2004 Cassidy Christmas Letter

Dear Father Christmas,

How are you this year? I hope all is well. I’m especially hoping that you’re not still having to add the peroxide to your beard after the great whisker singeing escapade of last year. Just imagine going down a chimney with a giant log fire burning at the bottom… at your age and with your experience! What were you thinking? I’d suggest that perhaps you’d scoffed one sherry laced mince pie too many, you old Conker! How is Rudolph? Did he ever recover from that bout of Foot and Mouth disease he picked up in Britain the other year or are his antlers now above your fireplace? Hope all is well with the wife and your elves (or whatever the current PC word to describe your “special little helpers” is.) But enough of this, after all I’m writing a Christmas letter, and, as you know, we’ve both been exceptionally good children this year; so let’s get down to business… The Big Christmas Wish List.

This Christmas we’d really like the following:

Time and more time with family and friends and the kind of wonderful year we’ve just enjoyed to be enjoyed by all. Yep, that’s it. Well… almost. If you could perhaps see your way to popping a few cans of Guinness in the fridge and maybe leaving a bottle of red wine for Heide, well, that would be great too. 

Love,

Mark and Heide

There you have it; our letter to the man in red. Short and sweet. Needless to say (though I will anyway) Santa was well aware of exactly what good children we were throughout 2004 and the kind of year we’ve enjoyed. But maybe not all readers have the kind of network of spies that the roly-poly jolly fellah has. Consequently a brief narrative of our past twelve months begins here.

I find it incredible that a whole year has passed since the last time I sat down and typed out one of these letters that bring so much annual pain to so many. Perhaps we were caught in some mighty tornado that swept us off to a land like Oz or we wandered through a wardrobe into a Narnia. Wherever we were taken it must have some kind of time accelerator that makes a standard year just whiz by. Either that or we’re simply just starting to get old, because as everyone knows, well everyone over a “certain age” anyway, time just goes by more quickly when you’re old.

As you’re most likely reading this letter on our travel website you’ll probably already be aware, even if you have to get by without the benefit of Santa’s special powers, that we’ve been on the road for a while now. In total we’ve been a pair o’ full time vagabonds for around 14 months. I won’t rehash all the details of our last year that you’ve… erm, “enjoyed” on the website but in summary we’ve visited thirty odd countries on five continents. We’ve travelled by plane, train, automobile and several boats (resulting in a few serious cases of seasickness.) We’ve ridden camels, horses and elephants as well as a whole variety of rickshaws. (Who would have thought that the humble rickshaw would come from such a diverse family?) We’ve walked more miles in the last year than in all the years of the previous decade combined! We’ve eaten food that ranges from the fabulous to the unimaginably awful, from the bland to the unpalatably spicy. We’ve enjoyed beers from all corners of the globe and got by on a few that really don’t deserve the glorious title of “Beer”. We’ve seen incredible beauty, both natural and man made… made new friends and rekindled old friendships. We’ve met good folk, better folk and a few fools. We’ve laughed and laughed more.

We’ve been awed by lions (but not mauled by them), chased invisible tigers and paddled with dolphins. We’ve had gallons of our blood consumed by voracious mosquitoes and squished thousands of bed bugs before chancing the sheets they’d previously called home. Shared kitchens with cockroaches the size of alligators and been victimised (repeatedly!) by toilet going birds. We’ve been exhilarated, chilled, overheated, and exhausted. Astounded, awestruck, depressed (mildly) and amazed (massively). And, we’ve been dirty… sometimes even filthy and occasionally clean (well clean-ish)!

Eloise urrthsiesisoirrrsis – This odd interlude was brought to you by our three year old niece. She’s quite good at spelling her name but I’m not entirely sure what language that second word has been written in. But, as she is immensely smart, I’d imagine that it’s a word from the previously unwritten global language of Gobbledegook and Children’s Gibber. When she pointed to the escape key and said, “What does this button do?” I figured it was time for her to get down. I’m sure many of you wish that I hadn’t stopped the jabbing miniature digit.

Many people ask how a couple can spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week in each other company and still get along, but we’ve loved every minute of it and loved the fact that we’ve built a lifetime of memories that we’ll always be able to share. Sometimes we almost wish that we were already old so that we could sit around all day and reminisce about the places we’ve seen and the things we’ve done. Don’t worry though we’ll only share our stories if you ask; as there’s no bore like and old bore and as I previously mentioned… we must be getting old now!

Well folks, that’s been our year in a nutshell and we’d do it all again tomorrow… most of it anyway. (But only if a suitable bid comes in from E-Bay for one of my kidneys!) But for now, we’re heading back to the Pacific Northwest which will become our new semi-permanent home. We’re not completely giving up on our plans for South America and have a few things up our sleeves that might allow us at least a month of travel on that great continent in summer 2005 (stay tuned!) But, in the meantime, we’re looking forward to putting down some roots in our local community. You know… things like getting “normal” jobs, joining the rugby club and washing the car on Sunday mornings. Well that’s the plan anyway, unless a better offer comes up first! And you know what? We like the sound of it.

So now we’ll sign off with a wish for you and yours that 2005 will be as full of fun and love as the year we’ve just enjoyed. We can’t wait to catch up with each and every one of you.

Love and Peace,

Mark & Heide   

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This Page was last update: Monday, December 20, 2004 at 1:19:25 PM
This page was originally posted: 12/7/2004; 3:33:02 AM.
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