Tangent: Off to Oz

Finally,at last, I'm off to Oz to see the wizard (NOT). There were (lots of) times I never thought we'd get there.
(Did this picture a few weeks ago in preparation for this day!)
I leave tomorrow morning and after circling the globe three times, arrive in Brisbane, something like Christmas night, which is like 4 am in my stomach and 22 past 37 in my head!
Neil is only leaving here on Boxing Day as he still has a temperature, and I will wait for him in Brisbane getting over my jet lag, exploring and buying something to wear for the wedding (been too sick to care).

We will get to Byron Bay just in time for the wedding which is on 29th December at 5pm on the beach.Then we will have the next 12 glorious days to relax, unwind, refresh, recharge our batteries to enable us to face everyday life once more. The last 'real' holiday we had was in Thailand in 1997, so it's our decade anniversary!

I wish you and yours a wonderful festive season, and a very HEALTHY , happy 2008.

I wrote my first post on 6/7/07 and the last 6 months have been an incredible journey as I wend my way to 60. I have made new friends, been able to help a lot of people along the way, and 'grown' myself.

Big hugs to you all till we meet again in 'Blogland'.
FY

Tangent: Hong Kong (NOT)

We did NOT take off an hour ago,,

We did NOT make it to the airport.

We will NOT be landing in Hong Kong at 4 pm tomorrow.


We are both in bed, very ill.
Neil woke up at 3 am with a high temperature and burning throat; I took a turn for the worse on Wednesday.

The wedding is on 29th December in Oz.
Rebooking tickets, rearrange work plans etc - are all almost impossible right now.


If you were religious, you'd say:
Man proposes and God disposes'.


If you were a fatalist, you'd say:
'It's not meant to be' or 'what will be will be'.



I am a fatalist and usually see the glass as half full - not half empty.


Right now, I feel completely empty!

Thirty-One: Go back to Hong Kong

In 1984 I went on a 10 day package-tour to Hong Kong with my (then) best friend, Venette. She and her husband often went to Japan and Hong Kong on business. She raved about this City with all its magnificence, and as I had never been to the Far East, it was the right thing to do. Off we went, leaving our kids with the 'hubbies', and it was all she had said and more! I promised Neil over the next twenty years that I would one day 'take him to Hong Kong'.

Mark and Carla are getting married in Australia in December while on a five week recently planned holiday. They have asked us to come out to Oz to attend their wedding ceremony which we would dearly love to do.

But Australia is definitely not the place we would choose to go to for a 'dream' holiday.

So we find ourselves in a quandary

However, we can go to Hong Kong en route to Oz and stay there for 10 days, hence having our 'dream' holiday to celebrate our 60th birthdays (both next year) and also see our son married.

Mmmmm, this sounds ideal........

Tangent: My animals

When Mark was about seven, he got me my first 'animal' (the little brown dog). I think it was for Mother's Day and I cherished it. Somehow, in his teens, this became a regular thing, to give me an 'animal' for my birthdays and Mother's Days.

To this very day, despite others' jealousies and even ridicule, every time he goes overseas to work, or on holiday, or sometimes for no reason at all, out comes this funny shaped wrapping, denoting a new member of my animal family. Each one is unique and sometimes even peculiar, but they are all very special. I have over 40 of them by now and alternate them so that they are not all out at once (too many to dust anyway).

They are more precious than gold, more loved than diamonds and have been shipped all arouund the world with me, wherever I've been living and working. They are part of the bond that ties him and I, and will always be.

Thanks Markles for each and every one of them, and please pass them on to your own kids one day, from me!