Hello new year! I had an amazing (read hectic) 3 weeks in Perth and returned to blissful country life on the 8th of January... amid torrential rains and gale force winds!! We had to circle the tarmac about 20 times before we could land. Embarrassingly, a builder working on my units recognised me this week as the girl who was 'gripping the arm rests and gasping'... oops! To top matters off, collecting my bag from the outdoor 'baggage claim' was painful... I arrived home with a suitcase full of sopping clothes, what a welcome! The joys even continued the following morning. I woke up to 2 inside frogs and a house full of frog poo...
Since then, it actually hasn't stopped pouring. Tom Price even made it on to the map! Cyclone Heidi made a path directly for us... but sadly, she turned out to be a real fizzer. The rain we've had since has been much more extreme! I even almost got stuck in Paraburdoo. On my drive home, I came across a flowing floodway...I likened it to whitewater rapids:) I cautiously pulled over, considering my options. A man in a huge truck pulled up behind me and offered a stern warning; "I wouldn't take an i30 through there young lady. I've seen bigger cars get swept away over smaller floodways". Brilliant. I sat on the side of the road for 25 mins, on the brink of tears, pondering a night stuck in Paraburdon't! Thankfully, a rescue van arrived, and I bravely followed him through! It actually wasn't so bad, and I had to wonder if the truck driver was pulling my leg as revenge for speeding up and overtaking him 2km previously?
Unfortunately, this week of record-breaking rain was the week Curo came up for a summer visit. He'd kill me if I didn't mention that of our 4 scrabble tournaments, I didn't win a game. Despite this... we had a fantastic time. My highlights were watching Louise's daughters paint Curo's nails at her curry night, watching the Perth scorchers smash it at the Tom Price pub, Curo and I smashing it at the Tom Price pub, enjoying cheap beers and a delish meal at the $2 shop (Windawarri Lodge), some good romcoms and having a picnic at King's Lake (which was bright orange after all the rain!). But as usual... I'm missing him terribly now.
On a happier note, some may have worried Lionel didn't make over to my new place after the move. That crazy ta ta lizard who scared me half to death back in October, made a lovely home in my pot plants at number 14. SInce then, I have been moved (in to a brand spanking new unit, only 2 doors up) and I'd like to report that Lionel has moved too. AND, I seem to have a Lionel number 2! This was almost too much. They no longer wave me off.. rather sometimes wait for me on the doorstep... just what I love to come home to! I see them everyday... even in the rain! That's all I have to report for now... in Beth's absence, I am the (stressed out) senior physiotherapist... and I definitely need my beauty sleep.
