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- - from Whiterock to a flat in an interesting area near downtown Vancouver , a sort of updated Haight-Ashbury . This jamboree occurs every three years , and this was Pam 's third . Sometimes when Polly was away Anna moved in with Nikki , and by all accounts they got on really well together ( at least for the first week or so ) . The visitors take this as a Very Good Sign , as every other yacht appears to be motoring . Afterwards another friend drove us both to his homestead at Akaroa , an hour or so distant , where we arrived in the wee small hours and spent the next day . Stephanie is a wheelchair-bound eight-year-old with Rett 's syndrome , an unusual condition that affects only girls . Pam continues to teach half time at Cambridge Primary School . Then we headed off in an auto-rickshaw to the Theosophical Society , whose headquarters are in Chennai , and learned a little about the infamous Madame Blavatsky and also about other mystical religions . All at once the dog 's hackles went up and she started to growl as someone first tried the back door and then knocked urgently . But that is n't all ! You have to admire them : in fact , on every visit home he finds his folks always have more to teach him , in terms of how they cope with life and inevitable infirmity . Two computer scientists and a philosopher , they play a wide variety of jazz , try to practise every week , think they are getting much better , but still have regrettably few gigs , maybe one a month or so - - some for meals but none for money . On Dec 22 's Weblife page ( p.21 ) , under Links worth a visit , get this : " As the post-food lull kicks in , try a Queen-style Christmas message with New Zealand 's Witten family , who round up their year , every year , at www.cs.waikato.ac.nz / ~ ihw / xmas / xmas.99.html . The clarinet quartet he organises has been having a lot of fun , with weekly meetings as either quartet or trio , and has also been indulging in some jazz along with the regular diet of modern classical music . Appalled by the desecration of an otherwise pristine coast , we set out to investigate . During his visit Ian sorted out and rationalized the financial arrangements - - surprisingly complex - - and managed to explain it all to Mum ( who until recently had never written a cheque ) . It 's a very social business - - you see all your friends going to movies !