Tangent: Oz Holiday

Wedding - intimate, personal, beautiful, loving, memorable

Wild beaches - wet, rough, grey, white, crashing

Weather - wild, warm, sweaty, cool, humid, wet, wet, wet

Statues - interesting, large, modern

Koalas and kangaroos - cuddly, warm, firm, woolly, cute

New memories - wedding, koala, beaches, rain, flight, cities, airports, people...

Tangent: Happy New Year from Oz

I just had to come and say 'HI' and Happy new Year to you all from Oz.

The wedding was amazingly and surprisingly wonderful.

With the sand between our toes,the wind in our hair, surfers strolling past and the crashing waves, it was natural, personal, intimate and touching. I truly never expected to feel like this at all. If I could go back 30/40 years and have my life over, this is exactly the wedding I would choose for myself.

The rest of this experience has been a total 'mindfuck'.

From doctors, cancelled tickets, fevers, more doctors, decisions, decisions, decisions, changed tickets, travel insurance, non-refundable money, fevers, doctors, we both eventually made it, coming on seperate flights, arriving where we wanted to be in the end.

Since the wedding on the 29th, it has literally rained and rained and rained. 'Most unusual for this time of year here in New South Wales' we get told over and over, it's tropical, humid, and just sheets of it....

We are in a lovely lodge overlooking green fields, with cows and calves grazing, and it could be England, except for the sound of the kookaburras in the mornings. And still it rains.

A very confusing time it has all been and continues to be.

We are here till the 11th January and are relaxing, reading and I'm painting, so all in all a forced rest.

But in time I will no doubt make some sense of it all and what it all has meant..ot maybe I won't even bother!

Tangent: IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

I have always liked the saying 'it ain't over till the fat lady sings'

IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

We ARE going to Oz.

We HAVE managed to find two tickets on the 24th December.

We WILL be at our son's wedding.

We WILL get well in the sunshine!

IT AIN'T' OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS

Tangent: Post Viral Bronchial Hyperreactivity

You may wonder why I painted a wishy washy watercolour of an African shepherd for this post.
The reason:
His dogged persistence, his unwavering faith in the weather, his sheep and his usual routine day in and day out.
He asks for no more than what he has.
He is solitary, firm in his beliefs, unchanging and reliable.

With my latest diagnosis (of course it's weird and wonderful, as I am a weird and wonderful person), I now have a steroid inhaler and a vague suggestion from the Doctor that I could (possibly) travel in 10 days time.....

That's too late for the wedding, but there are now 2 new tickets available in 6 days time....if I were preparedto take the risk....hubby is getting stronger, and won't go without me.....aaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh

Calm, calm, stay calm, think of that shepherd, breathe in and out calmly (no not like that, you're coughing and hacking again).......... think of the shepherd, one foot in front of another...one foot in front of another................

Tangent: Hong Kong (NOT)

We did NOT take off an hour ago,,

We did NOT make it to the airport.

We will NOT be landing in Hong Kong at 4 pm tomorrow.


We are both in bed, very ill.
Neil woke up at 3 am with a high temperature and burning throat; I took a turn for the worse on Wednesday.

The wedding is on 29th December in Oz.
Rebooking tickets, rearrange work plans etc - are all almost impossible right now.


If you were religious, you'd say:
Man proposes and God disposes'.


If you were a fatalist, you'd say:
'It's not meant to be' or 'what will be will be'.



I am a fatalist and usually see the glass as half full - not half empty.


Right now, I feel completely empty!