An update on Sally's health,Sal's brother and family visit. Hugh, Rachel, Lucy and Pete visit. William's ANZAC Day prayer at Westminster Abbey. Our street party.

Having just published the Brugges post for our trip there in early March we thought it might be an idea to try and get something up that was not months behind. The Jubilee post should be below this one and posts on our trips to Italy and France will come along.... shortly!

After a very cold but dry January and February we had very good weather in late March which had us all thinking back fondly to the fabulous weather in spring of the previous year (see our post http://struttingaroundlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/hottest-spring-ever.html). Use of the words 'hot' and 'heatwave' seemed odd to us when the temperatures were at best in the low 20s!

These warmer temperatures combined with the previous two comparatively dry winters and warm summers resulted in an official declaration in mid April of drought for most of England from the midlands heading south. Almost to the day that the drought was declared, it started raining and has pretty much continued raining ever since, so much so that this month there have been numerous flood warnings across the country!!

Sally's brother Tim, wife Andrea and their 3 year old daughter Caitlin arrived from Tasmania for their long-planned 6 week visit to the UK the day after we returned from Italy. They had a couple of sunny, cold days at the start and a couple of lovely warm & sunny days at the end, but the rest was grey, cold, wet and windy.
Such a contrast to spring 2011!

Tim and Andrea have been a very special part of our family from the time the kids were born.

 The kids were bridesmaid and page boy for their wedding in Tasmania 3 weeks before we left for here.

In the famously decorated local bus shelter.

Tim and Andrea were with us when Sally received an unexpected diagnosis of breast cancer and soon after had surgery (more info below). Having Caitlin around had Sally and Mark thinking back wistfully to Aisha and William at the same age. They were a great support for all of us and provided an invaluable degree of support, normality and link to family, especially for the kids. Saying goodbye this time was particularly hard for all of us.

A family get together.

The 50 year old Rhododendrons at the top of our street.

Bye bye Uncle Timbo !

Coinciding with Tim and Andrea's visit were visits by Aisha's best friend Rachel and her Dad, Hugh, followed by Rachel's Mum and husband, Peter. As with his solo visit last year, Hugh brought much needed supplies of Australian delicacies which added to the stash that Tim brought. We are now well stocked with Tim Tams, Cherry ripes, Cheezels and Twisties. Having all these good friends and family with us was great. At one stage we were planning for 10 people sleeping in the house but Tim, Andrea and Caitlin headed off to Cornwall and all slept well!  Credit must be given to Aisha who gave up her room and queen size bed for the whole 6 weeks!

Rachel, Lucy and Pete.

Hugh and Rachel joined us at a performance of Matilda. It was quite possibly the best performance we have ever seen of anything anywhere. Aisha had the chance to go again with her school and Tim and Andrea went along too on our recommendation.

In anticipation of ANZAC Day (April 25th) we finally started preparations to host our until then much talked about street party. In Canberra our street, Strehlow Place, had annual street parties held from the time the street was established in the 1970s. By the time we arrived in 2000 however, they had dropped away. With help from our neighbours and friends, Ross and Colleen and Kerrie and Michael, we revived them. Once again they became anticipated affairs held at the end of the cul de sac outside our place, complete with BBQs, music, tables and chairs and late nights! In 2008 we sought out former residents, including the people who owned our house before us, and invited them all along. One former resident who turned up was the then Australian Ambassador to Argentina, back on mid posting leave!

After more than a year of thinking about the northern hemisphere version we finally got organised. We couldn't really have a party in the street here, so we opened up our house instead. We sent out invitations to all the houses in the street a month in advance then chose some subtle decoration for the house - just in case people weren't sure which house we were in !

Tim shows his allegiance!

Our immediate neighbours were first to arrive and, while at the time the photo below was taken we were worried that not many would turn up, we were pleasantly surprised when, half an hour later, there was hardly room to move as almost every family in the street arrived. Everyone was very excited to catch up, meet newer neighbours and taste test ANZAC biscuits, vegemite toast, pavlova and Tasmanian champagne! The local Neighbourhood Watch rep declared it more successful than any efforts she has made (not true, but very kind!) Unlike Strehlow Place parties, this one ended, in true British style, on the dot of the nominated 6pm finish. Next time we will leave the finish time open!

Not long after this it was elbow room only.

All this happened just a few days before Sally was diagnosed with breast cancer on 24th April. Her diagnosis came after she found a lump in her right breast and went to have it checked out, confident that it would be a cyst like she had had several years ago.  Indeed it was a cyst, but further testing and some very skilled work by a diligent radiologist confirmed early but invasive cancer in her left breast.

Many of you will recall that Aisha read a prayer at Westminster Abbey last year for the 25th April ANZAC Day service. This year was William's turn to read his prayer at the Abbey. Having received her diagnosis pretty much out of the blue the day before, Sally showed unbelievable courage and commitment to her family by keeping this information to herself, Mark, Tim and Andrea and then quite literally 'keeping calm and carrying on'.

William was in a bit of a quandary as to which scout uniform to wear - the British one or his Australian. He E-mailed his Canberra scout leader, Ikki, to ask his advice. The wise reply that came back was that it was up to Will but that he should wear the one he was most proud of. The Canberrans among you will recognise the Lake Ginninderra Sea Scout uniform he wore at the Abbey in front of around 2,000 people. We were very pleased that the service was sufficient incentive for Will to cut his surfy boy locks!  He read brilliantly on the day - perhaps the most confident and clear of all the kids whose ages ranged from 7 up to 17 (but then we are biased!).

During the practice.

After the practice, a chance question to one of the Abbey vergers by friends of ours - another Australian family - resulted in all of us being taken on a one off private ' behind the scenes' tour of all the tombs of the kings and queens buried in the abbey. We were even shown the shrine of St Edward the Confessor who oversaw the building of Westminster Abbey. It was into this area, described during last year's royal wedding as "the most sacred part of the abbey" that Prince William and Kate went to sign the registry. For many centuries people have made pilgrimages to pray for a miracle at St Edward's shrine and while Sally is not someone who usually spends her time praying for miracles, at this emotional and extraordinary time she took comfort from being able to do so.

Meanwhile, our English history mad Aisha was in her element as she traded royal knowledge with Abbey verger Ben. We couldn't believe our luck as the tour went on, and on, and on. It went for so long that we missed the ANZAC Day wreath laying in White Hall we had planned to go up to before the service!

The next week was stressful as we waited for Sally's biopsy and MRI results to come back, went to meet Sally's surgeon and then waited for further results. During that time we went to Paris with Tim, Andrea and Caitlin (to be covered in a separate blog entry). While Tim and Andrea knew, Aisha and William did not. We had decided we did not want the cloud of cancer hanging over the trip for them and that we wanted to talk with them once we knew more clearly what the pathway forward involved.

Once the results came back and we were back from Paris, we told the kids and then all our family and friends. Sally had decided on reconstructive surgery and within three weeks of the original diagnosis she was recovering in hospital. In the lead up to the surgery Aisha studied for a week of major exams which started two days after Sally's surgery.

With this kind of preparation she was bound to do well !

Mark is a man of traditions. He has started numerous family traditions that have gone down in family folklore; Friday Fun Food, bread rolls and doughnuts on Saturday mornings, Daddio's pizza, red socks, the 25 year old blue dressing gown,  - the list could go on! When Aisha turned 10 he decided a new tradition should be inaugurated, that being to take out the double digit birthday child to 'Dinner with Daddy'. With encouragement from the kids, it looks like the tradition will be extended to dinner out when reaching teens, turning 18 and then 21. By then though maybe the kids will be taking Mark out for dinner - if the old folks home will allow him !

Aisha hit double figures in 2009 in Canberra and opted for a well known Canberra pizza restaurant, Zeffirelli's. William looked forward to his night out in London, along with his birthday party, but for very good reasons that are now lost in the mists of time, but probably to do with his birthday occurring during the holidays, William never had his night out with Dad or his party!  

Bad  Daddy !!

As his 11th birthday drew closer it was agreed that Mark really should take Will out. The boy opted for a local pub, The Old White Lion. This pub used to be known as 'the Dirthouse' as it was here that 'night soil' and horse manure was brought to be used as fertiliser for North London hay meadows! While the boys went out, Aisha had a fun girl's sleep over and made pizzas with her girlfriends while Sally was banished to the TV room!  Mark is now working on where to take William for his 11th birthday which was on 10th June.

Sally's birthday was just five days before her surgery. Aunty Mary joined us and the kids made a favourite Nigella Lawson chocolate cake.

Sally's surgery went well, despite a collapsed lung, and the family were able to come in and see her over the weekend. William then headed off to a 3 day school camp and then Aisha started exams.  Unlike a number of kids in his class, William has had many nights away at school and scout camps back home. We had decided we wanted to keep things as normal as possible, so there was never any thought of Will not going to camp nor of Aisha not attending the Girl Guide camp she went to at the end of her week of exams. Both thoroughly enjoyed their trips away and had lots of stories to bring home!

On our first visit to the surgeon's office in Harley Street, Mark spotted a blue plaque on a building across the road from his rooms, also just across from the London Clinic where Sally was later in hospital. It was a heritage plaque marking the practice of Lionel Logue (of The King's Speech fame), where he treated King George VI's stammer.

Mark and the kids were able to deck out Sally's room with some of the familiar trappings of home, along with some of the many get well cards she received. This made Sally happy and drew much positive comment from the hospital staff!

On the last 2 days of her recovery in hospital Sally was allowed out in the lovely sunny weather - the possible 10 days of summer referred to earlier! Nurses artfully concealed her one remaining drain (she'd had 5 at one point) so Tim, Andrea and Caitlin could take her to the playground at Regent's Park across the road where they enjoyed some time together before their trip home to Tasmania. The next day Mark and William took her for a similar walk.

Outside Lionel Logue's practice
- artfully concealing her drain at the same time.

Sally came home after 10 days in hospital and is now healing well, cared for by Mark, who keeps the whole show going, and receiving lots of cuddles and massages from loving children!  Sally's oncologist has said she should consider herself cancer free, but recommended further testing to enable us to decide whether chemotherapy would help keep her this way or not.

After much searching, Mark found Sally a beautiful antique Victorian glass bell to summon his attention, but thus far she has used it very little and is regularly up and about, doing her own thing (Mark particularly appreciates Sally's comments and suggestions on how to run the household... ) along with the requisite arm exercises and walking to build up her strength. In fact, at the time of publishing this post, William has been at home sick with a throat infection and has used his joke clown's bike horn more frequently to summon Mark.  It must be a boy thing!!

Sally, and indeed Mark, Aisha and William too, would like to thank all of our family and friends who have supported us through this difficult time. Words of encouragement, messages, prayers and positive thoughts and some generous practical assistance and pick-me-ups from neighbours, parents from school and family have all been truly appreciated. 

Sally is now attempting to respond to the very many E-mail messages she received!