Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all - may 2008 bring much joy and prosperity to all!

We are doing really well here in Sale, Australia. There was some nasty medical politics initially which seems to be settling down, but apart from that, the people have been wonderfully welcoming and friendly.

Sale is a small town of about 13,000 people; it has all the amenities that one needs but is a bit short on some unique and interesting shops. There are plenty of other towns close by and Melbourne is only a 2 and a half hour drive away. The sporting and library facilities are excellent and the tennis and pool complexes are huge and impressive. The girls are at a private co-ed school - Gippsland Grammar - and are for the most part happy and settled. It has been interesting to compare the standards with EL schools: the girls are ahead of their Aussie counterparts in English and the arts, but behind in maths and science. They work more days a year here, but seem to work generally at a slower pace. The facilities at the schools are excellent and many classrooms have their own interactive whiteboards, and all have computers with internal networking. The kids all used to have their own laptops, but the school has moved away from laptops at school as it proved difficult to control what the kids were up to; instead, there are designated computer rooms around the school including the maths and science labs. Our girls are more articulate than their peers and also more polite; the Aussie kids swear a lot, but then so do most Aussies! The kids here seem to do more for themselves without control/involvement from the teachers; for example, the end of year plays would have production, sound and lighting all managed by the kids themselves, so the standard in the junior grades is not up to the standards we were used to at Clarendon.

The music here is also interesting: all children have to try a variety of instruments and many more are encouraged to perform in concerts regardless of their standard: very good for the children, but very tedious for the audience (especially as we as a family don't know the children yet) We don't as yet have a formed opinion regarding the education here, but I would definitely say that the EL schools compare very favourably with Gippsland Grammar in many ways.
Something that is very different here is the safety of our children: the school takes great care on outings with all arrangements, and that has been a huge relief to me compared with SA.

The country itself is also so safe, and where we live, we have no gates or fences or bars. I don't keep my doors locked at home and don't mind whether the car is locked or not. This aspect of our lives has been the biggest in terms of differences: we feel safe and secure at all times, and the girls are free to ride or walk down the road to visit friends, or to go to the shops on their own. I find this such a huge relief and appreciate the freedom we enjoy because of it.

The Aussies are also better off financially and the Government here encourages people to save and provides tax breaks accordingly. Tertiary education is also far more affordable as the kids can get interest-free student loans which they only start paying back when they start earning. Also, if they take a gap year after school and show that they are able to support themselves by earning AUS 18,000 in the year, they are given preferential student fees because as a group they have been shown to be more likely to succeed at their studies. There is of course also no affirmative action here and also plenty of scholarships around.

The only big downside here is the flies: it is unbelievable how many of these critters there are here and we can't believe that no-one has found a solution to the problem. There are some almost fly-free days, and then others that are so bad that you are afraid to speak outside for fear of sucking in a couple!

We have bought a lovely home on 2 acres just out of town and are looking forward to moving there in less than a month. We have also just bought a beautiful horse for Gabi; for those of you in the know, the horse is a 13 year old,14 hand chestnut gelding called Tambo. He was a brumby - a wild horse - who was caught near here near the Tambo River (hence the name) at the age of 4 years. He is a real beauty and Gabi is in her 7th heaven. We have made friends with a racehorse trainer Marion, through her daughter, Courtney - Courtney and Gabi are great friends; Marion has walked us through this whole process and it was she who found Tambo for us; she has known Tambo for 5 years so we are really very lucky. The house we are moving to has a large paddock for Tambo, and we will be putting in a ringyard for Gabi to practice in. Chloe is getting a puppy - a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, and Jaime will be getting a kitten. There is a chook pen (hens), so the Painters are going farming!

In the meanwhile, Mark is working hard to support us all and is enjoying his job. A helluva lot more civilised than EL with good nursing and lots of support. He does a lot more calls here but they are far more tame than the calls in EL. He does miss East London and his patients at Frere but knows that work at Frere would probably have been the death of him, one way or the other. I, on the other hand, am still embroiled in the registration process; bureaucracy here is every bit as bad as it was in SA, which is a surprise to me, so it's all moving very slowly. I'm not worried at all about the slow pace because there is more than enough sorting out to do with everything else and it's school holidays anyway. The longer I'm not working, the more reluctant I have become to start again!

Jeanne-Marie

A horse named Tambo; by Gabi

The other day we went down to Briagolong to see a horse called Tambo. We are looking for a horse to buy and our friend told us about him. He was born as a brumby and he was caught when he was two to three years old. He is very sweet and obedient. A brumby is found in the outback here in Australia. Another word for a brumby is a mustang if you are wondering. If I get him we’re going to have to get a round arena so I can ride him in.


Tambo is a chestnut pony and has a white star on his forehead. We’re going to keep him in a stable and a paddock. We are going to make a stable for him out of a shed at the back of the house we bought beside the shed. You won’t believe the sheds here. Some of them are bigger than the house. The house we have bought has an “L” shaped paddock around so that is were I am going to keep him. We haven’t got any tack yet but when we get Tambo we will buy some tack for him. I haven’t decided what color tack I want yet but that will come later. Here are some pictures of me with Tambo.

Jaime at Surf Life Saver camp: a diary

Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007

I've just got back from a long HARD day at the beach, in Seaspray (the beaches name)
It was VERY tiring!!
And cold
And windy
And ROUGH!!!

This is the second day of the camp as I couldn't email you on the first day because I slept over at one of the girls holiday house.
I decided to come home because...

a) there were 5 of us sleeping in one of the bedrooms
b) there was only 1 bathroom between 7 of us (besides an outhouse)
c) I was VERY tired

We started out the first day with learning all about saftey and well being (you know a safe work place all all that sort of stuff), then surf awareness and skills (how to identify a rip, what to do when a big wave comes ect) and basic first aid. That took ages to get through!! We've even got a text book and a work book (like the ones that we have in school). The camp is run by about 5 eighteen year olds who are really nice. I stayed with 3 of them: Morgan, Dan and Lochlan (pronounced lok-lin) at Morgans holiday house. Her sister, Anthea is in my grade and doing the camp with me. After a lunch of sausages, we had to go into the freezing cold, rough surf. Unfortunately. I put on my wetsuit and went down to the beach. We then headed out into the surf. Which was rough. Very rough (I think I've made my point by now). Every single wave was at LEAST 2 meters high. And I was the smallest person there. We swam past the breakers and a little bit past the sandbar so that we didn't get hit by every wave. They taught us about staying a float and body surfing and some other stuff I can't remember. After that we went back to shore (catching a wave while we were at it). By then I was FREEZING!! Even in my wetsuit. We then had to go on the boards (which were foam, but still WAY bigger than a boogie board. I was so scared about being 'dumped'. That's when a wave crashes on top of you and you get smashed on to the bottom of the sea (which is about a meter). But it's still a bone-jarring jolt and takes about 10 seconds to get out of the wave! I haven't been dumped (yet) though. Anyway, back to the waves. The waves just keep on coming and you can never find a break in which to paddle as fast as you can to get beyond the breakers. If a big wave comes, and you are on the board, you have to this special roll thing. You have to grab on to the handles and roll the board (with you on it) so that you're submerged under the board and water. When the wave comes, you just go straight over it! It worked pretty well, until a HUGE wave decided to break right on top of me. Let's just say I went flying! I caught a wave back to shore and survived that ordeal (pretty much) unscathed.

The next day I had to wake up extra early because Morgan had to get to the club house an hour early. In the early hours of the morning all 12 kids and 5 eighteen year olds went for a three kilometre run on the soft sand of the beach to a place called the shark pole (don't ask me why it's called that) It was pretty fun, but tiring. We also had the pleasure of seeing a lot of blue bottles (some with meter long tentacles!!). The wind must have brought them in from somewhere along the coast. Now we know what we're swimming with! We were planning to do a run-swim-run exercise that is required for our exams (did I tell you we have those as well?). The surf was so rough today (apparently yesterday was one of the better days) that we had to swim in a lagoon called the 'creek'. It's not a very pleasant place and when it's not connected to the ocean, the water looks like Coke and when you kick it, it turns yellow. I think fishermen chuck bits of fish in it and (apparently) once a person caught a white tip shark in the ocean, saw it wasn't an edible fish, and chucked it in the creek where it was left to decay. It certainly smells like something is dying in there. And it stinks like sulphur towards the middle!) AND it's all soggy and disgusting at the bottom (and warm). We had to swim 200 meters in that!! And run to the sea and back, but that swimming was pure torture! And after that, we had to perform conscious and unconscious rescues with a 'tube' . We spent the rest of the day performing CPR on weird manikins (we nick named ours Michael Jackson since it had a white face and black body). We also played radio hide and seek which was very fun!

Saturday, Dec 22, 2007

I've just finished camp (for good this time!!). It's been a long, hard week and I'm glad to say that I passed!! I'll just finish what I started in the previous email...

On the third day of camp (which was a Wednesday) I had to do the same sort of stuff which I'd done on the previous tow days. Except in the morning, we did a 5km run on the road at about 8 in the morning. And I didn't have any takkies, so I had to run in SLIPSLOPS!! We also did a run-swim-run (each of them 200 meters long). We learnt how to carry people properly from the water if they had a suspected spinal injury and how to use oxygen. We also did some other stuff on that day, but I can't remember it right now!!

The next day we did a 500 meter run on the beach. That was pure torture. I think they made the distance shorter because everyone was so puffed from yesterday's run that they couldn't do the run-swim-run properly!! Anyway, I hurt my foot on that run (the one on the beach) and I couldn't do today's run-swim-run!! Luckily. The surf was MASSIVE!! It was bigger than the other three days put together! I had a compression bandage on my foot, so I couldn't go on the sand. From where I was sitting on one of the decks, it looked like they were all drowning. Which they seriously were! Chelsea, one of the girls, got a cramp in her leg and couldn't breathe properly, so two on the other girls stayed with her. They were just past the breakers and the IRB (Inflatable Rescue Boat) had to go save her. The other two were starting to get tired so one of them struggled back to shore and the other hung on to one of the life guards tubes. Everybody needed saving at the same time and luckily everyone got back safely to shore. The came in earlier than expected because of the rough conditions and a there was a lightning storm arriving. A few hours later, when the storm had subsided, they made ME go out on the boards and practise catching waves in! I had one life saver on either side of me but it was still very scary. Especially since going out on the boards is not my strong point. I get really scared because you're not able to dive under the waves on a board. Anyway, I got through it. Then everyone was gathered up and when had to go do some MORE board practising in the Creek. It wasn't as bad as the last time I went in because the part of it was opened up into the sea so some of the smell had gone. And it wasn't as hot at the bottom. We paddled up the Creek for a bit and did some races and relays. Did I tell you that the Creek is actually the dead end of a river? Well now you know! I went home that night and was very grateful for the hot shower and warm bed I had! I also found out what happened to my foot. I had sprained it and strained it and it was bleeding under the skin! It's still swollen

The next day I had to get up at six 'o clock (as usual). I caught the bus along with nearly all of the other Seaspray kids. We went to a different beach that day called Woodside. The surf there was not NEARLY as rough and was such a pleasure to save lives in! The biggest waves that broke were at the most a meter and a half high. We spent the whole day doing recalls of all the stuff we had done in the camp. There were seven sections and my first two were in the water, thankfully. The weather just got worse and worse as the day went on and the surf bigger and bigger. But when I was in the water it was lovely. I even managed to catch a HUGE wave on a tow meter long, fiberglass board WITH an unconscious patient in front of me!! I was basically hanging off the end of the board!! That was a pretty fun day!

Unfortunately, the Woodside surf club (and people) are not as nice as Seaspray. They're pretty cold and mean and the club looks like it need a makeover. If we just had their beach, Seaspray would be perfect!!

That night all the girls slept in a ten-man tent. It rained. And it rained and it rained and rained. Really hard in fact! You couldn't even hear yourself think over the sound of the rain! At least the tent was water-proof! We got woken up (as usual) at 6. but this time WITH THE EVACUATION ALARM!!!! It comes out of a loud speaker and it is really LOUD!! Most of the girls were still asleep, but luckily I was awake. But it was still pretty frightful!! We had done most of out practical assessments the previous night (like our CPR and written exam). Today we had to do the physical stuff like tube and board rescues and the run-swim-run. I still had to do the run even with my soar foot. I made it in 6 minutes 25 seconds. We were allowed 8 minutes to do it in. And I walked the 100 meters at the start and end of the race. At the start of the day, the surf was brilliant, the biggest wave only being half a meter big at the most and they only broke one at a time on the shore. But, as usual, the weather got worse and worse. Again, we only just finished everything in time. And again another lightning storm came.

It had started to rain and one of the camp leaders, Shaun, had lost his poor dog. Someone had unclipped him off his chain in the middle of the night and let him run free. He hadn't slipped out of his collar, and the rope wasn't frayed, so that was the conclusion we came to. We searched for about half an hour until we found him, sheltering under one of the cars, since there was a down pour of rain. I was still in my wetsuit, so I was toasty warm. We then went back to the club house and were presented with our uniforms (you can see some pictures of me in my uniform on our blog. They are so cool!! And after that, I went home, looking forward to a nice relaxing three days before Christmas. It was SUCH a fun camp, and I'll probably do it again next year!!

The Letters of a Gladiator called Cytus - by Jaime Painter

My name is Cytus. I live and work just outside the city-state Cannae. I stay with my parents and work on their small farm. We are all in a great amount of debt and that is why I sold myself to a gladiator school in Rome. Let me tell you the whole story…

I was working in my father’s fields one day when a troupe of soldiers came past. They were stopping at certain trees and hammering signs into them. Curious, I stopped my work and went up to the sign.

“Wanted,” I read, “strong, healthy slaves to become gladiators. Will pay 600 sestertii.” I gave a low whistle. 600 sestertii was more than I earned in a year! This could be a chance to get out of my debt and become famous! With stars in my eyes, I forgot about my work and went back up to the house. I decided I would go down to the market square and ask when this was happening. I wrote a note to my family, just in case I couldn’t see them again.

XIII Maius IVC

Dear Mother and Father

I am going to sell myself to become a gladiator. I shall get a very good income with a start of 600 sestertii! I shall send you the money by mail and write to you once a week. I shall train very hard and, maybe, in five years time I shall be free again. Do not worry about me. I shall “play it safe”. I’ve heard the accommodation is wonderful.

Anyway

Like I said, don’t worry about me

Your son

Cytus

I placed the letter in front of the door. I shall miss them. I started the walk down to the market square. It took an hour to get there. I thought about my decision. Was it a good idea? Should I have waited to see my parents for the last time in 5 years? The walk took shorter than usual and before I knew it, I was in the market square. The wonderful smells of freshly baked pita bread, feta cheese and olive oil, and fresh lamb with rosemary filled the air. I saw, on the far side of the market, a big group soldiers and strong-looking slaves, their muscles almost bursting out of their togas. I was pretty strong, but a weakling compared to them. I felt doubts forming in my mind.

“Will all slave owners and sponsors please come forward”

I walked over to where the slaves were kept

“Any questions, please form a line to my right”

I got in line and told them my situation. They gave me my 600 sestertii and I went to the line of slaves.

We were piled in a truck and…

XV Maius IVC

Dear Mother and Father

I have got so much to tell you!

Everything has gone well. They accepted me into a gladiator school in Rome. It is near the Collosseum and it is run by a lanista. I begin my training tomorrow. One day I shall fight in the Collosseum. Guess what? I found out that Priscus is training in the next door gladiator school! Remember, my friend that I have known since my first years of school? We are allowed out of the school on a Friday and we are going to meet up by the Collosseum. I can’t wait!

The people here are mostly slaves. I hate to admit it, but they are very nice, despite all their muscles.

We are in the most basic accommodation, but it is wonderful. We each have our own beds and they are cleaned regularly. We have to bath once a DAY! They are very into their hygiene here. We even have to use soap!!

The food is magnificent! There’s freshly baked pita bread and mutton and delicious yoghurt. They work on the theory that if we’re fed well, we’ll play well. I’m sure that works!

I miss you so much

I can’t wait to see you again

Your son

Cytus

XXX Maius IVC

Dear Mother and Father

Once again, I have so much to tell you!

I’ve begun my training and have been put in the “secutor section”. There are 18 of us in the group, but I think I’m pretty good. We use a sword and a trident as our weapons and a helmet and a shield as protection. They’ve taught us many little techniques that I think are going to be very useful. The agility exercises that they give us are so tiring! Things like quick reaction and speed are tested.

We did some mock fights. It was an adrenaline rush like no other! I fought against a man called Othious, who was very good and I ended up in a “mock death” more times than not. I’ll train even harder to make sure that that won’t happen in real life. Yes mother, I will.

Last Friday, I met up with Priscus, just like old times. It was so divine wondering around Rome and looking up in awe at the Collosseum. We went and sat under the Olive trees and went “lady watching”. It was so much fun, even though I know you wouldn’t have approved of it, Mother.

The magister, who runs the school, is going to pick people to go to the Collosseum to fight against the next door school! I hope I get in, because that means I shall get double the amount of sestertii that I earn at the moment! That will mean only 4 years in this place.

School is not what I think it would have been. It’s better, but I really don’t like killing people I don’t even have a grudge on! I’m really dreading that part.

Anyway

I’m missing you so much

Your son

Cytus

XV Iunius IVC

Dear Mother and Father

I’ve been chosen! I can’t believe it. The last mock battle I did, I beat Othious! The magister was so impressed that he immediately said I was in! It turns out that Othious wasn’t agile enough, but I was, since I was smaller than that great toga-bursting man! I’m so pleased!

I think I must have picked up some points in the gladiator matches that we watched. They were dreadfully gory, with lots of blood. Most people like that, but not me, as you know. I’m not sure what I’ll do in my battle at the Collosseum if I see blood. I just hope I don’t faint.

Unfortunately, I don’t get Fridays off any more, because I have to train even harder! What a pity. No more “lady watching” for me and Priscus (yes Mother, I’m still doing that!)

The other men in the “secutor section” and I have learnt to use our swords and shields to defend ourselves and our tridents to attack. They said men would be more scared to have a 3-pronged thing coming at them, than a 1-pronged thing.

I’m still not very happy about the killing saga. Or the blood scene. I hope whoever I’m fighting will be able to live even if they lose. I just hope I’m not the one who’s going to be doing the killing (or the dying). I really think it’s wrong that innocent people have to lose their lives, just to entertain the rich. Maybe if no-one want to be a gladiator that will change. I used to think it was cool to be a gladiator and be liked by all the ladies, but now I’m not so sure.

We’re going to be training in the next week like never before! Since the championship is only in one week, we’ll be doing even more agility exercises and battle techniques. We’re waking up really early and getting up really late.

Anyway I have to do some more exercises now

You son, Cytus

In the week that followed, Cytus did what he wrote, trained harder than ever before. They were up at sunrise and were still training after sundown. It was a hard week of very intense exercise. The “secutor section” watched even more gladiator fights, and Cytus was getting unsure of what they were doing to each other every day. He didn’t approve of what gladiators did and he felt a plan starting to from in his mind.

The week went by very quickly and before he knew it, it was time. All the gladiators in his school were lined for the walk to the Collosseum. It was a very important day in the history of fights. Thousands of people had flocked to Rome to watch the fights. It was the best form of free entertainment offered in this city. Many people enjoyed watching other innocent people die. But not Cytus.

I was put under the arena in a special place where all the gladiators were kept. I put on my heavy metal helmet that felt like it weighed twice the amount I do! My shield was also heavy, but not as heavy as my helmet. I am left handed, so I held my sword in my right hand. It was a beautiful bronze sword which I was planning to keep after I left the school. I picked up my trident and twirled it around in my hand. I did this every time I was nervous before a fight.

“I have put a list of the gladiators you are fighting on the table,” said our lanista.

Most of the gladiators got up and went over to the table. I looked at the list and saw I was fighting a gladiator from Liberut, a school on the outskirts of Rome. The school had produced some good gladiators in the past years, but I wasn’t too worried. I was fighting first. That, I was nervous about.

“Cytus, please come over here for a minute,” said the magistar.

I went there and he told me that there had been a change in the schedule.

“Who am I fighting now?” I asked

“A man from a school near by,” he said, “his name is-”

“Will Cytus, gladiator from Veritus, please come up to the arena.”

I forgot about talking to the magistar, picked up my weapons and went up the stairs to the arena, still not knowing who I was fighting.

Up at the arena I tried to look across the “stage” to see who I was playing. It was difficult to see his face because it was covered by shadows. But from what I could see, I could tell he was a person from the “retarius section”. They fought with a net, a trident and a dagger. I went over the strategies the magistar had taught us in my mind. I should try stay away from the net.

“Proceed onto the stage, gladiators”

Cytus stepped out of the shadow and into the light and walked towards the centre of the stage.

“Take your positions”

His heart was pumping so fast he thought it would jump out of his throat and sprint away. He still hadn’t looked at my opponent.

“Begin!”

Cytus looked up and saw who his opponent was. His best friend. Priscus.

Priscus seemed to have noticed who Cytus was as well and they just froze, the crowd roaring in their ears.

“Fight, fight, fight, fight,” they yelled in Latin.

“BEGIN!”

They fell out of their trance and started circling each other. It seemed to be happening in slow motion. Priscus half-heartedly jabbed Cytus’ shield with his trident. And that snapped him out of it. And Cytus put his plan into action. Left, right, jab, duck, jump, jab. After a series of fast movements, he found himself on top of Priscus. He looked up at the Patrician and watched his thumb turn downwards. He held his sword over Priscus’ heart.

XXII Iunius IVC

To the parents of Cytus, the gladiator

We are sorry to say, but your son has died in battle. He had a battle against a gladiator called Priscus. He fought like a champion and would have been a very successful gladiator. At the end of the battle, he was on top of Priscus and was told to kill him. But at the last moment, jabbed his sword into his own heart. The other gladiators in his section said he did not like killing without a purpose.

Once again, we are very sorry

Yours sincerely

Veritus School of Gladiators

The New House

It happened quite quickly in the end. There was already an offer in on the house so after another quick look, we made a slightly higher offer. This was upped by the other party, we matched it and because our offer wasn't subject to the sale of another house (thank goodness our SA house has sold!!), we were told that ours was accepted, and we were now the proud owner of a house - you can view more pictures of it here.
It's in a little town called Longford, which is a 5 minute drive from Sale. It's quite rural as you can see from an aerial photograph we took when we went for a flip earlier today with some friends.



It's on 2.4 acres of land - enough for a horse, Gabi assures us. Which makes it's proximity to the Pony Club very useful as well. Also, for those interested in golf, as Mark hopes to be one day, the proximity to the golf course is also alluring. One of the problems it that, when there is too much water, as was the case earlier this week, the road to Sale gets submerged. Which means having to drive to Sale via Rosedale, a town about 20 minutes away - making it a 40 minute drive to work. Flooding only happens every couple of years - mind you, it has happened twice so far this year. The previous time was about 10 - 12 years ago.

This is what the road looked like a few days ago - viewing it from the Sale side!


We're only planning to take possession of the house in about March, as we have a 6 month lease on this house and the current owners need a bit of time to start building their new house somewhere else.

The weather was absolutely stunning when we woke up; no wind, nice and warm. So when Angela Todd phoned Jeanne-Marie, offering that her husband (Wayne) fly us around Sale and surrounds in their 6 seater Piper Cherokee 6, we jumped at it.

We had a look around Sale, at our current house, at their house (where Gabi waved at us safely from the lawn), and then on to our new house, and a quick flip to Seaspray which is on the coast. It was very smooth flying, even when JM had the controls. We then had a lovely lunch with them before coming back home. Mowing the lawn, washing the cars etc, would have to wait another day!

Photo essay: Australia

Time has just flown since we arrived here; we've been wanting to update the blog, but never seemed to get around to it! In the event that this never happens, I thought we could show a few photos of our time so far in Australia. For more photographs, you can visit our photo site.

Cousins reunion: weekend in Sydney with Joe and Sheila

Our rental home in Sale, trying to water the newly established lawn.

All the girls have had a 'camp' out - Jaime was the first and has written about it on a previous blog.

One of our first duties was to kit the girls out for the Gippsland Grammar School.

Mark's little run-around, a Toyota Yaris, 1.3l AT which does about 7 litres/100 km in town.

	Jaime and Chloe at the end of the rainbow. Our experience of weather in Sale so far, has been one of unremitting wind (first 6 weeks) then rain (next 2 weeks). I guess that's better than 10 years of drought.
	All dressed up!
	The (Horse) Races are a big social event in Sale - JM ready to join the ladies for a little fun at the tracks!
	Scenes of domesticity
	Jeanne-Marie's runaround - a Kia Grand Carnival 3.7l gas-guzzler
	Cold windy day at Seaspray, 25 mintues from Sale on 90 mile beech
	Inherited furniture looking wonderful in the dining room. And who's that on the computer?
	A day with new friends at their cottage in the bush - children rafted down the river to meet us for lunch; it took them 3 hours to do about 3 kms as they had to carry the inflatables a good deal of the way.
	Mary avoiding the flies!
	The 'barbi' in the bush

Yes, we know we must fill you in on details of the school, our new friends, and the saga of the Paediatrician Who Won't Just Go Away. But we'll leave that for another time...

Jaimes camp out

On Tuesday morning I had to go to school with four days worth of stuff and more. I packed it in one of those weird hiking bags (mine was almost bigger than me!!!). Anyway, I went to school and had to put all of our tents and food into a huge trailer. Then we were off. Two hours of driving in a big bus watching We got there (eventually) and had to be split into groups. And then had to walk 4 kilomters with our heavy backpacks on our backs. My group had four girls and eight guys (a bit much for my liking). We then had to set up our tents while the other group set out on a canoe-ing (how do you spell that???) expedition. Us girls (being smart) put our tents up on a steep hill (what thats where we were told to put them. Anyway, being the overcast, cold day it was, the group leaders decided it would be smart to make us go build a raft and make us paddle to the other side of the jelly-fish infested lake. The girls built one side. The guys built the other. The girls side floated. The guys side didn't. The girls side sunk when the guys decided to jump on it. The girls gave up on the guys and swam back to shore. The guys followed. The guys then had to go back to the other side of the lake because thats where the raft was. We all ended up freezing our butts off, but it was fun!!! Anyway, then we had supper (they call it "tea" here). And then we went to bed. Did I tell you that there are no toilets. Or showers. There was a long drop (that was actually a short drop). So we called it the short-long drop. It was basically a hole with a deckchair on it, with another hole cut into that (the deckchair, that is). I used it once in 4 days. In all other cases, I did a "bushey". Pretty fun.

Well I didn't. I stayed up most of the night because I was un-comfy.

The next day, we went bush walking. Eight kilometers of bush walking. And bush wacking. That's when you go through the bush (which consists of Eucalyptus trees) on no trail. I got a bit scratched. Then we went canoeing (don't judge my spelling!!!). But not before we had had a filling breakfast of rice crispies and powdered milk. I was paired with Alexandra. The only problem is, canoeing isn't her forte. In other words, I paddled EIGHT kilometers upstream with her dipping her paddle into the water every now and then. It took us two and a half hours. Anyway, when we got to the other campsite, we had to set up camp AGAIN!!! The kitchen wasn't as good as the other campsite though. We had to make our own supper. We made mac and cheese on some sort of gas cooker. With powered milk and cheese sauce of course. We sat around the camp fire for a bit then. Here comes the scary bit. I heard rustling in the bushes and shone my torch there. No one else was paying attention to it so I got up and went over there to take a closer look. Something rustled in the trees and jumped into my torch light. It was a...

POSSUM.A brush tailed one to be precise. Anyway, I was going to go to bed (actually my sleeping bag) when to my horror I found out that I'd left my SLEEPING BAG at the other camp!! So I slept in the dirty clothes I had been wearing that day. And no I wasn't cold, I was hot (and still am he he he).

The day after that, we packed up camp and headed back downstream to the other campsite. But not before we had had a filling breakfast of POWDERED mashed potato (I just had cereal again). It only took ME an hour to get back this time. Reunited with the second half of my class, we had a scavenger hunt. Oh, how much fun. Then we sat around the campfire and listened to a guy called Scott (who is known as Skit to everyone, Skittles to me) talk too fast. Oh yes, the boys also were trying to burn each other's socks, shoes and limbs in the fire.

The day after THAT, was a packing up day. We just, believe it or not, but rather do, packed up!! Oh, I forgot to tell you. Some time before this, one of the girls , Chelsea, tripped over a nearly-invisible tent line. I ran after her to see if she was OK, but then I also tripped over it!! Pretty funny, huh?? Anyway, after we had packed up we had to walk the 4 long kilometers to freedom. And then had to sit on a 2 hour bus trip with 13 year olds that hadn't washed for 4 days!!! Not too good. Then my mom came and got me and I was

CLEAN at last!!!!!!!!

100 Points

Life gets more complicated, the more you live it. Packing up from South Africa really drove this home to me. We’d accumulated junk, some of it was boxed for the move back from Canada and was not unboxed by the time we moved to Australia. A windsurfer, last used in 1989, went to Canada in 1991, returned to South Africa in 1998 and remained, still unused, in our storeroom in 2007. The big clear out started months before the move, boxes of stuff were set aside for redistribution around Mooiplaas. Accounts had to be closed, changes of address sent. The papers in the office needed pruning – the shredder, overheated, would stop working after about 45 minutes. Scan important papers, keep only the certificates, shred everything else. Destroy, at long last, those tax forms from 1982.

As the plane took off from East London airport, I felt as though we were leaving a web behind, the slate was now clean. Surely we could live a simpler life down under?

“Australia has managed to get bureaucracy down to a fine art,” Les McBride, our recruiting agent, told us after arriving in Melbourne. “You’ll need your original medical degree certificates, passport and visa, original certificate of intern training, a photograph and certificate of good standing from the South African and British Columbian Boards for your meeting tomorrow with the Victorian Board of Medicine”. Oops: the intern training certificate was in the container – I’d carefully packed the others in our suitcases – and the container would only be arriving a few weeks after we’d settled in. Fortunately the registrar was not too pedantic; he probably had a certified copy in my file and did not need to see the original. Twenty minutes after the interview, I had my Victorian registration certificate: I can practice medicine in this state.

We only spent the first night in Melbourne, and left almost immediately after that interview for Sale, two-and-a-half hours by car towards the south-east. We’d visited here in December last year, the countryside was parched from a massive drought and there were huge fires in the mountains; the one afternoon the sun was but an orange orb in the sky, obscured by the smoke and ash. Now, the countryside was lush and green, a result of the flooding previous month’s floods.

Peter Craighead, the hospital CEO, had managed to secure a house for us to rent at the last minute, and together with some of the other staff at the hospital, moved some beds, linen, crockery and cutlery, washing machine and television. Originally from New Zealand, he understood the urgency of my need to watch the World Cup better than the local Aussies, who are currently under the frenzy of the Australian Football League finals and just aren’t interested in rugby at all. The house is brand new, the garden non-existent with a lawn that’s sprouting like stray hairs on an old man’s head.

The Melbourne hotel and car rental almost completely depleted our funds, as we’d not received any income from the month in Canada. One of my first duties on arrival in Sale was to sign the contract and get a $10 000 cheque out of Peter for relocation expenses.

Then comes the time to weave another web. I started at Telstra; we’d figured out that a home phone, cell phones and internet access was essential.

“We need ID,” the lady behind the counter told me. I had that covered – I had my passport, but no, that is not enough. “You need 100 points,” she said, “a passport gets you 60”. There are a whole lot of other documents that can get you points – Aussie drivers licence, credit card with a photograph on it (has anyone anywhere got one of these?), birth certificate, rates and taxes accounts are just a few of them. I returned with 2 passports, my entry visa, my SA drivers licence, my International drivers licence, my employment contract, my rental agreement, but no; not good enough.

I gave up on her. Next stop, the bank.

“You need 100 points,” the bank lady said. After a quick look at my passport and visa, she said that that was enough: recent arrivals only needed those documents to open an account. So I opened and account and deposited the money.

I tried another Telstra dealer.

“100 points. That’s easy”, she said. Click, click, click, she entered my passport, credit card and drivers licence onto the computer, and gave me 2 cell phone contracts, a date for the installation of the home phone and internet connection.

We need cars. After much research and bargaining, we decide on the Kia Grand Carnival for the family (a 3.7 litre V6 gas guzzler) and a Toyota Yaris for me (1.3 litre, just has to smell the petrol). We need financing – need I say it again, but they needed the documentation for the 100 points. To get the cars registered, I need a client number from VicRoads and VicRoads needs 100 points from me.

Even the video store wants 100 points – passport and rental agreement.

I had to go back to Melbourne a few days after arriving in Sale: I had to return the rental car, the immigration people wanted to let me, with another thousand people, stay in the comfort of their waiting room for a few hours before putting an official visa in my passport, and I had to attend a Medicare briefing in order to get Prescriber and Provider numbers. The prescriber number allows patients to get subsidised medicines from their pharmacy, and the provider numbers allow me to charge medicare for seeing their patients. The numbers take about 2 weeks, so I would work in the hospital without seeing private patients in the rooms until those numbers arrive. I caught the train back to Sale that evening from the Southern Cross Station, the same station where just 24 hours later, little 3 year old ‘Pumpkin’ would be abandoned by her father a few days after he murdered her mother in New Zealand.

Train travel is just so relaxing, it takes about the same amount of time as a car. As it pulled into the Sale station, I could feel myself tensing up, thinking about 100 points and my rapidly complicating life.

On Tsunamis and Tornadoes

“And the most devastating tsunami of all time was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. December 26th, 2004. 230 000 people lost their lives…”

The children had switched onto the National Geographic channel; we had previously watched the feature on tsunamis some time back, but we wanted to watch it again. That tsunami had hit the coast of Thailand a little under 3 months after we visited; we remembered watching the news at the time, seeing some of the places we’d visited being washed away. Phuket. Kho Phi Phi. How would we have reacted if we were there? What chance would we have had at 7 am in the Seaview Phatong on the beach in Phuket, ground floor? Would we have been asleep, or would the jet lag have got us up earlier in the morning? Would we have looked at the receding waters and just watched in amazement?

The most startling fact I wanted to check was the height of the wave that came out of a small inlet in Alaska in 1960, as a result of a landslide. A father and son were out in a fishing boat, they felt the earth rumble – an earthquake, and then heard an explosion as the landslide fell into the sea, causing a huge wave. He then saw a wave which he estimated to be 1000 feet high coming towards him; he started his engine and went straight into the wave. His anchor line snapped off as the boat was lifted into the wave; he saw trees down below off the stern of the boat. He managed to crest the wave and survive to tell the story. The wave was measured at 1720 feet (as compared to a little over 100 feet for the Indonesian tsumani). This figure, I think, relates to the height above sea level which the water went up the land; in the case of the landslide, there was a huge pocket of air that was behind the wave which pushed it up very high.

The program ended with a possible future scenario for the biggest Tsunami ever to occur in modern history. The potential place: Honolulu. A massive tsunami could be triggered by a landslide from the Big Island after a volcanic eruption which would literally blow off the sides of the island. Hundreds of cubic miles of land could fall into the sea causing a massive tsunami the likes of which have never been seen before: it would be directed at, among other places, Honolulu which is 300 miles away to the north west. Honolulu would be decimated, destroyed. People would die in massive numbers.

Next on National Geographic channel: tornadoes. Tornado alley is a strip of land in the US which is hit by hundreds of tornadoes each year; the worst of which was in Oklahoma City a few years ago – 60 people were killed, many injured. Although the forces of the winds are high – there was video of trucks and semi-trailers being lifted into the air, the debris which is flung around and around and finally out of the tornado causes a huge amount of damage. Scientists are figuring out how shelters and houses need to be made safer, more resilient against the forces of nature. They drop cars onto slabs of concrete and figure out that it’s best if there’s a steel mesh on the undersurface, not just rebar through the concrete. They fire two by four poles at brick walls and find that they need to be reinforced with a concrete wall inside the brick exterior.

People chase tornadoes, measure the wind speed using doppler, trying to understand their behaviour. What would happen, the feature ends, if a mega-tornado hits the largest city in Tornado Alley? The devastation would be huge, death toll high. And the name of the city? – Dallas.

That was enough for us. TV off, time to get to sleep. We had to be up early the next morning, to get to the airport to catch our connection. Dallas to Honolulu.

Vernon

It was the weather that chased us away from Vernon when we left in 1998. Not as cold as northern Manitoba, to be sure, but often the Okanagan valley was clouded over and winter days were wishy washy, no brightness, the incredible darkness of being. It was also the time of morning sickness, clambering up icy driveways with bulging tummy, labour and childbirth. After a trial year working in Cape Town (1997), we decided to move to sunnier climes, back to South Africa en route to Australia. As it turned out, we settled back in East London and gave up the idea of Australia for 9 years.

Those last 4 months in Vernon in 1998 were quite something! Jeanne-Marie, pregnant with Chloe, was unwell – sinusitis needing draining. Gabi had her 18 month immunization and had a fairly prolonged seizure the following night; was paralysed on one side for a day. Michelle flew over to give us a hand. Two weeks later, was Gabi dragging the one leg when she walked? MRI and neurologist in Vancouver booked – 2 days before departure. All normal. The flight back to Kelowna was delayed by snow; would we get there in time for her flight back to SA? We managed to get there, the family said goodbye to Mark – he was to remain behind to pack up house, and sell practice. Jeanne-Marie had to get back while still allowed to fly in her advancing pregnancy.

Fast forward 9 years. The children are now 13, 11 and 9 years old and we’re on our way back to Vernon for a month, en route to Australia. We get off the plane in Vancouver, rent a car for the month, spend a night at the Vancouver Coast Plaza, and after Mark has an interview at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia to re-register his medical licence, we head off to Vernon. As we get closer and closer, memories of places, faces and names resurface. The first sign that things had changed was the hour long stop-start traffic hold-up to get over the bridge in Kelowna; both Kelowna and Vernon have grown tremendously. It was also the summer holidays, so there is a huge influx of people from other parts of Canada, particularly the neighbouring province, Alberta. The economy is booming – people with second houses, boats, caravans, motor homes are everywhere to be seen.

Vernon has not missed out on the boom. The huge departmental stores, previously only in Kelowna, are now in Vernon. Middleton mountain, where we stayed, previously had houses about a third of the way up the slope; now there are more than double the number of houses. There’s a large golf course and vineyards being developed on the side of the hill going towards Lake Okanagan – friends of Phil and Michelle’s from South Africa are working on it. Together with the influx, though, there are also the homeless and panhandlers. The Emergency Department of the hospital is a hive of activity, late into the night now. “Crackheads,” the one ER doc told Mark, “fill up the place at night.”

We stayed in the Murphy’s house for the first 12 days: they have a lovely house on Middleton mountain overlooking Lake Kalamalka. They were away so we had the run of the place. When they returned, we moved to another house a few blocks away – belonging to Michael Cooke, one of the paediatricians I was filling in for. We met him for a short while when we got into Vernon then he went off to get married, honeymoon and holiday for the rest of the month. He was also kind enough to lend us his car, so we had 2 vehicles for the month.

Mark started work with a bang – 7 calls in 10 days, and then only 3 in the remaining 20. Because we now get paid an on-call stipend (plus regular billings), he was quite keen to do lots of call; after all this month was to help pay for the trip over! Fortunately the jet-lag was not too bad for any of us, as we’d spent the previous week in Florida.

If the work didn’t keep us busy enough, the socialising surely did! We’d made many friends during our time in Vernon, and catching up with them after so many years was wonderful. It was very hot the first few weeks, and joining friends at the members-only Kalamalka Country Club on the lake’s edge in the evening was great.

The second weekend we took off, pointing the rental car in a southerly direction, for the 3 hour trip to Naramatta, just outside Penticton, to spend a weekend with the Paisley family in their condo on Apex Mountain. Dave organised bicycles, loaded all 11 of then on his trailer, and we all drove up the mountain. He and Sandy have 4 boys of similar ages to our 3 girls and we had a lovely day exploring the mountain on bikes.

One of the highlights of the trip was linking up again with Sayo who helped raise our older two girls while we lived in Canada. She has now been childminding for another family – 2 doctors with 4 children in Vernon. We saw a lot of her, she took the children out a few times, and joined us for a whitewater rafting expedition on Clearwater, about 3 hours north of Vernon, on one of the weekends. We wish we could take her with us to Australia!

The month passed by in a flash. The evenings were getting quite cool already by the time we left. Michael and his new wife, Joan, arrived back on the last Thursday of the month and we left soon afterwards. We spent 3 nights in Vancouver, meeting up with the Smiths for supper at the Spaghetti Factory. We cycled around Stanley Park, went to the Aquarium, poked our way around the Science Centre, went to the Imax theatre. Also had a wonderful evening catching up with Mark and Nat Rosengarten – friends from back in Thompson days!

It was wonderful to be back for the month, visiting with old friends. We do think, though, that we’ve made the right decision in moving to Australia.

Mountain Pine Beetle by Chloe

The pine forests in northern Canada are dieing – we can see it easily because the trees are turning red and then losing their leaves. The problem here is a little beetle about the size of a grain of rice: The mountain pine beetle. It creeps in under the bark of the pine tree and eventually kills it. The reason for this problem is that the winters have become too warm and the beetle doesn’t die off in the winter like it used to. If they don’t have a cold winter at the end of this year half of the forests will be dieing by the end of the next year. They kill the trees by putting blue stain fungus in the trees.

Whitewater rafting in Clearwater river by Gabi

Last week we went to Clearwater because we were going whitewater rafting. It took us 2 and a half hours and Sayo came with us. When we got there, we change into our bathing suit and had a bite to eat. We went inside and had to sign a form.

When we were ready, we got into the bus. It took us fifteen minutes to get to the place where we were going to stop. When we stopped, we took off our towels and put on our board shorts (if we had any) and went for a hike to see the Kettle (a nasty rapid). When we got back, we put on lifejackets and helmets.

After we were ready to go we helped to carry the boat down to the river. Then the guide told us to copy him, and he stepped into the water and went under water. So we all stepped into the water and got our body and head wet. It was freezing! Then we got into the boat.

When we were in the water we got into our places to sit. Jaime, Chloe and I were in the middle at the front, so we didn’t have to row. We went on some amazing rapids and some of our group jumped in and had a swim. They were purple from the cold when the got out.

We were at this place where mom, dad and a few people wanted to jump off this cliff. When mom jumped her helmet came off and we had to go fetch in downstream. When we were near the end we saw a bear swimming across the water in front of us. We got out and took our lifejackets and helmets off and got in the bus. We were all very cold.

When we were back at the lodge we had some pizza and hot drinks.

The Penticton Experience by Jaime

Last week-end, my family and I all went to Penticton to visit the Paisley Parents and their boys. We drove up their farm road and on the way, the boys revealed themselves, one by one.
“Look! There’s one!” exclaims Gabi
“There’s another one!” says Chloe
It turns out the Paisley parents have FOUR boys! They were all younger than me and Gabi, the oldest being ten. Anyway, we had supper and us girls got on with them boys like a house on fire. We then had to drive forty minutes, on a windy to get to their condo on the mountain. It was dark by then, so we couldn’t see any of the scenery on the way up.

The next morning everyone (except me) was up, bright and early. It was a perfect day! Their condo is situated right up in the mountains, in a beautiful pine forest. The boys (and Gabi) were busy outside, ramping anything that they could find. I decided I would join them. I went outside to the trailer, which had eleven bikes on it. I got my bike off the trailer and was about to get on, when it fell on me. I got five big scratches down my right leg. When everyone had come home, I told them I had been attacked by a cat. Gabi thought that it could have been a baby puma (never mind the fact that there are NO pumas living in Canada)! After that, all eleven of us went for a bike ride. It took us about 45 minutes to get up (it was mostly uphill, and we were all very unfit). At the top, we went up and explored some old abandoned mines. It was really dark and creepy so I chickened out. One by one everyone chickened out, except the fathers, who nearly went to the other end. We then cycled back, which took us only 5 minutes!

After lunch, we went on another cycle, but this one was more even. This ride had a lot of rocks jutting out of the edges, so six of the kids went ahead and ramped all the rocks. It was so cool. My mom even tried it! We went back to the car and I got off my bike. That’s when the second injury of the day happened. I cut myself, on my right leg this time, and had to get stitches! We went back down the mountain side to town, and Dave Paisley stitched me up. We then went back up the mountainside to the condo to tell everyone I had been attacked by a bear. They didn’t believe me this time.

The next day we drove back down to their house for lunch. When it was time to go, the boys tried to arrange a house for us here, so that we could move here instead of Australia. We then got in the car to go home. All in all, it was a very fun (and eventful) week-end.

Orlando

[Mark] “You should rent a car”, the Irishman next to me advised. Thank goodness we took his advice – distances between the parks and hotels are just too great for walking and we would have spent the same amount of money on cabs and buses had we tried without a rental. We’re getting to be old hands at the rental game now; we’ve used Hertz before, so our first task was to find the Hertz dealer. Not in the Orlando airport, but there is a shuttle – lug our 4 suitcases onto the shuttle and get deposited at the dealer, join a queue, and after about an hour we are $760 poorer, one car and about 300 advertising pamphlets richer. Oh, not to mention an appointment for the following day for a timeshare salespitch. What we will do to get a few dollars off the price of the Disney Park tickets!

Then came the interesting bit – finding the hotel. We had a week booking through timeshare at the Westgate Villas, but that was only from Saturday night; we had to find another night’s accommodation for the Friday. A quick search (back in the UK), using RatesToGo.com, found us a double room at the Quality Suites Inn, fairly close to the airport. This establishment does not come with our recommendation: Jaime’s comment was that anything with ‘Quality’ in it’s name, is likely to be anything but! The passages were smelly, flattened old chewing gum stuck on the floor, the lifts were tediously slow and the clientele were, well, less refined. The front desk advised me not to walk to get some food, so we ordered pizza in. The room wasn’t too bad though, and we slept well. Breakfast was served in disposable plates and plastic cutlery; after that, we trudged our 4 suitcases out of there for our timeshare presentation.

This presentation lasted about 2 hours – we didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed looking at some superb luxurious vacation villas/suites – in the Marriot range. The salesman was a Brazilian named Pueblo who is a musician (nominated for a Grammy as a producer once) who now sells timeshare. Interesting chap, probably the reason why we spent longer than necessary to get the cheap Disney tickets! The cheap tickets? Well, $425 for 5 of us, tickets for 2 theme parks and one water park – only 3 days! We would go on to spend another $650 for the other 3 days.

The Westgate Villas is a huge complex with hundreds of units. Our unit has two bedrooms en suite, a large living/eating area, as well as kitchen. It is one of about 30 units around a small lake. It is clean, and functional and meets our needs.

[JM] I am writing this after 5 days of Disneyland and we are now almost Disneyed-out! We’ve been to Blizzard Beach – one of the waterparks – which is themed on a snowy beach. We went on the various slides and rafts, and had a lot of fun. Good to be cool! After The Beach, we had to go shopping in Downtown Disney as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was out and Jaime neded to purchase the book as a matter of extreme urgency.

Next was Animal Kingdom with the Everest and Dinosaur roller coasters, and a very well done ‘Safari’ through a generic Africa – live animals on grass plains; sounds quite kitsch, but was in fact very good – saw some antelope we don’t get here in southern Africa, so quite interesting.

Then came Epcot centre where we visited Legoland. The highlight was definitely a simulated hang-gliding trip over some spectacular American sights: brilliantly done with a ski-lift-type arrangement that moved to simulate flight, and ‘wind’ directed at us from the front. Yesterday Mark took Gabi and Chloe to Seaworld while Jaime and I shopped at a wonderful ‘brand-names’ outlet mall. Today Chloe wanted to stay home – she’s exhausted – so Mark valiantly offered to stay behind with her, while I took Gabi and Jaime to ‘Typhoon Lagoon’ – the other waterpark. We had fun in the sun again but 4 hours was long enough! Tomorrow it’s Magic Kingdom with fireworks in the evening, and then it’s Saturday, and off to Canada!

[Mark] The theme parks (including the water parks) are all huge – lots of walking in very humid heat. The parking areas might be the size of a few hundred rugby fields!! Finding your car afterwards is a bit like finding your golfball in the rough! Because it is summer holidays here, the queues are very long; one can easily spend 40 minutes in a queue just waiting for a ride! The FreePass system in Disney is very useful – pick up a pass which allows you to come back (usually in an hour or two) and walk straight to the front of the queue. We have tried to have an early start each day, but after 5 or 6 hours, we’ve all been quite keen to go home; so we only see a small part of each park. The one exception to this was the last day, when we went to the Magic Kingdom, where we went home at about 3 pm, then returned at 8, braving the crowds, and watched the fireworks display which was on at 10 pm – very spectacular. Getting out of the park after this was a big squeeze in the crowds, and we only got back to bed after midnight. This was our last night, so there was no problem with being tired the next day (or so we thought…)!

The last day started off innocently enough – a mad scramble to get packed up before 10 am. Check out, then off to the shops to buy another suitcase (we had made a few purchases during the week and had outgrown our 4 cases!). Get to Orlando International airport with plenty of time to spare; expected time of departure to Vancouver via Dallas 3.30pm. The plane was delayed, initially because of weather – they had to circle the airport for a while – then lack of fuel, so it was sent to Fort Myers for refuelling. We started getting anxious about our car rental and hotel in Vancouver. We only started boarding at about 5.40 pm but once we’d taxied a little way out, we were told there was a little red light that was flashing and they’d have to return to have it checked out. And there we sat, in the plane, in our seats which was the last row of the plane, right in front of the toilets with the worst air ventilation! While testing, they switched off the power, the air and the water (no toilets), so we were quite uncomfortable for the hour or two they kept us there. Eventually they decided to deplane; as we, the last off, were about to leave, we were told the problem was fixed, stay on the plane as they would be reboarding everyone.

On arrival in Dallas, about 5 hours late, of course we’d missed the plane to Vancouver, so we were given vouchers for the Gaylords Hotel and meal vouchers. We settled in to the room and ordered room service (fillet steak) at 11.15 pm, had a wonderful sleep, great breakfast and relaxing morning there. I write this now in Dallas airport, with a very gloomy sky overhead; hope the next connection will take off as I have a meeting with the College tomorrow morning in Vancouver to get registered as a doctor again in Canada.

Postscript: The plane was delayed, 3 or 4 hours; we arrived late in Vancouver but managed to get to the College appointment in time!