forgetful

We are trying not to think about the looming auction of our family home. A bit of distraction was in order, so a circuit walk in the Brisbane Ranges it was. We left early to avoid walking in the heat of the day. It was pleasant enough to begin with, lots of birds busy about their business. A sprinkle of rain overnight left everything sparkly, especially with the morning sun steaming through.

Unfortunately we managed to attract the attention of a very territorial bee. It insisted on harassing us for twenty minutes or so, just when we thought it was safe, back it would come. It is not that much fun walking and swinging your t-shirt around your head fending off an angry bee. I was doubly apprehensive having been stung by one just a few days earlier, the red, swollen and itchy bump on my arm a reminder of the damage they can do.

We must have finally walked out of its territory for it eventually left us alone. Our thoughts turned to morning tea now that we could be still without fear of an attack. It was with great sadness Colin realised that he had forgotten his thermos, his dream of a cup of tea was just that, a dream.

As midday approached and the heat increased and our legs grew weary we were on the home stretch. I reached for my trusty point and shoot and it wasn't in the bag. I asked Colin where he had put it when I gave it to him to hold a while back. He had sat it on a post at a picnic spot and left it behind, another kind of forgetting. It was a couple of kilometres behind us, the end point a kilometre in front. Colin dutifully volunteered to go back and get it while I continued to the end, and he was off in a rush before we thought it through. He didn't have water and we could have driven back to the picnic spot to get it, but he was gone. He added a 4km jog onto the 10km walk. Luckily he rose to the challenge and made short work of the extra kilometres.

Not exactly our best walking experience but a memorable one...