Chapter 8: Almost ready
It’s now two days until departure.
The last few days were spent asking each other, “what else do we need to do?” Or “is there anything else we need?” Then we look at each other quizzically; each willing the other to think of the thing we’re going to regret not having in the middle of nowhere.
On the plus side, T finally masters the charcoal BBQ and we feast on smoky-flavoured sausages and chicken sticks.
The chickens find a new home
Thanks to the Facebook group Melbourne Chicken Owners, I find the chickens a new home on a farm. This is not a euphemism. They really do go to a lovely place down in Officer South run by a woman who reminds me of my mother. I like her instantly. When I arrive with my two girls there’s not a chicken in sight. When I ask where they all are and the woman calls out, “here chick chick chick chickens!” All of a sudden a flock of chickens come racing towards us from around the side of her house.
I am reassured. My chickens will be just fine. I expect they may have more fun than I will.
It’s the little things
Then catastrophe strikes when I discover my fancy shampoo is close to running out and the giant refill bottle I thought was shampoo is actually conditioner. I quickly order a new one online hoping it will come in time. It doesn’t so I go down to the hairdresser and buy a smaller bottle for twice the price. I don’t think of myself as a fussy person but that shampoo gives me a whole extra day of relatively clean hair so it will save me money in the long run… I tell myself.
The kids visit friends and make arrangements to FaceTime and chat while we’re on the road. T’s WIFI connection strategy involves running it off the data on his phone. I’m not convinced of this but since I delegated all IT and electronic decision-making to him years ago, I decide he can live with the fallout.
I fret that an order of my favourite nuts is taking over 10 days to arrive. From a suburb 20 minutes away. I kick myself for not just going to pick it up.
Then I wonder if between the shampoo and the nuts I’m a lot more high maintenance than I realise.
Board games
We’re a board game family so we discuss which ones in the collection will be coming with us. The kids choose:
1. Carcassonne
2. Catan
3. Cards against Humanity (the family edition — unfortunately)
4. Dungeon Mayhem
5. A new one T buys called Second Last Giraffe
I bundle them all up in ziplock bags and marvel at why on earth we’ve kept them in their enormous boxes all this time.
They join a pub quiz book, a map quiz book, and a pack of cards called Talking Points I saw on Facebook. These are supposedly suggested topics of conversation for families. During Lockdown the time came when we ran out of interest in talking about what happened in Minecraft (A) and on YouTube today (G).
I fantasise we’ll have stimulating conversations around the table. Or at least some kind of conversation that is not about Minecraft and YouTube.
Weather forecast
I now start checking the weather forecast regularly/obsessively. Melbourne weather is notoriously fickle; it poured with rain Saturday, was 30 degrees Celsius Monday and will pour with rain Saturday again. I hope that this is a Melbourne only thing and the weather will be a consistent sunny 25 degrees once we leave the city.
It’s not. The forecast at Port Willunga, where we’re meeting old friends on Sunday, is up to 40 mm of rain. Great. So much for enjoying some white wine in the sun while the kids play on the beach.
I decide to worry about that later.
Packing Cubes
I try out the packing cubes with our clothing and to my surprise, they fit quite a lot into them. The bright orange colour of mine ensures I will always be able to find them and that I can probably see them from space.
The day before pickup
I wind up the last of my work and send out a flurry of emails. Then I check-in with the housesitters to make sure they are still coming (they are), email the itinerary and map to our families, and visit the neighbours to tell them we’ll be away. I tell them not to be alarmed, the giant campervan parked outside our house and blocking most of the traffic in the street tomorrow is ours. It will only be there one night, I promise them. They all smile understandingly and wish us well.
Then I get a very apologetic text message from one of A’s friends mums who he was visiting yesterday. She’s tested positive for Covid. Her son is negative so far so A may escape but this does not cancel out the hour we spent chatting at her house.
Now I start to wonder if the headache lurking behind my forehead is just a stress headache or it’s the start of Covid. I had it three years ago and A gave it to me then too.
All I can do is wait and see how well the vaccine holds up.
