I have been hunting for a couple of items such as a particular handbag and a couple of clothing items for way too long now. So I went to the shopping mecca that I’ve always heard ‘real shoppers’ (worlds apart from people like me who shop for things, not recreationally, to pass time), go to. It was so BLAH! I felt like BLAH when I was there. I was just obviously not prepared for it. Makeup less, casually (dare I say, comfortably) dressed and it was early in the morning I entered that large indoor glitzed up tin shed. Too many unhappy people, not enough natural lighting and air and way too many artificial conversations. “Heellooo, can I help you?” Blah!
This was yesterday. Andy had been hunted down by an intelligent and crafty marketer from the motorbike shop in Oakleigh and offered a test ride of a couple of motorbikes. This bothered me and excited him. I mean how aggressive and smart! Fortunately he survived the experience of that extra power without making a purchase. I should have given him more credit.
Full Moon Eclipse?
I sure it has been the full moon eclipse business that has totally ruffled me this week. I have been tired, cranky, sad and unmotivated with no apparent reason. I have continued to exercise, but have not eaten well or recorded any stats. I have burnt meals and done last minute rushed shopping frequently.
I’ve had weird dreams about people I’m not really fond of and found them unexpectedly turning up in reality the next day, when I never see them and I like it like that. I haven’t felt like doing any writing or creative stuff, much less disassembling the mounds of dirty clothes and trails of where I’ve been through the house.
Maybe it was the scary thunderstorm last night when my son was down the street and beloved was riding home on his dirt bike. I imagined all sorts of disasters striking either one of them, even whilst I knew it was saner and more pleasant to ‘think positive thoughts’. Perhaps it was the heat and the rain making the heat kind of sticky rather than refreshing as I was hoping it would be.
Could be it was letting go of my daughter on the weekend and talking to her on the phone and hearing that she was tired, busy and sounded just a little overwhelmed and I couldn’t get to her in an instant to help. Yet because I was moving house with daughter on the weekend I didn’t do a great job of my housework and I was disorganised.
Not to mention all the consequences that flow on from those things such as not being totally prepared to teach each lesson and so getting further behind at school, or that there have been quite a fewinterruptions at school this week, such as swimming carnivals and thinkfests, all wonderful and important things that I love, yet interrupt the flow.
The good thing is that I woke this morning and thought, it’s feeling better, and today was. It was much better. I achieved a lot and feel good.
Trip to Wollongong – Final thoughts
I learnt I am very afraid of heights on the trip. I am getting worse. Andy, in one of his amusing moments took a rather unflattering clip of me getting down from a monument that I had climbed thinking I could get a better shot. I suddenly felt overwhelmed by fear. You won’t find this video, because it hasn’t been put online. This horrible ‘fear of heights’ feeling came along several times during the trip, particularly on the ‘Suggan Buggan’ road and some of the lookouts.
I learnt that I prefer to stay a while in places rather than pass quickly through. We usually spend a week at a place we holiday to and I found this website today Slow Travel, and I totally agree it is the best way. I guess when we visited Broken Hill last year for a week and traveled to and from taking a week either way, it was the same. The most enjoyable part is the week long stay at the destination. We think we will spend a couple of weeks next year in the one spot rather than spend as much time travelling. We do like to take roads off the beaten track though, which takes longer. I thoroughly agree with the concept of ‘slow travel’ though. You need time in a place to appreciate it and to really relax there.
I learnt that I prefer smaller places and larger accomodation. I need to get fitter and healthier to continue to enjoy walking and camping. Wollongong was a beautiful place. It was not the industrial city I had thought it was.
I really enjoyed Andy’s company and appreciate the care and planning he puts into these trips. I wouldn’t see a quarter of the marvellous thing I get to see without him.
The coast is so populated. I was quite astonished by this. The price of real estate is high along the coast.