Glad you're here

Isle of Wight

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:30:33 +1100

It feels like a life time ago, but in reality it is 3 weeks since we spent our half term holiday, with our dear friends the Harveys. As our final farewell to our much loved English holidays, and our golden opportunity to spend time with our friends, we headed to the Isle of Wight for 4 nights. Our holiday accomodation was a very cosy cottage, at Bank End Farm, situated near the coast, just outside of a place called Ventnor. Our cottages joined at one end, which made playing together a lot of fun. Each days routine consisted of lazy breakfasts with our own families, followed by an awesome day of fun together exploring the Isle, and then coming back to our homes to play together before separating for dinner.
Day 1 was exciting just arriving together. We had booked our ferry crossing together, and met at 10am, in the quaint town of Limington, to take the ferry to Yarmouth. In spite of the tremendous storm that ripped through England the night before, we managed to cross 1 hour earlier than expected, which meant that we were able to get to our accomodation for a late lunch, and then have time to go on the lovely coastal walk that could be reached by going through the farms fields. The drive around the west coast of the Isle, from Yarmouth to Ventnor was particularly beautiful, and seeing the sea instantly calmed my jangled spirit.
Day 2 was visit to the National trust property where our mutual friend Kylie Andrews had once worked. Mottisfont Manor had its gardens open, and here we spent a little time expoloring and admiring the beautiful grounds. Robbie and I agreed it would be a gorgeous place to work in. After our morning here we travelled onto a place called ‘The Needles’, a place of natural beauty on the Isle’s coast line. It is a part of the chalk cliffs, where the rocks have made a dramatic formation going out from the cliff edge into the sea. We took quite a long walk to the very tip, where we had our lunch, and admired the stunning view. Unfortunately it was extremely windy, and very cold, and as I am terrible with heights, the experience wasn’t my favourite. However, ranking highly for the children was the chair lift ride you could take from the top of the cliff, down to the bottom, giving you good views of the ‘Needles’.
Day 3 was trip to Carisbrook Castle. Situated in the very center of the Isle,

Dear Australia

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:02:31 +1100

This is a poem written by Philip, for his English homework. He, out of us all is most keen to return home, but hearing him read this poem out loud to Chris and I, both made us give a happy sigh. Our homeland is Down Under. Titled, Dear Australia.
Great Australia, large and wide, lots of space and bright, blue skies. Is as old as two giant turtles swimming in the sea. With plenty of nature, grass and trees. It is a wild crocodile, with great big jaws. For there are spiders and snakes and scorpions with claws. Wonderful at sports, like a cricket match, but don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.... Amazing hot weather, great for me, jumping into the pool, shouting “yippie!” Qantas, an aeroplane, flying over the sea, to another place perhaps, and into the breeze. The accent is as strong as a hungry bear, catching some animals and eating with care. Canberra is the capital city. To bad for Brisbane and Melbourne, pity. I care for Australia, it’s my home country, with kangaroos, koalas and a wallaby.

Meeting David Suchet

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 18:20:18 +1100

To celebrate the release of his new book ‘Poirot and Me’ happening on the eve of the final ever episode of Poirot to be shown on television, David Suchet came to Dulwich to do an interview and book signing. When I received the flyer about it from Philip’s school, I said to Chris we had to go. What a delight it was. It was a sold out event, as you can imagine.
I fell in love with Agatha Christies’ novels in my early teens. Dad introduced me to her, the first book being ‘Cat among the Pigeons’. Since then it has been my goal to read all her books. I have collected countless of them with the cover paintings by Tom Adams, an artist who captured her stories so well. I had the pleasure years ago, with Chris to see Peter Ustinov on stage for a one night show, talking about his career. Have watched hundreds of movies and television programmes bringing her books to life. But for me, David Suchet is the quintessential Poirot. To hear him speak about the character and his relationship with it, and to meet him in person, was the icing on the cake! Wonderful always to share these things with Chris, a fellow fan.
Afterwards, we got our book signed. As I was waiting in the queue, I was turning over in my mind what I might say to him. I knew he would have countless people gushing over him. So when I came to the table and he asked who the book was for, I said to him, “It has been a real privilege to hear you speak and finally meet you.” I asked if he would mind me getting a photo with him, which he agreed to, and while Chris took the picture, he told him we were returning to Australia. David Suchet responded, “ Oh, I am coming next year with my new play” To which Chris said, “Are you coming to Melbourne?” “Yes”, he replied. Oh goodie!! I may be saying farewell to the London stage, but a glimmer of hope has come for Melbourne.

Yard Sale

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 17:32:07 +1100

The Saturday before half term holiday, I hosted my first ever Yard Sale. To help me get ready for the event, Esther came around to help. When I had been speaking with her on the phone about it, she had thought I had said ‘Yikes Sale’, and so that is what it got affectionately known as, for ‘Yikes! Sale’ was a far more suitable title. I was hoping to sell all our furniture, and everything that wasn’t coming back to Australia, and wasn’t needed in the last month to use. Having never done anything like this before, the hardest part was knowing what to price things at. I had a look at ebay in the end, to gage how much Ikea furniture was selling for. Very depressing! Still my aim was to be rid of things, and so I priced accordingly. I bought some brightly coloured sticky notes, and onto them put the price of everything.
We set up the sale in our dining room, as the weather has been too wet and unpredictable to have an actual ‘Yard’ sale, and arranged everything on the dining table and chairs. If I may say so myself, I thought the sale looked awesome! The coloured price tags made everything look enticing. When Chris came home from work, he was actually bowled over by how good it looked. There was something rather satisfying about setting up a fun sale. Naturally, the children were excited, and the boys in particular were pretty keen to cash in on the action. Toby kept coming down from his bedroom with special toys (already packed), and putting them in amongst things to sell. As for Philip, he saw all the pounds and went crazy. He set up a chair with everything he wanted to sell. I told him, all proceeds were going into the “Myers family new fridge fund”, which of course he was not happy about. More crazy, was the extortionate prices he was charging. He tried to sell 3 tennis balls, that the fox bought in at 50p a ball! A broken torch, and a compass that Esther had bought him for 2 pounds, he was trying to sell for a 1.80. Esther said “Hey, I bought you that!” I told him everything he wanted to sell had to be free. Absolutely hilarious really.
The day of the sale came. I was very sick unfortunately, but in spite of this, God’s grace saw me through it. Chris put a last minute advert on the East Dulwich forum, and the people came. We sold nearly everything. Amazing! I couldn’t believe how successful it was. Some people who bought furniture agreed to picking it up closer to when we leave, which was very helpful, but we are now living on the bare minimum. We are sitting on our garden chairs around the table now. We are all sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and cooking in the kitchen is limited, but 1 week to go now in our home and it feels no longer like a home, but a place of transition. We have come almost full circle. We started with nothing but our suitcases, and we are almost at that same point again.

Schooling Updates

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 17:27:11 +1100

As I write now, it is half term holiday, and over the last 2 months a lot has happened with the kids at school, so it is time to fill you in. Last time I spoke of Philip, all was very unhappy and very overwhelming, however after enduring the first 2 weeks of school we have seen a complete turnaround in his approach and appreciation. He really likes The Charter School, his subjects, his friends and the whole routine. In fact the other day, he said he will be sorry to leave. To express the extent of how much he enjoys his new environment, and how comfortable he feels, I will tell you a crazy story.
Recently, Philip came home saying that they were asking children who were interested in representing their class in school council, to prepare a speech. He was so keen to do it. I said to him that I thought it was crazy to do this, since he was only going to be at school for 7 more weeks, and that nobody would vote for him, due to this reason. His determination however, trumped all my embarrassment and powers of persuasion. I spoke to his form teacher on the matter, and she said she was fine for him to do the speech, since it was good public speaking practice, but he would have to accept that he couldn’t actually be voted in. The last line of his speech went like this....”Even though I am going back to Australia in a number of weeks, I would be greatly honoured if I received just a few votes.” Bold and very cute. Actually it was a good speech, so much so, that his class awarded him the second highest tally of votes. His teacher agreed that Philip, since he had earned it, would be on school council until he leaves, and then someone shall replace him. As you can imagine, he came home pleased as punch, he was given a special badge, and has now gone to his first meeting where he suggested plans for a gardening club. All very hilarious! Stories aside, Philip is doing well. His favourite subjects are Drama, Philosophy for Children, Maths and Humanities. His lunchtime thrill is table tennis.
Lucy has just slotted straight back into school. Her new teacher Mr. Crewdston, is an Aussie, and she likes being in his class. Her only gripe was when the reputation of her older brother’s long distance running skills landed her on the school cross country team. They were hopeful she possessed the same talents. She complained wildly about the prospect, and I told her teacher she didn’t contain a single competitive bone in her body, but she did the race in the end, and came an amazing 13th out of 50. Not bad for someone who hates running. Lucy’s main enjoyment in life at the moment are her friends. Her best friend at school is Marija, and every Friday Lucy goes to her home for a play, a highlight of her week. At church her best friend is Sophie. They have been inseparable since the beginning...kindred spirits. Unfortunately for Sophie, Lucy is really going to leave a rather big gap at church, and the girls have been eager to set up Skype before we leave. This past Saturday was their final sleepover. Selina, Sophie’s mother always makes it extra special for the girls, and I think both girls can be very thankful for all the lovely memories they have made together.
Kathryn, has soldiered on this term. She has found the transition to Year 3 a little hard, and has dragged her feet a bit in wanting to go to school. Her teacher Miss Stevenson, has been very kind, and in spite of Kathryn’s perceptions, she is actually doing really well. The positives of school have been learning the recorder and doing ballet in PE class. Kathryn was given her own recorder, and she is faithful in practicing at home. As for her friends, her 2 church friends Jemima and Emma, have both had opportunities this term for play dates. She especially enjoyed a sleep over at Emma’s. It was her first one ever, which she was glad to have finally experienced. A childhood milestone.
As for Toby, he is really enjoying nursery. 3 days a week is perfect, for he does get tired, and still enjoys his days at home with me. Every week, we still go into town on one day. We are making our final tour of all the places that we have loved visiting. I say to him before leaving the house, “This shall be the last time we visit here, so let’s enjoy it!”. Places we have visited for the last time are.....The science museum, the natural history museum, the transport museum, the British museum and the Princess Diana playground. I think he might be the most cultured 4 year old I know. So, so thankful to God for my little friend, and all we’ve done together.