Bernd

 Bernd is my original German penfriend.

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Stobes

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 Stobes is another one of my besties. I met her when I was working at the Outdoor Education Group. I owe her a lot. At the time I met Stobes was the asthma instructor and also a groupleader. She is a qualified nurse who used to work in the emergency department of a Melbourne hospital. She would have been very good at that job but the stress got to her in the end and she ended up with Bell's palsy and one side of her face had a mini stroke and has now dropped. She was super skinny and fit when I met her. She had a non-committal boyfriend at the time who used to be a mercenary in Afghanistan and would disappear to do that kind of work. Her nursing background meant she diagnosed him with testicular cancer well before perhaps he realised he had it. They were both cyclists and somehow or other Kate got me signed up for the Audax Alpine Classic. If it wasn't for her insistence that I go riding her all the time I may never have been fit enough for the 120km ride from Bright to Mount B...
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Betty

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  Betty was a very dear neighbour to us. We've been living here a little over ten years and Betty was our neighbour until she passed away late last year. She had a special rapport with my youngest, Jared. He had just turned one when we moved in next door to Betty. Betty would come up to the side gate near the sandpit where he played and put her hand through the wire and hold his finger and talk to him for ages. She would also randomly emerge through the fernery on our adjoining side fence and try to start up a conversation with us. It soon became apparent why the people who lived here before us had gone to such lengths to make the patio private and grow great big hedges wherever there was a gap in the fence. Our nearest relatives live four hours away so Betty was the closest thing my kids had to a grandmother. She certainly went out of her way to be that person for them. She would regularly give them $50 for their birthdays, always leave chocolate Easter bunnies at the front door s...
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Nan

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Nan was my maternal grandmother. She was one of five children, married late, well back then 29 was old to be getting married, apparently after some pressure from her family to do so.  She married a farmer in Gippsland and being the era when Australia rode off the sheep's back, they did very well for themselves. My grandmother apparently was wealthy enough to lend money to others. She had three children, my two uncles followed by my mum when she was 40. She lived for most of my young years a short pony ride from the farmhouse they gave to Mum and Dad. She had an immaculate and modern white brick home having moved from the original property at Winton to a hillview over the Avon river. Recently her home was up for sale by the new owners so I got to step into it again with a virtual tour. Unfortunately, the new owners had completely destroyed the feel of the home. There was now a swimming pool embedded in the front yard instead of a gorgeous floral garden and inside all the fancy 1970s...
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