Well, that’s another year gone. In fact, I think it’s been two years since I last produced our Christmas newsletter. Either that or I’ve lost the 2007 version completely.

Well, the big news is that we have moved – again. Let me explain it to you in detail.

I may have mentioned that Mum & Dad were going to move to Norfolk to live next door to my sister, Linda. The plans were well ahead when I wrote the 2006 newsletter but, as they say, the best laid plans…. Instead of moving in Feb, they finally managed to get away from London in May. Lots of problems at both ends with sales and purchases but we finally moved them, with the help of a moving company. Only one slight, minor problem - Dad forgot to mention something to their surveyor when he came to look at what had to be moved. He showed the man the house, and the 2 garden sheds, and the sideway. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention the loft. There must have been half a house full of things stored up there – I swear the ceilings groaned and lifted 2 inches when we’d emptied it. Unfortunately, they didn’t bring a big enough lorry! So Ian & I had to hire a large van the following weekend and shift the rest. (That’s not counting that we had a skip to throw away what we thought Dad wouldn’t notice was missing). Shortly after they moved, Dad got a local builder in to cut a gate in the fence so Linda could get through and they settled down. So, with Mum & Dad now living in Norfolk, we only managed to visit them about once a month. They have got a spare bedroom, so we could stay, but it’s still a 2 hour drive.

Meanwhile, I was working for Age Concern dealing with facilities. That’s a posh sort of name for an odd job man. I do mean that as well. Sometimes I could be fixing phones, sometimes computers and sometimes it was the drains! Sue worked there as IT administrator, so we did see each other now and then. Ian found a job working for the London & Hatfield Country Club – a Japanese run golf club. He was in charge of the bar and doing an on-line course in Hospitality Management. Nickie was working in Westminster once more, this time for a shadow minister. All looked reasonable until the end of 2007. A week before Christmas, I was made redundant. Nice timing! By the middle of January, with absolutely nothing on the horizon, I went to sign on – only to be told that, as I had been working casual hours the previous year, I hadn’t accumulated enough points or payments or something to actually get any money. How do some people get houses, money and everything they need and they haven’t paid a penny? So there I was, out of work and no prospect of getting on the government payroll. Meanwhile, Nickie had got fed up with the rude language of her minister and resigned. She went off to Canada to visit an old school friend. Yup, she went to Canada in February – minus 40 at night. She has some lovely pictures of a frozen Niagara Falls.

So, that’s set the scene. I said to Sue that, if I couldn’t get work by the end of Feb, I thought it might be worth going to Cyprus and see what I could get there. Rather prophetic as we had a phone call on 19^th Feb to say that my friend Allan Davies had died of a heart attack. As Nickie & I were “free” we grabbed one way tickets and flew to Cyprus to see what we could do for Janis. Sue and Ian followed as soon as we knew the date of the funeral. While we were there, at the end of Feb, we had a family discussion about the future. The decision was to move to Cyprus. (Yes, that was a surprise, wasn’t it? Bet you didn’t expect that!)

Of course, it’s not quite as easy as that. We would have all loved to simply stay; but there was a house full of furniture, clothes etc. back in Hatfield and Sue & Ian had jobs they felt they should resign from. So, the decision was that Nickie & I would stay in Cyprus and find jobs while Sue & Ian went back to pack up the house. Now, those of you who are familiar with our family history might find a pattern here. When I moved from Kuwait to Bahrain in 1992, I left Sue in Kuwait to finish her job and pack up the house. Most of that went to our new home in Cyprus but some was packed in the car and driven to Bahrain. Then, in 1996 I got a job in Abu Dhabi but Sue stayed in UK until Ian had finished his GCSE exams, then Sue packed up the house and came to join me. Yup, Sue is very experienced at packing up and moving – and she’s reminded me of it all year!

Meanwhile, Nickie & I were finding that the season in Cyprus hadn’t started yet and, although there were lots of promises of jobs “when things picked up” we were struggling through March. Then, towards the end of March, Nickie got four offers of jobs. One was bar work but mainly waitress at a hotel, one was running the bar at a restaurant & bar we knew. The third was a running the bar at “The Village Inn” near home and the other was an offer from the cruise line that run daily boat trips from the harbour. After a bit of deliberation, she went for the boat job – because it was out in the fresh air. The company were running 3 boats with daily and evening trips. The largest is a 30mt luxury yacht. She started as “hostess”, welcoming people on board, doing the welcome and safety announcements and generally looking after the customers. Then they asked her if she would take over the bar on “The Jolly Roger”. This is a boat that does “pirate” cruises (aimed at the kids) a Caribbean theme night cruise with fireworks as well as half day and full day cruises along the coast. Nickie did rather well at that job, and, although she often worked 7 days a week doing up to 16 hours some days, seemed to enjoy herself. Now that the season is drawing to an end, Nickie has managed to get herself another job. This time it’s selling holidays at a group of rather posh hotels. I don’t know a lot of details because she’s only just started but she’s already been to UK (within a week of starting), to sell holidays. It certainly looks as if she will be a team leader when they expand the project.

Meanwhile, I had found a job at the hotel where Nickie went to. This had been suggested by our Cypriot friend Jack, because his brother was bar manager there. When I took her for an interview, I recognised the personnel manager – he and his wife moved into No.1 when we bought No. 6 Stephanie Gardens, It turned out that he and his two brothers owned the hotel, the Queens Bay Hotel, and his sister-in-law (an English girl) was about to start maternity leave. So I stepped in to take over her job of Customer Relations. The hotel runs a club for repeat clients who get special prices and birthday and anniversary cards sent to them. There’s also the job of taking bookings, sorting out problems – in fact everything to do with customers. In fact, it was supposed to be as maternity leave but Claire gave birth to twins (they were expected – she couldn’t get behind the desk because of the size of her lump) and has declared that she probably won’t be back until the girls start school. So it looks as if I will be there for a while.

Ian worked for a while at another hotel but he’s now transferred to the Queens Bay working in the bar and coffee shop. Because of an incident we had a while ago, the hotel decided to put all their staff (those that work near the pool) on a life saving course. Although Ian has diving experience, he needed a first aid refresher, so he did the course. He said everyone got 100% in the exams. This may have been because he had to explain some of the terminology to those who don’t have good English reading skills – by which time he’d virtually given them the answers. At the end of October, Ian complained of a pain in his middle. It got worse, so we took him to the hospital at about 11pm on Saturday night. They couldn’t find anything wrong and sent him home with instructions to come back if it didn’t feel better. You can probably guess that we took him back at lunch time on Sunday and at 6pm that night he had his appendix out! So as I sit here typing this, he’s at home and recovering, though he is still walking around rather carefully.

That just leaves Sue. After several months, she’s managed to find homes for about 80% of the things we brought out here but nobody dare go into the basement. Apart from that, Sue is having a life of leisure – well apart from the washing, cleaning, ironing and looking after the dog. Oh yes, that’s another minor point. We went to the local dog rescue in May for their open day and help them raise some money. But, and we were all adamant about this, WE ARE NOT HAVING A DOG! Unfortunately, we didn’t tell the man who was trying to separate 3 puppies that were determined to fight. So he handed Sue the little one to hold for him. HA! Was that deliberate, or what? So we came home with this adorable little puppy “who won’t get very big – look at how small his paws are. That’s how you can tell” Oh really? Nobody mentioned that to Jack. In 5 months he’s gone from a puppy you could hold in one hand to a full grown monster. He’s at least 70% German Shepherd and 20% Collie plus a few others thrown in. Currently weighs 25Kgs and, stood up on his back legs, can almost put his front paws on my shoulders! So Sue isn’t exactly lazing around but she may try and get a part time job just to see the outside world occasionally (apart from dog walks, shopping, chauffeuring Nickie around etc).

Of course, not everybody can move to Cyprus. Jo moved in with Chris, her boyfriend. They started out living in a small one room house in his mother’s garden but have now found themselves a little 2 bedroom house in St Neots in Cambridgeshire. (the arrow points to their house) We talk to her most weekends on Messenger so we know what she’s up to.

They both came here for a holiday at the end of August and, although Jo would like to move out here as well, Chris isn’t so sure. Mostly I think he’s concerned about finding work. Jo would be able to do her holistic therapy as there’s quite a call for that out here. People like a relaxing massage to improve their holiday. We’ll wait and see what happened there.

Finally, I must mention the other members of our family. Many of our friends have heard of Tracie but never met her. This year, however, was a very special year for Tracie and Steve. Sue didn’t want it mentioned because she says it makes her feel old, but this year they celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary. Unfortunately, that was in April, so only Sue & Ian were able to attend.

I just had to include a picture of Uncle Ian with his nephews Andrew & Jason. Ian is still taller than the two of them – but only just! (Andrew, on the right, has his hair gelled up to make him look taller)

So that has been our fairly busy year. We are settled in Cyprus and hope to stay here for a while. We’re coming back to UK in November for my niece’s wedding and a chance to see the family. I plan to get the Christmas cards in the post to everyone while we’re there (to save on the postage – ‘cos I’m a miser) so that may be why you’re getting a card a bit early. Of course, I’m not putting our address on the web ‘cos I don’t want to attract 3 tons of junk mail, so I will be sending that to everyone some other way.

Hope you all have a good Christmas and New Year

David, Sue, Ian & Nicola.