The Slimms They Have Arrived

It seems like an awfully long time ago now but after a brief frenetic period of pointless housework undetaken by Nicole and some bed re-shuffling owing to back problems etc we went to the airport to pick up the mythical grandparents who only existing in three-year-old memory in a computer from the airport.

Apparently tears were shed (though I didn't see them) when they came through the Door To Australia to be confronted by a much-grown and reasonable lucidly-vocabularised redhead and of course there were much hugs and kisses before we headed back to our place for the obligatory guided tour.

Day One, with Nicole in attendance, followed the Brendan and Shirley pattern with lunch at Mount Coot-tha looking down at the city. Jet lag caught up though and when we got home afternoon naps were had followed by a chestnut casserole thingy and reasonbly early to bed, for me at least.

Nicole was at work the next day and I was at college, and Eloise at nursery, but we kicked them out of bed before we left. What they did all day is a mystery but I'm pretty sure it involved housework and ironing. You can't keep a good nanny down after all. It's probably more use in a single day than the iron has had in two years.

Dad had sent a Rolleiflex camera over with them (thanks Dad) and in the evening of Day One Mick and I had tried to work out how the infernal thing worked, ruining a film in the process. But try as we might we couldn't get the damned machine to recognise the first frame of the film and the exposure counter was decidedly not functional.

So I took it into the college to get an expert to have a look.

Two films later we were none the wiser but he suggested I take it to a bright Vietnamese tinkerer in town which I duly did to discover that the trick we'd been missing was to thread the film between two rollers in the feeder mechanism.

And joy of joys this did the trick and now I am gingerly playing with it as it doesn't have such a thing as a light meter on it.

So after all this plodding round town I got home at sundown to find Nicole had knocked off early, the dogs were walked and supper had been cooked and chairs were arrayed in the garden, for the genteel activity of basking in the Queensland sun.

Day Three was swimming day and Eloise and I kicked the lazy (alright , jet-lagged Slimms) out of bed in an attempt to get there on time, which was achieved by lying point-blank about when we had to leave.

Eloise had been transferred to a new teacher for her third stint in the Big Girl's Pool and she did very well, for someone who refused to do what she was asked precisely when she was asked to do it.

Then we went up the mountain again, as is our habit, for post-swimming refreshments and in the afternoon I took the dogs out for a walk while the others rested.

Day Four was a bit more adventurous as we did the tourist thing (after bally as Anne calls it) and went up to Mount Glorious to the restaurant there with which you'll be familiar if you're related to me, and for a walk around the lovely rainforest.