Visit to Toowoomba

Yesterday I drove to Toowoomba to spend the weekend away from Brisbane and to primarily meet up with some adults with Asperger Syndrome at the University of Southern Queensland Library. Despite arriving in Toowoomba early prior to checking into the Motel, I needed to kill some time figuratively speaking so I thought I would check out High Fields Pioneer Village. This was a village similar to the one at Samford which had all the shops of the bygone era. The Butcher had his white butcher clothes, the Draper looked after materials, the Cobbler looked after shoes and the Bank Manager existed with his bank. What I like about these old places is the way people lived back then. People lived simply and seeing the old machinery and items of the time proved good also. I noticed there was no school in the village. Perhaps they forget and didn't remember to set a school up. While I was in the village, I thought to myself, "How would have my grandparents lived when they were children and a place like this?". Life was in the village and beyond the village communication was very primitive. A telegraph perhaps existed in the Telegraph Office and bits and pieces of information would have been exchanged. I always wondered why as a kid telegraph lines existed beside the railway. You see in Australia these old telegraph poles with approximately 30 to 40 cables on them linking perhaps these cables to their respective telegraph destinations. The reason it seems was that maintenance was easier if the telegraph poles were beside the railway lines. They could be repaired quickly and communication problems could be rectified instantly and easily. Telegraph was perhaps similar to what computers are today? After leaving the village, I then drove out to the University of Southern Queensland to meet with the other adults. At the meeting 2 adults turned up and I showed them the books where my account of having Asperger Syndrome have been published and I spoke to them briefly about having Asperger Syndrome myself and the challenges and difficulties confronted. They also had a chance to speak and hopefully the foundation stone has been laid for a possible USQ Adult Group but who knows? I also had a counter meal with another Aspie and by evening's end I had enough and went back to the motel room and slept as the whole day was purely exhausting. Getting the message out there about AS is not easy and you can only do so much. There are adults who are remote and socially isolated and hopefully in time they too will be linked to services and other support to overcome their difficulties. You have to be careful of burn out as well for if you try too much or expend too much energy this is what happens to you.