Great Night Out Soured By Sad News.

Last night we caught up with good friends for our annual Christmas get together. The ladies share the meal preparation and the venue is rotated from year to year. This year it was a June and Keith's turn in Berwick so it meant this time we did not have to travel far. We had plenty to eat, heaps of laughs, enough to drink and exchanged Christmas Gifts Kris Kringle style. We seem to start a little earlier these days which allows us to finish a little earlier. We don't seem to drink as much as we used to either. This means we either have more sense nowadays or we are growing older!

We arrived back home at Kate's place well before midnight.

One of the reasons for driving down to Melbourne this time was so we could visit Trish's eldest brother Bevan in Nelson Bay. Bevan has been suffering from Parkinson's these last 10 years or so but only recently he started to deteriorate quickly. He is 75 years of age and is in full care.

Another of Trish's brothers, Billy, rang last night at about 8 pm to say Bevan had suffered a turn for the worse. Bevan passed away at about 1 am this morning.

At this stage no arrangements have been announced so all our plans for our trip here to Melbourne are in limbo. We will just have to wait and see.