sliprail: Dear Meg and Drew

I did the morning jobs and got ready to go to Toowoomba. I went to fuel the car up when a song from a long time ago came on the radio. It was a Pink Floyd song; I don't know its' name, I call it "Wish You Were Here". It's got very distinctive guitar picking in it and it was a favourite song of J's. I just sat in the car, waiting for it to finish, remembering the day of his accident and then his death three days later and then his funeral a few days later again. I remember how our friends all rallied around us and I think it rained at the graveside....I remember being wet at the wake. We were all bulletproof, or so we thought but his death proved we weren't. It made me realise that life's not always a joke, that terrible things do happen to very good people. I haven't thought about him for a long time but that song really took me back 28 years.

On the drive down I listened to a story on Radio National (best radio station in the nation) about homeless people and the lack of suitable housing available for them and how the situation is just getting worse all the time. They interviewed a number of people from both sides of the fence - the homeless people and the people trying to help them. I was totally engrossed in the program and the drive passed quickly. It made me think again how I'd like to find a job that actually had an impact on someone else in a positive way instead of shuffling paper from one side of a desk to the other in a meaningless, monotonous, repetitive routine.

CG was pretty quiet. I went to have a mid morning bacon and egg mcmuffin - but McD's don't do breakfast on a Sunday morning....hello? I went to Rebel and checked out their cycling gear, looking for a decent rain jacket. I walked to Kathmandu and bought a rain cover for my backpack and some socks and a t-shirt (one less car, thought it was perfect!) - all on sale and combined with my Summit Club discount I saved $60. I went back to CG via another camping shop (where I purchased one tent peg for 70 cents); back to Rebel to buy the rain jacket I'd seen earlier and a new pair of cycling nicks with the money that Mum and Mate gave me for my birthday. I spent ages wandering aimlessly around Target and bought a few things - a hanging toilet bag for the truck showers, a boys grey singlet, a pair of thongs and a pair of new day shoes. I wanted to get blue ones but they didn't have any left in a size suitable for my big hoof.

Then I went to Coles and bought some bits and pieces for next week. By this time it was about three o'clock so I sat at a coffee shop and had a piece of French Bacon Pie, which was a fancy name for Quiche, and a cappucino (in a cup, not a mug). I sat there and checked fb on my phone, crossed things off my list and wondered if this was how it felt to be on your own. I really missed you both today, felt it more strongly than other days. I wondered if people who don't have a partner or children that live near them, feel like I did today, only they feel it all the time. Or do they get used to it? I'm very glad I've got a family that loves me.

I came home and the four leggers met me. Gibbo was on his way back with my two leggers! I took the camera outside while I did the rounds and captured the goats being really naughty. Peach has finally worked out that all she has to do to get out of the pen is follow her mother! They were both in the gauzed room when I got home and they followed me back over to their pen but they played up along the way. Poofy knew to keep his distance.

Peach ran around, quite deranged.

They chased Coco and Pepper got her; Coco just wasn't quick enough - she came whimpering to me and jumped up on my legs. I picked her up and rescued her.