All in all thankfully, things have been pretty quiet, so I am assuming most of us are traveling pretty well considering.

Patsy and I recently did a bit of a whirlwind trip (well 7 weeks is reasonably whirlwind) down to Adelaide then over to Melbourne and back home again, mainly to visit a couple of aging rellos whilst they are still vertical and warm. Whilst on route we contacted Pom Adcock but unfortunately ran out of time so didnt actually see him but he sounded good. Had a lunch or two with Dennis and Jo Quinn (stayed pretty close to their location), and apart from visiting rellos and attending a rello funeral, that was Adelaide.

Stayed a night at Millicent but the Wick’s wouldn’t answer their phone so we missed them as well.

Hit Melbourne along with some lousy weather (maximum 8 degrees aver the week.) Had lunch with Willy Wilson at his local RSL club and both Patsy and I were impressed with the service that is held there on a Thursday. Saw the Ralphs, who are both looking good and now I believe rare off swanning away sampling Guiness in Ireland. Once again tied up mainly with Rellos but managed to phone one or two others but no-one answered their phones, and I think I know why! If I lived in Melbourne I  would shoot through away from that weather too. From the one or two contacts that I did meet up with most reported that most of the Victorians are still battling on reasonably well.

Since being home things have been rather hectic, mainly keeping me occupied fiddling with the caravan. Whilst we were away we were tied to caravan parks mainly to use their power to power our heater (something we only ever need when we venture elsewhere other than north) so I have now fitted a diesel heater. 3 hour job they said! This in turn led to a rewiring of the 12 volt system, which in turn led to re routing a few pipes and wires, which in turn opened up a reasonable amount of previously unusable cupboard space, which in turn led me to put sliding drawers in all the cupboards!! Have sold both my LandRover ex Mil vehicles, and have resigned from a number of clubs etc, so life now is no where near as hectic as it has been.

Blue Hickey came round the other day and considering what he has been through of late what with Cancer, heart attack and stroke etc., he appears to be remarkably well. He spent4 and a half weeks in ICU, where he had 2 coronary arteries replaced, and now sports a pig valve in place of an aortic valve. When they put him on the heart/lung machine, it began frothing whilst refilling his heart and this caused him to suffer a stroke. Since all this he has spent a fair bit of time in rehab learning how to walk again and also in speech therapy learning how to talk. When I spoke to him recently he sounded perfectly normal and was once again driving a motor car!

He writes:                                                                                                                                                 “Once again, thank you Glen and Patsy, and Cliff,  very much for your hospital visits and also to Bloo Dennis who wandered in at his pleasure (Bloo was also in Repat the same time as Blue Hickey). Also to Pom Adcock for his phone calls, he at least made a lonely lady happy. We would like to thank every one for their best wishes. I now have a minor memory problem but it seems to be getting better. If I have forgotten anybody please forgive me”.

Blue also recounted a few memories of his time in Nui Dat which have been indelibly printed in his memory, and as he stated he is glad his Guardian Angel is still looking after him after all this time.

“It all started in SVN when I was on my way to the weapon pit in Nui Dat when a digger on the other side of the road cocked his Owen gun. I thought, shit, 33 to come.  The again on the morning we were mortared the day before Long Tan, I still remember the whistle and then the mortars began exploding in the wire, then they started to walk them up through our location with one going off besides our tent where Terry Weakley was hit by a clod from the blast. I was still in the tent, Ted (Hall) and Terry (Weakley) were both in the pit, but I remembered an ex Korean vet telling me when I was a cadet, that the worst place to be was in a pit and that the one you never heard was the one with your name on it. Then again on the  next night during the battle of Long Tan itself I was driving the lead truck supplying ammunition from the helipad to the guns.”

Anyway Blue, thanks for the memories and I am sure that all here hope that your Guardian Angel keeps on doing the job and that you keep on with your recovery.

Enough from me, if anyone can offer any more info on who is doing what or anything that may be of interest to anyone, please let me know and I can publish it.