Ups and Downs

It seems I exceeded my internet limit by over 1,700 whats its, so the hamster in the wheel has merely looked over from its reclined position to put an occasional paw to the wheel, lol. There has been no rhyme nor reason to my ability to get connection or what to what I have been able to access. I rang the providers over the weekend as I could not connect at all at one point and when they said I had gone over my limit I reminded them my contract says it will slow after 6g to 60% not stop completely so they rejigged something at their end but connection has remained intermittent. For some reason, I checked my account tonight after 20 mins attempting to connect and yes, the universe does sometimes gives one a win, as there was an option of 7g a for $20 cheaper a month than I have been paying - woohoo. I changed my options on the spot. I believe the new optionn kicks in a small amount of megabites after midnight tonight and then on the 7th should have the full 7g available - yippee.
I have made the odd foray into my email at work but have not had huge amounts of time to do that hence the hit and miss contact over the past ten days. Have looked for folk at times I think they may be about but not with a deal of success and not sure if skype would connect anyways.

Halloween has been and gone - I see on the news that it is becoming more and more popular in Australia causing a huge amount of retail spending. Neither work place took part in celebration of the day and I had no one visiting here so apart from an ecard from a friend, that was the sum total of the event for me. The other event that has been celebrated that stops Australia in its tracks on the day, was of course the Melbourne Cup. There were four days of horse racing that began on Saturday with interviews, fashion, info on the horses, jockey's, trainers, uncle Tom Cobbley and all, lol that led up to the big race on Tuesday. The morning tv show broadcast from there over the four days and it seemed anyone who was anyone was there. A big focus on the news was about Bart Cummings, who has trained 12 previous winners, who was hoping for his 13th win this year. He ended up in hospital over the weekend (he is in his 80's and had pneumonia) but made it out for the big day, unfortunately his horse came third. It was the most backed horse on the day and was touted to be another Phar Lap. I hear the horse was sold for $40,000,000 to an Irish Stable.

As part of our celebration classes at school were tailored to the big race. Everyone was in the draw for a horse in the sweepstake - the winner got a box of chocolates. They played bingo with horse names on the cards, and maths over the last two days has been calculating odds and payouts which has been a novel way of reinforcing times tables and addition. I made a stack of sandwhiches - all posh with the crusts cut off, lol, and we cooked a batch of scones eaten with cream and strawberry jam which seemed to go down well. Students got to design their own jockey silks as the jacket outline had been printed on A3 paper for them to colour in. We did not have a TV to watch the race live instead we watched a lot of previous races via "You Tube" on the WM's computer - listening to the race in the end on radio.

There was no outing in the longboat this week which was a shame and yesterday our trainer was not available at the gym, so damn, had another session on the pool table while a group of others were shooting hoops downstairs. I played doubles with one of the girls against two of the boys and we only lost by one ball so did not disgrace myself and oh my, giddy heights when I potted two balls in a row. My misspent youth was not spent around pool tables so it is by guess and by god that I connect with anything but my aim at the moment is to at least hit something so the others do not get two shots and to actually get a ball down, well that is the bonus, lol. This afternoon we took the troops to the local pool where we had hired this huge inflateable float thing that was like an adventure course in that you had to get over and around connected inflateable shapes from one end of the pool to the other to get to the end, climb up an inflateable wall and then down a slide. It certainly kept them all amused and provided lots of laughs as people fell off into the pool at any given moment. I was amazed that anyone completed the course at all.

Have just watched a clip on the news of this old digger who at 98 is still working full time - 5 days a week - in a news agents and who also is still playing badminton. He said he retired for three weeks when he was 65 from running a hardware store but after three weeks in the garden was planting weeds to dig them up, and found retirement too boring lol. Bless.

Went to the movies with one of my workmates from the residential home on Saturday afternoon. We went and saw "Eat, Pray, Love" with Julia Roberts. The highlight for me was seeing Rome on the big screen and revisiting some of the places I have got see when I was there (five years ago now!) - the story line was average - sort of travelogue meets the 70's path to enlightenment via India and Bali after JR decides her marriage is not what she wants after all. I would rate in OK for a DVD on a wet afternoon. I went out for lunch beforehand to a place called Skeeters which is located on the waterfront which was a nice treat. That was the high light of the weekend as I think the combination of the week before, the anniversary (6th) of Dad's passing, and the disappointment of not getting home for Christmas, led to a fit of the blues so was not fit for much else. Still they do say, if you do not have some downs, you cannot appreciate the ups, - I put that in the same basket of when one door closes another opens and being sick of standing in the draughts, lol. Ce la vie.

We are experiencing the obnoxious effluvia (saying of my grandmother lol) of dead rat/s at school at the moment. I am beginning to think I may have blood links to the Pied Piper of Hamlin in that vermin seem to be continually present in my life! It began with our alarm system throwing a fault and the fix it man told us that rats had chewed through the wiring , with a snide comment that they would of course, since we fed them so well??? We had been used to leaving a loaf of bread out on the table for breakfast toast and I guess had got a bit casual about putting things away. I had noticed two rats running along the wall in the entry way into the building but the piece de resistance was looking out to the passageway where the freezer, toaster and breakfast making table reposes, to see a flipping rat, sitting in the toaster and when I yelled at it, it just looked back!!!! (We have one of those industrial type toasters not the pop up variety) Also there was a whole the size of my fist in the loaf of bread that had been left there by mistake.... The WM had been meaning to get traps for ages but that was the last straw for me, off I went and got several boxes of rat bait from the shops - of mega death strength and that would kill even if they were resistant to the ingredients in usual rat bait (take that, lol!!!!). It was a Friday and by Monday the whole box was gone and I mean the whole box, cardboard and all. On Monday one of the boys found one of the ra ra's comatose in the boy's toilet and removed it with a shovel. Tuesday, we became aware that another one had died in the ceiling in our meeting room necessitating the room being sprayed with eucalyptus oil to mask the smell. Unfortunately, with the advent of summer weather it was extremely ripe today, and we gave up the unequal struggle and moved to another room to start the day. I am picking by next week the smell should all be gone as hopefully it will mummify with the heat - here's hoping. Today another demised rat was found behind the freezer so at the moment its rats O Lynn 3 so to speak!!! I know there are those who keep rats as pets who say they are loving pets, but these rats are the bubonic plague carrying variety so no mercy is shown.

While I am waiting for Phil to let me know what is happening about the house, I decided today to ring up two rental agencies to put my name down to look at other places just in case this one does not pan out. Over here renting is not as easy as it seems at home. Very few houses seem to be privately let so the process is that you ring an agency, they call back with a viewing apt where you get to see the place with whoever else maybe wanting to check it out, and then you take it from there. They are not open in the weekends so it will mean time out from work I am picking, to view said rentals. They do not seem hungry for business either as I rang this morning and have not had a call back yet. You can not make the apt at a time to suit you but have to fit in with the rental managers schedule hence the challenge.

Got a photo this week of the No 2 grandson and he is just gorgeous. Will try and upload photo once I have full hamster power again. He is so like his Dad at the same age and has mischief written all over him. At 18mths he is chattering already so maybe he takes after his nana as well heh heh.

The wind has finally dropped over the last two days and yay the heat has arrived to the point I have the ceiling fan going and am sleeping with open windows to let some breeze in (the windows are all screened so am safe from insects and anything else). Am also using aircon in the car to cool down the inside but find I take it of iceberg chill once the desert heat has dissipated as the inside of the car can become too cold for continued use. It is definitely hat wearing, sunscreen weather if one plans on being outside for any length of time. I notice I am drinking a lot more water so guess summer is finally on the way.

It is past the witching hour once again so will sign off for the night :):)