So we have been clinging to the pacific Island time for as long as I possible and proud to say that the 9 months of freedom had some effect on my psyche. It is interesting observing the changes in your home town after a year away. As for the new tunnels and bypasses – well I have accidently seen way too many of them since I got home. There is nothing worse that heading sky bound on a brand new highway from hell not knowing what part of Brisbane it will swoop you down into. Worse still are the many tunnels that spit you out into the extreme bright and blinding daylight where you can’t focus on any of the flash of signage quickly enough to convert it into a decision to have yourself back on the right track. I hope he who hums doesn't scan down the toll bridge account or he will think there has been a malfunction in the accounts computer, but it was a malfunction with me and my new residence that finds me a new and lengthy route every time I come or go. For some people this is exciting and fun, but for me, getting lost is a pet hate from way back to the days of trying to get my licence. I have also noticed the BCC have a team of workers must be wagging ‘Road Surfacing School’ as I have crunched few shock absorbers on their new patches of bitumen. Oh and guess what I saw when sitting at a set of lights. I glanced up and saw a sign that read “Behavioural Observation Zone” and not far from that sign was a dome camera running 24/7. Who are we? Now we monitor intersections for manners? Next we will be rewarding good behaviour via these avenues too so as to keep everybody happy. Not like in Mexico, where you need to be responsible for yourself and when the footpath disappears and falls away to a 2 mtr drop, you look and divert, no warning bells or signage to yell at you. Just you, your own eyeballs and brain to tell you how to navigate the hazards ahead. And while we are talking about signage; have you ever taken a good look at the chemist that is warehouse prices? I walked in and saw Fluro yellow and black signs yelling the prices and details on every single item the full length and depth of the isle, every isle that is. A tad too much information to read with the golden halo around me. But I remind myself that none of these things are important in the big scheme of things. It is all business as usual in the big smoke. Our lives have returned to days of working and nights of recalling what we had by dining together, just the two of us with-in the cozy “Irish pub” saloon on-board Condesa. In case you were wondering, we are really enjoying living on the Brisbane River under the violet neon span of the Gateway Bridge, where the sun sets slowly behind the giant bridge every afternoon throwing pink orange light onto our decks as the pretty violet rays light up the river when sky closes in. Twilight is still our favourite time and even more so now as he who hums returns back from work to our little piece of bliss lulling on the river. The nights are silent and breezy with cool winds flowing up and around the bend of the Brisbane river, into our forward hatch then wafting over our bunk and out through the back port holes. As weekends roll over we have the occasional cruise ship drift past, only knowing by the large shadow cast over us as it silently makes it way down the river with a rim of holiday makers edging the rails on every levels. We .... well I wave excitedly at them (he who hums waves on the inside) knowing the beauty and wonder they are about to witness on their cruise. I occasionally get a wave back from a reveller who has spotted the tiny fluttering tea towel on our dwarfed vessel. I know they are about to witness sunrises and sunsets like they have never ever seen before. And then for these fresh escapees from the 9 to 5pm routine, the first night sky that will etch their holiday into their memory forever. I recall the music that locks it all into a dream, the surging waves, the new friends, the lush islands, the white sand, the marine life, the shells, the mesmerizing stars, the milky way, the routine of sun downers, the addictive silence. Just the gob smacking magnificence of nature that is exposed to you when you are away from land have time to see. Living life out “there” in the wide blue wonder is indescribable really. One yearns to be back in the nothingness that offers everything to you in free packages of observation. Lucky Santa is coming; it distracts me from dwelling on “what was” and allows me to dream of treasured time shared with family and friends that I said I would never take for granted again. I have screen savers to prompt me to remain liberated, boundless, and untamed in my own mind. It is a silent fight to keep out what is norm and hold tight to what is abnormal. All in the eye of the beholder really.