Bittersweet

It is unsaid between R and myself, but we both know this will be last time we will visit England. It will be the last time we see his family, unless any of the younger ones visit Australia.

It will certainly be the last time R sees his sisters. R is getting old, his sisters are too and I am not far behind. We are only going this time because we found some very cheap business class air fares. We are too old for cramped 23 hour economy flights. We are nervous and stressed. I tell R, we have done everything we can to ensure things work for us, but there is always the unknown.

 

As this is published, we may well be in a state of panic.

The bare bones are we arrive in Colombo with a hotel stay of around 12 hours included in the flight cost. We arrive in London about 8pm. We are staying in a nearby Heathrow hotel and have a morning flight (insert some bad words about BA domestic) to Newcastle upon Tyne. To return, we have a tickets booked for a train to London for a late evening flight and the the reverse of travelling to England.  

Normally I don't blog or interact but this time I may interact. We shall see.

Back in a month or so. Take good care of yourselves my friends. 

Vale Barry

It was sad to hear the most brilliant performer Barry Humphries died, but at 89 clearly his best years were behind him.

Here are a couple of clips, the first brief and I doubt I need to tell you who his character is in the first clip. The second is longer and Sandy Stone of a different era was my favourite Humphries' character. He was just such an amazing performer. I think we saw Dame Edna on stage ever so many years ago.

Deck Clearance

It was supposed to be at the Frankston Botanic Gardens, but was changed to McDonalds at Karingal because of the weather. Well, that is a bit of come down but the night before Melbourne received 38mm of rain. It would have been very wet underfoot. There were so many kiddies who attended the party, I had to kick them out of way to walk around. 

Afterwards we gathered at Ex Sis in Law's home to celebrate the six year old cafe latte coloured twin's birthday. While Sister, Bone Doctor and Jo could not make it, the rest of the family were there. As per usual, Mother made a late entrance. 

There was much watching of children playing and babies crawling to escape to any door that looked like it would take them outside.

We brought six year old great niece Little Em home with us to stay a couple of nights.

Day 1, she nagged to swim in the pool and R did take her. He cooked sausages, chips and veggies for dinner. That went down well enough. She went to bed at 8 and woke at 7.

Day 2, we had bought tickets to a circus in St Kilda. R was in control, we were there way too early. My arthritic pain was so bad in the area before entering the circus, I found a seat with a backrest, the only way I can relieve the pain. I felt rather unwell. R, can you get me a bottle of water? He did. Oh, I really feel crook. I tried to stand but I could not. I felt faint. I drank some water, and then with my hand clapped over my mouth, brought some of it back up. In some way it was good that I had my hand clapped over my mouth when I then vomited big time and stopped it being projectile. Instead it went mostly over me. The attendant nearby rushed up with cloths and paper towel to help me and clean up. I apologised profusely and he insisted, no problem. Nice lad. I tried to send a complimentary message to Circus Royale, but it there was no contact listed as it is about to launch a new website. 

I visited the toilet and cleaned vomit from my glasses and realised my clothes were in such a mess, I could not attend the circus. I stank. My arthritic pain was so  bad and I felt so unwell, I very slowly walked 200 metres to the tram stop. R wanted to call an ambulance but I knew I would recover. I promised to send him a text once I was home. 

Just two tram stops from home someone sat on the seat next to me. I apologised to him for the smell and said I would soon leave tram. 

I sat in my armchair which always fixes my arthritis pain, then showered and washed my clothes. Imagination or not, I seemed to still smell vomit. 

The circus was apparently very good. My $35 ticket went to waste. R and Little Em returned and there was more swimming in the pool. We took Little Em to a pub for dinner. She went to bed at 9 and did not wake until 8. 

The next day we took her to Prahran for a bit of shopping. We bought take away food and coffee for us and sat in Prahran Square. Little Em loved the fountain water feature and clambered around the 'forest hill'. 

Back home, there was more swimming, an hour and half. 

Oldest Niece with Little M picked up Little Em late afternoon on their way home after staying a couple of nights with my ailing Step Mother who lives up north. 

A couple of photos.

When Little Em stepped into our car to bring her here, she remarked, "How come your car is so clean?". I replied, because we don't have children. Little Em certainly made the place untidy without ever any attempt to tidy up. Things were just dropped on the floors.