A Message for Everyone with love

I just wanted to write something to you all - family and friends - to tell you that we have been privileged to have all of you around us. I hope we have been as good friends and relatives to you as you have been to us - and when we haven't, I hope you have been able to forgive us. We are looking forward to our new life, but love and friendship don't have geographical boundaries. We promise to keep in touch and continue to treasure these relationships and you are all always welcome in our home - wherever that is.

We love you loads, miss you already and look forward to hearing from you all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We're leaving on an airplane - don't know when we'll be back again

I woke up this morning at 7am with the worst butterflies in my stomach I have ever experienced and a rotten cold.......not ideal....I could hear Anna coughing like someone who smokes 40 a day in the other room, but on questioning the possible kidney symptoms seemed to have worn off.

We got up, packed our cases again, and went off to Sarah and Roy's to say goodbye to them, and to have a last cuddle with Charlie, who was as overjoyed as usual to see us. We know he will be fine, but tears were shed all the same.

Then over to the pub for a bite to eat with all the parents, then back to the house for final sorting out of our cases and resigning ourselves to the fact that we were going to have to pay some excess on our luggage. Caralyn and Jessie came round to say goodbye and then Nugs, Johnny and Nancy came to say goodbye - although Nugs was helping with the luggage up to Heathrow. More tears.....

Then off to Heathrow where we discovered that we had to pay £280 excess!!! That was even with a reduction for the sympathy vote. Lol. Going through to departures was like torture, and I felt like my heart might break with leaving people so dear to us. And so here we are, in the airport waiting for our new life to begin.....

Really and truly the last suppers...

The last few days have been a hive of activity, but I'm not able to upload the corresponding photos at the moment as we are at Grace and Bob's for our final night in the UK. So I'm going to write about all the events and then add pictures later.

Friday saw us pack up all our things once again and leave Nugs, Johnny, Louis and Phoebe. It's been great to be able to spend our last weeks there, and we've had some laughs and some tears. I will miss Nugs terribly and everyone has to do their best to persuade her to fly out as soon as possible.

Before moving all of our things into Grace and Bob's, I nipped into Southampton to see Andrew's leaving presentation at work. In lieu of a present, he had asked that donations be made to our nephew Lewis's charity (www.lewisjeynes.co.uk) and we were enormously touched by their generosity when a cheque for £622 was handed over. James and Samantha were thrilled as you can imagine, and are hoping this will pay for a standing frame for Lewis.

After this we rushed back to Milford to meet up with all the grandparents to watch both the children in the school talent show. George was one of the organisers and was doing some presenting, and Anna and her friends were singing and dancing. It was tremendous fun to watch, with some really excellent acts (I feel sure we will see the name Molly Marshall up in lights) and it was a good opportunity for both sets of grandparents to see the children at school. We were all really pleased with the lovely leaving cards and presents George and Anna received, but obviously sad to be going away from everything that has been so important to us for so long.

Whilst the children had a sleep over with their friends Oliver and Jamie, we went out to dinner with the parents. We had a wonderful time, although Andrew and I felt pretty exhausted after all our socialising, and my mum and dad surprised me by giving me mum's engagement ring as a going away present. I will truly treaasure it - and I know that when I feel down I can look at it and know that there are people rooting for me, even if they are far away.

This morning we picked up the children and took Andrew and George to get groovy new hairstyles for their groovy new life.....then after some lazing around, Karen, Tony, Beth, Mads and Abigail arrived for a final supper with us. I really hope that we will see them all again after not too long. It's strange to think that even after a couple of years the girls could be really changed. Beth and Mads are pretty much adults already....

So all that remains today is to check in online and then collapse into bed knowing that this is our last night in England for....well - we don't know how long....trying not to worry about the fact that I seem to be getting a cold and sore throat and Anna has just reported some kidney infection symptoms to me which given her medical history cannot be taken lightly.....oh my god.....

Dancing Queen

Graham and I dancing - I think you can tell we are having a good time!

Me, Graham and Amanda - eyes closed as usual!

More dancing - we love to dance

Amanda and Graham dancing

Wednesday night was my last night at Mojive with Graham and Amanda. Can't recommend modern jiving enough, and I know I am going to miss having my dancing buddies - however, I have been kind enough to provide Graham with a new dancing partner, Amanda, and I have already found out where the classes are in Sydney.



After dancing we went off for a curry, and as usual ordered far too much!



I apologise for the pictures - it seems it is not really possible for me to have a photo taken with my eyes open!

The Longest Goodbye...

How beautiful is Charlie?

Piers - he is going to break a few hearts..

George and Piers

Garry

Anna and Gigi

The non stop socialising is still going on apace. Monday night saw us having a lovely supper with our friends Virginia and Bill - Bill's grandfather (or was it great grandfather?) was Chief Engineer on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is very interesting. Small world eh? Yesterday evening there was a goodbye do at Andrew's office for colleagues and clients, and some very kind words were said about Andrew. I think Andrew felt quite moved and it was good to catch up with some people I haven't seen for a while and to meet others I've heard about but never met. Afterwards we picked up a Chinese takeaway and ate it with Nugs and Johnny whilst all being terribly silly.





I'm getting quite concerned that by the time we get to Sydney I am going to be the size of an elephant and they will send me straight to Taronga Zoo as the latest exhibit. The amount of eating and drinking that has been going on lately is pretty unprecedented, and the amount of training I usually do has been cut back. However. This didn't stop me from having a lovely walk with Charlie and then going for lunch with Nugs and Sarah (even knowing that I am out for supper tonight!).





It was soooo great to walk with Charlie, and to see how happy and healthy he is with Sarah and Roy. Although it breaks my heart to leave him behind, I know it is the best thing for him. The pictures above were taken today at Shirley Holms in the New Forest, which you can out onto directly from Nugs' garden. It's probably the last time I will walk with him, so I wanted to record it.





I still haven't been able to work out how to disperse the pictures amongst the text, so on this post there are a couple of pictures we took at the Eveleighs on Sunday, along with some from the work do, then Charlie.





This evening I've got my last dancing, then out for supper with Amanda and my friend Graham. Hopefully I'll burn off some of the lunchtime calories before we get to the Indian! Dancing photos tomorrow!

A Busy Weekend

Katy and Jim's chest

Jim, Julian, Glenn and Katy

Jennifer and Kim

Roy telling Adrian a dirty joke

Kodl and Min trying to avoid the camera

David, Gaile and Andrew

Gary, me (don't know what I'm doing!), Kodl and Roy

Another attempt at getting a decent picture of me and Nugs!

Henry and Jo

Johnny looking very dapper

Tammy and Alex

Graham

Nicky, Sarah, me, Carolyn, Lynne

It's been pretty much non stop socialising since my last entry. Andrew was out with his work colleagues on Friday night, whilst Nugs, Johnny and I had a lovely supper and made short work of a nice bottle of Moet. On Saturday morning, it was an early start to get Anna to riding, leaving Andrew in bed with some paracetamol waiting for the purchaser of my car to arrive. I'm very sad about my car - I had finally managed to eke a decent car out of Andrew, and now I've got to get rid of it. I think it is years before I'm going to be the proud owner of a convertible again. Might put a picture of my car on sometime!




On Saturday eening we met up with lots of friends at The Smugglers in Milford and it was great to see so many people turned out to see us off. I'll put the photos on tomorrow, as I'm doing this entry on Andrew's computer, but we had a great time. I still don't feel sad, as I don't think my head really knows that I'm going....I'm not sure when it is going to hit me properly, but it felt like a great night out with our friends, rather than the last time we will see some of them for ages. And I'm sure it's better like that.


Sunday was a very lazy day - we pottered about, sorted out the children, then at 4pm went over to Caroline and Garry's for a late lunch. Anna was already there with Gigi having had a sleep over, and George went off to play with Piers. George and Anna have known Piers and Gigi since they were born, and there is only a month between their ages, so it was sad to say goodbye. However, Garry as usual cooked an excellent meal, and I am hopeful that Caroline will pop in to see me every now and again, as she works for BA and comes to Sydney about once a year.

So, in exactly one week, we will be sitting on an aeroplane waiting to take off to a new life in Australia. How weird is that? The children still seem to be very together about it - Anna said yesterday that she couldn't really imagine living in Australia so she didn't know what she felt about it. I can relate to that. George said he was 'middling' between sad and excited - that he knew he would miss things about here, but 'it's going to be sooooo cool living in Australia'. That worried me a little bit...it's not going to be a non stop holiday - it will be real life, with all the same shit there is here - but with some sun. Lol. I wonder how he is going to feel when reality kicks in, and there is a bed time, and he has to go to school, and he's still not allowed to take food in his room etc etc....

What I know is that the thing I am going to miss is people. We've been really fortunate to have made some fabulous friends here, who have supported us through some very difficult times over the last few years. I know I am good at meeting people, but making the sort of deeper friendships we have here is different. But I am also a great believer in the fact that that sort of enduring friendship will survive the distance. Everyone is only a phone call, or web call away - or even a text. I can still shout at Nugs over the web whilst playing solitaire showdown, and I can still argue with my mum over the phone...somethings never change....







PS Does anyone know how I can put captions in for the pictures - or even have them dispersed amongst the text instead of in a big pile at the beginning?

Playing house

So the house is pretty much no more. The removers are in there packing and everything is shrouded in layers of cardboard. In a way though, I feel more settled now that things are actually happening. And I like living in a one bed cottage - it's kind of like playing house.....and it takes moments to tidy up and clean! And of course there is the added advantage of having my best friend next door.

I'm feeling much better about it all now - I've even had twinges of excitement. What a relief! And the removal guys are very nice and it's been fun chatting to them about the weird stuff they have packed in people's houses (I was very careful to conceal all the weird stuff we have!). How about packing up someone's S&M dungeon? Lol. Or being unexpectedly attacked by a blow up doll which fell off the top of a wardrobe? Hehehehehehe. Tomorrow the container will arrive and all our stuff will go off to be shipped, and all that will remain for us to do is to clean the house and enjoy various farewells with friends and family.

Of course, the bizarre weather we've had the last couple of days had made moving to the sun seem very attractive. After having a couple of weeks of lovely spring weather, during which I gave away most of my winter clothes, it has therefore been distressing to have had to deal with hail, wind and snow in togs that really are not up to it at all. This afternoon the children are doing a Bollywood dancing display in the playground at school, and I don't have anything to wear! Well I do - but I'm going to be bloody freezing....

We're leaving home....

So...yesterday we left our lovely house and moved into Nugs' cottage. It's very comfortable but I feel displaced - like a refugee.....we spent most of today at the house, clearing things up, washing all the bedlinen and making final preparations for the removal people on Monday.

It's actually happening. We are really and truly moving to the other side of the world where we don't know anyone. Hmmmm.....and.......it was largely my idea, so I don't feel I am entitled to be feeling a bit funny about it all. I think the thing is, that when you move house normally, you have kind of reached a point where you don't really want the house you've got and you are moving on to one you like more. But we don't know what our house will be...

Nevertheless, I am still very positive about the whole thing, but being in limbo is stressful.

And we've had good news - Andrew is now going to take some time off when we get there and we are going to have a little holiday. We are planning to spend 4 days on a motor cruiser going along the Hawkesbury River, which goes into Sydney Harbour. Should be fun, and will give us some relaxation for a while.

We also think we have identified a school for the children - St Luke's Grammar - so we have been making arrangements to take a tour the day after we arrive (before they break up for Easter). Hopefully everything will fall into place and I will soon be wondering what I was worrying about!

Anna's leaving party, March 9th 2007

Anna had her leaving party this evening - 12 children and ringo-ing (the gentle art of being propelled down a ski slope in a rubber ring). A fabulous time was had by all, and they were all suitably exhausted when they had finished - this was as a result of the climb back up the hill with their ringos rather than the (v quick) descent!





Anna was rightly proud of the lovely photo frames which she had decorated and written on "The journey to a friend's house is never far.....". They took ages to make and were given to each guest in their party bags.





It wasn't too easy to take pictures of the girls actually on the slopes - my photography skills are pretty stretched when things are moving! - but what I did get I have added here.





And it seems like the party is not over - 2 of the girls are still here and staying the night. Anna is thrilled to get a sleepover with Rosalind and Gigi!





And just for the record, the children who came were - Iona, Gigi, Rosalind, Jessica, Emma, Abigail, Izzy, Lauren, Ellie and Nancy. Of course, Anna and George were also there, and Grandma and Grandad came too.

Family Leaving Party, 4th March 2007

Karen, Tony and Laura

Jeynes Women - Jenny, Lynne, Melissa, Mum, Brenda
Gemma, Tracey, Bethany, Madeleine's legs, Karen, Tony

Auntie Chris

Mum, me and Lucy

Diana and Christine

Are they looking at Playboy? Dad, Andrew, David, Bob, and John

Christine and Uncle Jack

Mike and Ricky

Ricky, Uncle Maurice (looking fab at 80!), Dad and Mike

We were so delighted that so many of our family came to see us before we left - 50 in fact for Sunday lunch. Everyone seemed to have a lovely time and it was great to see some people we had not seen for some time - especially my Uncle Maurice, whose 80th birthday party we missed when we were visiting Sydney in November. Ages ranged from 93 (Uncle Jack) to under 2 years, so all generations were represented!

Lots of photos were taken - and here they are. With thanks to everyone who came!