As far as Marilyn is concerned, if she has to travel from Tasmania to Woonona to see them, she might as well make the extra effort to travel to Mudgee. Anne and Alan are away at the moment, so it was particularly important for us to visit. They live a bit out of town and, without a car, it is a bit difficult for us to stay there so here we are at the Mudgee Motor Inn.
The owner of the place, Andrew, is a bit of a character. When he bought the motel it was pretty shabby and run down so he’s in the midst of a major renovation. He’s already replaced the beds and TVs and is now working on the reception area and dining room. It’s a bit chaotic having to avoid tools and building material when going in to breakfast but he doesn’t seem to notice.
The pool is nice and very inviting but there were three plastic cement bags floating in it when we arrived. They’ve been removed now but they must have been there for a couple of days at least.
We spent most of yesterday at the nursing home. Bill is very deaf but his mind is still sharp and he loves talking about old times. When Marilyn was growing up, he never talked about his past but he’s more open now about his younger days. He was brought up in a ‘bohemian family’ in Sydney. His parents were both journalists and authors and the household was described by the editor of the Bulletin as a ‘menage’.
Bill left home at 14 to become a jackeroo in the Riverina District of NSW. His name is Hilary but on the property, he called himself Larry because he had heard that his grandmother in England had always wanted to have a son called Larry. On the outbreak of war he was working with a vegetable grower in the Burrinjuck Valley but left to join up. He served in the artillery and, even though he volunteered to go overseas, he got no further than Jacky-Jacky which I think is on the Cape York Peninsula.
Iris was brought up in a very close family in Russell Vale, and when they married, Bill was absorbed into the clan. He lost contact with his brothers and sisters and Marilyn never know that there were other aunts, uncles and cousins on that side of the family.
Iris turns 93 this year and is quite frail. She rarely leaves the nursing home and is losing her sight.
Today, she stayed home and Marilyn and I went with Bill and some of the other residents to the local Golf Club for a Chinese meal. The nursing home organises two trips out each week and Bill always volunteers for whatever is happening. The local taxi company has a disabled maxi-taxi which collects 6 or 8 residents, and 2 or 3 staff and they set off for an hour or two in the community.
Lunch today cost us $8 each and it was a trucky-size serving. It was also a chance for the residents to have something different from the usual menu. Bill always has a beer and one woman wanted a triple scotch. “It’s got to have a bit of kick in it,” she said. When it came, it was pretty watered-down with lemonade but she was happy.
We left them to get the maxi taxi back to the home and walked into town - about 15 minutes.
We get the bus at 6.50 in the morning which will take us to Lithgow to catch the 9.30am train to Sydney. We’ll stay overnight at the Formule 1 and book in for our New Zealand flight on Friday morning. Sandy and Janet are bringing mum up from Wollongong to see us and we’ll all have breakfast before our plane leaves. It’s Mothers Day on Sunday so we are pleased we’ve been able to see both mums just before it.
I’ve just finished reading House Rules by Jodie Picoult, the story of a young man with Aspergers Syndrome and an obsession with crime scene investigation. He finds himself accused of murder and the story describes in some detail how his Aspergers affects not only his own life but the life of his family.
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