The Dorrington Christmas Newsletter, 2002

Well, here it is, that time of year again. I don't know where the time goes to - well I do, we keep so busy that we hardly have time to turn round. Of course, then I sit down at this machine and my mind goes a complete blank. What have we done this year? Had a few parties, been to a few places, done this and that, but what?

Well I guess I should start by casting my mind back to the end of last year. Ian made it out here in time to celebrate his 21^st birthday, shortly followed by Nickie, then Jo & Martin. So we had a full house for Christmas dinner (eaten on our balcony again), with a few friends. Then it was time to dig out the fancy clothes for New Year's Eve. You will all remember the events of 11^th September, but one of the knock on effects was that The Club's plans for New Year took a bit of a beating. I don't know all the reasons but they decided to hold the celebration in the hall, which rather restricts the number who can get tickets. It ended up as a bit of a lottery but we managed to secure a table. Unlike this crowded picture, we were on the stage (but I couldn't get a picture of us because I couldn't get far enough back!) but everyone had a good time, didn't they Nickie?

Our first event of the New Year was the next day, when we went up in a balloon. This was tethered on the breakwater and the trip took about 20 minutes (not counting the 2 hours waiting) and went to a height of about 200 meters. As you can see, the view was good and we all enjoyed the trip. That was about the end of the holiday, as work and university called.

In February, Sue and I managed a quick week in Cyprus. It was the Eide, which meant 4 days holiday, so the trip only cost me a couple of days of my annual leave. We had a major argument with the car hire firm while we were there. The quote of CYP119 finally cost me 235, nearly double the price, because they added insurance after the quote. We decided we'd had enough of this, so we went shopping and bought a second hand Mitsubishi Lancer. That turned out to be a good idea in the summer because Ian is too young to rent a car but we got him insured so he could drive.

As always, Sue & I are heavily involved in the amateur dramatic life and our first play this year had the silly title of "They came from Mars and landed outside the Farndale Avenue Church Hall in time for the Townswomen's Guild coffee morning". This was a very funny and extremely stupid play with 4 women and 1 man (guess who). Everything that could go wrong did (as it was supposed to) and we had a lot of fun doing it, even though the script was hard to learn and the 4 ladies played 7 parts between them, often wearing the same costume. In the case of the lady who played the Martian and my wife, she came on the second time as my wife with the Martian's space helmet supposedly stuck on her head. Our efforts to remove it caused extreme hilarity, and not a little embarrassment. The play was very well received by those who saw it, even if we didn't get as big an audience as we had hoped.

The second play of the year, Surprise Package, was a comedy about the early days of package holidays in Spain. Sue & I did a lot of work backstage but couldn't be in it because we left for our summer holiday the morning of the final performance. We had a slight problem with this play because the Choral Group had booked the whole of May for their rehearsals and production. This meant, we could only get on stage 2 weeks before the play. As set construction, I had to build the set outside and then rapidly erect it in one day. It worked and the play went well. We missed the after show party but being in Cyprus was a better option.

It was during the run up to this that Sue gave me a fright. She woke me up in the early hours of the morning complaining of terrible pains in her stomach. My amateur analysis was that her Gallstones were causing her trouble again. It's been two years since she had any trouble but this time it was much worse. The hospital wanted to operate there and then but I wasn't impressed with the surgeon (his bedside manner didn't exist) and I could tell that Sue wasn't happy either. We put them off by saying I had to get prior agreement for an operation and Sue went to see our GP. She recommended an independent surgeon, who gave Sue no time to think but booked her into hospital with just 3 days notice. Before Sue really had time to worry, she was in and her Gall bladder was removed by keyhole surgery. I think the worst part, as far as Sue was concerned, was that, by Arabic tradition, they presented her with the removed bits. It seems that when a Muslim is buried, you have to bury ALL their bits, so if they remove anything, it's presented in a little jar to be kept. So Sue woke up and there, before her eyes on the bedside table, was a jar with her gall bladder and another containing 3 big stones! Perhaps the secondary "worst bit" was when we went to see the surgeon a few days later to have the stitches removed, and he insisted on showing us the video of the operation. I was fascinated but Sue was far from impressed.

We had a glorious 4 weeks in Cyprus. I can't tell you what we did, because it seemed to slide by in a welter of work and parties and everything else. We took the time to redecorate the house, because it hadn't been done for several years. We also visited friends, had a BBQ and sat around and relaxed, which is what holidays are all about.

From Cyprus we flew on to UK for my father's 80^th birthday. We had good weather for the day of the party and, with our advent, we had all the family there to celebrate with him. It was, in fact, the last time I was to see my father's older sister, my Auntie Doris, who died later in the year.

Apart from that, I didn't have a lot of time to do much, because I had to go back to work but Sue stayed in UK for another two weeks and helped Nickie move into her new University accommodation.

Before that, however, they decided to do the tourist bit and went to London, where they took in the Tower, the London Eye and an open top bus ride. I could show you some of the 250 pictures that Sue took, but you're probably not interested (and the envelope wouldn't hold it all). It's amazing how many pictures you can take with a digital camera without realising what you've done. You always think "I can delete the rubbish" but when most of them come out, which ones do you delete?

Nickie has rented a house with 3 friends, and Ian drove Sue and Nickie up to Newcastle to help her move in. Our good friends Keith & Didi had stored a lot of Nickie's bulky items in their garage in Durham for the summer, so it wasn't too much to take with them but Ian had to do a ferry trip to get everything into the new house. Then they went shopping for all those things that you realise are missing. Oh, my poor bank account! As you can see, she has a bright room (the bed is just behind the photographer) although she's now found that the radiators don't work too well and the room is freezing in winter. And it's only Autumn so far!

Joanne has made a major decision this year. After a year of slowly drifting apart, she finally made the decision that she and Martin were just not going anywhere. Shortly after Sue returned to Abu Dhabi, Jo told Martin that it was all over and he has moved out. This gave us a slight problem because there were three of them on the rental agreement and the agents were not sure that only two, and one of those a student, could afford the rent. So I dug into my pocket and gave them a little extra each month, just to be on the safe side. I know it's unusual for brother and sister but they seem to have managed and Jo & Ian are getting on fine living together. Ian has been working at the jigsaw puzzle firm where Jo works, helping in the warehouse with the Christmas orders, so they've had some money coming into the house apart from Dad's wallet.

Back in Abu Dhabi, Sue directed our next play. This is one that she directed in Cyprus in 1994, then in UK in 1997 and the committee decided it was worth doing here. A comedy about a tax fiddle, it's called My friend Miss Flint. We had a few problems with cast, to be precise, we lost 2 out of the 6 and had to find replacements. That apart, it went well, with me playing the same part as I did in the first production, the lead (with umpteen words to learn). As usual, we all worked on building the set as well as learning the lines. I don't know what it is but we seem to be losing members as they leave the country but we get only one replacement for every two we lose. At this rate, we're going to have problems casting a play in a few years time.

Sue hasn't had a good year, this year. A bad bout of flu led to bronchitis which in turn led to pneumonia. She just couldn't seem to shake it off and her sinuses were giving her trouble. Back and forth to the doctor, who eventually sent her for some test, with the result that the ENT specialist suggested she needed laser surgery to clear and open her sinuses, because the infection was never going away. I've always maintained that Sue has a problem with her nose apart from her lack of smell (and yes, I do know that old joke). The surgeon confirmed that by taking over 3 hours for what should have been about an hour's operation, because of the shape of her nose. Anyway, the end result is, so Sue says, a much improved airflow (she's stopped snoring) and clear and painless sinuses.

Our time right now is taken up with our Pantomime, which has just about every member of the group taking part. So, once again, half the cast spend their spare time building the set instead of learning lines (and that's my excuse, so don't spoil it). Luckily, it's been Ramadan, so we have shorter working hours and we've managed to combine everything. As I write this, we are 10 days away from first night. Joanne, Ian & Nickie are arriving for Christmas the day before and have already been volunteered for various jobs.

Christmas will be upon us before we know it. Once again, we have our enlarged family with us for Christmas day. In fact we have more than usual because our friends have their daughter with them, we have our three and our friends Ron & Margaret from Cyprus are visiting Abu Dhabi and staying with Janis & Allan, so they will be joining us for Christmas tea. I'm busy organising the decoration of the balcony, so we can sit outside, and Sue has sorted out all the Christmas decorations but she's leaving them for the kids to do when they get here. New Year's eve will once again be spent round the pool at The Club in conjunction with about 500 others, though we only have 16 on our table (isn't that enough?), so we are organised right up to the end of the year. Next year? Who knows!

So that's been our year. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope to talk or see you sometime in 2003.

Love from us all.