Chronological Update

A lot has happened since I last found the time and energy to post. I'll catch up chronologically.

We received the phone call about Drew going to Sherbrooke, Quebec on Tuesday 4th. This presented an interesting challenge as Quebec requires an additional layer of study permit documents...I had a stressful 24 hours while I tracked down, signed and sent off the documents the next day.

We were expecting a visit from our CEO the day after, Thursday. I cooked the usual suspects - Thai Chicken Mince Balls and Andrea's Carrot Cake recipe from the DJRU cookbook. The morning dawned overcast and rainy; after numerous itinerary changes I met the plane with mince balls, carrot cake, sandwiches and bottled water in tow and waved Gibbo off to Surat. He returned late in the day. The rain bucketed down.

A friend from Sydney rang and said he wanted to donate some money to some "battlers" in our home town who had been flood affected. It didn't take long to track down some worthy recipients so when I receive the cheque I'll be able to distribute the funds.

We had a look at Sherbrooke on Google Earth on Friday night..........it looked a lovely town, built on the confluence of two rivers. In light of what's happened in our area lately it's perhaps a good thing that Drew isn't going there now.

Chris came back from Warwick and he and Gibbo versed Drew and Meg in Articulate. It was an uneven match - whoever gets paired with Gibbo grasps the short straw due to his cryptic and unorthodox descriptions of the chosen word; he is so confident that his descriptions are succint and clear while his partner sits looking baffled and confused. (this may sound harsh but we all laugh about it, including Gibbo).
The rain continued to bucket down.

On Saturday we went to town to the surprise farewell of a lady who has worked at Mary's for 25 years (or longer). I was standing in the scrapbook shop, choosing stickers for my 365 book, when I got phone call to say that no, Drew wasn't going to Sherbrooke, Quebec...........he'd be going to Ottawa, Ontario. The necessary documents were emailed through and that night, I finished the application process. All that was left to do was have some of the documents notarised by a Notary Public.

The closest NP to us lives at Gatton. We left here on Sunday afternoon to see him. We knew him - he's a wagyu breeder so he was happy to accommodate us on a weekend. We finished the formalities and drove back through Grantham, to Toowoomba. The rain was pouring down in sheets. We left the package of documents in Toowoomba for our rellies to post on Monday (I suspected that the road to home would be cut on Monday so thought that leaving them in Twba to be posted would solve that problem). We headed home through shocking rain and perilous conditions on the road; I was a little scared. I drove from Jondy to Dalby. About half an hour after we made it
home we heard that the road had been closed.

So Monday arrived and our rellies posted the documents. We all know what happened after that. Toowoomba was hit by the inland tsunami and a shocking train of events were put in place. Some stories are just too sad to contemplate.

Needless to say, the documents didn't make it out of Toowoomba. The Canadian Consulate has agreed to process Drew's application based on faxed copies and will email the letter of confirmation through.

Meanwhile, chaos reigns in our region. Our local town has flooded again for the fifth time in 10 weeks. Towns to the west of us are flooding and being re-evacuated. Towns to the east have been devastated and almost obliterated. Grantham expects to lose 30 residents by the time all this is over. Brisbane has just flooded. When will it all end?