Sunday 28 April 2013

Where does the time go?

It seems only yesterday I was sitting here all day with that stupid moon boot on.

But it came off about two weeks ago.  The first day or two I thought I was doing great.  The foot wasn't sore at all and it felt good to be free.  But as the first week passed, the sole of my heel started to hurt.  I thought with dread that it was the "other" heel spur I have, which till now has been dormant.

That first Saturday I was fortunate enough to be invited to photograph an engagement party of dear friends from the club.  The night was a long one, and while I didn't get as many good photos as I would have liked, the happy couple were pleased with the results.  During the course of the evening, however, my foot was hurting to the point of being barely able to walk by the finish (at one am!).  It's all been downhill from there.  So much pain.  Not so much the sole of the heel, but the entire area, with the skin around the scar contracting and the whole area being super sensitive and aching non stop.  And the worst bit is that it has played havoc with my right knee to the point I can no longer figure which hurts most, the ankle or the knee.


 I spent the entire week (evenings of course) working on a slideshow, and after losing it once and having to start again, I completed it in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The couple were due at lunch time to view the results.  

But in between there were issues with Dobby.  Monday we had a huge fight (nothing unusual) and Tuesday she decided to spend time with a friend.  She sent me a text message to say she was going to spend the night with her and would be home the next day (Wednesday).  By then she had calmed down and all was good.

Her birthday was Thursday and in the evening we had presents.  An old friend of hers had come back to town so came for the day.  She and I got matching piercings on our nostrils and Dobby got her eyebrows waxed.



Friday she sent me a lovely text message full of love and inspiration.  I was very moved.



Friday night I had to go and pick up her cake from the other side of Adelaide.

On the Saturday, she reminded me she was having friends over for dinner and a sleep over.  I sent her and her dad out to pick up sandwiches for us all (including the happy couple) for lunch and munchies for her sleep over.

The slideshow was shown and went off beautifully, and once they had left it was time for a quick clean up.  Dobby's friends started arriving around four, the cake was cut, and at five-thirty we headed off to the restaurant.  I love buffet.  The girls (six of them) had a table to themselves and Fluffy and I could kid ourselves it was date night.  We had a great time.  They came home, ensconced themselves in the loungeroom, and Fluffy and I headed off into the bedroom to watch TV.


The cake was white mud, with white chocolate ganache under the fondant.  Very, very tasty!  Expensive, though. Next morning I had forgotten to plan anything for breakfast so I got Fluffy to go get some bread, eggs and juice.  I think everyone enjoyed the boiled eggs and toast.

Once the last lass was picked up it was time to let the hectic week slip away and relax.

This last week then has been work, rest and play.  We had Anzac Day on Thursday here in Australia and New Zealand, and from our family's point of view, it meant the State Rally that the organisation he has been the secretary off.  A lot of people went on the Wednesday to make the Dawn Service, where we stop to remember our fallen war heroes, past and present.  The Anzac tradition began in WWI with the invasion of Turkey where we lost something like eight thousand young men.

Fluffy, Dobby and her friend headed down around 8.30 Thursday.  I have had a head cold so I did not much at all.  Just rested here in the couch.  I did a few odd jobs in preparation for the weekend but tried to rest my foot.

Friday I headed off to work, and had permission to finish early.  My bride from the engagement party works not far away, and her fiancee was already at Victor Harbour (at the rally) so she walked to my office and we closed up for the weekend around 3.30pm.

At home it was just enough time to feed the cat and get the laundry in, and off we went.  This rally was a meeting of about 18 clubs who are all members of the Association of Caravan Clubs of SA (ACCSA).  So there were going to be around 120 caravans participating.

The weather has been cold and wet for the better part of two weeks, but Friday was sunny and warm.  A very pleasant surprise.  We got to the rally around 5.15 and it was time to wander around and say hello to all our friends.  We thought our last rally was going to be in Port Broughton back in January, so it was lovely to see some of them again.

Friday night I ducked up to the local take away for hot chips, and then back home to enjoy them.  A chat from the local CFS (Country Fire Service) about what to do when we're travelling and encounter a bush fire, then around the camp fire again after that.

Fluffy was kept busy with his official duties, such as organising Kids Club and helping set up.  I actually didn't see much of him all weekend. Saturday morning we had morning tea in the big marquee.  There seemed to be something going on weekend.  There was treasurer time, club game (which none of our club participated in) Kids Club (Fluffy took them around to the museum as it looked like it was going to rain).

All weekend I could barely walk.  I feel like my heel is on fire and my knee keeps locking up on me which causes great pain.  But I try not to whinge about it because Fluffy gets angry and I slow everyone up.  But I am going to have to address it very soon before it gets much worse.

At one point on Saturday some of the ladies in our club expressed surprise that I had not entered in the photography competition.  One of them offered me the use of her laptop and internet so I could download some pics from Facebook (I don't keep any with me digitally).  So I had to then race into Big W to print them off and get them back before 1.00 pm when judging would commence.  I could only manage two of my favourites.  No problem, though, it was at least something.

We had some other members come for the day so we did what we always do - sat around in the shade chin wagging.  It was a lovely afternoon.  We had Happy Hour there, and then dinner in the evening, which was put on by ACCSA.  We were treated to a very nice roast dinner with all the trimmings, and pavlova for dessert.  A lot of the other clubs had jumped in through the course of the day and put their tables into the tent and we (Family and Friends), being the laid back bunch we are, found no room left in the tent.  We set our tables up outside the end door of the tent (and got told off by some old farts for "blocking the fire exit" which we actually weren't - some folk just like to complain about something).  The weather held out beautifully.  While it was spotty cloudy, the rain did not appear.

After dinner we were treated to a couple of musicians (one of whom played violin) and bush dancing.  Some of us wandered to the camp fire and Fluffy set up the slide show for whoever wanted to see it.  The audience seemed to enjoy it.

After crashing close to midnight, the rain wasn't far behind.  It rained on and off all night then.

This morning we packed up as much as we could before morning tea.  After morning tea we gathered for "farewell".  The winners of the kids club were announced.  The kids were given a match box and a sheet of paper and told to fill the box with as much as they could.  The winners were all from another club (not the one with all the kids, ironically!) and two of the three were from the one family.  They obviously had help from the parents, but hey, if that's what they want to do, so be it.  Our kids (Family and Friends kids that is) were busy out playing and socialising so most of them didn't even finish the task.

The winners of the photo comp were announced.  The Caravanning winner was a lovely photo from an older lady.  And the winner of the Landscape category was moi.    Then the raffles were drawn and I won one of those too.  Legend.  I chose a red plastic box (excellent for the van) that was filled with some grocery items including chocolates.  That was all I saw - red box and chocolates!)





Yesterday evening, before we had dinner, the bride's family and Fluffy and I were standing around talking.  Suddenly the bride ran off and came back with a lovely gift for us, as this was our last rally.



Isn't it beautiful?  It is just so special as we really bonded with this family.  They are real genuine, lovely, funny open people.  And they said they'd come visit us when we move.

After final farewells it was time to come home.  I was so glad to sit here and type this tonight because I can barely walk after the entire weekend on my feet.  The toilet block was not close, and at rallies we seem to spend hours and hours walking around or standing around.  Then to sit for over an hour in the car driving, and expect to walk again at the end, is quite difficult.  I am really struggling.  I want to give it time to see if it's just the nerve endings firing and re-finding themselves, or if it is something more sinister.  So I'll just battle through for the next week and see what happens.

In the mean time, it's now time to settle down and get this move to Sydney organised.  Time will be up before we know it!