TUESDAY 1 FEBRUARY     DOVER

Today was to be a recovery day and one for washing the huge lot of dirty clothes that had built up.

The washing machine here used 7x20cent coins, per load – and 20 cent coins are a resource that takes a while to accumulate! I was really scrabbling around. I did three loads, including the sheets and towel from R’s visit. It was a rare hot day, so good for drying.

Our Dover site, with the bay in the background

Just after lunch, John decided that he wanted to drive to Geeveston – 23kms away, to go and visit the wood yard, Island Speciality Timbers, there.

I picked in the washing, which was not all dry, and strewed the damp items around in the van, hoping the interior heat would finish off the drying.

So, we drove up to Geeveston. There, it turned out that the man who runs the timber yard is only there Thursday to Saturday, anyway! A man who worked at the adjacent mill did give John some information about timbers. He showed us silver wattle, made up into cupboard doors there, and we thought it would be perfect for kitchen cupboard doors, that would blend in with the red gum of our big dining table. It is relatively cheap, too. We were told that black heart sassafras is too soft for things like desks and much furniture. So, it was not a wasted outing, after all.

At the Forests Centre, we booked an hour each, on Thursday, 10-noon, with the wood turner.

Back at Dover, John went to local bowls practice. I put away the washing, some of which was still a bit damp. There was too much to leave lying around in the van.

Tea was soup, steak, potato, mushrooms.

After tea, John phoned home and asked P to try to take measurements of the kitchen cupboards. Later, he phoned and got these from K, who was home by then. He is really keen on this timber, and to start seriously organising it for a kitchen renovation.

John told me that he’d said to P that we’d be settling back at home in November of next year – he has decided that this date will be his travel limit. Not as long as I would like – I would prefer to keep it all open ended for some time yet. But he seems to need a deadline.

I wasn’t sure the way he told me this sounded clear, so got him to phone home again, to clarify that it was 2001 he was talking about. Good thing I did because P had understood him to mean later this year! Bit of a fright for them.

I did not sleep much. The man in the next van snored really loudly, then I woke up again when John came late to bed, and couldn’t get back to sleep.