My last trip this term was to Cunnamulla.
Cunnamulla is always interesting. It was particularly so this trip because of my erratic short-term memory.
I cart a bit of gear around the countryside - laptop, memory stick,mobile phone, files etc. Because of previous bad experiences (leaving a memory stick at Thargomindah, for example) I have developed a few strategies.
One that has worked well is to write a check list (aide memoire) on the back of the ID pic that I wear around my neck on a lanyard. The theory is that I always check this list as I get back into the vehicle after I leave a school, office or my accommodation.
Because I flew out this trip, I didn't have a vehicle, and had to leg it from one school to the other (there are two I work in at Cunnamulla). The "getting in the vehicle" cue was therefore absent, and when I arrived at the second school I realised I'd left my lanyard (with both the memory stick and the checklist attached) behind. There is a bizarre irony in that somewhere.....
This meant that I had to walk back to school one to collect it, and then walk to school two all over again.
The parish priest (the second school was the Catholic school) offered me his push bike* but I declined for two good reasons.
The first was that I would have run the risk of breaking both my neck and his bike in one go, and also that in Cunnamulla, everyone knows the parish priest, and I'd put odds on being the victim of a citizen's arrest on suspicion of nicking his bike.
It ended well,in terms of the work done, and I got plenty of exercise. The memory problem has, by the way, nothing to do with advancing years - I've been leaving stuff behind for decades.
The pic is the aircraft. I tried to upload a video - but my poor little EEPC didn't have the grunt. I'm travelling (Adelaide - Perth etc) so will have to put up with it.
*Apologies to BOAB.
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