This morning we were given a dinner set, old toaster, old kettle, a wok, three little three drawer thingos (for clothes or tools, haven’t decided) and a coffee table. All courtesy of my mother clearing out her storage joint. So we have a few more bits and pieces to set up house with, but no house as of yet! I slunk back to my work (where I had been given a great send off - taken out to dinner and given a swanky hand-bearing compass). It was a little bit embarrassing to have to go back and admit to not being able to find anywhere to both live and build a boat in NSW and confess to the fact that I’ll be staying in Victoria. Luckily, my timing was good. The lady that took over from me had just that morning made the most huge blooper and my former boss actually was white with fury. I begged for work. They begged me to come back. I am able to work from home - or not. We agreed I’d do two days a week, and would drive into town to work onsite - mostly because I really like the place, and also to get me back into civilisation. Oh - and to hang out at my mum’s place while she’s away - she only lives around the corner from the job.

I have a large sense of relief. I did have other work lined up for my old university boss, but was not looking forward to it. So…I start next week [gulp] and have just begun madly clearing crap off my laptop so I can install Dragon Naturally Speaking - as the lady who replaced me has also nabbed my computer (and my wonder chair) which is only fair.

We drove over to the house of L and D who have been virtuously minding our cats (in the home that they find it hard to stand up in) while we’ve been away. We were overcome with gratitude that they had saved us SO much money that we would have otherwise had to spend on a cattery, and bought them alcoholic beverages and chocolates and nibbles. And then when I saw how well they had looked after Saf and Mow I wished I had bought more! The cat cage M built is very Guantanamo like, and L took pity on them and they were given frequent R&R in the spare room. D took a particular liking to Mow, who is now more vocal than he has every been before!

The drive back to South Gippsland took two and half hours. It seemed like a really long drive, even though we’ve just driven 95% of the NSW coast. Anyway, the cats are bewildered, and Saf is grumpier than normal. Then he saw the new little kittens and really spat it. We are hoping to only be here for a week or two, so they will stay in their Guantanamo cage during the day and be warm and cosy in the house at night. I am trying to tame the little kittens, as it’s their only chance of being adopted by anyone, otherwise they might have to be, um, eliminated, which I would very much like to avoid.