Wheels

Monday Sep 19

I'll try to produce some writing which is not:

a) capitals

b) bold and

c) in a column on the left. As I have no idea why that happened yesterday.......here's hoping.

After a very long night - I was awake before 2 a.m. and still awake at 7 - during which I sorted my IPad, downloaded apps including Sky Sports News and re-configured my Apple account, I was not alert but, very well informed. The best news was Man U beat Chelsea and City only managed a draw.

The local BooBook (owl) which sounds like a hoarse cuckoo, called for an hour, coming ever closer until it sounded as though it was in the back garden. Again, the Kooka was the first to call, well before dawn.

I phoned Abel cars to find out what time they would arrive to pick us up, 10ish was the answer. A man in a hurry, hurtled up the drive at 10.30, hooting loudly. He hadn't realised that it would take as long. He was a flood victim, stating laconically that he'd lost 25 years of accumulated junk and that was OK. Later he said how sad he was that precious possessions which he'd asked to be saved had ended up junked as the messages were not being passed down the line of volunteers emptting the houses. He'd had a little cry, got a cuddle from a stranger and straight back to the office to rent out the trucks badly wanted by others in the same position.

The drive back to the depot at Greenslopes, the other side of the city, on the Logan Highway en route to the Gold Coast, had Pam gripping her seat. There was a bit of a queue in the depot, he had to get to work immediately with the remaining worker.

We eventually drove away in a silver Nissan Tilda, SatNav in place, thank goodness. With  Martina (our name for the SatNav lady) in charge we made a quick and trouble free journey through the centre of Brisbane and it's one way systems plus 5 lane highways, overtaking allowed on both sides, traffic merging unexpectedly, her quiet calm voice giving us plenty of warning re turns etc and then a timely reminder. Very impressive.

She had been programmed to take us as far as Mount Coo-Tha, we were on familiar ground after that. It being school, the parks were full of picnic-ing families, birds in short supply, we soon returned to the Botanic Gardens for a small lunch before driving home.

A bed of Clivia looked lovely

The Brush Turkeys are in full breeding plumage, I must try and get a photo but, they're very busy chasing each other.

Surveying the gardens

Home for a nap (me), Pam read. When I got up, Sara was home and in bed, feeling unwell still. Mike got supper, we computed and then played cards with Josh.

Nick, a local birder, sent an email saying that our owl outing is on for Weds afternoon, I need to ring him to-morrow to finalise details. Great.