Supporting and promoting the well-being of mental health carers and their families.
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Welcome back from holiday @Appleblossom. Great to hear it went well and you had that interesting encounter.
After a day and a half of video editing, I am grateful to @PeppiPatty for getting me going on it again with her inspiring poetry. Creative activity brings greater contentment to my life. 
Thanks for the cheerios @Former-Member and @Mazarita and @PeppiPatty
There were a few ups and downs re trip. My neck started to go due to the sister-in-laws constant aggression interactive style. She sums up things in a simplistic manner and even her style of speaking jars the air and her gesticulations are agitated. I have already done all the understand for her and her mother. It is physically serious for me. My son and I agreed we couldnt visit their house again and explained it to my brother. I had to let my son see them as they are ... now that he is more grown up ... he was little when we started having shared holidays.. and they bullied him and me a lot .. but always found ways to exclude and put us down, I did not know what to do as he was my remaining brother etc after the suicides ... since I left Sydney they have zipped north for a holiday and then over to Thailand ... anyway I know I have done what I could to keep the family together. The children dont really need me .. but my son and I need to be in an environment where we can be treated with some respect.
My neck settled after doing a lovely day of music at the recorder course. Then we had a young enthusiastic teacher telling everyone to bang their feet during a semi-quaver rest ... and she tried to up the energy ...the vibrations on wooden floor were jarring .. I tried to signify it was a problem for me ... and said "less gusto" but she over-rode me .. within 5 minutes my whole spine went into spasm and I was stuck for 48 hours walking stiffly with sciatica etc etc .. I rested and eventually it settled but I have never had that exerience even when doing percussion and playing djembe ..the tutor was sorry and tried to tone it down in our other workshop ... but it put a dent in my week.
There were also many beautiful moments and i learned a lot .. the standard was extremely high and all the lovely instruments were wonderful. I fell in love with an ebony recorder but didnt buy it. I hope to do more workshops ... just not be in class where teacher is going for aggressive sounds.
I guess it is just the way it is now. Overall I found that it was possible to travel and manage by myself ... without a car .. it had been booked 6 months ago ..
The best thing was that my son had more travel experience and a week by himself and survived without his emotional or mental state being destabilised. So I can be more confident making plans in the future.
Hi @Appleblossom, sorry you had the pain and discomfort during your trip. Glad that you found it mostly okay to travel alone without a car. I find that booking some months in advance can help these things go more smoothly too these days. Brilliant that your son was okay with what was involved in the trip too. I'm planning a trip to Melbourne soon and experiencing the usual deep rumbling anxiety about what will be involved in doing that. Trying not to let the nerves get the better of things. Hearing your trip went mostly well is heartening. Wonderful that you were so inspired by the music and the many beautiful moments. 
