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