Wednesday June 24th
Ellen had a special day today. I have to admit I was less than charitable when I went round to the McGowans to pick her up at around 10.30am and she was lying in bed like a zombie. She keeps banging on around spending these last few days with her friends and it pissed me off that she was wasting it being lazy with Paulina. It was a bad start to a bad day with her and she skulked at Peggy's house all day with us. She wouldn't even go and get her exam results - we did and she did fantastically well in all her subjects so I guess she did more than enough work, despite our concerns.
And another thing... Had a read of Ted's Yearbook as well and when you get past the foul language (from the girls no less) something clicked in my mind about the drama being played out around our departure. There is so much projected emotion from everyone around us that we are beginning to believe it ourselves. I admit that there are certain moments that have made the eyes water ( Ellen softball, Alice concert, Ted's All Stars, telling Debbie and Anthony) but no-one has died...we are moving 3,000 miles away in an age of instant communication. The most telling impact has been on Ted. He has been pretty cool about the whole thing and has shown interest in what the future holds but after all the wailing and gnashing of teeth and I have to say highly charges notes in his year book he now believes he is going to miss Hastings terribly and life without it will be empty. The cultural divide on this point is enormous. In England it would be a polite wave, a "good luck in the colonies, old chap" and a Christmas Card if you're lucky.
Fixed the Tarricones wireless connection tonight and I was so proud of myself I drank way too much beer and whisky. Way too much. The only upside is that I beat Anthony at darts.....twice
