My desk top is crowded with happy snaps from past weeks ... some taken here, in Yamba, others sent by Wendy, to keep me up to date with what's going on at Gerolstein ...
So before they all vanish in the latest OS swizzle up .. yes, I'm having to abandon Dropbox .. I bought a vast space, they told me I had enough room to last me a (well, my) lifetime, and now they are telling me I am full, they cannot synch my lifes, no space is left ... just another computerised fraud? ..
So, before things vanish I'm going to plonk them here so that I can enjoy revisiting them from time to time ..
In no particular order ..
Luncheon at the blessed Beachwood café (a must for brekkie/luch when in town) with Paulie and Aussie bestie, Robert ... Cuttlefish pasta, home-made cake and lots of pink wine..
And a chum, come to visit ..
Rather more svelte a dragon than THIS bit of Victorian drag on e-bay
And at Gerolstein .. the tree-trimmers visited. Now that we've trimmed our proprty a tad (or are about to) its not such a disastrous mess as in the past ..
Yamba is full of photo opportunities, and one can't resist snapping exactly the same views that one has in previous years. With mostly the same people and probably precisely the same birds. But one does it, anyway
THE TALE OF THE TRUCK
Once, upon a time, many years ago ... after we had been hideously ripped off by a sanctimonious, thieving firm (still, unbelievably, active!) in Kaiapoi .. we found a man named Nigel to come and trim (a big job) our large array of poplars, gums, pines. He did a fine job, with his huge green tank, and I proclaimed him 'by royal appointment' to the Grand Duchy of Gerolstein. Well, the next year Nigel sold his tank and business. But he stayed 'by royal appointment'. He and his young son, Brad, attacked the hundreds and hundreds of trees which had been brought down in The Storm. And they've finally finished! But that's another story.
We didn't know, when Nigel sold the tank, that it was not an isolated thing. Gradually, we discovered that he has a mania for buying machines. Yes, selling them too, but buying mostly. He has some 40 vehicles and other things with motors at home, beyond Ohoka. And, yes, Gerolstein inherited some of them. Notably a splendid digger, which has been a godsend ... oh, yes. We had quickly found out that Nigel didn't just cut trees, down or up. He could do most anything. And did! But, the truck ...
The truck was used to ferry the digger to Gerolstein. Having done which, it fell ill. Nigel doesn't get other people to mend his machines. He mends them himself. Eventually. One, which needed a part from somewhere Asiatic, occupied 1/4 of our barn for a couple of years. But the Truck (valued at $40K) obviously decided that our farm was a very nice 'Rest Home' and refused to respond to all and any efforts to move itself from our paddock. And the years rolled on .. and on .. the river rats got into the upholstery, and built nests in the clogged-up workings ...
Nigel, can you take that Truck away! Yeah, next week/month/year/decade ...
2024. Gerolstein is sizing down. And the Truck's paddock is near the new boundary and will be needed for our horses. He HAS to go! And guess what? This week we waved bye-bye. Oh Truck is still an invalid. He needed assistance. Nigel and Brad turned up with an even gruntier machine ...
Wheels slowly tuned. 10 metres on day One, 30 metres on Day Two .. and, at last, on to the about-to-be-ex-training track.
And then on the memorable 25 August 2024 ...
Gone! And will no more call me 'mother' ..
I should add, for perfect verity, that Wendy accompanied the cortège to beyond the town limits. Well, Nigel and machinery? And not long after, Brad came through: broken down. Un-be-lie-va-ble!!!!! However, truck, tractor and the boys made it home by dusk ...
And there endeth The Tale of the Truck.
I wonder where (and if) he will go next ... :-)
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