A visit from the parentals

You will recall that the last time I updated the blog, I was complaining about how unbearably hot it was.

Then Mum and Dad arrived.

And it rained and rained and rained and rained. The temperature dropped by over 10 degrees, and we were subjected to some of the heaviest rainfall the region had seen for 35 years.

This has not helped my gut feeling that the end of the world is nigh....

My friends are beginning to get fed up about visits from my parents, as this is the third visit that has been marred by the weather.

'Not your parents again! Don't let them come! They make it rain!'

I'm not sure it's fair to blame global warming on mum and dad, but there might be something in it.

Despite all this, we tried to make the most of the family time holed up in the house that this afforded us, whilst also overcoming the urge to kill one another. We played some good board games, ventured out to eat, and went on lovely walks whenever there was a break in the cloud cover. Dad came and watched George play a blinder at basketball (36 - 6), and we all enjoyed the DVD of Anna's dance concert. Over and over again.

And now I have delivered them to the cruise ship Arcadia at Circular Quay, on which they will sail up the coast to Japan and Hong Kong, arriving home in 3 weeks.

I feel sad.

On the whole I feel pretty stressed when they are here. It's difficult having anyone stay in your house for long periods of time. And this visit comes pretty much straight after Andrew's parental visit. So we've had nearly 7 weeks of non stop visiting. And no matter how much you love them, it's quite stressful. It's not really the entertaining that is difficult, as everyone is very helpful - it's the inability to keep to your normal routine. I like my routine.

Then they leave, and you feel sad, and bad. You know you probably won't see them again for a year, maybe two. And you feel bad that you let yourself be irritated by them when they were here. You are plagued by fears about what might happen in the interim. They are not as young as they were. What if they get ill, or worse? And I argued with them about the washing and getting the meat out the freezer! How trivial all that will seem if this turned out to be the last time I saw them, God forbid.

The thing is, that wherever you live, however far away you are, your relationship with your parents is what it is. Just because you miss them, and love them, doesn't mean you no longer find the things that always annoyed you about them annoying. And vice versa. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but, it seems, mainly while the absentees are actually absent....

Suffice to say. I love you mum and dad x