#BrokenFeetandSadFarewells

Sadness hit me as a realised my lovely friend Rachel would be leaving Australia on Monday. To commemorate/celebrate her last couple of days in Aus she had a couple of get togethers. The first, was on Friday night. Unfortunately I couldn't make it because I was at work.
While they toasted to her and danced the night away, I ran hastily around, fetching food and taking orders from the hungry customers at SandBar.

Night fell and so did the numbers of people at the restaurant. A cool and stormy day had the Australian people huddled up at home, avoiding getting frizzy hair and soggy clothes.

I realised with glee that if I was quick closing down, I could be home just after 10pm and see my bed earlier than planned. In my haste, I worked quickly with one of the other girls Karolina to bring all the tables in. "Ah, no!" I thought, I'd forgotten to close the doors behind the large table. To correct my mistake, I pulled the big table, forgetting that I had stashed two benches under there when CRASH!
"I've broken my toe!" I yelled! One of the benches had crashed heavily on my foot and the pain spread quickly through my big toe. The two guests that had gotten up to pay looked across to me and began helping me. I hobbled to a chair where they helped me with my shoe, releasing my sweaty feet from my pumps and mouse socks (Poor things). My eyes swelled with tears but I was determined not to cry in front of customers and to keep my professional persona. (Ironic as they were holding my sweaty feet at the time.)

Julien brought me some ice and I rested my swollen foot on a chair. The second the couple left, I burst into tears apologising for crying but the pain was too intense to ignore. I texted Berry asking if she could pick me up and luckily she was still awake so came to my rescue!

In the morning, my dad took me to A&E for an X-ray. Luckily it wasn't broken, just badly bruised and swollen so the doctors signed me off work for a week. I spent the rest of the day with my foot up and hobbling around. We drove down to the beach front to have a picnic and enjoyed watching some of the boat races with an icecream.

Soon it was time for Rachel's farewell gathering at Bronte beach. James kindly offered to drive us due to my recent disability and even saved me from shopping and bought some food and cider for the BBQ.

We arrived at Bronte beach and Rachel came to meet us and held my arm as I hobbled like a granny to where her friends were. I couldn't believe I was going to have to say goodbye to her but was comforted knowing she'll be in the UK when I return home myself. It was a perfect day- the sun was shining, the drinks were flowing and the beach had just enough people to create an atmosphere without feeling squashed together.

Most of the people there I had met at Newtown festival so it was easy to fall into conversation with everyone. One couple came with their three week old baby and I felt that pang of sadness that I couldn't meet Ivy yet. I gave him a little tickle on the tummy and watched him struggle to control his squirmy face.

As the sun started to fall, everyone was preoccupied with their various activities- chatting, playing ball games and cooking at the BBQ. I attempted to catch the Rugby ball while Rachel's cousin threw it to me, balancing all my weight on my good foot and hoping I caught the ball so I didn't have to move too much. He tried to teach me to get a good spin on it and eventually I made some short lived progress. James and I also thought it would be fun to go to the children's play area, finally he realised they're not just for children! He gave me a piggy back there as watching me hobble was probably more painful than having a wooden bench fall on your foot. We competed to see who could swing highest and argued over who won. It wasn't long before we both felt nauseous and had to abandon the swings and rejoin the party.

Once we had eaten, everyone went to the beach, I hobbled slowly over the sand, the cider numbing the pain helped as I made the long journey over to the others. Christmas songs played in the background as we watched the waves and stars and I thought how lucky we were to be experiencing a night so lovely. Eventually, it was time to head off. James offered Rachel a lift home so we all piled in together. "Anywhere you want to see before you leave?" James asked Rachel.
"I would love to go over the bridge!"

James took this request very seriously as he went the wrong way twice, leading us to cross the bridge at least three times and also incurring two toll chargers in doing so. Hugging Rach goodbye had been hard to do, it's going to be much lonelier here without her but I know we'll continue our friendship when we reunite in England.