Thursday, December 19

 Jamie dropped in yesterday morning.  We see him most days when he drops Archie off on his way to whatever he has to do but yesterday he had a different idea.  He had to take Nera's nephew, Brendan, to Deloraine where he had been offered a day's work at the nursing home.  Brendan's studying, of course, but is on break at the moment and can work as much as he likes.  Jamie's idea was to take Archie to the Westbury Town Common where there's an off-leash dog area where Archie loves to explore.  And he offered to take me with them to give me a break from the house.

I knew what he was really saying: take the old bloke for an airing and give Mum a break to herself.  So, off we went.  The Common is a great area with intersecting paths.  I can't walk much anymore but I had my stick and headed for a little hut not far away. Sitting there watching Archie snuffle away, I noticed three kids heading towards me, with a couple of women not far behind.  I thought they had noticed Archie and had come to see him but they were intent on talking to me.

They were called Hamish, Connor and, I think, Jack and Connor was keen to tell me he was wearing his father's hat.  Thery chatted with me for ten minutes then their mother dragged them away for their walk.  Things like that don't happen to me very often; I suspect I don't wear a welcoming expression on my face so people tend to avoid 'that dour old bugger'.

That little walk registered 884 steps on my smart watch for a total of 2039 for the day.

At the coffee shop afterwards (we always have coffee when we go to Westbury), there was a bloke sitting on his own in the corner.  He also wanted a chat and told us he was from Toowoomba, travelling alone in an old camper van.  He comes to Tasmania every year, apparently, driving down the New England Highway to get the ferry to Devonport.  He's escaping from the Queensland summer.  Westbury has a free camping area so he sets up here for a few days before moving on.  He's on his own so I'm not surprised he tries to chat with strangers in coffee shops.