Lost

Sunday:

Last night we went to my cousin David's engagement party. It was held at a surf club on the beach at Narrabeen, which is one of Sydney's Northern beaches. We live in the south of the city. I think we've been north three times since we moved back to Sydney, and every time we have got lost on the way home.

This time the problems started when trying to get over the Sydney Harbour Bridge/ through the Harbour Tunnel. The thing is once you get onto the approach, you can't change lanes. There are big barriers between them. So by the time you realise you are in the wrong lane and, for instance, going over the Bridge into the heart of the city instead of into the Tunnel to go to the Southern suburbs, it's too late.

We thought we could deal with that, we don't generally drive in the city but we've walked around it and we just had to follow the GPS right? Yeah, except roadworks had closed off a lot of roads, and our GPS kept telling us to turn around and go down roads we couldn't go down. We eventually managed to work our way south a bit, away from the roadworks, to where we could join the Tunnel. But we couldn't find the entrance in the dark with Saturday night partygoers crowding over the roads and slow GPS and one-way streets, and we went round and round in circles until we finally found our way underground. The whole thing was so stressful! I think we were lost in the city for about an hour. Poor Tim was driving, I certainly don't blame him, I got lost last time I was driving too.

Aside from that we had a nice time at the party. I got to chat with my mum's side of the family who I don't see very often. It didn't have a sit-down dinner but caterers kept circulating with fresh pizza and there was also a lolly table which the kids loved! A lollipop tree, jars of marshmallows and chocolate and lollies, and lovely Ferraro Rocher chocolates.

I had two worries. Firstly my grandfather "Poppa" wasn't there, he is 98 and still lives in his own home and is doing fantastically well for his age but I guess events like this are getting a bit much for him. And secondly my Aunty Mandy. I suppose she is in her 60s but could pass for a fit attractive 40. Slender and always elegantly dressed. I didn't notice anything amiss at first but then a cousin mentioned that Mandy seemed "grumpy" tonight. Then Tim said he thought she was very pale, and indeed she was, a sort of unhealthy white like candle wax under her makeup. Pale and acting a bit unlike herself could both be attributed to some transient illness, no reason to think it was something serious. But then I realised her clothes were wrong.

Normally she wears lovely dresses that show off her figure. But last night at her son's engagement party she was wearing a sack with a belt. Almost shapeless, with arms and legs completely covered. Like someone hiding a dramatic change of shape. I remember my mother getting all puffy when she got cancer, and now I'm really worried. It was her son's party so there's no way she would have spoiled it talking about her health, and I don't like to ask. But I'm worried.