the manly visit

We went to Manly beach with my girlfriend and her dad to visit his 90-year-old godfather, who subsidized his school fee. Manly was such a nice place. My girlfriend’s dad, Stephen, told us that his godfather has a daughter called Beverly, but he nastily refers her as “fat lady”. Yet when I first met her, I started to realize why he made up such a nickname for her—she was a typical Australian plump woman who weighed around 200 lbs. Then we met Beverly’s husband, Ian, although somehow Stephen calls him as “In”. They were really nice and friendly, and showed us around. It was considerate of them to deliberately speak slower so that we wouldn’t find it too difficult to listen to their words. After strolling around for a while, it was around 5:00 already, so they drove us to their house for dinner. Their house was really beautiful, and the living standard was very high. They had a backyard which was as big as my house. They also had a “sausage dog” called Jack, which smells quite unpleasant, unlike my little dog. Their family started preparing dinner, and Bev’s daughter, Christine, also came over. Bev is 60 years old, and her daughter is 35, but she looks younger than her actual age. I guess she was once a charming lady. Christine has 2 daughters, aged 2 and 7. They were as cute and lovely as dolls! I was left alone when the grown-ups and my girlfriend were chatting, so I played with the 2 little girls. Maybe under the good influence of their parents, all 3 generations were really nice and friendly. While me and the 7-year-old were arranging pebbles around the bird bath, the 3 year-old tripped over and fell on the ground. Yet unlike other little girls of her age, she didn’t utter a sound or even cry. She didn’t cry all the way, until her hand started having signs of inflammation. Her mum, Christine, said that she rarely cries—what a tough girl!
On the other hand, Ian is a really typical Aussie. When he was cooking sausages, he suddenly showed me his watch and asked “what’s the time now?” then we answered him “it’s six.” He said “no, it’s time for another beer!” this turned out to be a funny joke even under such relaxing atmosphere We had a simple yet satisfying dinner of sausage, salad and bread. I really enjoy meeting foreigners since they are really nice.
Before we went to their house, we went to visit Stephen’s godfather, who was 90 years old and had a confused mind. He had severe hearing problem, so he had to wear a hearing aid. He couldn’t walk properly, so he needed someone to push him around in a wheelchair. His physical and mental condition was the reason why he had to live in a retirement village. There was a sleep-walker in the village, since he has colour blindness and poor vision, yet he walks everywhere, from one end to another every day. There was another old woman who screams for help for no reason, so Ian called her “peacock”. So it might be an advantage that godfather couldn’t hear well. Before leaving the retirement village, we had to help godfather return to his bed. But perhaps he was too nervous, he egested in his pants. Not meaning that was disgusting, but then I could fully understand how helpless it is when we become old and frail. It was nice to meet Ian, Bev and their family. I guess I will be visiting them soon.