The Calm After the Storm

I'm up at Oki's place for a long weekend, enjoying some time away from Sydney. It's always nice to come up here to his little, friendly town of Kandos, which, at the moment, lies in a valley of green grass and ponds full of water. To see the countryside not in drought, but in English greenery, is such a treat.

I've come up here for a rest because the last few weeks have been very traumatic. Chris developed a vicious strain of the flu which was brought into the country during World Youth Week. One of the overseas visitors who came into Sydney was already sick, and by the time they decided to quarantine him, the virus had spread. As a complication of the flu, quite a few people developed an aneurysm in the brain from constant coughing. Chris was one of these unlucky ones.

His aneurysm was huge and when the doctors tried to slow the flow of blood into the brain, he had a stroke in the cerebellum. To try to save his life, the hospital held Chris in an induced coma for five weeks. Benn flew over from England, and Chris's sister, Shaun, also came out to see him. During this critical time, when we all thought that Chris was going to die, I received a phone call from a young girl from Channel Nine, explaining that she and Chris had been going out together for the past seven months and that she was his partner. I felt sick. After having forgiven him for leaving me the first time, and accepting him back into the family home to enjoy the boys' company and my friendship, it was like a stab in the heart.

Anyway, that's why I'm up here this weekend, escaping from my worries and enjoying some peace and quiet. The first thing I did when I arrived was to plant the last nine of the thirty-nine seedlings that we have placed around the boundaries and across the middle of Oki's large back garden. After having had new fences put in, his property looked like Stalag Luft 1 and was in need of some softening. These plants will now grow up to cover the fences, provide different colours of flowers in all the seasons throughout the year, and attract the native birds, bees and butterflies to the garden. There are wattles, banksias, angophoras, calistemons, hakeas, grevilleas, melaleucas and others. It will be great to watch the seedlings grow into beautiful shrubs and small trees.

After the gardening, it was time for the "Streetfeast" which is held annually in nearby Rylstone to raise money for charity. The main street had a long table stretching right down the middle of the road, with people from everywhere enjoying a big lunch together. At the end of the street were big tubs of soapy water and a line of volunteers doing the washing up. There were also stalls filled with the arts and crafts of the local residents, books, jams, pot plants, clothes, pottery and cakes. To top it off was a one-handed guitarist who sang the best songs of the Beatles and other great groups, an auction and an art show with free wine for all.

After that, we went on a drive along Cox's Creek Road. This road is not just any old road, but a weird and beautiful landscape of "Bungle Bungle" style monoliths rising vertically out of a valley of green grass, gently sloping hills, little farm houses and grazing sheep and cattle. Oki really does live in a beautiful part of the New South Welsh countryside.

In the evening, we went to the local pub to have the $6.50 (~2 pounds 20 pence) dinner special and a glass of red wine. The room was full of families with children who had been visiting Rylstone for the day, and the atmosphere was very homely and friendly.

All that happened yesterday. Today, Oki is busy working in his shed, and I'm writing this long-overdue blog. When I've finished, I'll go and wash Chris's car, which I have brought up here for safe-keeping by Oki, while Chris is in the rehabilitation centre. He will be there for a few months, learning how to walk again, and also learning how to carry on a proper conversation. The effects of the coma sedatives are still wearing off since he was brought out of his coma a month ago. It takes quite a while to gain full awareness and alertness, and of course, he will need a lot of practice to overcome the effects of the stroke on his hindbrain.

Tomorrow, Oki and I will return to Sydney in time for my afternoon classes. Oki needs to have an eye operation to correct a defect in his left retina before it becomes worse and partially blinds him. He will have his surgery in the middle of the week. It will be the first time he has ever been in hospital - not bad for a sixty-one year old! Now it's time to stop and do other things. My next blog will probably come after Jack and I have done our five-week world trip at the end of the year. I'm sure it will be a big one as we will be visiting Seoul, Vienna, Prague, London, New York, Baltimore, New Orleans and San Francisco.