THE NIGHT BEFORE IZZY GOES TO WINTERMOON
THE NIGHT BEFORE IZZY GOES TO WINTERMOON
The tent is purchased from BCF in Burleigh West and the Stretcher is purchased along with the rechargeable lantern from AUSSIE DISPOSALS ON TWEED. Izzy is showering before the night’s sleep then off at 6am with Pete Lawson to WINTERMOON LOON. Not much more needs to be said. They are doing a gig at the Railway Institute in Gladstone en route and staying in a large house. Then to the festival to which like my DOS and HONGKONG I was not invited.
Nevertheless I am well into discovering things about the Julian/Julien families. Thats my fathers grandmothers family . Look this up MIKMAQ. In nova scotia. With the Interenet I do not actually need to travel in the van and sleep in the tent. I can trace families all over the world.
JIM’S BIRTHDAY
The busyness is passed for now and its Jim’s 27th birthday. He’s in Armidale and has just built a pickup for his guitar and now he can use the Behringer thing that we gave him for his birthday. I don’t understand it but Izzy says its quite a feat.
Jim said the Gas had run out for their heater and the Gas People said they would deliver some ” next week “. Thats 21st century in Armidale. HIs phone line is repaired after 2 weeks . Country energy cut through it – apparently.
Its not so cold here in Bilambil. Sun is shining and birds are singing etcetera ,etcetera . I do not at this time have anything I want to write about. Yesterday went to Burleigh Heads. Disappointed is an apt word. The Gold Coast shivers my spine with disappointment almost every time.
I liked Lennox Head. Even in forgetting the mobile modem for the laptop – even in flooding rains – I liked Lennox Head. Bell lives in Lennox Head. Not that I saw her but I could see why one would. Easy walking and easy doing. Even with the Pub packed with Footie Fanatics and over boisterous “had too much to drink” at 9.30pm crowds which sent me home before the HILLBILLY BLUES BANDITS even began to play – I liked it. Sandy footpaths. Flat streets. Down a couple of blocks at Lake Ainsworth, the picnic tables were floating in ti-tree water. That was imnpressive. We ate at Mavis’ Health Food Cafe and then later that night at the Mexican Pancho Villa’s.
We then make a Maccing big mistake and head for Bundall. What sort of place calls its suburbs names like BUNDALL and GAVEN ? Andrews ? Names its sporting grounds PIZZEY and SKILLED Parks. And has toilets such as I have only seen once in Redfern Park.
Compare these Loos. One is Murwillumbah and one is Burleigh Heads. I ask you.
The Exojet missile one is Burleigh Heads. Welcome to you all, Tourists. 2 single loos in the streets of Burleigh. Ahead of their time and hopefully their time never will come. I have dim childhood memories of toilets where Assistants charged a penny. Seemed to work well. Now we have the self-opening toilet with ejecting seat after 10 minutes. Totally graffiti-ed inside. As well as being wet with slime and filth as a result of the self-cleaning when unoccupied system. Now theres another idea ahead of anyones time. I couldn’t find the toilet paper. Silly me – Izzy found it in his Exojet missile. Theres a pushbutton for the loo paper. A push button for the Flush. I didn’t find that either so if you were the one who entered the capsule after me I do apologise. A pushbutton to enter and another to exit.
Somehow the graffiti artists havent been out manipulated by this advanced technology and after many years’ experience with the Skilled us of hard drugs – I don’t imagine they are going to be out manouevred either . The only people being cunningly distressed by the Burleigh Loos seem to be ME and other non syring or marker pen carrying people with full bowels and bladders. Well done Gold Coast. Should bring the Tourists flocking.
This is the Murwillumabh Loo. Perhaps the Dingo effect prevents the wild graffit-ing. This toilet is on a park known for homelessness and kids on the loose but it still has a friendliness to it and hasn’t been destroyed. No door suddenly opens after 10 minutes in case you’re not a Fast Hit Drug Addict. Generally kind of clean. At least not Sloshing in slime like the Exojet. This is a real Awl Obda Aebrae Tangs day for me. Seething resentments at the world which don’t go the way I would like it to. So Do divide anything I write by 100 and leave it for some other sunny day.
Because then we come home to Bilambil. And the Moon comes up Scorpio Full over the ocean and the Creek sits down the bottom below the 300 avocados and Autumn is perfect and sweet again. Two parcels waited for Iz on the doorstep. Kitchen goods from my kids. To go with the chopping Board and the Braithwaite Clan is astonished that it has pulled off a perfect gift giving occasion. Synchronised gift giving. Well done to all of us.
CASSANDRA POMROY AND KATE BRAITHWAITE
TODAY THE TWINS ARE REUNITED IN THE KALANG VALLEY
IZZY’S 59th BIRTHDAY
Today it floods again. Well not quite yet. But its wet enough to keep us at home and inside for the day. We are booked into the SANTE FE MOTEL.
Thats at Lennox Head and tomorrow night Izzy plays at the LENNOX POINT HOTEL with Scrubby and the Hillbilly Blues Bandits.
The day has been spent at home in the Cottage on the Hill with the rain pouring. Now its dark and cool with an almost full moon. This has been one fine birthday Izzy.
THE NIGHT BEFORE IZZY’S BIRTHDAY
Home with the Blues on down the Road. Tonight there are 20 PASPALUM CDs ready to go. And they are going. I don’t know how many they have sold but there’s a few. That gave the Blues Club the pre-preview. Last year it was Izzy’s birthday down there and we had crowds. Tonight there’s just about 3-4 people and some of them are Bloke’s family. I am come home early.
I have already wrapped up Izzy’s present which is a chopping board. Jai made it for him from Bluegum . Local Bello Bluegum. He said it needs to be oiled as often as possible till it gets lustre and then doesn’t need to be oiled so often. I rang Jai after 7pm when the cheap rates were on to get some details from him. He designed it with a curved recess underneath where the plate can slide under and the food be easily slid onto it. Thats a very good idea for a man whose favourite food is grated salads. The Board has handles carved in as well and 4 rubber feet to make sure it is steady and doesn’t slip. the BlueGum is a red wood.
I wrapped it in pink paper and put some ribbony things on. And a card which I really like which looks like 19 th century and reminds me of Melinda. Then I made a sheet with details about the Chopping Board. I am not a natural present wrapper nor am I a natural cook-er. I have spent years building a life which fits me so it is with caution that I wrap gifts or shop in Coles. I wrap them for people I love and that needs caution and surrender in the sense of the Passione which is a surrendered life.
So the gift is created. I spoke with Kate and Jai when I was in Bellingen and we planned and discussed and then Jai who is a craftsman by nature made it and they sent it to me.
Tomorrow we dont have any plans. Izzy is disappointed because he wanted to play music. He will be playing music on Saturday night at the Lennox Point Hotel and we will be staying at a nearby Motel. Then on Sunday it is his birthday EXTRAVAGANZA at ILNAM ESTATE WINERY and Lachlan Quinn tells me its booked out already.
Izzy is going to bake his own cake. I am attempting to remain in the Wings and allow him to make his own choices in his own birthday. We went to Banora Point Coles this morning and he chose the cake mix he wants and tomorrow we will bake in our new TURBO OVEN. This week we have been eating curries cooked in the TURBO OVEN. Kate and Jai’s present might come tomorrow. Kate got it in Coffs the same day that she passed her Provisional Licence test. Its a specialised grater so I believe although I have not yet seen it and the Mad O’Brians are sending a cook book – perhaps two – vegetarian cook books and a knife – a Wiltshire. They all love kitchens and cooking so they do.
Mad O’Brian has his present already and Little Jo tells me he liked it. I told them I might not be there for the Poppy’s birthday and that I am considering going up there between the 2 birthdays. Suited them although I still have to check with the little girl. Izzy’s girls are coming on the 16th and staying till the 19th. The Poolside Cabana has been booked for them. We need one more mattress is all. iZZY is going North for the first week of May so perhaps I shall travel then. For now – I wait for the music to finish and for him to come home.
THESIS AND RESEARCH
Today then we settle in on the Hill to research. He is out front with boxes of papers. The back door creaks in autumn winds and in the trees out back the tiny birds are in song. Wee wrens I would think but havent seen them today so I am not sure.
Izzy has dug out research he has been doing over many years now and we are sorting and filing and trying to assimilate the details of a life almost lost. We hunt back through the 19th century and scrounge through papers and web sites.
Tonight he will be playing guitar and working out which songs he can play at the IZZY FOREAL BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA on Sunday April 20th. I shall be videoing him on the John Sebastian Song which is my personal favourite. Our videos consist of the Sony Camera and last for a max of 2 minutes . Thats why the LAST GOODNIGHT was good. Its short. The DYLAN SONG BOOK BAND ones are shockers. Way too long.
They tell me I can get a memory card to extend the life of the recording and take more fotos as well but I keep forgetting to do so. Doesn’t matter really. Contentment lies within a 2 minute video clip on a $187 camera.
Tonight I might begin to TRANSCRIBE some of the Melinda papers. Its cold around the ankles and the weather for settling indoors and perhaps turning on a heater. Kati B’s already been driven to that Down in Kalang. TODAY KATE PASSED HER PROVISIONAL DRIVING TEST AND NOW SHE CAN DRIVE A MANUAL CAR. That means she can now drive her Magna Station Wagon. She learned to drive in Sydney in the middle of the hectic-ness of Camperdown etc and now she’s facing Kalang winding and twisting snake roads. However she is legally able to do so.
Yesterday a parcel arrived in the Letter Box down the Bottom . Iz pulled over the Charade to get it out of the Box which was alright in itself – except that it was his birthday gift which Jai personally has made for him. Luckily it was wrapped thoroughly in bubble wrap and boxed and in addition a large spider ran across it – successfully diverting his attention. DOS says the spider lives there all the time and even when he kills it – back it comes. So he says. The GIFT looks very good. My son-almost-in-law is a craftsman and a thinker and creator and this is an inspired present this one.
DOS brought the mail down today in the Merc. He had trouble reversing back out and thats the first time in 3 years that the ground has been wet enough to cause any problem at all. Its been like it all Summer with the relentless rains.
2 WEEKS IN BILAMBIL
And the Blues begin to lift with fine weather and warmth and some resting from the year of transiting between two worlds.
This week we proceed with the partnering as well as inviting the populace to Izzy’s birthday party extravaganza at ILNAM WINERY in Carool on Sunday 20 April.
This morning we take the FORMS to Centrelink. The Glossy 10 x 8s as Arlo Guthrie called them. Izzy has put thesis level effort into filling in these FORMS. Three times I have rung the Centrelink Hotline for advice and three times have been greeted with affectionate and understanding chuckles. Seems that they are now all filled in and we will head to town in the Charade and hand them in. Being a Celibate Single since 1987 (pretty much) – I find this DAUNTING. I didn’t realise the level of commitment involved in a Centrelink form. The three chuckling telephone advisors have, with compassion , explained it to me.
I understand that we are now PARTNERED and have only recently had the concept of re-partnering explained to me by the DOS who is now De-partnered. Me – I will shortly be PARTNERED – in the eyes of Centrelink and before God and those gathered there at Tweed Heads Centrelink Office. This time of the year is significant for me. Mad O’Brian was born on the 22nd. My twin cousins Keith and Ross Carter were born 6 months after me on the 12th April 1950. My car rego is due on the 16th. Izzy is 6 months older than me – born on the 18th April 1949. I believe some of my grandparents were born around this time of the year and often Easter and the Easter Show are on as well.
And now it become OFFICIAL PARTNERING TIME.
REGISTRATION DAY
Registered the car today. Easily which is a most unusual thing for me. I cannot remember the last time I had enough money to pay registration without worrying. So there it is with a purple sticker to be put on. $30.10 it cost. The Green Slip with AAMI was $265 and I am a pensioner so the rego itself was free. I am reflecting upon times past while we transition into being PARTNERED. Thats what Centrelink calls it. PARTNERED. He on AusStudy and me on a disability pension. So I look back through the Albums to get a grip on things. See what you think:
My DOS and His Son Geoff from Newport are on the roof like a PAIR OF POSSUMS – as Doug said. They are cleaning out the gutters and the roof. A fine thing to see so it is. Father and Son on the roof. So life here had a good throb to it except for the aching hole where my kids go.
Izzy’s girls rang and they are coming to visit in Mid-May. From the South Coast of NSW. You need to specify that here. Because to the Northerners Coolangatta is the South Coast. To the New South WelshMen , Tweed Heads is the North Coast. Until last weekend , there was an hours time difference between the adjoining towns. I once lived on Boundary Street , on the NSW side. That meant that if I crossed the street I was in Queensland. That also meant an hour’s time difference in a 20 metre walk. The Shop was on the other side of the road and sometimes my car was parked on the other side of the road. In a different state. With different Police and Parking Rules etc.
I once taught for a little at Tweed Heads Public School. If you leaned over the fence at the back of the playground, your head was in Queensland and your body was in NSW.
Daylight Savings has ended now. That closes some of the Gap. A lot of people fudge a Queensland address to get the Car Rego. I don’t think its cheaper any longer but Queensland doesn’t demand a yearly inspection. Don’t matter to me this year because mine has passed the REGO CHECK. Thanks to Danny at D AND K. on Ourimbah Road Tweed Heads.
I went on from the RTA to take lunch at the Terranora Shopping Centre. Asked the girl at Raz Cafe what it was that they were building and she tells me its the new Tavern. 3 levels with 2 beer gardens and a bistro. She tells me a new Thai Restaurant is opening there as well. Hmnmm. Its taking time but its doing it. Spreading out into the Country is Sub-urbia so I might as well enjoy it till and if i can escape.
That means Pineapple and Cheese Toasted Fingers at Raz Cafe. With a Banana Smoothie on Soy. It brings back an ancient memory ( 1970 ) of the Gold Coast with Hilary Eastwick-Field of some rainy night landing in Surfers Paradise in a small tent and finding an eatery down some alleyway and being mightily happy to get cheese and pineapple fingers toasted. I still am mighty glad to get them. Specially when I come home to Rice Pudding from Panorama Plaza where they make their own and sell it to take away for $3.00. Along with Chet’s Thai Take-away.
BILAMBIL BLUES CLUB
http://bilambilbluesclub.wordpress.com/
THURSDAY NIGHTS 8pm TILL LATE. BILAMBIL BLUES CLUB . FREE LIVE MUSIC. BISTRO AT BISTRO BOB’S
FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH – BOB DYLAN SONGBOOK BAND
ARALUEN
- Shantytown is known as HAPPY VALLEY. ( See Randwick Council and PICTURES AUSTRALIA)
- TG sends an email asking whether the birth of Emily Kendall was after Basil Kendall had gambled away Araluen.
- We look up ARALUEN. Its a valley down South known as HAPPY VALLEY
- We take a drive South of Murwillumbah along Wardrop Valley and come across a property named ARALUEN.
TRAVELLING ROUND THE LOOP
We took off on a loop drive today. Its not so easy to Loop down at Bellingen. Most of the Valleys END. They go for miles and then they END. Except for Gleniffer which loops. Here they Loop. And Izzy is not experienced in the Looping Valleys of the Tweed and its been several years since I have done much of it. So we hopped into the Charade due to the Starter Motor Issue with the Star Wagon and braved the LARGE Spider and headed out through Tumbulgum . We took a turn into Leddays Creek so that Izzy knows where the Tip is. I think this one is called Waste Disposal or it might be Recycling Centre. I am not sure. Its a TIP . Smells just as sweet no matter what name its known by. Next door to the Pound which Izzy says should be called a Dollar.
We took the straight road through the canefields and along the canals and creeks , checked the tip then took the loop out on the sealed road back to the Old Pacific Highway. Which might now be called the Tweed Valley Way. Down South Trunk Road 76 is now Waterfall Way and the Raleigh Tip is known also by another name . I am pretty sure the word RESOURCE fits into the name of the Tips in both areas but don’t really understand quite how. At Kalang there is only a WASTE TRANSFER STATION. Open on selected days. The Road is still called KALANG ROAD. As I have said before , I have been told that the Guris used Kalang as an expression of – well lets say as an EXCLAMATION – I no longer recall who told me this but it sounds feasible. Perhaps a sign of impatience with WhiteFella questions. They still call it Kalang Road but IMM tells me that The Kalang Bus Driver is refusing to transport the children past the Sunny Corner Turn Off anymore due to the condition of the road. Parents have to pick them up – similar to the Waste Transfer Station only a kilometre or so away from the Sunny Corner Turn off. Could be true. Gary Sampson the Kalang Bus Driver who lives at the very end of the Valley has threatened many things over the years and the road certainly hasn’t been upgraded in the decade or so since I have been there.
Up here – however – roads are wider and garbage bins on wheels are seen way out on country roads. Well done Tweed Council. Not something you would see in Bellingen Shire.
Mind you Tweed Shire doesn’t get many WELL DONES. It doesn’t even allow any water sports. It pulls down buildings at random. It took the entire top of a sub tropical hill over the way from The Cottage and built the Great Wall of China. Money seems to talk very Loudly in Tweed whereas in Bello – they don’t allow progress to worry them at all. Urunga had a street sign saying clearly and proudly – THE LITTLE TOWN THAT TIME FORGOT. I am very homesick for Bellingen Shire and my own Kids and Grandkids but I am doing the shadowing of a PhD and allowing till I turn 60 to go home again.
Getting back to this morning , we went on the loop drive. South to Tumbulgum and then left at the big roundabout to the MURWILLUMBAH INDUSTRIAL ESTATE . The Slideshow will lead you through this one.
Its a more laid back Murwillumbahian experience than South Tweed. Then we ventured into the Wardrop Valley. How lovely was this ? Old houses and rainforest. Back of our minds is the Sale of the Property and Possible Further Relocation. Back of MY mind is the newly discovered Clearances of the Sutherland Shire in Scotland from whence my GGG Grandmother Wilhelmina McLeod came with her mother Janet Mackay and 2 siblings. So at the back of MY mind is burning and displacement and all the horrors of eviction. They haunt me still as they have done most of my life. Even with Beryl Mortimers email saying how much she appreciated us as Tenants and with my Discerning Owner saying he hopes beyond hope that the New Owners will want to keep us – still I have visions of burning peat and rafts on the Loch. None of which I know anything at all about but I do know a good deal about moving house and not having anywhere to go to.
Wardrop Valley then entered the realm of Possible Places to Live. We came across a property named ARALUEN. Of all things. Iz has only recently discovered his family ties to the Shantytown at Malabar – called HAPPY VALLEY it was.
Then we heard from TG that Basil Kendall had gambled away ARALUEN . So we looked it up on the Funk and Wagnall and ARALUEN means HAPPY VALLEY. And there it was in Wardrop Valley. Araluen.
Wardrop took us along to Fernvale Road and then on to Minnows Road and out onto the Pacific Highway just a wee bit South of Youngbutts Fruit and Vegie shop now called – FERNVALE BIRD SANCTUARY AND FRUIT BARN. We bought duck food for 50 cents a packet and accompanied by a very large hound we took a walk through the Bird Gardens and then back to the Fruit Barn for TRULY HOME MADE FOOD. Now this is a Great Relief after Brisbane City. I like Brisbane City. I like Sydney City – but they are NOT Young Butt’s Fernvale Fruit Barn with HomeMade HomeMade Food. I like Villages and country towns best of all.
This is some of what their Pamphlet says.
Relax and enjoy 4 acres of exhibition gardens with native birds and water fowls. Picnic in the Gardens. Drive up to the door. Plenty of parking area. Just 5 mins south of Murwillumbah on the Tweed Valley Way.
Quality local fruit and veg. If you want to ring YoungButts Fernvale Fruit Barn. try these numbers – 02 66 77 93 23 or 0419 623 697.
We had Zenvelds coffee from down near Bangalow and Pumpkin scones for me with local jam and some splendid sort of cream which brings back a distant memory of pure joy. Izzy had Blueberry muffins. Two of them because one would not have been enough and they were only $2 each. They also had home made ice cream and choc-coated bananas like Izzy had in 1980 when he was up here. Things which have now been pulled down or are not what they used to be.
We also picked up a pamphlet called DISCOVER THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED which is a wee tourist pamphlet for Burringbar , Stokers Siding , Mooball and Crabbes Creek. We were up at Ilnams Winery early this week and Mark and Lachlan Quinn were putting together something similar for our valley here – linking Jamiesons and The Bilambil Blues Club with the Ilnams Winery. Took a look at Burringbar and down to Mooball , over to the Coast and looking for Tanglewood which is what I thought the trip was about as a very PROBABLE Place to Live. That meant a left at Bogangar and then into Tanglewood. I do not know what Tanglewood used to be – it looks like the same situation as I have seen in a few places up here. Someone’s grand vision perhaps which has gone astray or failed. Over on the Hill facing The Cottage – is Terranora Resort – a grand and fine complex of Golf Course , Accommodation and ClubHouse. It is now owned so the DOS tells me by Koreans. The ClubHouse is a Ghost House falling down. The Accommodation is being rented as permanent furnished rentals in the way caravan parks once were and the ghosts truly wander. Tanglewood seems to be in the same condition although more eco-conscious. Many signs saying KEEP OUT and PRIVATE PROPERTY. Who are they written for ? What has happened in there ? There seems to be an empty hall or two . Down on Dry Dock Road is the Aquatic Club. Same sort of thing. Grand Vision. Fine Building and EMPTY.
BILAMBIL IN AUTUMN
This is getting close to the time of the year in which I first moved here 3 years ago. That means exquisite beauty. Sun rise from bed and cool breezes. It means haunting blues skies and wisping clouds. This year it also means the possibility of Sale and Re-Location. The real estate agent comes today. Izzy has gone for a run down the bottom. In the park by the Creek. I don’t know why Bilambil Creek runs so dirty. I am accustomed to Bellingen and waters clear enough to see the stones on the bottom.
Earlier in the week we went for a drive down to the park to check out the potential early morning run. Brown snakes on the mind and wee hillocks of slashed grass and dips of muddied swamp but not too bad. Iz has gone down in my car despite the possibility of the large spider because his is mucking up again and again has to be hit with a stick to start it.
Iz is back with dirt splattered all over him. He tells me the morning is not so good for a run due to the dampness and the spiderwebs
So we are going driving instead. Down Murwillumbah way and across the Hills . We are going to take some photographs at Condong of areas near where Grandfather John Bell had a landholding and his Brother Norman Bell . We might take a look at the Industrial Estate and Tallowood where a cottage is advertised for rent. Perhaps we will go over Clothiers Creek or down and around Wooyung. Then I might get back for a meeting. Tonight is Bilambil Blues Club. The pressure is actually – well as Madeline says – DEFINITELY AND ACTUALLY – off us now.
BILAMBIL ON A TUESDAY NIGHT
BRISBANE IS DONE
And we are in Bilambil with more things than can fit into this cottage. Seemingly. And we will be looking for entirely new activities and adventures. Iz has finished at AustLit and is building shelves and ledges for books involved in his PhD. Fitting into the Cottage has the elements of my former caravan lives or presumed boat life. We have 4 guitars. 3 of them bass guitars and one of those a very large washburn . We have 2 of most things and 16 pillows. 7 doonahs. My Elmac Laptop is up in Armidale with Robert being repaired if possible. My little PC is on my desk. It would be exciting if the property were not for sale but IT IS FOR SALE. The Linden Gallery is NO MORE. Buggar.
So we build a new home nest knowing that soon Buyers are likely to be INSPECTING and that we might have to move on 4 weeks’ notice. Nevertheless we unpack and arrange and dare to dream that we might stay here a while. We NEED one place for one year for Izzy to complete his PhD -undistracted. Out here the crows squark and the cattle low – especially on weekends and we each have a desk at the window. Our windows face Nor’East cause Doug built this with careful Capricornian thought and planning. The South is protected from the Wild Winds by a bank and stone wall and the forest behind which leads down to the Dell. I have not been down to the Dell. Doug tells me stories about it. He told me about the tractor and the grandchildren riding on it – down to the Dell. If I pause and think about the Brown Snakes , I don’t fancy the trek to The Dell. I have lived in the country since the early 70s and have never been so troubled at the thought of snakes until coming up here. Someone told me about the aggressive Brown Snakes which intentionally pursue Humans and hunt them down. Seems the nearer you get to the Queensland border the more peculiar the Creatures become. Perhaps – its simply the Tales about Creatures which become a little more colourful.
Now Izzy comes hurtling inside being chased around by a March Fly. I told him they don’t bite anymore now that April is here but seems I was wrong. I have seen snakes here. The Slasher was in Yesterday and Today. The paddock below is cleared and the path to the Dell appears to be. Ray from down Biral Close did the slashing. Today he came up and under the mango tree and the jacaranda tree.
We are coming down from a truly crazy year for me and two or more crazies for him. That involved a Centrelink call as well. I don’t like calling Centrelink but I came across a young woman called Kate in Disability Support and she was a sweetheart. She’s sending out the form for us to become PARTNERED. PARTNERED. I don’t recall having ever been PARTNERED. I will be a disabled PARTNER and he will be a STUDENT partner. They are SENDING OUT THE FORMS. Here we go then ! A Uni degree – Masters with Honours and a School Teacher and before I even see the Forms – I know we will not be academically qualified to fill The Forms in.
No matter . Kate tells me I will be down by about $100 per week before rent assistance so we will see. We are now resident in Bilambil. We have only ONE home. This could be – as Harry once said – GOOD.
We ate at A NIGHT IN INDIA for our Farewell Dinner. Thats in TOOWONG that is and it was SPLENDID. Courteous and efficient on the phone. Table for 2 said we- 6.30 ? IN we went. Very fine Indian Decor. Punjabi and across the way theres plenty of parking in the Woolworths CarPark – illegal probably – but plenty of it. We were shown to a table for two. Izzy said the chair was wrong for him but it suited my 5 foot perfectly. Seating is often a problem for me in restaurants etc as a Vertical Conservationist and Environmental Saviour. These seats FITTED me. The table was longer than wide providing room for the variety of side dishes in metal bowls . The water was presented in a chilled brass jug. A NIGHT IN INDIA had the ‘difficult to procure’ banana and coconut salad which disappeared from many venues during the famous banana famine of 2007 following the ‘ devastating cyclone Larry’. A NIGHT IN INDIA is the first place i have re-encountered it . Pay attention Restaurants , BANANAS ARE NOW IN PLAGUE PROPORTIONS. You can bring back the Banana and Coconut Salad. I will bring my own bananas if you like. And for me with my ancient love of Rose Water – the curry cooked with it was a wonderful way to finish one year in Brisbane. Fast service. Really Good stuff.
And now the 2 of us sit here and assess things. Me – I look back over this one year of romance and say goodbye to some things and hello to others. This year I will be seeing my kids and mebbe travelling. NOT to WINTERMOON – the first really big sticky resentment I have with him and its a ripper which don’t go away. He is going North. I want to go North. I want to see the towns I havent seen since the early 70s and the ones I didnt get to see then. But HE is going North with Paspalum to Wintermoon. 4 Old Boys travelling north and sleeping in tents. God be with Them. Cause I ain’t.
And I’m not amused either. Ah well. Going north yesterday to collect the last of the AuchenShuggle – we stopped in at Loganholme HYPERDROME. It is truly HYPER. The Qld Ecilops followed us AGAIN. It wasn’t till later that we realised the brake light rear driver’s side was blown. Lucky they didn’t stop us. We were a little nervous after the Cleveland Experience. Add to that the morning Izzy was stopped while running near the park at Auchenflower before dawn and despite our age and venerability – we are becoming a trifle anxious when it comes to the Queensland Constabulary. I am probably a little more anxious than he is due to GGG Grandfather John Ready having perished in a hulk in Moreton Bay in the very early 1800s. A genetic legacy of Queensland terror.
So the jigsaw of the last year or so falls into place ready for my next moves and I am taking a close look. What do I want to keep ? What do I want to be rid of ? What do I want to bring into my life ? All the deep and meaningful questions that come when a road has been crossed. Where am I going Now ? IN fact – WHERE AM I NOW ? How did I get HERE ?
I am going down to toss the fallen Palm Frond over the back. Then we are going to the park down the bottom for a WALK. Me in My Lynx sandals. I know the shoes I want now and am close to the Bag I want. Kate says mebbe the perfect bag I have in mind don’t exist but I am actually getting closer and closer all the time.
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