Nowhere Better to Be

Some days it's just good to be alive.
Busselton is a quiet and unassuming little piece of paradise here on planet earth and this evening Mrs Holt Press, Sport Boy and I enjoyed a taste of its good, simple life.
We bought some fish and chips and drove down to the jetty to eat our dinner sitting on the wall in front of The Goose, overlooking a beautifully calm Geographe Bay and the backdrop of a stunning sunset. The sky lit up in orange and pink and red and purple and blue as the sun sank down below Cape Naturaliste away to the west. The flake (shark) was delicious, mine was traditionally fried in batter, Mrs HP and Sport Boy who are both on gluten-free diets had theirs grilled. After we'd eaten we took turns to hit catches with the tennis racquet while SB threw himself around the beach.
On the other side of the jetty we admired the restoration of the beach achieved by the placement of "geo-fabric" sandbag groynes constructed about 12 months ago. Prior to that the beach had been washed away so badly there was barely room for one beach volleyball court between the wall and the water. Now there are two courts side by side. People are always ready to criticise or condemn the local council but I say bravo to them for fixing what was a serious problem.

Busselton has been home to the Ironman Triathlon this weekend which saw a huge influx of visitors, both competitors and supporters as well as the army of officials who ran the event. Although the weather was uncomfortably hot yesterday, pushing 35 degrees, the race went off very well. I was driving the cab last night but Mrs HP and SB went down to watch the last competitors make it home before the cut off time of 11.00, 17 hours after the start. They saw a 73 year-old lady finish the race; and for those not familiar with the format, an ironman consists of a 3.5km swim, a 180km bike ride and then a 42km marathon to finish off! That anyone finishes it is commendable but a 73 year-old, that's amazing.

I had one of the busiest nights ever in the taxi on Friday night. Typical average takings on a Friday night are between $350-450. This week the cab took $699! It included two big Dunsborough jobs, a trip to Margaret River, a drop off in Capel and a pick up in Bunbury. All up I drove over 500km. I earn a percentage of whatever the cab makes so the more I take the better off I am. I have been driving day shifts all week as well, filling in while the boss is away on holidays which has been very timely. I have one more shift on Tuesday then it will be back to looking for a job.

We are a one child family at the moment. Spike has gone up to stay with The Heir for a few days in Perth. Some sort of brotherly bonding experience to celebrate Spike's recent passage to adulthood. Hopefully they are not partying too hard!

We had a special visitor during the week, Mum and Walter brought over Vicki, Paul's wife, with whom I spent a week in New Zealand recently. Paul had to return home to work but Vicki flew on to Australia and will be here for three weeks in all. One day this week we will go over to Bridgetown for a visit. Walter is very keen for us to see the kitchen makeover.

Talking of visitors, Favourite Daughter is in Perth this week, on a school camp with all the kids from Kununurra. They're staying in Leederville, just down the road from The Heir's place and we are going up to Perth on Thursday to see her and meet all the kids, especially Leo with whom she works most closely. The whole family will go out for dinner that night as it's the first time we'll have been together since both Spike and Sport Boy's birthdays.

Finally, thanks Aileen for your comment and encouragement to blog more. I know I have become sporadic of late. The change in employment status has affected my motivation a little but I am keen to keep Holt Press chugging along and will post as often as news and energy allow. Ongoing computer problems have also hindered my output a little.
Thank you to my small band of faithful readers, it's good to know you're out there.

Which reminds me of an amazing coincidence that occurred at the Art Fair last weekend. One of the people who came through my exhibit liked my work and asked for my contact details. I proceeded to give him my numbers, email and blog address. When I wrote the URL for this blog he said "I know that blog, I was looking at it a couple of days ago"!! Stunned, I asked him how he came to be reading Holt Press and he said that he had googled Busselton and my blog came up on the list so he had a look. He told me that he'd read about me going to the Grand Final!
It's only the second time I've met a random stranger who has read my blog, the first being 2Peter, whose mum is the very same Aileen I just mentioned and who lives in Busselton. I haven't heard from 2Peter in quite a while so Aileen, please pass on my best wishes to him.