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Published: July 30th 2012
Sunset In Derby
Sorry about the crap photo, It looks so much better, but it has no relation to the blog,Kindred Spirit.
Blog Day 1357
(Firstly) a quick message to Helen Sheridan at Woodstock,-Get well soon!!
Here we go again, the alarm went off at 4.00m and I sprang out of bed, showered, shaved, grabbed my bags and was waiting outside on the pavement at 04.55 for my 5.00 am Taxi.
There was a light drizzle on of rain, on this Thursday morning in Canberra, so I waited underneath a canopy for the Taxi to arrive, the morning was cold, dark and wet, and suddenly there was an unusual rumble, and to my left down the road I saw the lights of the taxi about 500 Yards away, the rumble was getting louder and so was the taxi and when the taxi was only a 100 yards away, the rumble had turned in to a massive down pour of rain.
I managed to throw my cases in, with the assistance of the driver and soon we were on our way to the airport, wet but satisfied the first part of the mission was complete.
Caroline was been in Fiji for the week and I have had the odd Skype message to say she was having a fantastic time and, it was fun, fun, fun all the way, it felt odd knowing that she was not sleeping in the bedroom that I had just left and that she was in another country, but I had to put this down to acceptance of this crazy life we are leading.
Caroline leaves Fiji on Friday and travels back to Sydney and she will stay with Jan and Ted, Friday and Saturday and get home back to Canberra on Sunday, Caroline is attending a birthday Party for our friend, Richard Cordukes, who is 50 and he is a guy we met on our early travels in 2009 in Tasmania and then bumped in to him again in Darwin.
If you want to read when we met Richard, it was blog day 109 24/02/2009, Blog Title (Night of the little Fairies) and again when we fell over him in Darwin, Blog day 234 29/06/2009 (3 Dog Night)
I rocked up at the airport at 05.30 outward bound to Broome, but with a twist, I am staying overnight in Perth Thursday night, and will be staying with my beautiful Christmas Island friends Rob and June Nash.
I had previously checked in, so dumped my bag and the Qantas staff said, my baggage was checked through all the way to Perth and as I was flying via Sydney I did wonder if I would ever see my bags again.
The plane was on time, and It touched down in Sydney 45 minutes later, then I had about 2 minutes for my interconnecting flight to Perth and hurried to the gate, having had to relinquish my visit to the toilet, which I was busting for.
I got to my seat, 35K and there was somebody in it, I stowed my hand luggage in the over head lockers and just had to have a pee, then went back to the people who were in my seat.
Excuse me, sorry to bother you and all that, but you are sitting in my seat, they looked up puzzled and said “we are in 34 J & K” great I said, this row is 35.
Someone was obviously sitting in their seat and when they asked this fella, where he should be sitting he said 37, can’t these people count, I ‘m surprised they can even dress themselves in the morning.
I settled in and got comfy I had four hours here and I like to sort my space out, I must have nodded off, before we had even taken off as I woke twenty five minutes later, and we were virtually at cruising altitude and it was really sunny outside, “funny” how below us was rainy and miserable when we were on the ground.
It was a good flight and we touched down at 1.20 Canberra time or 11.20 Perth time, and I alighted the aircraft and went and stood by the baggage carousel and tempted fate by waiting for my bag to appear.
The Qantas gods of Baggage must have been smiling at me, as there it was, virtually one of the first off, I didn’t think we would be reunited so quickly or even at all.
The Perth weather was sunny and hot so I took my coat off and stuffed it in my bag and went towards the exit looking for my special lift.
Waiting to meet me, was Auntie June Nash, not my real auntie but my very dear friend June, whom I have stayed with many times on Christmas Island, her Husband Rob Nash, (A.K.A Nasher) was the Christmas Island Facilities Manager, whilst June ended up as the Christmas Island HR Manager and were on the island, just about two years.
Rob and June have been mentioned so many times in our blogs, they have now both left the business and have moved back to their home town of Perth.
I have had so many crazy adventures with Rob and June Nash on Christmas Island spanning nearly two years, I owe so much to these two fantastic caring individuals, it’s not funny.
Now June and I are both kindred Spirits, and are members of a very special club, Caroline and Rob are not members of this club, nor do I want them to be, (am i being Selfish) I don’t think so.
The membership is exclusive and is really quite expensive, the price that has been paid for us has been really high, but has it been worth it, Oh Yes, we are still alive to tell the tale.
Our “private club” was formed, by June and I for anyone, that has had a PFO Closure and has an Amplazter Occluder device fitted in their heart, now can you understand why we do not want any one else to join our club.
I was shocked when June, on her first day of Holiday this year in January had a stroke and when Rob told me the news I was heartbroken, we have had so many fun times together I couldn’t believe it was happening, I can’t even remember how we got on to the subject, but Rob told me that June was having to see a Cardiologist and the things he was saying just seemed to coincidental to the PFO symptoms and I suggested that he spoke to June’s Cardiologist and asked about the likelihood of a PFO and sure enough it was diagnosed.
Don’t get me wrong, I think my interest was a pure fluke and this is what the Cardiology team at Perth were to investigate anyway.
I have since found out that it is procedural, on Stroke Patients to have a Cardiologist involved and they investigate the cause of the stroke and carriy out an Echo Cardiogram, thinking that that the presence of the PFO may have caused the stroke which in Junes case, it didn’t.
About 2 months ago, June had the closure and the Amplatzer was fitted, its basically is a Titanium “Tea bag”, inserted in the septum of the heart to make it more efficient and to stop flow through of any debris, and when I had mine done in 2007 this was my instant membership to a special club (Not really).
June was collecting me from the airport and I was looking forwards to seeing her as it has been a fair while since I was last on Christmas Island and so much had happened since we had all seen each other.
As usual, there she stood as punctual as ever and looking very well, which pleased me no end, we kissed and hugged and walked over to her new car, since which her fanatic husband had brought her when she was convalescing.
They live in Mandurah, (Pronounced –Mandra) about 75 K’s from Perth and we drove and Chatted, the Perth weather was nice and all was well with the world, in the back on my mind I was feeling a little guilty as when I am in Perth we like to catch up with Cliff and Sue our friends in Scarborough beach, but I wasn’t in town for even 24 Hours.
(Sue) there is a message in here, by the time you get to read this Caroline may have set my record straight !!.
June and I stopped by for some lunch at the marina and had fish and chips, we talked about everything that had happened in our lives and what was generally on our future radar.
We got back to their place and I brought my luggage in and settled in to my environment, we had a few more hours of chatting before Rob got home from work.
Rob got home about 6.00 pm and it was treat to see him, he looked so well and refreshed from a very difficult time on Christmas Island, it really is a tough gig.
He asked me if I had seen “The Truck” their new four wheel drive and of course I had, had a look over it, along with the boat and of course the shed, their house was absolutely beautiful, 5 bedrooms for two people and probably 3 times the floor area of our house in the UK, it was lovely and cool and I said to June that as soon as Caroline see’s it, well you know the rest.
We went for a drive around the area to get an evening meal, I was not hungry and was sill full from my fish and chips at lunch time, Rob had said that I could drive the beast and It was really good, a Ford explorer that has the Mustang engine in it.
I asked Rob what size the engine was and he said he didn’t know, but what he did know was that it was thirsty and liked its stops at the gas stations, he had said he had lifted the bonnet once and could confirm that there was an engine when he brought it, he just didn’t know the size, my guess was it was a five or six litre, know wonder it was thirsty.
We ended up at an Irish pub and had a couple of beers which was nice and went back to their home as it was getting reasonably late, (Well for me) I had been up since 4.00 am and was tired.
After a quick cup of tea I made my apologies and hit the sack.
Again without consideration, my alarm went off at five, again I had a plane to catch at 9.55 and needed to be at the airport in reasonable time.
Rob didn’t work far from the airport and said he would take me in, so we left at just after six and headed back the 75 k’s again giving us time to catch up.
We shook hands at the airport he went his way and I went to check my bag in I promised him before I left that it would not be that long before we met again.
With my bag checked in I headed for the Qantas Lounge, where I could sit and have a coffee and some breakfast, in some relative peace and type a this very blog.
I boarded my flight to Broome, which was just two hours away and when I landed and I got off the plane, I breathed a sigh of relief as it was lovely to be back.
Our travels have spoilt us and we have got to see some of the very best places in Australia and each one has a tagged memory for some reason, be it people we have met or things that have happened and Broome is no exception.
A car had been rented for me so I grabbed my luggage and wandered off to get the car and I had nearly a three hour drive to Derby, I made all my phone calls in Broome as the signal is lost on the road, so I thought I would just get these done.
Just one last thing, a bit of a cryptic message to some one who sent me an email, last week Eddy Fox, you are absolutely right in your summation about the truck, stay tuned. !!
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Helen Sheridan
non-member comment
Kindred spirit
Thanks for the get well wishes. Getting better every day but a bit frustrated that I can't get out amongst the sheep, drive or lift. Hate feeling useless!