Mark picked me up from the ferry and we headed off to his house. Somehow, I didn’t dawn on me that arriving on a Sunday at noon in the summer would mean a packed ferry full of day trippers, but Mark was right there at the dock.

 

In times past, when I was visiting (and didn’t have a home), Mark & Marine would put me up. This time there was a scheduling conflict as they had the son of a friend arriving from Australia the next day...but it was a comfortable first night.

 

I proceeded to unpack all the goodies and put together the gift bags that Ellen had selected. The first went to Mark & Marine. Marine was out but Mark dug in. He was especially appreciative of the bottle of Bowmore Single-Malt and the maple syrup.

 

A visit to see Arnie & Fiona was next. They are right across the street. They were in fine spirits and invited me for some salad and a Bundaberg (Diet Ginger Beer). They appreciated the gifts and especially the Snoopy book from Sam.  I took the garden tour. They have gardens which get larger by the year, always immacuate and much was in bloom. Arnie was particularly proud of a new cedar shed he is erecting for Fiona. It was still in pieces on the ground, but would go up in a couple of days (It’s up now, but I haven’t seen it.)

 

I was next off to see Tom & Christiane, who were, for a long time, Mark and Marine’s immediate neighbors. They moved to a new house last year, still in Rocky Bay, but not waterfront. They are all settled in and have done a bit of renovation, like raising the house by a story to add a new master site and removing a wall on the ground floor to create an open plan. Tom had written me before I left, offering a place to stay, so I stayed with them for the rest of the week.Needles to say, along with the other bits Tom appreciated his bottle of Bowmore. He has a real yen for Islay single malts. This is the third I’ve brought and I’ve been lucky enough that each has been one not in his cache at the time.

 

Tom ferried me over to see my ex-neighbor, Russell, and to pick up the Brawny Bongo. Russell has a large piece of land behind the property we had owned and volunteered to store the van while I was away. Russell is a high school teacher, musician and all-around nice guy. Being a Sunday, he was just hanging out on the back deck with a mate having a rum  & coke.

 

He had just finished re-plastering his lower level apartment, which he is renting to his sister and her children. Evidently, his nephew had decided to fry some chips, but went off to play a bit of Nintendo while they were cooking and forgot. Meanwhile, the oil caught fire sending up great clouds of smoke. Fortunately, he had the presence to smother the fire with a wet towel and only smoke damage was done. Russell took it in his usual stride and just figured that the walls and ceiling needed replastering anyway. What a way to spend your summer vacation.

 

We strolled down to the Bongo, which was parked up his long drive. It seemed in good shape, aside from the inevitable exterior cobwebs, a layer of dust on the outside and a flat battery. Remarkably, the interior was dry, clean and odor free. Nice solid vehicle that Bongo.

 

We considered ways to get it started, like towing it with Russell’s tractor, since he had no jumper cables, nor did I. But it finally dawned on me that I was still an AA member. A quick call and 20 minutes later it was started and I was off to dinner with Mark & Marine and a collapse into bed.