SUSIE IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP

I originally left Australia just over 9 years ago and am kindly reminded by my mother every now and then that I left on Mothers Day !!! (honestly Mum, as I keep saying, we didn't mean it, it just happened to be the cheapest fare going and you always taught us to pick the best deal!!!).

Anyway - as part of her personal revenge - she has been playing out this little routine every time I go back home to visit....I like to call it "mum's wake up ritual" but I'm not sure what she calls it, (or even if she knows she does it !!) but here's what happens....

My mother LOVES to wake me up and quite frankly -I'm not sure why? It may have something to do with my late teens when I discovered not only black curtains but also developed my obsession for eye masks which meant I could pretty much sleep all day (if it was quiet!!). It doesn’t matter if I’ve just been up for 30 hours on the flight over, just finished filming for 29 days straight, or if she heard me get in at 5am – pretty much it’s the same ritual every morning when I'm home...

BANG BANG BANG down the stairs (I’m awake at the first step but quickly pretend to go back to sleep)

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK on the door as she cheerfully announces “Susie, it’s time to wake up now" (I hide under my eye mask and hold my breath, thinking somehow that if I just don't respond she might allow me a few extra hours, i'm usually wrong).

She continues to plead her case "Susie, come on now, it's such a lovely day - the sun is shining, it’s (insert time which is usually at least half an hour FAST to send me into a mild panic) and you really should be getting up now” and then she’ll walk back upstairs, deflated that the first attempt didn't work....

We both know she'll be back in five minutes announcing "You have to get up now or you'll be late" (which of course i never am because I still have plenty of time to spare once I get her to admit the REAL time !)

Here she is looking very excited about receiving her name badge for St Stephens where she is now a volunteer tour guide....
My mum is an amazing woman who never fails to leave a lasting impression on everyone she meets. I realised this just a few days ago when I suddenly overheard three of my mates all talking about her at my birthday drinks!!! They were all young good looking English men I've worked with who've come to stay in the Granby Street B&B and here they were at this very exciting event talking about not I, the birthday girl, by my Mother !!!


Oh well, I can't blame them really - she is pretty memorable, whether she's talking a hundred miles an hour, trying on quirky tshirts in shops, posing in photographs with her subtle "arm resting on chin" look or coming out with her snappy one liners:


On getting me a drink:
“what did your last slave die of?”

On dodgy card playing:
“you’d get shot in the west for doing that”

She never fails to entertain...