For the first half of 2004 my handyman business was ticking over nicely, and my paid webpages were taking care of any other time I might have had spare.  Then I was offered a research project by the Rail Infrastructure Corporation to compile a list of petrol and tar loading and unloading points that exist, or have existed, on the NSWR system.  I expected that this would take around three months to complete so I had to cut back on my handyman work in order to fit it in.  I stopped my advertisement in the local paper in July, but it wasn't until around November that work dropped off enough to spend more than about one day a week on 'The Project'!  My research partner and I were finally starting to make some serious headway on it when RSA had a reorganization and wanted it finished as soon as possible... arghh ;-)  We managed to get all the basic information compiled and had finished most of the maps and added most of the photographs when it had to be handed in in early 2005.  Since then I have been busy with the webpages and looking after my handymaning 'regulars' and trying to catch up with some paid modelling work I had promised to complete for various people when in early November I got The Phone Call...  Unfortunately, I can't say much about this very exciting offer until its 'Official', but suffice to say, its a very interesting development that should keep me very busy for the next ten years or so... :-)

I'm still looking after the Austrains and Eureka Models webpages, which is a lot of fun, particularly with all the models that are arriving, or about to arrive.

I haven't managed a huge amount of modelling in the last two years, but I have managed to finish a couple of projects, mainly in Large scale.  This is one of them...

Its a conversion of an Aristocraft model into something a little more appropriate for an Australian railway.
I've also been working on Lambing Flat, mainly fixing a few of the minor problems that have caused it not to be run much for a while, and finishing a couple of models I started around 10 years ago...
If you are interested in finding out more about the model railways have a look at my
Lambing Flat, my Rurr Valley Railway or my new photo site.

Lastly, those that know my (lack of) sporting history will be astounded to hear that I have taken up Soccer!  It started out with helping out with coaching Tom's soccer team in 2003, then I found myself actually coaching his YMCA Under 9 team in 2004.  It was a "character building" year all round, as the team was wrongly graded and were overwhelmed in every game they played, but I did my best, with the help of some very skilled team Dads, and the team did learn a bit about (defensive!) soccer during the year.  However, I wasn't happy with the internal club politics so we moved to Beecroft club in 2005, where I was quite happy to assist the new team's coach where needed.  Tom's 2005 team had a much better year, eventually coming second in the series. Meanwhile, asking myself why should the kids have all the fun, I decided to bite the bullet and have a go myself!   About half way through the year I joined the Beecroft Over 35 team and played in the Division 8 team.  The team is a great bunch of blokes and I really enjoyed the couple of times I managed to take the field!.

I'm number 12....

The Beecroft Over 35, Div 8 team at the end of our last game of 2005.
We had a very good game that day and one of our members made, in my opinion, the quote of the year when he said, during a particularly fine play by our side...
"Just like Premier League, only in slow motion..."

We even managed to win the Pennant (fourth place in the competition), though my contribution was minimal, as I mentioned above, I didn't join the team till half way through the season.  As I was the "new boy" I spent most of the games on the sidelines, either as a substitute or spectating due to injuries.  However, with a bit more fitness and practice I hope to make a bigger contribution in 2006!  In the meantime I am attempting to improve my fitness and match skills with regular Sunday morning  practice at Cheltenham Oval with the combined O35 and All Ages teams.  Not bad for an old bloke who actively avoided sport when younger!