The Tyranny of Limbo
Hello, all you beautiful human beings, and welcome to update time. We’ve been home in Perth for a little while now, but I don’t want that to stop me from continuing to furnish the blog with details of where we are at in our journey. I have determined, therefore, to give you a snapshot of things as they stand today.
Being back in the big city has been a bittersweet, melancholy mix of experiences and emotions. We have been living with my mum at her beautiful beachfront property, doing our best to find ways of meaningfully filling up our time. Yet, whilst we’re well supported here, there is an unavoidable ennui that sits at the base of things. It is a feeling of being in limbo; not quite settled in our own space, not quite able to make plans or take proper action. Much of the time has been spent finding our feet with a new routine, working out what our rhythm of life looks like in the coming weeks.
We collected Pumbaa from the shipping company and risked the short drive to a local mechanic without incident, leaving him in their capable hands to let us know the damage and chance of bringing our dear bus back from the brink. We received a phone call from them yesterday, with the opening line being “how much do you love your bus?” This is not the start of a Taken sequel, where we have to hunt down the professionals that busnapped our sweet Pumbaa - merely an overture into an explanation that this is going to be a pricey job. Still, it is worth doing in our minds, so Pumbaa will stay with them for another week as they prepare for the task ahead.
Safe and sound
In the interim, we have been spending our mornings on long walks through winding bushland trails. Afternoons have been more difficult, with long stretches spent idling on our phones, punctuated, periodically, by a loud sigh from one or the other of us. Some evenings we have been enjoying family dinners; others, catching up with good friends. Mostly, though, we have been waiting - waiting for something to happen that will catapult us into the next chapter of our adventure. It is like being becalmed at sea, our hearts lifting at every breeze, and sinking again as each dissipates.
Traildog at the ready
It isn’t clear what will happen next. We hope that Pumbaa will be fighting fit again soon, and that we can take him for a spin down south before my medical appointments. My PET scan is now locked in for late August, which added a month to our estimates of how long we were to be stuck in Perth for. After that, who knows? All we are certain of is that we will continue to travel.
A series of unfortunate events have forestalled our Australian adventures, so numerous and unlikely as to feel like a message from the world - a message saying: you are moving in the wrong direction. Europe, then, might come sooner than we’d thought.
Though we may not be on the road, we are always growing. What new knowledge have we gained since being back?
Routine is vital
Actionable goals and a sense of regular progress are also vital
Downtime can be as stressful and challenging as the hectic times. It seems that it’s the involuntary nature of each that makes it a struggle - not the objective pace of events
