DECEMBER 25 2018     THE SOCIAL WHIRL

The first couple of months of our tree change had seen a steady stream of family and friends coming from afar to inspect our new abode, and reassure themselves that we had not departed from common sense in what we had done. The majority seemed impressed and satisfied that we had, in fact, improved our lifestyle.

There was a house for sale further along our street. Rather smaller than ours, though of a similar vintage, John and I decided it would be ideal for friend M. All we had to do was convince her to follow our exodus from the big smoke. She seemed slightly interested. We would continue with the campaign…

My birthday fell on a Sunday in December. The weekend seemed a great opportunity to have a party and for the family to get together, pre-Xmas. Our outdoor living area was still a great novelty for us, and this would be a chance to put it to the sort of use for which it was intended. My son and his family would come from Melbourne, as would one step daughter, holidaying there from Broken Hill, as well as M. It had been at least a decade since we had all been together at that time of year, family gatherings on Xmas Day having fallen casualty to separations, both familial and geographic. Melbourne grandson completed primary school this month, so that was something else to celebrate, although to me those seven years had passed too quickly.

The house would be full, all bedrooms occupied, with a couple of grandchildren sleeping on temporary beds in my study. I begged M to bring her Troopy, so she could camp out in the sideway.

Eventually we would have a large wooden table on the patio for such occasions, but John had not yet built same, so we trotted out an assortment of camping tables – our own and those of various family members. It was a case of byo chairs too.

M and I worked hard for a couple of days, preparing a feast of seafood, salads, cold meats, fruit salad and trifle, for the Saturday gathering.

The Sunday morning saw the early breakfast and departure of those who had stayed, with the exception of M. Daughter had planned a special event for us, as my birthday present.

She collected us from home and drove us to the Fortuna Villa, for a tour followed by high tea.

High Tea

I had not heard of Fortuna Villa, and only knew the history of Bendigo in very general terms. The history of the gold rushes in Australia, as taught in schools and universities, seemed to focus almost exclusively on Ballarat, ignoring the rich and often complex histories of places like Bendigo. Today’s tour was to be enlightening. It involved so much, and was so engrossing that it warrants a separate blog entry of its own.

Fortuna Villa

Suffice to say that ,after it, we rebooked to do it all again, around the time of Mothers Day, next year, but to bring John along too as there was much about the place that would interest him.

High Tea at Fortuna Villa

It was quite a wonderful birthday.

We had a very festive Xmas Day lunch at daughter’s place. There were eight of us – daughter, partner, the two boys, partner’s parents and us. Partner and mother had spent the previous day preparing an extensive traditional Xmas feast. Unfortunately, somehow, in the midst of their preparations, they had managed to explode a large bottle of soft drink – over ceiling, benches and their contents, walls. The cleanup had apparently taken some hours!

I contributed, at daughter’s request, one of my trifles.

It was a lovely change from our Xmas lunches in recent times, when there was usually only John and me. We pottered off home in the late afternoon, and only felt like a very light evening meal.