Kerry's "Letter from Australia" - Febuary 2008 Found this fab beach the day before Lauren and Terry left and they and Holly had great fun in the water. Mum sat in the shade and I predictably took photos. We have also had some breathtaking sunsets, so vibrant when you see them on a photo they look fake. Lauren and Terry left on 2nd February amid tears; she then phoned me from Johannesburg airport saying she was already homesick and wanted to come back. The upshot is, she has finished with University in South Africa and will be returning here soon to start locally. Terry is still trying for his visa, so hopefully he will follow in due course. Mum arrived at the end of January for a six week stay; thankfully the weather has cooled down to the mid 20’s making it much more comfortable. How’s this for efficiency: Mum forgot to bring her disabled ticket with her from England as she did last year, so we called in at the local council office in town. They took one look at her leg and issued her with an Australian one on the spot. Her brother, who lives in Basildon, put in his application for one in December and is still waiting... Holly has had a mole removed from her back; there was nothing badly wrong with it just being irritated by her clothing. The op was fine, they just injected some local anesthetic and it was all over in ten minutes, leaving a hole the size of a 10p in her back which required 4 stitches. A week later she had the stitches out but within an hour the wound had split open and she had to have it re-stitched and has to wait 10 days this time before they are removed. My sister in law has been tracing her family tree on Genes Reunited and had posted some details about my Mum’s maternal side of the family and received an email asking if my Mum was any relative of a Hilda Petty. Mum replied saying that was her Mother and that started a whole ball rolling of emails, exchanged photos and details, culminating in her meeting a long lost cousin who had since moved to Adelaide. She and her husband came to visit us for 6 days, during which time she and Mum went into minute detail about her childhood. Unfortunately the woman’s mother had died when she was born; she had lived with her grandmother for a few years before her father remarried and moved to Australia taking her with him. She never knew anything about her English roots. Mum remembered visiting her when she was small and living in Cornwall and was able to show her pictures of her mum and great grandmother and even some of the woman herself as a toddler. She was delighted. The renovations resumed when Lauren and Terry left and I now have a new utility room and the last bedroom and ensuite are almost ready for new carpet. Then comes the really big job of the lounge, dining and kitchen area. It is all in one big open plan area (very common in Australian houses). The roof may have to come off altogether with some of the plans Kevin has, however we may scale these down somewhat. I don’t fancy being open to the stars with winter approaching. As predicted last month, Rob is now back in A grade!!! Until next month, Kerry