Days of My Life.

I should be heading to bed but just as I was about to go, after watching a detective programme, before I got to move, up came the next programme - which is a documentary about Pink Floyd - how good is the universe to serve that up completely unexpected - woohoo. It is one I have not seen before, so even better. If I sound a bit random through this its because I am writing and watching at the same time. The other challenge I am coping with as I type this is that the letter "n" has bounced off the keyboard of my laptop and I am having to press a soft plastic thingie instead.

So, since I last wrote - the house inspection has been and gone and for 10 days gardening and tidying up outside, plus a zoom through inside, all I got was a note on real estate paper left on the kitchen table saying "inspection completed"!!!! That and the satisfaction that the place looked mint, if I say so myself. I didn't use the kitchen for another two days just to have it remain spotless lol. It was the last two days of school and I had work at the home so had all of my meals taken care of which worked out well.

I am happy to report, my lurgy seems to have pretty much disappeared. I still get a sore throat early morning and in the evening plus the odd cough here and there so hope I have not ended up with the 100 day cough or whatever it is called.

We finished school last Friday with a day at the local swimming pool and a barbque lunch which everyone seemed to enjoy. I have a meeting this Wednesday morning with the Principal of the school who is coming from Queensland to talk about next term. I then worked on the Saturday at the home which ended up being from 7.45am until 9pm. One of the staff had resigned on the Thursday and there were three off sick imcluding the person I was meant to be working with that day. I ended up having three different people from the main office come and help me during instead, ending up with the boss , his wife and adult daughter late afternoon and evening. The day was interrupted by the big clash in AFL between Collingwood and St Kilda - two Melbourne teams fighting for the Premiership which is the eqivalent of the Bledisloe Cup in Rugby if not bigger. I watched the last quarter and got totally caught up in it when buggar me, the score at the final whistle was 68/68. The woman who was helping me seemed gobsmacked and I said, its alright, there will be a kick off and one will win and one will lose. No, that is not how it works in footie over here. There had to be a rematch. It was the weirdest thing to watch. The players lay on the ground, utterly spent, the crowd was in shock and unusually quiet and the disbelief on their faces was like witnessing a death occurring. People had arranged weddings, holidays etc around the final so this threw the country into a turmoil immediately. To really complicate things, Virgin Blue - the airline that hundreds had been booked on to and from Melbourne had rolled out a new computer system which crashed on the day the game was played that ended up taking over two days to sort. Happening the first weekend of the school holidays, it compounded the chaos. So, after the final footie shows for the year the previous week, programs were rescheduled and there was another round of final programmes for the year again which lead up to the rematch. I can report that today Collingwood absolutely vanquished St Kilda by over 50 points and it was a great game to watch, although I still have difficulty accepting forward passes, lol. I had Jude here at the beginning of the game before she went to work and we were discussing the differences between AFL and rugby - great armchair critics that we were, lol.

Last Monday was a public holiday - I think it was Aussie's Queen's birthday but worked so was oblivious to anything but that. It also happened to be the Sunshine Festival in Geraldton and there was a parade that we took the boys to see. I tell you, the Waiuku Christmas Parade would have put this one into the shade but the boys enjoyed all the hoopla of the trucks, floats and people walking about dressed up - especially the ones handing out lolly pops, lol. The 7 yr old wanted to know if the parade was a party, and made a comment on the army music when the Scottish Pipe band marched past playing some uplifting skirrling type song. I was fascinated in how he put the pipe band and the army together. There was a firefighting koala on the back of a fire engine - that is when I realised it was not another NZ parade lol, and there was a float with a kangaroo, to say nothing of the decorated Holden cars being driven in the line up.

Since then, I have been on holiday - unfortunately, I did not find out until Wednesday I was going to have so much time off so was ill prepared to make plans for anything grand. Probably just as well, as I feel I have recouped some energy and it has been nice poodling about the house, doing a few errands and shopping in town, watching tv etc. I did go to Jude's son's farm on the Tuesday for a run. It is about 10 mins before Dongara. Jude was babysitting her grandchildren so it was kind of a busman's holiday for me, lol. This is the family that were at the camp draft last year so I had met the children before though I think only the two older girls remembered me. They were halfway through watching High School Musical on DVD so Jude and I had a cuppa then after that we went for a walk outside to view the chooks, ducks, rabbit, lamb, and the horses. The shetland pony was caught and the eldest girl brushed him and cleaned out his hooves before letting him go again. She is 11 years old and it took me back to when I was the same age riding, the preparation before you could ride and the lack of fear you have at that age dealing with animals that potentially could do you serious damage if they chose. Their farm runs right to the sea as it is on the coast line so we decided to go down for a look. The kids ran up and down the beach exploring and jumped in and out of the water before we headed into Dongara for an ice cream to round of the afternoon.

I have been utilising my DIY skills over the last week. I have been up a ladder rescrewing the downlight into the ceiling that I had tried to change the light bulb in some weeks ago. I had left it hanging in the ceiling as at that time my arm was aching post working at Maccas and I could not hold the thing in place. The inspection and I guess gaining some strength back in my arm sorted that out, lol. Also had the step ladder out changing the outside light bulb again. Not impressed that the two year guarantee barely lasted two months. The other hiccup was the shower rose dropped onto the shower base and split last week. This meant that as one tried to shower there was this whole other spray of water shooting over the top of the shower box hitting the wall beyond while dripping on ones head at the same time. I found some tape and tried that first but not luck so off to Bunnings I went armed with rose and hose I managed to unscrew from the fixture after finding a pair of pliers in the kitchen cupboards. It was a bit like trying on Cinderella's glass slipper trying to find the right one. This one was too small, that one was too big, that one was too expensive, until after much consideration I made my choice. I asked at the desk if the fittings were the same as the one I took in and was told they were pretty much stock standard and I could return it if it didn't fit. So, armed with pliers and thread tape I attached the new rose and hose to the fixture in the shower and hey presto, it all works and no drips - woohoo. So, I now add plumber to my list of things I can do, heh heh.

Pink Floyd has now finished and am watching something called "rage" which is also brilliant - it is a music programme with heaps of clips of band includind the Travelling Wilberries, the Kinks, John Lennon, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Doors, Dylan (woohoo )to name a few which has been a bonus indeed.

Had the compliment of the centuary paid to me two weeks ago (this when still under the weather and not at my best). We were discussing ages in general when one of my co-workers said she thought I was only in my forties - (and no Kay, she was neither p......d nor was it a dark night, lol). She has become one of my new favourite people, heh heh.

Midst all the sport, I see that Eddie Fisher erstwhile husband of Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor, and Tony Curtis who was married to his sixth wife, have both passed away this week. Not much was said about Eddie Fisher but there were tributes all day re Tony Curtis with clips of "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe featured as the movie that was his most famous one. .... Am watching Jim Morrison and the Doors as I write this - what a waste his death was. I got to go to the cemetary in Paris where he is buried, which was something I had set my mind on seeing while I was there.

Speaking of work, I really had better go get some sleep. I think I can leave James Brown wearing a orange jumpsuit and jacket, lol. Catch you all later.