The good, the bad, and the downright desperate.
So last night, about 8pm, I'm starting to wish the phone queue would drop a touch so I could grab a cup of coffee when a message comes onto my phone:
Was Tony picking Adam up or something? He's still not home.
Adam had gone to his music lesson which was at 5, and had finished by 5:30. By that time it was getting dark. Adam has a small record of forgetting his bus pass, his wallet, and other essential items, and while getting on the bus from school at school-going-out-time without your pass is usually not a worry, getting on at 6pm is. So if he hadn't gotten home by 8, he might have tried to walk, and that long walk is through some of the rougher suburbs in the area...
PANIC
My very understanding Team Leader of course let me straight off (Thanks, Ryan) and I threw myself in the car and straight down the highway at a rate hopefully slightly under that at which the speed cameras operate. A quick phone call to Geoffrey while on my way (OK, so I was driving too. So deal) and he was off walking up to the other main road along which Adam might come. A large note was left on the front door - "Adam - ring Mum's mobile when you get home." I'd already tried to call Adam's father - no response at home, but I was pretty sure there had been no mention recently of them meeting up tonight.
Then, about 2 km from the end of the Harbour Tunnel, the phone rings. "Mum, is there a problem? I was at the Parents' meeting you told Dad about." *blush* About two weeks before I had gotten a notice about this Parents' group and passed it straight to his father as I would be working that night. I had completely forgotten about it, and there hadn't been a mention about it at home at all.
So I rang work and they told me to stay home and to calm down,and I felt like such a dill, but at least he was OK.
In other news...
We've made the offer, it's been accepted, we have the solicitor signed up, the mortgage guy has almost all the paperwork, so hopefully this should be a really really fast settlement and our new home should be ready in time for jazzmasterson and harliquinn help us settle in. They'll even get to break in some new furniture for us. It's a sofa bed for them to sleep in that's not been slept on by the dog or anything - shaddup you foul minded types. We'll be making plane bookings for the trip to Adelaide, and all sorts of cunning plans.
But this now means (again) the joy of packing. Luckily about 70% of our stuff is still in boxes from last time, and we can put the boxes in the back room of the new house and the shed, but oh boy - remind me not to move again for a very very long time. Time to go hit the storage companies for some more large cartons - some of them have already started to disintergrate.
And now - the desperate. As we'll be busy moving over the required date, then dashing off to Melbourne and Adelaide and stuff, the Large Sydney Party won't take place until July sometime. The new palce has a large pizza oven and a barbeque suitable for baking an entire kid in it. (That's GOAT kid, you sick buggers.) So, Sydney Siders and other similar types, the wild party will be some time in July. Yes, that wild party. Housewarming blended with my very own 40th something else and of course the how-to-use-a-brand-new-wood-fired-oven chance to use all of you as guinea pigs experiment with wonderful new tastes.
Enough for now. Tired. Early night.