The airconditioning guy in Lawnton was due back at work today so I rang for an appointment. The phone was engaged for about an hour and I was about to go back to Brisbane to call in in person when I got through. I made an appointment for Tuesday morning.
Rather than get up and out very, very early in the morning I decided to go back to Brisbane today. We arrived at the showground at about two o'clock.
As I was setting up, Jean noticed that there was soy sauce dribbling out of the food cupboard. I hadn't closed the top of the bottle properly and the bottle had fallen over and most of the contents had gone. I had to empty the cupboard and take out all the lining so that I could clean up. I discovered that the stuff had got into the cupboard under the seat in the dinette so I had to empty that, clean up all the stuff which had been in the soy sauce puddle and then clean the floor. By the time all this had been achieved, I was in a lather of sweat and had hardly enough energy left to eat my lunch.
I veged out for the rest of the day.
We took the Motley to Caravan Refrigeration Services which is just behind the showground. The diagnosis was no gas due to a cracked pipe. They offered to fix it and said it would take about three hours.The owner drove us back to the showground so that we could pick up the Little Motley. We went to Chermside to buy a new electronic thermometer. I had discovered that the thermometer on the fridge was not reading correctly and changing the battery didn't fix it. We then went to Strathpine to have lunch and do some shopping for groceries.
When we got back to Lawnton at about half past one, the job had been done and the system was working.
We went back to the showground and basked in the coolth of the airconditioning for the rest of the day. What bliss.
I checked the fridge temperatures with the new thermometer and found that, not only is the old thermometer reading a bit high, but the position of the sensors was not properly reflecting the performance of the fridge. The temperature in the body of the freezer was about -10°C while the original thermometer was reading about -4°C. I don't understand why the thermometer has changed its performance but I won't worry so much about the readings now I can take check measurements.
In the morning, I went to Kallangur to do the laundry and got very hot and sweaty. The rest of the day was spent in the Motley with the airconditioner keeping the temperature in the comfort zone.
Another hot day in store for us. At 7.30 the outside temperature was 31°C and the humidity was 86%. I'm sure we'll find stuff to occupy us in the Motley.
I did some work and posted it to HQ.
We were both very tired still so we veged out in the cool Motley again.
We went to Patricks Rd to visit the family. After a survey of what we need to take to Barraba, I arranged to buy some book boxes from the local removalist.
We took Sarah and the kids to Brookside to take advantage of the airconditioning and to have lunch.
When we got back to Patricks Rd, I started to pack the books into the boxes. I got some done but had to leave to others until tomorrow.
While we were sorting stuff out I found some old slides. I picked one out to see what I had found and exclaimed that here was a photo of Claire. The photo was dated 1973 so it was in fact Rachel but obviously her daughter is a beautiful as she is. When I find a way of scanning the slides, I will post some of them on the web for all to see.
We stayed for dinner. The yellow rice was a nice change from our normal meals.
Al rang to say that he had had a bad night with a severe pain under his right rib. He knew it wasn't pancreatitis but was worried nonetheless. We went to Nundah and by the time we had got there he was feeling much better. I suggested that he might have a hiatus hernia which would need some medical attention.
We went to Ascot and chose to go to Queenies Tea Shop. It was very good if a tad expensive. Al felt a deal better after some food and coffee.
We took him home and went to Patricks Rd to finish packing the stuff we need to take back to Barraba.
I packed the rest of the boxes. There were eight boxes of books, a box of china, a box of glassware, a bigger box with pictures in and odd stuff in it, and two plastic boxes of CDs and Xmas decorations plus a glass oven and a crock pot. Sarah was sure it wouldn't all fit in the Little Motley so when I got back to Lawnton, I measured the load space in the Terios and came to the conclusion that she was right. I devise several plans for getting everything to Barraba. Jean suggested that we could load everything on the trailer and she could drive the Terios behind the Motley. I rejected this plan because of the risk of rain.
Kelly played her new cello for us. It was a wonderful demonstration of her musicianship. She had not touched a cello since she broke her patella and she has only been playing for a few months. She was able to play several tunes and the tone was very pleasing. She also showed that she knew when she had played a "bum note" because she corrected herself. We were both greatly impressed and glad that we had been able to foster her playing by giving her own cello.
We went to Patricks Rd, parked the Terios on the front lawn and started to load it up. When it was full there was nothing left to load. Everything had fitted in. What serendipity.
Al visited in the evening, bringing gifts of new software which I had to put on Jean's iBook because there wasn't enough room on mine. Al had had a good day at work but planned to see his doctor at evening surgery.