I got up on Friday morning and turned off the 5am alarm that rings on Tuesdays and Fridays. At 5:45 I turned off that alarm. I turned off the 6:15 alarm that rings on Fridays and says that Lindsey will be picking me up in 15 minutes. As it happens, we were at her place anyway.
Friday was a long, long day. Lindsey and I both had things to finish before we left. We didn't leave until after 7 pm. I took pots of noodles from the noodle shop home with me so no one had to cook when we got back to our places a little before 9.
Early tomorrow morning Lindsey and I are taking a plane to Cairns and from there we are heading to Osaka for a two week tour around Honshu, the main island of Japan. We are taking Wendy with us. Her birthday falls on the 25th December which is, you may have noticed, quite a busy day in Anglo culture.
Her birthday was protected when she was a child. We did Christmas in the morning and her birthday in the afternoon. Once she reached adulthood, however, it was largely steamrollered by the family Christmas festivities, particularly once they moved to the evening. However, this year is her 60th birthday and we felt that 60 revolutions around the sun deserved a celebration of its own.
Lindsey and I have been planning this for a couple of years now. We had to tell her eventually that we were taking her away if for no other reason than she needed time off work and a passport. We didn't tell her where until more recently. The entire family did a magnificent job of keeping the secret, although I think enough near misses and slips probably meant that she had a good idea. And eventually we had to tell her. You can't get travel insurance without declaring a destination. And so far there isn't really a usable international currency.
This morning has dawned bright and sunny and Jim and I are visiting Stella at Mount Martha. It was our regular weekend to come and visit Stella plus it was good to see her before Lindsey, Wendy and I all head away for a fortnight. Wendy was here on Friday night - which was just as well as Stella tumbled off the side of her bed in the middle of the night. She wears an emergency pendant and pressed it but it did mean that there was someone here to keep her company while waiting for the ambulance to come and get Stella up and check her over for any damage. Fortunately there wasn't any significant injury so no need for a trip to hospital.
Early Sunday mornings when the sun is shining are peaceful and calm in the retirement village in which Stella lives. Yesterday, on the other hand, was wet and dismal and horrible. Made driving down here something of a challenge - it was hard to see through all the spray coming off the roads. Which reminds me, I must clean Ziggy's back window. It's very difficult to see through it, apart from in the middle where the wiper is. But I won't do it yet. It's still quite early and I am still in my pyjamas.
Stella, Jim and I are planning to have lunch in The Dava and then Jim and I will head back to Lindsey's place, where Jim will be based while we're away. We'll settle him in and then Lindsey and I will head down to Melbourne. Our first flight tomorrow is at 6:00 so we need to be at the airport early. I might have turned of my 5am alarms but I think I'm going to have to set a 3am one just for tomorrow. I am quite often awake at about that time, but not often enough to rely on it for tomorrow!!
No comments:
Post a Comment