Dear Dave, Ann, William and Hannah,
I have been delaying this letter for several weeks in the hope of having something interesting to put in it but I haven't so I'd better send it anyway.
Paul's oldest daughter Karen (aged 24, fine arts degree, doesn't know what to do with it or herself) has decided to visit an old school friend Debbie who is currently working as a doctor in Brisbane. If she goes soon, she will qualify for the under-26 one year working holiday visa so she is going on the first of June. She plans to stay with Debbie in Brisbane for the first month and look for a job. If she finds one, who know what will happen, but if she doesn't, she will start travelling around.
Now, along with her ticket to Australia, she has a number of "internal" flights including Sydney - Christchurch and Auckland - Brisbane so at some point, perhaps in August, she plans to spend about a month travelling between Christchurch and Auckland. Would it be convenient for her to stay with you for a few days while seeing the sights of Wellington? Obviously, she will have to take pot luck on the timing - if she picks a bad time, tough!
According to Karen, you haven't met her. She claims to have been elsewhere enjoying herself when you were here. That is her life story - enjoying herself. Having decided to go to Australia, with two months to prepare, she promptly arranged to spend time in the vicinity of Loch Ness, a week on Iona and a week in Kuwait. In between times, she has been working out her notice in Edinburgh so I have seen her once since she decided to go. That was when she wanted advice on her visa - apparently the travel agent who was arranging it managed to lose the application and she didn't find out until it was down to the minimum time for processing - so that is a bit on the edge at the moment.
Apart from that, everything is fine here. My father is well and I am well. Mary and Brian seem to be well. We haven't seen them since they returned from their Antarctic cruise but they did enjoy it. Michelle is still working for whatever insurance company she was working for in Lytham but is going to Ipswich for a while, possibly permanently (or at least as permanent as any job is these days). Gordon is still working at a nightclub in Cambridge.
Paul is still working in Kuwait; Moira, Paul and Louise are still out there with him but coming back on June 17th I think. Louise will be going to secondary school after the summer. Karen is there just now for a week before she goes to Australia, she comes back on Friday morning and leaves again on Tuesday. Fiona is still studying, her course has got to the stage of practical experience - a month with a GP and a couple of months in different hospitals to finish the year. I think next year is mostly hospital based.
The interesting info that hasn't arrived is the start to linking the Lightburn McGees with the Manchester McGees. It will be a slow process. I applied over two months ago for grandfather James's birth, marriage and death certificates (and Marie's death certificate). The form said allow 28 days. When I finally phoned up to enquire of progress, they said they were running a bit late but I should get them soon. The next step will be to find the relevant census records for 1881 and 1891 - sometime before the end of the year.
Anyway, let me know if there is any underlying problem with Karen's visit. I'll probably write again fairly soon once the certificates arrive and I digest the information.