Sunday bloody Sunday!

WOT a day. Ken took off about 7.30 am on his Honda with some mates on their bikes to the Super Bikes Race down at Phillip Island. They expected to be home between 7 and 8 pm. I trotted off happily to my Calligraphy Society workshop, where I spent a very pleasant (but frustrating) day with 12 other nice ladies who were at various stages of calligraphic skills. I sat next to a lady about my age who like me, had never been to a CSV workshop before, and also like me, only 'played' with writing now and then. We were instructed to buy four sizes of nibs, and a bottle of black ink, along with other supplies such as paper, ruler, etc. There were about four of us who hadn't used those kind of pens since we were kids in the 50's - remember dipping pens in the inkwell on your desk at school?? Well that's what we felt like! We all swore later on we would happily go back to our fountain pens and felt tipped markers, even if it was not the traditional way of calligraphy! Getting used to the nibs and ink was the frustrating part, with the resulting blots on our work, but it didn't spoil the day - we just did our best. The tutor was lovely - a brilliant and very well known calligrapher with several books under her belt. We didn't know that until later; she was very unassuming about herself, not conceited or patronising at all. I'm sorry I have no works of art to show off on my blog (sigh)...Celtic lettering is not my forte it seems, let alone struggling with those nibs! But I have decided to attend more of their workshops when they come up, on different lettering styles.

Now the other half of Sunday. I got home about 4.30 pm to find a message on the machine from Ken. He'd got a puncture on the way down to the Island, and had to leave his bike at a garage, and continue the journey on the pillion of one of his mates. They came back to the garage after the race, and one of his friends (David) stayed with Ken, while another (John) continued on to his home, where he got his car and trailer, and came back for Ken and his bike. They went back to John's place, where Ken waited for his brother-in-law to pick him up. I had phoned Ken's sister to tell her what had happened, and they offered to go and collect Ken, for which I was profoundly grateful. If it had been closer to home I would have driven there to collect Ken, but all this happened just before they got to the Island - a two hour journey from here. As I have never driven there on my own, I would never have found my way down there at night. But Don drove down there, and brought back not only Ken, but his bike on John's trailer. They got back about 10 pm, and I picked Ken up from his sister's home (10 minutes away). We got to bed well after midnight, both totally exhausted. Today, Don took the bike to the bike shop for repairs (it was actually more serious than a puncture), then returned the trailer to John at his work place.

It could all have been a lot worse - if Ken had been on his own, or if he didn't have such kind and generous mates, not to mention a kind and generous sister and brother-in-law. Certainly makes you appreciate people, doesn't it..