First order of the day was setting up his room, dumping several tonnes of Scarborough Beach onto my laundry floor and then announcing he was hungry. What a surprise. Alex's appetite is legendary and exceedingly punctual. Breakfast is at seven, lunch is at noon and dinner is at five when he is on his own. Dinner time tends to go a bit haywire when he's visiting us, so he compensates by eating all day.
Michael took him down to town to get some fresh bread. They returned with a sandwich for Alex and no bread...Needless to say, I made some bread in the breadmaker later that day.
And I concentrated on trying to produce dinner before eight o'clock, which is always hit and miss in regards to any specific time. I was making risotto using our heroic turkenduck as a base. I actually managed to get dinner ready by about seven. The meal was gargantuan. Alex had a very large serve and asked for more. I responded to leave enough for me. He left precisely one tablespoon in the pot.
The following day was one of our truly searing days. Alex ate and helped me with the washing, ate and helped me put out the recycling, ate and emptied the rubbish bin, ate and went for an hour swim. Due to Alex's unusual circulation, he enjoys swimming only on very hot days. He was quite happy, splashing and entertaining himself in the early evening.
Dinner was another turkenduck triumph - with apple, red wine, jam, herbs and sweet potato. Alex met his match. We gave the final leftovers to the dogs.
Michael and I decided to go to Midland yesterday for supplies for the Last Push in shop 4 - foil insulation, earth wool, wire and pool chemicals. He was armed with two Bunnings vouchers, gifts from the kids. Which he promptly forgot about and left in the car.
Bunnings was packed. Michael does not do crowds well. Add to that mix some clueless staffers and the expedition turned into a ninety-minute fight for survival.
Whilst Michael was in one - one- location, I charged my way through Spotlight (vino glasses, non-slip mat and new shower curtain), followed by the chemist (as many drugs as I was allowed on the Safety Net), then two new books in Dymocks (a huge thank you to Vanessa for the gift voucher), the liquor store (thank you Alex for the gift card) and finally the supermarket. I was certainly flagging by the end.
En route to Michael's Dad's, we stopped at Dome in Mundaring for a coffee and to finally meet the stunning, gorgeous, free spirit that is Susan Wilson. I drank up listening to her adventures. Susan is definitely an international woman of mystery and boy, do I look forward to our next encounter. In the meantime, Facebook will have to suffice.
We then spent a very pleasant hour with Lucky and Sandra and drank three stubbies of his birthday ginger beer. Leaving in daylight (!), we returned home loaded with parcels and discovered Alex had already eaten. He did ask permission and it was after five o'clock.
The fridge had been full when he arrived. On his last morning, he had a thick piece of toast with two fried eggs. He had ploughed his way through turkenduck, the rest of a packet of hot chips, two bags of frozen veggies, half a dozen pancakes, nuts, two cans of tuna, muffins, chocolates, about a litre of ice cream and basil dip. He is a connoisseur when it comes to basil dip.
Thank God we put him back on the bus this afternoon. Our fridge is now emptier that Mother Hubbard's cupboard. Are we complaining? Absolutely not. As ever, he has been a joy to have in the house, polite, affectionate, cheerful and willing. Yes, he occasionally needs direction to keep him on track. And yes, we would have had to go shopping if he'd stayed any longer!
But Alex, our autistic superstar, would have the be the nicest twenty-four-year-old young man I know. Happy new year, Alex! And may you have a brilliant 2016.
Alex in relaxation mode, December 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment