Saturday 23^rd February

 

Today’s birthday – Pam Headlam, 94 years old. Pam, known as Mater to her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, lives very much in the moment. She drifts in and out of a vaguely sleepy state but is very much capable of rising to the occasion. Her eyes light up when visitors come…especially when that visitor is My Boy Peter…I really enjoy my times with her, although we don’t usually stay more than ten minutes – more than that is really too exhausting for her. It is obvious from our snippets of conversation that she is still the wonderful woman she always was. Her concern is often, re some mysterious meeting about to happen somewhere in Queenborough Rise, that everybody knows what they need to be doing so nobody feels uncomfortable, and that there is a nice atmosphere. These things are very important; friendship and conviviality obviously were and still are great priorities for her. She is very much loved.

 

Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) 2008

 

Kerry and Pete had been travelling around Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, so they were acclimatised, both to the weather and to the time zone. We were very happy to find them waiting for us in the airport - so easy, with cabin luggage only, just to step off the plane and into a taxi. We went straight to Jaspa’s restaurant, which is one of the places Pete’s young friend Ben Winspear runs. Kerry and Rina were staying with Ben and Rose; Pete and I were staying at the Cherry Hotel in the city centre, not far - well not far from anything, really! We ate some delicious little entrees, had a glass of wine, and staggered off to our respective domiciles - it was only 9pm in Saigon, but midnight for Rina and me. I had had a slightly emotional time thinking I had missed the plane for two minutes; poor Rina had ACTUALLY missed the plane from Brisbane. When she went to check in, one of the Jetstar staff directed her to use one of the electronic machines. She did this, and then the woman told her to go up the stairs into the boarding lounge. When it came time to get on the plane, they asked her for her boarding pass. She didn’t have one, and they said, “Too late, plane full; no pass, no seat.” Rina never uses computers; she only did as she was instructed, had no idea what the procedure should have been. They did get her on a plane, and she obviously did get to Vietnam, but it was all much more stressful than it needed to have been.