Get It Straight, Or Say Good Night

They Say It's Your Birthday

Thankfully Mimi stayed away..... far away in New Zealand. Lou got on with her in the main.... but sharing a cramped room, ummm no.

So, while Mimi was entertained by relatives in NZ and the boys entertained Australia....

Louise found herself back at the starting point, in Sydney, where Rings, Brian and she had flown in chasing the rest of the Beatles only days before. She stared out over the balcony waiting for the lads to wake up, it was early and she couldn't wait for the morning to start. Time for themselves for once, a rare scheduled day off and the promise of an adventure and fun for Paulie's birthday which happened to be today.

A few days here, 'down under', the former colonial penal colony- Australia. Not that there were any more English goal ships carting loads of convicted bread nappers here anymore..... the place was looked upon by many English in the past as a wild frontier, like wild west America, only upside down and a tad wilder.

Australia had it all- snow, desert, thousands of miles of seashore- all perfect, pristine white powder too, rainforests and plains. Not to mention the poisonous snakes, odd looking hoppy 'roos'(kangaroo's), furry bilbies and wombats too.

And now..... people paid to come and live here, Australia wanted loads of families to come and inhabit the place. Ten-pound passage for poms was bandied around all the time back in Liverpool at the end of the 50's early 60's. Come, make a claim and live the dream. So brave to leave hearth and home to move across waters to the other side of the world, set up roots and thrive.

Soon they would be spending one or two days with Mimi in New Zealand and then back to the Land of Oz to Brisbane in Queensland then finally the long weary flight home to England.

After complaining about the heat, yes even in June which is Australia's winter, Louise would miss the warmth. Tahiti had the temp right and really, just because she wasn't sitting on the ocean shore, Lou would admit it was very pleasant here too. She would also miss the openness, the immense space of the place, the daily sunshine, fresh clean air and not to mention all the lovely tasty fruit she could consume. Mangos being Lou's very favourite.

The new day was clear, with a slight breeze. Louise stood and listened. Listened to the birds that she had never heard for real before.

Closing her eyes and recalling school facts, remembering the bird calls that had been on the record at primary school, the needle dropping and the turntable spinning for education and not music. So that everybody in class heard the strange calls of birds, from the other side of the world.

A kookaburra.

A magpie.

A bloody raven. Geez can't get away from those ones can you!

A few pretty ones landed close to her on the balcony railing. Like bickering relative's, they bit and screeched and pecked at each other. So pretty, a rainbow of colour in their feathers.

"Rainbow Lorikeets apparently, those ones" George kissed his sister's forehead and sat down for a smoke. Leaning forward to try and offer a piece of dry crust he had grabbed off the discarded plate left on the table. "Good kip?"

"Hmm yes nice. John was flopping around like a seal but that's normal in our bed"

"I don't want to hear about your lousy sex life Louise" George tapped the ash on the tray before it fell to the floor, glancing up to see the scowl she had adorning her face.

"He was asleep, flailing about, you ninny" Lou walked inside with one of the cane deck chairs, the sun had reached the balcony now and was quickly, even at breakfast, becoming hot on her skin.