Aubrey
Welsh
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For the past six years, Dianna and Denne McGregor have been my landlady and landlord at 57 Kiwi Esplanade. They welcomed me not only into their home but also into their family and I have been most blessed to have shared our lives in the idyllic suburb of Mangere Bridge.
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I can never repay their kindness but I simply hope that they and their extended family continue to live full and rewarding lives in the decades to come.
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Thank you, D & D - for everything you have done for me. I have loved being a small part of your lives for this brief moment in time.
After Dianna and Denne dropped me off at Auckland Airport, I flew off to London where I was picked up by Ken and Jude Matthews. I have known Jude since we both taught at Beachwood Boys High (Durban) in 1980.
She moved with husband Ken to the UK in the mid-90s and whenever I have visited the UK, they have thrown open their home to me - thank you so very , very much.
And everytime I visit, we go for walks - short ones and long ones - but they always culminate in coffee and cake!
They are like a brother and sister to me and they have been an integral part of my life for more than 40 years.
This will be my last summer in the UK and I wish them, too, many years of joy and happiness in the future.
This is my other 'brother and sister' - Johnny Catscarlis and Elvina Raftopoulos. Elvina, Jude and I all taught at Beachwood where we met.
Last year, they invited me to join them at their ancestral home on Ithaca, in Greece. It was my first ever visit and I had the most marvellous time.
Together with Frederike Liasides and several other friends and relatives, we gadded about the island, ate and drank our way through the days and nights, swam in several different spots.
This year, I am to repeat this escapade with one small difference - Ken and Jude Matthews are joining us. It's a kind of re-union of some of the Beachwood 'crew' after so many years.
But Johnny and Elvina have done so much more than this - in many of my visits to Durban over the years, they have invited me to stay with them in their Viewlands apartment.
Efharisto.