There was nothing in the literature which said my contacts and iCal wouldn't sync at all.
You didn't read this right on the iCloud homepage at: http://www.apple.com/icloud/
"iCloud requires iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2; a Mac computer with OS X Lion; "
It's also repeated at the bottom of every subsequent iCloud page. Also, the iCloud Mac OS X 10.7.2 OS update is also only available to Lion users, and the required iOS5 update is only available to iPhone 3GS or later users.
In fact, it says the opposite.
Where does it say that contacts and calendars will continue to sync to Macs and iPhones that don't meet the requirements for iCloud?
There was nothing on there which said I wouldn't be able to send email from other accounts from www.icloud.com
This fact is mentioned in one of Apple's many iCloud Support Articles: MobileMe: About moving to iCloud
So, you've bought all new equipment then?
Nope. I just updated my iMac to OS X 10.7.2 Lion and my iPhone 3GS to iOS 5. Both of which were free updates for me.