Our most recent trip, on the weekend of 26-28 August was very much a feeling of Deja Vu.

Our last scheduled trip had been cancelled following a death in the family so it had been 5 weeks since our last, and didn’t it show! Thanks to the wettest winter Charlton has had in years along with some mild daytime temperatures, the grass was over ankle high and the weeds, including nettle, mallow and thistle were approaching knee high!

So, after unpacking the car, the first order of the day (as it had been for the last couple of trips) was to get out the mower and brushcutter and attack the grounds.

After reducing the back yard weeds to a more acceptable height the mower was put to bed for the day and focus was directed to replacing the brittle plastic water pipe which, rather than being buried, was laid on top of the ground around the perimeter of the house exposing it to breakage, which is exactly what happened when we started setting out for the verandah stump holes.

Unfortunately we were a couple of fittings short, so Friday night was waterless and the chores we had penciled in for Saturday morning had to wait whilst we made an unscheduled trip to Home Timber and Hardware in Boort to buy some more pipe and fittings.

With water restored by early afternoon, the mower was once again put into action on the front and side yards. By late afternoon we were well and truly due for a well deserved rest, courtesy of the virus we had both caught earlier in the week.

An early evening second wind allowed me to clear out the garage ready to store the decking timber, and start reorganising the Hawthorn Room where we store a lot of our odds and ends.

By Sunday morning the virus had really taken hold and we were both feeling pretty ordinary so we packed up and headed back to Melbourne, although we did take some time out to visit a classic car show at Marong on the way home.

Hopefully next trip we will be over the virus and ready to start rebuilding the verandah deck.