I dashed into my hairdresser’s salon a few days ago and threw myself into the chair.
My hairdresser asked how I’d been.
I asked if he’d watched comedian Tanya Hennessey’s chaotic friend videos because that’s what the next few minutes were about to be like.
I suggested he strap himself in …
And I launched into a mad recap of my recent travails.
I laugh when I watch Tanya’s videos because they are funny. But I also feel a bit seen, because I am the chaotic friend.
I can’t write down my most recent chaotic friend stuff in a blog post – it can only be told in real life.
And I would start babbling at you like this …
What I can can tell you is that since I last blogged I have been a judge at the Australian Gin Awards.
My duties kicked off with tasting 21 barrel-aged gins at 9.30am.
Ermagerd.
After lunch I judged I forget how many flavoured gins.
Then the judges gathered to taste the category winners to decide on the Best in Show gin.
All up, it was edging towards 50 gins I’d tasted by that point.
I will not be drinking gin again for a while.
And that was the least shocking thing that happened on judging day.
Before you panic that I consumed 50 gins, I just swilled them around in my mouth and spat them out, nibbling on bikkies and cheese and sipping water to cleanse my palate between each one.
Then the judges went to the pub. Then we went to dinner.
I made a new friend at dinner who is a spirit blender at a local distillery and is going to come to an event with me in the next few weeks.
By the time I crawled into bed at 10pm I was shattered. Big day. Huge.
And I basically haven’t had time to stop and take a breath since. On Saturday I left the dogs at DD’s place, inspected a downsizer apartment then headed to Newcastle to grab some trakkie daks from Mum to take to Dad in care.
I also took Dad some Dubai chocolate and urged him not to try and put the wrapper in the bin, as he’s averaging two falls a week at the moment and has turned his tiny body into one massive bruise.
Dad has advanced Parkinson’s Disease, which has wreaked havoc on him both physically and mentally. He’s extremely frail and his thinking is disordered. His medication has been adjusted recently, which we are hoping will help.
Visiting him made me acutely aware of his mortality, mine and just about everyone else’s around me. I held it together while I was visiting him, but I have cried a lot since then.
When the nurses came to Dad’s room to get him ready for dinner, I ducked to my sister’s place to drop off my bags and we headed over to our friend’s house for a fabulous feast and some much-needed laughter.
Sunday morning was spent walking my sister’s dogs at the beach between torrential showers, having brekkie with Mum, then racing back down the freeway to Sydney to get ready for another crazy week that will be filled with chaotic tales that I can tell.
Strap yourselves in …
Hope you had a more relaxing weekend than me.
PS The main pic is me announcing the winner of the Flavoured Gin category at last year’s Australian Gin Awards.
Song of the day: Tears for Fears “Mad world”
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