Spring approaches, dragging some rain with it.

What’s in a name? Well,  Annabella Drummond was the Queen Consort of King Robert III of Scotland.  George Gordon, (Lord Byron), claimed descent from Annabella through his mother,

Catherine, Daughter of Lord Gordon of  Gight. Oddly enough, he (Byron)  married an Annabella – Annabella Milbanke in 1813. She became Lady Annabella Milbanke Byron. If  I have got this wrong I dare say one of you will tell me, but that’s the Wikipedia line that I followed. We generally drop the “a “at the end of the name unless it’s an official document when we have to use it.
The weather these last few days has been  quite unsettled – cold, wind rain and sun. Some moments have been warm and sunny other times, cold, windy and wet. We have still managed to get out and about, so it’s not been bad enough to stop that. Well, yes it did one  day during the week but that was for the evening walk..  We had telephone calls from Flinders today and it would seem that there is some concern with the last set of results so I have to take her to the hospital for a CT Scan on Wednesday 31st. or sooner if there is a cancellation.

The scan will be sent to Flinders and examined.  They will then call us and give us some indication of where we go and what we do from here.   Yes, it had shrunk some but the last tests were inconclusive and  this seems to indicate that it has regained some of what it had lost, so a bit of a worry.  I had organised with Annabell for me to  drive through to Port Augusta one day next week, so  that’s now on hold.. Nothing particularly special, I just felt like going for a drive and taking Benji with me for a litle while. Next week is going to be a sort of busy week in that I have to stay close incase there is a cancellation and they can take Annabell quicker than planned – I have to be close to get her to the hospital. if required.. So if all goes according to plan I can think about driving through to Port Augusta  probably next Friday, Well, that’s  the legandary  Plan A !!

We had a lunch at church today and afterwards I  put Benji in the car and we drove through to Iron Knob about 35

miles North-West of here. Still fairly flat as much of South Australia is. At the far end of the drive are the Middleback Ranges and there were once two mining townships that dominated the area – Iron Knob and Iron Baron. Iron Baron is gone – nothing remains and the entire township was bulldozed.  The Knob was saved from destruction and is still  a town – sort of. If you have ever seen  film of some of the poor towns in Mississippi or elsewhere –  then you have an idea, very run down, unkempt and  quite a few uncleared ruins. The workforce that are required for the mines are bussed to the place and bussed out again.  We once had a preaching place out here but that too is gone.

I was sitting with several people after church on Suinday and  two of us were discussing the changes that had taken place over the last twenty yerars or so and how the  church has declined as the town itself has declined. It was then pointed out that we should look around us and consider who – if any – would follow after us.  We continue to decline and despite all our efforts, there are no young people to follow after us. Most churches within the city are much the same.  There is new industry planned for the future but  but we have a Socialist Government  so we have to wait and see. There are some changes in the near future, Bunnings is planning to move here as is Spotlight and  some of the empty shops in the Centre have been filled or are currently in the process of being filled, so it’s not all gloom – we’ll get there.  Ah this weather. I am so looking forward to complaining about the heat  :o)