Well – what a year it has been! As usual it is hard to believe that it is time to write a Christmas Newsletter…how quickly 2005 has come and gone!
This year the Renshaw family has regularly been scattered across the globe! Two or three months ago Kevin was in the United Arab Emirates, Sue in Hong Kong, Sophie in the UK, Tom and Aiden in Melbourne, Dan in the Victorian Alps and Matty in New South Wales – we couldn’t have been much further apart!
Kevin, Sue, Dan and Sophie started the year in Devon in the UK where we saw the New Year in, watching “The Phantom of the Opera” at the cinema or, in Dan’s case somewhere on the South Coast. He, John, Ella and Craig had spent hours making Incredibles’ costumes for a fancy dress affair. As it turned out, the excitement was in the making – they never put them on except to see if they fitted – but the photos are good – have a look at them on the website…
Kevin and I returned to Hong Kong straight after New Year and Dan joined us after a few days in London and then Amsterdam. He had finished his degree in December and since then has spent a year travelling, taking casual jobs, snowboarding and generally enjoying himself. Hopefully his permanent residency of Australia will come through fairly soon and then he can think about getting a “proper job”!
January found Sophie back at Keele Uni (Staffordshire) where she continues to study biochemistry and forensic science. She has recently started her second year and was very excited to move into a student house in Stoke with a couple of friends. Holidays she goes ‘home’ to Grandma and Grandad’s!
Dan had only just returned to Melbourne when he flew back to Hong Kong in March, this time with Matt. They needed to be ‘off-shore’ to obtain new visas to stay in Australia – their student visas were expiring. They enjoyed the sightseeing and the markets and went back with much heavier suitcases than they arrived with!
Tom did the same thing in June when he came to stay! His trip was in order to be off-shore while his permanent residency came through. He was sponsored by his work and as a permanent resident he can now sponsor Dan and Matt for their permanent residencies. The applications were submitted in June/July. Now we are all keeping our fingers crossed that they will come through soon. The lawyers have probably welcomed the 2 years of work but Kevin and Sue will be ready to break open the champagne once the residencies come through. When we left Australia we never imagined it could take this long.
During Tom’s visit Kevin took part in the dragon boat racing again in Discovery Bay. Hot sweaty and hard work but great fun…
Tom is still working for the taxi firm where he started as an apprentice mechanic from school – however he now has an apprentice! He also enjoys sailing whenever he can and of course has Aiden part of each week. He wonders whether Andrew will be up for a holiday sail when we plan to be in the UK this Christmas!
Matt finished his course and seems to have a very exciting time working in the Outdoor education field… He has just finished a stint up in New South Wales and is returning to Melbourne (where Nikki, his girlfriend of the last two years lives) for a 4 week placement, leading up to Christmas. He has been seeing some of the country in between work, driving many k’s in his ute. Recently he has been surfing in Sydney, Kayaking at the whitewater stadium in Penrith (where the Olympics were held), and rogaining in Canberra (real orienteering)…
In the meantime…Sue was taken on full-time by Faust in April – so as well as the tutoring that she had been doing for them since the previous October she now works in the office doing admin, with the impressive title “Educational Services Manager”.
For the first half of the year, Kevin continued to work in Hong Kong with Hyder – this involved several interesting trips into China…However in June he was offered a move to Al Ain (An hour an a half from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE). After much deliberation, a trip to Al Ain for Sue and Kevin to see the place, and much discussion on where the job in Hong Kong was going – he decided to take the job in Al Ain. However not everything was finished in Hong Kong so the idea was to still spend some time here – and anyway Sue’s job was not that easy to leave…
In August Sue and Kevin both went to the UK for a summer holiday – Sue from HK, Kevin from the UAE. They met up with arrival times within half an hour of each other at Heathrow! Kevin, Sue and Sophie had the usual holiday on Anglesey doing the Straits regattas, with lots of family and old friends. The time in the UK was a little complicated as both Kevin’s parents ended up in hospital in Derby. We changed plans so that we could hospital visit, staying with Sue’s Mum and Dad. Sophie had asked for time off from her holiday job behind the bar at the Navigation, but even though we were back in the area she couldn’t be persuaded to give the landlord a ring!
Eventually it was time to return to work – and Hong Kong for Sue; Al Ain for Kevin. This was after spending time with Bill and Hilary on the way to Heathrow. However, although Kevin flew off with no problems, Sue was caught up in the BA debacle and was delayed for 3 days. Luckily she could go back and spend more time with Bill and Hilary, but it meant that she was late for work and late to meet friends from Melbourne, Liz and Gary, who had come to Hong Kong for a short holiday !! However, it was good to see them when Sue did get back – and have some excellent meals out each evening! It was also good earlier in the year to catch up with John and Angela from Macclesfield and then later Chris and Lorraine who were on their honeymoon, but still found time to join us for a night at the races…
Kevin came back to Hong Kong towards the end of August for a week or so – to work – but also to organise moving out of Peaceful Mansion. We decided to send all the goods and chattels to Al Ain while Sue moved to a furnished apartment in the Hong Kong Gold Coast, with the intention of joining Kevin in the New Year. The worldly goods have now arrived in the house in Oman (Al Ain straddles the border) – which Kevin leased in September. The apartment in the Gold Coast is very similar to the one we left – a lovely view, if not quite as good as the previous one. The journey to Central is now by bus rather than ferry but it’s OK. The house in Al Ain (actually in Buraimi) is a typical local villa, concrete and block construction, flat roof, single storey.
The next major excursion for Sue was a trip to Singapore in October. Faust put on Peter Pan at the Esplanade Theatre there, taking a cast from Hong Kong including 20 children. Sue’s job for two weeks or so was to chaperone, educate and generally look after these children. It was an amazing experience – and a brilliant show! Singapore was such a success that Faust now plan to take the show to 5 more cities next year or 2007. So Sue spent a weekend in November in Shanghai looking at theatres… Shanghai seems to be a great city!
Whilst Sue was in Singapore, however, we heard the very sad news that Kevin’s father had died. Not unexpected – he was 85 and had been ill on and off for some time – but still a blow when it happens. Sue left Singapore and Kevin Al Ain, to fly back for the funeral. A sad occasion but good to see many relatives we hadn’t seen for years in some cases. Partly because of this we decided that we (the Renshaws) would all get together in England this coming Christmas – so Tom, Dan, Matt and Nikki plan to fly over from Oz, Kevin from UAE and Sue from HK. Sophie will join us and we plan to spend some time in Devon, some time in Derby and hopefully meet up with all the family! The lads meanwhile plan to try and fit in some visits to their old haunts – Macclesfield, Manchester, Anglesey…
Kevin was in Hong Kong again in October but does not plan to be here again before the New Year. Sue has flights booked to Al Ain for the last weekend in November. Sue’s sister Liz will also fly in the same day and then go to Hong Kong with Sue for a week or so in December. Friends from Macc, Jayne and David will also be in Dubai the same weekend as Sue and Liz – so that should be exciting!
What does 2006 bring? Well the saga of the Renshaws’ travels continues…Will Sue stay in Hong Kong a little longer – or get used to living in an Arabic country? Where does Kevin think his job will take him next? Watch this space for more exciting adventures…
The background to the card this year. Well we thought camels were quite appropriate given where Kevin is currently working. Sophie remembered drawing a camel – and Kevin managed to find the drawing despite not having unpacked everything yet. Sue asked Simon at work to help with putting the card together and talking to the Cantonese printer and there we are. Why did Sophie remember drawing the camel - maybe because the teacher had asked for a picture of a pet. There was a rather cryptic comment next to the drawing - but I expect Sophie didn't think our pet rock was interesting enough.
Anyway…have a wonderful Christmas…and have a happy and healthy 2006
Love Sue and Kevin xx
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This year the Renshaw family has regularly been scattered across the globe! Two or three months ago Kevin was in the United Arab Emirates, Sue in Hong Kong, Sophie in the UK, Tom and Aiden in Melbourne, Dan in the Victorian Alps and Matty in New South Wales – we couldn’t have been much further apart!
Kevin, Sue, Dan and Sophie started the year in Devon in the UK where we saw the New Year in, watching “The Phantom of the Opera” at the cinema or, in Dan’s case somewhere on the South Coast. He, John, Ella and Craig had spent hours making Incredibles’ costumes for a fancy dress affair. As it turned out, the excitement was in the making – they never put them on except to see if they fitted – but the photos are good – have a look at them on the website…
Kevin and I returned to Hong Kong straight after New Year and Dan joined us after a few days in London and then Amsterdam. He had finished his degree in December and since then has spent a year travelling, taking casual jobs, snowboarding and generally enjoying himself. Hopefully his permanent residency of Australia will come through fairly soon and then he can think about getting a “proper job”!
January found Sophie back at Keele Uni (Staffordshire) where she continues to study biochemistry and forensic science. She has recently started her second year and was very excited to move into a student house in Stoke with a couple of friends. Holidays she goes ‘home’ to Grandma and Grandad’s!
Dan had only just returned to Melbourne when he flew back to Hong Kong in March, this time with Matt. They needed to be ‘off-shore’ to obtain new visas to stay in Australia – their student visas were expiring. They enjoyed the sightseeing and the markets and went back with much heavier suitcases than they arrived with!
Tom did the same thing in June when he came to stay! His trip was in order to be off-shore while his permanent residency came through. He was sponsored by his work and as a permanent resident he can now sponsor Dan and Matt for their permanent residencies. The applications were submitted in June/July. Now we are all keeping our fingers crossed that they will come through soon. The lawyers have probably welcomed the 2 years of work but Kevin and Sue will be ready to break open the champagne once the residencies come through. When we left Australia we never imagined it could take this long.
During Tom’s visit Kevin took part in the dragon boat racing again in Discovery Bay. Hot sweaty and hard work but great fun…
Tom is still working for the taxi firm where he started as an apprentice mechanic from school – however he now has an apprentice! He also enjoys sailing whenever he can and of course has Aiden part of each week. He wonders whether Andrew will be up for a holiday sail when we plan to be in the UK this Christmas!
Matt finished his course and seems to have a very exciting time working in the Outdoor education field… He has just finished a stint up in New South Wales and is returning to Melbourne (where Nikki, his girlfriend of the last two years lives) for a 4 week placement, leading up to Christmas. He has been seeing some of the country in between work, driving many k’s in his ute. Recently he has been surfing in Sydney, Kayaking at the whitewater stadium in Penrith (where the Olympics were held), and rogaining in Canberra (real orienteering)…
In the meantime…Sue was taken on full-time by Faust in April – so as well as the tutoring that she had been doing for them since the previous October she now works in the office doing admin, with the impressive title “Educational Services Manager”.
For the first half of the year, Kevin continued to work in Hong Kong with Hyder – this involved several interesting trips into China…However in June he was offered a move to Al Ain (An hour an a half from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE). After much deliberation, a trip to Al Ain for Sue and Kevin to see the place, and much discussion on where the job in Hong Kong was going – he decided to take the job in Al Ain. However not everything was finished in Hong Kong so the idea was to still spend some time here – and anyway Sue’s job was not that easy to leave…
In August Sue and Kevin both went to the UK for a summer holiday – Sue from HK, Kevin from the UAE. They met up with arrival times within half an hour of each other at Heathrow! Kevin, Sue and Sophie had the usual holiday on Anglesey doing the Straits regattas, with lots of family and old friends. The time in the UK was a little complicated as both Kevin’s parents ended up in hospital in Derby. We changed plans so that we could hospital visit, staying with Sue’s Mum and Dad. Sophie had asked for time off from her holiday job behind the bar at the Navigation, but even though we were back in the area she couldn’t be persuaded to give the landlord a ring!
Eventually it was time to return to work – and Hong Kong for Sue; Al Ain for Kevin. This was after spending time with Bill and Hilary on the way to Heathrow. However, although Kevin flew off with no problems, Sue was caught up in the BA debacle and was delayed for 3 days. Luckily she could go back and spend more time with Bill and Hilary, but it meant that she was late for work and late to meet friends from Melbourne, Liz and Gary, who had come to Hong Kong for a short holiday !! However, it was good to see them when Sue did get back – and have some excellent meals out each evening! It was also good earlier in the year to catch up with John and Angela from Macclesfield and then later Chris and Lorraine who were on their honeymoon, but still found time to join us for a night at the races…
Kevin came back to Hong Kong towards the end of August for a week or so – to work – but also to organise moving out of Peaceful Mansion. We decided to send all the goods and chattels to Al Ain while Sue moved to a furnished apartment in the Hong Kong Gold Coast, with the intention of joining Kevin in the New Year. The worldly goods have now arrived in the house in Oman (Al Ain straddles the border) – which Kevin leased in September. The apartment in the Gold Coast is very similar to the one we left – a lovely view, if not quite as good as the previous one. The journey to Central is now by bus rather than ferry but it’s OK. The house in Al Ain (actually in Buraimi) is a typical local villa, concrete and block construction, flat roof, single storey.
The next major excursion for Sue was a trip to Singapore in October. Faust put on Peter Pan at the Esplanade Theatre there, taking a cast from Hong Kong including 20 children. Sue’s job for two weeks or so was to chaperone, educate and generally look after these children. It was an amazing experience – and a brilliant show! Singapore was such a success that Faust now plan to take the show to 5 more cities next year or 2007. So Sue spent a weekend in November in Shanghai looking at theatres… Shanghai seems to be a great city!
Whilst Sue was in Singapore, however, we heard the very sad news that Kevin’s father had died. Not unexpected – he was 85 and had been ill on and off for some time – but still a blow when it happens. Sue left Singapore and Kevin Al Ain, to fly back for the funeral. A sad occasion but good to see many relatives we hadn’t seen for years in some cases. Partly because of this we decided that we (the Renshaws) would all get together in England this coming Christmas – so Tom, Dan, Matt and Nikki plan to fly over from Oz, Kevin from UAE and Sue from HK. Sophie will join us and we plan to spend some time in Devon, some time in Derby and hopefully meet up with all the family! The lads meanwhile plan to try and fit in some visits to their old haunts – Macclesfield, Manchester, Anglesey…
Kevin was in Hong Kong again in October but does not plan to be here again before the New Year. Sue has flights booked to Al Ain for the last weekend in November. Sue’s sister Liz will also fly in the same day and then go to Hong Kong with Sue for a week or so in December. Friends from Macc, Jayne and David will also be in Dubai the same weekend as Sue and Liz – so that should be exciting!
What does 2006 bring? Well the saga of the Renshaws’ travels continues…Will Sue stay in Hong Kong a little longer – or get used to living in an Arabic country? Where does Kevin think his job will take him next? Watch this space for more exciting adventures…
The background to the card this year. Well we thought camels were quite appropriate given where Kevin is currently working. Sophie remembered drawing a camel – and Kevin managed to find the drawing despite not having unpacked everything yet. Sue asked Simon at work to help with putting the card together and talking to the Cantonese printer and there we are. Why did Sophie remember drawing the camel - maybe because the teacher had asked for a picture of a pet. There was a rather cryptic comment next to the drawing - but I expect Sophie didn't think our pet rock was interesting enough.
Anyway…have a wonderful Christmas…and have a happy and healthy 2006
Love Sue and Kevin xx
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