My life on four wheels......

I came across an old family photo today.

It was taken many years ago on a summer holiday to the beach.

Like so many family photos of it's era, it includes the family car.  It is obvious that the family car held a very significant place within the family dynamic at this time and it was often proudly portrayed within family portraits.  How many of us have similar family shots....I wonder??

Anyway, it got me reminiscing....not about the family as such.....but about those cars that have played such an important part in our lives.

To me the car has always just been a way to get from A to B....for others I know it means much more.  I know in some families it is a revered object....probably looker after better  than the kids...

So for old times sake I thought I'd look back over my family automotive history.

The first (I've been told) was a Holden FB.  It may or may not have looked like this...

......I only have one memory of this car.....the interior roof was red with white stars on it.  I can only assume that I spent a lot of time on my back looking up when we had this car.

When I was around 3 or 4 a new car arrived, amidst much excitement and anticipation.  I can distinctly recall bursting out the front door and running down the driveway as Dad arrived home with the new car.  

It's seen in the picture at the top.

It was a silver Holden Kingswood with bench seats, brown interior and no seat belts in the back...or if there were we didn't use them.  I can recall family  road trips....hanging my head out the window....because it was so hot and there was no air conditioning....the vinyl seats would get so hot your legs would stick to them.  I can also remember being left alone in the car at one time and discovering the cigarette lighter...you pushed it in and it popped out when it was ready.  Oooh pretty, I remember thinking as I stared at the red hot element...then sticking my finger in to touch that pretty shining thing....ouch!!

Then came the silver Honda Accord.  I think this one came along when I was about 12 or 13.  We thought this one was pretty posh.  Everyone got a seat belt here and by now the laws were changed and we had to use them.

This was the car I learnt to drive in.  This was the car I failed my first driving test in because I exceeded the speed limit.  This was the car where at 17 I passed my next test....amidst tears....because my darling Dad had passed away suddenly.....and we were left as a household without a driver and I knew I absolutely had to get my licence.

By 19, I had finished school and was settled in my first job.  It was at this time that I decided it was absolutely imperative that I have a hatchback.  I applied for and received my very first bank loan and bought this.......a Ford Laser....

I tricked it out with seat covers and the obligatory suction cup Garfield on the back window.....

It was sweeeet and I was the bees knees...despite the fact that it leaked in the rain, the air conditioning only worked occasionally and it wouldn't start for anyone but me.

This is the car in which I first left home, met Hubby and got married.

One day in January 1996, we thought "Let's get a new car".....so we got in the Laser drove down the road to the Ford Dealership and bought this.......

...we didn't want to waste time thinking about these things!!!

A brand new 1996 Ford Festiva...with metallic paint and air con that worked (ahhhh the luxuries).  This is the car in which we had a family (well not literally), bought our first home, sold our first home, moved to Melbourne.  Drove up and down the Hume Highway many, many times.....until finally, we moved back to New South Wales and settled on the Central Coast.

This is the car we kept until 2011....at this point we sold it to the 16 year old girl next door with a clear conscience...because it was a great little car that never gave us any trouble and never ever broke down.

And now I have a Ford Territory (is this starting to sound like a Ford ad?)....seems I have settled into the suburban "Soccer Mom" stereotype.....

So that's my life story in automobiles.  Amazing how an inanimate object can evoke so many memories.

Perhaps that's why it so often had pride of place in the family portraits.

Here's one 2012 style.........

Sit on that....

You could say I sat yesterday out......I certainly spent the vast majority of the day firmly and squarely on my bum.

It was an early start...the alarm set for 5.45am...though I did one of those inexplicable power of the mind things....where I woke up at exactly 5.45 just seconds before the alarm went off (how does the brain do that??)

I was at the side of the freeway by 7.00am hitching a ride.  This could have been a really interesting story if I was hitching with a stranger, but the truth is I was picked up by my eldest brother Mr P.

Then the real arse sitting began....six hours up the road to Dorrigo.

We arrived there in time to eat lunch and then get to Uncle Tom's funeral at 2.00.

Auntie Nell looked very well, all things considered, she is after all just a month shy of one hundred and a half, and has just lost her husband of around 76 years.  She used a wheelchair for the day but was most concerned that this made her look like an invalid.......at her age I think she's earned a free ride.

More sitting through the service, sitting in the car for the quick trip to the cemetery back to the church hall for the wake and then back into the car by 4.00pm.

Then another 6 hours sitting in the car, arriving back home by 10.00pm.

Today I have a bad case of numb bum....and if I wasn't so lazy I'd go for a walk....maybe I'll just sit on the lounge instead!!!

Some sad news.....

We received some sad news in our house last night.

My Uncle Tom had passed away the evening before.

I last saw Uncle Tom back in April.

We travelled back to my home town of Dorrigo to celebrate a special birthday for his wife, my Auntie Nell (she's my Dad's older sister).

I must point out at this stage, that as birthday's go it was a pretty momentous one.

One hundred years on this earth, and the vast majority of it spent with Uncle Tom (I believe they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary the previous year).

Up until only the last few weeks they had remained in their own home, where Nell was looked after  very well by Tom, who at only 97, was just a young whippersnapper.  (She must have been the original cougar).

 Last time I was in their home,  Tom was making cups of tea...boiling the kettle on their original wood fired stove, still working in the garden (he was proudly growing daffodils to be given to the Cancer Council for Daffodil Day), and he was thrilled to be given the chance to reminisce about the old days with Hubby.....who loves to hear a good story.

Sadly they moved from their home only a couple of weeks ago to a local nursing home.

I'm feeling for Auntie Nell at the moment....imagine spending over 75 years with someone....I know we curse our husbands at times....and they drive us up the wall....but after 75 years you'd be kind of used to having them around....

The Trials and Tribulations of Tuesday......

I was woken this morning...not by a gentle birdsong by my window....but by a full on brawl between brothers.

As far as I can gather it was over a tissue.....who should get it.....the person that needs it or the person that's 30cms closer to the box.

The morning deteriorated further by the time I made it out to the kitchen.  There I discovered that Buster has taken advantage of the boys' preoccupation with other "issues" to create a little havoc.....

When my dear Mum passed away almost two years ago, all that Master 15 requested from her effects was a red, heart shaped stress ball that she had.

  This is all that remained by the time Buster had relieved his own stress.

On a brighter note....now that both kids have finally returned to school...my Tuesday has returned to normal programming.  For me this means the 3 c's with Mrs C.  Coffee, cake and conversation....except we cross out the coffee and insert coke....as neither of us can stand coffee....nasty stuff!

We spend this time singing the praises of our respective lives!!!!

We share the delight we find in our children's perfect behaviour and in our spouses' faultless husbandry!!!!

Sometimes we solve the problems of the world and we wonder when the powers that be are going to wise up and put us in charge!!!!

Finally, word must have got out on the local cat telegraph that it is  highly amusing pastime to torment that dog up the road.  Our place seems to be quite the "go to" destination for the feline community.

We have now had up to 3 cats sitting in the front garden watching Buster go berserk (he's doing it right now as I type).

A word of advice Buster, bullies don't get any satisfaction if you don't react....

Sometimes Mum wins......

A few months ago I made a deal with Master 15.

I would get him this

which apparently he REALLY needed.

In return he would do this

for the next 12 months.

Well this was only used for a couple of weeks and now never sees the light of day

and this gets done every week

SCORE!!!

Snag Sandwiches on Sunday.....

One of the ultimate, yet simple joys in life is a really good sausage sandwich.

For me, it has to be fresh white bread, fried onion, bbq sauce and a really good sausage, well cooked, but not burnt.

Each weekend all over Australia, Bunnings Warehouse Hardware Stores hold sausage sizzles.  These make Bunnings quite the popular destination on weekends.  

You can pick up all the bits and pieces for your weekend projects and feed your face at the same time.

What makes these snag sandwiches extra special, is that the proceeds go to a local charity, sporting club etc.  Everyone knows if you need a good fundraiser have a sausage sizzle at Bunnings.

Our family is particularly fond of the weekend Bunnings BBQ and can often be found following our noses there on the weekend.  We don't actually have to need any hardware products...we go there due to our great appreciation of a good snag, and because we're cheap....we have short arms and long pockets.

I write this post to express my grave disappointment in this weekends banger offering.

The emphasis had definitely been put on profit over quality this weekend.

The bread was old, we're not talking day old, we're talking old old and the sausages were a dubious meat medley stuffed into the fingers of old rubber gloves. 

Ugh.....it was enough to turn your stomach!

I won't be back........till at least next weekend.

Shame on you St John's Ambulance...Shame!!!!

It's Footy Fever.....pass the panadol.....

Well it's September and that can only mean one thing......Football Finals!

Normal weekend family life is suspended.....no alternative invitations may be issued or accepted.

Then of course, if your team is doing well all kinds of plans have to be made....just in case they make it it to the Grand Final.

Budgets, bank balances and common sense go out the window.  Driving to Melbourne and back in a day becomes a reasonable scenario (never mind that it's 10 hours each way).

When the game is on, the tv must be stared at with hypnotic intensity, no conversation is allowed....but screaming at people that can't hear you is acceptable.....encouraged even.

The mood in the house for the remainder of the day/weekend/week is entirely dependant on the result.

Roll on October......

Go Swans........Cheer Cheer the Red and the White!!!!

DO NOT DISTURB!!!