Ravensthorpe WA May Day 2002

I thank the universe on a daily basis these days for my nursing training. Thankfully any squeamishness I may have carried for bodily functions left me many years ago thanks to this training. In this environment you can butt up against the results of bodily functions daily.

Take for instance the cabins that the road workers use. I will know without even checking now the state of the toilet in said cabin and I will know it will be in a disgusting condition in direct proportion to the number of beer bottles, chip packets, take-away containers, and lolly wrappers that I have to remove from the cabin! I am in awe of the quantity of sugar that one individual can consume on a week away from home.

And don’t even begin to get me started on my opinion of those individuals who seem on a point of principal not to want to clean the barbeque after they have used it!

So too are the habits of the human species observed are an intriguing phenomenon. Take for instance toilet paper. I think those of my own acquaintance are bewildered and amused by the behaviour of fellow citizens around toilet paper prior to the lockdowns of the recent pandemic. Well, I have discovered this is not a strange affliction that necessarily surrounds pandemic. I would never have believed it unless I had seen it but some travelers knick the toilet paper from the toilets, some prise the top off the locked dispersers which is destructive to the dispenser or believe it or not some keep spent toilet rolls – attach these to their power drills and take these into the toilet and will roll the toilet paper from the dispenser onto the roll on their power drill! I would not have believed it – but there it is! Another habit too that I would not have believed unless I had seen it is individuals will take the time to rearrange the furniture in the cabins – I kid you not! They will move everything from tables, couches and beds! I have no idea the reason for it be it not meeting their feng shui standards or sheer bloody mindedness on how a room should be arranged I can only guess!

With all the physical work I have been doing my old nursing injury has kicked into action again. I was extremely fortunate to find a physio that could tend to it in Esperance. So, Bingley and I schlepped back to Esperance for a day out! The physio was a younger Musculo-skeletal physio than I see in Melbourne, and he had all these new-fangled contraptions to work on my back. One resembled a miniature jack hammer which he pumbled the left side of my back for about 15 minutes and a series of exercises which I have been doing with religious fervour for I have no patience with myself when not feeling the best! All of this seems to have done the trick and all back to 100% and most importantly I can look over my left shoulder when backing the work van!

There is a rhythm to caravan parks. From about midday the travelers predominantly grey nomads meander in. They back in and within about 15 minutes you see them in matching fold up chairs (of course!) sitting outside the door of the caravan sipping on a cuppa. Most by the time I surface in the morning they have gone to continue their travels. The workers all come in on a Tuesday and leave the following Tuesday, so Wednesdays are a bloody nightmare!

Forgetting the worker part of the equation. I have noticed this rhythm in all of the caravan parks that I have stayed in and I have to say I find a comfort in the rhythm. There is a joyous comradery in it! Many bring their animals with them, and Bingley is an assiduous inspector of all the relevant orifices of the animals. He has met his match with the resident cat of the caravan park by name Misty. One thing I know about that cat is he/she is a lousey mouse catcher and he/she scarers the socks off Mr. Bingley.