Lilac, May and boats

Well howdy doody all, I'm sorry it's been so long without a post. I bet you've all got sick of nothing showing up here and are now happily ensconced over at Earwig Sandwich or Whoopee.

I've been busy since last Tuesday the 21st of May (when I arrived back in the Old dart) trying to fit in as much fun as possible. It's been easy as pie.

England in spring is worth almost all the shockingly bad weather that precedes it!

When I arrived to stay at my dear friend's Robyn and Rob's,

 

 

their daughter Tessa had put a jar of white lilac in my room. I was so tired I didn't notice the flowers beside the bed but as I turned out the light I smelt the most beautiful perfume.

It's peculiar indeed to leave one country in Autumn and arrive in spring. Somehow even more shocking than summer to winter.

It has been cold and wet though.
Here I am in a tent that I borrowed from Robyn. A brilliant piece of clothing that means you can wear anything at all underneath and still feel like a complete dag!

Thank goodness Robyn was wearing a hat that did the same thing!

We went walking the other day to an eerie place called East Wretham Heath. There is a mysterious body of water called Ringmere there that rises and falls contrary to what the rainfall does. There is a famous Viking battle called the Battle of Ringmere and even though I'm not sure if this IS the site, I swear I could hear clashing shields and bloodcurdling cries.

 

There is an old plantation of Scots pines that was planted at the time of the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

 Were these Beech trees there then too?

There were twitchers! 

 

What is it about Twitchers that makes them so comedic? They seriously ignored our giggling and kept their binoculars clamped to their eyes, looking for Redstarts.

The next exciting adventure was on Monday of the Bank holiday. The perfect English summer's day where there was no rough wind to shake those darling buds of May.

My lovely young friend Michael had finished his boat! Started a year ago, this was the perfect day to launch it.

 

The boat was so streamlined & speedy that poor Michael was constantly holding back and waiting for the rest of the gang as we zig-zagged our way up river to the picnic site.

Landing was a slight problem.

But some Pimms with ice & blueberries soon set us right. Along with pork pies, Stilton and biscuits, chocolate and Jane's rhubarb and orange cake.

Cheers to Michael Kelly and his incredibly successful boat launch.

It's exhausting all that fun and so very nice to lie in the sun just chewing the fat.

Then it was back to civilisation and William's fabulous boat. There's an older post here that shows more of this beautiful folly.

Will has named the shed by the river where his fiancé Cath writes, Tolstoy's retreat. Cute huh?

Reasons to be cheerful

After the last terrible post, things have improved no end and so I thought I'd update you all a little with some photos of the delights of Melbournes grooviest suburb, Northcote, where I happen to be house sitting at the moment. This is the Art Deco palace that came with airconditioning, every cookbook you could ever wish for, use of a car, a fabulous cd collection, and a lovely garden. Ricardo's friends Jono & Sue were off to Sri Lanka for a month & the pleasure was all mine.

 

It also came with a dog called Sal,

& Sal had to be walked every day, so it was off to the park nearby every morning early.

 Past the lemon scented gum that smelled like heaven.

Usually with a ball.

At first the lead & her pulling on it hurt my shoulder & arm but after a while I think it strengthened it as it's beginning to feel better.
I finally got a diagnosis too of  frozen shoulder which has helped enormously. I'd been thinking that I'd damaged myself beyond repair, but the wonderful osteopath Bruce Cameron that I went to see last week has helped me feel a ray of hope that I might end up in one piece again in the near future. He was so consoling, saying that usually after 3 weeks of such unremitting pain, thoughts of suicide would surface; it's been 5 months and there has been a lot of that going on (see last post!)
The other thing that's helped ENORMOUSLY is that I have a job! At a company called Silkworld and I'm here to tell you soon we'll be called Silk Universe! There are so many beautiful fabrics that I can hardly contain myself.This is the lunch room filled with samples of amazing beaded goodies.

It's busy all day long and 5pm rolls around mighty fast.
The other amazing aspect of having a job is that you get paid and when you've worked for yourself for years, let me tell you, that is such a novelty.
So now instead of the full aisle of crisps in every English supermarket, there is an entire aisle of tinned tomatoes. Melbourne and Northcote in particular has a huge Italian population and the culinary rewards are great.

Instead of the "Full English" complete with fried slice at Tesco, it's now all Lattés & macarons at La Manna while shopping.

The other Melbourne delights are musical. I saw a wonderful band called the Harmaniax last weekend at a groovy pub called the Pinnacle. It was so very good to see some great music played by a relaxed & proffessional bunch.

 

So things are on the up & up. Mind you it's till BLOODY HOT here.

Aqua Profundo

I knew it would be hard coming back to Australia, but it's been much harder than I thought it would be. I'm like a hermit crab with no shell and I'm struggling to deal with my situation. I have no home, no car, no country, no job. I can't get medical help as I no longer have an Australian Medicare card. I can't get the dole as I'm of no fixed abode. I'm a migrant, I'm an immigrant, I'm a refugee. I have no homeland. I cry at the sound of an English person on television. I find myself humming old Scottish folk songs about leaving. I'm bizarrely nostalgic for thatched cottages. I sobbed at the part in "The Hobbit" where Bilbo talks to the dwarfs about them not having a homeland and him helping them to get it back. What have I done?
People I meet find my situation scary & you can see how terrified they are that what's happened to me might just happen to them.... to lose the love of your life scarily fast & then try to rebuild your life with very little money, without them, with a gap of 10 years (having lived within a small rural community of friends) since you last lived in Australia. 
Today I went to visit my Step sister Wendy  for lunch and was aghast to meet a friend of her daughter, suffering from depression. Young, beautiful, recently married with a husband and 3 children; my God it really can knock on anyone's door.
I find myself looking at people in cafés or somewhere socially & think "Oh my God, they have a house, a car & a family" and I think, "If only I could find a family and a house, I'd be happy" but today I met the girl with the family, car and house & she was just as sad & isolated as I am.
Further along these lines, there are deep seated & fearful worries in my family about madness (schizophrenia resides on both sides of my family as well as Epilepsy & Downs syndrome, all of which were misunderstood in earlier times and lumped together) and I struggle not to let my despair be seen by those around me because of this mispercieved horror. I long for some understanding & solace, someone on the same wavelength and this girl today, Alex was just that.
My friend Macgregor sent me this video link to an artist called Sue Austin, she's has inspired me with her specially equipped wheelchair that lets her fly underwater but let's not forget that dissability is sometimes difficult to see.

Wilson's Prom

 If I'm to get this post written before it's completely outdated, it's going to have to be without much text again. Still you can enjoy the photos of that most wonderful of Australian beaches...Tidal River at Wilson's Promontory National park. Knock yourselves out.