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Ross's funeral went well, and we were able to share it with more overseas. His funeral was in the catholic church and his burial plot was in the Anglican cemetery. Before he died, we asked him what songs he wanted. He was quite insistent on one particular song. So as they lowered him into the grave, we played him Another One Bites The Dust, while we all tried to keep a straight face. He certainly kept up his sense of humour. At the reception, we brought over his Fordson Dexta that he'd used for most of his life, and had quite a reunion of many of the longstanding personalities of the district
Since then, we've been trying to tidy up the running of the farm. I put in several fence posts after locating the old post hole borer, and Bronwyn has been changing over the accounts. Janet has been coping remarkably well; we just need to check up on her to make sure the bins get emptied and the payments made. Christmas was a bit more subdued, but we had the chance to see most of the family as they popped in. Bronwyn has retrieved Ross's old jumper and polo shirts in order to make memory bears once she gets the chance.
We had some good sunshine after Christmas. Allan dug a trench and built a water slide. The trench digger turned the earth into dust and spread it over a huge distance, so everything got covered with dirt. Didn't stop the fun.
The sunshine lasted up until the Festival One week. I'm told we had record rainfall for the site, and for a couple of days, all vehicle movements were banned unless directly authorised by the senior management. We then had a couple of days of sun, after which the ground was looking much better. Then after the hordes arrived on Friday, it rained for most of Saturday and the happy campers turned it into a mud bath. But that didn't seem to dampen anything. In terms of numbers and pre-sales for next year, it's been the most successful one yet. It was also great fun helping out in the kitchen during the build week, and doing the ticketing on the gates. The kitchen tent was at a slight angle (2.5 degrees; we measured it). We had to raise one side of the sinks, and I had to take care when walking through in case I found myself veering to one side. Plus all the people slicing vegetables with recently sharpened knives!
For our favourite band, the Pineapple Hedz, I had obtained four inflatable pineapples which I'd intended to fix to our hats. Didn't get time, so we just waved them around instead. We got called to the front, and had a whale of a time copying each other's moves, and handing the pineapples out to nearby teenagers to wave them too. Turned out that many were children of the band members, and at least one walked home with a pineapple, so we shall definitely be remembered.
We hired a motor home to take down to the festival. We were planning to buy it, and the festival gave us a good chance to test it out, particularly with all the mud. We found several faults, which have now all been fixed. So yesterday we drove down and collected it. It's going to be quite a responsibility, but we've got many plans for it.
It's been a busy few weeks. I've been trying to get some new people signed up and ready to authorise transactions for the brass band after our main man was taken ill before Christmas. I've also taken my trombone in for a service and various repairs. And Sarah is getting ready for a driving test. Her cousin Paige came over a couple of weeks ago, also for a driving test. We arrived in good time. Alas, she'd left her license at home, so she's rebooked. It'll be her fifth attempt. Sarah has her test this week, and she's nervous. But she's a perfectly good driver, so hopefully she'll nail it. Paige, well, we'll be seeing her again next month!
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