Christmas Message 2019

It seems only yesterday we stood in a gazebo near Glenelg Beach, South Australia and saw in 2000. The sparkling wine tasted nice, the company of strangers who had gathered in the gazebo was even nicer. There were no riots in the streets, the world didn’t end and life went on as usual, contrary to the certain predictions of the doomsayers.

Now it’s almost 2020. Doomsayers are still predicting an end to all that is, but this time unrelated to the timing in a computer chip. Despite these predictions, we’re happy to say that all is well at our end although we acknowledge the world is in a bit of disarray.

We’ve had another great year with the highlights being a trip to Thailand, Cambodia and cruises from Singapore to Southampton and from Southampton back to Southampton after circumnavigating the UK.

In England - 2019

It’s all a distant memory now but in 2020 we’ll make some new memories. We’re driving to Alice Springs around 15 Dec 19 to spend our Christmas with Dale, Meredith and Tory. On 28 Dec 19 we fly to Brisbane and hop on a Princess Cruise around New Zealand. After we return we’ll spend a few weeks around Brisbane to visit Christina’s relatives and our friends before flying back to Alice Springs on 1 Feb 20.

From Alice Springs we’ll probably need to go to Darwin since son Dale is getting a cochlear implant we hope will improve the quality of his life substantially. We may need to spend a month there so he can return to the hospital every few days to have the implant “tuned”.

At the end of May 2020 we're off to Canada to do the Alaskan Passage trip. After our cruise, we'll spend a few weeks touring Canada and visiting some of our Canadian friends we met while living at Al Ain in the UAE. After we get home, I think we'll need to spend some down time for a while and perhaps have a quiet 2021. It is important to get all this travel done while we are both apparently still healthy.

Tory and Meredith

As you may have read in our blog's home page, our grandson Tory finished his schooling this year and also turned 18, so that has been eventful for us too. We didn't attend his birthday on 24 Nov 19 because we're doing the Christmas trip and a 3,000 km round trip twice in such short succession is a bit too much. Robin will take him for a beer at Lasseter's Casino in lieu.

Meredith completed a Diploma of Leadership and Management course recently and is progressing well in her project / facilities management position with the Territory Government.

Christina has been heavily involved in embroidery, knitting, and quilting groups and is Treasurer of the local Returned Services League (RSL Tanunda Sub-Branch). Robin has been involved with Legacy and the RSL acting as Secretary for the past few months while the Secretary was on holidays. He also attends the local Men's Shed weekly, and tries to play golf at least once weekly. Next year we will be volunteering with Barossa Village accompanying older inhabitants on bus trips.

So much for the Henrys. We hope you have a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas with your loved ones and friends. If we don't get to see you in the near future, rest assured you are always in our thoughts and we feel so grateful to have you as our friends.

Love from Christina and Robin