Back 'home' after a non-holiday!!

Well here we are back in Muscat and very pleased I am to be here too.

We had a good time in Australia - nothing bad happened and everything went pretty much according to plan except that we didn't unwind and relax. And we didn't get to see or contact all the people we had wanted to see and contact.

I suppose there are reasons for all the above. Here are some of them.

It was very cold. General consensus was that this is the coldest it has been at this time in Australia in living memory. Coming from very hot summer temperatures we didn't adapt well. Also we did not have the warm weather gear we could have had because last time we were in Australia at this time of the year it was mild and pleasant...

Alan did not get a job he really wanted and that depressed him. Also things had got a bit unpleasant between him and the Oman Hockey bosses in Hyderabad. Before we left he wrote to them saying that his continued association with them depended on them making some important changes. Worry about that situation cast a pall over the whole non-holiday! And, in some ways worst of all Marino Berta one of Als close friends from childhood had died and on arrival we went straight to his funeral in Brisbane. As you can see from the picture old friends reconnected at the wake and found joy in reminiscing and catching up but it was still a still a very sad occasion.

For more pictures from the wake look at
http://picasaweb.google.com/lynettefaragher/BertSWake

I was more exhausted that I had realised and took ages to re-establish proper sleep patterns...

I also came up with the bright idea that we should invest the extra pennies we earn here in another property in Australia - so we had to have a round of meetings with bank managers and estate agents and go to look at properties.

Of course all came to nought when we factored in the possibility of Al not being employed... but we did get some other financial planning advice and it seems if we follow it we will be able to retire to Australia when the time comes and not have to live in penury which was my great fear.

The good stuff was the visits from daughter Ruth, brothers Rick , Brad and Vince,niece Te Leah, sisters Christine and Angela, brotherinlaw Kevin, nephew James and friends, Sharon and David.

More good stuff was walks on the beach and a little bush whack with Ruth - she had some bad luck and was assaulted by little ticks - I believe she is still suffering a little from that aftermath!!! Some people are unlucky - I didn't get one!

Al had a few decent surfs but found the cold a problem! Never has before... there were not a lot of waves either.

We re-connected with our house but were disappointed that the painter had not finished his work and that the garden has become very overgrown. Still it will be a very nice place to live in when we need to go home, and the current tenants are nice people who are looking after it.

If you want to see more pics of the house you can look at http://picasaweb.google.com/lynettefaragher/TheSinniesPlaceSafetyBeach

The whereabouts of 'home' was also part of my inner issues... accepting that Australia will become my home. I do have some inner conflict about not returning to South Africa but I think that the conversations with the financial planner clinched it. The social security system will look after me in ways that the SA one will not.

I started to write this a week or so ago and Al's situaion was not resolved. It is now and they have accepted his resignation. the Vice President shook his hand and thanked him for all the very good stuff he had done but said that they would not be making the changes he needed as they are constrined by the Department of Sport - Al's nerves and professional integrity won't allow that so he is looking for a job.

Watch out for the next post which will be about my professional doings at the University.