Vicki went up to the Central Coast to spend 2 weeks with her friend Janet, who used to live next door to us. Sadly, this holiday was cut short after Janet's son Nicholas took ill and tragically died from the Meningicoccal Virus. A sad time for everyone who knew this jolly 5 year old. Vicki, to her credit stayed with Janet throughout her ordeal and was by her side to offer support until after the funeral.
January also found me enjoying the Live Cricket on PayTV as England defeated The Proteas on their tour of South Africa. Better was to come later in the year as England defeated Australia in the Ashes to win their first series over Australia in 18 years. Some very late nights were enjoyed in front of the TV.
Work was busy as usual in January with the summer tourist season. The regular bar staff of myself, Paul & Dennis worked pretty well together throughout the year. We said farewell to Melanie and Colin just before the end of May and the 3 of us handled the winter roster between us, but as business became busier in late Spring we welcomed Mick and Virginnia to the team. At around the same time I was given a minor promotion at the club - a position where I am responsible for the closing and lock-up of the club for 6 nights a week. In late December we were shattered by the untimely death of Club Manager Jon from cancer. Jon was the founding father of the club. It was his dream to make the club one of the best in town and he put a lot of hard work into getting us to where we are today. Jon was a good boss who always believed in giving his staff a fair go. Our aim is to continue Jon's dream. He will be sadly missed.
One night we all look forward to at work is Tuesday, and Trivia night. New Director, Lee, took over the Trivia Master's position in September and the fun really started. Lee has a humourous habit of mispronouncing certain words which everyone jumps on with glee. During 2005 and into 2006 we have come to calling Lee "Gerri-Nemo" after he mispronounced the name of the indian warrior Geronimo. This led to a regular event on Tuesday nights where I get up on the microphone and introduce "Gerri-Nemo" the Quiz Master prior to each trivia night, something that the regular players have come to look forward to every week.
February saw me joining the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers for a kayaking trip on the Shoalhaven River. 2005 was not the most active of outdoors activities for me. A number of problems forced me to cancel or postpone many hikes and Kayaking trips though 2 highlights from the year included my trip to Tasmania to walk the Overland Track (a 10 year dream in the making) and an excellent 2 day hike in the Budawangs with the Bushwalking club. A full review of my outdoors activities can be found in my 2005 Xmas Email on the Wombats section of my website. Click on the link below to view the report. Also you can click on the link to read my report of the Overland Track trip in Tasmania, along with a good selection of photographs, by clicking the link below that.
2005 was one year I'd rather forget as far as my car goes. It seemed that every month I was putting the car in for repairs of some kind. April saw a complete overhaul of the cooling system. This was followed by 2 rebuilds of the carburettor, a complete brake overhaul, a dirty fuel problem and repairs to the drive shaft. This had to be expected of a car that was almost 12 years old. Matters were not helped by 2 collisions with kangaroos during my travelling to work. In May I had a minor collision with a kangaroo which thankfully didn't do too much damage to the car, but in November, whilst travelling home in the dark I hit another kangaroo which caused major damage to the front of the car, necessitating major smash repairs. Thankfully I was covered by insurance and the repairs done by the Smash Repairer were most satisfactory. In 28 years of driving I had never hit a kangaroo. In 2005 I hit 2 and had 3 near misses. Oh, and both kangaroos survived the impacts.
Vicki continued her driving lessons in 2005 and has made great progress. In fact her driving instructor has informed her that she will be ready to take her driving test in February 2006. During late 2005 I took Vicki out myself for a couple of lessons, one of them a long drive in wet conditions.
Jenny had a horrific year health wise. The worst being the severe burn she received on her leg after she spilt a very hot cup of tea. The burn too several weeks to heal and was very painful for Jenny. No sooner had she got over the bad burn that Jenny tripped over the dog one night in the dark and badly sprained her wrist, another injury that took several weeks to heal. It's hoped Jenny will have an injury free 2006 as she's become quite accident prone of late.
In 2005, thanks to the internet, I was able to contact and reaquaint myself with a couple of old friends who I am now in regular contact with. The first is an old schoolfriend, Brian, who now lives on the mid north coast of NSW. The other is an old workmate from the Department Of Health in Parramatta (during the 1980's) Lyn, who now lives in Queensland. I have continued my email contact with Chris in England and John in America, and of course, with both these 2, the talk is always popular music. I also continued with my email contact with old schoolfriend Phil, who is one of my most regular senders of email humour. 2005 also saw a major event with my best mate Gary finally taking the plunge and buying a computer and getting online. The once a week net chat with Gary is always a riot.
In June I was presented with a badge for 10 years membership of the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers. The 10 year service badge being a new innovation by the club. This was just prior to the club's 30th anniversary event which was a tremendous day and a chance to mingle with some past club members as well as some familiar faces. In August I was elected to the Club's committee for the first time. Both this position and the 10 year badge I look on with pride.
2005 also saw me finally complete the British Music Chart Database after 8 years work. The database lists every song that has made the British Top 40 music charts since 1952. A job I thought I'd never finish.
Sadly 2005 saw me unable to play tennis. A combination of back and knee problems forced me to take a lengthy break from the game, but once I felt I was ready to make a return to the tennis courts a change in my work roster found me unable to play as I was working the nights the tennis club holds competitions. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to play some tennis in 2006.
Vicki turned 18 years old in October. We celebrated the event at the Sussex Inlet Sailfish Club where we had a reasonable turn-out of friends and family. Vicki certainly had a great night. The birthday cake was worth the attendance alone.
My sporting teams did not have the best of 2005 (unless you include the England Cricket Team). Though the Sydney Swans did win the AFL Grand Final for the first time since 1933. Much celebrating was done in my house the day they broke through for a magnificent Premiership win. Manchester City made a big improvement to finish 8th in the English Premier League at the end of the 2004/05 season. I have high hopes for their improvement this season. The Penrith Panthers left their run too late to make the NRL Finals series, though they had a number of great wins towards the end of the season and missed out on the play-off by a short margin. The new Australian football (Sccer) season commenced in late 2005 and both Jenny and I decided to follow the fortunes of the Central Coast Mariners who are having quite a good season, in this the first season of the Hyundai A-League.
December saw the annual family reunion of Jenny's family at her brother Jeff's place at Oakdale, south west of Sydney on Christmas day. A great day was had by all and Vicki was invited to stay with Jeff and his family for a week. Christmas for us was considered a non-event, sadly, the constant repairs to the car and the excess on the insurance after the 2nd collision with the kangaroo used up all our christmas savings, so we had a rather present free festive season.
Overall, 2005 will not be looked at with the fondest of
memories. The highlight of the year would definitely have to be my 8 days
in Tasmania in March. I certainly hope 2006 will see improved times for
us, we will certainly be prepared for the worst. 2005 certainly saw to
that.