Tag Archives: Family

Dorky Family Travels: the final instalment

October 19, 2023 By in Family, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Ten years ago, when we left the UK to move to Australia, we got a ride to Heathrow with a driver called Malcolm. It was a bit of a squeeze getting our massive suitcases into his car – but we’d hired him a few times before for trips to the airport, and it was hard to imagine choosing someone else for this big, emotional final drive.

Malcolm and DorkySon had always enjoyed a good chat. DorkySon was still into trucks rather than planes at that point, and his favourites were the big green and red Eddie Stobarts – a pretty common sight on the M25. Malcolm used to give DorkySon a heads up when he saw one coming, just to make sure he didn’t miss it.

Not long after we’d arrived in Tasmania, a parcel arrived in the mail. It was a model Eddie Stobart truck in a display box, that Malcolm had sent over for DorkySon.

It is astonishing, and lovely, how kind people can be.

Continue reading →

New year, new year: so good we’re starting it twice.

January 28, 2023 By in Family Tags: , , , , 4 Comments

A pastel coloured image showing the date 2023

I’ve read so many social media posts from UK friends this month commenting on what a hard time they’re having starting the new year. Rather than leaving them refreshed, revitalised, and ready for 2023, the Christmas break has left them wanting to snuggle back under the duvet until spring. 

On this side of the world, we are having the opposite problem. It’s not the cold and the dark that’s making it a challenge to feel enthusiastic about work. It’s the delights and distractions of summer. The combination of sunshine and school holidays – which last until the second week of February – is not the most productive environment for two work-from-homers. 

Just before Christmas, I turned on my out-of-office, noting that I’d be back at my desk from January 16th onwards. That’s the longest official break I’ve ever given myself as a freelancer. But when that Monday rolled around, it still didn’t feel like it had been enough. I was still enjoying daily naps on the sofa with the dog. Still taking walks, reading books, and decluttering cupboards… and not feeling even a little bit of drive to start responding to client emails.  Continue reading →

Twelve

April 5, 2021 By in Family Tags: , , , , 8 Comments

Two figures walking on a beach

 

“Eleven sucked,” says DorkySon.

“Eleven sucks for everyone,” DorkyDad and I say simultaneously.

We laugh at this, sitting around the table after DorkySon has finished eating the birthday meal he requested – pasta followed by red velvet cake. There is an element of truth in our response. Eleven really is a tricky age; one when you are pulled back to childhood one moment and propelled forward to your teens the next. Continue reading →

Summer/We Did It

January 28, 2021 By in Family, Tasmania Tags: , , , , 11 Comments

A man standing overlooking the Neck at Bruny Island

We are nearing the end of January, well past the midpoint of summer. It has been a subdued one, really. Cool and damp and much quieter than usual. There have been a couple of days when the temperature has tipped into the thirties; on those afternoons we have sat out in the Adirondack chairs, letting the warmth penetrate deep into our bones. But not once have we hit the switch that turns winter’s heat pump into summer’s aircon. Nor have we removed the woollen blanket from our bed, or had a day when we have braved the water at Long Beach. Continue reading →

On

January 22, 2021 By in Family, Guest Posts, Tasmania Tags: , , , , 29 Comments

Alright. There is frailness

in all our music.

Sometimes we’re broken

and it’s lost.

Sometimes we forget

for years it’s even in us, heads

filled with burdens and smoke.

And sometimes we’ve held

to it and it’s there,

waiting to break out,

walking back from the end.

 

“In Memory of George Lewis” – Lou Lipsitz

 

*

We were living our best lives, and we knew it.

We have always communicated well, DorkyMum and me. There was so much talk between us in the earliest days and nights, sounding out every reason our relationship couldn’t possibly last and, then, deciding that nothing else we could ever imagine mattered as much as the two of us and how we felt next to each other.

All in.

It has not always been easy. Real life never is. But now we found ourselves living on a windswept island far away at the edge of the world, a place almost too beautiful for words. Our son was continuing to astound us with his inherent kindness, his infectious laugh, his keenness for learning, words and books.

All the food we ate and the wine we drank was produced locally. We were living in a tall, rambling house with room for everything. Our closest friends from Scotland – and DorkySon’s Godfather – had miraculously moved to the same island and now lived just a half day’s drive to the north. We were both working from home, setting our own hours and making enough money to keep it all sweet.

This is our life, we said to each other. This is who we are and what we will be.

We were deeply, deeply happy. Continue reading →