Please forgive my rusty literary skills as we’re just back from a two month break back home in Newcastle, barely breaking an intellectual sweat and certainly not telling a tale. Our visit was, as always, bitter sweet with time just not long enough to reconnect properly with family and friends, let alone our lifestyle with which we’re becoming increasingly unfamiliar. We were constantly perplexed for weeks at little things that we know all about but had chosen or happened to forget. “Perhaps it’s just old age creeping up!” “ Why is this happening?” “ Doesn’t the garbage come tonight? Oh no, that’s back ‘home’.” I even decided to whizz down to Wendell’s to buy a cake at one point: that was always going to prove a hard task, especially as it’s in Tienmu.
However, apart from our slight emotional frailty and generally discombobulating thought processes, we had a great time. We had lots of quality time with our parents, dining out and visiting galleries and attending parties, but all of course as a backdrop to some good chat sessions. It’s always the highlight of our journey home. Our dear old friends who’ve stuck by us despite our paltry efforts to stay in touch were once again forgiving and delightful. We had a few special times connecting with our nieces and nephews and my sisters and brothers-in-law. Two especially memorable occasions occurred drinking copious amounts of alcohol at various sister’s houses and talking all sorts of old nonsense: perhaps I’m an evil influence! Our delightful, rapidly growing up nieces spent a few days with us and that was a joy, however Cass and I both felt the need for a little rest after they’d returned home: we’re hopeless wimps where any type of ‘in loco parenting’ needs to happen!
Our annual bike trip followed the much vaunted “Tablelands Way”, a road that seems to have been made specifically for a cruising motorcycle. Potential catastrophe struck when our electrical systems started shutting down in the middle of nowhere, but the boys form the bike shop in Bathurst came and rescued us with their truck and trailer. An enforced night then back on the bike: just 200 kilometres down the road, again in the middle of nowhere and the middle of NSW’s coldest snap in 60 years, the same thing happened! We limped into Goulburn and a knowledgeable local bike mechanic identified the prob: a burnt out “stator”, part needing to be shipped from Sydney. Long story slightly shorter, we eventually spent some days in Canberra and just loved our national capital: what better salve than a dose of Aussie national pride at every turn to lift our spirits? The national galleries, the national library, the war memorial, Parliament House all were quite wondrous, but the museum for democracy (old parliament house) was fantastic. Wandering around in the press gallery, the house of reps and the prime minister’s suite, just as they were left was a great experience.
I’m going to try to be slightly less verbose this year, partly to protect my own sanity on a Sunday night and partly to implement some of the things I tell my third graders, namely, stick to a main idea and don’t waffle!! Slide show tells the story in pictures, and stills are just a selection. I’ll try to get into the swing of things a little better next week: wish Cass and me luck as we embark on our first week of meetings and kids (they start on Thursday) and deal with this 36 degree heat: it’s enervating! Cass is reading Home, which she comments is profoundly sad. I'm reading The Brass Verdict: it's fun!
