s negotiated a permanent part-time position with her employer, as she is also involved in a band as the bass player.  She doesn’t seem to have any spare time after work, band and socialising.  As she is within easy walking distance we see her quite often, especially if she wants to borrow the 1-tonner to move something.  She swapped cars with Sandra – Sandra had a 2 seater Suzuki buzz box and Beth had a slightly larger 4 seater Barina.  The Suzi couldn’t take a baby capsule for Michael but the Barina could, and Beth was happy to have an even more economical runabout (which actually has more luggage space than the Barina – ideal for someone in a band.

Nicole was the sole mover, she now lives about 3 blocks away.  She is still working with the financial advisers, and also heavily involved with her circus group.  We went to a recent circus performance; they are an accomplished band of performers.  They may not be the Cirque de Soleil, but they prove that skill is not everything – they have some very entertaining routines that use lighting, music, and movement to great effect.  I should not however trivialise the skills that are on show, the performers are all dedicated, hard working and talented and it shows.  Nicole specialises in trapeze work and hoop routines.  Her gymnastic training is still evident in her graceful movements, even though she hasn’t done anything serious since her early teens.  Some of her work colleagues went to the performance, and gave enthusiastic and noisy support to all her routines.  I think they were surprised that Nicole, who at work is quite quiet, is such a showy performer.

When we returned from the UK, our finances were somewhat diminished.  Fortunately at the time the $AU was worth about 50% more than today, or things might have been quite dodgy.  Both Poss and I had some fairly major dental work done shortly after our return, so it looked like some income was needed.  I went to Centrelink to see if they could locate some part time work, they put me in the Jobstart program.  As I am over 55, they pay the jobstart allowance if I do volunteer work for 15 hours a week.  One of the accredited organisations is the KWRP so I approached them to see if they had any computer based work.  It turns out their filing is quite disorganised, they have duplicated thousands of files and photos, and they have trouble finding things.  They also wanted to do Graphical Information System work, but haven’t had the time to learn.  And their website is 18 months out of date.  So I am out there 2 or 3 days a week, having a great time developing my IT skills, and hopefully helping them out at the same time.

Fortunately, a serendipitous event has secured our finances for a while.  The day before we were departing for the UK, we had a phone call “would you like me to log your block?”  He was referring to the 200 acres of bush we bought near Woolgoolga in 2001 that has basically lain dormant since.  At times I had doubts about this, as the purchase was not based on sound economics.  But the idea of having a bush block has been with me since we moved to Armidale over 30 years ago, so I’ve hung on to it.  With literally hours to departure I didn’t want to discuss the logging, but fortunately Brian was not easily put off and rang back when we returned.  After investigating his bona fides, we gave him the go ahead.  He has only worked a small area so far, and we are pleasantly surprised at the financial returns.  It is enough to cover the amount we spent on the family reunion and a bit more. I declared the money to Centrelink, the only result was their computer system reduced my dole bludger income by 63¢ a fortnight.  It would appear that with a bit of management, the block could produce a steady income from logging for the foreseeable future.  And the possibility exists of us becoming primary producers, with all its attendant benefits.  So not a bad investment after all.

At Easter, we had the chance to catch up with my daughter Emma, husband Todd and grandsons Harry and Leo.  They did a flying visit to Newcastle, on their way to Todd’s brother who lives in Sydney.  It was good to catch up as we do not see them often enough.  They had located a house that they could rent for a few days, as none of the family had enough room to put them up.  We also had a visit from my cousin Pat (my mother’s side) and her husband Bert.  They tried out our fold down couch and gave it the thumbs up.  It had been trialled by Poss’ sister Barb previously, and been given a tick.  So keep it in mind people, if you come by ones or twos, the Cashin guesthouse can accommodate you.  Now the upstairs bathroom is finished, you even get your own bathroom.

Not sure what the future holds.  We are still intending to go to NZ but it hasn’t yet been scheduled.  I am still thinking of going back to work part time (paid rather than voluntary) but no-one wants a 64 year old part time IT person.  There are plenty of full time jobs but I’m now used to the idea of having more time of my own.  If the paid work doesn’t come along, the Jobstart allowance and the log money will keep us going until next year when I get the pension (whoopee) (assuming we still have a solvent government).

I’m planning to replace the Peugeot in the coming year.  Poss has complained about it since the day I bought it. “Nothing works, it costs too much to fix, and the parts are hard to find”.  Her complaints were vindicated last January when (a) the serpentine belt pulley seized (b) the brakes seized (c) the ignition coil died (d) the ignition lead broke down and shorted to earth – all within a few weeks.  Poss was driving the car for several of these events, and we had to tow the broken down vehicle home (fortunately it broke down within meters of the house).  Of course it was pelting down rain at the time making for maximum inconvenience.  Since then it has behaved itself but yes, the air conditioning doesn’t work, the heater doesn’t work, and it’s nearly 20 years old.  And it is put to shame by the 1-tonner, which is now 30 years old, everything (which isn’t much) works, and it doesn’t miss a beat.  Unfortunately the 1-tonner handles like a dog, is uncomfortable, and chews petrol at an alarming rate.  However, it will stay for a year or two yet as we will (I keep saying this…) get around to moving things to the block, and in the meantime it is a reliable second vehicle.  I’m finding it very difficult to come up with a vehicle that both Poss and I can agree on, but given the huge variety available there must be one model that we both like.

Christmas will start at Sandra and Adam’s with breakfast at 6am, then an 8am departure for a 5 hour drive to Michelle’s for 1pm lunch.  A short stay at Emerald Beach, then see what the New Year holds.

New Year’s resolution: “Save the world, it’s the only one with Chocolate” - Alan and Poss xx