What a surreal few days it’s been!

Thursday:
8:00 a.m.dropped Ali at school
ran a few errands in town
9:00 a.m. drove out to Hughenden (400-odd km) to collect Peter - his last day there! woo hoo!
2:00 - 5:00 p.m. packed remaining possessions from house there into back of car (almost - had to leave some with a friend!)
5:00 7:30 p.m. Peter coached his last group of Hughenden kids’ tennis
10:00 p.m.drove back to Townsville, arriving 2:00 a.m. Friday (Ali stayed with a friend)

Friday:
tried to sleep in
failed
Peter madly working on computer trying to organise a TENDER - yes, you read it right
NZ partners to rescue - they will complete tender (wonderful, thoughtful friends)
Peter and I lay down for nap
I fluffed my pillow and rearranged covers
He got up - claimed he had rested enough (in three minutes??)
more errands around town - buying chairs for office, clothes and shoes for P and paying bills
at shopping centre, P has notion to check whether his mobile IS set up for international roaming as requested TWO MONTHS ago
surprise surprise surprise - IT ISN’T
$300, half an hour of clenched teeth and barely civil phone call later, it IS
dinner out at local restaurant, nearly asleep in mushroom sauce
packing suitcase, photocopying passport, discussing clothing options at length
bed by 10:30, alarm on mobile phone set for 4:00 a.m.
awake at 11:25 - memo on phone has woken us up to tell us that Peter is flying to LA in the morning (so we’d better get a good night’s sleep. Oh the irony)

Saturday:
4:00 a.m. eyes are open
5:00 a.m. wake up in cafe at airport with a mouthful of coffee
5:30 a.m. Peter leaves. Trying hard not to cry.
home and back to bed
7:30 a.m. P calls from Brisbane
1:00 p.m. P calls from Sydney
Spend day sorting through his clothes and tidying wardrobe
nap in afternoon
starting to feel human again
more tidying, shopping with Ali
early night
wake up all through night waiting for the phone to ring. It doesn’t.
8:00 a.m. email from Peter - safe in L.A. , phone not working (Well, of course not. Why the hell should it?? We asked nicely, paid the $$ but forgot to sacrifice our youngest child and smear her blood all over the Telstra Shop) BUT he has seen Chronicler and is very happily visiting with an old friend. By now, I suspect, he is comatose on her sofa!
8:01 a.m. email from Chronicler (now this is amazing!). She has driven HOURS to meet with Peter for TWO minutes and give him a gift for me!!
12:00 p.m. look at this!! How weird it feels to see my husband on an American blog!! Wish I could see the present he is holding just a l i t t l e better - I have to wait two more weeks to see it.

How incredible are bloggers? The generosity of absolute strangers is a delightful reminder of how cool human beings can actually be. People who think that the computer age has damaged the way in which humans communicate with and relate to each other should spend a day or two blogging. And Chronicler’s blogs are a good place to start. She also has some awesome stuff for sale!

After a couple of days in LA and then a few in Boston, P will be on his way to Germany to visit his brother and sister-in-law. I am so excited for him. This will be the very first time he has ever visited his brother in his brother’s own home!
Next time, we’re hoping to both go