As you can probably guess by the recent lack of blogging, it was impossible to get our internet access sorted in time to Skype families on Christmas Day, in fact it has only just been sorted today so the communication blackout is over.
We had to make do with phone calls over Christmas but it was still a great deal easier (and cheaper) to get in touch than when Ian first came to Australia 33 years ago. We used to write every week using aerograms - remember them? Hardly surprising the relationship didn't last!
Christmas was strange, apart from being hot and missing our families it was odd to have prawns for lunch and to not feel stuffed to capacity for days afterwards. Delicious as the prawns were, I can now see why ex pats and second generation Australians still swelter in the kitchen while it is 30 degrees outside and then proceed to eat the same quantities of turkey, roast potatoes, piggies in blankets, Paxo stuffing, mince pies and Chrismas pudding as they would to stave off the cold in the UK. I suspect we might be doing the same next year.
A couple of days after Christmas we had our first visitors, Tim and Virginia came for a couple of days. We have known Tim since Wood End Junior School days and he has lived in Australia for 30 years. It was really good to see a familiar face (and make a new friend) and their visit made me feel much more at home. They brought Tim's dog Monty the Schnoodle, yes he really is a schnoodle called Monty just like ours, the naming was a complete coincidence, and the two Montys got along great!
Had big news the other day, because of the floods in Malaysia Zoe and Shaun are coming back early and will be arriving in Melbourne on Friday. It will be wonderful to be living in the same country as my daughter again!