Some people love 'em some people don't, I sit in the 'love 'em' basket and from the begining of December can't wait to see whose Christmas Newsletter the postie has delivered, I also love the Christmas Cards that I hang on the fly screen door in the family room... they rustle in the breeze as if they're singing to me :-) Here is Newsletter #33, I wish I had copies of those older ones but sadly only thought of keeping them about 20 years ago. There are copies, with photos, of these 20 years in the State Library of NSW and may be of use to someone many years from now researching life in Sydney in the 21st Century from one living it... not what the newspapers say or what historians write... but from a family, our family!
Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2006 from Pennie & David
I’m running late this year because I’ve been wondering what to put in a Christmas Newsletter when I’ve been writing a Web Log for almost 18 months - sort of doubling up a tad but at least I can check it to see what’s been happening! David and I spent New Years Day in Romsey in Hampshire, after enjoying a fun Christmas with Tomos, Emma and Abigail in Wood Green. It snowed a couple of days after Christmas but not enough to hang around... we almost had a White Christmas.
We really loved living in London for six months, it was exciting being so close to this beautiful City and being able to jump on a tube and be in the hustle and bustle in 20 minutes. David had to be dragged to the UK but of course didn’t want to come home after once more enjoying the London Transport System, British Transport Museums and many pints of Real Ale.
Spot the Differences... Artington House,Guildford, Surrey 1968 & 2005
‘What was the highlight of your trip?’ is a question asked many times by our friends in the UK and here in Australia - here are my top four.
1. Really getting to know our Grand daughter Abigail Rose and our Daughter-in-law Emma, was something we will always treasure, living only a five minute walk away made it easy and seeing Tomos as a husband, a father, a home renovator, a cook, a gardener, an entertainer and excelling in all areas made us very proud.
2. Renewing friendships of some 38 years was a surprise and a delight... we just slotted back into conversations and reminiscing as if we’d seen them only last month instead of almost 28 years ago.
3. Finding ‘Trebartha Farm’ in Cornwall, the home of my father’s family almost 200 years ago... the whole area from North Hill to Jamaica Inn used to belong to the family at one stage, it’s beautiful countryside around the Bodmin Moor and every now and then I tingled at the thrill of being there, I also tingled driving around parts of North Yorkshire where my Mum’s Convict First Fleet Ancestor came from.
4. Finding the tiny village of Pennan in Scotland, the site of my very favourite film of all time ‘Local Hero’. There were many, many more highlights but these four are on the top of my list.
David’s six months can be best described as the Three ‘B’ Tour... Britain, Beer and Buses!
Arriving home in March we promptly proceeded to attend to all those big and little renovation jobs that were long overdue, like new toilets, overhanging trees, a new kitchen & painting, so its been a busy year.
David’s homesickness for Britain was promptly forgotten when his Leyland Bus had its paint job, he now spends many hours most days putting together the most enormous jigsaw puzzle you ever saw, the job is mind boggling and with a deadline of Australia Day (26/1/07) where he will give free rides around the City for the day... he is very motivated and need I say ‘Happy’ to be home!! Here he is with his 1936 Leyland TD4 Double Decker Bus... it’s now 70 years old but looking better than it has in many a long year...
This was and still is my hand work for the year, half inch hexagons making diamonds then joined together with the white hexagons, I’m still designing this quilt as I go and have no idea how big it will turn out, I’ve made a few other quilts since I got home but nothing big.
I was so happy to get back to the rest of our family and to see what a big tummy Nerys had grown and how much Jackson Harry had grown up... they were the only two that had changed noticeably in the six months we were away :-) I was also very pleased to get back to my Tennis and my Patchwork friends.
Two weeks after we got home, Tom, Emma and Abigail Rose arrived for a three week visit, it was so wonderful to see them again and to be able to introduce Abi to her Aussie Family and her second home. Our family was all together for the first time in three years... but only for 5 days because Gwilym and Emily then left for their 9 month trip overseas.
The next excitement was the arrival of Charlie Ripley Thompson born on the 29th of April to Nerys, Tim and Jackson Harry... our third Grandchild. Charlie Ripley is a bonny little chap and much adored by his big brother who asked his mother the other day to have another baby, Nerys was puzzled as Charlie was only 6 months old but Jack explained that he would like a baby who could talk. Nerys is into full time motherhood and doing a brilliant job with our two little boys, she is kept busy as Team Leader at Playgroup as well as ferrying Jackson around to Pre School, Swimming and friends. Last month they all enjoyed a relaxing break in Queensland with Tim’s father and Sue. Tim has turned into a terrific Home Brewer, I heard David trying to persuade Tim to make him a batch of beer and David has been Home Brewing for 35 years!!
Tom and Emma’s life is still hectic to say the least, juggling work, dance, parenthood and life in general, we Skype with them often and are seeing our Abigail Rose grow up, she’s always keen to say hello to us but we bore her easily so she comes and goes while we speak to Tom or Emma. Tom is still working for the Three Waiters, he had a small part in the musical Chess in Oslo as well as a couple of trips to Asia. Emma has put on several successful shows in London as well as Hong Kong and even India. They holidayed in Egypt and Cornwall as well as Australia of course and they have many plans with their Production Company in London and Macau for 2007. They have very exciting news.... we are expecting another Grand baby on the 12th of January, a brother or sister for Abigail Rose.
Briony and Joon continue to combine work with study. Briony tops her class in many subjects while working as a Paralegal, she is still involved with the children who were in detention at Villawood... they now live in the community and Briony’s group takes them for outings each month. Early in the year they enjoyed a visit to Korea to see Joon’s family and to introduce Briony to them, he is still hard at work on his Ph.D. and with the Korean Resource Centre. A Korean film company made a documentary of his life in Australia which will be shown in Korea in the new year... I hope we get to see it soon.
Gwilym and Emily have just enjoyed a most amazing 9 months of travelling through... Vietnam, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, England, France, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Morocco, Wales and Cambodia. They rode camels in the Sahara, looked for a Gwilym in Wales, climbed temples in Angkor Wat, sailed the Dalmatian Coast, drank vodka in Russia, ate a scorpion in Saigon, swam in radioactive thermal baths in Hungary... and oh yes... got ENGAGED on the Pont Alexandre III in Paris!! They were also lucky to spend five weeks in the hotel of our friend Marie-Therese in the small village of Castellane in France, they played boule, toured the countryside, enjoyed the night club and ate fromage till the cows came home, I heard said!
Gwilym and Emily stayed with Tom, Emma and Abi each time they visited London and of course fell in love with the beautiful Abigail Rose as she did with them. Gwil’s not ashamed to say he shed a tear when she waved goodbye to them for the last time. Gwil and Em have only been home for 4 days so are busy getting back into life in Sydney, Em will go back to work at the radio station FBI next week and Gwil will get his Landscape Design business going again as well as re designing parts of our garden.
Last month we celebrated my Dad’s 90th Birthday in style, he got a new laptop for his birthday and is enjoying writing more of his stories as we enjoy receiving them. Mum has sole use of their other computer now and loves to find Tomos is online so she can Skype with them and see their Great Grand Daughter dance and wave to Rosie and Rip.
Twenty-one of our family members will arrive here at ‘333’ for lunch on Christmas Day, Gwilym will BBQ a leg of Ham, David will cook the Turkey in the other BBQ. I’ll do the potatoes, salads and fruits and Nerys is in the process of making a Gingerbread House.
Today the weather is very cool for this time of year at only 17c, parts of our country have already been devastated by bushfires, Sydney has had some hideously hot days and will expect many more during the summer but we’re making the most of the cool during this busy pre Christmas time.
Gwilym dressed up in a Santa Costume and did a wonderful job of Ho Ho Ho’ing and Merry Christmas’ing today while he handed out presents at Jackson Harry’s Playgroup, Gwil was paranoid about Jackson recognizing him and ruining Jack’s Santa fun for the rest of his life but he needn’t have worried: he wasn’t recognized and Jack very proudly told Gwilym later on that Santa had come to his Playgroup.
We all Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope your year has been as fun and full as ours has. If you would like to check my Blog when you have some spare time it’s http://penniedavid.blogspot.com/
and if you would like to learn more about the restoration of a Leyland TD4 you can find David’s Blog at... http://www.leyland1379.blogspot.com/
