There is, as mentioned elsewhere in these pages, a body of opinion (voiced, among others, by the Dragon Lady Who Used To Operate Out Of The Other End Of I Block) to the effect that Hughesy is, if not travel-averse, at least travel-reluctant. As explained elsewhere, this might be seen as a fair conclusion based on the fact that, for several years after the construction of the Little House of Concrete was complete, Hughesy didn’t engage in any significant travel activities until after ‘Er Indoors appeared on the scene. The travel-hiatus over those years was, however, the result of economic factors rather than an inbuilt aversion to travel per se.
The same financial considerations had, before the construction of the Little House of Concrete meant once Hughesy’s assorted cricket-related odysseys were out of the way for the year there wasn’t a great deal of cash available for anything above subsistence-level eating and drinking.
And then, in the run-in to retirement when we sat down and looked at the figures it became obvious that while my allocated pension would suffice for day to day expenses that would be about as far as the money was likely to go.
As a result travel planning, choices of destination, activities along the way and such like were matters for ‘Er Indoors since she’d be the one paying for each little jaunt.
Remembering the financial constraints, we’ve done fairly well over the past seven years with trips to destinations along the Queensland coast, the Hunter Valley, Melbourne, the Yarra Valley, north-east Victoria, northern Tasmania and, most recently, Japan as well as the chance to catch concert action at the 2001 Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival and last year’s Eric Clapton show in Brisbane.
So while I’m quite happy to sit down in the Little House of Concrete and pass the time reading, writing, organising and listening to the music collection, drinking wine and doing a spot of gardening on the side, if Madam appears beside my right elbow inquiring whether I’d be interested in a little trip to South Australia the answer is almost certain to be in the affirmative.
A cynic would, of course, point out that many of the destinations we’ve headed for have been wine-producing areas of note and that Hughesy would hardly be likely to refuse the opportunity to indulge in a spot of tasting.
And the cynic would be quite right.
Once Madam has set out the basic parameters for the trip (destination, length of stay, et cetera) Hughesy does get the opportunity to do some planning of his own to fit in with his interests but the basic thrust of the journey is largely beyond my control.
Given a basic itinerary that allowed for seven nights in South Oz there’s no way we’d be able to go everywhere and once we’ve narrowed the possibilities down to a couple of areas the number of places we could go will always be greater than the number of places it’s physically possible to visit.
When wine tasting is involved experience suggests visiting any more than half a dozen wineries at well spaced intervals through the day is likely to result in a severe case of palate burnout.
I could, of course, learn to spit, removing the inebriation factor from the equation, but the increase in the number of wineries that could be visited wouldn’t be worth the raised risk of domestic discord.