What a Great Day

We had been putting off going to town until today. The car required mechanical work, it was booked in for today, so our pantry had become sorely depleted.

The phone alarm rang out at 6am, at 7.15 I struggled out of bed. My call to 'rise and shine' was not appreciated, so those children who complained felt the full force of the brisk morning air as I pulled off their sleeping bags.

It was 8.15 before we were ready to leave, with promises of a yummy breakfast from the bakery when we hit town. The weather was perfect, not one hint of cloud, just warm spring sunshine. We arrived at town by 9.40.

Next, I needed to find the mechanic. I drove up and down Grey Street four times, then I asked directions. I never would have found the workshop; tucked behind the town hall and accessed via the highway through the information centre. He was a very amiable man, who had basically allowed most of the day for my car. I left it in his competent hands, and headed for the bakery.

Cheese and bacon rolls, fig and nut bread, apricot and sultana loaf, rolls and croissants (the last two for Beth) filled our bags as we headed for the park.

Everything is so green. 122mls fell in the last ten days. The park was clean and fresh.

As we sat and ate, a young couple that we know from church, along with their two little children, arrived. Long story short, they're moving up north and will be locating in the suburb next to us. Rachel had been so concerned that she would have trouble meeting people. No worries! Two hours later, we left the park and headed up to get the low down on the car. We stopped by Crazy Clarks to buy water bottles, and ended up with books, pens, beading containers and more beads, a disk of twenty movies plus some other stuff all bundled up in a really nice basket.

Finally got back up to the mechanics. All was going well there, so it was time for some serious shopping.

First stop camping shop. We wandered for about 15 minutes, checking every item on every shelf. Next came the sports shop and an old wares shop. We crossed over to the other side of the road, and began our 'social promenading'.

Elsie wants to get a bank account, so we got some advice from the local bankers, stopping for a chat and a discussion of current bank notes and, in particular, the hundred dollar note.

The newsagent called us with its promise of cheap books for sale. We headed down the back to check out the sale table and filled our arms with lots of goodies. I slipped in a magazine on woodwork for Jack, and beading for Beth. A series of animal info books caught my eye, and Lilly asked for a pack of Pooh Bear cards. Willem endeared himself to all the other shoppers, and we moved on for the next shopping experience.

On to the health food shop and a visit with the mad Irish sports loving mick. He's a classic character and was up for a chat about the value of families. He reckoned his own father was only 'scared' of two people - his mother and the local priest. He roared laughing at his own joke. We left there quite some time later with a large bag of jelly beans he'd given to the children.

We only made it two shops, where I stood to open the jelly beans. As they were being distributed the shop owner came out. This guy owns the property adjoining ours. He knew this and came out to catch up on the goss. We talked about fertilizer, bikies, locked gates and pigs. I finally made my getaway, and caught up with the littlies who had gone on to the toy shop.

I was confronted with Willem on a trike, Jessica and Emily squealing with delight at the Fischer Price toys, Jack telling me to come quickly to see the wonderful things he had found, Elsie telling me about some horse models and their value to her personal growth, Lilly and Tildy trying to get Jessica and Emily to quiet down and Beth not quite sure what it was she wanted to look at or show me. The woman who runs the store is a very quiet woman, and she just smiled at me, telling me that children love her store.

Time had passed very quickly so we checked back with the mechanic. He was on the verge of finishing, so we hung around the grassy area in the shade behind his workshop and read the new books and finished off the jelly beans.

We hit the road late in the evening, with bellies full of chicken (deep fried by the Colonel specially for us), having said goodbye to some more friends, and after buying a really big tea pot that I had spied earlier in the day at the camping shop.

I was smiling to myself on the way home. Elsie was curious as to why I had such a big grin. Not sure why, except that I reckon I had gone so far over my word quota for the day that I was on a high! It felt like at every turn I saw someone who knew me and the kids, and wanted to have a chat.

We stopped in at our neighbour's on the way past... but that's another story altogether :-)