lizzie_and_ari | Sep. 24th, 2005

Today we are in my Uncle Michael's house in Brisbane. It is lovely. We are staying here for free, which is even lovelier. We have just discovered that we're much poorer than we thought we were. So it's nice to have a free place to stay. Brisbane has been very odd. I saw my grandmother, Nona, for the first time in some years. She's got senile dementure now. She was having a good day when I saw her. She asked me how my family was doing, and so I told her about all the good things they've been up to. Then she asked about me and I told her about the play etc. She was so proud. And then she said she was sure Pardy (who is my granddad, who died when I was still in England) knew, and that he was proud as well. I nearly dissolved right there in my arm chair. Later on Lee suggested we look through the photo albums, and I found the old family one, and in it was a newspaper article about Pardy, and his obituary, and his funeral programme. I was sitting on the floor at the time, and I just cried. All this stuff happened behind my back; Pardy dying, Olive dying, Nona deteriorating. Coming back to find things have changed so much is a little terrifying. And it makes me angry, too, but that's a rather useless emotion.

Ach well.

Ari.xxx