John Jnr is still on sick leave. We went down for his checkup a couple of weeks ago and we age going back down this coming weekend and he hopes that his doctor will give him clearance and he will be allowed to drive. This means that he can get back to work. If this happens I’ll drive him down and he can drive part of the way home. I hope he does get cleared since he is going slightly gaga being confined to the house all these weeks and relying Andrew and I to drive him everywhere – including his shopping. John wanted to drive down – have his appointment and drive back – 750 miles there and back. I wanted to do some things in Adelaide so I proposed that we head down on the Sunday, I do what I want to do on Monday morning, he goes to his appointment and we drive home. That works for me!
I spend much of my time with Benji – which is as it should be. I suppose I’m not really much of a people person. I enjoy walking around the wetlands with him and visiting the swans. I think I did mention before that I never saw a Black Swan until I came to Australia. A few years ago (?) my mother took me and my baby sister to Richmond Park in Glasgow, to feed the Swans and the Ducks. I loved out outings to Richmond Park. I did likewise with my children and took them to Bellahouston Park – Bellahouston Park didn’t have a pond though. Still, on a nice summer day it was a nice walk with Annabell, John and Andrew still in a pram. Sadly I do not have any photograph of the boys when they were children, including the visits to the various Abbeys. A tea chest full of our things were left behind to be sent on once we settled here. That never happened because mum and dad went on holiday and whilst they were away their shed was broken into and the tea chest along with other things were stollen. I suspect the photographs and the photograph albums were just dumped. All the camping and fishing photographs are all gone as are all the hiking photographs with Annabell. The boys are all grown up now but I still get the same feeling I once had when walking in the Ada Ryan Gardens and the Wetlands with Benji.
Benji will be 15 next birthday and at 14 I think 2.5. miles at 6am is a bit much for him. I do the walking, he relaxes in the stroller. I have him in the stroller when we are at the Wetlands but not at the Gardens. The weather here shas been quite mixed – not too bad during the day but very cold in the mornings and at night. Tomorrow, for example, the temperature will be 3C in the morning with a high of 26C in the afternoon The wind coming off the Spencer Gulf at the moment is cold and at times quite a high wind. One time I gave up the wetlands and had to come back to the car. Trying to push the stroller against the wind was just too much.
At the end of last month I went back up to Quorn. I found it a bit sad going through the Pichi Richi Pass and it was with great effort that I turned to the left at the junction instead of driving straight ahead to Flinders House. However my reason for going to Quorn was to take photographs of the Afghan Steam Train. All the time Annabell was in Quorn only the Diesel Train was used even although the timetable said it was a steam train that would be running. The steam trains run is dependant on the weather and the availability of volunteers. However, I didn’t want to go all the way to Quorn if the steam train was not running.
It was due to leave from Port Augusta and take over two hours to travel from Port Augusta to Quorn, with a stop at Woolshed Flat. It’s only a 20 minute drive by car. I drove to Port Augusta and went into the station and asked if the Quorn train had left ( I knew the answer to this) I was told yes so I asked the “real” question ” was it a diesel train or a steam train?” I was told that it was the steam train, so I left and headed up to Quorn. I had time for a coffee and some plain biscuits (Cookies) that I shared with Benji. No… he was not out of the car. Quorn is within the National Park so I waited until I was clear of the park on the way home before I pulled off the road and took him for a ” Pit Stop”. The Afghan Express is the smaller of the Steam Engines and if all is well, the Explorer , the larger Steam engine should be running at the end of this month, so I’ll head back up there – all being well..
I was thinking about a new camera but I would be reluctant to trade in my Nikon D3500 since that was the camera Annabell bought me for our Wedding Anniversary some years ago. I am still happy with the photographs and perhaps if the photographer was better at his job, they might be a lot better. I’ll really have to have a think about this – no rush.
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