01/06/2022 A Husband's Cold Day Out

Sadly, it was not appropriate for a wife to conduct video assessments whilst her husband lolled in the background wearing boxer shorts, drinking coffee, and eating chocolate*. Given the wife's minimum requirements of table, chair, and electricity, it followed naturally that the husband was tossed out into the cold and tempest (after he had had time to put on his pants, of course).

"I will ride my bicycle" said the husband as he left. "I will ride all the way to Angeston along the Barossa Trail, but first I will look at a pipe organ."

So he did.

This Grand Organ was built by the distinguished firm of Hill & Son, London, for the Adelaide Town Hall where it opened in 1877.  The organ was enlarged in 1885 and did a perfectly good job until the 1970s rolled along and some bright sparks had the grand idea of turning it into an electric organ. This conversion didn't quite work very well, as any other bright spark could have foreseen. In 1989 another new-fangled organ was installed in the Adelaide Town Hall and the original beauty was packed up and relegated to storage with some background mutterings going on about taking it to the tip.

 

The Organ Historical Trust of Australia (OHTA) was quite rightly horrified by this and was granted organ possession on the condition of restoration and continuedresidence in South Australia. They found a home for the organ in the Tanunda Soldiers Memorial Hall and started to fix up all the bits that had been messed up in the 1970s or just plain worn out since the 1870s.  This took them 15 years and lots of dollars and hours, but the organ is now fully restored and is central to lots of organ events and explanatory tours. The husband really enjoyed the organ tour because it included lots of interesting details, he got to stand in among the pipes while they were playing, and he was indoors out of the cold wind.

 

After all the excitement of the huge organ he started out on his epic cycle along the Barossa Trail. 

 

The sun even made a brief appearance.

 The trail was only 30km return but it took him a while because 

a) the first half was uphill and 

b) there were so many distractions along the way.

 

There were other cyclists,

 

large limousines,

Chocolate factories just calling his name...

and all  the temptations of wines and liqueurs.

 

He had to be careful because he had to ride his bicycle back to Tanunda at the end of the day, preferably in a straight line and it wouldn't be a good idea to turn up tiddly to tell your wife about what a good time you'd had while she was working.

Take it easy now.

He resisted (most) of the temptations of the trail, and made it all the way to Angeston where I am sad to say he did not try out the big slippery slide even though the puddle at the bottom was pretty much gone.

Proof of arrival.

 

By the time the husband got home he was very cold on account of having ridden the final 15km downhill very fast, thereby creating his own chill wind which went through him rather than around.  He shut the cabin  door very firmly and turned the heater up as high as it could go.  The wife, who was getting tired of sitting in the warm cabin on a very hard chair, turned off her computer and went for a long walk in the fresh air, which all goes to show that a comfortable temperature is all a matter of  perception and whether you've been outside all day or not.  

 

Warm home for the last couple of nights: Tanunda Caravan Park

 *To be fair, he was wearing his warm tracky daks over his boxer shorts, and he shared the chocolate.