A week is a long
time so they say, in football, or politics, or in my case, a simple trip to
Melbourne. I had very little on the agenda. Visit my brother and sister in law,
and buy a car. Now what could be simpler than that? What could possibly go
wrong?
DAY 1
First obstacle
was wandering up and down escalators and going in and out of Tullamarine terminal, trying to find my friends in the new Jetstar
pickup area I’d never been to before. How on earth did we find each other
before mobile phones? “Can you see the carpark opposite the terminal?” “Which
carpark?” There are carparks every which way, lanes for buses, lanes for taxis,
nowhere could I see a lane for cars to pick up people. “Am I on the right
level?” In again, out again, getting hot and bothered, then suddenly “Ah, I can
see you” coming from the opposite direction I was looking of course.
DAY 2
Visited my
brother and sister in law, driving my friend’s car. Hate driving other people’s
cars, and the more I drive in Melbourne traffic the less I like it. Made it
there and back in one piece. Proceeded to sit in their snazzy Stressless chair to chill out before
dinner, when SPROING, disaster struck. Not the chair, but my back, the thirty
two year old ‘war wound’ legacy of my first and last aerobics lesson.
I’m not one to
say the acclaimed Stressless chair
needs to come with a health warning from the Surgeon General (unlike aerobics which
in my case should have). When lowering myself to the point where I expected my
backside to meet said chair didn’t bring the desired result, the extra space
was instead covered in a swift thump that sent discs popping out where they
shouldn’t be and me wanting to shout some rather unsavoury words. Thank
goodness I’d brought my back support belt in case of such a mishap, have been
down this road before. I knew I was in for a grim week, so armed with painkillers
and happy pills I hoped I’d be able to move the next day.
DAY 3
Couldn’t sit up,
slithered out of bed backwards, crawled on my knees to the bathroom to soak
away some of the pain under a luxuriant warm shower. Knew I wouldn’t be any
better for a couple of days so we decided to go buy the new car as scheduled
even though I was in no condition to drive it. Gingerly got myself in the
superb red Mazda 3, was taken for a drive, money changed hands and my friends
drove both me and it back to their place. Heat pack and more pills, will I make
it to the boat by Friday?
DAY 4
As expected, not
much better, more slithering and crawling, spent most of the day standing, walking, even in the rain, which
was quite enjoyable actually. Have long since believed that resting with a back
injury is the worst thing I can do. As long as I’m upright and moving, things
can only get better. Much like Linus with his blanket, the heat pack has become
my constant companion.
DAY 5
Enough misery.
Put on a brave face, manoeuvered myself into the car to visit my brother again,
who is seriously ill, so to put things in perspective my back trouble is a mere
triviality by comparison. Freaked out driving in the pouring rain as every car,
truck and bus looked as if they were making a beeline for me. Oh for the
uncluttered roads of home.
DAY 6
D-Day, drive to
the boat day. Thought I’d go to the loo just before leaving, undid my back
support belt, when lo and behold a big splash took me by surprise before I’d
even sat down. Woops, forgot about the heat pack under the belt. Toilet soaked
wet wheat ain’t gonna cut it any more as a heat pack. Into the bin it went.
Had a break at
Southland shopping centre so I could keep walking around and stay mobile,
bought a new heat pack, even managed to find my way back to the same entrance
where I came in, quite a feat I thought, remembered to look for my new car rather
than the old one then had a major panic when I couldn’t find the key. A woman’s
handbag can be a mysterious bottomless pit, had to literally empty the whole
thing to find it had landed in one of those little side pockets. Big relief.
Made it to the
Spirit without any mishap, and wouldn’t you know it, I’d been assigned a top
bunk. Impossible. Definitely not going to work. Fortunately a young Taiwanese
girl sharing the cabin happily swapped, and we had a long conversation about
all the places she and her boyfriend planned to visit while in Tassie. A bright
spot in the day.
DAY 7
Crawled out of
bed at the unearthly hour they always wake you when you’re nearly at your
destination, breathed a sigh of relief to get the car back in familiar
territory. Stopped in Deloraine to do some shopping, have never been to the
supermarket at 7.30am before, but certainly helpful. Went to pay, and a red
card that shouldn’t be in my wallet glared at me. That’s right, my cabin
keycard. In all my umpteen trips back and forth on the Spirit, not once have I
managed to abscond with one. Mind you, it probably happens all the time, but
it’s now sitting in an envelope with a note of apology ready for tomorrow’s
mail.
Ah, home sweet home,
beautiful sunny day, thought I might as well do the washing straight away.
Checked the sleeves and pockets for tissues, but obviously not thoroughly
enough, for partway through the cycle when the machine got unbalanced and came
to an abrupt stop, there were those telltale bits of tissue distributed over
everything. Pulled the clothes out of the machine, rinsed off all the tissue,
chucked them back in the machine, finished the cycle, only to find when I
lifted the lid things weren’t much better. I mean, just how many pieces can one
tissue fragment into. Shook everything to smithereens as I hung it out.
All was not lost
though. The sunshine on my back was a real tonic as I walked around the
village, and as the temperature cooled off, I surprised myself by even lighting
the fire without having to play damsel in distress.
It seems I have a
habit of not being able to have an adventure without a corresponding misadventure.
The last two times I’ve flown anywhere I’ve jiggered my back severely the next
day, so maybe there’s a lesson there somewhere. What did cheer me over the last
few days though, is how important family and friends are. It’s easy to take
each other for granted, but rather special to find an enormous amount of
generosity and extra support there when it’s needed.
