Saturday 4^th August

The nice thing about writing a blog is having an outlet for just the odd idea or two which pops into my head.  Sometimes when I am just a teensy bit bored (no I am NOT complaining about my job; I am very lucky to have such a pleasant work environment; it is entirely my own fault if sometimes I find it just a bit…y-a-w-n-y…) I think about things I might want to write about on sailing2XS.  Even if these things might not be directly or even indirectly linked with…sailing.

So this morning I read Enid’s comment, about how interesting it can be to travel, and how her life is more simple at the moment, because her children are small.  If you read her blog – Enid Bite ‘Em – you will find that “Enid” is full of ideas and interesting chat, even if she is not riding the metro in Mexico City.  One of the most interesting and thoughtful people I have met lives way up a little lost valley down the Huon and has hardly ever been further than the grand metropolis of Hobart.  But she reads, thinks, discusses things with her many offspring, and is an extremely wise and compassionate person.

When my children were small I used to feel very guilty that I never took them to Bali, or Surfers Paradise.  Every year (thank you Dad and Fleur!) we had a week at the Chateau in Coles Bay.  We also went bushwalking in the central highlands and got cold/wet/muddy/hot/exhausted.  But all of my children’s friends went to Bali, and to all of the Worlds on the gold Cost – Movie World, Wet ‘n’ Wild, Sea World, Whatever World.  FUNFUNFUN!  They bought copious amounts of cheap and highly desirable clothes and cassette tapes in Bali wile my poor deprived offspring went back to school with tales of Honeymoon Bay, or Lake Ina.

Since my children have become adults, I have discussed this with them all and they think it is very funny.  Apparently their friends were all VERY envious of the Chateau Week holiday, and lots of the Taroona High girls were very sad indeed to have missed out on the regular yearly opportunity to chase Hutchins boys around Freycinet Peninsula

I have had seen Australian children on overseas holidays in recent years, and they are not all having a wonderful time.  In fact, they are often complaining bitterly about this and that.  “Oh no, please don’t make us go snorkeling again!” was the comment from one particularly obnoxious little girl holidaying on a Fijian island more beautiful than you can imagine.  “I want chips with sauce!  Not this muck!”  That sort of thing…

So I think Enid can be happy with her interesting Tasmanian life, full of its own local adventures and challenges.