I'm Baaaack .....

Well, the prodigal cat has returned to the land of the bloggers.

Yes, we are back home, in our little suburban world.

We arrived home around mid afternoon, after a speedy 2 hour drive (it just flew - for a change, there was no traffic). We spent most of the drive home listening to the Beach Boys Greatest Hits … love that summertime music. Spent an hour or so unpacking, putting on a load of washing, tidying up, etc. Ordered pizza for dinner. Then ….. I sat down at the computer to catch up on everyone’s blogs, and, finally, to add my own !!

We were away for two weeks, and it was a great two weeks. I got a bit frustrated, though, because although I had my little Minimax Internet thingy, the reception was totally crap where we were. Usually it is OK, and I am able to get on the net instantly, but for around half our holiday we were all constantly getting “Network Busy” messages, or no reception at all on our phones and stuff (the internet thingy is supposed to work like a mobile phone, and anywhere you can get CDMA reception you should be able to get on the net). This put a total halt to all but the basic blogging …. not happy !!!

Anyway, back to the holiday …. The weather was mostly hot (one or two mild days, but no jumpers or jackets required for the most, except for the odd evening when it cooled down a little bit more than usual ). We spent at least every second day sitting down by the lake, going out in (or behind) the boats, playing in the water, eating, drinking, talking … generally just relaxing and having fun. I think I probably talked about this in the blogs I was able to post whilst we were away. I read a couple of books, watched a couple of DVDs, drank a little bit more than I would had I been at home, socialized plenty. Had a great time. It went too fast, though (doesn’t it always ??).

Our little boat, flying through the water !!!

A few major downers during the holiday, though, which made it very sad ….

A few days after Christmas there was a nasty accident out on the highway, a few kilometers away from the caravan park we were in. A couple of kids were mowed down by a car, when they tried to cross the road. Apparently they weren’t watching the traffic, as the elderly man who hit them said they just appeared out of nowhere. The little boy was killed instantly, and the little girl is recovering in hospital. The family are devastated. They are a local family, and were known by many in the area.

On New Years Eve, a woman who has been an annual in the park for many, many years, and was known by the majority of us annuals (people who have sites within the park, with caravans, annexes, balconies, carports, etc … generally permanent structures owned by us, on which we pay yearly fees to allow us to keep them in the park), suffered a suspected brain aneurism and collapsed … she was gone long before the ambulance arrived. She was married with a few kids. She was only in her mid 40s. Her funeral is tomorrow (Monday).

Also on New Years Eve, there was a huge grass fire on the opposite side of the lake to where we were, but was near enough to another caravan park that they had to be evacuated. It started late afternoon, and was finally contained around 2am New Years Day. No property damage, or lives lost, thank goodness. Those brave fire fighters worked hard, and it was a stifling hot night, too.

Last Friday evening, our friends received a call that another of our friends (also an annual, who was at that time with his children at a Wakeboarding tournament) had lost his father. He had only lost his mother about 7 or 8 months ago. I think the father died of a broken heart … they had been married for a very long time. Our friend was devastated, and immediately returned home to be with his family. The funeral will probably be later on this week.

What is it about this time of year, that bad things seem to happen more frequently than at others ??? It’s so strange. Makes me feel guilty that we were having such a lovely holiday, whilst others were going through such difficult times.

Anyway, I have now been sitting at this computer for around four hours. Think I had better go to bed … it’s been a long day. Will post again soon.

Take care everyone,

MEOW