121) A Defining Moment
I worked for Ballards for almost six years and was very happy there so I was sad that it was over but it did solve a problem that I had. In Australia Jonathan and Sian had another lovely daughter called Lauren, and Claudia was growing up and we had not seen either of them. Jonathan and Sian very kindly offered to send us tickets to go and visit them and we wanted very much to go. With Di Ballard so sick I felt I could not leave Louis and Dora to run the shop by themselves although everyone kept saying that I must go as I had not had leave for a couple of years and we needed to see our granddaughters before they were completely grown up. When the shop was sold it left me free to go and we rang Jonathan and told him that if they would have us we would come for six weeks not the four we had been discussing before. I was still popping in on the Ballards almost every day, as I had to pass their house to go to the shops, so when I went for milk or bread for myself I would bring them what they needed too. Without the worry of the business Di seemed to pick up a little and assured me that she would manage. She had her family, many friends through the business and from her church who would be willing to help her. She told me to go and enjoy myself and she would see me when I got back in mid January. Sadly she died just before Christmas.
Jonathan bought our tickets and posted them to us and we eagerly awaited their delivery. I went each day to the post office box but there was no sign of them. After about two weeks I rang Jonathan and asked if he was sure he had got the address right. He said of course he had, he had sent them to our box in Hillcrest. It just goes to show what a terrible letter writer Jonathan was. When we moved to the house in Waterfall in 1991 we had given up the box in Hillcrest and taken one in Waterfall and here he was in 1998 using the old address. I think Jonathan’s thought was that if God had meant us to write letters he would not have given us the telephone. I rushed off to Hillcrest and spoke to the postmaster who found our envelope. He told us that as it was registered it would have been ‘returned to sender’ in another couple of days if it had not been claimed so I don’t suppose it would have got lost but I was glad to get it into my hands.
Jonny and Jonathan talked on the phone and they decided that it would be a good idea for us to take the Trinity Ball Throwing machine with us so that we could show it to people in Australia. One of the men in our church was in the import and export business and he helped Jonny to arrange it. Jonny made a large wooden box to transport the machine in. It looked a bit like a coffin and I was beginning to wonder in what condition I was going to arrive in Australia. As the box was made of wood it had to be fumigated because of the Australian quarantine conditions. It was eventually all sorted out and the machine left for Australia before we did and Jonathan had to collect it from the airport there.
Jonny and I had to have visas to travel to Australia so we went to Thomas Cook to apply for them. While the lady who was attending to us was filling in the forms Jonny was talking to her and telling her about the machine that he was taking to Australia with the view to showing it to some business and sports men there in the hope that we could organise some sponsorship. She said “then you are going to Australia on business, you don’t want tourist visas”. She explained to us that if Jonny took out a business visa it would cost a little more than his tourist visa but it would cover the two of us so would in the end be cheaper. It would be valid for five years and be multi entry so we could use it as many times as we wanted in the next five years. While Jonny and I were thinking about it she just tore up the application forms that she had started on and took out new forms. The business visa was all her idea, we had been completely honest with her, and she knew that we were going to see our son and his family and that taking the machine was a second thought but she was quite happy about it so we were happy too. What a difference that lady made to our life but I will explain all about that later on.
Jonathan bought our tickets and posted them to us and we eagerly awaited their delivery. I went each day to the post office box but there was no sign of them. After about two weeks I rang Jonathan and asked if he was sure he had got the address right. He said of course he had, he had sent them to our box in Hillcrest. It just goes to show what a terrible letter writer Jonathan was. When we moved to the house in Waterfall in 1991 we had given up the box in Hillcrest and taken one in Waterfall and here he was in 1998 using the old address. I think Jonathan’s thought was that if God had meant us to write letters he would not have given us the telephone. I rushed off to Hillcrest and spoke to the postmaster who found our envelope. He told us that as it was registered it would have been ‘returned to sender’ in another couple of days if it had not been claimed so I don’t suppose it would have got lost but I was glad to get it into my hands.
Jonny and Jonathan talked on the phone and they decided that it would be a good idea for us to take the Trinity Ball Throwing machine with us so that we could show it to people in Australia. One of the men in our church was in the import and export business and he helped Jonny to arrange it. Jonny made a large wooden box to transport the machine in. It looked a bit like a coffin and I was beginning to wonder in what condition I was going to arrive in Australia. As the box was made of wood it had to be fumigated because of the Australian quarantine conditions. It was eventually all sorted out and the machine left for Australia before we did and Jonathan had to collect it from the airport there.
Jonny and I had to have visas to travel to Australia so we went to Thomas Cook to apply for them. While the lady who was attending to us was filling in the forms Jonny was talking to her and telling her about the machine that he was taking to Australia with the view to showing it to some business and sports men there in the hope that we could organise some sponsorship. She said “then you are going to Australia on business, you don’t want tourist visas”. She explained to us that if Jonny took out a business visa it would cost a little more than his tourist visa but it would cover the two of us so would in the end be cheaper. It would be valid for five years and be multi entry so we could use it as many times as we wanted in the next five years. While Jonny and I were thinking about it she just tore up the application forms that she had started on and took out new forms. The business visa was all her idea, we had been completely honest with her, and she knew that we were going to see our son and his family and that taking the machine was a second thought but she was quite happy about it so we were happy too. What a difference that lady made to our life but I will explain all about that later on.
posted by MC at
7:14 pm
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