Its been a hard days night plus plus.

Just when I thought I had got my life organised, hello, the universe struck back and said no, you need a few more challenges in your life yet, lol. Balancing jobs has continued since I last wrote. After a massive week I got to Monday (ten days ago now) and as I worked late the night before at the ff place I thought bliss, I have a day off tomorrow, I will sleep in,catch up on some stuff, and surface to catch up with folk. Well, the alarm went off early as I had forgotten to turn it off, but I did go back to sleep. I got up later in the morning, did some tidying up and washing, curled up on the couch to watch some morning telly, made it to lunch time and crawled back into bed and slept the afternoon away. This was all good as I thought I had two days off in a row. Wrong!!!! at 11.30pm that night as I was putting some things away, I picked up my calander and nearly stroked out when I saw I was working at the residential home at 6.45am until 3pm the next day, in fact the calander said I should have been there that day. OMG, but surely they would have rung me. Well, try to sleep when you have already had more than your usual quota for the day, not made any easier by waking on the hour so I didn't sleep in again like the week before. I made it to work ok, to find out we were going on an outing to the Greenhough Wild Life Farm south of Geraldton. The boys were in high spirits so we nearly didn't get there until they settled, had seat belts on and were getting on together. The wild life farm was a bit of a misnomer as there were a few domestic animals as well but there were dingos, emus, kangaroos, a crocodile and some cockatoos, along with the donkey, horse, goats, sheep, steer - (there were lizards and snakes too but didnt get to see them up close). We were given bags of food to feed some of the animals, strict instructions on not feeding others and everyone seemed to have a good time. Just as I walked up to one of the enclosures, there was a male peacock with his tail up which was awesome. I think the last time I saw that happen was a zoo visit when I was around 5 yrs old, lol. Unfortunately, the battery in the camera died so missed getting photographic evidence.

I found I was to be working the following day too, so another early morning start - this time a trip to Horrocks Beach had been organised. Horrocks Beach is about an hour up the coast line north of Geraldton. Horrocks Beach looks like a picture from the 1950's - fibrolite baches across the road from the beach, one general type store, and a motor camp. Where we parked, there was a covered area with tables and a kitchen sink at one end where you could sit and eat, there was a barbeque outside and a play area beside that. Down on the beach, a grader was working to fix the shore line from the storms of the week before. There was a jetty going out into the tide and as we had gone with another group of kids, some had a go at fishing off that, while others played in the sand or got into the water. It was a beautiful day, so I sat up on a bank, surveying where the kids were all at soaking up the sun - woohoo. The water is relatively shallow for quite a way out, so had already worked out the likelihood of my having to leap down the bank to rescue someone lol, which was extremely minimal. After a picnic lunch we headed back to the home. I finished at work there with 20 mins to spare to get back into town, get dressed to head out the door to the ff place for my evening job. Luckily is was not a late night so was back here by around 9pm.

grader working on the beach

looking out from beside the play area

baches

I had noticed the car smelt hot when I got home that night, but didn't think much more of it. I had the next day off until 3pm, had made my list of things I wanted to get down in town but first, I wanted to get the inside light in the car sorted. After replacing a missing fuse the week before I hunted out a small screwdriver to pop the cover off to check the light bulb and as I jiggled the bulb, hey presto , the light came on. Eureka, I thought, and was feeling pretty pleased with my mechanical prowess. Oh, how pride goeth before a fall, and the following was the Grand Canyon of falling, lol. Remembering the hot smell, I thought I would check the oil and water, imagining the oil may need a top up. If only. I found a jug, filled it with water and watched somewhat disconcertedly as it poured in one end of the radiator and whooshed out somewhere near the right front tyre. Just in case it was an abberation, I poured another jug into said radiator, and lo and behold, it whooshed through again. All was not lost, as I had just opened the mail that morning to find my new RAC card. In NZ it would be the Automoblie Association - I am thinking it may stand for roadside assistance something but if I am wrong you get my drift. I mentioned some time ago joining the RAC when I bought my car and how I had decided to take out the one (large) fee option that covered everything and I am VERY pleased that I did. I had work that afternoon at the ff place so I was not too worried as I thought - no problems - I will use Phil's car, give it a run and that will work. WRONG!!!!. Hopped into Phil's car and flipping flat battery - not a jumper lead in sight. Had about an hours wait when the RAC man turned up, said my car's water pump was in its death throes and he would organise a tow truck to get it to a garage - and bless, he got Phil's car going, said to leave it running in the garage for half an hour and all should be good. I had just enough time to grab a shower, get dressed and get to work at the ff place for a 3pm - 10.30pm shift.

Worked like a cut cat as we were busy with staff down through sickness, and with stocks run out of several items. A fun night! Never mind, I thought, car is primed, will zoom home catch some telly, wind down and get a good nights sleep. Again, if only. Got into the car, and buggary bollocks, it was flipping flat AGAIN. No one at work had jumper leads so once again, I was on to the phone to the RAC with a somewhat terse conversation seeing a mere recharge had not fixed the sodding thing. Another near hour wait, car going again and zoomed home before anything else went wrong. This bloke said the battery was obviously dead so best thing was to try and get one the next day. Good oh. The WM and family were still away on school holidays so waited patiently until 9am and decent time to ring, rang Janet and she said she could take me to get a new battery - brilliant. Went to Repco and $180 later, new battery all good to go. Had no spanners to hand but found a pair of pliers that did the job, took the old battery out, lugged the new one in and woohoo, the car started first pop. We had already had a well deserved cup of coffee at Dome so Janet headed home and I zoomed to the library to return books for the WM's children. Pressed the door lock/opener on the car keys shut, shot into the library, dropped the books off and back to the car, pressed the automatic door opener and nothing. Pressed the button again, then the other button, still nothing. It was about 1pm, my phone, and wallet were locked in car, and I was due at work again at the ff place at 3.30pm from memory. Began to think I had been born under a bad sign by now, two cars down and now the sodding lock. Crossed the road to a service station and wouldn't you know it, they did not stock this particular battery. ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH. I took a deep breath and thought the key has to open a door, surely cars have not bypassed being able to use a key altogether. Tried the drivers door but no luck - do not know why. Boot wouldn't work either, and just as I was ready to kick in a window (thinking dark thoughts indeed), for some reason, I tried the passenger door and had a pavement kissing moment, when the door opened. Needless to say, I leapt into the car, shot off back to Repco and got a battery for door lock. Was so stressed, rang work and said I would be an hour late has had got nothing achieved that I had planned for the day.

Friday worked at the ff again until 10.30pm then onto the home to shadow another night shift until 3am. Was wide awake by the time I got home so poodled about until 7am then slept for a chunk of the day before heading back to the ff place for work that evening again. I did a dash round to the WM's place to use the drier to get uniform dry and as they were getting back from holiday that day, zoomed round the house and put pile of washing left on and hung it out, got in washing left on line, cleaned fridge out of a few things as there had been a power cut at some stage and got a bottle of fresh milk so they had something to come home to. Worked until midnight and got to bed around 3am and then woke up next day to a call from the WMH to say they were back. Paid a flying visit that afternoon before heading back to work once again at the ff place - an early night 4pm until 9.30pm and a reasonably early night because, in the blur the past two weeks had been, it was back to school the next day for teacher only day and on the Tuesday we had all the kids back - well the ones that turned up after the holidays, lol. I have one more week on the roster at the ff place and will then drop back to being on call, only picking up a shift if I have nothing else on. Whew.

Beware what you ask for!

Down to one job, I think I said in my last post - famous last words. Last week I was rung by the folks from Child Protection on Monday and started on the Wednesday (I think) with them6.45am till 1pm, then a quick change then to the fast food job until midnight, then back to CP 10am - 7pm Thursday, Friday back for a staff meeting midday until 2pm, then again 10.30pm - 3.30am Saturday and then later in the day, 4pm - 10.30m at the ff job and tonight 3pm - 8pm. That is a snapshot of what my weeks look like. LUCKILY, I have taken leave from the ff job at the end of this week so will be down to the job at school 9am - 12.30pm Mon -Thurs with a shorter time on Friday and the CP job will fit around that, mainly afternoon shifts and weekend work.



Last week Wednesday at the CP job it was mainly about paperwork, and induction to the residential home where I am now in the process of becoming a residential care officer (I think that is my correct title). The children being looked after are there by order of the court having been removed from their family situations for a variety of reasons. Most of the children who need this residential situation have some significant traumatic incident or incidents in their backgrounds, hence their removal to an environment that helps support them until they are ready for placement back into family with supports, or into foster care. Most are emotionally younger than their chronological age and many basics have to be taught as well as such things as anger management and appropriate ways of behaving. Having worked late at the ffood place the night before, I set the alarm on my phone for 5.30am which would have given me 5 hours sleep and horror of horrors woke bolt out of a dream at 7.10am. Thank God for a boarding school background and casual clothes for the job, lol. I was showered, dressed and heading out the door by 20 past seven (and yes water did touch my body, lol) only to drive nearly a mile before I realised I was not wearing my glasses!!!!!!! Eeeek, knew I was doing paper work and am now blind as a bat without glasses for reading, so there was nothing for it but to turn back, at warp speed and then return at a very fast pace reaching the home by about 7.45am totally embarrassed - luckily they all thought it was hilarious, whew.

Thursday, I went along on an outing with the three boys in care at the moment, which involved a trip to the playground on the waterfront which was a huge success. It was an outing where family members of the boys were able to join us too. We went out under threat of an impending storm - warnings had been out for 24 hours that a storm was coming and we watched the black clouds come in from the sea. We had a very quick picnic meal at the playground then loaded up and headed back to the home. There was much talk about the coming storm and the boys decided to build a cubby outside with chairs and blankets in the afternoon until everything was cleared away and the rain started. I was doing some more induction reading when I was called to come and look at what fun the boys were having, and could I take photos. By now it was bucketing down with rain and there they were running about and jumping in puddles having a whale of a time. We let them get rid of all their energy and once they said they were cold, it was hot showers and pj's, with a bit of telly before an early roast dinner. I stayed until they boys were in bed or heading there calling into the WM's on the way home. They were all bundled up, the WMH not well with flu so as it was pouring down, I waited for a lift in the weather and hied my way back here.



While at work earlier in the evening, one of the staff had been rung by her son to say the power line from the pole to the house had exploded and he sent a picture by phone of a scorch mark down the side of her house. Luckily, it did not catch fire and she had to go home to find out if it had caused any damage to electrical goods inside. Driving along the roads back to mine, there was flooding so had to go slow as I thought I was going to aqua plane at one stage (before I slowed down, lol). Got back and the front door light had blown so fumbling in the dark trying to find the key hole in the pouring rain was not fun. By the time I went to bed, the wind was phenomenal - I believe it was 90k and more. There was massive lightening and thunder so felt very cosy wrapped up in all my duvets and quilts tucked up in bed. It was a little disconcerting to have the banana palm bashing against the window but it did not keep me awake. When I got up the next morning, it was to find that the ceiling in the bathroom had leaked enough for the bath mat to be wet through, and there was a small puddle in the hallway from a leak I could not identify. I think the skylight in the bathroom was the cause of the leak there. Perth got badly hit again, - one bloke having a tree trap him in his bed when it crashed through his house and luckily to be alive to tell the tale.



Friday, I was on a mission in between going to work twice to get light bulbs for the house as at least five have blown by now. Now, since I last had cause to buy a light bulb, they have changed the whole lot to these long life safe the planet type bulbs - which I loathe with a passion. First of all, the bulbs in the hallway - I took one to Bunnings to try and find a replacement, then the one at the front door that is in a carriage lamp type fixture. Of course to change the bulbs, I needed a step ladder so chose to buy one of those too. What a hassle it was to get the bulb out of the carriage lamp fixture. The screw things holding the top on had semi rusted but managed to get one undone with some pliers and after much checking of screw type bulbs (who on earth puts screw bulbs into things instead of batten type bulbs!) in the local IGA, managed to get the going again. The packet says these bulbs are good for five years - and they would want to at the cost of them. What I dislike most is the dullness of the light in these bulbs and the fact they seem to have to be on for awhile before getting to full light. I had work again with CP at 10.30pm and once again, had a duh moment. Every door at the home is lockable and you enter via the garage and two locked doors before gaining entry. So, in the dark I arrive, my keys are on a black key ring thingie that goes round your neck, I have no light on the inside of my car, and I cannot find them in my bag in the dark!!!!!! There was nothing for it but to knock on the door - not being sure anyone would actually open it but luckily - again - staff heard me, and let me in the front door - I tell you, I am rapidly using up my 9 lives in this job, lol. I was to shadow the night person to get an idea of what is expected which is a complete handover and bed checks on the hour, with some cleaning, laundry and in between cups of coffee and a fair bit of chat which was great. I stayed until about 3.30am and finally got to bed around 7am so that was a long day but good.

Pinch Me

Pinch me indeed, I am having a completely work free day from both jobs - woohoo. Have got a load of washing on and sheer luxury, am watching a bit of morning tv - (hollywood gossip) while sitting on the couch with the heater on. Winter is here and whilst it is a realatively rain free winter, it is FREEZING, or close to. Wouldn't you know it, there have been lowest temps recorded in the last few weeks, since Adam was a cowboy, lol. I think the temp over night in Geraldton last week was 1Celsius. Luckily the days are correspondingly warm when out of the wind so it is a case of dressing in layers morning and night.



"School" finished last Thursday followed by a quick clean up and staff meeting on Friday so at the moment I am down to one job. In a true case of Murphy's law, this is the week my hours finally drop at the fast food establishment so I have gone from 50 - 60 hours a week to just over 20 hours this week - gotta love the employment roller coaster that I am on, lol. I am picking however that the fast food establishment may give me extra hours seeing it is school holidays and I already picked up two extra hours yesterday.



On my list of getting things sorted, last week, I got my eyes tested. During the packing from the WM's house to house sitting, I found my old pair of glasses, put them on and wow, could see like I didn't have glasses on if that makes sense to anyone. They were a bit bent out of shape, so took them to the optometrist (who regularly will put glasses back into shape or fit for no cost), got them straightened as best as possible and have been wearing them since. So, made an appointment for an eye test at the same time as it is 2 1/2 yrs since they were last done. It would seem my eyes are more in sync with my old glasses than the new ones, though there is some drop in one eye for close up sight. OMG, they took a photo of the back of my eyeballs - how is that even possible????? Anyway, I can truely say, I have seen the back of mine now, pink, round, with veins tracking across the back of them - should have asked for a copy, lol. It would seem that graduated lenses are maybe not the best for what I need and the optometrist suggested two pairs of glasses instead which I have no interest in. That is why I got graduated lenses in the first place cos I was always putting my glasses down and forgetting where etc. Once again, how can we get man on the moon and not get things sorted better to see!!!!. Am taking time to think about the next step.



The car is going well but I think I underestimated the effort to get it started. OMG, have built up inner thigh muscles that you wouldn't believe. The first time I got to start it easily must have been down to the wind being in the right quarter, lol. After that time, for the next few weeks, I had to start it in neutral, push the clutch sideways with my right foot, then quickly change feet before putting it in gear and driving off. That got old real quick so have persisted, (nearly getting groin strain in the early stages I might add) and now most times, I can get it started with my left foot, woohoo. I am averaging spending $10 week on petrol except for when I have done a trip out of town, so am very happy with that.



The joys of house sitting, technology and using unfamiliar remotes. Had a fit of housework the other weekend, during which I came across the remote for the heatpump/airconditioning sort of thing, lol. We had these in the boarding school in NZ but the staff and girls mainly used them, (I managed if I had the written, how to, piece of paper in front of me or others telling me what to do), and Dad had one, (but of course, the remote seldom left his hand, lol) but in a fit of how hard could it be to turn it on and warm the place up, I pressed the on button. I imagine the last time it was used, was in the height of summer, so cold air came swooshing out, and out, and out, and out, as after trying to change it to warm, going through a variety of options on the remote, it appeared that the batteries had died, and could not even get the damn thing turned off. I sat through a coffee with a friend who dropped round before giving up and we both shot down the road to buy more batteries and eureka, got it stopped, started and stopped again, and through experimentation, got warm air coming out.



If that was not enough, my next sorte was with the TV remote. I can count on the fingers of one hand nearly, how much tv I have watched over the past weeks, however, being on my own and getting home from work around 8pm instead of midnight, I thought I would check out what was on. What happened to turning the on button on a remote and the tv instantly coming on, on channel. This tv comes on with a blue screen and the brand name of the tv - great. I found the channel up down bit and pressed it and hey presto got a channel and thought this is easy, I will check the channels out. Not sure what I pressed next but ended up with info on picture, teletext, and a blank screen that when I pressed the channel piece, kept going through radio stations. I switched the damn thing off thinking if I did that, I could turn it back on and sneak up on a preset start - no such luck, and was back to the radio stations again - who has radio stations on tv for god's sake. I cannot remember how I got back onto the tv channels but it involved much switching on and off of the tv ( I am a slow learner, lol and hope springs eternal) when somehow I got back to tv, but joy of joys, the news in chinese, then japenese on some obscure channel and an sbs channel from memory. I think I might have got to the swearing stage by then and after going through every button on the remote, somehow I FINALLY found a channel I recognised, only to find there was nothing worth watching!!!!. I am now very careful when I turn the tv on and watch where my fingers are pressing everytime rather than guessing lol. What I have found during the past week as I got home late most nights, was the tennis at Wimbledon. Was gutted to see Federer lose in the quarter finals, but pleased to see Nadal win for the second time.



Washing machines - when did they get so complicated - what happened to small, medium and large washes and a basic cycle. The washing machine here does not have an agitator, so ok, can fit more in, but HOW does it clean, lol. There is a board that lights up like a flight deck and I have to negotiate about four different moves, AND if you get them done in the wrong sequence it cancels the lot out and you have to start again. This was complicated by trying to work it in the dark at midnight or thereabouts as I washed my uniform to get it out on the line (no dryer in the house, gasp) so it would be dry in the morning. It took me two weeks to find the light switch, lol, as it is on the left hand side of the door way, being an add on to the house at some point. Yay there is a dishwasher (pavement kissing moment, lol) but have only used it once as that is as much time as I have been here to get it filled. Again far too many switches but I seem to have an innate ability to use that piece of equipment, laughing lots. Thankfully, the stove is electric, though the elements are the old fashioned solid kind and I mean 1950's old fashioned where you could make pikelets on the top of them or cook griddle scones (my grandmother used to use them for making those). Have had little cause to use that piece of equipment more than cooking some bacon and eggs during the week so no dramas there.



Interesting point of difference in Aussi houses to NZ houses - I have mentioned this before when I first got to Tardun but it has come to notice again. Over here, a lot of houses have most of the rooms with curtains drawn or blinds shut - to keep the heat out and while that is great, at times it can feel like you are living in a tomb so to speak. On arrival here, every blind was drawn and curtain closed, and seeing heat is not an issue, I have tended to throw curtains open during the day, and have all blinds in the kitchen open so that any warmth from the sun, and actual light gets in. In my room the curtains are open 24 hours. I am fortunate (or the neighbours are fortunate, lol) that there is a banana tree right outside my window, with a double garage down the back of the section, a head high fence to the left of my room and to the back, so have complete privacy to do so. My bed is right against the main window which is bad Feng Shui but the only place it can fit. It is interesting with having no curtains as at night, have no insulation from the cold, but at least can see the stars. I just dress like the Michellen man to compensate, lol, and in fact the other night, wore a scarf to bed, gambling on the fact I would not strangle during the night!.



Have just looked at the time, and am going to help the WM's lads deliver pamplets again for a walk and some fresh air - I know, I am on my feet all week at work and am going to go walking on my day off!!!

Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work I go.

Have just re-read my last post to see where I was when I last wrote. It is just a little over 20days ago and from where I am it seems more like 20 weeks. My cup so to speak is not merely full, it certainly overfloweth and I feel like a juggler balancing on one of those large balls, on top of a high wire, lol.


Somewhere after I last posted, I got home from work around 11.30pm to hear the TV going strong in the lounge and the WMH dozing on the couch. I went in quietly and asked if he wanted the telly off, whereupon, he decided to wake up properly and after we debriefed on work, which had been hectic, we then decided to have a hot drink. While we were making the drink and eating lamington cake left over from a do at "school" that day, I got offered a job. The job is to help out at the flexible learning centre (the what next after Tardun "school") for 20 hours a week which averages out from 9am - 1pm each day. I was offered a 13 week contract with the possibility it may or may not parlay into something more after that. The role offered was to be in the mode of social worker/help in the classroom. So by the time I went to sleep somewhere around 2am, my head was spinning with all sorts of possibilities and several omg's at being able to get back into the school system, woohoo. I took a nano second to think about the offer before saying yes of course, lol. From memory it was Thursday night/Friday morning when the offer occurred. On the Monday when I got in from work, there was a message to ring a number which I did, only to be offered a full time position with Child Protection. My first reaction was that they were joking me - which I said out loud, lol. But no, they were not. I told them I had just accepted a 13 week contract with the learning centre but would still be interested in being a casual with them as they had two positions going. Long story short, I have been to look the residential home over, and have signed a contract with them too, and am now just waiting to hear when they want me to work as I will shadow someone for between five and eight shifts before I work solo. When I visited, they only had two children in residence so it will be a good time to start. The woman who showed me around was the same one who did the original job seminar, was one of the interviewing panel, and was also the person who offered me the job on the phone, so that was all good. Most of the staff were to be involved in a conference last weekend so have not heard anymore from them but will ring tomorrow and let them know my availability.

Because the job at the school started on the Wednesday after I was offered the job, I was already locked into that week plus the next two weeks at the fast food job, so for the last 14 days I have been juggling 50+ hours a week with that and school. I had been given full day shifts, but luckily, I was able to swap the whole of last week for a week of nights, except I had two midnight finishes and a 2am finish on Saturday morning, so have been having naps here and there between the two jobs so I could manage.

If this was not enough, Phil from Tardun (ex neighbour) has not been well, and decided to go back to Sydney two weeks before the holidays and asked me to house sit. So, in between everything else, two Saturdays ago, I loaded up my suitcase and have been staying at his place, or rather passing through between jobs and sleep. I have to say, it could not have been better timing for me as working two jobs, and sleeping odd hours here and there, working in with the family would have been that much more difficult with all their comings and goings. I actually had last Sunday off but did not get out of bed until nearly 2pm, when I dashed round and finally unpacked and tidied before Janet came round for a coffee and a catch up, and then we went and got some groceries and had a hastily put together dinner before she headed home.

So, work at the school - my contract came through with the official title of Youth Worker, so a new one to add to the CV. I have a very loose job description as the situation with the learning centre is quite unique. The kids who come are picked up every morning from their homes by the WM who drives the school van, and then on arrival there is toast and milo available, or we had bacon and eggs one day this week. We start the day sitting in a circle for a catch up and information session or reflection and then usually break into groups after that for spelling, comprehension, writing etc and maths. By mid morning, there is morning tea passed around - biscuits or fruit, if everyone is working well, though if folk are restless we will go out onto the oval and kick a football around for some fresh air before settling to a bit more work and then lunch, which we make. We have had barbequed sausages, pizza, pies, toasted sandwhiches , spaghetti bolognaise - again the WM tends to do a lot of the food prep inbetween her office duties and helping in the classroom. Claire from Tardun - a trained teacher, is also giving a hand for the next 13 weeks. On Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoons the kids go to a gym, the other afternoons it may be sandboarding in the dunes, watching a movie, going fishing, doing some art, playing card games etc as the school finishes at 2.30pm and then they are dropped home again. There are about 17 kids on the books with an average of 10 - 12 turning up each day. All of the kids who attend have been kicked out of other schools or have not been attending at all with most involved with youth justice in some way or other. Although the ages range from 12 yrs - 16yrs, their school age level is around 7 and 8yrs for most of them. There is a lot of one to one work in the classroom, as the WMH has gone back to basics so we are doing primary school work, in short bursts to keep plugging away at the basics but also so that the work can be achieved while building confidence at the same time. Some of these kids can avoid for Africa, lol and the tactics they employ for not doing work are many and varied, but even in the nearly three weeks that I have been there, I can see some positive changes in some of them. Most of the kids are indigenous so it is very like Tardun in that respect. There are four principles that the school runs on - safe and legal, respect, honesty, and participation, and any behaviour that falls short of those principles is dealt with (a few in the last weeks, ending up with "the talk" from me, which can be much worse than a number of other consequences that could be put in place). Some of the background stories on these kids would make your hair curl so in the main, the last weeks for me have been an exercise in building relationships with my main focus being help in the classroom. The WMH gives me grief about my age and being a Kiwi and he gets as good as he gives, which the kids enjoy and as participation is one of the principles, they have seen me out of the field, kicking a football (I know, and I kid you not, who would have thought, laughing lots), NOT being able to do suduko, struggling to explain fractions but being ok, mostly at English. It is a salutory experience to work with kids who do not know what sounds various animals or birds make (an exercise in English yesterday), who are learning to spell words they have no idea of what they mean or how to use them, and virtually nil general knowledge. Many of them have not been out of Geraldton or those that have, have not been far. I am using primmer readers (year 1 and 2) with a couple of the boys and they stumble on some very basic words. The good thing is that there is improvement but how or if they ever catch up to regular schooling, is yet to be tested. I do not think one of them reads or has read a book for pleasure. In the last two weeks we have got kids to stop ripping up work or throwing it away because it is several pages long, and to concentrate on doing just the first question, or the first sum. One of the comprehensions was about Pompeii with the two or three higher level kids and you realise how hard it is for them when they have no idea what AD means (Pompeii was buried in 79 AD), that a flotilla is a group of boats, what archaeology is, where Italy, Naples and Pompeii are, etc etc, so to answer questions on the piece of reading, I had to decode it before we began. I took my laptop in the next day as I had photos from when I visited Pompeii four years ago, and that interested a few of them. On a positive note, we have a couple of girls who are eating their work up, complaining all the way, but there is a group who have turned up nearly every day since the term began so are starting to get some basic concepts under their belts so to speak.

Back at the fast food job, things are moving apace there too. I seldom need help anymore with the till, which has almost become my friend. My biggest stumbling block at the moment is that people ask for sundaes and my ears hear shake as in milk shake and that is what they get. At the worst, it happened three times in the one shift, and even when I checked (I thought) twice, the other night, I still got it wrong. Am now watching lips when they speak, lol and being VERY careful to check what I am hearing, lol. We have had numerous challenges with running out of product several times in the last few weeks which makes for interesting shifts, trying to get out large quantities of food etc when things are missing. Several nights, I have spent hours on the fryer moving at eye watering speed, we have been so busy. Usually, it takes me around 20 - 30 mins to go from no fries bagged or ready, to enough to cover any order with fries already cooked and waiting, while dropping baskets of fries constantly, salting them and bagging them to replace those being taken. The other night, it was 3 hours before I could get to that state and that was with other staff helping to drop baskets, and keeping the chiller filled with chips. I have been doing the odd twirl in drive through, both as cashier and presenter - handing the completed orders through the final window. That is frenetic work which is good when product is ready to go but a nightmare when you run out of fries or product is slow from the kitchen.

Two weeks ago our big Shrek promotion started in conjunction with the release of Shrek 4 at the movies. There is an ogre burger (with pesto mayonaise), an ogre wrap (ditto) and an ogre freeze - which is an apple slushy and is divine. It has the taste of apple sour which was a cocktail mix we used to put together with vodka and lemonade for a summer drink, lol - without the alcohol of course. I have become very partial to the drink and have a wrap most days I work as I love the pesto sauce with the chicken. As part of the promotion, I was given a pair of Shrek ears - which are green ears on a band to wear over my hat - a sight to behold indeed. I am amazed at how many people want them, I have been offered money even to give them up. While cashiering a guy came through in a taxi (very common in this town) and called me Mrs Shrek, - I told him it was Princess Mrs Shrek to him, thank you very much, which left him in fits of laughter. I get waves from little kids and they get a buzz from seeing them and happy meals with the Shrek toys in are walking out the door. On top of that, Malteaser sundaes came out last week, and go figure, in the middle of winter, the frozen drinks and sundaes are also walking out the door. The other interesting thing I have noted whilst being a cashier, is how many people come through drive through in their pyjamas, and even into the the shop later in the evenings. Some have begun to wear dressing gowns in the colder weather, but oh my gosh, did their mother's never tell them about the correct attire to wear while out in case they ended up in an accident, laughing lots.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for this term so it will be bliss to have just the one job for a few days. Co-incidentally, my hours have finally dropped at the FF place as I was not thinking that far forward re the rosters, so will take the shorter hours and enjoy them though will do extra if called in to cover other shifts I guess. This week the kids got to go out on a sailing boat in the harbour and that may become a regular thing next term as the chap who runs the enterprise is keen to get these kids knowing how to sail, do knots etc, so may adjust my hours to go out on that which would be fun. Today we spent the morning at the library as most of these kids have never been inside one, so we are thinking of getting them all joined for next term so we can get reading books out and keep them at school to increase their word skills.

Amongst all the craziness of work," Australia's got Talent" finished up with my favourite group Justice Crew winning $250,000. I urge you to You tube them as I think they are wonderful. " Dancing with the Stars" started on Sunday night and "Packed to the Rafters" on Tuesday night (it is taped and have yet to see the 2 hour special to start the new season). I sat up last night and watched Wimbledon tennis semi finals I think it was, where Serena Williams beat the Chinese player - missed her first name but second name Li I think, and tonight Federer is playing someone called Berdych. As Federer usually plays marathon games, I will not be staying up to see the end. I am backing him, as I like him as a sportsman. And while speaking of sport - go the NZ All Whites - I have seen fleeting mentions here and there that they drew one game and were to play Italy was the last I heard. The other exciting part of the World Cup is that NZ"s Fifa referee grew up for a period of time down the road from us at Kariaotahi, and there he is on the world stage - an amazing achievement indeed.

Interesting things about house sitting - rubbish days - I realise it is probably 15 yrs since I had to put a rubbish bin out on the road - while at both boarding schools, our bins were outside the door and magically seemed to empty on a regular basis with no effort to put out and get back in. Mowing lawns - it is probably three years since I last mowed a lawn, thankfully the lawn mower here is fairly basic so all good there. Feeding myself is interesting - I went to buy something for dinner and nearly keeled over at the price of meat - it seems to have significantly risen in the nearly 9 months since I last bought any. Vegetables and fruit remain seasonal and go up and down depending on the weather etc where it is grown. Biggest excitement was finding tamarillos or tree tomatoes at Coles - $1.99 each!!!!!!! I checked and the last one (I have bought three over the past three weeks) said product of Australia but no one over here knows what they are, so imagine they are coming in from the East. I dropped the last one in a cup of boiling water so the skin basically fell off it when I peeled it, not wasting any flesh, lol, then on the freshest of bread, I made a tamarillo sandwhich woohooo, with a sprinkling of sugar on the fruit and straight away was whisked back to childhood when Mum's mother, Nana Dot, used to make them for us. There is nothing quite like it and I can still picture eating these sandwhiches on the train as we made the trip from Papatoetoe to Auckland, where we caught the ferry to Devonport to visit Nana Dot's sister, Aunty Marg. As they fruit in NZ in the autumn/winter, they are also linked for me to the May holidays of old when our tree would be covered in them and we would be hanging out for them to ripen. One last thing I have noticed this week once again, - there are no birds over here like sparrows or anything that eats bread or scraps thrown out. I thew a loaf of bread out on the lawn last week, and three days later, it was still all there, not a bird in sight - very wierd after being at home where you almost have to check your hand if you have bread in it, there are so many birds to eat it up. And though we are on the coast, sea gulls seem to stick to the foreshore only. In the end, I mowed over it all when I did the lawn, and now will leave it to the ants, to dispose of the crumbs, lol. Anyway I am up far too late again and need to get some sleep, school and work tomorrow, ouch, though maybe able to get an hour's nap in the afternoon. Catch you later.