Refreshing the Wells 2

I’m refreshing the wells today by losing myself in “Free Settler or Felon”. It gathers many of the available written sources about early white settlers in Australia and provides no commentary, so we have wonderful lists of people’s endeavours, errors, marriages, other.

I’m fascinated by the pages, which show two separate Lesters having ‘unclaimed mail’ at the Post Office.

 

Yesterday, Alan Baxter wrote:

“I find one of the best well-refreshing things for me is to walk the dog. Get outside, get into nature, watch people who might be around. It’s very invigorating.”

When I asked him for specifics, he said, “Yesterday at the headland where we often walk, in the car park, was a battered old campervan. There was a guy about 50, who looked like a 70s rock band survivor, and two late teen kids. My best guess was that he was the estranged father, and the kids were taking a holiday with him for some together time.

Kids were well-dressed, clearly more moneyed than the dad, the girl a bit gothy, the boy a bit skater-punk. They had this extremely familiar yet slightly uncomfortable air about them, like they all realised the value of the time they had together, but weren’t entirely sure how to make the best of it.

Absolutely fascinating dynamic going on.

Of course, I could be totally wrong. The older guy might have abducted them and was about to install them as avatars in his suicide cult and drive to the outback for a sacrificial ritual. Anything’s possible.”

 

I’d love to hear from others, too. If you post in the comments, I’ll post your source of refreshment the next day.