Borrowing Emma

One of the biggest "culture shocks" in returning to Australia is feeling unsafe. Not only in and around town (for instance, an old man of 81 years of age who is completely blind was mugged in broad daylight yesterday with his wallet being stolen), but also within my house. It seems that there is a trend for street kids to wander into houses (when they're occupied) and take what they want, terrorising the people living inside. Living in Hong Kong I hardly ever, if ever, feared for my safety, and it is aggravating to experience this once more - not being able to walk by myself at night, or needing to lock all my doors even when I'm inside.

With this in mind, I had a wakeful night worrying about being alone in the house for a week whilst my parents are in Canberra (which is SO annoying as usually I love being home alone)... my mom (who turned 60 today!) suggested that I do what she does when home alone - Borrow Emma!

So I've borrowed Emma - the most adorably friendly and good natured Labrador dog that you could ever meet. Perhaps not much of a guard dog but certainly great company. She's the Rodger's dog, but was holidaying with Janelle and Anthony whilst they're in the USA, and I popped down for a visit to their beautiful home to pick her up.

I drove back the long way through the dwindling twilight and must have massacred a host of bugs who's remains are littered along the bonnet and windscreen of my car as memoirs of their lives - pesky in life, and pesky in death... so not looking forward to cleaning them off!

She's now settled in quite comfortably on the back porch and was a very happy girl when I returned from Dana and Jason's tonight (dinner - a rushed vegetable and chicken mango yogurt cus cus - and then a Play Station game called Buzz). It is nice to come home to someone - even if they do lick and slobber over you :)

In other news, a lovely couple have given me some money to settle in and spoil myself with... I've decided to use it to visit a coffee shop a day as long as it lasts. I've found that taking a bit of time just to myself (probably less of a concern now that the house is empty!) has been one of the best things to do...

I'll blog on each of the places soon, as well as giving a description of Toowoomba for those who have yet to visit our picturesque township.