Round the world

In May, I left Australia on my round the world ticket that was to culminate in our South American trip. Our first holiday venue was Sabah in Malaysia where we relaxed in the Shangri La Resort. Then we said goodbye to our flat in Hong Kong and set off for France. After some time trying to get the garden at Hure organised, we had a week in Normandy and then I went up to Clare’s place in Valenciennes to await the arrival of grandchild no 3: Isaac Robin Smadja. The birth went well although it was long and the new arrival was a source of much joy for everyone.

Back in Hure progress with pool drags on. The promised finish date of mid July seems laughable. But the weather is good and we can swim.

And so to 2008

We ended the year by celebrating Xmas as a family. It was a long time since we had all been together. Clare and Ilan and the 2 littlies flew out to Australia for a month so they could have a hot Noel. After flying back to Australia from Hong Kong, I had my longest stay there for quite a while from February to May .

Off to Rome

Oh dear such a lot of time has passed since I last posted to my blog. And so much has happened. I think I’ll try to post in phases. In September 2007, Kathy and I set off for Rome where we had a time share week. Our trip did not begin well as we had difficulty kangarooing the car up the drive of our house in Hure and were laughing so much at this inauspicious beginning that we feared we would never make it beyond to gate post. Jack and Wolfgang were watching us with some incredulity. But we made it, and after a very enjoyable detour in the Cinque Terre just past Genoa (where the roads were a nightmare but thankfully Kathy did most of the driving), we continued on to Rome.

In Rome we dedicated ourselves to exploring the city in detail, starting every morning by catching the train in to the city centre except for one trip to the beautiful village of Tivoli with its wonderful Italian Villa d’Este. We were quite familiar with the eternal city by the end of our stay despite having left 2 tourist guides to Rome back in Hure. We navigated by means of the free map we picked up from one of the tourist bus companies.

On the way home to Hure we travelled a little more quickly but did visit Cacassonne, the medieval walled town near Toulouse and then back to Hure to prepare for our departure after a long and enjoyable summer.

At last something happens

This summer has been one dominated by a wait and see approach. The weather, French work practices, bureaucarcy, Jack's departure for two weeks to HK and Australia all conspired to defer the arrival od the pool. Fortunately the weather has not been consistently hot so we weren't sitting around mourning the breakdown in our plans.

August was pretty quiet although I was busy both with the lovely grandchildren Abby and Elliot and of course the house and garden. However Kathy arrived just in time for the world renowned festival HURE EN FETE and we went off to the village dinner to celebrate in French rural style. And then Faith arrived and it was my 60th birthday. Everyone put in a lot of effort to make it a lovely celebration for me (except me - I just sat around feeling important). It was a great night in the garden.

And then finally, the pool was finished. Still surrounded by a lot of mud but swimmable. Sadly Clare had to leave so they weren't able to enjoy it this year. Abby is starting school and Ilan's working year begins so now we are a much smaller group.

The pool begins

Well I had been preparing myself mentally for the appearance of our garden in Hure after the extensive tree-felling so infact I was not as stunned as I might have been. Certainly it looks different now, mostlt like a huge pile of mud but if it ever gets finished, we hope it will be worth it. The base should have been poured a few days ago but due (we think) to th uncertainties of the weather (or a certain Gallic tendency to make haste slowly -festinate lente-)noth,ing has happened. Jack has been occupied digging in preparation for an unexpected retaining wall

Our dear neighbours, Ray And Phyllis, had arrived from Plymouth and we went with them to a jazz festival ("Le 24 heures du swing", in Monsegur, one of the many picturesque bastides in our region.

I spent a week working on the garden and settling in for our first long summer in France (up until now it has always been punctuated by visits to Australia and our other life.) Then I caught the TGV up to stay with Clare for a couple of days before she and I drove the long journey back down south with Abby and Elliott. We drove straight through with a couple of breaks for the littlies to get some variety and for us to change drivers. We used Clare's new GPS which gave us a new route through Paris, partly using the peripherique and partly other roads. It seems a good invention. I hope to have one when I head off to Italy in September.

Back in Hong Kong

After my long stay in Newcastle, I had a short break in Hong Kong wherfe I caught up with my HK friends (or some of them) again. Most significant was the time I spent with my friend Lesley who is leaving HK for the UK after about 20 years in the former colony. We've been close friends for most of my time in HK and her leaving will make it less like home to me when I visit. She's making a new life for herself and her boys so I hope it all goes well. Of course we'll keep in contact: she'll be my first port of call when I go to the UK. We had a couple of nostalgic lunches at Lucy's restaurant, our favourite haunt, which I've referred to before. As well our friend Don from Sharja was in town so we were able to touch base with him as well.

At the last minute, I decided to accompany Jack to Shanghai on his business trip. It was my third trip so I was able to take it easy and just wander around. We went on a short cruise on the river so we could see the Bund and again to see the Peace band playing the jazz oldies. You may know (dear reader) that the Peace band is an institution in Shanghai, all of its members being at least in their seventies, I think. Come to think of it, that's not much older than me. Oh well.

I also took a short term job in her college (Tsing Yi) for a few days so was gainfully employed once more. Life was very hectic as I had to make plans not only to go to France for the summer, but also to move out of our flat in Hung Hom Bay. We're downsizing again!

And then there was rain....

After a couple of weeks back in Hong Kong, I continued my travels to Australia. I must admit I was finding so many changes of environment a little wearing and my signature cough developed into full scale bronchitis. Still I managed to catch up with most of the important people in my life (not all) and to spend a weekend in Sydney with Kate and see the stage version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I enjoyed the show - good production numbers and a variety of old songs I could tap my feet to, but sometimes I found the humour depended more on gratuitous bad language than anything else. Guess I am showing my age. Don't tell me rampant conservatism is catching up on me.

However the events of the last weekend overtook the rest of my stay as the long drought in Australia was broken in Newcastle at least. On the Friday before I left, an enormous typhoon struck, leading to the beaching of a ship off Nobby's beach, and flooding for many people. Poor Kate who was coming to Newcastle for the weekend had a long trip (7 hours) on trains and substitute coaches. Trees fell all over New Lambton Heights which is high, including on the house two doors down from us. In lower suburbs such as Jack's mum's flooding was terrible.

We experienced our own damage, mainly to Christopher's room. He was stranded in the Workers Club unable to drive his car due to the floods in Hunter Street. On the following Monday, I went to Sydney with Kate and escaped to Hong Kong but the deluge continued at home........