SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5

We were woken early by a phone call cancelling the bowls scheduled for John today.

Melbourne was flooded in places. Our pool had overflowed, as had the gutters on John’s shed.

When John came back from unblocking the shed gutters – absolutely drenched – he went off to shower and change, inadvertently leaving his glasses where Birdy dog could access them. I spotted her with the neatly folded up spectacles in her mouth, and managed to retrieve them. The earpieces were a bit chewed, the frame a bit bent, and a lens had popped out. I found that on the lounge floor and John managed to put it back.

After lunch, took Birdy to the kennels for her stay away. We had to take a very round about route to get there as the police had blocked off a number of flooded roads.

At the kennels, a staff person took our girl away quickly – there were no prolonged farewells. She trotted off happily without a backward glance! We left her favourite blanket and toys for her. It was arranged that she should have training in coming when called, and obeying the instruction to “drop it”! Both greatly needed skills she had so far resisted acquiring.

I felt very sad on the drive home, and rather guilty at leaving her and just hoped she would adjust with no fretting. Troublesome though she was, at times, we both loved her dearly.

Was time to get serious about packing the brand new suitcases we’d bought for this trip. It had been a couple of decades since I had needed a suitcase for travel – soft bags and backpacks had been appropriate until now. Suitcase technology had certainly changed in the interim. Wheels….

We used our bathroom scales to check our baggage weight. We could each have 20kg. Mine seemed comfortably under that. John’s appeared to weigh over it, but he decided that the scales were wrong. We needed to include a smaller, soft luggage bag, for the train; there would not be room in our compartment for the two cases.

Friend M visited us later in the day. I gave her the perishables from our fridge. She was in the process of having her Troopy converted into a pop-top camper, which she hoped would make it more comfortable and convenient and do away with the need for some sort of separate “living” arrangement, like the tent she had last year. She was having some issues to do with changing the registration and insurances, though.

At night, despite our excitement, the house felt wrong, with no dog keeping us company.