Two Drifters

I finished last month’s entry by saying we had 35,000 subscribers to our YourTube channel - https://youtube.com/@weliketocruiseandtravel?si=dWqmjiL2P6n7E3di That number is already over 40,000! Incredible given that we only started in late January. Incredible also because there was really no plan for this channel. When the offer first came in early 2020 for Andrew and I to sell our legal business, he was adamant that we wanted to retire. I was pretty sure that I didn’t. Although the sale was protracted (a Pandemic intervened), he didn’t waver and neither did I. When the new owners of the legal business decided not to offer either of us ongoing work, Andrew was delighted. I was not but I said I’d have a break and do some writing. And see what happened. The first three stories I had published were in an online dog magazine and were unpaid but at least I could then send emails (“pitches” as I now know them to be) and say that I was a published writer and link my work. Go World Travel Maga...

^First stop, the E&O Hotel in Penang Before I start, STOP PRESS!! Our son and daughter-in-law had a gender reveal and the baby IS A GIRL!! I am getting my head around having a granddaughter 😍😍💗 What a busy month July has been! So busy that I am typing this on the plane home from Singapore to Melbourne on the 31st of July! The WiFi isn’t working particularly well so photos may be added later!! Edit – had to post on 1 August as the plane WiFi wasn’t playing ball! We finished June by coming home from Europe for not quite two weeks before we headed off to Asia. We’ll be home for only two weeks before we head off again (!!) but more on that trip next time. We had left Melbourne in mid-May still wearing short sleeves then had seven weeks in Spring and Summer in Europe so coming home to mid-Winter was a shock! Still and all, it was nice to dig out the coats and boots if only for a couple of weeks. We did some family and friend catch ups and waved our second son, N. and fiancée, K, off ...

  Sunset in the Douro Valley We loved the A-ROSA cruise.  The lack of organised excursions (because they were German-speaking) was a blessing in some ways as we were able to use the ship as a floating hotel and do our own thing during the day. The weather was cool and wet a few days in the first week but hot in the second so we spent some time happily lolling on the Sun Deck. Our time in England was terrific. It was wonderful to see M & A and share their excitement at becoming parents. We had a mixed bag of weather – rain and cool in York and Chester but pretty good in Oxford and amazing in London.  We had two stints of a couple of days each in Oxford and did different things to what we did last year. This time, we concentrated on literary topics so we toured the Oxford University Press Museum (free but you need to book ahead online), the Bodleian Library, the Ashmolean Museum (free) and we did a private, literary-focused walking tour. We also wandered through Jericho...

After Easter, we had some work done at home. Double bonus – our concrete floor which was cracked and horrible is now a beautiful oak herringbone pattern and, whilst the work was done and we had no access to our kitchen and laundry, we lived at Rye. I had a special afternoon in early May being a 40 year school reunion. Any girl who went to my old high school, Kildara, to line up with HSC (Year 12) in 1985 was invited. Our school closed in about 1992, sold off for a high rise development so there is no Past Students or Alumni.  We had just over 30 women there. Our HSC year was only 60 odd so I was pretty happy with that turnout. Some women had flown from interstate to be there. Turns out that, so many years later, we were all happy just to be there and see each other. No more cliques, no more “brains” or “cool” girls. Just women who shared formative years together and who were delighted to see each other again.  It was truly lovely. Mid May we headed off on a 7 week trip so ther...