29th October - praying mantis - Royal Hobart Show

Tuesday 29^th October

Some people have dogs on board their yachts…

Others have cats.

Don and Tanya's happy cat on a cat, aboard Pedoja

Whereas 2XS has a series of dead flying fish,

And yes Our John, an adventurous eater, did fillet and eat this one...

the odd small and potently very smelly squid which have somehow flung themselves onto the deck.  Plus the occasional very unwelcome fly, mosquito, nasty stinging unidentified creature, and…

this glorious big praying mantis, which was with us for many days.  It wandered around the boat and could be found in unexpected places – on a cushion, hanging from the ceiling, tucked up in a magazine.  We had to be just a bit wary before flinging ourselves down onto the couch with cups of tea and a pile of books… We did not want to crush our one and only petfriend!

In the end, it died, of its own accord, and we found it, under a yellowing newspaper, all desiccated and forlorn…

Last week I went, with a handful of my offspring pus one extra, to the Royal Hobart Show.  We went on Friday, not on People’s Day, which had been too ghastly for words – hail, snow, violent wind.  Friday was a bit better.  The temperature rose to about 16 and there were only one or two spots of chilly rain.  The wind was still just a bit terrifying… The children wanted to go in the big waterball thingies

2012

as they had, most successfully the year before.  But the big waterball thingies, thrilling though they might be, were in serious danger of blowing away with the lighter children, and maybe rolling right into the path of the motorbikes next door…  In the end they had to content themselves with a very satisfying whizz around the dodgem car track.

Angus (11) had cautiously asked his mother if I was coming.  When she said yes, he was gratifyingly thrilled.  But mainly because… Bardy always buys us a showbag!!  She told him not to be so sure, this year, because Bardy is no longer sitting in her office 8.45-5.06 Mon-Fri.  But Our Angus was quietly confident…  Nicky had told me this, so when we were doing our initial recce of the pavilion, I went and told the boys that I was contributing $10 each towards their showbags.  Angus’s face lit up with almost totally convincing amazement.  Really Bardy?  Oh how kind!  You don’t have to – are you sure???

Hmmm…I didn’t  call his bluff and let him pretend to be as surprised as could be…