Letter
No. 233
Dear all,
It was a big week for Matthew when we got back from New
Zealand. On Weds 13th January he got a call from The University of
Queensland telling him that he had been awarded a Merit Scholarship for Leadership and Academic Achievement,
conditional on him getting an offer. The award covers all of the university
fees for his first year. He was so excited to get the award and phoned Katie
and I immediately. It was great to hear how excited he was and he even thanked
us for nagging him into submitting the scholarship application.
The next day the university offers were published on the
QTAC website. It took Matt over 40 minutes to log in, but he finally discovered
that he had been offered his first preference which was an Arts-Law dual degree
at The University of Queensland. His
Arts degree will involve a major in Mandarin Chinese and a minor in
International Relations, as well as the Law Degree. It is very comprehensive
and will take 5½ years to complete. We are very proud of him as he had worked so
very hard to get what he wanted.
The last week of the holidays passed with quiet days and a
few dinners with friends and family.
On 19th January we drove to my Mum and Dad’s for dinner. It was
mainly so Matthew could get some night driving experience for his Driving
Licence. He still needs another five hours of night driving before he can sit
his driving test. The trip was slightly delayed by a small incident in the
driveway where Matthew managed to reverse Katie’s car into the wheelie bin and
break off one of the mirrors. After applying tie wire and duct tape we were on
our way again, a little later than we had expected. We had a nice dinner with
Mum and Dad and saw their new puppy and got home again by 10:00pm.
On Thurs 21st January Jessica was at a sleepover
so we went to Miku, the Japanese restaurant where Matt works, for dinner with
the Malins and the Suggs. We had a lovely meal with Matthew waiting on us and
then back to our house for port and liquers afterwards. A couple of days later we
went to Brookfield for an early Australia Day celebration. There were games for
the kids, food stalls, a band and of course the bar. My sister Lisa and family
came along and we had a nice catch up after our holiday in New Zealand.
We had a huge day on January 26th which is Australia Day, with two Citizenship
Ceremonies and two parties to attend. Jess and I had to get out early to get
her to City Hall by 7:00am as she was singing in a citizenship ceremony with
the Australian Girls’ Choir, then Katie headed off to a different citizenship
ceremony to see our friend Wings Malins receive her citizenship certificate.
Katie was meant to be at the same ceremony but due to her visa stuff up last
year she will need to wait a little longer before she becomes a true blue
Ozzie. I picked Jessie up a bit later, Katie arrived home and we did a fast
change before heading off to the Brodie’s
Australia Day party. Katie had baked mini quiches as a contribution, as
well as lamingtons for the Lamington competition. It was a fantastic party as
Helen and Gary’s house overlooks the river. They had two speedboats and the
kids had a huge time tubing and swimming in the river. Everyone had to dress
Australian of course, so I wore my Australian rugby jersey while Katie wore a
short, bright blue sparkly Australian Flag dress. This got her quite a few
compliments. We had a game of cricket beside the river – Monarchists vs
Republicans. Katie naturally signed me up immediately on the Monarchist team.
Each team needed to have children and women. One of the neighbour’s dogs kept
chasing the ball and almost got taken out by the bat a few times, so we needed
a few balls to keep the game going. Actually the dog was one of the better
fielders, but played on both teams and wouldn’t throw the ball back to the
wickets! Over the fence was six runs, into the river was minus six runs. It was
actually raining fairly steadily through most of the game but it was a lot of
fun. There were a few teenage boys who dominated the game though and one of
whom caught me out after only a few runs off a huge hit, just short of a six. Sadly
the final score was 88 to the Republicans and 49 to the Monarchists. During the
game Matthew got picked up by some of his friends and went off to another party
a few suburbs away. Then it was on to the judging of the Lamington baking competition
and Katie was astonished to be proclaimed the winner, despite being the only
non-Australian entrant!
It was a really brilliant party, but we had to head home for
a 30-minute lie down before setting off to the Malins’ Australia Day party to celebrate Wings’ citizenship. Katie
had baked a fabulous Pavlova in advance which just needed to be assembled
before setting off to their house at the end of the street. Again, a lovely
party overlooking a different stretch of the river. All of Katie’s dog walking
group (WAGS) who are some of our closest friends were there so it was a lovely
afternoon and evening. During the course of the party Jessie arrived and left
and Matt arrived back from his earlier party; lucky we only have two kids to
keep track of. We meant to get home a bit earlier but did not leave until
around 9pm by which time we were both a little tired and emotional! It was a
fab day but we really needed another public holiday to recover from the public
holiday!
Jessica was back to school the next day, for her first day of Year 10. Luckily she had sensibly
gone home early from the party to get ready for school. The next day Matthew
and Katie and I went back to Brisbane Boys’ College for the last time as
parents. Matthew was being honoured in a special Scholars Assembly for boys who received OP 1 or 2 (Overall
Position) in their final exams, followed by morning tea with the Headmaster. We
were very proud.
Jessie’s school term kicked off in usual busy style and her STAGE school dance troupe was
particularly active right from the start of term, with auditions, extra
training sessions and a “Welcome to STAGE” Evening. Jessie had been delighted
not only to get in to STAGE but also to be selected for the Senior section
which is usually only Year 11 and 12 girls. This means she will be in five
dance routines this year with 4½ hours dance training per week. Jessica was
also elected Form Captain by her peers. They all had to rate everyone who
wanted to run on a variety of leadership traits and she was very pleased to
win.
On 7th February Jessica was at a dance rehearsal
so the three of us went out to the Corner Store Café for a huge brekkie. That
evening we went to a fabulous Chinese New Year dinner at our friends Shelley
& Gary. There were four other families and everyone took a contribution and
it was a lovely Chinese banquet which brought back memories of Hong Kong.
It seemed a long time before Matthew started at Uni and in
the meantime he worked a large number of shifts at Miku each week. Finally it was
University O-week on the week
starting 22nd February Matt went to few orientation lectures and
then to the Market day on the Wednesday. He signed up for Amnesty
International, the UQ Law Society and the Mooting Club. The Uni Semester
actually started the following week, which was Jessie’s school week 6. He is
doing three law subjects and one Chinese subject. He only has 14 contact hours
at Uni but seems to spend the rest of the week either studying or working. He
has two nights with late lectures and works every other evening so we almost
never see him. By the time he gets home from work I am usually asleep on the
sofa!
On 27th February it was St Aidan’s Trivia Night. The theme was Books so our table went as The Great Gatsby which was fairly easy
to dress up as. We had a nice table of Year 10 parents and were quite pleased
to finish 5th out of 18 teams. The next weekend was St Aidan’s Open Day. Katie had to be
there early to set up the Stage Support Group stall, which looked very
colourful and attracted lots of attention with a humungous TV screen. Jessie
had to be at school from 9am to show prospective parents around the school.
STAGE was also doing the first performance of their dances for this year so I
came back in to watch. They were very good and it was nice to hear all of
Jessie’s friends cheering her when she was the centrepiece of a very complex
lift above all the rest of the girls.
The following day I went to A Day on the Green with my mate John Haughton. We arrived at 1pm
and had lunch before the first band started. We saw Rat Cat, Died Pretty, Sunny
Boys, Violent Femmes and Hoodoo Gurus. A fantastic line up! I had never seen
Violent Femmes before and they were brilliant, if slightly odd. Just before the
Hoodoo Gurus started I had just got some dinner and was walking back to my seat
when it started to spit rain. I thought I could make it back to my seat, put
down my food and get my rain poncho before it got too heavy. However before I
had walked 20 metres it had turned into a torrential downpour. By the time I
had found somewhere to put down my dinner where it wouldn’t get stepped on and
worked out how to open my rain poncho I was drenched through. I walked back to
my seat but by the time I had got there, the rain stopped! The Hoodoo Gurus
rushed to start so people didn’t leave. They were brilliant as usual. It was a
great day only slightly dampened by the rain.
On Tuesday 8th March Katie went to an International Women’s Day lunch with
Helen in the Brisbane Club. The speaker was Dr Catherine Ball who is an ex-AECOM
employee. She is an expert on unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles and is a
brilliant speaker. Katie really enjoyed the afternoon.
Later that week there was a Y10 Parents Dinner at a restaurant in Indooroopilly called Nantucket.
The restaurant is owned by the parents of one of the girls in Jessica’s grade.
We had a very nice dinner with a table of the parents of Jessie’s group of friends.
All of the conversation that evening revolved around the recent suspension of
eight girls in the grade, for posting some very inappropriate content on social
media, some of it in school uniform. It had only just happened that week and none
of the parents of the suspended girls came. There are a couple of real
troublemakers in Jessica’s grade and most parents said they hoped they would be
expelled next time they break the rules, as they regularly do. I agreed!
On 12th March we went to for dinner at the Toowong Bowls Club with a group of ex-BBC
parents. Some of the boys are 18 now and it was a little weird seeing them
standing at the bar ordering beers! The next day Katie and I went to play
tennis in the morning and then to the movies in the afternoon to see The Lady in the Van. It was a true and heart-warming
movie about a lady who lived in a van in the driveway of Alan Bennett, a famous
British playwright.
Jessica did the 4km
Melanoma March on Sunday 20th March. I picked up two of her
friends and four dogs. Molly was very uncertain about there being so many other
dogs in her car. She sat in the front, with the others in the back seat and one
in the luggage compartment. I dropped them off in the city and it was funny
watching them set off with a tangle of dog leads and dogs. I was amazed they
made it home again without losing one of them!
On Monday 21st March Katie went for drinks at the
Regatta Hotel with some friends but came home with a stabbing pain on the side
of her stomach. It kept her awake all night. She did manage to play a bit of
tennis on Tuesday morning as well but then was in agony for hours until I made her
a doctor’s appointment for 4pm Tuesday afternoon. After a short consultation
the doctor diagnosed suspected appendicitis and told her to go straight to
hospital! She dropped the car home and caught a taxi to the Wesley Hospital emergency department while
I drove there from work. After an ultrasound they said she would have to have
her appendix removed first thing Wednesday morning. I went home and fed the
kids and came back with Katie’s essentials for an overnight stay. They finally
found her a bed around midnight and she was booked in for surgery at 7am.
Naturally the timing was terrible. Matt was escorting his
friend Candice to her School Formal that evening and Katie had been going to
pick up the corsage, take him to Pre-formal drinks at 4pm and then drive Matt
& Candice to and from the City that night. It was Jessie’s last day of term
and she was going to a sleepover. Unfortunately I couldn’t help as I had a big meeting
in Wide Bay which is a military base four hours’ drive north of Brisbane. The
meeting had been arranged for weeks and there were defence people flying in from
all over Australia so I just couldn’t cancel. I set off at 5.30am, talked to
Katie while I was driving but there was very poor phone reception on the base
so I couldn’t be contacted up there. Meanwhile Katie spent hours texting friends
from her hospital bed arranging lifts for Jessie, lifts for Matt and Candice
and the flowers to be delivered. Lucky we have so many great friends. Things
were further complicated when Matt managed to lock himself out of the house in
the morning and had to get a train to the hospital to collect Katie’s house
keys before she went into surgery. Her surgery was delayed and she eventually
went in at noon and was back in her room by 3pm, just in time to see Carolyn
Biddle who had arrived for a visit. Katie was so pleased to have a visitor. I eventually
arrived at the hospital just in time to eat Katie’s hospital dinner. The day still
wasn’t over as I had to pick Matt & Candice up from the Formal at 10.30pm.
They had had a great time but I was somewhat relieved that they decided not to
go on to the Post Formal.
We were booked on the ferry to Stradbroke Island the next day (Thursday) where we were staying at
Andrew’s family apartment. A few of our friends were also going to be in
Straddie and all the ferries were totally booked up for the Easter weekend, so
Katie was determined not to miss the ferry. I took the morning off work and
Katie texted me a food shopping list and a car packing list and I raced around
and followed instructions. Katie was waiting for the doctor to come and
discharge her but he took so long that she announced to the nurses that she
couldn’t wait and would have to discharge herself as she had a ferry to catch. The
nurses were horrified and a few minutes later the doctor arrived and discharged
her properly with a huge bag of painkillers. I picked Katie shortly afterwards
and we swerved home so that Jessie could pack Katie’s clothes for her and we
were off. We picked Matt up straight after his uni lecture and made it to the
ferry with minutes to spare, Katie still in her long white compression
stockings looking like a hospital escapee.
The next day the kids and I went to the beach and Katie
stayed at the apartment and rested. The other four families arrived during the course
of the next day and most of them were staying in the same Whalewatch apartment
block. We invited them all over for Sundowners at 5pm and Katie held court from
her armchair with a glass of champagne in hand (medicinal purposes). We had
nice drinks and nibbles before everyone left about 7:30pm. That was the recipe
for the next few days – beach with all five families in the morning, lunch at
our own apartments, back to the beach every afternoon for touch football, Sundowners
drinks and nibbles at someone’s apartment, dinner in by ourselves or dinner out
with everyone. Katie spent most of her time at the apartment but was quite
happy as it has lovely sea views and was the perfect place to recuperate. We
were there for six nights in all; it was a fab holiday and a lovely Easter
weekend.
Cheers
Derek, Katie, Matthew, Jessica and Molly.
Australia Day!
Australia Day!
Scholars Assembly
Last Day at BBC.
A Day on the Green with John.
Quiz Evening
Quiz Evening - The Great Gatsby.
Matthew and Candice
A sick Katie.
Straddie
Straddie 2.
Straddie 3.
