Happily sad

Happiness comes with suffering, or maybe sadness to some extent. I have been so looking forward to this day, when I sit behind the steering wheel of the Phantom to leave Sydney. But at the same time  my heart is aching, not just leaving my Mum behind, but leaving her in a huge lifechanging situation.

Thanks to the staff at Shangri-La nursing home, they have been so helpful and encouraging. I don't know how other people do it, but for me it has been weakening and hurtful and at the same time totally loving and mentally strengthening the love and connection between my mum and I. The reason why we've been in Sydney, I won't say has been accomplished, but at least we've reached some ground, and I hope my Mum will come to terms with it and will understand why.

When we begin life, everyone takes it with happiness and joy, and throughout our life we are often happy. And like I told Mum today, we should also embrace old age happily. You might be wheelchair bound, but we still enjoy the taste of peaches and the colours of the rainbow. All is not that bad. We've just got to accept the situation, adjust to our conditions, and enjoy what we can. And when death comes upon us we should embrace it happily, after all life was given to us unconditionally, free, with no rules, and all that the majority ask from you is to be a good person. I love my Mum but I have to leave her, and we shall meet again. Hopefully in good health, and we both can have a peach together.

Thank you Sydney, its been great. Nearly three months there, not by choice but conscience on my behalf, and a real big thanks goes to my best friend and love of my life, my wife, for putting up with me during this some what stressful time. Also to my friends that came around for kava and getting our kids to meet up, thank you.

- D -

It is time to move on!

Well, we got a knock on the door by the first visitor that we didn't know, since being on the road. And I'm happy to say it was Mr Ranger from Canterbury council. Apparently the good hard working rate payers from the housing commission blocks in Riverwood complained about seeing the phantom parked up on the side of the road without obstructing or endangering anyone, 2-3 days of the week. It's so good to see that someone is always looking out for you, for the good or the bad. And in this case, it's not good for me, and on the other hand, it must be good for the houso for whatever reason it may be.

In all truth, I would have thought that this had been the last place in Sydney to have anyone complain about the phantom because when one walks around the streets, on the side of Riverwood where we were parked, on any given day there's a pile of rubbish, abandoned furniture, unread mail and other things alike. Well, I don't know who's the local member for the area, but I can see the election is coming up, and if Jihad Dib, the local labor member wins the seat, I can only hope that he makes a difference. God bless Australia and everyone in it. On the bright side, they've just forced all fishing rods on deck!

- D -

Rubbish day every day

Common sight in Riverwood

Mechanic's workshop out of housing unit?

Here's the hopeful saviour.

Waste not want not

When living in a bus you have to be aware of water consumption and waste, as water supply is limited to tank size, and you have to be able to carry your waste (grey and black water as well as general rubbish) until you reach the next dump point. I've cut my water usage right down when washing up, and we don't unnecessarily wash clothes either. When living in a house I'd routinely do a load or two of washing every day, whereas now we usually have a laundry day once a week.

Power supply is another limited resource. We have a 1000 watts worth of solar panels on the roof, which maintains our fridge/freezer, lights, TVs, security surveillance system, phone chargers and fans, but for vacuuming or air conditioning we need to run the generator. Therefore we daily sweep the floors and vacuum once a week, and only use the air conditioning if it gets extremely hot in the bus. Where I used to spend a couple of hours for cleaning a four bedroom house, it only takes me a half an hour to do the same in the bus. I like!

As we mainly cook on gas, we favour quick and simple meals, so no more oven dishes that I used to cook especially in the cold climate of my home country. We do have an oven though, so if we ever feel like cinnamon buns or fresh bread, we can still enjoy these favourites too.

Storage space in the bus is also limited, so we don't buy anything unless we really need it . The children have a set amount of toys and lots of books, but they often play outdoors, and we use local libraries regularly for some variety in story books. We have a decent amount of storage for winter and summer clothes, but yet again only carry what we need. 

And the man cave (also known as "dad's garage" or storage at the back of the bus)? It is full of tools and materials that might come handy when maintenance on the bus is required, and as I've learnt already, we DO need to carry a long ladder to reach the solar panels and surveillance cameras at the height of 4.3 meters when repairs are required. 

We don't spend time on yard work either, since we don't have one. I sometimes think this is one of my husband's favourite things about living in a bus: no more lawn mowing! A little portable herb garden would perhaps be nice, but as none of us is a real green thumb, we can manage just fine as it is.

- M -

One of our power eaters, still manageable from the solar supply.

We try to limit the amount of toys - and have noticed less is indeed more.

We are happy to sacrifice some of our precious storage space to carry some of our most loved books on board.