More Bad News

We are now in Newcastle staying with friends Janet and Mick. Mick doesn't sleep well if he drinks too much alcohol! He had a bad night's sleep last night!

I managed to see my 88 y.o. uncle yesterday who is seriously ill in hospital in Canberra before we drove the next 450k's to where we are now. I have just learnt he passed away peacefully this morning at 2:45 am.

We are just about to head off to Trish's brother's funeral this morning. We will probably stay here in Newcastle for my uncle's funeral now. This will mean another drive through Sydney to get back down to Canberra.

From Yass

Monday at the cricket was great. The weather was warmer and I again met a chap I had sat with the day before. We both enjoy our cricket and took it in turns to tell each yarns from our days gone by. In between we watched as Australia began to take control of the match. When I eventually got back to Berwick, Trish and I had fish and chips for tea and got everything ready for our drive to Canberra the next day. We packed as much as we could and soon were ready for a good sleep.

We were on deck early Tuesday. Trish wanted to do some last minute washing too. We were on our way by 8:30 am. The traffic was minimal as it is holiday season. We dropped Kate's car at Chris' near Tullamarine airport so they could get home to Berwick easily.

650 k's later we pulled into a motel at Yass not too far from Canberra. The motel room was small but the air con worked well and everything was clean. There was free internet, thus I am doing this post and keeping one eye on the cricket on TV. The road between Melbourne and Sydney is nearly all dual highway nowadays but as you can see this part of Australia is very dry. Sorry about the dead bugs on the windscreen.

I have rung ahead to ensure all is OK for our visit in Canberra first thing tomorrow but there was no answer. Hopefully all is OK.

Eventually we got a call through and did not get good news, my elderly uncle now has pneumonia and hospital staff now intend to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Drouin And Then To The Test Match At The MCG

Our trip to Drouin was great. Again there was too much to drink and too much to eat. Plenty of friendship was found there too. It was great to catch up with everyon again and exchange our news. The weather was cool with a breeze ensuring people kept jumpers and jackets on. Trish had had a great Christmas day and was in a form of "Recovery Mode" for Boxing Day so we arrived back in Berwick that evening while there was still plenty of daylight. I think Trish has her brother's funeral on her mind too.

Today (Sunday) Trish dropped me at Berwick Station and I travelled almost an hour into the city and the Melbourne Cricket ground (MCG). I arrived at the ground much too early, got a sensational seat and settled down to enjoy the day's play. The cricket was slow and the breeze was very cool again. However I enjoyed the day very much. I played for Dandenong when I played cricket many years ago. Peter Siddle (Australia's opening fast bowler) plays with Dandenong too so there is a real interest here.

I travelled home by train as far as Springvale where I met with Trish as well as very good friends Eddie and Patsy. We all enjoyed a wonderful Vietnamese meal together. It was a great end to a great day.

I won't head in to the cricket as early tomorrow. Early tomorrow morning (Monday) Trish is driving Kate, Arj and the two kids to Tullamarine Airport for them to take off for Perth in Western Australia for a two week holiday. Perth is expecting 40 degrees.

On Tuesday we head north to Nelson Bay and the funeral with two major stop offs on the way.

Now It Is On To Boxing Day

After the excitement of receiving gifts in the morning the rest of Christmas Day day was relatively quiet. Christmas night was Arj's family's get together and it was being held at Kate's this year.

In true Sri Lankan tradition people arrived after 6:30pm and we ate about 8 pm, a tad late for the kids but this is the way it has always been.

Arj has a great family and his two older brothers plus his Mum and Dad come with all their kids as well as in-laws. The three boys and Arj's mum cook various Sri Lankan dishes while others supply sides, sweets or nibblies. Again there are more gifts and as usual the young kids get spoilt. We have another 'Kris Kringle' to keep costs within reason.

After too much to eat and drink, people started to find their way home at about 11pm. With cleaning up out of the way it was bedtime about midnight.

Today we are down to Drouin to the home of former neighbour's Barry and Rainy by 11am. John Loagan and Sue will be there along with other friends Wayne and Launa. Again there will be too much to eat and drink.

Tomorrow Sunday I am off to the cricket for Day 2 of the Test match, Australia Vs Pakistan.

Our arrangements are all in place for the funeral of Trish's brother, Bevan, in Nelson Bay NSW on Thursday morning. We will be leaving here about 10 am on Tuesday and will be staying with friends Janet and Mick in Newcastle. We expect to arrive there about 5pm or so on Wednesday of this week.

Christmas Day

We all ventured out on Christmas Eve for a meal at a favorite Malaysian restaurant here in Melbourne. It was fine, but they have changed their Chicken Curry recipe and we think we prefer the older one! Christmas Eve was spent enjoying the Carols on TV. The two children, Charli and James slipped off to bed leaving Santa some milk and bikkies and some water for the reindeer!

The kids did not wake early!

It was about 8 am when Charli emerged with a look of gleeful dismay on her face at the range of gifts Santa had left. She had a quick ride on her new bike, then a quick scoot on her new scooter before delving into her Santa Sack to retrieve everything she could.

Dad (Arj) then put the new doll's house together. He was a study of concentration as he carefully followed the instructions so the 25 included wooden pieces fitted together to create the new Doll's House. Some nerves were tested as the product slowly but surely reached completion.

James actually had to be woken after 8 am but he soon was fully active checking out his Santa Sack as well. This checking out is a big deal when you are only two and the Santa Sack is so full! But he managed OK!

Nanna was put to work putting the train set together for James. There were great looks of glee and surprise on all faces as the morning progressed!

Christmas Day had got off to a great start.