I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside…

Lorne luxury hotelI should very much like to go away again. Going away is so delightful. I think while the boats are being fixed that option is off the cards, but we could always stay landlocked and go to one of the many hotels Father owns. In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever been to a hotel that Father does not own, so there’s that to consider.

I don’t really know…Daddy’s business goes right over my head, and whenever I ask he tells me to go and play with my dolls. Still, he has promised me my own holiday getaway when I turn sixteen, even though that is many years away, and I have my sights set on Lorne. The Luxury accommodation there is simply marvellous, though I don’t think our family owns anything there currently. Quite a number of my school chums have spoken about what exciting times they’ve had there, so I don’t see why not. I’ve heard the beaches are excellent for shells and rock pools, which despite Mummy’s constant warnings I simply adore exploring. Perhaps there will also be caves to venture into. Caves filled with treasure and smugglers, and a group of us from school will end up getting the smugglers arrested and we shall be the town heroes!

I’ve been reading about such things in my Edith Blighty books. Those children and their dog are always getting themselves into such exciting situations involving smugglers and lashings of ginger beer…it makes one want to jump into the books and go adventuring alongside them! Though Mummy said I shouldn’t wish such things, being a lady and such, and I should focus on my education. I’m afraid I cannot help imagining. I will own my beach apartment in Lorne, and me and my friend shall have such adventures, even if they and my friends are all imaginary. Imaginary is the best kind of thing, I think.

-Madeira

Getting the Family Back on the Boat!

outboard motor repair companyI keep telling Percy he needs to take a break. Golly, we ALL need to take a little break once in a while! We haven’t been out sailing in forever, and now the weather’s getting better it’s the perfect opportunity. I’ve been trying to decide which of our yachts we should take on a sail around the coast, if I ever manage to pry Percy away from his office. The Majestica is my favourite, mostly because we had the bar installed right outside the cabins and there’s always a carrot juice available when you need one.

Oh, but that one’s gone into the shop. Something about a problem with the anchor winch. Melbourne professionals deal with all these boat details and I can never keep up. We just give them the keys and tell them to sort it out while we pick from another of our boats. No need to fill my head with all kinds of information I don’t need. Well, maybe one day if we were shipwrecked, but…we have GPS now! So I don’t even need to worry about a thing.

Well, my second-favourite is the Jillian, named after Percival’s mother. That’s a bit odd for me, because I ruly hated Jillian with a passion. Always in our business, always hovering around and dropping hints that I wasn’t good enough for the family. I suppose I got my revenge in the end, because I married into the family and she’s dead now. But Percy loved his mother, so he decked out the boat with all the modern conveniences and made is properly stately. The carrot juice just never tastes as good there, however. The WiFi is just awful.

I seem to remember us going sailing a lot more when the children were younger. Perhaps Percy just had a bit less on his plate then…whereas now I have to content myself with soaps. Perhaps I can make Melbourne’s outboard motor repair a pet project of mine, just so I can guess when my favourite boat will be ready to sail. Have a look on the Google, perhaps. But then it’d be a matter of GETTING my husband on the boat. Or out of the office at all.

-Cecelia