Letter to Ivor

Hi there Ivor

Glad I found you!!  I had you down as ivor@nedcor.com and kept getting undeliverables!!

There’s no outrageous news to report – so don’t get too excited…  No lotteries won or kiddies on the way!   But I have been thinking of you and remembering some of the good old times, so I thought I must give you a shout and say hi - and let you know what we’re up to…

I assume by your email address that you are still at Nedcor – hope it’s treating you well.  Hope also that your other half is well – please give her a hug from me.  Is she still teaching?  Last time I spoke to you (seems, oh so long ago!) you were really enjoying your church and doing lots of hiking and camping.  Are you still enjoying lots of great outdoors stuff?  That’s what I miss most here…

Ally and I often think about you guys – and wonder how you are doing.  We miss you a lot.  Especially the great laughs we always had.  The two little waves amplifying into a tidal monster!!!   You are always at the forefront of thoughts of sunny South Africa.

I’m glad to say we are enjoying UK life at the moment.  I’m working for Volvo in Cambridge and we’re loving country life – such a relief to be out of London!  We have a little apartment right next to the botanical gardens with birds coming to our balcony to feed (great tits and blue tits, though only the feathered kinds!) and lots of greenery to look onto.

Ally is still working in London and spending a few nights a week there with her sister, then commuting here the other days, but she has happily resigned and will move up here permanently in a month or so.  There are plenty of jobs up here in her field.

We’ve been accepted into Australia (applied as a bit of a lark and were amazed to get accepted within a year) so the plan is to continue working here till the end of the year, then backpack around South America (my life long dream), then settle down somewhere in Australia and give it a try.   We went to Western Australia in Feb to sign some papers and have a nose around – and really enjoyed it.  I’m still a bit torn between Australia and SA…  Hard decisions…

Ally and I are making the most of our last year here by doing lots of fun things on weekends.  We’ve visited all the nature reserves in the area, and off to Prague at the end of the week, so life is pretty fun.  I’m also traveling a lot on work which I enjoy.  Went to the US and Brazil last year, but this year it’s mostly Europe.

I’ve rekindled some of my old passions too.  My birding is back - I’m on my life quest to see 1000 birds.  I’m languishing at just over 600 and Europe is not a great place to up that much but South America should be a dream come true in the feathered department.  Should be lots of twitching ahead!  I’m also on a quest to see the 250 top IMDB rated movies of all time (see  http://www.imdb.com/top_250_films ) and have taken up geocaching (check out www.geocaching.com – I think you would love it too!!) and rollerblading.  So lots on the go – it’s great to finally have work where it should be, rather than something that’s taking over my life.

Well that’s all our news for now.  As you can see, life has sure improved since my long spell of unemployment.  Great to be on the up again...  It sounded from your email like it was unlikely you would be coming to UK in near future .  If you change your mind, know that you always have a place to stay – we have a spare room here and would so love to have you both to stay!!.  Otherwise we’ll definitely see you as we pass through SA next.  Maybe you guys could come for a holiday in Australia?  You’ll always have a place to stay there too.  Any chance I can find for two little waves to do some amplifying!!!

I hope you guys are well.  We miss you both very much.  Let us know how you are getting on