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2009
Teen-height,
and
High School
This has been a normal year for
the Watsons in Oz, in which people have grown and developed.
Neither Sam nor Abi could be considered as just 'children,' except
by the deluded; instead they are clearly growing up in so many
ways.
Sam and Abi at
the start of the year
Abi has just completed her first year at Lyneham High. She has
thrived with the increased responsibility in a more grown-up
environment. She has organised herself to make sure that she does
everything necessary for school and she has been diligent and
organised in getting her homework done on time. She has made new
friends, often helped by her existing social networks from school
and scouts. She prefers to walk to school with her best friend
Izi, instead of cycling in a fraction of the time. She has enjoyed
playing trombone in the fabulous school band program. The band is
the specialty of the school and they have 5 big bands, with about
150 players in each band as well as smaller jazz and rock bands .
Many kids come to the school from out of area just for the band-
so the standard is very high and they just sound amazing.
Sam has just completed Year 8 in
the enriched academic program at Lyneham (high school goes from
year 7 to year 10) so he is already half way through. School
subjects have been more technical and involved this year and he
has now realised that he has to work hard to do well, even in the
subjects that he is good in. He continues to excel in Science,
taking out High Distinctions in the National Chemistry Quiz and
University of New South Wales Science Competitions. He is starting
to consider possible careers and is thinking about Architecture at
the moment.
In general, the kids are far more
independent and able to do things by themselves.Sam will now ride
by himself to visit friends who live quite a long way away, and Abi is amazingly capable
when it comes to self-entertainment.
Let's build a swing, high up a tree...
Cathy has changed job. She was
offered a temporary secondment to a higher-level position managing
an Allied Health evaluation project which she took, and is
currently filling another higher duty position in workforce policy
and planning. She is not looking for a permanent position at that
level.
Mike has been challenging his
employer to let him off the leash and do some serious work. He has
had some success, but there is a way to go. He was involved for a
month or so in an investigation into a gas explosion in north-west
Australia, just for a change, and work has been enlivened by a
major accident exercise and by a ditching off a remote island in
bad weather. The ditching was remarkable in that all the occupants
of a small jet survived on a dark and stormy night. This story
will certainly be interesting as it evolves!
What has been going on?
Jean left us just before Christmas
in 2008, we suspect because the concept of a hot christmas would
have been too much of a conceptual change to tolerate!
We had a get-together with primary
school friends at lake Burley Griffin in the new year, with a few
canoes and games, before heading off to the coast at Ulladulla
with a couple of scout troops. We spent a week at a camp site that
has a place especially set up for scouts, and a range of
activities as well as swimming. We played games, did 'stuff', such
as 4-goal soccer (it's a long and complex concept...), and
generally hung out with a large group of young teenagers who
wanted to be busy and to have a good time. As ever, the unicycles
provided an excellent social ice-breaker. The weather was great,
apart from the nearly-last night, when a wild thunderstorm hit,
and those who hadn't bothered to peg their tents down properly
learnt the wisdom of their ways!
At the end of the week-long camp, the Watsons did not head home,
but instead travelled north to Delicate Nobby, our traditional old
summer-holiday beach haunt. We also took a very old school friend
Celia. The trip had its excitements in both directions with
breakdowns because of a dead alternator and a blown tyre, but once
we had got there life was pure relaxation.The kids were now old
enough to go off and do their own thing without being looked
after. The place is sufficiently 'rustic' to allow you to be
experimental as you try different things such as hammocks
and mossie nets instead of tents.
Abi has been enjoying getting around by pushbike, however she was
distracted at the bottom of a small hill on a cycle path while
riding an electric powered bike, and had an argument with a power
pole. The power pole won, and Abi ended up with a broken arm and a
bike that was close to being broken in half. she was sorry for
herself for a few days, and then carried on as normal but with one
arm in plaster. She was fortunate in that the doctor only said 'no
bicycles for a while', so she could still get around by unicycle;
she didn't need an arm for a handlebar that way! She even entered
the unicycle national championships while her arm was still in
plaster.
Sam had been growing his hair with
the aim of having it all cut off for charity, and he did just that
shortly after his birthday, to great hilarity among many. He
quickly looked really good with a shorter hairstyle, and it was
only at the end of the year when a haircut could really be
justified again.
April was busy. One weekend was taken up by a large camp at
Cottermouth where scouts compete among patrols over a range of
activities. We had all been involved on previous similar camps but
it was still fun, as a testament to organised chaos. The big
activity in April however was the Australian unicycle
championships.
There were a wide range of
activities including general skills, tricks and performances,
unicycle hockey, track and field, cross-country, and the most
hair-raising of street riding.
Mike competed once, the kids competed on many different thngs and
acquitted themselves well, particularly in track and field events.
Abi now has the 1600m female record, and Sam was busy chasing the
grown-ups on the 10Km open race until his saddle twisted which
made his cycle unrideable: we had changed it in a rush, and it
slipped, unfortunately. Actually, the parties were the best bit, the competitions
are only the excuse!
In June we were invited to share a
house on the coast for a weekend with friends.We all went to a
small village called Tilba, down to the south of Canberra. It was
a snug house, with good food, games, and catching up with doing a
lot less than normal; it was fantastic, and the respective
families' children were busy exploring the local hills and jungly
bits, as well as dragging parents there too. Glen & Anna are
enthusiastic twitchers, and shared some of their pleasure with us.
The Australian National Eisteddfod
was also held in June. Abi's Year 7 band competed, playing 2
pieces and getting a silver award. You can hear one of Abi's
band's pieces here. The
Eisteddfod actually happened in a huge, beautiful hall in the
Australian National University. The whole programme happened over
several days, and it was an incredible feat of organisation. The
sound of different bands, varying in size from 15 to 100 people
was fantastic, despite the widely varying levels of ability.
July was the day of the great scout cross-country ski trip, only
there was a problem. A few days before we were due to go, the trip
was cancelled because of an electrical problem with the scout
skiing accommodation... This was a disaster, as many people had
planned for their kids to go and they had to take leave at short
notice because their kids would now be at home instead of away
skiing. Anyway, Cathy was brilliantly organised and arranged for
us, Lizzie's family and Sam's friend Blake to stay 50 Km away from
a downhill skiing plce in two old, miniature chalets, and commute
to the ski fields at Selwyn. The other guys hadn't skiied before,
however even Lizzie's Dad was doing OK until Mike took him out at
high speed at the end of the last day! Fortunately, we both rolled
rapidly to an undignified stop without injury. Sam eschewed ski
poles, and was as happy skiing backwards as he was going forwards.
We all did choose to use helmets this time, after our previous
experience! The whole trip was a case of snatching victory from
the jaws of defeat, and it might even have been a better trip than
the scout trip would have been.
October was another unicycling
time. We paticipated in a performance at Canberra's 'Floriade',
however the stage was a) slippery, b) sloping and c) small. It was
a real challenge to get anything done at all. We were invited to
Sydney a couple of weeks later, to play unicycle basketball and
hockey with the three Sydney teams and a Melbourne team who had
also came along. The games were good and hard, however the Sydney
teams were sufficiently good to make it very hard to make any
headway at all. As ever, unicyclists are such nice, varied people
that it was just great fun to get together anyway.
Cathy's major organisational
crescendo happened at the end of November. the Scout troop is the
oldest remaining troop in the ACT, and it was the Troop's 50th
anniversary. We wanted to make it into a significant community
event, and boy, didn't everybody succeed! Present and past scouts
from previous decades came along, with ages ranging from 8 to 90.
Even the chief minister came along, having had his sons go through
the troop in decades past, and a very wide range of things
happened: orienteering, a cardboard maze was both made and
used based on old large used cardboard boxes, meals, games and
lots of reminiscences. Mike created chaos, however. The toilet
became blocked, so he went to the hardware store to get a plunger,
BUT Abi came along too, and locked everyone out of the van through
a spectacular miscommunication.Cathy came to rescue us, but she
was in a mad rush, getting a big meal ready for 70, AND she
couldn't get the cooker started either. Disaster was looming,
however scouts came to the rescue, as about a dozen of them were
happily co-opted, and amazingly, everything came together again,
even with only half the time now remaining. It was a lovely, happy
event; a great success, even though it was much more stressful for
some than it should have been.
This year, we blew our frequent
flyer points for an occasional trip to Perth for christmas.We left
immediately after the end of school term and arrived a week before
christmas to enjoy the hospitality of Gail's tribe and the
Collingridges. Gail had moved out of her long-standing, semi-rural
block a few years ago, and spent a couple of years in a suburban
house in Lesmurdie. Her plan had always` been to look out for the
right kind of rural
block to buy with Werner, and she has succeeded
spectacularly. She now sits on the edge of an east-facing valley
with with Werner and her new VTOL dog Jock, large eucalypt trees
behind her and a paddock with a water supply and a vineyard in
front of her.The house is shared with at least two horses, 50
guinea fowl, some duck-looking geese and a few classical tractors.
She cannot be that far from heaven!
Gail had organised a house at Dunsborough, about 2-3 hours South
of Perth on the protected side of the headland. She also provided
her new(er) car and her lovely C170, Jane. For Mike it was a true
blast from the past to go flying in this vintage beauty again, and
the kids took turns to ride with Mike, along with either Gail or
Werner. Now that Sam and Abi are so much older, they are far more
switched on and interested in flying too, and they enjoyed the
opportunity to have a go as well. From Dunsborough, we went to
various beaches from the totally calm to waves that were easily
body-surfable, or had good snorkelling. We also vegged-out and
took unicycles into town, creating havoc in the process: they are
obviously far rarer in WA than they are in the ACT! For Mike, the
highlight for the trip was probably on the way home, when we
stopped at Donnybrook. A friend of Gail and Werner has a
farm just east of Donnybrook with a cherry orchard. The cherries
on the tree were now too ripe to send to market, so they were free
for picking. What I didn't realise was that the farmer also had a
Stearman, and had built his airstrip in the only place available,
on the top of a hill! This means that you land in any one of 3
directions up hill, and take off down hill. The hills are steep,
too! If you knew where the key to the Stearman's hangar is at the
top of the hill, then you can borrow the quad-bike and go down the
very steep track from the strip and catch up with the rest of the
family who had followed by car. We picked about 40kg cherries in
around an hour, and they were just perfect!! We stopped off at
Mandurah on the way home to give Sam and Abi the chance to swap
over and let someone else fly, before returning to Jandakot. Oh!
it was so
evocative for Mike!
Gail was going to lend us her old
Beetle when we went to the Collingridges, however we had so much
rubbish that it just wouldn't fit, so she lent us her new(er)
wagon and kept the Beetle instead. Staying with the Collingridges
was a bit like putting on an old, comfortable pair of socks; we
just fitted in with whatever was happening; and everyone just did
stuff together without any major prior planning. It is
interesting to watch the childrens' development: the Collingridge
kids (still kids??
Hah!) are about 4-5 years older than out kids, and we see them
every 4-5 years. Each time, our kids remind me of how the
Collingridge kids were the last time we saw them; it's so spooky!
We stayed and played in their pool, helped with the occasional
banner, went for nostalgic trips to Fremantle and Adventure World
(where else?), however the trip to Penguin Island was washed out
by strong winds. On one day, we commuted out to Rottnest and went
snorkelling with Gail, and that trip wasn't spoilt by strong winds! There's a
reef a little offshore, however it was a long swim for the less
powerful swimmers. It was a fantastic trip, however I had to
remember how to swing a prop because I had accidentally flattened
a battery while we were in Dunsborough.I was also very lucky to
get a ride in Brian's CT4; a small, fat, sufficiently powerful
aircraft to let you do some comfortable aerobatics and still to
maintain altitude. It was such a pure joy to go and shake my tail
feathers late on a summer's afternoon. Nothing could be better,
and the world is your oyster at a time like that: what an absolute
privilege!
I was finally allowed to drive
again, almost exactly three years after my last brain operation. I
have remained vertical since September 2008, helped by remaining
very disciplined in taking my 'vertical' drugs twice a day. It's
now been 15 months since I last keeled over, and yes, you bet that
I'm counting. I'm probably less fit now because I can drive when I
want, and because I no longer ride 20Km a day taking Abi to
school. It still suits me fine, because many people only
considered that I would be 'healthy' once I could drive again. I
keep thinking that I'm fully recovered, and I always think that I
am, however if I think back a few months or a year, I generally
can see a gradual improvement in myself in many small ways... or
am I just imagining it, who knows?
We have had gentle, steady rain
(in relative terms) this year. Few things have died in the garden,
and most plants, especially the natives, have thrived. Now the
veggie patch is entirely enclosed, we have being producing bumper
crops of many different things, including tens of kg of
raspberries and blackberries: it's a delight to behold. One of the
black hens went broody, so we gave her a couple of day-old chicks
but both were taken within a week by Currawong birds, the local
flying carnivore. We'll probably try again early next year. As
there's now so much food in the back garden, the 'wild' guinea
pigs have flown their coop and roam truly wild. We occasionally
see one of them in the compost, but that is all. It's likely that
they've found a more generous family who provide them with more
regular food!
Well, that's
it for this year. May we wish you happiness until we write again
in a year's time.
With all our love,
Cathy, Sam, Abi and
Mike
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