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| Glenn, Aunty Joan & Peter - Bongaree September 2019 |
The year kicked off with the hottest summer on record but
of course there's no climate change, coal is good for humanity and if Jesus doesn't
come back to sort things out soon we’ll all be moving to Mars
anyway. ScoMoses lodged our $150 million
down payment when he was in Washington doing a Lewinsky on Trump back in
September.
Of course Labor lost the unlosable election in May
because they behaved like arrogant pricks and refused to listen to the
electorate then promptly shot themselves in the foot just as they’ve done ever since
Keating left the Lodge. They don't deserve to govern but then I don’t deserve to
have ScoMoses and his vacuous pack of inhumane, self-serving, corporate lackies
running my country either!
There, that's got climate and politics pretty much
covered, well maybe not Bruckoff but I always set myself a two page limit for
these annual tomes. You can probably
guess my thoughts on the wanton and deliberate destruction of both the US and
the UK and the swirling great vacuums that will result. Have you started your Mandarin lessons
yet? But much like the extinction
crisis, all that matters is that the wealthy become wealthier. That's what we're all here to facilitate.
And speaking of the extinction crisis, don't you find it
interesting that the exact same political commentators and politicians who
defended George Pell so vehemently took to abusing a 16 year-old Swedish girl
like ducks to rising water levels? They
just can't help themselves!
Politics and climate aside, our year kicked off with a
Cawthorne family lunch although I was the only one present who still bears the
surname. My cousin Nancy, who I hadn't
seen since her wedding 40 years ago, put on quite a spread. Her sister Rae was there as well along with
children, partners and grandchildren including their late brother Russell’s
daughter Tanya and her two kids from Melbourne.
What a wonderful day! Grandma and
Pop would have been delighted.
Although Peter's NDIS support got off to a peculiar start
with his perfectly adequate funding stuck all in the wrong and unchangeable
dissections we muddled through and eight full months of hounding by me finally
got things sorted. But looking on the
bright side, had the first plan been properly organised all of Peter's $24,000
budget might have been spent. Instead
half of that was sucked right back into consolidated revenue to help Josh
Frydenberg balance his first budget.
Nice try Joshie but no cigar, Mathias Cormann and Smokin’ Joe Hockey got
to them first!
We saw our Claytons niece Sara just after Easter when she
came to visit with her mum, our old friend Taffy, who was over from Canada for
a few weeks. That was a lovely catch
which we half did again two months later when we attended Sara’s naturalisation
ceremony in Melbourne. I had promised to
take the fairy bread which I did. We met
Sara's partner Mags and his family; stayed with our good mate Russell and his
lovely Cairn Terrier Jess; and caught up with my cousin Zelda (Tanya’s mum)
after a quite unintentional hiatus of 51 years.
We've vowed to not leave it so long next time. All up it was a wonderful wee break of just 4
days but we packed it in.
We were off again in June on a six night cruise to Hobart
and back aboard P&O’s Pacific Norovirus and what an utter disappointment
that was, even in a mini-suite! Our only
point-of-comparison was an Alaskan cruise with Royal Caribbean in 2000 and believe
me when I tell you there was nothing to compare. P&O is the Ryanair of cruising, it's
shit, shit, SHIT!!! Hobart was wonderful
though and we enjoyed what we saw of the Dark Mofo mid-winter festival.
At that point we decided to put any sort of travel, even
overnighters, on hold. Our seemingly
immortal Kevin could no longer be left unattended, even in the capable hands of
his Aunty Jan and Uncle Tony. Age suddenly
caught up with Kev and the three of us just needed to be together along with a
good supply of paper towels, kitty litter and fresh prawns - preferably tigers.
But despite a diet of love with generous servings of surf
‘n’ turf we said goodbye to Our Boy on 20 August at the ripe old age of 19
years, six months and two weeks. We were
fortunate to have him for all but the first 12 weeks of that time but somehow
thought he would just go on forever. My
mother always said “You'll never find another one like Kev” and Ruth was always
right, even when she was wrong. We are
grateful for the time we shared and even more grateful for the brevity of Kev's
decline. His last year was slow but
manageable; his final two days very sudden; and the decision to grant him a
dignified release not at all difficult to make.
Vale Kev.
As I've already mentioned, travel was on hold during Kevin's
final months but with him now quite literally pushing up daisies (orange and
white gazanias to be precise) a road trip seemed like a truly excellent idea
for all manner of reasons. We pointed
DeDe northward up Bucketts then Thunderbolts Ways to Armidale
and on to Golden Beach just south of Caloundra which isn't too far from where
our lovely Aunty Joan lives on the southern end of Bribie Island. The trip up was all drought, dust and
bushfires but the time we spent at Golden Beach restful and seeing Aunty Joan wonderful
as always. She's one very special
lady.
Holidays over it was back to pestering the NDIS. I staged a very polite lone sit-in at their
Chatswood office with all documentation in hand and several hours later a chap
who knew very little about the core business of the organisation was sent out
to speak to me. That stirred something
because two hours later I received a phone call from a senior somebody offering
me a proper planning meeting so we could “move forward into the future”. I was very tempted to ask where-the-fuck else
we would move forward to but sensed I had the upper hand so let that ride.
So back we went, me armed with three professional reports
as well as a highly detailed budget proposal for the next 12 months and bugger
me if they didn't approve the whole thing with a 60% increase! We were delighted but at the same time left
wondering what happens to the Peters who don't have Glenns with the wherewithal
to badger recalcitrant organisations into submission?
We weren't looking for another cat-shaped-being but
sometimes the Universe has other plans and early October saw Bruce come into
our lives. A friend’s daughter works in
the vet clinic where Bruce had been living since being brought in abandoned at
2 years-old in February and one thing just led to another. From the very beginning it was clear that
Bruce is the anti-Kev, completely different from our Old Boy in looks,
behaviour and personality. He was the
right cat at the right time because the hole Kev left behind wasn't getting
smaller - and we liked his name.
Bruce is a gentle being but he’s also timid and terribly
shy. Who knows what happened to him
during those first two years and although the staff at the vet clinic took great
care of him much of his six months there was spent in a cage. Bruce bonded with us almost immediately but
getting him comfortable with family and friends remains an ongoing project.
Which brings us to Jan and Tony who are wellish despite
their respective arthritis and back pain.
Tony turns 80 next year with Jan 18 months behind but they remain active
with a garden that looks a picture and a house that only ever gets messy if I'm
there. They have just done a 13 day
cruise around New Zealand and had a lovely time. Here's looking forward to more of the same.
One of our New Girls left the chook house mid-year. Ethel the Emu developed peritonitis and
despite the best of avian veterinary care she suffered a ‘yoke stroke’ one
morning and joined Margaret and Sylvia in the ‘camellia hedge’ which 5 years on
steadfastly refuses to make that rather critical transition from a row of 17
individual camellias to an actual hedge.
The garden, oh yes the garden! We've spent a lot of money on it, way more
than any other indulgence, but now have Level 2 water restrictions which means
no hosing. We do have a 10,000 litre
roof water tank below the lawn but that's not inexhaustible. Two things are for sure, though; there is no
climate change and coal is good for humanity!
‘Thoughts and Prayers.’
Much love to you and
yours from everyone here at #5.
We’ll catch you again
next rotation if not before so stay well, stay happy.
Tread lightly upon
the Earth which is a bit more fucked up than it was this time last year.
Glenn, Peter (Lyle to
some), Bruce, the Significant Women, Fluffy & Uranus,
Baby Blue & the
Little One, Mr & Mrs White, Peggy, the Frogs, the Fish and assorted
blow-ins
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