Will shaz and Caitlin be keeping up the 5.30 am swimming.
Mmmm let me think about that one!
So we arrive and we are initially the only loons there and when they say floodlit I think they exaggerate somewhat as at one end where "Coach" stands you can sort of see him vaguely ,I think he was the one in red, but the other end is pitch black. Not sure why they keep it so dark, is it to hide something floating in the pool or is it some sort of floatation experiment, you know where you lie in a tank with all light removed and they pipe in voices or was this a dream I had once.
Then " Coach " or whoever the man in red was, makes us swim 40 laps ie 40 times 25metres for warm up, but god knows how many I did cos I can't keep count at the best of times and at this unearthly hour in morning counting laps is like counting sheep with the same effect, so I just keep going until told otherwise.
I am joined a little later by two old men of stoutly proportions, and what with the dark, my lack of eyesight and the girths of these gentlemen, I now keep swimming into the buggers. One asks me if I have come from the "Mother Country"? but I am not 100 percent sure which one he means as Melbourne is such a melting pot of nationalities, and its so dark, so I just mumble yes incoherently as I crawl onto my next lap.
Caitlin meanwhile has been joined in her lane by 10 other kids, and they are now shouting: "Go, Go, Go", to each child like some sort of crazed fitness instructors.
Caitlin is having the same issues as me, i.e. can't swim in a straight line and keeps changing lanes, or was she attempting escape from it all?
At some point there is the first signs of light, and I ask what time is it?, as my legs are beginning to feel numb. Oh about quarter to 7! What says I? I thought it was only on for an hour, and we were ten minutes early, what are you trying to do - drown the foreigners?!
So we get out, and only then find (cos its a boys school) there are only one set of changing rooms. And the 2 old stout men have got out too, and they are naked in the shower. This is not a good sight at 7 am in the morning ,when your legs feel like jelly, you are so hungry you could eat Kangeroo ( so I must have been hungry) and you are barely conscious. So I shepherd Cailtin down the end with her moaning but I want a shower and me saying I don't think you do, cos she hasn't spotted anything amiss at this point. So we change quickly with me thinking I should have timed that better and Caitlin in a very loud voice still asking why we couldn't have a shower there!!
Will we go again? Well I shall let you know once the medication has kicked in!
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Sunday 24 May 2009
The Doctor,The train, The swim coach and his spicy chai
So at last I have been allowed onto the computer and have to say now the normal routines are kicking in have also had little time to sit down and collect my thoughts , only gather other peoples' washing !
Seem to have had a busy two weeks and the children are now starting various clubs;
art class where they get to express their feelings through painting ( good thing I'm not in that one!!)
Swim lessons- Ciara now attends class where they are more men teaching then women ,she is learning to tread water and already has 3 certificates as they love to encourage out here!! I have attended 2 lessons and have now stupidly agreed to go to lessons at 5.30am on a Tuesday with Caitlin too. However found out yesterday the pool is open air and it is approaching winter here so we will see how long that lasts.
Have been doing lots of cooking to make up for the fact that I only had 2 saucepans for 8 weeks , however oven is buggered and when Ii tried to make fresh pumpkin tortelloni from scratch yesterday , realised why there is a fresh pasta shop down the road that sells the stuff and does a roaring trade!!
Have been to doctors again but this time for me and didnt get to have my favourite animal drawn by our usual Dr . This time I got a little old granny with a very heavy accent who told me "vat a bootifool country I vas living in ! We did get seen the same day I phoned for an appointment and they didn't even bother to ask what is was for!!
Swine Flu =Pig Flu out here,not sure why the name change!!We also seem to have a few mysterious carriers so not sure how everyone else is faring.
The weather has been lovely this week with warm temperatures and little rain .Spent last weekend admiring all the beautiful marmalade orange leaves on the trees in the hills around Melbourne and travelling on Puffing Billy(steam train) who developed a bit of asthma shortly after we embarked and ground to a halt at one of the stations for half an hour!Also suffered quite a bit of coal dust in the eyes from trying to look out at all the fab views as we chugged oh so slowly over the countryside!
I have also become addicted to spicy chai tea. Anyway enough for now !!
Seem to have had a busy two weeks and the children are now starting various clubs;
art class where they get to express their feelings through painting ( good thing I'm not in that one!!)
Swim lessons- Ciara now attends class where they are more men teaching then women ,she is learning to tread water and already has 3 certificates as they love to encourage out here!! I have attended 2 lessons and have now stupidly agreed to go to lessons at 5.30am on a Tuesday with Caitlin too. However found out yesterday the pool is open air and it is approaching winter here so we will see how long that lasts.
Have been doing lots of cooking to make up for the fact that I only had 2 saucepans for 8 weeks , however oven is buggered and when Ii tried to make fresh pumpkin tortelloni from scratch yesterday , realised why there is a fresh pasta shop down the road that sells the stuff and does a roaring trade!!
Have been to doctors again but this time for me and didnt get to have my favourite animal drawn by our usual Dr . This time I got a little old granny with a very heavy accent who told me "vat a bootifool country I vas living in ! We did get seen the same day I phoned for an appointment and they didn't even bother to ask what is was for!!
Swine Flu =Pig Flu out here,not sure why the name change!!We also seem to have a few mysterious carriers so not sure how everyone else is faring.
The weather has been lovely this week with warm temperatures and little rain .Spent last weekend admiring all the beautiful marmalade orange leaves on the trees in the hills around Melbourne and travelling on Puffing Billy(steam train) who developed a bit of asthma shortly after we embarked and ground to a halt at one of the stations for half an hour!Also suffered quite a bit of coal dust in the eyes from trying to look out at all the fab views as we chugged oh so slowly over the countryside!
I have also become addicted to spicy chai tea. Anyway enough for now !!
Friday 22 May 2009
We're saved!
Well at least Queensland is. I was in Brisbane on Monday/Tuesday this week, and a little worried about my flight home as there was a serious weather warning. Luckily my flight left Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning was the national disaster alert with Brisbane having received 30cm!!, or 1 foot!! of rain overnight. They're saying the Queensland drought is now over. All Queensland licence plates have "QLD - The Sunshine State". I've been to Brisbane twice now and I didn't realise Aussie's were capable of irony.
My apologies to the one person that died, but Melbourne is a little jealous, wanting some of the rain. At the weekend we went up to Mt Dandenong. On the way we pass Lake Cardinia. This is Melbourne's main resevoir for the Southern suburbs. The best description I can give is that it looks like a very large meteor crater, with a small puddle of water at the bottom.
Wednesday morning was the national disaster alert with Brisbane having received 30cm!!, or 1 foot!! of rain overnight. They're saying the Queensland drought is now over. All Queensland licence plates have "QLD - The Sunshine State". I've been to Brisbane twice now and I didn't realise Aussie's were capable of irony.
My apologies to the one person that died, but Melbourne is a little jealous, wanting some of the rain. At the weekend we went up to Mt Dandenong. On the way we pass Lake Cardinia. This is Melbourne's main resevoir for the Southern suburbs. The best description I can give is that it looks like a very large meteor crater, with a small puddle of water at the bottom.
Late Autumn!!!
Its late Autumn and only 2-3 weeks 'til Winter starts.
I'm out walking at lunchtime and everything registers correctly: leaves lying on the pavement, russet brown and deep yellow leaves hanging on the trees, that strange sort of crisp clear air missing the summer heat haze, Melburnians walking around with big jumpers and scarves.
Unfortuately my brain is confused because all this is incongrous with the 21 degrees temperature, cloudless skies, and little rivulets of sweat running down my back!
On a completely unrelated note the seriousness with which they take sport here is scary. My 10 year old is now taking swimming lessons at 5:30 am (we'll see how long that lasts), and now she is doing hockey and footie at school, needs shin pads and a mouth guard!
I'm out walking at lunchtime and everything registers correctly: leaves lying on the pavement, russet brown and deep yellow leaves hanging on the trees, that strange sort of crisp clear air missing the summer heat haze, Melburnians walking around with big jumpers and scarves.
Unfortuately my brain is confused because all this is incongrous with the 21 degrees temperature, cloudless skies, and little rivulets of sweat running down my back!
On a completely unrelated note the seriousness with which they take sport here is scary. My 10 year old is now taking swimming lessons at 5:30 am (we'll see how long that lasts), and now she is doing hockey and footie at school, needs shin pads and a mouth guard!
Saturday 9 May 2009
Xoyyyy addendum999call the police i think i just saw a video nasty
OK so last night after 9 weeks without a TV we were up and running. I flicked thru the paper to see what delights could be sampled for a relaxing evenings viewing on our sofa, with most of the unpacking now done . Lo and behold what should pique my interest but a film called Wolf Creek . Now uncannily , as always with my xy files, this film had come up in conversation only the week before when at brunch with friends of Grants.
Brunch is very popular in Oz -never quite understood the concept cos surely no-one wants to get up early on a Sunday if they don't have to ,and if you lay in, then when u get up u are starving straight away .No time to shower,do your hair ,put on clothes ,drive somewhere and be civil to someone while all the time all your care about is getting something into your stomach to stop the fierce bear noises emanating from within .And as for any semblance of manners when the food arrives forget it !
Grant had mentioned to his friend that I had never seen Wolf Creek or otherwise I wouldn't have decided to go for a road trip with Sarah and family to Fraser Island. This conversation only barely touched my consciousness as although I had only just met these people, the food had just arrived !!
So as I lay down, post large Sunday Roast even though it was a Saturday eve ,I thought this is a coincidence no one could resist and begin to watch the film .
Oh that's good it's set in Oz ,I might learn something from it,
Oh look there are two English girls in it travelling with an Ozzie,
Oh isn't that Ozzie man helpful
Oh F...........why am I watching this and I need to stop now.
Why has Grant forsaken me and why does this have to be a true story with the guy still at large.....well that's what it said at the end of the film .So I go to bed and I am lying there praying the possums don't start and thinking OK there is no way I am going on holiday anywhere in Oz with that Psycho still on the loose and Grant is snoring next to me and barely aware of my creeping horror. So I get up and and look up on the Internet about the film hoping the guy has now been caught only to discover they had lied and it wasn't a true story after all. How are people allowed to do this !!!
Still someone somewhere could be watching and waiting for us all. Probably more likely to be the Aussie motorway speed police!
Brunch is very popular in Oz -never quite understood the concept cos surely no-one wants to get up early on a Sunday if they don't have to ,and if you lay in, then when u get up u are starving straight away .No time to shower,do your hair ,put on clothes ,drive somewhere and be civil to someone while all the time all your care about is getting something into your stomach to stop the fierce bear noises emanating from within .And as for any semblance of manners when the food arrives forget it !
Grant had mentioned to his friend that I had never seen Wolf Creek or otherwise I wouldn't have decided to go for a road trip with Sarah and family to Fraser Island. This conversation only barely touched my consciousness as although I had only just met these people, the food had just arrived !!
So as I lay down, post large Sunday Roast even though it was a Saturday eve ,I thought this is a coincidence no one could resist and begin to watch the film .
Oh that's good it's set in Oz ,I might learn something from it,
Oh look there are two English girls in it travelling with an Ozzie,
Oh isn't that Ozzie man helpful
Oh F...........why am I watching this and I need to stop now.
Why has Grant forsaken me and why does this have to be a true story with the guy still at large.....well that's what it said at the end of the film .So I go to bed and I am lying there praying the possums don't start and thinking OK there is no way I am going on holiday anywhere in Oz with that Psycho still on the loose and Grant is snoring next to me and barely aware of my creeping horror. So I get up and and look up on the Internet about the film hoping the guy has now been caught only to discover they had lied and it wasn't a true story after all. How are people allowed to do this !!!
Still someone somewhere could be watching and waiting for us all. Probably more likely to be the Aussie motorway speed police!
Water Usage
Despite the recent Autumn rain this is still the land of the 10 year drought, and we've just had our first water utility bill.
The bill itself is quite reasonable, but comes with a disturbing amount of information. It seems that over the last 45 days we've used an average of 711 litres per day, or 178 litres per person per day. With 3a level water restictions in place that's higher than the 155 per day Victoria are aiming for.
Its quite a scary amount of water really - I even shower most of the time at work. We already do most of the water saving stuff: turn tap off while brushing teeth, use the half flush when appropriate etc. It says only water the garden when necessary but we haven't watered at all. Other recommendations include the 4 minute shower, but down that road must be the group shower. Its at this point that I'm looking out the windown at the pool with a dubious eye....
The bill itself is quite reasonable, but comes with a disturbing amount of information. It seems that over the last 45 days we've used an average of 711 litres per day, or 178 litres per person per day. With 3a level water restictions in place that's higher than the 155 per day Victoria are aiming for.
Its quite a scary amount of water really - I even shower most of the time at work. We already do most of the water saving stuff: turn tap off while brushing teeth, use the half flush when appropriate etc. It says only water the garden when necessary but we haven't watered at all. Other recommendations include the 4 minute shower, but down that road must be the group shower. Its at this point that I'm looking out the windown at the pool with a dubious eye....
Sunday 3 May 2009
Friday 1 May 2009
Louis
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - take a deep breath - Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.I'm thinking of calling him Louis after the scene in the Mel Brooks film: "Louis, you look like the piss boy. Yeh and you look like a bucket of sh*t"
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