Saturday

Some days are diamonds, others are gold. Today is right up there with them. We overnighted at The Big House, had a wonderful breakfast (although late since we didn't stir until 8:30) and then I took Nik off for a walk in the park outside to see what we could see. It was a different view of The Big House and of Broadbeach and I think we managed to take a couple of decent photographs although none of them of "wheels" which M tells me is the subject of this week's photography competition in The Courier Mail. Last week's theme was "rings" and the winner (which I haven't yet seen) was of onion rings.
"Kill me now - before I change my mind." So sang David just before he told us the Opera in the Park was about to end. So many songs are about love and loss, aren't they, although as the next song assured us ... "Love never dies ... Love endures."
The staging was quite good although I don't understand why the support services have pride of place at these events, especially as it would be possible to elevate the spotlight to the side and have the sound desk somewhere else. Hmmm ... or why the sound is better to the side of the stage rather than straight ahead - a question no doubt asked by those who had chosen their positions so they could see and, they thought, hear! Even though there was a tree between us and the stage it obstructed the view only a little but we had about the best sound in the park (as assessed while I went hither and thither taking photographs with Nik). Hmmmmm ... could it be, as someone has since suggested, that the sound was so good where we were because we had chosen to sit near the Sponsors' tent? But it was a different thing to do on a Saturday night and I certainly wasn't expecting to hear excerpts from my favourite musical movie ... The Sound of Music! And it was wonderful that M thought to and remembered to bring the chairs and berets from home ... she had thought of everything from top to bottom!
Did I mention that D has left the valley. During cat patrol (read: preparation for lockdown) one night late this week, M and I noticed D's ute reversing near the caravan and him hooking it up. The van was gone the next afternoon when I arrived home (I didn't notice if it had still been there that morning). It's not the same looking out there now and not seeing the caravan ... which reminds me, S and M were saying that A gave S a new caravan for her birthday! I wonder what they're going to do with the old one? We could play "Guess" with them to find out - we like "Guess" and had a fairly decent game of it today when M ran in to someone we knew and had us try to guess who it was! That the mobile network didn't deliver a couple of the SMS guesses in good time may have been annoying but it did have the effect of enhancing the game - to the point where I had exhausted my best guesses and had no idea who it was and hoping M wasn't showing them the texts because it sounded as though this person with whom I had worked had made such a small impression on me that I couldn't remember them at all. As it turned out, I had nailed it on the second guess!
CSP has not gone off yet - $196,769.