Kidless

After 26 years and seven months, we are (temporarily) kidless. But who's counting??

And just quietly, it's pretty bloody fantastic! Just don't tell the kids...

Sass headed off to boarding school (just for the year) and Elle's moved back to Canberra for uni.

Praise be the day!!!

Before she left, Elle was insisting I'd be lonely and miss nagging them. True, it's only been five days, but they have been very peaceful days and I haven't missed asking eight times across a 12-hour period for her to PLEASE empty the dishwasher, pick up after herself, wipe the bench after she's eaten and turn the lights off if she's not in the bedroom/bathroom/kitchen. (Is it possible to get the kids to pay the odd power bill? You know, just for the life-experience...)

Sass left - with nine huge bags of stuff - about 10 days ago. We'd been gathering, shopping, naming and checking that list a hundred times. As one mum said, every time you check, something else appears that you swear wasn't there before. When I say 'list', it went on for pages - more of a booklet really. Everything from sheets and towels, toiletries and textbooks, to hiking gear and stationery. There was stuff all over the place - and now it's all gone!!! Yay.

Elle was next. She had an absolute car-load of clothes, homewares, bedding, cushions, books, a large jute rug, a NutriBullet, leftover beer and wine from her 21st party and a few jars of pickled red cabbage she'd made. And that too is now all outta the house!!

Order has been restored.

Gary seems a little confused, but appears to be embracing the serenity.

 On her day of departure, Elle headed off before 6am and I had a summit to attend at 7am. But when I returned, the first thing I did wasn't to check my email - but to vacuum. I was so happy!!

Since then, I've mopped the floors, washed, polished and vacuumed my car (including the footprints on the passenger side window - I kid you not), rearranged the fridge, tidied the laundry - and everything is as I left it!! It's a miracle.

No one is using my debit card for things they 'feel like' at the supermarket, I've watched MAFS uninterrupted and can even go to the loo without someone insisting I look at something 'amazing' they've just found on the internet.

Perhaps I will get bored and lonely - but then again, maybe I won't!

Quite possibly the worst event I have ever attended

I'm old and been to an awful lot of events - but this one may have taken the cake for the most ill-conceived one of all time. It'll be hard to top (or bottom?)

It was the parent event at Elle's college.

Last year, it was a black-tie dinner at a hotel. That was a perfectly fine event, but they realised there was limited opportunity to mingle and, perhaps more importantly, a black-tie event could be a bit intimidating for some parents - and fair enough.

So this year, they aimed to address those issues with a cocktail party. I paid just north of $450 for Geoff, Elle and I to attend - plus airfares and accommodation. But as the details emerged, I was increasingly apprehensive.  

It was being held on the college grounds, in a marquee. Now for those of you unfamiliar with our nation's capital, Canberra is renowned for being hot in summer and cold in winter. Here's a snapshot of what we were dealing with on the night in question - yes, outdoors in sub-10 degree conditions. What the picture fails to capture is that there was also rain.

Someone said the walls of the marquee would be insulated - and they may well have been - but as they were all drawn back, who'd know. We were also assured there would be 'loads of heaters'. There may have been more, but I only saw five small free standing ones outside the marquee - hardly adequate for a crowd of over 400.

The dress was cocktail, but I'd settled on a pant and block heeled boot, as we'd also been warned there were areas of grass. In fact, the whole thing was on bare ground save for some scattered hay from the bales that had been placed about for seating. I felt sorry for the few women who didn't get the memo and were wearing stiletto sandals.

Just prior, Elle had confirmed that dress code was more 'rustic cocktail' - what the heck does that mean??

On arrival, we located the single caravan serving drinks. Cute - but totally impractical to get drinks into the hands of hundreds of people who all arrived within 30 minutes. Having queued, we discovered the beers were not dispensed here, but from a separate station at the other end of the 'paddock'.

They ran out of sparkling wine at 8pm. Someone must have done a runner to the bottle shop because more appeared around 10pm.

We knew the catering was via food trucks and, yes, they're very 'on trend' but 3 food trucks was optimistic. Elle introduced me to one of the guys who works in the college kitchen - who, I hastily add, had nothing to do with the organisation. 
I looked at that girl standing in the pancake truck and just thought, yeah, that's not going to work, he observed. 
He was right. The hamburger truck ran out of hamburgers. The pizza people were putting whole pizzas on a table just away from their venue, which were being set upon like seagulls on dropped chips. 

I could go on - it was dark, the sound system was dreadful, I was hungry and the cold had seeped up from the ground, through my boots and I was numb from the knees down.

But, and it's a big but, on the upside, we met amazing, fabulous, interesting and diverse people; students, parents and staff. We had a great time, proving the adage that a great night really is all about the company.

What's in a number?

On a boarding pass, not much as it so happens.

Flying to Sydney the other week, I had row 63 - yes - 63!! How could that be? I'll tell you how with three more numbers - 747. Seriously, by the time you've wended your way down the aisle you feel like you should already be at your domestic destination.

A week later, it was off to Canberra and my mobile check-in gave me row 18. Up the front, I assumed - until I had to approach the aircraft by walking across the tarmac and noticed it had propellers. I didn't think they still used planes like that on intercity routes.... apparently they do and row 18, BTW, is way up the back.

I was sharing all this mystery with a colleague in Canberra who said he always nominates a seat at the very back as on his last 10 trips, he's had a spare seat next to him 8 times - which he rightly points out is better than being in business class.

I'm also surprised by how many people know the type/model of plane they're getting on before they arrive!! I have no idea even when I see it. If I want to check, I have to look at the Safety Card where it says what it is across the top. My classification is usually big, small or medium.

Anyway, off t Sydney this arvo - row 29 - so I'll know when I get on where that is!

From this.....

... to this.

PS Apologies I've been AWOL - I promise to lift my game!!!