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Day 49 (Monday 4th December 2006)
Sarah was given the best surprise ever when Keith came in to our bedroom to give up his ticket to the Ashes so we could go together...what has Marc done to her...she's excited about going to the cricket!!
So we hopped in 'Fran' for our first little adventure down to the city, dropping Liam off at school along the way. After a couple of hours drive we found the ground pretty easily (no we didn't get lost), but having had to park a million miles away, we began the long hike back towards the oval.
The Adelaide Oval is a lovely little ground with an excellent atmosphere. The barmy army were on form and we had excellent front row seats, in fact the only thing that was lacking was the cricket!! It had to be the most boring day of cricket ever as both teams hit a stalemate, but all Keith's work mates, 'the Kaesler crew', did their best to keep us entertained and certainly kept the beers rolling in! We joined them for a while on 'the hill', right under the old scorebored...did you see us on the tv???
After Hoggy's brilliant individual performance (the highlight of the day's play), we trapsed back to the car, the whole way singing "We are the army, the barmy army"! After another long drive back up to Keith and Jo's, totally shattered we didn't get in untill late. We popped on the kettle and made everyone a cuppa, however, we weren't quite prepared for what followed.
We'd tried so hard to keep out of their feet and to pull our weight around the house (Marc even washing up - so that's like some herculean effort on his part)! Not to mention our every intention of cooking them some nice meals and even picking up Liam early from school to save him from after school club and taking him up the park a few nights.
So when we were practically TOLD to cook them their meal the next evening and pick their kid up from school the next, we first said yeah no worries - we wanted to do that anyway. Perhaps they were tired, because here we were listing all the activities that we were going to do with their son and yet we were barely acknowledged.
We felt a little like, right ok, we're trying really hard here - show us a little gratitude, but unfortunately that was too much to expect. Instead what we did get was a barrage of abuse about how if we didn't have too many plans tomorrow, we could tidy that 'effing pig sty' next door and remove the 'effing stain' on the carpet which one of us had left there.
The 'effing pig sty' was apparently our bedroom where we were staying - Liam's tiny room with an extra camp bed made up, oh and with a few of our stuff laid out by the side...amazing the mess a backpack can make! The 'effing stain' was a small blotch of ink that must have leaked from one of our pens. With us having to make a quick dash off in the morning to get to the cricket (Sarah barely given 20-minutes to get ready), it wasn't really the best time to tidy the room. The reality was, it wasn't untidy at all!
We were gobsmacked! Where the hell had that come from? After visiting the naughty corner for five minutes we both sat on our 'thomas the tank engine' bed covers, just looking at each other in disbelief. We decided we didn't want to spend another night here and although we knew they'd both be hurt, we most certainly were too!
We planned to do so much, but Marc wouldn't have been able to bite his tongue for long, so it was time to move on. Like runaway children, we sat in bed planning what we'd do next. We decided to call Ria the next day and hope that their offer still stood, but we couldn't help feel like we were plotting some devious escape.
The whole incident is most regrettable and although we feel like we may be over reacting slightly, we weren't going to stay somewhere where we didn't feel comfortable. The disappointing thing is, they tried so hard to make us feel welcome and Keith bent over backwards for us while we were there in so many other ways.
Tomorrow we'll wait for them to get in from work and explain why we're moving on. We just hope they do know how grateful we are for the stuff they did do for us. We're not looking forward to tomorrow...
Day 50 (Tuesday 5th December 2006)
The day of the escape! We got up early and washed our bed covers and scrubbed as best as we could on the carpet to remove the 'effing stain'...if we were going to leave, we could at least leave it clean and tidy.
We headed in to the town of Gawler to register 'Fran' in our name and get the latest batch of photos put on to disc. Whilst there we phoned Ria, who was only too happy to have us come to stay. With that sorted we headed on to the car dealership where we bought 'Fran' to settle the rest of the money we owed so we didn't burden that responsabilty on Keith...it was the least we could do!
Then it was back to their house to pack up our stuff and say our goodbyes. We weren't looking forward to it and as Keith pulled up, we felt really bad about the whole thing. Marc tried explaining our reasons for leaving and Keith appeared genuinely surprised. The thing is, he probably doesn't even realise he's doing it half the time and despite all the help he's given us, we felt we had to leave. He did look really hurt and we felt terrible the whole way up to Ria's, but we won't leave it like this and will definitely see them again before we go.
Remarkably we found our way to Ria's, all be it with a few stops in 'servo's for help, a $4 purchase of a roadside companion map of Adelaide and surrounding suburbs and a huge barney in the car!! Whilst driving we tuned in to listen to England somehow throw the ashes away! We found it nevertheless and Marc's fantastic cousin and fionce, welcomed us with open arms.
They're both so kind and laid-back and we felt at home here straight away. We unpacked our stuff and our new hosts treated us to a nice Indian takeaway for tea. Totally shattered from all the worrying about leaving Keith and Jo, we thanked Ria and Dan once again and hit the sack.
Keith and Jo if you do read this, please know that we are sooo grateful for everything you did for us and we're sorry it had to end like that. If anything, we wanted to leave before any arguements did happen and hope there are no hard feelings about it all. Guys you were superb and we would never have been able to get 'Fran' without you, let alone go to the cricket, be picked up from the airport, taken out for dinner, taken to Cudlee Creek, or any of the other wonderful things you did for us.
We feel really bad guys and hope to see you again real soon...
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