The last few months of 08 were pretty ordinary. Nothing special happened and we just go on with life.

John settled in to working from 5pm to 11.30pm. He had been given a regular shift cleaning the admin offices at the hospital. Apparently being a patient support officer didn't guarantee that you ever see patients. He has put in for a few other jobs with Qld Health and hopefully he will get something different. However he has become quite an adept cleaner and now picks me up on things that I miss. However as I "don't do domestic" I just blame the cleaners.

My work has been just the same - no real pressure, just constant and ongoing. I actually like the job I am doing and look forward to work. The people I work with are great and there is no negatives in my work life at the moment. I don't like the hours John is keeping and would like that we saw each other a little more. We had recently commenced going to the movies on Tuesdays and doing stuff - all that went by the wayside when John started the evening shifts.

My legs are  still giving me problems and after 3 years of doing laps I got a bit sick of swimming so have opted for aqua aerobics which, at first, crippled me. After a couple of goes I found it was quite good for me and I thoroughly enjoy it - I go when John is at work or asleep about 3 times a week when I can. The storms in the evenings in October and November has played havoc with the night sessions but things seem to have settled down now and we dont have as many evening storms. My doctor has issued me a certificate for disabled parking so that I can get a parking spot under the building at work - the building presents major difficulties when leaving as there is no way you can get out without walking downhill or down stairs and I have major problems walking down either, especially when tired.

Bron (from work) and I went to see Turandot at QPAC and had a great nite - however we both decided that we prefer musical comedies. I was disappointed that the Nessum Dormo song didn't seem to last very long. There were subtitles over the stage and a lesson in the opera just before the show and there was lots to read up on before we went so we were well prepared.

John, Kim, Alana, Chris & I went to Jupiter's Casino for the ABBA Mania show - which would have been fine if we paid $20 at the local club but at $135 for dinner and the show it was a bit of a rip off. We had a good nite anyway but I wouldn't pay for a show at the casino again - the last one we went to was paid for by FlyBuys and it was OK - I wont use my hard earned money to pay for one though.

In November Deb came up and met with her friend Jamie - that weekend we had a doozie of a storm. 120kph winds - lost a shade sail, the umbrella stand broke and my car got hit with a couple of unidentified missiles - the shade sail is now with the manufacturers and hopefully they will replace it - but as it probably isn't rated for 120kph winds maybe they wont. I didn't bother claiming as 1000's of people in Brisbane sustained real major damage that will take years to overcome. Some of the people have been told that the damage will take months to fix. Makes our minor damage fade into oblivion. We lost power for 6-8 hours but did not suffer anywhere near what others did. We played Jenga by torchlight to fill in the time.

In December Evan and Sarah moved to Kaniva in Victoria to live and so they wouldn't be around for Xmas. Things did not go well with the move and the work they had been promised did not eventuate however Evan has since landed work and things are looking up - they now have the keys to a house and plan to move in this week (12 Jan). Evan is working in a timber yard and Sarah is still searching for work - hopefully once they move to Horsham, from where they are in Kaniva, work will fall into place.

Pat is in Airlie Beach and worked over Xmas - Katie's mum flew them to Shellharbour on 2 January but he is now back in Airlie and at work again.

Several things came together and we decided to spend Xmas in Sydney with Mum and Mike.

We were a little late with our Xmas newsletter and had to post it on the way to Sydney - thank god for all the people with emails. Kirrily from down the road promised to look after the house and clear the mail in the letterbox.  The kids were given the OK to use the pool.

In Sept Val and Alan from UK boarded a bus in London and headed out to Australia - we had a few emails and Val said they would like to come to Sydney for Xmas with mum so John and I headed off on the Sunday - quite late due to the hours John has been used to keeping while working the shifts he has been doing. We made it to Woodburn by teatime where we had a great steak at the pub and found a B&B at Ulmarra.

Monday morning, after a really good night's sleep and beautiful breakfast we headed off to Coffs Harbour to see Sis & Johnny Castle at the carnival at the Jetty. However by midday I pointed out to John if we didn't get moving we would never make it to Sydney. Monday nite we arrived at Alan and Sue Hird's place where we stayed for 2 nites.

Tuesday we met up with Mum, Val and Alan. We headed up to Mt Toomah Botanic Gardens and over to Mt York to view the convict track down the back of the blue mountains - we arrived back at Alan and Sue's a little late for dinner but had a good day out. It was Alan's birthday and the whole family was there for tea.

Wednesday we went shopping for Xmas lunch and John and I went to Jo's for the nite - the house was choc-a-bloc with Jo, Raymond, Matthew, Jess, John and I but we had a great Xmas breakfast on Thursday. John and Jo cooked and I really appreciated not having to organise it - Jo took it all in her stride and the table was beautifully set and brekkie was great.

John and I set off to Mum's and we all headed down to Mike's for lunch - on arrival Mike had the outside area set up and al Val and I had to do was whip up a salad and serve out the food we had purchased. John did the honours with the BBQ and we all had a great time with the chocolate dipping sauce that came with Cheryl's hamper she had arranged for us.

I spent the next couple of days at mum's and John stayed with Jo. On Saturday we went to visit Judy and Nicole and then on to Chris and Kerrie's at Campbelltown. We stayed the nite at Campbelltown and moved onto Arthur's for the next day. Had lunch at Geroa Boat Fisherman's club and stayed the nite. We ordered pizza in for tea and just had a quiet nite at home. Next day we headed off to Ruth and Phil's at Stanwell Park - promising to return the following week when John went to Thirroul for the family picnic.

On Tuesday nite Jo had us all over for a BBQ with the kids which was great. We finished up quite late and poor Raymond was trying to sleep so he could go to work.

On Wednesday we headed off with Val and Alan to Mike's to see the fireworks at Sydney Harbour - as it was so hot and the Kombi doesn't cope well with the heat John and I led Alan down the Great Western Highway to Rosehill, left to Victoria Road and onto Burns Bay Road - avoiding the motorways which required 100kph. It was the spookiest trip we had ever done - there was only ever about 6 cars travelling along at any one time - apart from Parramatta area and Gladesville where the traffic was pretty normal. We had never seen so little traffic on such major roads. As we drove thru Parramatta the outside temp hit 37C. However as we arrived at Gladesville/Hunters Hill the temp dropped to 28C in no time at all. Alan said that the Kombi was giving him some concern until we got to Gladesville but once near the harbour there was a visible drop in the oil temp and he knew it would be ok.

We had a BBQ with Mike and headed off about 8pm to find a parking spot within walking distance of Greenwich Point - without too much trouble we found a spot and had a short walk to a vantage spot. After the 9pm fireworks we had 3 hours to fill in - and the midnight fireworks were well worth the wait.

Next day, after a great bacon and eggs breakfast from the BBQ, we headed off to Lane Cove River Park where Alan rowed Val and I in a rowboat. We then called into Macquarie Park Cemetery so I could see if I could find my great grandparents' grave and take a photo. After dropping off Val and Alan at Mike's John and I headed back to Penrith. Val and Alan were to set off and see the north of Sydney while they filled in time till the VW place at Penrith opened on 9 January.

On Sunday John and Jess headed off to Thirroul for the yearly get together with his family - I spent the day with Ruth and Phil - mum came down for a run and as usual Ruth served a great lunch. John learnt never to trust a teenager to put blockout on - the hard way - poor Jess was red as a lobster at the end of the day.

On Monday Jo headed off to our house and we also took off heading towards home - John and I met up with Val and Alan at Morrisett and stayed overnite at the Lake Macquarie Caravan Park. The next day we headed off to Newcastle to visit Deb, who had Karl visiting from WA, we had lunch at the pub outside the tax office and then headed off again - we got as far as Macksville where we stayed overnite - then onto Maclean to stay at Bob & Ree's place. We missed Angela and her new baby, Anthony, but caught Ladina, Liam, Tara and Ladina's partner. Anthony and Bob left early Thursday morning to head back to Blackwater. Ree was staying down for a couple of months before heading back to the heat in Blackwater.

On our trip home this time we went via Windsor, Wiseman's Ferry, Peats Ridge, Morrisset, Newcastle, then headed west just as we got to Coffs harbour and went thru Nana Glen (missed Russel Crowe) and Grafton which was a great trip - one I had been hoping to do for years and finally did.  We also did a diversion via South West Rocks and a few other places - just driving and taking our time - looking around at the places we zoom past on a regular basis and cursing we hadnt taken the tent.

We arrived home on Thursday and had 2 nites with Jo before she headed off home. We then have a nice week of doing nothing before we have to go back to work. John had a recurring problem return and he has a problem with a disc in his back. He spent the first few days at home flat on his back. He is slowly recovering and we are just doing nothing for a few days.