Xmas Day 2021

In time honoured tradition we celebrated Xmas with a long lunch. This year it consisted of eight courses with friends from all over the world, aged from 13 to 70-something.

The theme this year was music and food, so each dish required matching grog and song, which of course go together very well!

Course 1 - Lemon sole with lemongrass butter, by Stuey, with Raidis 2014 Riesling

Music – Think, Aretha Franklin (Sole/Soul Music!)

And this is the table setting as we got stuck into course no 1:-

Course 2 - Beef or Veggie Empenadas, by Camilla and Paulo, with White Rabbit White Ale

Music - Oye como va, Carlos Santana

EDIT PAULO VIDEO

Course 3 - Goulburn trout (or Beetroot Tofu), puff pastry, sushi rice cream, apple and sake jelly, beetroot roe, salted capers. With Toko Junmai Ginjo Genshu (sake), OR Chardonnay Rochford Macedon Ranges Estate 2008, OR Temperance Apple Mojito

Music - Fish on a Bicycle, Humphrey Clucas performed by Katie

Course 4 - Salt crusted pork belly (or Pumpkin) by Peter AND Best Ever Brussels by Richo, with Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay 2016, OR Passing Clouds Macedon pinot noir 2013

Music - Saltwater, Chicane AND Croquembouches (which means Brussel Sprouts in either French or Walloon), Claude Delvincourt

Course 5 - Mango ice cream, blueberry & ginger granita, finger limes by Katie, with Saraceni Blumond Blue Bubbly OR Brown Brothers orange muscat

Music – Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice with pizzicato bass by Katie

Course 6 - Vegetarian Christmas roast with tomato & miso sauce AND Tomato & basil salad AND Beetroot salad by Cory/Naomi AND Duck a la Jamie by Nicky, with Red cocktails - pomegranate gin fizz OR Peter Rumball sparkling shiraz

Music – Red, Taylor Swift AND Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev

Course 7 - Pavlova Anna - Coconut pavlova, tropical fruit salad, passionfruit caramel by Ruthy, with De Bortoli Noble One 2014 OR Pina Colada

Music - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker to be danced in tutu and tights by Ruth and Richo

Course 8 - Cheese by Stuey, with Raidis Coonawarra Cab Sauv 2014, OR Taylors 10 year tawny port, OR Pennyweight muscat

Music – Cheesecake, Louis Armstrong

Xmas 2021

Well where do we start? As inhabitants of the most locked down city in the world, we really haven’t got any news. So how about we just say ‘Merry Xmas love Nicky and Stuart xxxx!!!’?

Actually when we reflect back on 2021 it wasn’t quite that bad. ‘Lockdown 6’ which was the Delta driven one started in Melbourne in mid-July with a ‘7-day snap lockdown’. 11 weeks later we emerged like moles from our burrows. For nearly 4 months we were not able to leave home more than once a day, exercise for more than a couple of hours, travel further than 5km and worst of all for us we couldn’t eat out nor have people come to dinner at our place. As the massive extroverts that we both are, that was pretty shit AND we did not have the additional hassles of trying to manage home schooling. Mind you we did have to put up with each other full time for another year. Of course as you will all appreciate this really was the silver lining for Nic in particular as over the years she’s had to spend many long evenings at home on her own while Stuart’s doing his gigs .. so these past 12 months have been just a joy….NOT!! However to date the marriage remains intact…just😊

Talking of marriage, we did finally get lucky in July and managed (completely legally) to fly to Cairns and take our belated 30^th Wedding anniversary (a year late) holiday in Port Douglas. This was probably our 7^th or 8^th visit to PD having first visited with Nic’s parents in 1997 and while ti’s obviously changed over the years we luv the laid back vibe and variety of wildlife; on land and water. This trip we got really lucky because Lockdown 6 started in Melbourne while we were away and both of us had work cancelled, so our one week holiday suddenly became two. It was bliss as we were able to do lots of swimming, walking, birding, platypus spotting and croc avoiding AND did not have to wear a mask for the entire trip ….oh what luxury!!. To this day FNQ (Far North Qld) have managed to pretty much miss out on CV-19 which was great for us but given their heavy reliance on tourism (and back packer labour) they are doing it particularly tough economically.

In between the various lockdowns Stuart managed to fit in a knee replacement, two opera seasons and a ballet gig in the Tennis Centre but otherwise he’s been ‘on the beach’ for much of the year. In June he performed opening night of a new ballet, Anna Karenina to 75 people – the maximum number allowed at the time - in a hall that can hold 2300!  Obviously this was not economically viable so another season bit the dust. We do remain grateful that unlike many of our musician friends, Stuart’s orchestra has managed to continue to pay its’ members but the lack of live performance has certainly impacted motivation to even get the instrument out of the case let alone practice it. Nic has returned to clinical work at the Royal Children’s Hospital – yes desperate times call for desperate measures!! While she’s maintained her part time position at the hospital as Director of the Melbourne Cleft Service for the last eight years, it’s been a while since she worked in the Dental Department.  However following some staff retirements and a couple of maternity leaves, there was a bit of an experience gap so she’s returned to the coal face and is really enjoying it. She’s been reminded of why she went into paediatric dentistry in the first place … the kids, their families and the amazingly enthusiastic and talented young trainees make it very worthwhile. Having said that the impact of 18 months of lockdowns has put significant pressure on all health services with waiting list blow outs of particular concern.  This coupled with the generally higher levels of anxiety throughout the community affecting both patients and staff, she’s having to draw upon all her ‘oldness’ or, as she prefers to describe it, her ‘wisdom’ to stay calm and support those around her.

One strategy that has really helped us both remain sane (well as near to sane as we are ever likely to get!) has been spending as much time as we’re allowed out and about in our local wildlife spots within our 5km limit. Royal Park is on our doorstep and the birdlife has been astonishing. While Nicky has been hard at work earning the money, Stuart has been busy spending investing it on new technology the results of which you will agree are pretty impressive! The appearance of a Barn Owl (pictured) and a Southern Boobook were star attractions in a long list of birds and right now we are tracking seven Tawny Frogmouth nests, two of which have fluffy chicks. A pair of Collared Sparrowhawks are nesting and the Rainbow Lorikeets are busy boring holes in trees to make nests. And a nesting pair of peregrine falcons produced four chicks, murdering much of the local small bird population to feed them.

One of the obvious disappointments of the pandemic has been our inability to get to the UK to see family and friends. We, like most people, have become quite adept at ‘zoom’ and have connected with both family and friends regularly throughout the year. In January we celebrated Nic’s mum’s 80^th birthday with a ‘zoom’ family party. Needless to say the event was ‘engineered’ within an inch of its’ life by the Kilpatrick sisters, with breakout rooms and remote musical ensembles!  However it was super fun to have all three Fairfax Cholmeley sisters, their partners, children and indeed grandchildren together for an hour albeit 

virtually.

Probably the hardest thing for us this year has been losing our very long serving cat, Wodonga who passed away in April having reached the ripe old age of 20. Not only did he carry us through the 2020 pandemic by completely ignoring it altogether but over the past two decades he survived a return trip to the UK complete with 4 weeks of quarantine, got to meet a few squirrels and learnt how tricky it is to keep all four feet off the snow at once. He only managed it for a very short period of time!

And after an appropriate period of mourning we are now employed as servants to two kittens – Lamorna (black and white, female) and Tingatel (tiger striped, male). We adopted them in late August as 2 month old siblings. They are a lot of fun, naturally they are incredibly musical and have certainly made lockdown much more bearable. Stuart is convinced they will be our ‘last cats’ as he has a certain round number birthday in Feb 2022, and if one of them makes it to 20 then that milestone will align with his 80^th.

So that is about it from ‘down under’ except to genuinely wish you all a lovely Christmas. Stay safe, sane and in touch. We look forward to seeing all of you at some time in the not too distant future be it virtually or hopefully F2F😊

Love Nicky and Stuart

Xmas 2019

Have just looked back at last year’s letter and we started with the words ‘Another year gone. Another Prime Minister dumped in Australia.’ Well I guess perhaps we start this year with ‘Another year gone. Another Prime Minister dumped in the UK’!! What a weird world we live in.

Still time rushes on and like the England sporting teams (think World Cups, the Ashes etc) we’ve had another ‘electric’ year😊 It started and has continued with friends and fun as we were joined for both Christmas and NY by one of Nic’s oldest mates from dental school, Deb and her boys; Jason, Frankie and Sony. This is the 2^nd time they’ve been out for Christmas and this time we travelled to Sydney to stay with another of the old ‘lesbos’ from B’ham, Deb Cockrell (aka Cockie). 

Stuart has been mega busy this year in the Opera/Ballet orchestra. While the bulk of his time is taken up with big stuff such as Nutcracker, Turandot, etc he’s really enjoyed the opportunity to do a lot of chamber music including really lovely stuff like the ‘Trout’ and the Beethoven Septet.  As he says, ‘it’s a privilege particularly as a bass player to be able to do chamber music AND to get paid for it!” He’s also acquired several young bass students and is really enjoying the challenge as well as the rewards of teaching these keen youngsters. However his teaching skills have also been tested this year when Nic’s cousin Dougie came to stay… think there’s a few technical issues to address here! One of the highlights was a concert with Bryn Terfel in Sydney Opera House. He walked off stage past Stuart and said, “not bad for a farmer’s boy!”

Nic continues to develop a very varied professional portfolio, which still includes running the cleft lip and palate service at the Children’s Hospital here in Melbourne and providing academic teaching and leadership at Plymouth University.  She’s also been thrilled to see four of her students successfully complete their PhD’s this year which is a fantastic achievement. On top of this, her coaching business has continued to grow with a steady stream of individual clients both in Australia and overseas. She has also found herself increasingly being sought after to advise and facilitate ‘in-house’ mentoring programs in both the healthcare and academic sectors. While challenging as almost every ‘gig’ throws up something new, she’s really loving the opportunity to contribute to the development of more collegial environments. Nic has always been about the patients /the staff/her students/her team and this work aligns well with her mantra  - ‘patients get better care if those providing that care are supported to be their best’.

Like last year,  between us we’ve made three trips back to the UK. Stuart’s dad, Graham has not been well suffering a series of falls resulting in hospitalization. The good news is that he’s recently had a pacemaker fitted and is feeling much better. However he has finally (and sensibly) decided to sell his car - which is of course a big decision with obvious lifestyle ramifications. He (and we) are very fortunate that Stuart’s cousin Darren lives locally and has been fantastically supportive.

Nic also spent quite abit of time during her two UK trips in Manchester with both Stuart’s dad and his mum, Nor. While Nor has made a wonderful recovery from the stroke she had in 2018 she suffers badly from back pain which makes sleeping and mobility both tricky. Nic particularly enjoyed catching up with Mo, Jon, V and Ewan on her last trip to M’ter  – can’t recall the last time the three ‘olive shoots’ were all in the same place at the same time.

But the most important ‘family’ news is that Wodonga is still alive. He will be 19 as you read these words.

It may not surprise you to hear that we’ve not really had much in the way of a holiday together this year. We did manage to grab a few days in early August in Darwin. It was 10 years ago almost to the day that we were last there – on our infamous ‘big lap’ adventure. Sadly this time we only had 4 days and while Kakadu remains a truly amazing place Prof ‘Crocodile’ Kilpatrick spent most of the time bemoaning not being able to sleep under the stars as we had done 10 years ago.  Nevertheless the land, the light and the wildlife were wonderful.

And so finally to the ‘BIG’ news of the year … in October we finally bit the bullet and went out and bought another tent! My how tent technology has moved on – this one has inflatable poles and allegedly takes ‘only 7 minutes to erect’! Mind you there is a bit of learning curve which was evident when, after watching us for nearly an hour and a half, a couple of ‘grey nomads’ approached us and asked ‘how many times have you put that tent up?’  Still 3 nights later it was going up in less than 15 minutes and we remained snug as bugs throughout the night despite the near zero temperatures at night at the top of the Great Alpine Road. Guess who was kicked out to make the tea??

So 2020 is going to see us hit the outback, complete with Stuart’s by now massive collection of camera equipment, and track down yet more new birds to add to our growing list of sightings! In the meantime we hope that 2019 has been kind to you all and that 2020 will be even more so. Please do stay in touch, send us your news or even better send yourselves (or your children as many of you already have done) over to stay with us. We love having visitors as it gives us an excuse to show off Melbourne, Victoria and indeed Australia.

With much love N&S

Xmas Day 2018

Xmas Day 2018 was held at 82 Story St and in time honoured tradition it was a big, long, degustation lunch, shared with wonderful people.

Attendees and honourable mentions:-

Karen and Anthony - table decorations, and spectacular they were too

Debbo, Jason, Sonny - darts and general chaos

Frankie - wine waiter and for one currently underage, a career beckons

Ruthy - course 7

Richo - courses 2-4

Katie - course 5 and double bass recital

Nicky - course 6

Stuey - photographer and video stuff-up-er-er. Oh, and occasional darts and boules legend

Course 1 - Ceviche

Course 2 - Sripelle ‘Mtasse

Course 3 - Wagyu tartare, mojama

Course 4 - Turkey Drunk on Armagnac

Course 5 - West Australian Kangaroo & Quandong Damper Sliders

Course 6 - Pollo en pepitoria & Cabrito al horno

Course 7 - Banbury Cakes

Eating activities were punctuated with hi impact sports - darts and boules. Playing standards dropped with each course.....and accompanying drinks!

Xmas 2018

Another year gone. Another Prime Minister dumped in Australia. Another Xmas coming up which means another year summary from us.

We are writing these words at Cape Paterson, where it was 34 degrees in early December. Nicky still hasn’t been in the sea yet, but it is freezing. It’s fascinating to start to receive news from our family and friends in the UK. And some of our vintage have retired or are thinking of doing so. A sign we are getting old!

It’s been another year of work, house renovations, trips away and visitors for us in Melbourne.

Nicky continues as a ‘one woman band’ with a range of income streams including academia, Director of Cleft, coaching and mentoring.

Last year the shock news was that Stuart had a job – this year’s shock is that he still has it! It’s been a busy year at Orchestra Victoria, ending with a season of Wagner’s 6.5 hour epic Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. For an amusing take on life on the pit, click here. The band had a tour to Canberra in May – many Auzzies bag the Federal capital, but it is actually fantastic.

Our first full year in our Story St house was all about the next phase of our renovation plans. We converted a lightwell to a loo/laundry and now have a posh bedroom plus en suite upstairs.

Wodonga is still alive at the ripe old age of 18. Like Stuey, his grumpiness is proportional to his age.

Both of us visited the UK in 2018. Stuey went for 7 days in May to visit his folks, as mum Nora had a stroke in Feb. She has made an amazing recovery – they make ‘em tough up North. Nicky made her two work/family trips and acted as a double bass bow mule! One of the highlights of her August trip was Mo and Steve’s wedding, and catching up with Arturo, Naimh and Felix.

2018 was the first year in a while that we didn’t go to Port Douglas. Instead our holiday was a birdwatching loop into NSW and ACT, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Canberra, Batemans Bay, South down the coast, and headed thro Gippsland back home. One highlight was a boat trip to Montague Island just when the hump backed whales were migrating South after calving further North. At one point three of them almost climbed into the boat! One thing we learnt being so close to these wonderful creatures – they stink when they blow water into the air. OMG, they stink. Stuey didn’t know whether to cover the camera lens or his nose.

It was another year full of visitors. Xmas Day 2017 saw 16 round the table, er tables. Many courses, great wines, stimulating conversation and petanque – a good game after a few bottles of grog. Bob and Liz were over from Bristol – we almost had a Canynge Road reunion with Rachael, Paul, Jazzie and Angus, our neighbours in Bristol. We did the usual pilgrimage to the MCG for the Ashes test - this year it will be India who are currently doing very well in Adelaide in the first test.

Although it was wonderful to meet Erin Calder, her visit marked an ominous milestone for us – at first our friends came to visit, then some with kids, then the kids came alone and Erin was the first grandkid to come and stay. Her Grandad Mike was one of Stuart’s first bass teachers and a huge influence. Erin was cool. But this was another milestone in our aging.

Jazzie Wilson returned, without parents, after a spell in NZ.

Hilary and Stormin Norman returned to Melbourne.

Amelie Schrape came to stay, all the way from Wonthaggi. Her trip was part of a school initiative for country kids to get used to life in the ‘Big City’.

Nic went to Sydney to catch up with Justin, Clare and the kids.

And finally Nick and Sally Beach came to stay. Nick and Nicky were half of the Lamorna string quartet many decades ago, and the photo proves, the music is still flowing though it was the only time the viola came out in 2018!

Kangaroos at Cape Paterson

Roo and joey

Boxing Roos

Sometimes we nip to the EcoVillage at the West end of Cape Paterson to check out the sunset and the roos. Today was eventful!!

Xmas 2017

Yet another year rolls by and at the time of writing this England have just been thrashed in the first Ashes test at the Gabba. We have been here long enough to have witnessed that a few times. However we remain confident of clawing our way to series win!

2017 been a great year for us, if a little busy – so what’s new hey?! The biggest news is that we’ve finally moved back into Parkville. We were very happy in Gatehouse St for 11 years, sold it in 2010 to move to the UK and it’s taken eight years to return but we’re back! Australia is preoccupied with housing – the recent property boom has been crazy, resulting a very high prices, to the point that the youth of today fear they will never be able to buy where they would like to live.

Our new place is very similar to Gatehouse St and it has been amusing to see the reaction of our UK visitors and those Auzzie friends who visited us Bristol who comment on the fact that all our properties end up looking the same; with our furniture and general messiness.

Wodonga is delighted to return to Parkville. He actually dealt with the smell of doggy urine that greeted us on arrival much better than did his ‘human staff’!. Our first 48 hours were spent ripping up ‘wet’ carpets. Nice. As to Woody, well he is now 17 and going well for his age though losing some of the sharpness he once had. Bit like us really.

Our first renovation job was to turn the ‘shed’ in the back yard into a small hotel style bedroom plus bathroom. It’s on AirBNB (see www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/20217427) and proving to be very popular with university academics, visiting medics as well as student looking to leave home for a night of passion close to Melbourne Uni. 2018 will see further, much less exciting but no less necessary, building projects such as installation of new plumbing and maybe a couple of new toilets!! Another sign of aging perhaps.

Nicky has even more jobs than this time last year. She made two trips to the UK to work at Plymouth Uni and to see family and friends. She is still Director of Cleft Services at the Children’s, as well as holding a research fellow position at the MCRI. And if that wasn’t enough she is now an accredited executive coach! A skill which she seems to feel the need to practice regularly on Stuart – much to his irritation!

The more shocking news is that Stuart is officially employed – shock and indeed horror! After only 2 years and 9 months he finally became principal double bass with Orchestra Victoria. Watch up for his memoirs – it will all be in there! The job started in July and has been busy and interesting since then. In November he took part in the inaugural Melbourne Conservatorium of Music bass day involving 200 participants – can you imagine? Unfortunately for Nic, she didn’t have to imagine, she had to suffer it!!!

Our chamber group, the one Stuart likes to call ‘Kammermusik’ but the rest of us still call ‘Parkville Ensemble’ has done a couple of concerts this year including participating in the first Melbourne Warehouse Music Festival (https://www.facebook.com/MelbWarehouseFest/).

We have slipped into a quiet holiday pattern in recent years which had us popping back to far North Queensland (Port Douglas) in June. It’s cold and wintery in Melbourne at that time of year, but beautiful at the top end, so is very popular. We went on another great birding day with local guru Del Richards which allowed Stuart to indulge in his obsessive nerdy birdy photography (www.yooying.com/bassbirddude ). We are now approaching our next holiday back to Fitzgerald, our lovely beach house in Gippsland in December. It’s a crazy time of year where everyone wants you to finish bits of work, or catch up socially. So we bugger off to the beach just before Xmas.

And 2017 was a great year for visitors. We have a new large house with spare rooms so do come ‘down under’ and visit. First were Mo and Steve who left the UK and Ireland for some sun over Xmas. Xmas Day itself was stinking hot, well over 30, we were camped indoors, except for a few crazy Brits sunbaking outside. Poor Steve had to suffer lots of jokes about large spiders, then came face to face with one in his bedroom! Next came Niamh and Arthur, who created their own new visitor while in Australia with baby Felix arriving in September.

Caitie Gardner turned up for a few weeks in the middle of the year. We had never met Caitie before but not only was she charming but she was also very good a making beds thanks to her experience as a ‘chalet chick’! We caught up again with her in Port Douglas just before she left to return to the UK.

Long time friends, Mike and Catherine Aldren finally made it down under for a huge trip that included Darwin, Port Douglas then the cold of Melbourne before taking the interesting inland road to Sydney. This is a photo of Nicky with M and C on the beach at Port Douglas taking on an iPhone on a moving bike!

Deanie and Pete returned to Oz to attend Katharine Plows and David’s wedding in October. It was a wonderful day and great to spend quality time with the Plows family once more. D & P had another amazing trip which included the Singapore Grand Prix. Pete was quite restrained and only took around 10,000 photos!

Our ‘frenants’ (aka friends who have been tenants), Lisa and Scott, continue to work their way around the world by returning to Oz a second time. We first met them in Bristol in 2012 when they rented Canynge Road from us. They then turned up in Australia in 2015 only to return again this year via some time in Spain. They are now relocated to London – which made us wonder if they are really trying to avoid the US President – which is not only understandable but also turns out to be true!

And as we approach December we are looking forward to more Canynge Road reunions with the Melville-Thomas clan (from No 4) staying for a few days followed by Bob and Liz (from No 2) over Xmas which course will be accompanied by the obligatory trip to the Boxing Day Ashes test at the MCG.

In the meantime, we both wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year period. Please stay safe, well and in touch.  N&S (and of course Woody!!).