Saturday

Bye bye Burleigh Beach

We were up at 7 this morning getting ready to vacate our holiday apartment and start heading home to Jannie.  I'm not sure if we managed to leave with less or more but Billi Stanley was definitely full! Just as well we weren't wedded to the idea of taking Sooz's Mum out today ... there was no way we could have fitted her in! 
We had planned to see Ju on Monday but since Sooz was still under the weather at that stage, we postponed the visit to today.   It was a pity the weather wasn't better ... it was raining by the time we arrived ... but that didn't seem to bother the curlews who are still hanging out in the Centre's garden.  Ju and the other residents were in the Communal area, not appearing to be doing much taxing ... although one lady (Rita?) was busy folding a basketful of washing.  I don't know how the folk there cope with it, but the staff appear to have an alarming alert tone ... like those old car alarms that went through a range of alarm tones that repeated and repeated and then repeated some more.  Very annoying ... even if it's not at full volume and not on all the staff phones at the one time ... I'm not sure I could put up with it ...  I'm used to  alarms  meaning danger - and as soon as I heard the alarm the first time, I looked around, realised no-one else was concerned - especially the staff - realised it was coming from one of them ... and allowed myself to relax without having to shepherd everyone outside to an evacuation point.
We left the Village when the staff started setting up for lunch ... and set off for our own lunch - fish and chips on the banks of the mighty Tweed River.  l left Sooz at the park while I went to the seafood shop and when I arrived back she had chicken, cake, a cup of Fanta and a white rose - from the group of women celebrating early Mothers Day at the next table. Oh ... and did I mention there were seagulls - lots of them!

By the mighty Tweed.

As we left - after watching a cavalcade of bikies forge past - we dropped in at the women's table to say thanks and they asked if we would take a group photo - of course we said yes - and as they were getting into a group -they were talking about how they would get Mum in the pic. I thought they were talking about the woman in the wheelchair -but it turned out they were talking about Diane - well, her ashes ... and Diane ended up in the middle of the group - and, tilted at the correct angle, you could read where just her name was inscribed on the silver-coloured plaque.
As Sooz said, it was a very positive pick-me-up -and a good way to end that portion of the holidays.   Jannie was our next stop - if you don't count a visit to our Local Aldi for a few supplies ... and some paint brushes.   I was surprised it only took two trips to unload Billi Stanley ... but we really could have used the trolley from the apartments.
We haven't finished totally unpacking  yet but we have unpacked a fair bit.  Luckily, we still have tomorrow before I need to drive back up that busy Motorway to work on Monday.