Swings and roundabouts.

Mar 242008

I’ve finally finished off the antibiotics… though am yet to see the doc to be assured all is at last well with the toe! The thing *seems* to be ok now, no nail of course and still a bit odd looking, but at least it looks as if it’s sorted. The back/hip/knee is still painful as it will be til my dying day… but again as long as I keep up with the painkillers it’s manageable and I can cope.

The problem is now that *the wife* is still in pain from some as yet unidentified back problems. The only ‘quasi-positive’ thin to come out of the problem is her having more insight into just how bad it is for me when my back goes into spasm. She seems a lot more sympathetic now about just how disabling it is and how frustrating it feels to be perfectly ‘fine’… until you try to move.

We’re still considering debating whether it’s worth trying to locate a Medical Centre that will be open on Easter Monday (there is almost certainly one after all) or to just wait until tomorrow and get her over to the GP as soon as he comes in… with a view to her trying to get to work for an important afternoon meeting.

I’d hate to be a prophet of doom about this but if her experience is anything like mine has been… she might find she’s *told* to lie down for a week and what we’ll do if that happens is anyone’s guess. Right now all we can do is hope the current painkillers and anti-inflammatories give her chance to recover enough to cope.

In the meantime, even tho it’s Easter Monday, the stuff the kids do on ‘normal’ Monday’s is still on, so even tho we’re home and doing stuff, the youngest still has her Ice Skating lesson this arvo so at 2:30 p.m. … off we’ll go! We might even get there on time for 3:15 p.m. today! Usually, I can’t collect her from school until 3:15 and we don’t arrive until 4:00 p.m. or so.

And then… if the wife is given effective painkillers… tomorrow we’re back to normal!

Tomorrow is another day!

Food 1 Response »

Mar 232008

Well if ever a truism was true… I suppose that one is!

The wife is currently on her feet and meandering around the house. Still in pain but at least more mobile than she has been most of the day. We live in hope. Maybe she should have a nice hot bath later filled with salts and suds and just let herself relax in the water. Sounds good to me… and as the tub is way big enough for two, maybe I’ll pour myself a large glass of butterscotch schnapps and join her!

As for the food? The ham is cooked and I’ve ‘tested it’ several times today… and damn nice it is too!! I didn’t glaze it with anything exceptional, in fact just the essential cloves and a few spoonfuls of demerara sugar. The turkey was ‘plain cooked too’ since it’s going to be eaten cold with salad.

The kids have had a good day as far as I can tell. The ‘egg hunt’ went off well as it always does. The Easter Bunny left them masses of eggs and they spent an hour or two this morning hunting around the house until they were satisfied all were found. Even so I’ll bet there are one or two that will turn up in the coming months. Last year we even found one as Halloween approached! So engrossed were they in the search… that they totally forgot to look next to their beds and there were loud screams of delight when they finally realised that there were a couple of large eggs there for them.

So. The wife is currently playing the piano, one child is watching a Mr. Bean movie, the other is playing some game on the computer. The dogs are asleep, Snoopy across my feet… where he belongs… and Kit under a desk making those little noises so reminiscent of a two stroke… which is what *she* does best. Even allowing for the wife’s back pains… it’s been a really nice family holiday so far.

One day left – I wonder if I’ll manage to get to get into the garage to start clearing up?

The butterflies flutter by

Environment No Responses »

Mar 232008

Went outside for the first time today (the wife is ‘mobile’ for the time being) but a few seconds after going out I was rushing back in. And soon after I was again bemoaning the lack of a decent camera. Dancing in the garden were two beautiful white butterflies ‘making whoopee’!

utterflies making whoopee! The little pocket video camera was able to take one or two shots of them but nothing I took captured the dance properly so I will have to content myself with the few still photos I managed to take. This one is useful in that it highlights the strange difference between the upper and lower wing surfaces.

Seems odd to me in that the lower is darker than the upper! I’d have thought the colouring would be the other way around to help camouflage the insect from it’s potential predators! Either way… watching them fly is a real treat. They’re quite spectacular.

Edit: The wife says she’s had a closer look at the other photos and in her opinion it’s just that males and females have different colours! Not looked it up online or in any of our books but it sounds feasible.

Tea hee!!

Food No Responses »

Mar 232008

Boiler Repaired!! I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to learn I ‘repaired’ the water boiler. Only took a couple of minutes… turned out the ‘fill’ tube had a crack in it so all I needed to do was invert it and screw it back together. It took more time to clean the scale off the screws etc. than to do the rest of the job… but that was all it was. Simple really.

Anyway, now we can drink tea etc without that ‘awful hassle’ of filling up the kettle (joke). Actually… because it’s so big and there are so few of us using it now, we don’t really need that amount of constant boiling water… so probably won’t use it until the oldies come back over. But at least it’s fixed. One less job to do.

Get up in de morning…

Home and Hearth No Responses »

Mar 232008

Zoomed off yesterday to get the youngest to her skating lesson… gosh I *love* to get up at 5:00 a.m. on a Good Friday morning to drive 40 minutes just to sit in a freezing ice rink for two hours. Obviously my greatest desire came true! Still, we were back by 9:00 having made a detour to give the ‘number 5′ skater in Oz a lift back to his digs. Despite claims to the contrary… I still think we’re basically nice people!

When I got back, the wife took over and… because our pool is currently out of service… took both our kids and two of their friends to a local ‘wave pool’ where they (the kids) stayed swimming… and eating… for 4 hours! Me? I caught up on my sleep.

Sadly when she came back the wife had ‘done something’ to her back, lord knows what right now but she’s probably strained a muscle or two. She managed that by trying to get through some work she’d brought home and wanted to finish… whilst sitting hunched over a table at the pool!! By the time the evening came she was almost immobile. She took some paracetamol and Naproxin which eased it a little and then rubbed some ‘ice gel’ into her back to see if it would help.

Well she slept… but this morning it’s no better, in fact probably worse. We’ve tried the tablets again and added in a heat pack, but it isn’t working. Because it’s a holiday period, the local doctors aren’t available. Also, it doesn’t seem to be something to take to Casualty because they will almost certainly just tell us to carry on doing exactly what we’ve *been* doing! So until we *can* take her to a doctor (probably Tuesday) the next step will be have to be taking stronger painkillers, which we’ll try in an hour or so. I have some Codapane Forte here, which has 30mg Codeine in each tablet that’ll soon be on the menu!

And if *they* don’t work… I think we’ll just have to wait it out. We *do* have stronger stuff but I think it’d be wise to wait until she sees a doctor before taking them. Just in case. Makes a mess of Easter… but we’ll work through it. We usually do.

We asked friends over for Sunday so rang them to explain the pool wasn’t working, the wife had hurt her back… and because the weather wasn’t too good wondered if they’d prefer to take a raincheck for now. Good job we rang because I think we had our wires crossed… as if *that’s* something new as well!

Seems whilst *we* thought they were coming around 3:00 p.m. and staying for the afternoon/evening…*they* thought they were coming mid-morning, and staying for lunch! Well of this might have still worked had it not been for the fact that I’d not put the turkey on to cook until 9:00 a.m. and wasn’t expecting it to be ready to eat until 3:00 p.m. at the earliest!

Anyway, now we’re not sure what’s going on other that they are coming over to drop off the kids Easter eggs and (pick up ours for their kids). We *do* have more than enough to eat because I’d also bought a small shoulder of ham which I’ve baked… but… ah well … it’s just our typical chaos.

I’m still hoping to get into the garage to start making an impact in there, but things being the way they are I might have to wait until tomorrow. We’ll see.

And then the rain came!

Home and Hearth 2 Responses »

Mar 212008

The Indian Summer has stalled after all. The promised storms didn’t eventuate it’s true, but it *has* been gently raining for an hour or so and the temperature has finally dropped to 24ºC.

Basically it’s ‘bank holiday weather’ in true UK Style!

Made no difference to us tho, we have been hard at work most of the day and having fun. It’s nice to be home with family around and still get stuff done. We’ve got three more days ahead… it’s a time to relax and recuperate…. especially for the wife.

Of course… the daughter still has the friend coming for the sleepover… and we have our own friends coming for Easter lunch… so it won’t be all wine and roses. However, as long as the turkey is moist and the salads are crisp… we’ll cope!:)

Pleasant days

Home and Hearth No Responses »

Mar 212008

The daughter asked if a friend from Girl Guides could sleepover tonight so of course we agreed. Her bedroom needed some attention so she was told to clear up… or no friend sleeping over! After some grumbling, away she went. She picked up clothes, books and toys etc and vacuumed the floor. While this was going on I made a start on the ‘back room’ to make it usable again.

I removed several bags of abandoned rubbish, discarded boxes from purchases, half eaten packets of shortbread biscuits, coke bottles, cups, old sandals and the like that the visitors had accumulated but hoarded for some reason rather than throw out. The bed was deflated and stored and the floor vacuumed leaving the room looking a lot more acceptable than previously. It was one of those times when I *really* wished I’d taken ‘before and after’ pictures.

Oddly enough,one of the bags contained two dozen ‘soft porn’ magazines… and at an average of $7 apiece means someone spent nearly $200 to look at pictures of scantily clad girls. Makes you wonder why they needed them? Ah well, each to their own.

Still, this is the way the room looks now… after just a little effort.

Back room after cleaning

Of course there are still boxes of our own junk left there to deal with… it *was* a ‘rumpus room’ after all. As you can see from the picture below, there are still boxes of toys, railway track and the like we keep out for the kids to play with… as are the dolls houses that they still enjoy using. And of course there are the shelves of books…. most of which I’m sorry to say will have to go. I can’t recall the last time I physically threw out a book. To me anything containing information is all all bar a ‘sacred text’ and the idea of discarding them fills me with horror but it just has to be done. I no longer use any of them and they are simply taking up space to no good purpose.

Because this room also doubled in the past as the ‘computer room’ (we had 12 machines operating in there at one time!) most of the books deal with computer related topics ranging from the basic ‘How To’ variety to the more esoteric logic manuals that I never quite got the hang of. There are books on programming languages, assembly language… and a host of old magazines, some dating back to the early 1980′s when I first became interested in computing. No porn tho!

The wife has her own collections in there as well, including all her actuarial textbooks, and journals! Also there textbooks and reference books on almost every subject from Chaucer, and for some reason books on the development of the Church of England through to manuals on the Ford Anglia and Dog Training! Why we kept these lord knows… but they can all move to the daughters bookshelves now in case she needs them.

There are other things in there I’d all bar forgotten. For example I’d forgotten the keyboard and drums were in there. The room has been occupied for so long the kids hadn’t been using them. Once the room had been cleaned they wasted no time in getting reacquainted with both! There goes the peace and quiet!!

Back Room - another view

So, after a mornings quiet tidying the room is once again fit for use. The kids can either sleep on the bedsitter which we repaired, or erect an ‘indoor’ tent they like to use. Either way it’s been a pleasant day so far. With the windows open to ‘freshen’ the air in there, and with everybody’s rubbish cleaned out and discarded, the house is beginning to feel like its ours again.

Not before time. Pleasant days indeed.

Our Indian Summer?

Environment No Responses »

Mar 202008

While there has been no sign of a frost… it hardly ever gets cold enough even in the depths of winter to claim we’ve been ‘freezing’… I think we might claim the last week or two to represent an ‘Indian Summer, albeit with an Australian edge to it!

The weather has been very warm, especially compared to the last few months when the rain has created a blanket of cloud preventing the sun’s warming rays from penetrating the murk. In fact, overnight temperatures in NSW have ranged between 20ºC – 24ºC… rivalling those found on a warm summers day in Wales if I recall correctly! The evenings and nights have been pleasant… even balmy. In these parts it’s been that comfortable, that even with the air conditioning maintaining an equable temperature, nobody has needed bedding!

Today’s temperature rose as high as 35ºC and even now as I write at 6:30 p.m. the thermometer reads 34ºC. Unfortunately, as usual around holiday periods, a change in the weather is on the cards. And hard as it is to believe with the temperature so high, we’ve been warned that we might expect overnight storms. As if we’d not had more than enough storms lately!

Obviously we’ve no idea how serious these particular storms may be but there is nothing emanating from the Bureau of Meteorology as yet to indicate these will be severe enough to cause damage. Still, best to be prepared I suppose and we’ll be keeping a ‘weather eye’ out just in case.

Either way we still need the rain. The dams aren’t yet sufficiently filled to ward off that sense of imminent doom generated by those insisting that we still need to ration usage. Maybe a few months more soggy misery would help… but on balance I could do without it thanks.

Edit:
Seems the storm has moved out to sea and won’t be causing any damage though winds of 90kph were recorded in parts of southern Sydney! The time is 9:45 p.m. and the temperature is 26ºC. Looks like it’ll be another in a long line of warm nights.

Kids – who’d have them?

Home and Hearth No Responses »

Mar 202008

Up at 4:45 a.m. to get the youngest ready for her lesson. Wake up the eldest, the wife surfaces… and off we go.

We drop the wife off at the bus stop (too hard to get to the train station and then back to the main road) and away we go… again. Didn’t take as long as I’d feared and we arrived just after the start of the session at 5:45 a.m.

The eldest daughter and I slumped against each other until she decided she needed something to eat. Well that was ok, except nothing was open until 6:45 a.m. so she had to just sit and wait. Why did I take her with me? Mainly because she had ‘band practice’ and she was in danger of losing her place because she was having to catch the bus to school while my broken toe recovered and it got there at 8:15 a.m., i.e. 30 minutes into the rehearsal.

Youngest finishes her session… comes off in tears. She said the coach was ‘shouting’ at her. I just said don’t tell me… on the rink the coach is boss, parents don’t count. That went down well of course so she sulked a bit to add to the tears. She was obviously just a bit tired – understandably so, after all she was up very early.

We piled back into the car around 7:00 a.m. and set off for school with the little one frantically changing into her school gear in the back.

Got to the school *just* on time for the daughter to get down to the practice. Felt really pleased it had all worked out properly… until I asked the daughter to check she actually had her flute. True to form… she’d forgotten it.

There are occasions when I wonder just why I bother. Still, at least *next* week I’ll know to check *before* we set off!

Now… who wants to remember to remind me to remind her to remember?? Hmmm… ??

End of the line.

Gripes 8 Responses »

Mar 192008

This morning I received a long ‘essay’ via a third party. The request was that I print a ‘rebuttal’ by the relatives we told would have to leave after they’d lived here rent free for four months. So I read it… and re-read it with a growing sense of incredulity which rapidly turned into anger at the mixture of half truths and blatant lies and decided to publish it along with a detailed response.

I’d worked through several pages when I decided to send it to a friend who had just come online.

Her response was that it was totally outrageous… especially since it grossly insulted children who were in no position to defend themselves. She then said “Anyway, why are you getting so worked up over it?”. I said “Lies… half truths…. etc”. She said “So?”

I said “So they’ll spread this filth thru the family!”

She said “So?”

I said… “They said we threw them on the street when we said they needn’t leave for four days!!! It’s just wrong!!”

She said “So? Do you care? Really? They’ve gone let them stew. Ok they abused your hospitality and abused you…. you’ve done nothing wrong… just leave it.”

I had to admit that fundamentally I really *didn’t* care. Somewhere along the line when they spread this rubbish someone will ask the right questions. And if they don’t… so what?

She suggested I simply ignore it, take commenting offline and just ignore them evermore. They’ll eventually move back where they belong and in the meantime our life will return to normal. So that’s what I’ve done.

The wife of course was totally appalled by the letter too … but has also decided that it’s time to let it go!

So… the short answer to the letter is “No – I’m not going to publish it.”

Continue to send emails, if you wish… send comments… send whatever you like, it will *all* be ignored. I am utterly *disgusted* with their outrageous behaviour, as all reasonable well mannered people are. I sincerely hope never to have contact with them again.

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