Home Alone

Greetings!

I’ve dropped Zappa off in Byron Bay and now he’s working Bluesfest! I’ve come back to Bellingen by myself, and I am going crazy with my freedom. I am:

·         Living off lentil casserole – that’s right, not only am I not having meat in my supper, I am having the same meal for multiple consecutive days

·         Playing classical music

·         Meditating and learning about self-hypnosis

Am I a crazy cat or what?

On Wednesday morning Zappa was packed and ready, we’d shovelled breakfast down us ready for the drive (4 hours), ready to be off soon so that I’d have enough time to drive back to Bello the same day. Zap did the oil and coolant, then happened to look at the tyres…one of the front tyres had worn right down to the steel on the inside edge, and the other one was on its way there too! Since we had loads of stuff done to Dingo in Byron, including having the wheel alignment adjusted, the tyres have been squealing and basically burning rubber every time we go round a sharp corner. Dave at the garage said that was fine, and it was because now the tyres were aligned properly, they were wearing in different places. We thought it was a bit strange that they’d worn down so quickly though. Anyway emergency tyre trip! The second place we went kindly fitted us in and we were only an hour and a half late in total. They didn’t have any cheap tyres in stock so we now have Supercats on our front wheels! The name totally makes up for that.

On the way to Byron, our new Supercats started squealing as well. Clearly all was not right, and it was painful to listening to the rubber being scraped off our brand new tyres. The wheel alignment was obviously wrong – we’d take it back to Dave and see if he’d tweak it back for us.

We got to Byron and went straight to Dave, who said he was booked up solidly til after Easter. We told him what had been happening and he looked worried and said I could turn up early tomorrow with it and he’d have a look. By the time we’d done that, it was mid afternoon and I didn’t fancy driving back in the dark for hours, so I decided to stay the night. And so off we went for a surf! To The Pass! My favourite (possibly only actually) place to surf in the universe. Zappa took Ray’s 7’6” board out and I took our big board. I didn’t have any changes of clothes so I just went in my shorts and one of Zappa’s tshirts.

The waves weren’t too big but the water was still quite strong for me, and I just couldn’t get past the white water and started getting frustrated. Zappa saved the day and gallantly powered my board and his out while I struggled to follow by myself! Eventually though I caught up, and after making a pact that we were allowed to drop in on each other’s waves, one reared up and we both paddled furiously.

I caught it and it was AAWWWWESOME!!!!! Properly surfed it I did. Neowwmmmm, zooming diagonally down the face, back and forth on the board to keep it in the right place – ahhhhhh it was so good! I gave a massive whoop as I caught it. It ran out and I hopped off, and suddenly another one was coming and Zappa was catching it behind me, so I wasn’t going to pass that by so I scrambled back on my board and caught it too. I popped up – and er, my shorts weren’t done up anymore, so they fell down a bit, flashing my knickers. I pulled them up and did them back up whilst riding, which made me do a wide right turn which actually looked rather stylish! Boom.

I got tired and went to lie on the beach, and Zappa caught what was apparently the best wave of his life! We were both very chuffed and agreed it had been an awesome day, which was impressive considering the start. We went back to a fantastic bbq, cooked by Jenny and Ray in honour of Ben’s last day before he goes to Europe on tour. We were treated to a sneak preview of Parkway Drive’s new DVD – an early draft without all the narration and general polishing, but it was still fantastic to watch. It’s going to be really good!

Really good day. Anyway, the next morning I got up and took the van to Dave. I was worried he’d find another million major things wrong with it but thankfully it WAS just the wheel alignment, and he put it straight.

‘I can’t understand how it got like that so soon,’ he said. ‘Have you driven over any potholes?’

‘Dave,’ I said, ‘This is Australia. You can’t not drive over potholes. That road right outside there has got a million for starters.’

‘That’s true,’ he said, ‘I’ve got a mate who went to Zimbabwe, and he said they have better roads over there than here.’

‘Over around Bellingen there are plenty of roads that aren’t even surfaced,’ I said. ‘What can you do?’

Another customer came in and he went and did some stuff and finished with Dingo, and came back in and handed me the keys.

‘Brilliant!’ I said ‘Er…what do I owe you?’

‘Oh, nothing,’ he said. ‘But just remember: It’s not a 4x4, ok?’