It would be at this point, I suppose, when I am expected to say such platitudes as "How time flies" and "It seems but yesterday", but in point of fact time has not flown and it seems exactly as if a long, weary year has passed.
We go tomorrow to Charlie Howard's Christmas service, which will, I have no doubt be as dull and as tedious you might expect. The Reverend Charlie has the gift of sucking the festive spirit out of a day like you might suck the juice out of an orange, leaving you with something dry, repellent and good for nothing.
And tomorrow we shall sit down as a family to a sumptuous repast prepared by the delicate hand of Lucrezia, the mad poisoner. We have been promised something "quite like goose" which I can only imagine will be parrot. If she serves it with sauerkraut my joy will be complete.
In the evening some of the worthies of the Colony are gathering at the Courthouse for a Christmas Soirée. If Mrs Hindmarsh has any say over the matter there will be dancing. I imagine that several of the ladies of the Colony will chance their arm at singing, almost certainly with mixed results and no doubt, unless we can find some way of stopping her, my daughter will entertain us at the pianoforte, probably with more of her "contemporary music". She has discovered some cove named Mendelssohn who writes what is allegedly music, but sounds like a tomcat in distress. When I complained about it she told me to "keep up with the times" and called me an "old fogey", a term I did not understand.
On the 28th we will be doing it all again for the first anniversary of the Colony. Down to the courthouse for yet another dinner and more speeches than might be reasonably expected. I am looking forward to it, well the food sections at any rate, as it is being prepared by one other than the Widow Harvey and so threatens to be edible.
Our bold explorers Hutchinson, Strangways and Morphett crept back into town this week with the air of a dog that has made a mess on the carpet and is hoping to not be found out. I might have expected them to present themselves at Government House, but they are avoiding me, it seems, as they seem to be expecting some harsh words over Jeffcott's drowning.
As well they might. Bobby Cock, without all the hooplah and self regard associated with Bingham Hutchinson, quietly headed off with a party a few days after the South Coast Explorers and managed to cross the Mount Lofty Ranges, discover the plains beyond and reach the River Murray, then return home safely and did it all without drowning a single Whaling Captain or losing even one Judge of the Supreme Court. That's what I call exploring.
I have sent word to Hutchinson that I expect a written report on my desk by week's end and will meet with him after that to discuss his discoveries. His losses; which I tally at
we shall also discuss. And for his sake I hope his discoveries outweigh his losses
- One Judge
- One Whaling Captain
- Two Sailors
- One Hundredweight of Whalebone
- One Whaling boat
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