Worries & Fears

Phil gets more excited about the trip as the departure day draws closer, but as he gets more hyper, I got more anxious.  My close friends know that so far, I have not felt one ounce of excitement or anticipation about my trip of a life time, which is so unlike me.  Normally, even for a 2 week trip, I am packed weeks in advance.  I don’t know why I feel this way; for sure, this bug-cum-flu-like-virus which I’ve endured for nearly 3 weeks has got me down and I am sure my malady has something to do with 3 house moves in the last 12 months, and being involved with 5 new kitchens, 4 bathrooms and just shit in general.

At the end of the day, I am a born worrier, my cup is half empty and all that jazz, but after all, there are so many things to worry about.  For a start, I worry about the house and everything that could go wrong with the house swap.  What if our Oz guests don’t like the house, what if they don’t like MK; what if the car breaks down, how will they cope with the climate, etc etc etc…???   I’ve typed up a 10 page information pack and I think I’ve covered every likely scenario and luckily Emma has agreed to project manage.  She is only next door and is perfectly able to sort any crisis that may arise so this is probably unnecessary worry on my part.  And by the time we fly away, I would have washed, scrubbed, and polished every single thing in the house so it all will be clean and sparkling.

Also, I worry about the girls even though they are big enough to look after themselves.  It is a shame that we will be away for Georgina’s 17^th birthday.  We are hoping that the little Ford KA makes it through the MOT one last time so that Phil can take her out for some driving tuition.  It may be old (just like me) but is perfect for learning to drive in.   The MOT is due just 2 days after we arrive home so I must make a mental to phone from LA and book it in at the garage.   Harriet will be 21 at the end of March and we will be home for her BD.   She is anticipating big things (and big presents) for her 21^st but we did big things for her 18^th and at the time I told her to choose either 18th or 21st.  I don’t know what she’s planned for herself but no doubt we will do something to celebrate her B’day when it arrives.  God hark at me, I am banging on about getting home and I haven’t gone yet! 

Another worry is Phil’s mum and dad.  I think, in fact, this is my biggest worry.  Phil’s mum has high blood pressure and has just been re-diagnosed with anaemia.   Her doctor has given her yet more pills to take which is okay I guess, but I think he needs to be doing more to find out the cause.  Trouble is with Phil’s mum; she never ever complains and would never question her doctor.   Whilst we have cheap skated on our tickets, we haven’t on our holiday insurance, so if anything whatsoever happens, we can fly home at the drop of a hat.

And lastly, but by no means least, I worry about the flats.  Most of them are now with agents but somehow me and Phil still seem to get involved with the maintenance issues.  Last week wasn’t without exception.  The fan stopped working on the new extractor fan at the OB flat and Phil had to wait 2 hours for the Curry’s engineer to come to fix it.   And on Wednesday, I had to wait for the call from the Plumber so I could meet him at Harriet’s flat as her toilet had blocked up AGAIN.  Unfortunately the call came from the plumber just 20 minutes before I was due to go to my doctor’s appointment so I had to cancel.   Unblocking the toilet wasn’t a pleasant job.  Shaun from Red Hot Heating had to prise the toilet away from the wall and put it in the bath to drain out all the waste and yours truly had the lovely job of cleaning up all the residual waste on the floor.  Ahhh disgusting.  Why is it that I always get the toilet jobs? We made one last trip to the NH house on Thursday to dismantle the bed and remove the last of our personal bits and pieces.  It was unfortunate that the agent turned up for a viewing just as we were in the middle of everything.

Another worry is out post.  We have so many things to put finalise before next Friday and the trouble is that we have a post redirection from house to the PO box so this delays our post by a couple of days.   I am very concerned because we still haven’t received our flight tickets.  Phil says “Claire, take a chill pill, relax” but it isn’t easy.

My biggest fear about Australia is the spiders, crocs, snakes and jellyfish.  In fact I’ve decided I won’t even be dipping my toes in the sea.  Actually, I’m not even sure I will be brave enough to use Geof & Denise’s pool.  I’ve read somewhere that the infamous funnel-web spider will happily sleep at the bottom of a swimming pool for a whole week, feigning death but still be very much alive to be able to come up and bite you on the bum.  Phil made a big mistake of making me sit down and watch an episode of Australia’s Deadliest Destinations.   BIG MISTAKE.  It seems to me, that everywhere you go in Australia that every living creature you are likely to encounter wants to kill you. Phil says everyone must live dangerously for a while, but I’m not so sure.