Where to my lovelies? - Julie L

We start our gallivanting on Saturday 4 October 2014 when we leave Melbourne via Qantas

• London is our first stop   

  

  London 5 Oct - 7 Oct

• Then onto beautiful Barcelona once more

Barcelona 7 Oct - 10 Oct

• An organised tour -Principalities of Europe - is next

Tour finishes Rome 24 October

• After the tour, Paris will be our destination

We will return to Marais district (Paris) from 24 -31 October

• From Paris, we go to Stockholm then Berlin, Seville and a final night in London before heading back home to reality.
  

So this is our Magical Mystery Tour for 2014, our 40th anniversary present to ourselves and the outline of where we intend to delightfully gallivant in Europe.

Speechless!! - The Other J

I don't know who she is, but I like the way she thinks!

Hi all! This is the Other J writing.

Julie has written so many nice things about me  that it's hard for me to reply. Suffice to say even after all these years, she is still drop dead gorgeous!

So what's with the shirts, I hear you ask. Well I have spent many hours, days, weeks etc etc trying to bring my French, Italian  and Spanish up to speed ....  Fool!  You don't need all that. With these "translator" tee shirts  it's all so easy!
All you have to do is: wave at a waiter to get his attention. Then point at the question mark on the tee shirt. Point at the wine glass icon, raise two fingers (make sure that this isn't culturally inappropriate) , then raise the thumb to make sure he understood the order. (Come to think of it, in Australia in the old days, if you raised your thumb to someone, it was a quick way to get into a fight!).  So much easier than forming a question, then having to make sure that nouns, pronouns etc agree in number, gender, tense, and all that other stuff, as you can see, on the tee shirt there is a picture for every occasion, 

If you like the shirts, they are printed by Tee shirt graphics Burwood Highway Melbourne Australia, ask for Karin. 

Anyway, that's it for now. 

Why "gallivanting"? - Julie L

To gallivant is "to wander aimlessly in search of pleasure".

The most wonderful lady I have ever known, whom I was blessed to have as my mother, enjoyed outings and the simple pleasures of life.  Mother dear thought 'gallivant' was a wonderful descriptive word.

Mum and Dad 1974 (shortly before Dad's death)

Mum departed this life Jan 2014

Mum would often use this term to describe an enjoyable outing or day trip.  She would smile and laugh and her face would beam and radiate with happiness and it would waft to others like a soft gentle breeze at the end of a hot day.  One couldn't help but feel joy because of her delight with nature such as the pleasure of seeing the ocean, hearing the waves break on the beach or simply noticing the sun setting. When Dad was alive, he would derive such great enjoyment from seeing Mum's happiness that his face too would light up and ripples of their combined laughter would inevitably fill the room.  This would be infectious and we, as a family, would often laugh uncontrollably; so much so, that we would have tears rolling down our faces and be unable to talk.

This was sweet, wonderful love and enjoyment that money cannot buy.

So, in honour of the many treasured moments that I had with my parents and the life and the values they gave me, we are describing our trip as "gallivanting."

Goodness gracious, Saint Ignatius! - Julie L

Jonathan and I officially started the Magical Mystery tour (MMT) of our life together 40 years ago at 5.30pm on 24 August 1974 at St Ignatius, Toowong.

Fortunately, our wonderful Jesuit priest (thank God for the Jesuit's!) accommodated our/my rather unconventional ways. It was only a few months after Dad's death and we didn't want Mum to be spending money on us. We opted for a (very) small wedding with a total of 15 including the priest.  It was perfect for us.  J found my dress for me in the 'evening wear' display in the window of (where else but) David Jones and I selected his suit (also from DJ's at Brisbane).

At our wedding, we thought of J's parents in England, my brother Ed (Sydney) and my wonderful Dad (who I still miss).  What made the day very special was sharing it with my family- especially my beautiful Mother dear.

We couldn't afford a holiday after the wedding or much else.  We married on the Saturday evening, had dinner (for 15) at a restaurant in the city (that Dad used to take me to when in Brisbane) and returned to work on the Monday - much to the astonishment of people at our respective workplaces.
Now,  our 2014 "jaunt" or Magical Mystery Tour 40 years later, is our first official holiday celebration of our wedding.

40 years to the day - 24 August 2014 

Mum would always say upon seeing Jonathan or a photo of him -"Jonathan doesn't ever change, does he?"- and Mothers are always right - (about important things!)