G'Day,
The Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is Telephones. Telephones, well... here goes.
Today I got a phone call from my children in Wagga. It is Mothers day tomorrow. They had expected their father to drive the 3 hours each way to visit them, and his Mum of course. I couldn't go. While he was there they were hoping that he would bring my mothers day present back here to me. So I will have to wait. That's O.K. but a phone call without the present would have been good enough for me. I sort of got the idea that wishing me mothers day a day early over the phone was a second thought to seeing their Dad. Their Dad is a good Dad and it is right they should love him, so why do I feel a bit bad. Ah well.
Phones are a necessity of life nowadays. We didn't have or need one when I was younger. We made our plans ahead. We never got a phone in our home until I got a casual job when I was first married. I needed a phone contact for that. I think my parents didn't get one until after that. Now everybody relies on their phone so much. We did get by without them once upon a time believe it or not didn't we. Ha. I do sound old.
In our home we have a land line phone and each member of the house has a mobile phone to themselves. Even Nanny, even though she doesn't know how to use it and has to call my son to do it for her. But I.... am a technophobe. I have not got a mobile and nor do I want or need one. Let alone know how to use one. I do feel a bit ashamed though when I see a 5 year old operating and talking on their phone.
Phones have shaped our towns and cities and the way we choose to live our lives. We now can call out for food, services, entertainment, repairs, work, etc making the distances closer together than they were just a few decades ago. We can therefore spread our business and not need our neighborhood services or facilities as we did before. This has lead to the death of the local corner shop and the friendly personalized service that it provided. Giving way to big supermarkets and shopping malls becoming the places we choose to do our business. However, with the global price of petrol being continuously on the rise we may have crueled ourselves there. ( Yes I am getting off the track.)
There was a time before we had a phone that I really needed one. In the time before we had a home phone and the days before mobile phones. Pete and I were newly weds and he had been out all day in the middle of summer, volunteering, cooking over a B.B.Q. to raise money for a charity. Being the good boy that he is he didn't take a break to drink or eat all day and when he came home he had heat exhaustion and collapsed in a heap. I didn't know what to do at the time, so I ran down to the corner phone box and rang up our Dr , so that was O.k. but while I was at the phone box I had terrible trouble because at the time I had a spider phobia and there was a huge huntsman spider inside the phone box, right at eye level. I can laugh about it now because I have beaten my phobia, but then it wasn't good.
Anyway, back to tomorrow being Mother's day. Pete, Nan and I went to the shopping mall at Tuggeranong (isn't that a funny name!) this morning, because Pete wanted to buy me, his wife, a present for said day. He got me an egg poacher, which is a kitchen gadget that I have always had but recently broke in our house shifting. I do know how to do poached eggs in a pot but the egg cooker does a great job too. The first one I had was actually a wedding present that I have had all these years. I actually got 3 of these for my wedding and sent the others back. I have been promised a poached eggie for my mother's day breakfast. Yum.
For my mum, we all call her Nan, I got tickets to a concert by Foster and Allen who are Irish folk singers. Very Nanny type music, she should like that. I also got 2 purple pots of cyclamen in flower, for her to fuss over, because the concert isn't until 25th of may.
I have been looking around the blogging sites, following links and finding pictures and blog entries by people who are gardeners in their northern hemisphere spring and being envious of the flowers all popping up and coming to life. I do so miss my garden in Junee since moving here and the autumn in my garden winding down towards winter dormancy. Canberra, known for its infamous cold weather, has had a lovely show of autumn colour though, but it is not the same as what is in your own garden and has been tended by your own hands. I was looking across the lake today at some beautiful trees, a line of prunus trees which were in their autumn red glory with a line of taller bright yellow trees behind it. And walking under some other bright yellow trees whose leaves were carpeting the ground. But no, its not the same.
What a strange mixed up post. I hope readers can make sense of it.
Well that's all folks. Goodnight.
Love Linda.