6 December 2013 - Lowood Showgrounds, Lowood, Queensland

The rain had all passed by morning, much to our delight and that of the magpies and crows who greeted the rising of the sun with equal joy; bless their little hearts. I really should get over this problem with the sun rising so early here in Queensland mornings and face the fact that Queensland has no daylight saving; it is after all a concept that has only been around since the last century. Instead we should simply accept that breakfast is nearer 6 am than 8 am, and that chores for the day can be commenced any time thereafter, including the shopping. I guess this all comes of sensibly avoiding the heat of the day, and we should all start indulging ourselves with post-lunch siestas. And I should stop going on, and on, and on about all this in this media.

This morning there was much action about the grounds, including a young couple who arrived with a blow-up play area, The Cactus Saloon, right next to us, which made me wonder whether we were to be marauded by the masses this afternoon or tomorrow. Given than all is still calm here as I write this, we should be able to escape the chaos. Or will we be blocked in by early arrivals and left to suffer the carnival madness? All will be revealed in time, no doubt.

We wandered up into the town, finding it a charmingly busy bustling little village complete with a Supa IGA, a newsagent, several barbers and most other services one would need. We returned with our shopping in time for coffee and scones, the latter rescued from the freezer and which went down surprisingly well. This we consumed as we reviewed our list of interested buyers and considered our next steps, and then I spent the rest of the morning attending to administration matters while Chris checked out progress on the cricket pitch in Adelaide. Suddenly our telephone was busy with enquiries and the emails kept coming. Perhaps the sale will occur sooner than we expect.

Sporting activities were interrupted by the news that poor old Nelson Mandela had at last been released from his long illness; the end of an amazing life of an amazing figure in history, perhaps the greatest in our lifetimes. No doubt there will be much wailing and weeping, drawn out long and tediously in the media, unless some other terrible event overshadows his death. Hopefully we will not be subjected to the more personal troubles his dying has brought to his family.

After lunch we drove out to a couple of addresses in the country where storage is offered to those prepared to pay; one address did not inspire, the other we noted in our ever growing file of useful information. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, keeping an eye on the cricket, and checking the growing number of motorhomes and caravans arriving for the Albert Valley Rovers  and Logan CMCA Chapters’ rally.

Tomorrow morning we will travel down to Ipswich to the showgrounds where we have arranged to meet several possible buyers of our mobile home.