An up and down week

Last week was . . . challenging, although compared to what so many have experienced with the bush-fires this summer, I’m reluctant to complain, whinge or whine about anything.

However, last Monday began with me attending a funeral, always heartbreaking no matter the age of the person we are saying goodbye to, and my husband flew to Canberra for work, picked up his hire car and began the drive to Orange. Ten minutes up the road there came a freak hail storm – hailstones looked like saucepan lids  flying towards him.

Hailstones at least half an hour after they’d fallen.

His front windscreen was shattered and the back one was blown out, mirrors bent and body damage was so bad the car is a write-off. He and the car limped back to Canberra Airport, got a replacement car and continued on his way, passing an area blackened by fire last month. On arrival in Orange he learned that nearby Parkes had been hit by a huge dust storm.

On his return trip to Melbourne on Wednesday night it happened to be when Melbourne was experiencing a violent storm with incredibly high winds. The plane circled for an hour – ‘Worst flight of my life,’ he said. I was very relieved when he arrived home.

Meanwhile, my week continued with a rejection letter (we never cope with them well no matter how many books we have written) although very early in my writing career I was told to never sleep under the same roof as a rejection letter, so I didn’t. I shot the story off again.

There were other ups and downs which I can’t even remember now and another sad funeral on Friday, before the whole extended family took off for a long weekend in a rented house in Blairgowrie.

Friday night we relaxed and Saturday we had a gorgeous walk along the beach followed by a lovely lunch.

It was after dinner while we were all watching a movie that the holiday came to a dramatic end. We hadn’t long eaten the birthday cake with accompanying candles which we lit twice!

An hour later we could smell gas. It wasn’t from the neighbour’s bbq, smell was stronger in front bedrooms and out the front. On checking the gas meter our son discovered it was hissing, so immediately turned it off, rang the gas company who advised to stay away from the unit, no mobiles and of course no matches near it and they would arrive within a four hour window.

We are getting very efficient at packing up quickly (last month we left beautiful Bright as nearby fires began). We arrived back in Melbourne some time after mid-night a bit tired and a bit stressed.

Of course we were disappointed as it was for a special occasion, celebrating my daughter-in-law’s 30th birthday, but the main thing is we are all safe and we are very lucky.

I guess this post comes with a warning. If you smell gas, check it out and know where the lever is to turn it off.

It certainly was a week of storms, hailstones and hiccups.