Christmas Letter- 2024
Here I am on Christmas Eve, again prompted to review my decision to break the annual habit, by the receipt of welcome epistles from so many others.
My personal doings are mostly included in my online journal (jdoboyd.com). These include my Birdsville via Wagga trip with two other octogenarians in May/June. In very recent days I have indulged my cricket tragic nature and have enjoyed the Australia/India Tests and have attended Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Otherwise much time has been taken up with the distribution of my self published autobiography – Pastoral Pursuits- which has been over ten years in the making. I am so grateful to my local printer for all his guidance and professionalism in putting it together as it morphed from a cheap paperback with perhaps some commercial prospects into a very large, ‘coffee table’ type publication, full of photographs, with no commercial prospects!
I should also quickly acknowledge all the assistance from son Michael with all his digital and marketing skills. I have been selling it for the printing costs ($125) to interested parties, mostly elderly farmers of both sexes. The very positive feedback, with some lovely reminiscing conversations, has encouraged me to spread the word. As one of two very helpful reviews in rural publications suggested, it is more an “album” than the typical biography.It is not something that should be read from cover to cover. Roughly half the words are in what I categorised as “Appendices” which would only be of interest to particular people.
Following my Holy Land Tour last year and my attendance at the Sydney Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) meeting in October, I have been taking a great interest in worldwide moves to preserve and renew belief in Western civilisation and protect/endorse Judeo/Chtistian values. Books such as Tom Holland’s “Dominion” and Nigel Biggar’s “Colonialism” have been a big influence. Likewise conversations on YouTube with the likes of Niall Ferguson, Ayaan Hersi Ali, John Lennox and Os Guinness, have been particularly helpful. Likewise, I am a great fan of The Australian newspaper with Chris Uhlmann my latest hero.
On the family front my grandkids (4) give me great pleasure, as do their parents.Daughter Kate, despite her disabilities, remains her cheerful positive self.
I remain very confident that they will all benefit from and enjoy fulsome lives, long after oldies like me have departed. It remains my objective to do everything I can to ensure this is the case.
This apology for a newsletter, carries my best wishes for a healthy and happy Christmas and 2025.
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