Shocked!

Last week when I was applying for my position, I sent an email to each of my referees, I also had their written refs but I got in touch with them to advise them that I was using it and may be contacted.

Karen who we saw in June and Brian who we visited at year replied the next day. Jason from Western Australia, I didn't hear from and thought that maybe he had moved jobs as we hadn't been in contact for a couple of years. Jason used to visit the school in China and he was the overseer that the course was being taught and marked correctly as the students if they passed would receive a certificate from WA TAFE. When he was in China we spent quite a bit of time with him both work wise and socially.

Last night I received an email from his wife to inform us that Jason had been diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and had died last June. It probably was 2010 that we ad last been in contact. What a shock, I think he would have been about eight to ten years younger than us.

Shocks were the order of the week as Karen, again I have known her in a work capacity for about ten or twelve years, replied that I was too young to retire and she is the same age as me. She is Chinese and as such if some-one had asked me what age she is, I would have thought mid forties.

The first shock was through a phone call on the weekend. A friend from Red Hats asked me abut the house sitters that we had had. I said that I couldn't fault them and arranged to put her in contact with Lesley. The sit was for three weeks, finishing on Friday. Apparently the house was untidy with nuts and washers in the passageway, car had been damaged and she had unpaid tolls. She was not happy. I felt awful but all I could say was that wasn't our experience.

Due to people overstaying on a previous sit, they split up and one did one sit and one the other. We were going to get them back when we go for an extended trip next year, now we are not sure if we will or not.