Tuesday 11^th December

Sometimes I get treats, at work.  This week my Special Treat is – a night at Shearwater, on the beautiful NW coast.  (No this is not a bonus/reward-type treat – I have to sing for my supper.  We had a hearing in Launceston yesterday afternoon and today we have a very long hearing on the NW Coast.  We won’t get back till late, and we are missing out on family time.  Some dogs and some children will be sad…)

But…it is so beautiful up here.  Tasmania is still very green and lush, so the trip up the Midlands Highway was just gorgeous.  And staying at Shearwater is great because it is right between fabulous Hawley and gorgeous Port Sorell.  The accommodation isn’t flash – maybe it used to be, in its day – but it is in a great position, and, best of all, they have bikes. 

I went for my usual ride, up to the end of the road at Hawley, and then back along the waterfront to Port Sorell.  Just what I needed, some mild exercise, fresh air, beauty all around me. 

It is nice chatting with Tim in the car.  We listen to the ABC and tut-tut away at this and that annoying bit of information.  We are in total agreement with Oscar Wilde, when he said, the trouble with common sense is that it’s not very common.  (Or maybe it wasn’t Our Oscar…Google seems to think it was Voltaire.  Really??)  In my days travelling with Pauline we used to have a lovely time improving Tasmania – eg who should be deported to improve Tasmania; how could we ban Bad Art to improve Tasmania.  That sort of thing.  So even the trips in the car are a bit of a treat for me, especially now they are so few and far between.

One thing which made me particularly happy on my bike ride was to see children.  Outside!  Running around, riding bikes, playing on the beach.  And some of them – gasp – were unaccompanied by anxious adults.  Nobody saying: be careful; watch out; don’t talk to that strange lady! as I whizzed past.  (And yes this did happen to me, recently.  I was lining up to buy a small bag of almonds (how harmless is that??) and a small girl standing in line with her mother turned and showed me her teddy.  I said What a gorgeous bear, and her mother yanked at her and said, DON’T talk to that lady!  You don’t know her!  I felt like telling this woman that most of the dangerous and bad things which happen to children actually happen in their own home…but I bit my tongue and stopped smiling at the small (bewildered) girl.)