FEBRUARY
2002

EDITORS LETTER
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE
& BRANCH CONTACTS
PRESIDENTS LETTER
NATIONAL
COMMUNICATIONS
OFFICE
WORLDLY WATCH
WITH WHITE HAT
AUCKLAND NEWS
LETTER FROM
AVALON AND
JOHN FRYER
A YEAR IN
REFLECTION
NEWS FROM
OHAKUNE
NZ CHEFS
MERCHANDISE
LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
HONG KONG NEWS
BARTONS
BANQUETTES
AND BULLSHITE

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Greetings everyone, here it is again, catch up time with friends and family at the end of what has been quite a year.
Most of you will know why, but for the few who haven’t caught up with it, John fell off the roof of our two storied house last New Year’s Eve, about a 6 metre drop, onto a concrete path below. He sustained multiple rib and spinal fractures, two punctured lungs, fractured skull etc, and spent the first 11 days of the year on life support in Critical Care, and a further week in the Trauma ward. He was very keen to come home then, so they allowed him to, but there was then this big mess-up with ACC which left me at home with him in a spinal brace, needing 24hr care and no assistance except for a nurse to do his tracheotomy dressing each day, (and most of the time she just left the dressing with me to put on after I had showered him anyway). This went on for nearly two weeks, after which we were provided with caregivers for varying times over about three months. Anyway, that is now well behind us and John continues therapy each week in an effort to become fully independent. The abstinence of the odd glass of wine does not trouble him, but the inability to drive does prove to be a real “thorn” as far as he is concerned. In the New Year, probably February some time, he will undergo another neuropsychology test, and a computerised driving assessment, and from there he hopes to be able to progress to a practical driving assessment. At the moment he has to rely on me taking him places and ---well we won’t go down that road!! Physically he is OK, people say how good he is looking, but it is the results of the head injury that are preventing him from returning to work.
Having filled everyone in, let’s get back to the rest of the years news.
Due to caregiver problems, I didn’t fully return to work at the surgery until late March/ April, doing my usual 5 mornings a week, but as far as going into the shop was concerned, I only managed the odd hour or so in the PM before I needed to get home to relieve the caregiver. As a result, Shannon stepped in and took over the running of the shop, doing a great job under the circumstances, and he has continued to gain much confidence and knowledge from this, hopefully making it easier for John to let go of a few things once he is back at work, and cut down on the hours we were putting in each week.
There have been the usual Trade Fairs that we do each year and these have gone ahead with the help of staff coming up from Wellington, and we also have some great staff members here in Auckland which has made life run a bit smoother.

The End of Another Year!
Part 1
The first four months of the year we stayed put as John was not able to travel far comfortably, but come Easter, we decided it was time to attempt to travel the 1hr 45min to the beach, which we did, going down on the Wednesday and coming back at the end of the next week.
We now go down as often as possible to just get away from it all even if only for two or three days. I am conscious of the amount of time I take off, but have been very fortunate in that I am able to take whatever time off I need. At the moment I could give work up completely, as I don’t seem to get time for the basics, let alone any extras that need doing prior to Christmas, hence this newsletter is likely to be shorter than usual.
Our family have been such a support over this year in their different ways. Shannon in taking over the day to day shop work, and Natasha, Andrew and Angelika have all made several trips up from Hastings to provide extra help at different times. Chanelle and Simon of course, came over from Sydney as soon as they heard about John’s accident and they have both been back since on separate occasions, and we have greatly appreciated their visits and support.
I think perhaps the big highlight of the year though, was when John was finally given permission to travel to Australia for about 10 days in October, and we took our 4yr old granddaughter Angelika with us to pay a surprise visit to see Chanelle. Well, Chanelle knew we were coming, but Angelika was the surprise. We had a wonderful but very tiring time trying to fit everything in that we wanted to see and do, plus work it around the rest periods John requires, (Angelika too). We had 4 days in Melbourne before heading to Sydney, and took time out to visit fun places i.e. the zoo and museum in Melbourne, and Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney plus all the other things 4 yr olds like to do – ride the monorail, trams and trains, watch the musical clocks “perform” on the hour (saw about 4 of these), throw a coin into buskers hats and watch the “statues” give a little wave or wink.

Even riding in a lift in the Queen Vic Building in Sydney was exciting as it was like a “glass cage” to Angelika and she was only too glad we missed our floor and had to go up and down again. It was wonderful to visit these cities that we know well, and be able to see them through a child’s eyes. For anyone visiting Sydney, we really recommend Featherdale, especially if you have children in tow. We could have stayed there all day – nearly did – the animals are so tame and the children’s zoo is just amazing

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