Friday 17th June 2011 - Day 123 - The Toogoom House, The Pub With Mates and Tracksuits and Blankets.

Hello Friends,

Well, in the past week I've had a blast, in that I've travelled up to Queensland to help my Mum move into the house that we bought earlier this year.  The house is in a little town called Toogoom, which is a beach side town on the coast of Queensland opposite Fraser Island.  Our house is great: it's not too small and not too large, it is about 400m from the beach, but best of all it backs onto a small man-made lake, which is (as I told Mum repeatedly in the afternoons) "just lovely".  Now all I ask is that I suddenly come by an unexpected windfall, buy the block of land beside our house and extend our house.  Not asking too much am I? Below are a few photographs from the house and area.

Here was a couple of swans acting as welcoming party and swimming up to our back fence the afternoon that I arrived.

Here's Mum relaxing with a cool drink in the afternoon in our back yard.

This is the back of the house.  The Large window you can see is my bedroom window in the house, which has the awesome views out over the lake.

Our sweet patio which is outside the dining room and Mum's bedroom

Mum beside a lonely old tree in the middle of the beach.  I get the feeling that the tide comes up past this fellow.

The view down the lake from the left hand edge.

Our house as viewed from the other side of the lake (we're the house beside the trees in the centre of the picture).

Sailor - the pappillon that I bought Mum some years ago.......Man of the house.

PJ - The mitzu that Mum bought just before Christmas, and younger brother to Sailor.

Ego - My former pet, and the last of Mum's dependants/company in the house

The dining room/kitchen still half set up, but not with everything away yet......and a couple of coffee cups as testament to our many, many coffee breaks.

The sitting room.

Mum and I before I drove out of Toogoom yesterday afternoon.

We managed to get most of the house and yard set up for Mum while I was up there, with my brother Gary and his sons having come down from Townsville to lend a hand also.  All of the bedrooms have now been set up and it's just a matter of sweet Mumsy unpacking everything and placing it where she wants it.

I know understand why people don't move house terribly often.  It's such a big job!  Though having said that, I'm pretty sure that Mum worked harder than the rest of us, which is noteworthy given that she's at least 20 years older than her sons!

There was a little bit of torture with visiting Mum however in that she is a heavy smoker, and smokes in the house when at home, and in the car whilst driving.  The house was bad enough, but at least I could move away from the smoke, but in the car with her for hours at a time between Brisbane and Toogoom was excruciating.  Initially we thought we had a system that saw the smoke going out her window and not passing through the car, but that only seemed to work for the first two cigarettes (IE the first half an hour).  Unfortunately my mother is that kind of smoker that has convinced herself that she cannot survive without cigarettes, so that means that I had to passively smoke along with her.  Normally I would have been smoking along with her!

I managed to get through that, and through the time in the house with her smoking, and refrain from smoking myself, which really surprised me.  I hadn't prepared myself mentally for the amount of smoke I would be imbibing while there, and I was surprised how little it made me want a cigarette.

It is worth pointing out that I think I've managed to brainwash myself out of smoking, for the time being at least.....enough that my sinuses seemed to be blocked while I was there, which I'm certain was a psychosomatic reaction to smelling the smoke, as they have cleared right up since I have returned home.  I think it's funny how the human mind works, and how it can affect the body!......Mind over matter as it where.

Well, moving along, I just caught up with my mates Turbo and Chimpy at the pub across the road from my apartment building for a few lemon, lime and bitters, which was again not to hard.  I'm starting to get used to this socialising without alcohol.  I'm still finding myself a little bit awkward without a beer/bourbon/wine in my hand, and without the social and verbal lubrication that booze provides, but I thank whatever grand design there is, that I am able to hold a reasonable conversation regardless (at least, I think I can!)

Well I believe that I have tapped away on the keyboard enough for one evening, and I think I might grab my book and curl up under a blanket for the evening.  Have a great weekend Friends........and smile at a stranger........maybe it will make them smile as they look at someone else, and from there a domino affect will take place.....maybe........