Annual Review 2007

Greg and Gail’s ‘07 Yu orrite? Thought we’d start with a cheery Yorkshire greeting common in these parts (trans: Is everything going well for you?) This year we sit writing our annual missive in our cozy lounge room overlooking a wintery River Wharfe and with a comforting glass of wine insulating us against the chill of the early evening. Yes we are happily settled into our new home in West Yorkshire, just on the outskirts of a beautiful little market town called Wetherby, about 12 miles north of Leeds. Both these places are currently a glitter of chrissy lights and decorations with our town looking particularly picture postcard and Leeds looking most elegant. The winter days are about as short as they are going to get now, sun up at around 8am and night fall before 4pm. No snow yet but temps are forecast for sub zero so maybe a white Christmas. We are adapting to the differences quite well and are very fortunate to have found this little haven so similar to our Lane Cove. Of course the year has seen significant change for us both. Resort Lane Cove was sold early in the year, both our cars too. A huge garage sale reduced our 17 years of accumulated stuff, some of the remaining was packed for shipping and the bulk for storage, a few trips to the tip and a million details were sorted before we landed in England early March. We spent a fortnight with friends in the Cotswold’s before driving to Leeds where we rented a little one bed unit for a few months while we found our home. It is a small 1930’s semi detached which is ideally located for Gail to get on to the motorways to travel to work and close to town and transport for Greg to get about locally. We are just starting the build of a downstairs extension and an ensuite to the master bedroom so by February we will have the perfect home for guests to come and say. Wetherby is exactly half way between Edinburgh and London and on the door of the stunningly beautiful Yorkshire Mores and Dales. The nearby countryside is littered with castles, abbeys, cathedrals, grand country homes and gardens, we feel very fortunate to have all this so close. The locals are most friendly and we have really been lucky with our immediate neighbours, all of which makes life here most agreeable. WORK: Well, this is a heading more related to Gail as despite, or more probably because of Greg’s somewhat half hearted efforts, he is yet to find employment. To be fair the tasks of establishing the myriad necessities of a new country and being life support for Gail, organizing holidays and buying and improving the house have provided plenty to do. Still, Greg is about to launch into the recruitment maze with fervor in the new year after the house build is complete. To overcome the looming boredom an interesting work challenge is in order if not well overdue. Gail is having a ball learning her new MRI skills and meeting lots of really nice folk. Her days are long with quite a lot of travel but there is time off and we do manage to enjoy the times between work days. She is just about through her probation period and that means that the study is lessening and she can relax a little more. Her employer has been suffering at the hands of the Government policies and as a result Gail’s territory has recently, hopefully temporarily, extended to include London, Birmingham and Newcastle on Tyne. We presume this will not continue and she will become more locally scheduled in the new year. PLAY: Quite a lot really, local attractions of York, Harrogate, the national parks and surrounds, London, Nottingham, The Heights of Adrian and other places as well as a lovely week in Italy. We have even done some local castles and grand houses, honestly there are quite a lot of attractions very handy, especially as Europe is only a few hours away and flights are quite cheap…. We did Italy for the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars and the same applies to Paris which is booked in for late March. WISHES: Our very best wishes for your New Year. Do let us know of your plans by writing to us here at :-  grailinvestment@ozemail.com.au . Happy Christmas! Greg and Gail.