The VillageAs you probably know, we have been living in a Retirement Village for two years. It is generally a cheerful and friendly environment, and we are very happy and contented in our choice to live here. Our main concern in entering the Village was that it was owned by a small company. This concern seemed to be reinforced when we were told that the owner company had gone into receivership. We all became experts on receivership law, and we had a worrying few months when the Village was advertised for sale. Happily we are now owned by a large company - IOR. Irrespective of IOR’s original rationale, drinking is still an important part of Village socializing. It now seems that IOR will be merging with another company which will mean our owner is an even larger company, which gives us a sense of security for the future.
For those who haven't been here the photograph below shows our community center. (As with all of the photos in this post click on it to see a larger version.)
I run a blog of village activities. If you are interested it can be found
here.
TravelA major aim in our retirement was to travel, and we have continued to travel this year to China, Perth and the Blue Mountains.
ChinaOur major trip was to China. This included: seven cruises, one train trip, five long bus trips, four internal plane flights, all adding up to about 7,500 kms. Naturally we saw major sites including the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, Birds Nest, Terracotta Warriors and the Yangtze River. As we both enjoy Asian food the 84 meals were a delight.
The Google Map below shows our itinerary. (You can treat it as a normal Google Map, by moving it around with the mouse and zooming and expanding with the buttons at top left. The blue place holders contain the name of the location and a picture of the location. It does not show all of the map so to get a better view click on the China09 link at the bottom.)
View China09 in a larger mapHere is a
link to a summary of the trip.
While walking up the Great Wall I met a Chinese couple who were very friendly. Here I am celebrating our arrival at the top of the Wall.
Margaret in the Forbidden City
Here is a
link to our published China photos.
A slide show of the China photos:
1 comment:
Great letter Dad and Margaret. It has been a good year! Talk to you on Friday...Catherine
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