Christmass Letter 2011

Christmass Letter 2011

My first year of retirement is nearly over and, much to my surprise, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from moving into my little flat, it’s that we accumulate far too much “stuff” – I’d be doing perfectly well with less than half of what I have.

Bloemfontein may not be everybody’s idea of a perfect city but it’s much bigger than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. I bought an air conditioner for the hot weather – which is now, but haven’t found out how to keep warm in the cold weather – whoever invented electric blankets should be given a medal. It has every conceivable shop, a number of cinemas, a couple of theatres, a casino, airport and railway station. (Though I’ve not made use of any of these things except the shops).

I hope to use the airport sometime next year for a holiday in Europe – but must be away again and back home here before the Olympics. If anyone has any useful ideas of accommodation in London to use as a base, I’d be glad to hear. I can afford a reasonable cost.

I’ve been offered 2 full-time, stressful jobs – one back in Kimberley and the other in Lesotho, but have turned them both down. I get to take services and help out at my local church just down the road, as well as helping the Sisters in Lesotho and, with everything else, this keeps me busy enough. I seem to spend a lot of time doing housework and I hate ironing!

I was asked to go to a local retirement home to take a service and thoroughly enjoyed that – to the point that I put my name down to live there when (and if) the time comes.

My old computer died. It was old when I bought it for about R2100 – now they wanted R3000 to fix it, which obviously wasn’t worth it. I got a great deal on a new one with all the software included. It’s got even more a mind of its own than the old one but I’m gradually taming it! It behaves most of the time now. It has a built-in webcam which makes skype calls more interesting. I keep my diary and some pics on my website: vicspencer.blogspot.com if you can get on the internet. The picture at the top of this letter is courtesy of the webcam.

My tiny little Chevvy car goes extremely well, is very easy to manoeuvre and park in city traffic but has more than enough power on the open road. I couldn’t be more pleased with it.

My diabetes and heart is still under control and give me no trouble at all. But I got a bad back again – like I had in Kimberley. Lots of physiotherapy later and it’s tolerable but not perfectly OK yet. Old age is not for sissies! I’ve acquired tinnitus, which a continuous, annoying noise in the head. I took it to a doctor, an audiologist and Universitas Hospital, but they all say the same: it’s a complete mystery to medical science – they don’t know what causes it and have no way to fix it – I just have to live with it.

Old friends and parishioners from Harrismith & Ficksburg pitch up in Bloemfontein, usually when desperately sick, so I spend some time hospital visiting.

I wish you all a very blessed Christmass season and a peaceful new year in 2012. (I won’t say prosperous because I can’t see that happening given all the turmoil in the eurozone. Keep doing the football pools and buying lottery tickets and hope for the best – that’s what I do).

Love & Blessings to all..