Moments of Stress. Moments of Bliss. Wed to Mon.

There's been too much going on to give you the full story so here it is in point form.

Wed 7:30pm Final dress rehearsal of the play. Goes ok but still needs work.

Wed 10.30 Drive to Augusta in order to drive Augusta school run Thurs AM.

Wed 11.30pm Discover another driver asleep (snoring) in only bed at Augusta depot. Curse mis-commiunication that lead to this predicament.

Wed 11.45 Drive to Caravan Park and ring doorbell hopefully. Discover they don't have on-site vans. Gary takes pity on me and offers me the bed in the lounge room. Embarrassed but grateful to have somewhere other than the car or the back seat of the bus to sleep.

Thurs 6.00am Crawl out of bed, shower and go to bus depot.

Thurs 6.40 Start to worry at inability to get bus started. Call Busselton depot. Get Doug's number, he'll know what I need to do. He does. Reconnect battery isolator. Bus starts but now I'm running late.

Thurs 7.15 Depart Augusta, pick up anxious students enroute to Busselton. Curse Dennings bus, a horror to drive. A gearbox from the abyss and the turning circle of the Queen Mary. Decide not to do Augusta school run again unless they get a new bus.

Thurs 3.00pm Do return run to Augusta. Arrive 5.00 Put bus in shed, get in car, go back to bus and collect gate keys, get in car drive to gate, go back to bus shed and find phone, get in car, lock gate, stop at petrol station to fill car. Ring supervisor to ask for PIN number for fuel card. Commit PIN to memory.

Thurs 6.30 Arrive home. Pick up Spike. Drive to theatre for opening night. Remember most of my lines. Audience warm. Cast happy.

Thurs 11.30ish to bed.

Fri 7.00 Up and off to drive regular school bus run. Remember to take footy fixtures for kid's tipping comp.

Fri 9.30-2.30 Drive town services, Geographe 9.30, Broadwater 10.00 Dunsborough 11.00 Geographe 12.45 Broadwater 1.15.

Fri 3.00 Take school kids home. Tell them I've made special arrangements with the govt. and they don't have to go to school on Monday. Two kids laugh, thirty groan.

Fri 7.00 Arrive at theatre for Friday night performance of "It Runs in the Family". It goes well, we're starting to gel.

Fri 10.30pm Drive to Augusta. Arrive at depot 11.30. Nobody else in my bed. 

Sat 5.20am. Get up, discover there are no towels. Decide not to have shower. Depart in the dark. Pick up 3 passengers in Augusta. A dozen more in Margaret River. Make decent time and connect with 7.40 Perth bus in Busselton.

Sat 8.00am Ignore the call of garage sales. Go home and sleep for a few hours.

Sat 11.40 Drive bus to Augusta. Most passengers get off at Margaret River.

Sat 1.00 pm Buy lunch at Augusta bakery, eat in the car overlooking Flinders Bay while listening to footy on radio. Mistake reef break for whale breach. Go to pub and watch the Dockers lose to the Crows.

Sat 4.00pm Drive bus to Busselton. Pick up lots of unticketed passengers at Margaret River. One apologises. I say "Good to have you on board, better than driving bus empty" She responds, "You're the nicest bus driver I've ever had". Smile. Realise that welcoming attitude and hospitality are easy to give and greatly appreciated (and perhaps sadly lacking?)

Sat 5.30pm Ultra quick turn-around for final journey of the day back to Augusta. Lots of passengers. Most going to MR. Drop last two passengers at Caves Rd so take short cut to depot. Discover forgotten passenger as I turn into last street before depot. She assures me it's OK she lives "just over there".

Sat 6.45pm Jump in car. Check I have everything. Check again. Lock gates and drive sedately back to Busselton for 7.30 performance. Arrive in time (I don't go on stage until half an hour into act 1.) Get changed. Get distracted listening to the football as West Coast play above themselves and cause minor concern before Cats prevail. Miss cue for first appearance on stage! Run on stage and act with heightened pulse rate. Miss some lines. Lead actor a tad annoyed.

Sat 10.00pm Play ends. Go home. Get changed. Discover my wallet is missing. Hunt high and low for it. Ride scooter back to theatre. It's not there. Go home again, Discover wallet buried beneath pile of stuff on the bed.

Sat 10.30 start shift in taxi.

Sat 10.40 Pick up first passengers, head for Broadwater.

Sat 10.45 Get pulled over by police. Start to sweat. May have been going a little fast.

Cops point out one headlight not working. No ticket. Breathe BIG sigh of relief and continue to Broadwater.

Sat 11.00 -1.30 Very quiet in cab. Become very tired. Decide to pull over for power nap rather than falling asleep at the wheel. Pull into bush off Marine Tce. 

Sun 1.40 am Bog taxi in sand. 

Sun 1.45am Attempt to dig taxi out. Fail. Make second attempt. Fail again. Realise cab is buried up to the chassis.

Sun 2.00am Give up. Lock cab. Walk back to shed. Pick up scooter. Ride home. Plan to dig cab out in the morning.

Sun 2.30am Go to bed.

Sun 10.00 Get up, wake up The Heir. Go to church at the pub. Enlist help of Oscar and his 4WD. Oscar pulls cab out at third attempt. Take cab back to shed, boss cool about it.

Sun arvo, recover, doze in front of footy on telly.

Sun night. Get decent night's sleep.

Mon. Public holiday (in WA) Borrow maxi taxi and take family out for lunch at Woody Nook winery and to look at MR Cow Parade art exhibition. Stop on way home to look at 87 Commodore for The Heir. "Runs Awesome" according to ad. Actually runs ok. Decide to buy it at haggled price of $800. Lovely day with the family.