Christmas Message 2006

Once again, instead of writing a traditional "Round Robin" letter, those of you who have received Christmas cards from us have been directed here, to the blog. To those of you who haven't received a Christmas card, I hope this is an acceptable alternative!

As our first full year of stability since moving to Norway, 2006 has really flown by. The year started with the challenge of the most snow seen here since the 1960's. This truly was a new experience for one of us, and provided us with an invaluable insight when assessing future livestock and garden projects (especially with regards to access). Mari had to cope alone for a fair bit of the first 3 months whilst I traveled with work a little more than desirable.

The main activities of 2006 have involved cats and cars. On the cat front we have now seen 3 litters come, and most of the kittens go to new owners. There are now 3 Starsprung cats who, all being well, will be used for breeding. One of these is now an international champion and another is placed with a "foster owner", giving us the possibility to breed a couple of litters from her without having an extra cat in the house full time. Vegas, our male cat, became an international champion in Stockholm in November and has since been "retired from breeding duty".

The whole of the summer disappeared in the garage. We both made a huge effort to get the Triumph ready for our late summer England/Ireland trip. We didn't meet the deadline, but the Triumph is now on 4 wheels, has covered over 100 miles on the road, and is a couple of small items (mainly waiting for a replacement windscreen) away from approval and registration here in Norway. There's a bit more work to do early in the new year and then it's roll on the summer!

We did a fair amount of traveling during the course of the year, a skiing holiday up in the middle of Norway, 2 weddings in the UK, the "Goodwood festival of speed", 10 days in Ireland, a couple of visits to Cockermouth and so on. Apologies if we didn't see you on our way around, we're very fortunate to have so many folk to visit, but it does mean that time is short when we travel. We also had the pleasure of a good number of visitors through out the year. To those of you have been here, you're more than welcome back, and to those of you who haven't been here yet, you too are more than welcome.

Mari continues to work 80% on a, recently renewed, 1 year contract at the clinic in Sandefjord, the lack of a solid contract is still a little frustrating for her. This is partly the reason that she has decided to take a distance learning MSc in Veterinary epidemiology and public health. This is with the University of London in conjunction with the Royal veterinary college. She has been accepted and will be starting early in the New year.

I am still working for Scanship and have recently been promoted to Manager of the Electrical and Automation Department. Work is very hectic at the moment, but I see this as a good new challenge and, looking forward, believe that things are positive on the whole.

So, here's wishing you all a very merry Christmas and hoping that 2007 brings you all happiness and joy. Feel free to leave a comment to this post.

Merry Christmas
Andy and Mari.