Christmas 2010

Annual Report 2010

Hi all.

This is of a general nature and no offence is taken if you don’t read it but it hopefully keeps us in contact especially those who we haven’t caught up with of late. This is Year 1 of no children in school. Strange feeling as the world has changed to a new paradigm. Daily timetables became less erratic and strangely predictable, no major deadlines, dramas or exams. No rushing out the door at the last minute to catch buses to get to lessons or all night editing or writing sessions. Well not exactly. Ella still has her studies and Mikaela had auditions but the intensity of school days has passed. Tick one for the parents, job well done.

Mikaela received her certificate at Goverment House for a 20 in Drama in Year 12 SACE. Her score of 95.7 was evidence of what can occur when one applies oneself, when one is focussed, determined and badly wanted to achieve. There was many a joke that it was a mistake and she should have received 75.9. For a while there, she wouldn’t answer the phone or open mail in case it was the SACE Board apologizing for their mistake. None such message ever arrived. When she said she wanted a gap year, we could only agree, job well done.

Ella on the other hand completed her second year of her B. Ed at UNISA as well as working at Cleverdicks, Tutoring, Babysitting, teaching Drama at the Hills Youth Theatre and working in a call Centre. Not one for a quiet life! In amongst all that she managed to watch all her favourite TV series and movies and read a number of books. She had a successful teaching prac and is counting down the days to her graduation. A holiday is well deserved.

The year for us has been one of travel and umbrellas. We started the year with a 6 day Houseboat holiday out of Morgan with Roger and Kerrie and their boys. 40 degree days, fine food and drink, Kayaks, water and plenty of laughter. Discovered a new board game called “Cranium”. Rumours abound that it caused the war in Afghanistan and led to Kevin Rudd’s sacking. Avoid it even if you see it going cheap at a garage sale.

WOMAD this year lasted 4 days which made the event more enjoyable. Most memorable moment was the performance of Xavier Rudd who had the entire crowd dancing in heavy rain which threatened to derail the event. On finishing his performance the rain stopped and the sun came out, A magical moment.

After spending Easter in Goolwa, Ady and I did a road trip to Sydney through a locust plague. Messy! Staying with Steve in Darlinghurst was great as we could walk into the city through the Botanical Gardens or through a number of streets bubbling with life very different to Adelaide. It took months to get rid of the smell of locusts from the car. Even vacuuming the engine bay made little difference

April was also the time that Ady, her Mum, twin brother David, and his wife Lisa took a boat trip from Amsterdam to Vienna via the Rhine and Danube. They assured me they had a terrible time and missed me terribly. Asif! Ady’s mum Betty had such a great time she booked another trip for herself and Ady from Lisbon to Paris in October which included boat journeys on the Doro, Rhone and Sone and Seine rivers. They again reiterated their boredom and that all rivers and cities in Europe looked the same. “Squint and Paris looks no different to the Torrens and the Adelaide skyline”.

My big plan this year was to avoid the heart of winter by fleeing to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand for 6 weeks in June and July. Little did I know that Mother Nature extended Winter till December. Ady, Mikaela and I flew to Vientiane in Laos via a day in KL and then spent the next 3 weeks travelling through the country then into Siem Reap in Cambodia where we picked up Ella from the airport. The next few days were spent travelling around all of the archaeological sites which were quite amazing. We spent a couple weeks in Cambodia before spending a week on an island in Thailand called Koh Chang. It was a brilliant holiday and I am so grateful that we can still holiday together as a family.

Returning to Adelaide was a bit of a shock. Rain and cold, the Crows were finally winning a few games and the wet weather ensured quite a number of bike punctures. To cap it of Collingwood won the Grand Final and the Redlegs made it to one, to just miss out. Bassett, the next coach of the Crows?

October was a time for a quick jaunt to the Sunshine coast to stay with Roger and James and it rained there as well. At least it was warm. There is something quite idyllic about the lifestyle there. Mikaela and I spent a weekend in Melbourne and to my surprise it was warm. I loved walking through all the galleries in Fed Square, finding a small cafe in a side street to watch all the faces in the street. Melbourne has become a much more cosmopolitan city in the last ten years.

Spring time in Stirling was stunning this year however it was wet and cold. Everything has grown and flowered beautifully. This is code for weeds and whipper snippering, back ache and visits to the chiropractor.

To cap off the year Mikaela went through a number of auditions with different institutions and has been accepted into a 3 year acting course at the ACA, Adelaide College of the Arts which is so exciting.

Other Highlights:

• Kath my 87 year old mother going to the ‘Dark Side’ and purchasing an IPad, getting connected and even sending emails.
• The girls have finally switched to Triple J and given nasally spoken, bogan, commercial radio DJs the flick.
• 5000 plus kilometres on the bike.
• Building Ady a new road bike.
• Finally completing the kitchen upgrade.
• Tean’s gourmet Laksa paste.
• Digital Radio
• My Samsung touch phone with a reasonable camera.

Lowlights

• Too many bike punctures.
• The election, dull, boring, uninspiring and closed-minded politicians.
• Paranoia about Illegal Boat people when the vast majority of illegal’s are people overstaying their visas. This is important to note as most of them are Poms who probably stayed on to be part of the Barmy Army.
• The Weekend Australian except the music section.
• Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman and Christopher Pearson not developing Dementia and still getting airspace.
• Trying to get rid of the possums under our floorboards (smelly).
• Not enough sunny days.
• Collingwood.
• Wet socks when riding home.

Bo Books

Th The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. The Room by Emma Donogue. Numerous travel books including A fortune teller told me by Tiziano Terzani.

Films

• The Hurt Locker
• The Ghost Writer
• The Town
• Avatar

Was not a good year for film

and Music.

• LCD Soundsystem ‘This is Happening’
• Robert Plant, 'Band of Joy'
• Peter Gabriel ‘Scratch my Back’

Well that’s it. Happy new year to you. May your next year be energetic and rewarding and full of new adventures experiences and laughter.

Regards

Alister on behalf of Ady, Ella and Mikaela.