Blessings and Miracles.....

We started our business back in January 2000 and it's been a long hard road since then.  Then again we have experienced far more blessings and miracles along the way than most other people.

Some people would call miracles as simply coincidences or "just because".  Some people call blessings as "you deserved it".   I call them both from God.

It's only that I have had my faith for the last 13 years that I have been able to cope with all the things that have happened in our life.  Yes it's been hard but I have no idea how I would have / could have coped without my faith.

    

My regret is that I didn't write them all down at the time that they occured.

It certainly would have made for a good read if I read written them ALL down!

Last Friday was an absolute classic case.

Our Coaches have been sitting in the shed looking at us for most of this year.  It's been a pretty tough time economically in Grafton this year.  Businesses have closed down, many major to the town as far as employment goes.   Then all the political unrest and threat of upcoming elections certainly hasn't provided our older clientele with confidence.  Families have moved out of town seeking employment elsewhere.   People just don't have the confidence to spend money and touring on a coach and having a holiday or sending your children on an excursion be it a day trip or week long in Canberra is certainly a luxury.

However the last couple of weeks things seemed to pick up a little as far as school excursions go.  We were busy.  Drivers were coming and going.  Coaches were coming and going and we were starting to feel a little confident about the next couple of months.

Then disaster on Friday.   We had 4 Coaches making their way back from Canberra and the Snow.  It had been a stressy kind of week worrying about the drivers driving overnight.  Vehicles running so long and hard during the night. 

At 9.00 am on Friday morning Alan got the call we always dread.  One of our coaches had broken down outside of Goulburn.   Everything just stopped on the Coach which meant it was a computer problem.   (An ECM which basically controls all of the Coach).   It decided at that time on that day that it really didn't feel like going anymore.  And there was nothing we could have done to maintenance wise to prevent this.  When they die, they just die without warning!

Our driver managed to get the Coach off the road and called up Alan to contemplate the next course of action.  There were 55 passengers on board that 57 seater coach together with all their luggage.

Within 10 minutes of Tony pulling up, up comes another Coach who pulls over to see if he could help.  Just happened to be another operator that we sold one of our coaches to in January this year.  Mat had reminded Alan and myself of how we were all those years ago when we started out in the business.  Keen & enthusiastic and extremely optomistic.  So when we sold him our coach we gave him  our time, talked to him, gave him more spare parts than was necessary.   Mat had seen our Coach on the side of the road, remembered us and thought he needed to help.

Mat's coach had seating for 48 and he was empty.  He offered to drive those 48 passengers up the road to wherever he could to help us out.  The teachers worked who would go and who would stay with Tony, so that lot got on his vehicle and got going.  The remaining group consisted of two parents and their own children and their friends and our driver Tony.

By this time Alan, myself and some of our other staff had madly been on the phones trying to find another coach to transfer the remaining passengers back home and to catch up with the first group but all operators around that area and in Sydney were busy and no coaches were available.  (a good time of year for everyone!)  Alan had also called up a mechanical repairer in Goulburn who was on his way to try and fix our coach.

When he finally arrived about 30 minutes later it was decided that our coach wasn't going anywhere but he just happened to have a coach sitting in his depot that we could use to transfer our remaining kids home.   Miracle or coincidence?

By this time Alan had organised for another coach operator to take over from Mat at Wyong and then we could transfer all the group back home in one coach to Urunga.  So while one coach was miles ahead, Tony loaded the remaining group onto the Mechanics coach and drove straight through to Wyong, only stopping when absolutely necessary. 

Now the other miracle is that Alan had only recently reconnected with the operator in Wyong about 2 - 3 weeks ago.  They were friends from years ago when Alan took over being Foreman (at 21) from this man when he left to start his own business.  George took Alan under hisnwing and taught him lots before he left Alan in charge of the workshop for a very large Sydney company.   So what had made Alan decide to re connect with George those 3 weeks ago?   Was that coincidence or what?

So the story continues.....all the coaches met up in Wyong and transferred over to Georges brand new coach.  The coach that Tony had driven up from Goulburn was left at George's depot at Wyong and now all the students and teachers were all back together again on the one coach.  Our original coach was at the Mechanic's depot in Goulburn.

Instead of getting home at 6.00 pm the group got back to Urunga at 8.00 pm - not bad timing considering all that had  happened during the day.

A miracle?  Well it gets better.

On the Friday we also had 3 more coaches returning to Grafton from Canberra & the Snow and due to the distance we had to have 3 other drivers at Raymond Terrace to take over from the original drivers as they would have been outside their regulated driving hours by the time they returned back to the depot.  This is something that happens quite often and we just "stage" drivers at various locations on the road so that the original driver jumps out and another takes over to continue the journey. 

Well all the problems with the Goulburn Coach just happened to happen before the 3 relieving drivers had left Grafton, so our son Mitch jumped into the coach with the 3 drivers and dropped them off at Raymond Terrace and continued onto Sydney with the intention of heading to Goulburn to try and rescue our original coach.

Alan decided that he would meet up with George when he dropped off our students at Urunga and head back to Wyong with George and then collect the Goulburn mechanic's coach from his depot and travel back to Goulburn to work on our coach with Mitch.

During the day, Alan was able to secure from 2 different sources 4 different types of ECM's to try and see if they could fix the problem with our coach in Goulburn.  Trying to source one of these would normally be difficult enough but to find operators and suppliers with 4 for him to try is nothing short of a miracle.  And even better we had a friend who was able to travel around to these places on Friday to collect the computers so that they were ready for Alan and Mitchell on Saturday morning. 

Blessing or coincidence?

The long and the short of the saga is that on Saturday morning (after very little sleep for Alan), Alan and Mitchell were able to drop off the Goulburn Coach and fix our coach all with the help of another of Mitchell's friends who was able to help out by driving a car back for them to Sydney.  They had fixed the broken coach within an hour of them arriving in Goulburn.

And by having the breakdown it meant that Alan and Mitchell were able to bring home from Sydney another coach that we had just purchased that was waiting for us in Sydney. 

Today they are on their way home from Sydney with each of them driving a Coach.

Out of a truly terrible situation, one that had both my stomach and Alans' absolutely tied up in knots on Friday came quite a few miracles and blessings beyond our belief.  Yes it is going to cost us extra dollars for the hiring of all the extra vehicles.  Whatever little profit we may have made from the "good" week will now surely be eaten up in hiring of additional coaches but we were able to get the children home only 2 hours late and that was the main priority for us.

Yes Alan is absolutely totally exhausted today.  His stomach is still recovering from the upheaval it was put through on Friday.  He is running out of adrenalin but the blessings from the events far outweigh the negatives.

And our life goes on.

Today it's 30 days until we leave on our holiday but inwardly we are both starting to panic about all the things we need to get done beforehand and hoping nothing like last Friday happens while we are away.

Anyway we just have to continue to hold onto that faith.........

Date and time set up

Just realised that the date and time on the blog are wrong.  It's Friday today - not Thursday.  Just checking it's changed over.

Well I would have written more posts since my very first one because.....

1. I haven't had the time and

2. I lost my password and couldn't access the blog!!!!!

Not a very good start!



So much has happened since the first post.

So I'll back go a few days....quite a few....

Monday 29 July 2013 which was the day I started this blog.  It was a rare day off and after I uploaded the blog I thought of so many other things that I could have written about but so as to not bore myself...well really that is what the blog is for .... me ....I decided that one blog per day was enough.

I had high hopes of each morning writing a few more words about my Ordinary Life - ha ha.

So what I spent the rest of that lovely day doing was researching my holiday on the internet.  I looked up all the reviews for the properties we would be staying at on our European holiday which turns out was not a good thing as a lot of the reviews were negative.  I felt a bit sick in the stomach at the thought of the negativity, after all it was me that had chosen this tour and encouraged our friends D & K to join us.  But then I resolved my negative feelings in that so long as I can sleep and have a nice shower at the end of each day, I can deal with the rest (hopefully).

I also spent time researching data packs for my mobile.  It's a huge thing for us wondering what to do with the mobiles and especially after my disaster a year ago coming back off a 10 day cruise with a $10K phone bill (which was resolved thankfully).  Now it will forever be in the back of my mind.

Friends say don't take a mobile but we need to be in contact with the office and family.  In reality it would be lovely to be phone free but it won't happen. 

So after trawling the internet I think the solution for us is to leave A's mobile at home and go with a Woolworths sim for me which, I think can take on my mobile number on their sim.  (Who would have thought that Woolworths would go into the Global Sim market?)  From what I gather from my research, is if someone in Australia calls me it's just like a local Mobile call for them and for me on the other side.  So if I don't want everyone to know I am o/s, then no one has to know!   And when I call someone I dial the number I want to call and the Sim tries to find the best local operator to make the call on.   It then hangs up on me and then calls me back on the best network for the area I am in with the number I originally called.  Sounds simple....ha ha.

So another obstacle jumped over but for now I need to make sure that all my saved numbers on my mobile are on my sim and on my phone, so I don't misplace any numbers.  Next weeks' job.

The days then flew by in a blur.  We have set up a new accounting software package and while I love a challenge I am going home each night thoroughly mentally exhausted.  Think it will work out fine though.

And that week the coaches were supposed to be not busy but fortunately it ended up being a pretty full on week with charters coming in out of the blue.  Thank you God.

Then it was the weekend and again a pretty busy weekend as far as turning around Coaches for upcoming charters leaving Saturday and Sunday.

Our friends that we are travelling with o/s D & K came up from Sydney to visit us for the weekend so we could make plans for the days we have off in London.  And here am I thinking I had done so much research and in walks K with a bag full of maps and brochures!  (I think sometimes if you spend so much time researching things you can actually forget too much! Well that's my excuse!).

K & I spent a couple of hours on the internet working out tours to do while the boys chatted, Alan made work related phone calls and D played Solitaire on the ipad!  But we've now worked out that we will go and see a London Theatre show - We Will Rock You on the Saturday before we start out tour.  Looking forward to that!

We booked a day trip to the Cotswolds too so that will be a good experience too.

Then we found out we can get a half price Open Top Vintage London Bus tour for a half day so we will now have to find time to book that.

We now need to find time to do the London Eye and Madame Tussauds (so that JK can oogle at the One Direction boys!).

We also talked about going to the London Transport Museum, the Motor Museum (although we couldn't figure out how to get there), Harrod's and then visiting all the places on the Monopoly board! 

They also gave me a little bit more confidence in how to use the Tubes over there.  Seems everyone does it and it's relatively easy.  We'll see!

Our friends D & K have been to the UK before so they just want to show us around and let us experience what they did 2 or 3 years ago.  That will be great.

Then Monday rolled around and a pretty full on week with work.

Had emails and a phone call from K (Alan's sister) and we've organised when we will be with her so the days are starting to slowly fill in during our off days on our holiday.

We now just need to work out what we will do after we finish at the Bus Show in Birmingham for a few days.  Have looked at trains, planes and coaches to Scotland but not sure.   We thought maybe visit Glasgow but have been told Edinburgh is much better. 

I am that exhausted from thinking about it for now.  But as of today it's 32 days until we take off.

I get quite anxious at the though of all I need to do before I leave.  Typing notes up for all staff, making sure everything is covered as much as it can be before I leave.

Today, this morning actually has been a huge stressy day with Coaches coming back from Canberra.  A computer has decided to collapse on one of the Coaches and we are anxiously trying to organise another coach to bring that group back up the North Coast.

Just when you think you may get ahead a little bit after a busy time......Anyway I just have to have faith that God will sort it all out and we will be looked after.

Hence my reason for a rather large blog today.  I can't concentrate on anything much today and it's therapy as much as anything to be just typing and "talking" to myself.  Heaven help me if I get bored overseas.

Wonder if there is a limit on blog space each blog????

Better go,.... until I find time again.  Me xox

An Ordinary Life ...I would say yes....some would say no.

So this blog is a chance for me to just share a bit about what's happening in my life. 
I work hard long hours and you'd think I'd be the last person to get bored but I do.  I find when I stop that I just don't know what to do so hopefully this blog will help me alleviate my boredom with my life.

A couple of months ago (well 2 April 2013 to be precise!) I booked a holiday of a lifetime for my husband and my 14 year old daughter...we're off to Europe and the UK and my life has become a bit obsessed about my pending travels.  I have this widget on my phone which tells me exactly how many days, hours, minutes and seconds until take off.  It's a constant reminder of how my Ordinary Life will soon be filled with some Extraordinary bits!

The plan for this holidays is to travel to London to see our s.i.l and her family, spend a couple of days exploring London before heading off on a 15 day Coach Tour of Europe.  Then on return from Europe there's a few days in London before heading to the Birmingham Bus Show for a few days and then the days after that are not planned until we return back to the Ordinary Life 8 days or so later.

So what's so special about travelling to the UK and Europe?  I know people do it every day of the week.  For some they travel back and forth all the time.  Airports become boring.  Plane flights tedious.  Different customs and cultures so so.  For me I love the chance to experience new things and I absolutely love airports.  The sights, the smells, watching people.  Sitting down in a bubble staring intently at all different people and wondering what they are doing with their Ordinary Lives. 

I love the thrill of aeroplanes and while I hate airport food I love the fact that someone brings me a little tray of bits and pieces to be discovered.   I love watching peoples reactions to flying.  Like my husbands' absolute fear of takeoffs and landings.   He hates flying and gets bored about after an hour or so.  Me, I love it all.

I love getting to a new destination and taking picture postcards in my mind of all the different scenery.   I love the challenge of making it through customs (even though I know I've got nothing to worry about). 

And so the countdown is on and as of today it's 43 days to go.   I've watched this timer come down from 100 odd days and the days have just flown by.   My only hope is that the time we are away doesn't fly by just as quick.  I know I will dread reality upon return.

So the reality of this blog is more for me than anyone else who cares to read.

I wanted somewhere where I could detail all my thoughts of my Ordinary Life and if someone needs an Ordinary read it's here for them.

So for today (I have a rare day off work) I choose to make copious notes about places I want to visit, things I want to do and try and see if the budget (yes I will be on a budget) will stretch that far.  I'll also continue my "anal - ness" of thoroughly researching all facets of travel to all these countries we will visit, tips of fellow travellers and make copious lists of things to take and do prior to my departure.

Until next time ..... me!