Martin Fuggle Downunder

Since Lilly died Jenny has been in a state of depression and needed to care for another dog.  We thought about a smaller dog and looked at all sorts of breeds, mainly cross breeds with strange names. Cavoodles, Westshits, Labradoodles and a whole heap more but none of them seemed to be a good substitute for Lilly.  A number of friends suggested that we have a look at some of the dogs at the Lost Dogs Home or the RSPCA so that we didn't go through the puppy stage again and a friend of Jenny's even turned up at the front door with a beautiful cocker spaniel puppy.
We thought we would wait until early next year.  Then last Tuesday we had some spare time in the afternoon and went to the RSPCA to see how the process worked in adopting another dog.  Jenny promised not to fall in love with one of the dogs and make a rash choice so off we went.

Lilly died this morning at 10.50am.  She died of lymphoma and was put to sleep this morning so that she suffered no more.  Lilly was the most beautiful and trusting companion and was loved by everyone who met her.

She understood so much and was able to tell us her thoughts in her own way. We will miss her immensely.

Twelve months ago we planned a weekend at Barnbougle Dunes and everyone I spoke to said that we should take a dozen or more golf balls if we planned to play a full round of golf.  We took their advice and also took a dozen bottles of wine to make sure the weekend was a success.  In the run up to the trip across Bass Strait I dinged the car and lost my wallet so panic set in and I had to scramble to change the booking for the car, get a new driver’s licence, cancel the credit cards and generally reorganise my life.

Many years ago I was working in London for a company called LEO Computers.  ‘LEO’ stood for Lyons Electronic Office which was a subsidiary of Joe Lyons – the people who made cup cakes and ran the Lyons Corner Houses.  After I left university I joined them in 1964 and worked at their office in Queensway before moving out to Eastcote to work on a system to analyse the results of the 1958 census.  I am not sure what happened to that system but I seem to remember someone telling me that the results of the 1963 census were produced manually before the results of the 1958 census were completed using the new system.

Last year when we were planning our trip to Europe a friend suggested that it would be worthwhile investigating the possibility of staying in one or two convents or monasteries.  They had obtained a book called Beds and Blessings which listed a number of convents in Italy and they had asked if I would call one of the convents in Florence to make arrangements for them.  The good sisters only spoke Italian so I had to use my limited knowledge of Italian over the ‘phone which is always a challenge.  Anyway they spoke highly of the accommodation so we thought we would buy a couple of books on the subject.

Sir Samuel Mogg and his wife Dame Minnie first landed on the coast at Mogg’s Creek, Victoria in 1767 a whole three years before Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay.  A statue commemorating his landing next to the Great Ocean Road at Mogg’s Creek, named in his memory, has long since been destroyed by vandals. Sir Samuel and his wife are nevertheless remembered every year at the Lorne Film Festival now managed by the The Moggs Creek Moving Clickers, Inc.

I have finally started to ‘transition’ towards retirement and will probably spend a little more time at Deans Marsh where we have a small house on a few acres.  The process of transition is to spend less time traveling to and from the office and to spend more time working from home other than those times when it’s absolutely necessary to meet face to face.

Next to John Howard and Phillip Ruddock my wife’s greatest hate is technology.  So when we planned to go overseas in March of this year I had to do a fair amount of work to make sure that there were plenty of good reasons for me to sneak a laptop into the luggage.  Communication with the grandchildren was the secret – so I decided to buy a small form factor laptop with a camera built in and plenty of other goodies to make it useful.

When I was bang in the middle of planning a trip to Europe to learn a bit of Italian earlier this year, I received an invitation to attend a dinner at my old school to celebrate its 450th anniversary.  The invitation was only sent to those Old Brentwoodians who were at school for the 400th anniversary in 1957.

Some ten or eleven years ago Jenny and I decided to purchase a small cottage at the back of Lorne in Deans Marsh.  As usual it was one of those spur of the moment decisions that have been the hallmark of our lives which invariably turn out for the best.