Country Retreat - 2. Holidays with Grandparents

Just a week before the first public holiday long weekend for the year, I received a message from Mum informing me that Gran and Gramps were travelling down to collect me on Friday after school, so I could spend the weekend with them, returning on Monday afternoon.

This would be the first time I had been with my grandparents without my parents being there, and I was looking forward to spending some time on their small property. When Friday afternoon arrived, I had already packed a weekend bag earlier in the day, as I would be collected at 4 pm, which only gave me half an hour to get to my room, shower and change before they arrived.

On the road north to Regan’s Ford, I chatted to my grandparents, letting them know all that had happened during the first half of Term one at school, and they seemed pleased that I had made plenty of friends and that I was doing ok being so far away from home.

Once we arrived at the farm, having stopped at the nearby Roadhouse to get some takeaway dinner, we sat down to eat our meal, before I headed to the bedroom that I usually stay in when here on the farm, which is only 175 acres in area. On Saturday morning, I was up early, waking up to the sounds of the birds, which made me smile, as I stretched and climbed out of my bed.

After dressing, I made my way out of my room to smell breakfast, and after a greeting from both of my grandparents, I sat down to eat a full-cooked breakfast. “What would you like to do this weekend?” my Grandfather asked me as I ate, and I swallowed my food before responding.

“Anything to help you out Gramps,” I replied. “Good to hear, once we have dt the horses and let them out into their yards, I have a little something to show you,” my Grandfather said, and I noticed my Grandmother smiling broadly.

After feeding the horses and letting them out to graze, I mucked out the two stables, while Gramps changed the water in the troughs, before jumping into the ute and we drove down towards the sheds, that are located near the other end of the property. When we turned off the access track, heading for the paddock fence, I looked towards Gramps in confusion, who just smiled as he slowed down and stopped.

Getting the hint, I climbed out to open the gate and waited until the ute had passed before closing the gate again, and we continued east towards the property boundary, with the neighbouring sheds now in full view, and I saw a new gate along the boundary fence, where Gramps stopped and once again I opened the gate and closed it behind him, as he drove around to the front side of the machinery shed 40 metres away.

When I walked towards the shed, I looked around the area, noticing a fenced area ahead and a house close behind it. I rounded the corner and saw Gramps chatting to someone, “Oscar come here and meet our neighbour. Len, this is my eldest grandson Oscar Q Kingston, grandson this is Mr Len Archer, who leases the House and Shed, as he is the manager of the local Grain Collection Terminal up the road,” Gramps said to me as I shook his hand.

“Are you on school holidays young man?” Len asked me, “Just a long weekend, I am a boarder at a Grammar School in Perth,” I replied. “Oscar has only just been made aware that I have purchased this neighbouring property,” Gramps said to Len before turning to me.

“Oscar, this property is 100 acres in area, and apart from this shed and the small shed behind us, there is the house and pool, silo and hay shed, there is also a two-bedroom and one-bathroom cottage, that is currently rented out to workers at the grain collection terminal.

This property has two main paddocks, where we have a majority of my herd of beef cattle located at the moment, as well as a small herd in one of the paddocks on the main part of the farm,” Grams said to me, and after a short chat with Len, we went to inspect the two herds and to clean the water troughs.

Once this was done we headed back to the main part of the farm, where we checked the smaller herd, in the largest paddock, located just behind the stables and horse yards, with everything looking to be in good order. As we gathered back at the house for morning tea, I thought about what I had learnt this morning.

“Gramps, I thought you were meant to be retired from farming, why are you increasing your acreage on your retirement home?” I asked.

“For your future dear boy, I believe that you may someday need to have your own place and income, once you have finished all of your studies, while your brother and sister may continue to farm on the Moore property,” Grams said to me, which surprised me a lot.

Although I had not yet decided what to study after school, I did want to continue with University once I had graduated from high school, so I just smiled and nodded my head in understanding, as I thought about what my future may look like.

After morning tea, I headed to the stable yards, where I spent the next two hours taking both horses for a good long ride, with both saddled up I rode one while leading the other for an hour then swapped horses. Once back at the stables, I gave them a light hose down then brushed them dry before letting them out into their paddocks again, and by that time I heard Gran calling out that it was lunchtime, so I headed to the house.

“Did you have a good ride on the horses dear?” Gran asked me when I entered, “Yes thankyou, it was great to be riding again,” I responded smiling, as I have always enjoyed riding since I was six when I received my first pony, who sadly passed away just a few months before I went away to boarding school, and I always enjoyed spending time with my grandparents so I could ride again.

After lunch, I retrieved my school books and set them out on the dining room table to do my school assignments, of which one was to be handed in on the first day back at school on Tuesday. An hour later when I stopped for a break, I was studying my school timetable and calendar, when Gramps asked what I was doing.

“Thinking mainly, I was wondering if I could spend more of my holidays here instead of at home on the farm… if that is ok with you and Gran,” I responded, and I saw my grandparents look at each other and smile. “We would love you to spend more time with us here dear. Do you have any suggestions?” Gran replied.

“Well for starters, all long weekends that are on their own and not at the same time as school holidays, which is this Labour Day long weekend of course, and also WA Day long weekend in early June and Kings Birthday long weekend in September.

For the first term holidays in April, I would like to spend here with the Easter long weekend at home at Moore with the family like we usually do and spend the second term holidays at home on the main farm, and third term holidays here,” I suggested.

“We will discuss this ourselves, then have discussions with your parents, and see what is decided from there,” Grams responded. The rest of the long weekend flew by, with daily chores of looking after the horses, taking them for a ride each late morning, and checking the stock with Gramps each day, on Monday afternoon after lunch, Gran and Gramps drove me back down to the city to return to school.

Just a week before the end of term one, I received a letter from my Parents, and I was not happy with what I read. “Dear son, we have listened to what you have proposed for holidays with your grandparents, and we have come up with a suitable agreement. For the long weekends in March, June and September, and the midyear holidays in late June & early July, you will be staying at Regan’s Ford, while on the 1^st and 3^rd Term holidays and end-of-year holidays, you will be spending at home. Love always M & D.”

I was in a bad mood for the rest of the week, and my mates noticed that but didn’t hassle me about it, which I was glad of. “Any special plans for the term holidays?” Rizen asked me as we prepared for our last day of Term, “Not sure, I was hoping to spend time at my grandparents' property, but I have to go home to the farm, which I'm not too pleased about,” I replied. “At least you have a place to go for two weeks, I will be attending a youth camp for the first week and I'm not sure what is happening for the second week,” Rizen informed me.

“Maybe you can get permission from your parents to spend the second week on the farm with me?” I asked in hope and Rizen smiled broadly at the suggestion. “I do hope so, that would be so awesome mate. I will speak to my parents and let you know. Just text me your home address and phone number, and let your parents know they may get an overseas phone call at some time,” Rizen replied.

I learned during the term that Rizen is a Tibetan name, as his grandmother on his mother’s side is Tibetan, whose family fled her home country at around the same time as their spiritual leader had done, when she was a small girl, and they immigrated to and settled in the UK and this explained the pale tan skin and dark eyes that he has. Rizen had told me that they still speak Tibetan at home when no one else is around.