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