Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Home thoughts from abroad.
Yesterday I was pretty much in mourning and resigned to that fact that Scotland would be voting 'Yes' to Independence today.I have lots of Scottish friends and many of them were for Independence and it seemed to me, observing across the miles, that the 'Aye's' had it. I was pretty miserable yesterday to say the least and dreaded today's result.I followed every count today as they came in, from first to last and got so engrossed that I forgot to give Dulcie her lunchtime pills! ( Bad Carer!)It soon became clear that the 'Nays' were winning but I was surprised that I did not feel as relieved as I was heart broken yesterday.I cannot deny that it was the result I had hoped for but I have some small idea of how those people who voted 'Yes' are feeling now.I take no pleasure in the result. Nearly half of the people in Scotland are disappointed today. There were promises made in the final days as the 'No' campaign went into panic mode as they had seriously underestimated the mood in Scotland. Those promises better be kept or I will be moving to Scotland and next time voting 'Yes' myself!Here I am living on the other side of the World but it is only in the last few weeks that I have realised how much I love my country and I don't mean England, I mean Great Britain.Yes, I am English but now more than ever I am proud to be British.Yesterday, the only thing that gave me some comfort was the fact that our soon to be independent neighbour Scotland might give 'Royaume-Uni' 'douze points' in the Eurovision Song Contest....it was my silver-lining.Today I don't care about Eurovision I only care about the disappointed half of our Scottish family and hope we can make them happy again.Things are going to have to change but I hope we can change them and still stand together.
Oh Shanita!
I had another bad night......I could not get to sleep for ages.....and then when Will woke me at 6.30 am to say 'goodbye' I was fast asleep. He opened the door to go out and it was like suddenly being caught in the spotlight of a WWII prison camp and a murder of crows somewhere outside sounded like the crow equivalent of an 'Ellen' audience!When he'd gone and the spotlight had been switched off and the crows had been muffled by the closed door....I snuggled down.....and then the Peewee hit the window.....again and again...........and again.I gave up trying to sleep and lay awake for awhile then got up removed all the bedding and stuffed it in the washer. I cut my hair....yes, what little I have does grow ......and shaved off a weeks worth  stubble.By the time I had finished Dulcie was up and moving about. We had breakfast and our medication and then I nipped downstairs for a quick shower while she was washing up......I was just about finished when I heard a loud thumping upstairs. I dried and dressed quickly and shot up the stairs and found Jess, the dietician sat at the table with Dulcie......I had forgotten she was coming.Dulcie had banged on the floor to get me up.Jess weighed Dulcie and she had put on another kilo. Jess was really pleased and is coming back again in another few months.Just as Jess left......Blue Care arrived for repsite......bang on 10.00 am.It was a new person."Hello, I'm Nick," I said, " and this is Dulcie.""I'm Shanita," said Shanita....for it was she."Shanita?" I asked, not hiding my surprise very well. I had never met a Shanita before."Yes," said Shanita......she was about 14......or seemed it to me."You may not remember but I was here on Friday with Elizabeth," said Shanita.We vaguely remembered a second person but couldn't quite remember the face. Shanita was one of the 'invisible people'.....one of those who blend into the background and go unnoticed.I doubt there was a goose that Shanita would say 'Boo' to....heck, probably not even a hamster!I escaped as quickly as I could but had to hang out the washing first.......and then just as I was ready ......I could not find my wallet. It was nowhere to be found. I took it to Redland Bay on Saturday but never used it and Will found it in the car on Sunday night but that was the last time I saw it and I don't remember where I put it..I went back upstairs to see if it was there. Shanita was sat opposite Dulcie at the table.....they were both quiet......I wondered if Shanita did conversation. The wallet was not there.Back downstairs I found Will's wallet so hoped that he had taken mine by accident.I had already wasted half an hour of respite time looking for it. I headed off to Garden City. Will's birthday is coming up and I wanted to look for something for him.Garden City was chaos....the World and his wife had all decided to go today too.....I got my entry ticket and drove around the car park looking for a parking space....the car parking area is huge but there was nothing.....once a car pulled out in front of me.....Hallelujah!....I pulled into the free space to be greeted by a sign which said "Parking for Doctor's Only!""Shanita!"I carried on looking but gave up and in the end drove out again and headed back wondering where to go instead.....I went to Calamvale Central, where we went for the Taiwanese Festival in the car park......by this time it was nearly time to head back so I only had time to pick up some butter from Woolies that we needed.Shanita and Dulcie were watching the news."She was a nice girl," said Dulcie when Shanita had gone.I was preoccupied for the rest of the day worrying about my wallet and trying to rack my brain as to where it might be.I waited until Will came home and was prepared to empty out the recycling bin if he did not have it."Is my wallet in your bag?" I asked him."No," he said."Well, then I don't know where it is. I found yours downstairs.""Oh," he said and reached into his back pocket and pulled out my wallet.He had picked it up by mistake in the morning."Oops!"