I think for the first time in my life I admit to being rather tired. It’s pretty darn frustrating; I have so much I want to achieve in the next 5 weeks at home.
I arrived home late Sunday evening. It was a shock walking into the house. It was just 13 degrees for Pete’s Sake!!!! Keith doesn’t feel the cold and had the fire on downstairs, which did little to warm the upstairs rooms.
After months in summer and then a cold rainy week in Sydney, I was feeling a little indignant at the state of the weather and fell into bed and slept a sleep of sheer exhaustion.
Traversing the continents has some interesting anomalies. For instance, you leave for the USA on a Monday and arrive on a Monday even though you have been travelling for 30 hours; however, the season is the exact opposite. Winter becomes summer or vice versa.
Returning home, I left on a Saturday and got home on Monday. Fall became spring. Then there is the driving, I have to drive on the other side of the road. I constantly turn on the wipers instead of the indicators and I have to concentrate that I’m on the right side of the road. I know it sounds silly, but it’s interesting how quickly the brain becomes programmed.
Others have used my car, so I have to change the reversing mirror, adjust the seat… change the radio station and re set the mirrors! I have a policy of not driving for at least 2 days after I arrive home; jet lag is insidious and can creep on you impairing your judgement.
I sound as if I’m complaining…. No, just stating a fact.
There’s the other side of returning home. The comfortable and familiar.
Our house. I love the colours and ambience of my house. I coset the treasures I have collected over the years, they are small things that remain constant and welcoming when I return home.
Then there are the familiar foods, coffee, making toast and vegemite without thinking, the fresh tomatoes that sit on the bench and ripen in the sun. Avocados and lovely cheeses.
If you stay in someone else’s house you live their life, eat their food and fit in. In a hotel, there is no familiar and friendly food... “Just because I feel like it”
So yesterday I had a trip to the market to buy all the goodies I miss so much.
I generally wash everything in sight…. “Just because I can”. And enjoy the luxury of watching TV laying on the settee,
A comment online recently from a Tutor. “It takes me four days to prepare to go away and teach and two pyjama days to relax when I return….
My family have lived a life separate from me in my absence…. And I from them…
Despite the wonderful communication methods we use now I need to catch up on the physical subtleties that are missed in cyberspace and on the telephone.
My little dog Ralf is in heaven and won’t leave my side for a minute… and one of the cats George makes her presence felt in a very strong way.
I love the smell of pine, gum and wattle as I step out of the car in my drive accompanied by the sound of the birds.
It’s nice to be home.
