Kevin Page: A year of big decisions and new beginnings

Kevin Page made a u-turn with life on the road. Photo / 123rf

Okay. I’ve got all the Christmas stuff done and dusted, I’ve tidied everything up for the year and I’ve got just one more thing left to do.

All I have on my “To Do” list is write this very last column of 2024 for you, Dear Reader.

Here’s my Year in Review:

January

We bought a caravan. A bloody big one.

We had talked about “eventually” dropping out and experiencing life on the road but I can’t remember saying we needed to do it like right now.

Regardless. One day we saw one we liked online. I went to have a look at it and, in a rare display of decisiveness, bought it on the spot.

February

I looked out the window every day at the monster caravan blocking the view of the trees and thought “what on earth have we done”.

Ongoing health issues also saw Mrs P bring the curtain down on a 43-year nursing career, though she’s not quite decided if she wants to give it away totally just yet.

We did have some pleasant news during the month with the news No 1 Son and his lady had got engaged. Even more heart-bursting was the extra detail they were expecting with a little boy due in October.

March

The Boomerang Child and Builder Boy had a garage sale.

On the day it was all go from 7am to close to 9pm, with the Dream Team showing their prowess online and offloading a heap of stuff late in the day that hadn’t been snapped up beforehand.

April

Arthritis in my hand has made itself known in no small way in the last 12 months and I ended up having surgery to fuse my wrist. Consequently I now have very limited movement in the joint and have had to give up golf.

While the operation went without a hitch, I did struggle to get control of my forearm — complete with a heavy cast — during the initial recovery period and smashed myself in the nose a couple of times, which was fun.

May

We sold a kidney each and raised enough to buy an almost new car. One that could tow our huge caravan.

June

The economic climate hit my day-job employers hard and a wave of job cuts were announced.

I was safe in my role but we had a few young guys on the team with families so I opted to take early retirement. We all parted on friendly terms.

Mrs P and I were suddenly both jobless, so late in the month — after a whirlwind of decision-making — we packed up the house, put stuff in storage and hit the road.

July

We travelled barely a kilometre up the road to a motor camp and stayed there for six weeks.

We hadn’t intended to be there that long but our fridge packed a sad so we had to get it repaired.

Thankfully it was the middle of winter so I didn’t have any trouble finding ice for my gin and tonic.

August

Finally we set off from the motor camp. Once we worked out you have to take the chocks out from under the wheels and take the caravan handbrake off to allow forward progress.

September

We found ourselves house-sitting for the month at a luxury property by a river.

During the month I read a book and wrote a book.

The latter was a lady’s life story — part of my little business project — for her family and the former was a paperback I read in a day and a half when I figured I needed a break from the keyboard.

The client’s story has resulted in another family member asking me to help them with their life story.

So, some steady progress on the business plan.

October

Through the wonders of modern technology, Mrs P and I were present for the birth of our little grandson in England.

No 1 Son rang in the middle of the night with news of the imminent arrival. His cellphone was positioned accordingly and Mrs P viewed the birth — propped up with a tri-pillow — from the comfort of her bed in our caravan in the middle of nowhere.

I was in the Dads And Others Waiting Room, which in this case was at the caravan table behind the dividing curtain.

Happy to report the little bloke is doing fine and will be in New Zealand August, with his returning mum and dad.

November

My dodgy hip had finally told me a few months it didn’t want to be ignored any longer, so early in the month I went to a specialist.

Long story short, I’m getting a new metal one next April.

December

I wrote this column and thought “Hmm. It was a pretty busy year after all. But at least I’m all done now and can go have a nice quiet gin and tonic in the sun.”