Simone

Very good, I'm waiting too!

I met her last week though, she's been busy doing an English course so she can teach English to migrants!

But I'm sure she'll be back soon!

TheCrone

Yes, I signed on for this course before Christmas and had no idea how time-consuming and demanding it would be...................homework again!
But will be clear of all this by early next week and I'll get back to it.
And how flattering to know I have avid readers out there in cyber space. Thank you very much, people.

TheCrone

From Charters Towers it was blacktop all the way to Brisbane. Pot-holed blacktop, washed-out blacktop, in places single-lane blacktop, where an oncoming vehicle meant driving with two wheels on the often soft shoulder. This was at the height of the Bjelke-Petersen period and road maintenance outside the larger cities was given little or no funding.
Down the coast we went, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Maryborough passing by with rarely a glimpse of the Pacific. Eventually, a couple of days alter, we arrived in Caboolture, where we stopped for lunch and to by a Brisbane street directory, as we had no idea where to find the address we'd been given.
It was at this point that I had a serious attack of the collywobbles. I'd developed a seemingly invincible self-confidence through living in the North West. I'd faced situations which were completely beyond any of my imaginings in the UK. I'd discovered abilities I never knew I had, expanded my capabilities in previously unthought-of ways. Not all of the experiences had been pleasant, several having left both physical and emotional scars. But from it all, I'd developed a belief that I could and would survive whatever life threw at me. Indeed, I would more than survive, I would thrive and grow on the new challenges, the fresh opportunities, even the events that sneaked up behind me and caught me off balance. I was, I knew, a vastly different person to the middle-class housewife who'd left the UK four years earlier. I was stronger, more resilient, I could cope with whatever situation I found myself in. But now?
Now, on nothing more than a whim and an itchy foot, I'd dragged my husband and young child thousands of kilometers clear across the continent. We were going to an unspecified job with people we'd never met, in a city we didn't know, in a State with which we were unfamiliar - and one, to be honest, I didn't much like, from what I'd seen. And now, of course, it was much too late to turn back.........
The address we wanted lay to the south of the city. We worked out our route, writing it on a piece of paper for me to take in the ute, while M., with the directory, would lead the way. I would trail him as closely as possible. But nothing so far in my driving experience had prepared me for Brisbane traffic at 4pm on a Friday afternoon.
The dirt roads and single-track bitumen had long since given way to two-way traffic and the volume of traffic had increased markedly too. But now I was confronted with major highways, with no idea which lane I should be in. Nor had I ever driven in the midst of so much traffic. I'd left what I thought was a normal distance between the truck and the ute, but opportunistic Brisbane drivers soon filled the gap, forcing me further and further behind so that I could no longer see the truck. But the worst moment of all came when I had to hold the ute on the clutch at traffic-lights halfway up a hill. In retrospect, it seems incredible that with 9 months and 10,000 kms of driving, I'd never had to stop at a set of lights before, but there wasn't a single set between Perth and Darwin, or Darwin and Brisbane for that matter. How times have changed!
I knew that I had to cross a bridge across thw Brisbane River so, white-fingered hands desperately clutching the steering-wheel, I followed such signs as I could see in that direction. It was with a heart-felt sigh of gratitude that I saw tha truck pulled over to the road-side on the approaches. I flicked my headlights and slowed enough to let M. pull out in front of me, then followed him - very closely! - till we pulled up in the driveway of the address we'd been given.
Getting out stiffly from behind the wheel, I burst into tears. "Now sell the ute! Sell the bloody thing - please! I never want to drive again!'
And that was the beginning of the worst three months I've spent in Australia.

ub40fan

Wow

Just found this thread and it has kept me quiet for a little while reading it. Not a lot does that.

It is fantastic, I can almost see it and feel it you paint such a good picture.

I know it has been said, but you should write a book. There will be a queue!

Keep writing

Shirley

Merlot

Still loving this real bit of Australia.

M

MarkMyWords

And then they can make it into a film. Meryl Streep as TheCrone and Sam Neill as M.

Larissa

Brilliant thread Sheila, hope the English lessons are going well.

TheCrone

Although as I've said, the relationship was a distant one (Amy being the SIL of my husband's nephew) we were greeted as family and warmly made welcome. But after dinner, when the children were in bed, a sorry tale emerged.
They had emigrated with another couple, both of whom they'd known since they were children. Both husbands had owned small busineses which had been sold to provide them with lump-sum capital to invest in something larger, which they would run as partners. Their original destination was Melbourne, but arriving in the middle of winter, they found it cold, grey and damp;all too reminiscient of the towns of the industrial West Riding, which they'd been glad to leave behind. So they bought a couple of vehicles and, without any specific destination in mind, headed north.
They liked what they saw of Brisbane and rented houses in adjoining suburbs, then set about exploring business opportunities. Eventually they signed a lease with a petrol company for a service station and road house at Beerburrum, about an hour's drive north of the city. Although this was only a small hamlet, it was on the main road heading north, so they thought there would be enough passing trade to provide a good income.
They were due to open for business on the Monday following our arrival; however, just two days previously their "life-long friends" had told them that they were withdrawing from their agreement - and were leaving for Sydney that same day!
So here were two very sad people, feeling totally bewildered, betrayed and isolated, all their assets tied up in a business they hadn't the first idea how to run and looking to us for their salvation.
Their contract with the petrol company couldn't be terminated in under six months without forfeiting almost all the money they'd already paid. Obviously,that service station, that roadhouse, had to be open for business first thing on Monday morning. And, at least initially, it was up to M. and I to run it while giving Will and Amy a crash course in all they needed to know to run such a venture. Will had owned a small corner grocery store; he had no mechanical knowledge whatsoever, while Amy had never made a meal for anyone other than her family. They were in for a shock, I thought; and they'd have to learn quickly! It was obvious they couldn't afford to pay us any wages and our resources weren't in the best shape. It wouldn't be long before we needed to look for paid employment.
Over the next couple of days we packed up the contents of their house and loaded them on the truck, in my ute and in the boot of Will's car. By 5pm on Sunday we pulled up outside the service station and surveyed our new 'home'. Will, Amy and family, it seemed, had very pleasant quarters to the rear of the building, while we would have to make do with the caravan parked alongside it. From there access to the bathroom was through the cafe, the kitchen and finally, their sitting-room and would, of course be inaccessible during the night. Furthermore, a cursory inspection of the "well-equipped kitchen" on which the profitablity of the enterprise depended, showed that it was fitted with an industrial - sized microwave, of obscure make and with no instructions for operation; a large electric grill for cooking hamburgers, bacon and frying eggs; but no oven, cooktop on which a saucepan could be boiled, no toaster, no urn or kettle; no dishwasher.
I was not happy!

migrantoz

What happened to yesterdays post? We're still waiting!
Have you considered writing a book?

tonyk38

You remain as ever, hugely inspirational.....

Just hope I get back to Aus to live some adventures of my own....

Dorie

How do I give this woman some karma????

TheCrone

Fortunately the caravan was clean and well equipped with a new bottle of gas; fortunate too that I knew exactly where all our belongings were packed. It wasn't long before the billy was boiling for coffe and a stew, mostly made from tinned ingredients was bubbling away on the stove and the beds were made. Will and M. were carrying furniture and cartons into the apartment. I knew I was expected to go and help, but I was in no mood to do so; I needed a little time and space, peace and quiet for myself.
Tomorrow would be time enough to get involved with the kitchen, the restaurant and the other family.

By Friday, a morning routine had begun to emerge. M. and I would open up the cafe and service station around 6.30 am. M. would serve petrol while I was waitress, cook, shop assistant and washer-up in the other half of the business - though to be fair, M. would help whenever he wasn't busy on the forecourt. Will would put in an appearance about an hour later and make tea, a cup of which he would take to Amy. He would then sit at a cafe table to drink his in leisurely fashion, regardless of how busy we were : only at 8.30 would he stroll out to join M - invariably leaving his dirty cup on the table. It's funny how sometimes it's the small things that are most annoying!

But I could cope with this. Custom was steady, if not brisk and I soon began to recognize and chat with the regular customers. Both they and a petrol company rep. who'd called told me that weekends, beginning on Friday evenings, would be our busiest times. We could expect surfers going up to Noosa or Tewantin for the weekend; families on outings to the Glasshouse Mountains; and others coming south for a weekend in the city. I pointed out to Will that if the influx did arrive, I would need far more help from Amy than I was getting; I suggested that she should be on hand from 8am onwards, especially at weekends. He fixed me with a gravely reproving look and replied that she was always busy with the children at that time. To which I retorted that she also had a half-share in the business and a responsibility towards that, too; and maybe they needed to examine their priorities?
To give her her due, Amy was, under direction, becoming a reasonable kitchen-hand. She made sure there was a supply of prepared salad ingreients for hamburgers, cleaned counters, washed dishes, swept and mopped the floor. She would not, however, venture into the cafe, serve in the shop or make any attempt at cooking; and she had a weird habit of suddenly dropping whatever she was doing, grabbing the smallest child and running into the flat, from which she would emerge quarter of an hour later and take up the task in hand as if there had been no hiatus.
Strange!
Matters came to a head on Saturday lunchtime. M. and Will were busy at the pumps, I was making half a dozen hamburgers for waiting customers when another four people came in and sat at a table.
"Go and take their order, please", I asked.
"I can't!" she responded.
"Oh yes you bloody can!", I hissed. "Get out there, put a smile on your face , tick off what they want on this order form and bring it back here! Simple! Just do it!"
"I can't!", she said again.
Exasperated, I threw down the spatula.
"You get out there and do it - right now! If you don't, I'm telling you I'm walking out of this kitchen -RIGHT NOW - and I won't be back!"
Like a zombie, she picked up the pad and walked into the cafe. Returning a few moments later, she carefully placed the pad on the bench - and promptly fainted at my feet.
Ten year old Jenny slipped from her stool at the bench and said solemnly "Mummy can't cope with stress, Auntie, that's why Daddy and I have to look after her. I'll go and get him now".

SunshineGirl

This is very interesting. Look forward to more.

Pauline & Iain

Only just discovered this thread this morning. How fantastic!! Please keep them coming, TC.

melibeam

This is a fantastic thread, I am eagerly looking forward to the next installment. You should definitely write a book!

Love

Mel