Bleak

I know I have absolutely no reason for this, but sometimes lately my settings seem to be getting stuck on "bleak" for days or weeks at a time. At first I thought it was HBS syndrome (house-building-stress), then I put it down to post-Christmas and then post-wedding slump. Of course there are one or two other downers in the form of coping with David's health issues, feeling a bit rejected and neglected, missing my kids and my Canberra friends and the city buzz and being in a rental property with most of the good stuff in storage.  I look in the mirror and see someone who looks tired and old....You're a therapist, I keep telling myself firmly, get over it.

Maybe its a combination of all those things but it's hard to shake the feeling that this is not the easy, enriched retirement life I imagined all those years while I was working full-time, trying to make ends meet, sole parenting and never had the time or money to do anything except look after others. When will we start the overseas travel, the novel writing and lying about under date palms reading books while engaging in witty conversations, or jogging along the beach with immaculate hair and designer casual wear? Like in the brochures? No, wait. Don't tell me it's all an advertising-induced fantasy...

I had a bit of read back over the blog this morning. Quite therapeutic. Its true I do focus on the good bits while blogging. But that's not a bad approach to life.

So, what has been going on his last week?  Well, Rover has been a very bad boy again. Costing us thousands, AGAIN. Not only did I shred a very expensive tyre by forgetting about the presence of a steel clad gutter in front of our house, but also Rover had to have some issue with his steering fixed and the fancy-pants air suspension was playing up, so we had to go to Port Macquarie last Friday to get that done.  Yer brakes'll need doin at yer next service, we were told. Oh... well, how much is that likely to cost? we enquired in a quavering voice. Round a thou' probably mate. Nice bit of European engineering you got there. Not cheap to work on. Hmmn...Mitsubishi Pajeros or Toyota Prados starting to look good.

Here's what we saw in Port Macquarie while we were riding our bikes around the place all day, waiting for Rover to be repaired.

The historic old Majestic Cinema, where we saw "The Artist" recent winner of 5 Academy Awards. An homage to the silent era, enjoyable without being too challenging. Worth a look.

 The Moscow Circus tent set up near the CBD and the river.

A calvalcade of little identical cars, parading back and forth on the city streets, playing music and advertising the show, each with a fibreglass clown straddling the roof. Quite a stir!