I'm back in Brisbane and I've busked several times. Three times in the city but the markets are more lucrative. Still, it more than pays the fare and gives me something to do, plus people are always very nice and smile and stop to chat.
I met up with a flute player friend, Juliana, who I busked with 32 years ago and hadn't seen her since! She's now head of French at Queensland university and doesn't play anymore which is a shame. The not playing part, not the head of French bit!
I was home alone in Burpengary for 4-5 days while Tony and Lyn (and their French visitors from Africa) went to Tasmania for their son Wayne's wedding.
I made the most of having the car and did 2 markets that weekend and took $130. A man came up to me and asked if the iow in my website name stood for Isle of Wight. When I said yes, he told me went to school in Sandown and lived in Ryde. He's now a vet in Lutwyche (Brisbane suburb) and left the iow after leaving school. A small world!
I went north to visit Pam and Len in Cooloola Cove when Lyn and Tony got back. Also went to see an elderly couple who Judith Guess and I stayed with when we were there in 1981. Then, there were wild horses roaming the bush land opposite their house and very few other houses around. Now, more than 30 years later Pam and Len's house and all the other houses around is where those horses were living.
Life has settled down into a get up, eat, read, go for a walk (sometimes) eat, go shopping (sometimes) swim in the pool, eat, read, go to bed routine. I've managed to buy 2 more pairs of sandals, but I'm leaving behind the others I bought. They could walk home on their own!!
The suitcase handle that was smashed by Virgin Australia on my flight back from Adelaide has been repaired by Tony but I'll probably need to buy a bigger case for my flight home anyway!
My next chapter is a 10 day dog sitting job (2 staffie dogs) about 25 minutes south of here. That starts tomorrow.
I'll be seeing Jill and Keith on Friday and am looking forward to going to New Zealand on 2nd January. I'll be travelling with them in the South Island sometime in February-March.
