Dear Family and Friends,
We knew last Christmas was going to be difficult as it was our first without George and Tiny. So we arranged to take our Christmas dinner up to share with Dad. However, as with 2009, it wasn’t meant to be. Dad called Christmas morning to tell us that he had to cancel as he was off to the hospital again. We spent Christmas afternoon at the Whittington, where Dad, just as he had done the previous year, opened his gifts laying in a hospital bed. Only this time there was no George.
Boxing Day didn’t get any better. We awoke to see several missed calls on our cell phones from my niece. She had tried to reach us because my brother Dave was in hospital receiving the last rites. He had been rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties. Thankfully, by the time I called Denise back, he had seen off the worse and looked like he would be ok.
These two events would cast a dark shadow over 2011. Dave spent the best part of six months to and fro the hospital, including several stays following relapses of his condition. But thankfully, despite the severity of his condition Christmas night, he has been fighting back and was able to enjoy a vacation on Cyprus for the first time in years.
In Dad’s case, we weren’t so fortunate. His condition deteriorated considerably and on January 14th he passed away peacefully at Marie Curie’s Hampstead Hospice. Thankfully his granddaughter Hayley was able to visit with him the night before we lost him, and I was able to spend his last night by his side at home and was by his side when he left us to be with Mum the following morning. As at George’s funeral, it meant so much that I was able to do the eulogy, as did my brother Phil. And I’ll never forget the sound of You Were Always On My Mind as we followed Dad’s casket out of the small chapel at the cemetery to lay him to rest, before having a celebratory meal in his honour at his favourite haunt, The Gatehouse, with Phil and Jean, Denise and young David, Donnaghda and Hayley. Sadly Dad wouldn’t be the only loss the family would suffer this year – Rita and Jean both lost a brother each too.
The next few weeks the family focused on emptying Dad’s flat. Dad had lived there for 49 years, so clearing it out before handing back the flat to Islington Council proved to be extremely emotional and brought an end to the White family’s link to Holloway that went back over a hundred years. Then I had to sort Dad’s estate. As much as we would trade it for having him and George back healthy and happy, what they left behind would certainly make a difference in our lives.
With no Tiny or Dad, we decided to get away to Dublin at the end of March so we could spend some time with my brother Dave, his wife Rita, and niece Denise. Unfortunately we missed out on seeing my nephew, as young David caught a plane to Australia minutes before we arrived to spend 12 months living Down Under. We had a great time there visiting around O’Connell Street in town, and spending time with our family – the highlight being a magical mystery tour to Johnnie Fox’s in the mountains where we got lost, were given directions and re-directions from the strangest of locals, and ended up roaring with laughter with tears streaming down our cheeks.
By the time we headed back to Hertford, and following months of deliberation, we decided to become vegetarians, with both of us eating meat for the last time in Dublin before returning home. The result was better than we had expected – both of us now free of stomach problems. Better still was that I also lost over 30 pounds in the first six months.
On April 29th, the world watched William and Kate get married. But my son Paul had bigger news of his own. With Lisa, they became proud parents on April 30th of a baby boy they named Jamie. A week or so later, my daughter Hayley also had news of her own – she was moving out of the family home to live on her own.
May brought a memorable 14th wedding anniversary vacation in Cornwall where we ate fish for the last time. In fact, I had fried fish and chips several times, with the last from Loggans Fish Bar in Hayle, the evening we celebrated my 50th birthday following a return light plane flight from Lands End to the Scilly Isles where we enjoyed a memorable day never to be forgotten.
One other major event this year is that incredibly Dawn swore allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II at Hatfied Town Hall on May 9th to become a British Citizen and now has a UK passport. By the way (in case you wondered), Dawn still has her little blue American passport. She never gave up her American citizenship; she has dual.
This summer also saw me re-ignite a friendship with Denis and Tracy after thirty years. I had even been asked to be his best man at their wedding 30 years ago; however the 80s took our lives in different directions and we lost contact. But thanks to Friends Reunited, we got in touch again and over the last 6 months the four of us have enjoyed several meals together.
On the work front, Dawn has continued her environmental efforts at City University, and thankfully didn’t have to stay away as much as in previous years. In my case, I continued my rear guard action where I worked. We lost the environmental certification I had worked so hard for us to get and following many redundancies, including my assistant, I have been left to do everything accounts related on my own. Oh yea, there was even a month when I was three weeks late in receiving my monthly pay.
This year we also became Apple fans. Dawn received an iPad for Christmas last year and I picked up a new iPad2; then when our cell phone contracts ran out, we replaced our Blackberrys with a couple of iPhone 3GSs. I also got more into baking and now bake all our own bread.
In October we saw Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines in the London stage production of Driving Miss Daisy. What a treat that was!
Best of all was a celebratory week in New York to celebrate the 15th anniversary of meeting at the top of the Empire State Building. We visited Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, The High Line, Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building again. We got a recording of us doing the news and weather during an NBC studio tour and saw The Jersey Boys on stage. And the vegetarian food we ate in New York was excellent. We ate at the famous vegan restaurant, Candle 79; Katz’s Deli (made famous by Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally); the Boathouse in Central Park (recommended to me by Jo Wheatley, this year’s winner of the Great British Bake Off); and The River Café, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, where we had a special anniversary meal while watching the sunset over Manhattan.
On returning from New York, we had the kitchen renovated and spent 4 weeks climbing over boxes, flat packs and appliances while it was transformed into beautiful new fitted kitchen. We’ve also had the patio doors in the living room ripped out to be replaced by a door and window.
So, as you can see, it’s been a pretty eventful year for us, one filled with laughter and tears. We hope yours has been happy and healthy and we hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas.
Love, Paul & Dawn
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Christmas Letter 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
We are writing this as usual just after Thanksgiving so that we can get it in the mail early with our Christmas cards that are sent overseas. However, we are a little apprehensive about writing with six weeks still left of the year, as there is still plenty of time for the unexpected to happen.
Last Christmas saw Dad back in hospital, which took a little shine off the festive season. We did take our Christmas dinner up Holloway to share it with George before visiting Dad. Dad didn’t make it home until after the New Year, and has been back into hospital over half a dozen times since. In fact, he has spent 8 of the last 14 weeks there and missed out on us celebrating Thanksgiving dinner with him by going back in two days before Thanksgiving.
Sadly, though, 2010 will be remembered for those we lost. In January we baked a birthday cake for my brother George to help celebrate his 57th birthday, and took up a belated Christmas dinner so we could all share it with Dad. This is why it came as such a shock when George passed away suddenly after a heart attack in August. A month later we were devastated to lose our precious Tiny, too. With her ninth birthday a month away, we took the decision to let her go ahead to Rainbow Bridge after the vet found a tumour and fluid on her lungs. Neither one of us could bear the thought of her suffering, so we cradled her in our arms until she fell asleep one last time. But George and Tiny weren’t the only ones we shed tears over in the last year. In the spring we lost a life-long family friend of Dawn’s, Barbara McDaniel, Brady and Jim said good-bye to Chance, and Shelia Neal said good-bye to Patricia Neal. And just last month my sister-in-law Pattie Anderson also passed away. Gone but not forgotten, they will always live in our hearts until we’re together again.
These events will no doubt overshadow everything else that has happened over the last twelve months. And it has been pretty eventful, to say the least.
I started the year by going on a four day week at work while my company struggled financially as the recession ate into its cash and profitability. By the end of May, the company went into administration and everyone was looking at ending up on the dole. Thankfully a management buyout gave us a lifeline. Six months later, I am the only survivor from my accounts department and have been promoted to Financial Controller. And if that wasn’t enough, we recently relocated our office from Enfield to Hoddesdon. At least it’s closer to home.
Dawn, on the other hand, has been working her socks off. Her boss also left earlier this year. She has meanwhile been out and about with visits to universities in Bangor (Wales) in March, Bristol in May, and several visits to Nottingham. Better still, she was instrumental in picking up several environmental awards for City University, including the Sustainable Food and Eating award and the overall medium/large business at Islington’s Giant Green Awards ceremony. However, pride of place had to be receiving the annual Robert Kitchin Award, which was received for being the individual who had made the greatest impact at the university.
Continuing on the environmental subject, we decided to grow a vegetable garden this summer with mixed results. We had a success with radishes that Dawn loved, and courgettes which we ate for what felt like weeks at end. However, the flavourless tomatoes were a failure, as they took almost 3 months to grow using a huge amount of water, and the cabbages and carrots were a complete disaster. Our biggest carrot was no bigger than my small finger.
We did a bit of travelling this year. We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with an excellent meal as we enjoyed a boat trip along the River Thames before a ride on the British Airways London Eye, getting a bird’s eye view of London. In June, Dawn travelled back to the US on her own so she could celebrate her 50th birthday early with her family and friends over there. She flew into Atlanta and stayed with Brady and Jim, then accompanied her mum on a trip to Greenville, SC where she enjoyed spending some time with her sister Kelly and niece Michaela, as well as Lee McDaniel (sadly after we had lost Barbara), Shelia Neal, and some old high school friends.
On Dawn’s 50th, the two of us caught a train to York and enjoyed a wonderful day walking around the historical city visiting the sites. And, earlier this month, we flew to Edinburgh to spend the weekend there and celebrate the 14th anniversary of meeting on top of the Empire State Building. It turned out to be as memorable as that first weekend we spent together – this time visiting a historical castle and palace, enjoying the best-ever pub roast beef dinner (and, in my case, haggis). The highlight, though, was making our way to the top of Arthur’s Seat and looking back across the city and the River Forth.
Dawn may argue that her highlight of the year was a visit to a spa the day before her 50th at Champneys in Tring, Hertfordshire. She spent the whole day being pampered and left feeling completely relaxed. Not bad considering she got a flat tire driving there on the way.
However, I am sure she would agree that the highlight of our year, without question, was our growing relationship with my daughter Hayley. We’re all in a new place in our lives and the differences we once had are now history. We are both so thrilled to have her as an integral part of our lives and us hers.
As we close our letter, the TV news is broadcasting images of the first snowfalls of the 2010-11 winter in Scotland and the Northeast…which is really fitting, as we had heavy snowfalls in Hertford last December and again in January when we were almost snowed in after the Christmas break. Perhaps we will have a White Christmas this year. But, if not, then we’ll be more than happy to settle for all our family and friends to give and be recipients of the charity and well wishes that were at the core of the classic Bing Crosby film instead.
So, as we look towards the end of what was truly a sad year for us, we wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous year.
Love,
Paul & Dawn
We are writing this as usual just after Thanksgiving so that we can get it in the mail early with our Christmas cards that are sent overseas. However, we are a little apprehensive about writing with six weeks still left of the year, as there is still plenty of time for the unexpected to happen.
Last Christmas saw Dad back in hospital, which took a little shine off the festive season. We did take our Christmas dinner up Holloway to share it with George before visiting Dad. Dad didn’t make it home until after the New Year, and has been back into hospital over half a dozen times since. In fact, he has spent 8 of the last 14 weeks there and missed out on us celebrating Thanksgiving dinner with him by going back in two days before Thanksgiving.
Sadly, though, 2010 will be remembered for those we lost. In January we baked a birthday cake for my brother George to help celebrate his 57th birthday, and took up a belated Christmas dinner so we could all share it with Dad. This is why it came as such a shock when George passed away suddenly after a heart attack in August. A month later we were devastated to lose our precious Tiny, too. With her ninth birthday a month away, we took the decision to let her go ahead to Rainbow Bridge after the vet found a tumour and fluid on her lungs. Neither one of us could bear the thought of her suffering, so we cradled her in our arms until she fell asleep one last time. But George and Tiny weren’t the only ones we shed tears over in the last year. In the spring we lost a life-long family friend of Dawn’s, Barbara McDaniel, Brady and Jim said good-bye to Chance, and Shelia Neal said good-bye to Patricia Neal. And just last month my sister-in-law Pattie Anderson also passed away. Gone but not forgotten, they will always live in our hearts until we’re together again.
These events will no doubt overshadow everything else that has happened over the last twelve months. And it has been pretty eventful, to say the least.
I started the year by going on a four day week at work while my company struggled financially as the recession ate into its cash and profitability. By the end of May, the company went into administration and everyone was looking at ending up on the dole. Thankfully a management buyout gave us a lifeline. Six months later, I am the only survivor from my accounts department and have been promoted to Financial Controller. And if that wasn’t enough, we recently relocated our office from Enfield to Hoddesdon. At least it’s closer to home.
Dawn, on the other hand, has been working her socks off. Her boss also left earlier this year. She has meanwhile been out and about with visits to universities in Bangor (Wales) in March, Bristol in May, and several visits to Nottingham. Better still, she was instrumental in picking up several environmental awards for City University, including the Sustainable Food and Eating award and the overall medium/large business at Islington’s Giant Green Awards ceremony. However, pride of place had to be receiving the annual Robert Kitchin Award, which was received for being the individual who had made the greatest impact at the university.
Continuing on the environmental subject, we decided to grow a vegetable garden this summer with mixed results. We had a success with radishes that Dawn loved, and courgettes which we ate for what felt like weeks at end. However, the flavourless tomatoes were a failure, as they took almost 3 months to grow using a huge amount of water, and the cabbages and carrots were a complete disaster. Our biggest carrot was no bigger than my small finger.
We did a bit of travelling this year. We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with an excellent meal as we enjoyed a boat trip along the River Thames before a ride on the British Airways London Eye, getting a bird’s eye view of London. In June, Dawn travelled back to the US on her own so she could celebrate her 50th birthday early with her family and friends over there. She flew into Atlanta and stayed with Brady and Jim, then accompanied her mum on a trip to Greenville, SC where she enjoyed spending some time with her sister Kelly and niece Michaela, as well as Lee McDaniel (sadly after we had lost Barbara), Shelia Neal, and some old high school friends.
On Dawn’s 50th, the two of us caught a train to York and enjoyed a wonderful day walking around the historical city visiting the sites. And, earlier this month, we flew to Edinburgh to spend the weekend there and celebrate the 14th anniversary of meeting on top of the Empire State Building. It turned out to be as memorable as that first weekend we spent together – this time visiting a historical castle and palace, enjoying the best-ever pub roast beef dinner (and, in my case, haggis). The highlight, though, was making our way to the top of Arthur’s Seat and looking back across the city and the River Forth.
Dawn may argue that her highlight of the year was a visit to a spa the day before her 50th at Champneys in Tring, Hertfordshire. She spent the whole day being pampered and left feeling completely relaxed. Not bad considering she got a flat tire driving there on the way.
However, I am sure she would agree that the highlight of our year, without question, was our growing relationship with my daughter Hayley. We’re all in a new place in our lives and the differences we once had are now history. We are both so thrilled to have her as an integral part of our lives and us hers.
As we close our letter, the TV news is broadcasting images of the first snowfalls of the 2010-11 winter in Scotland and the Northeast…which is really fitting, as we had heavy snowfalls in Hertford last December and again in January when we were almost snowed in after the Christmas break. Perhaps we will have a White Christmas this year. But, if not, then we’ll be more than happy to settle for all our family and friends to give and be recipients of the charity and well wishes that were at the core of the classic Bing Crosby film instead.
So, as we look towards the end of what was truly a sad year for us, we wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous year.
Love,
Paul & Dawn
Friday, 25 December 2009
Christmas Letter 2009
Firstly, as always, we hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and well. Twelve months ago we were facing a recession and sadly here in the
We signed off our last letter with thoughts of our forthcoming visit by Dawn’s mother, Brady, and Jim. Well, the four of us enjoyed the festive time together, mostly as planned. In addition to the food and company, we also enjoyed a visit to Castor (the ancestral home of the Wootens), a performance of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, and many other activities while they were here.
In January Dawn then took up her position as Environmental Officer at
This year also saw us not only become environmentalists in the workplace, but also at home. Paul started using steel razor blades instead of disposables, we started using biodegradable cleaners and paper, and also have a composter in our back yard for our cardboard and vegetable food waste. We replaced paper napkins with cloth ones at the dining table, and try to buy local produce and only sustainable fish, especially after we watched the film The End of the Line. And for one of Dad’s gifts this year, we ordered the planting of five trees in
On the family front, we have been fortunate to have been able to spend many weekends visiting with Dad and George. At the beginning of the year Dad was rushed to hospital with chest problems and we actually feared the worst. However, it did take a while and it has taken its toll on him, but at least he made it back home and has been getting about for the last six months or so. Just this week Dad and George came over to our house to enjoy a Thanksgiving Day meal with us. We have also had the pleasure of seeing Paul’s daughter, Hayley, quite a bit. Paul was especially proud when she took him to Pizza Hut for a birthday lunch, and us both to the White Hart in Hertford for Father’s Day. More recently we also met Denise and David, Paul’s niece and nephew, for the first time in over 12 years when they came over from
Generally we have been on the go constantly this year with our jobs being the focus of much of what we do. However, we can’t sign off without mentioning our vacation in
On that nice happy note, we’ll close again for another year and send you all our wishes hoping that you have a memorable and happy Christmas, and more importantly a very healthy and prosperous new year.
Paul & Dawn
Christmas 2009
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Christmas Letter 2008
Firstly, we hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and well. Especially at this time of year as our appalling economy takes it toll on our wallets and our personal financial security. However, health and happiness doesn’t cost a penny (except in the US), so we would like to wish you health and happiness before filling you in all we have been up to since our last Christmas letter.
The new years started with us having to replace our boiler after our old one died on us leaving us freezing cold at the height of the winter for five days. Thankfully that was the only real panic to befall us (touch wood). However, half way through the year I started decorating the spare bedroom and six months later it’s almost complete. All we need to do is install a new curtain rail and some curtains. We also almost completed painting our hallway and landing, and insulation in our loft. Not a great year for DIY.
We’ve caught up with some old friends. However, it seems this was restricted to old Schiller colleagues. Dawn met up with Mavis and Margaret, who both worked at the London campus in the spring, and more recently had lunch Nick and Keith who work at LCC. The two of us also met Cathy Eberhart from the Florida campus for lunch a couple of times this year, too.
In March, we took Dad to the RAF museum at Hendon, and in September to the Royal Imperial War museum for his 81st birthday. We were also lucky enough to enjoy his company for lunch at The Gatehouse and The Landseer a couple of times, as well as The Fire Station at Waterloo and The Spaniards Inn at Hampstead where we spotted Ricky Gervais. Dawn and I also found a pub called The Tilbury in Datchworth that does excellent food. In May, for our 11th wedding anniversary, we caught Eurostar and spent the day in Brussels. More recently, thanks to a couple of complimentary tickets from work, we enjoyed a nice meal in the legends lounge at White Hart Lane before watching Spurs beat Bolton.
At work, Dawn’s PAF department relocated buildings twice, while in February my company relocated from Hertford to Enfield. Now we travel to and from work together catching the 6:31am train out of Hertford North in the morning and the 16:54pm that leaves Enfield Chase in the evening. Dawn has visited several universities around the country, and attended a couple of environment award ceremonies, too. Sadly at one of there she missed out on an award for her travel plan. As we write this Dawn is still a PA. However, she recently applied for an opening as Environmental Office at City University. As for me, a shrinking order book coupled with cash difficulties resulted in the closure of our northern office and staff at our welsh office being laid off for a month. There have also been several redundancies at the Enfield office and I may be on a 4 day week soon.
However, despite all this we both look back on 2008 with appreciation for the positive things that have come our way. Recently, I registered with the University of Bath and am now studying an environmental management course. We’ve had the company of my daughter Hayley at the house a couple of times, and visited Dad once with her, too. Dawn passed her UK driving test in Stevenage on August 26th and even has a silver plated plague to commemorate the occasion. Tiny started a new diet following she had several bouts of being sick and not eating. And finally, Dawn utilised her right to vote by adding her voice to the millions who felt that the US had lost its way over the last 8 years, and that Barrack Obama was the its best hope for the future. And, finally on the 17th of December Dawn’s mum, Brady, and Jim will be arriving from Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA to spend the Christmas holidays with us. Like we said, we have so much to be thankful for. We hope that you do, too.
Paul & Dawn
Christmas 2008
The new years started with us having to replace our boiler after our old one died on us leaving us freezing cold at the height of the winter for five days. Thankfully that was the only real panic to befall us (touch wood). However, half way through the year I started decorating the spare bedroom and six months later it’s almost complete. All we need to do is install a new curtain rail and some curtains. We also almost completed painting our hallway and landing, and insulation in our loft. Not a great year for DIY.
We’ve caught up with some old friends. However, it seems this was restricted to old Schiller colleagues. Dawn met up with Mavis and Margaret, who both worked at the London campus in the spring, and more recently had lunch Nick and Keith who work at LCC. The two of us also met Cathy Eberhart from the Florida campus for lunch a couple of times this year, too.
In March, we took Dad to the RAF museum at Hendon, and in September to the Royal Imperial War museum for his 81st birthday. We were also lucky enough to enjoy his company for lunch at The Gatehouse and The Landseer a couple of times, as well as The Fire Station at Waterloo and The Spaniards Inn at Hampstead where we spotted Ricky Gervais. Dawn and I also found a pub called The Tilbury in Datchworth that does excellent food. In May, for our 11th wedding anniversary, we caught Eurostar and spent the day in Brussels. More recently, thanks to a couple of complimentary tickets from work, we enjoyed a nice meal in the legends lounge at White Hart Lane before watching Spurs beat Bolton.
At work, Dawn’s PAF department relocated buildings twice, while in February my company relocated from Hertford to Enfield. Now we travel to and from work together catching the 6:31am train out of Hertford North in the morning and the 16:54pm that leaves Enfield Chase in the evening. Dawn has visited several universities around the country, and attended a couple of environment award ceremonies, too. Sadly at one of there she missed out on an award for her travel plan. As we write this Dawn is still a PA. However, she recently applied for an opening as Environmental Office at City University. As for me, a shrinking order book coupled with cash difficulties resulted in the closure of our northern office and staff at our welsh office being laid off for a month. There have also been several redundancies at the Enfield office and I may be on a 4 day week soon.
However, despite all this we both look back on 2008 with appreciation for the positive things that have come our way. Recently, I registered with the University of Bath and am now studying an environmental management course. We’ve had the company of my daughter Hayley at the house a couple of times, and visited Dad once with her, too. Dawn passed her UK driving test in Stevenage on August 26th and even has a silver plated plague to commemorate the occasion. Tiny started a new diet following she had several bouts of being sick and not eating. And finally, Dawn utilised her right to vote by adding her voice to the millions who felt that the US had lost its way over the last 8 years, and that Barrack Obama was the its best hope for the future. And, finally on the 17th of December Dawn’s mum, Brady, and Jim will be arriving from Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA to spend the Christmas holidays with us. Like we said, we have so much to be thankful for. We hope that you do, too.
Paul & Dawn
Christmas 2008
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Christmas Letter 2007
After sending out our last Christmas letter a year ago, a brick fell off our chimney – smashing some roof tiles above the kitchen extension. In January (thanks to high winds), many more bricks came down, leaving the main roof, extension roof, and the chimney needing major repairs. Thankfully our insurance policy covered most of that bill. But it didn’t cover the cost of replacing some of our back fence panels that were also blown to shreds in the high winds.
We’ve spent many hours travelling to and from the hospital to visit Paul’s dad during his 3 different visits. In February, he suffered a heart attack. Thankfully he was home within a week of that once the doctors were satisfied with his progress. Unfortunately, he was back in hospital in September (a few days before his 80th birthday), this time for five weeks. He went in with palpitations and left with the knowledge that he had prostate cancer.
Paul rejoined the workforce in February as Cost Controller for a local asbestos surveying company. However, he may be looking for a new job soon, as his company are relocating after Christmas. Dawn, on the other hand, became involved in environmental and business continuity projects at work, which resulted in her travelling the country, making visits to universities in
In May, we had a memorable time celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary touring the Highlands of Scotland. However, after driving around the
The summer saw Paul finally get down to writing again. First, he completed a 70 page journal of our
2007 will also be remembered as the year we lost Margaret Kerr, and waking up to five inches of snow in February. We saw Simply Red in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and visited St. Mary’s Church in Hertingfordbury, where Paul’s great-great grandparents were married in 1873. We also took a ride down to
Love,
Dawn & Paul
Monday, 25 December 2006
Christmas Letter 2006
Firstly, we hope that you and those close to you are safe and well and that you are able to enjoy this festive time of the year. For us, we certainly are thanking our blessings as we take the chance to look back over the last twelve months, with a special thought for the friends and family we left behind in America when we returned home to England. Also in our thoughts are those who are no longer with us. You will all remain in our hearts and minds.
Well, it’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since we spent last Christmas at Santa’s Georgia Grotto in Flowery Branch with Brady, Jim, Margaret, Kelly and Michaela. It certainly left an indelible mark on us, as did attending St. Augustine’s social event of 2006, Michaela Dixon’s 8th birthday party. In between these festive times, we gave 2143 Cedar Drive a “House Makeover” in an effort to sell the house quickly. And it worked, too, as we were out of the house within 16 days of receiving an offer. What we didn’t anticipate was that we would be evicted by the new owner in the process.
It wasn’t all bad though. We were still able to enjoy one last meal at Frenchy’s in Clearwater Beach and a final concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall where we saw JD Fortune in INXS before we became homeless. Not to mention getting the chance to appreciate just how much we meant to our good friends Mary Bonner (ex mayor of Dunedin), plus John and Phyllis Courtney, who kindly gave us a roof over our heads at an hour’s notice.
March then gave Tiny her first experience of flying, albeit stuck in the cargo hold of a Virgin jumbo jet. However, she came through the ordeal fine before we all moved into a two bedroom furnished flat in Winchmore Hill, North London.
As we arrived in England jobless, finding work was our number one priority. Paul found a job pretty quickly, within 6 weeks of arriving home, as a System Support Manager for a security company in Hertford. Dawn, on the other hand, had to apply for over 100 jobs before she was offered the chance to become a schizophrenic PA trying to juggle the demands of three director- level bosses and a line manager at City University in London.
With income sorted out, next on our list was finding a house to buy, so we could avoid paying rent. Fate once again helped us out by pointing us in the direction of a nice three bedroom house on the outskirts of Hertford, just a mile from where Paul was working. Unfortunately, Paul quit his job a week before we moved in because he couldn’t cope with the under-the-counter cash payments to staff and being woken up by phone calls in the early hours of the morning.
On the social front, Paul has been able to see his dad and brother George every week. And we’ve also had the pleasure of seeing Paul’s brother Phillip and his wife Jean, and Paul’s daughter Hayley a few times. Ex-employees also got an ear-bashing as we met up with Mavis and Margaret from Schiller, and Trevor, Richard, Helene and Pam from Bowers. We even met Cathy Eberhart too when she was in London from Dunedin. Dawn had a birthday treat at the Piccadilly Theatre watching Guys and Dolls. However, Patrick Swayze decided to be sick, so she missed him performing on the boards.
Oh yea, Paul did the 10k (6.2 mile) charity run at Hatfield House in a fraction over 62 minutes, raising £110 ($200) for Cancer Research in the process. He’s also applied to run the 2007 London Marathon and is getting fit on a treadmill in the shed at the bottom of the garden.
Anyway, as things stand at the moment, we’re currently having fun getting our house ready a bit at a time, and praying that Paul finds a job soon. But it could be worse. At least we’re away from GW and the hurricane state.
Paul & Dawn
Christmas 2006
Well, it’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since we spent last Christmas at Santa’s Georgia Grotto in Flowery Branch with Brady, Jim, Margaret, Kelly and Michaela. It certainly left an indelible mark on us, as did attending St. Augustine’s social event of 2006, Michaela Dixon’s 8th birthday party. In between these festive times, we gave 2143 Cedar Drive a “House Makeover” in an effort to sell the house quickly. And it worked, too, as we were out of the house within 16 days of receiving an offer. What we didn’t anticipate was that we would be evicted by the new owner in the process.
It wasn’t all bad though. We were still able to enjoy one last meal at Frenchy’s in Clearwater Beach and a final concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall where we saw JD Fortune in INXS before we became homeless. Not to mention getting the chance to appreciate just how much we meant to our good friends Mary Bonner (ex mayor of Dunedin), plus John and Phyllis Courtney, who kindly gave us a roof over our heads at an hour’s notice.
March then gave Tiny her first experience of flying, albeit stuck in the cargo hold of a Virgin jumbo jet. However, she came through the ordeal fine before we all moved into a two bedroom furnished flat in Winchmore Hill, North London.
As we arrived in England jobless, finding work was our number one priority. Paul found a job pretty quickly, within 6 weeks of arriving home, as a System Support Manager for a security company in Hertford. Dawn, on the other hand, had to apply for over 100 jobs before she was offered the chance to become a schizophrenic PA trying to juggle the demands of three director- level bosses and a line manager at City University in London.
With income sorted out, next on our list was finding a house to buy, so we could avoid paying rent. Fate once again helped us out by pointing us in the direction of a nice three bedroom house on the outskirts of Hertford, just a mile from where Paul was working. Unfortunately, Paul quit his job a week before we moved in because he couldn’t cope with the under-the-counter cash payments to staff and being woken up by phone calls in the early hours of the morning.
On the social front, Paul has been able to see his dad and brother George every week. And we’ve also had the pleasure of seeing Paul’s brother Phillip and his wife Jean, and Paul’s daughter Hayley a few times. Ex-employees also got an ear-bashing as we met up with Mavis and Margaret from Schiller, and Trevor, Richard, Helene and Pam from Bowers. We even met Cathy Eberhart too when she was in London from Dunedin. Dawn had a birthday treat at the Piccadilly Theatre watching Guys and Dolls. However, Patrick Swayze decided to be sick, so she missed him performing on the boards.
Oh yea, Paul did the 10k (6.2 mile) charity run at Hatfield House in a fraction over 62 minutes, raising £110 ($200) for Cancer Research in the process. He’s also applied to run the 2007 London Marathon and is getting fit on a treadmill in the shed at the bottom of the garden.
Anyway, as things stand at the moment, we’re currently having fun getting our house ready a bit at a time, and praying that Paul finds a job soon. But it could be worse. At least we’re away from GW and the hurricane state.
Paul & Dawn
Christmas 2006
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