Well the girls have been away for 5 weeks on their backpacking adventure (it feels like they have been gone for months). After what appeared to be a bit of an indifferent start in Melbourne, with a combination of body clock adjustment and cold and wet weather things have certainly picked up. Sydney looked amazing, no shortage of tourist spots there and the weather has turned into glorious hot sunshine. They have made their way up the east coast, visiting Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Fraser Island, Whitsunday Island, (I've probably missed some) all look absolutely stunning. I've shared some of the photographs in this blog.
A little known fact for you, did you know that when Captain Cook discovered Whitsunday Islands in 1770 he hadn't taken account of the time difference, so although he thought he'd discovered them on Whit Sunday, hence the name, technically it was Whit Monday. International time zones and the date line were established 114 years later following the International Meridian Conference in 1884 - so all you quizzers out there keep that one up your sleeve.
Although I've never really had an inkling to travel to Australia, having seen some of the photos I have to say I can see the attraction, so when I have my gap year, I'm considering whisking Mrs Riley off there to have a look around. For now though, she will have to make do with our recent trip to Snettisham, which, I have to say, has it's own natural beauty. It's just that the sky is a bit greyer and the sea a murky mucky green and you have to walk about in your coat, hat, scarf and boots, which is probably just as well, you wouldn't want to see photos if me walking round in my budgie smugglers. (Nice lunch in the
Rose & Crown in Snettisham village, if you are visiting, dogs welcome).
I have a bit of a golden rule when using social media, never go on and post something when you've had a few drinks. If I'm honest I don't always stick to this and its always a worry when you have to look back the following day just to check what you actually posted. I'm not a great fan of Instagram (if I'm honest I don't really understand it), I've never used Snapchat but I do ok on Facebook and Twitter. Instant messaging and video chat are fantastic though, I do find it a difficult concept to grasp, that the girls are on the other side of the world, 10,500 miles away and I can chat with them or video chat and its as thought they are upstairs in their bedroom (yes, we did do that!!). However I did fall foul of the no drinking rule when it was Ellie's birthday. Of course just as they are waking up I'm coming home from the pub and we had a lovely video chat to wish Ellie a happy birthday. The most annoying thing is I didn't see it coming ..... "Dad we are thinking of going out for a meal to celebrate Ellie's birthday if you want to send us some money, love you dad!" ...... then £100 later! This is supposed to be eat for £1 a day cheap backpacking trip, what a sucker, £100! I must have been well oiled that night. I did try and redeem myself the following day by asking for my change back, but the story was too long to go into, cocktails and friends were mentioned, I'm sure they had a great night.
Well things at home are pretty much the same, just fewer comings and goings. Mrs Riley now has me all to herself to do with as she likes, which tends to mean putting pictures up or fixing this and that - this wasn't really what I had in mind when I thought we had the house to ourselves. Anyway Christmas decorations has been a topic of conversation recently, with a debate around if we are having a tree this year "there are no presents to go under the tree, so what's the point". That was really sad, no family trip to the 'Christmas Tree Farm' and the hunt for the perfect tree - that's too big, that's too small, don't like that one, not enough branches, too many branches. Then once we are settled we have to cram it into the car and for the next 6 months I am picking up needles from the boot and back seat. When we get home the saga continues and we have the ritual of trying to get the bloody thing into the Christmas tree stand. There is always that big nobly bit that wont fit in the stand and has to be attacked with chisels and saws risking life and limb and also a bald patch on the carpet when the chisel slips. Yes to be honest I won't miss that, but 'no presents', what is Santa thinking!! I'm hoping that my daughters have got it all in hand and I'll wake up Christmas morning to at least a pair of socks.
Its funny isn't it how something can trigger a thought in your head, and once its there, there is no shaking it. The other night I was in bed and I had a 'paranormal event' (it's really not what you are thinking!!). I was in a deep sleep when I heard a noise which woke me up. I have a set of drawers at the side of my bed, they are sizable, about 1.5m in length (5ft for my older readers) and the bottom drawer had come open with a loud bang. I looked up and in that half awake state I thought Oscar the Dog was asleep in the drawer. (I know Oscar's a smart dog, but in the cold light of day you realise, it would be impossible for him to get his paw in the drawer handle pull it open then climb in and snuggle down). I had been on the red wine, but what on earth possessed me to think the bloody dog was in the drawer. Anyway I couldn't close the drawer from my bed, and as I swung my feet down I stood on Oscar, so it definitely wasn't him. As I tried to get back to sleep, I couldn't settle thinking, how on earth that had happened. Then I thought maybe its a sign and the girls are in some form of trouble - yes don't go there, it must have been some psychic power to get the drawer to open from the other side of the world, move over Uri Geller!! Anyway at 2am rationale thought doesn't come into it, so I climbed out of bed, fell over the bloody dog again and trotted off down stairs to check my phone - relief, no messages of help. I've no idea what I would have done if there were, bombing off to the airport in my underpants to get a flight to Aus arriving 2 days later. It did however put my mind at rest and I could get back to sleep. The opening drawer remains a mystery, or maybe I'd had a bit more red wine than I thought!
Anyway enough nonsense, I've just found a Lego Christmas tree on Amazon, this could be the answer, and I have to prep for Mrs Riley's birthday. It's a double whammy, birthday and Christmas in December, but I can do this without the girls, advising and making suggestions We've had a focus group in the pub to work through ideas; saucepans - "no there is nothing wrong with the ones we have", iron and ironing board - "no she treated herself to a new one recently". This is more difficult than I thought. So after a couple more pints and some deep thinking the best we could come up with was a soundbar for the new TV and a half season ticket for Sheffield Wednesday............ mmmmmm maybe I'm missing the girls more than I realised!
No comments:
Post a Comment