‘It was,’ he said, ‘a great thrill. Mummy was hanging over the staircase in the hall, Daddy was listening in the middle room and visualising your house’.2 Jim’s weekly commute to Sydney placed strains on his marriage. Professional and social commitments exhausted both Jim and Eve and their time was seldom their own. From his university desk Jim wrote: Good morning, I thought I’d get a quiet weekend fixed up as Betty is staying down. Then Basil wanted to come up. Then Lawrence wanted to come up to collect the venereal rams. Then Keep said Lawrence hadn’t consulted him and he wanted to come with Lawrence. Then Alan said he wanted to come up. The upshot is that Alan is coming for Friday night only, Keep and Lawrence probably for Sunday night only but possibly Saturday night also.3 The train trip to Bathurst was long and tiring. Often the weather was dreadful. ‘What a scramble it’s been lately’, Eve said. ‘Really I think I’d sooner drive to Lithgow in a blizzard than have our weekend wrecked with more visitors.’ She reminded Jim it was his father’s birthday, only to realise that this meant they should invite him for the weekend: ‘So maybe we won’t have any peace at all.’4 Frequently Jim was sick and irritable and often her smiles were ignored.
