Christmas Letter 2006

2006 Christmas Letter

What a year it has been and unfortunately two years since the last Christmas letter as Christmas 2005 was rather ambushed by other events.

As we write, we are pulling ourselves exhausted into the final weeks of the year having made the bad mistake of not taking a summer holiday this year but with much anticipation of a lovely break to visit Ravi’s family in Malaysia and then on to Bali to celebrate Christmas in the sun.

But back to the beginning, we celebrated New Year at home with a feast of Foie Gras, Prawns and Champagne but rather weighed down with worry for Mummy who had just made her transfer to boot camp, otherwise known as Unstead Park, for her stroke rehabilitation. Life at the time was rather dominated by trying to organise the “Dawn Patrol” as Ravi christened it, which was in reality a fantastic group of friends and family who took on the daily trip down to deepest Surrey to keep her spirits up. It was truly amazing how many people rallied round and a tribute to my Mother as well as her friends that so many people cared enough to make the regular trips for several months. To those of you fellow travellers, a thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to share the journey.

Mid January to late February saw me living “la dolce vita” (not) in Italy as the Torino Winter Olympic Games swung round and it was a long, hard, cold slog but ultimately rewarded by a happy client. Ravi, accompanied by Patrick, on a long and boozy train trip visited for the closing ceremony taking advantage of two fantastic Parisian lunches there and back – if you are going to Paris any time soon they are now the gastronomic experts.

Closing Ceremony saw me winging home to set up Mummy’s home and initial carers and then for the great homecoming. Whilst boot camp unquestionably had its pros and cons, the work that Mummy had put in paid fantastic dividends when she was able to walk, albeit slowly, upstairs to her own bedroom – a feat that we had all feared was going to be beyond her. We have been constantly reminded over the past year never to underestimate her fighting spirit and gritty determination to do what she wants to do!

April saw us off to Cornwall for two weeks – a fantastic holiday where we all enjoyed spending time together, lots of seafood (although Ravi is rather off crab since then!) and long walks with Flora, the great love of our lives.

If 2003 was a year for weddings, ours and 8 of our friends, 2006 seems to have been the year for babies. The other 4 couples all gave birth and we are delighted to welcome them all, particularly Eloise my new goddaughter, who is in for a lifetime of girly spoiling.

May saw a return to Italy, but this time to La Foce, in Tuscany. It has to be the world’s least friendly wheelchair house as now both Mummy and I have experienced but in a beautiful if remote location. The hill in Montepulciano is definitely not to be recommended, probably more by the pusher than the occupant.

The summer passed all too quickly and with loads of work on. The London Olympics might be 6 years away and undoubtedly there will be plenty of questions on whether they will be finished on time and on budget but there will be no criticism about how early everyone started working on them. We did at least get to experience the Chelsea Flower Show and Glyndebourne – both of which completed validated however how well we can do things in Britain.

In August we took receipt of our new “baby” Kiri Te Katawa otherwise known as “the devil cat” or “La Terrorista”. She is a very small brown Burmese who has us all under her paw and her brother Frodo lives down the road with Mummy.

At the end of the Summer holidays, Piggie and the boys, William and Jack came for a London holiday and the long awaited trip to Thorpe Park, with Europe’s highest roller coaster. We had a great day although neither Ravi nor I have a real head for speed. This was followed by our Summer Party, probably the last chance we had to see most of our friends this year and then Ravi packed his kit bag and enjoyed his Christmas present, a 3 day survival course in darkest Shropshire – which was undoubtedly made easier with the desert island luxuries of cigarettes and whisky!

Since then the autumn has absolutely flown by punctuated by Eloise’s christening in Northumberland which was delightful, a lovely birthday weekend in Chichester and very sadly the death of Mozart. He deserves a full letter of his own as he was such a wonderful friend to me over the years and we miss him terribly. I just hope that his soul has made it back to Australia and that even now he is ruling the neighbourhood in Sydney cat heaven.

And now, in between trips to Europe and Asia for work, I am buying and packing dozens of Christmas presents, decorating the house for our pre-Christmas events, writing the cards, listening to carols and trying to overdose on my favourite time of year before we set off to Malaysia, Singapore and for Christmas a luxury villa in Bali where we will be joined by Ravi’s mother and his siblings, my Mother and delightfully Claire, Olivia and my other goddaughter, Indiana travelling from Sydney.

So, hoping this missive finds you and yours well, we wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.