Testing Testing

Hi Folks

Its been awhile between drinks do ya think and so to speak :).  It has been so long since I last wrote, I do not recognise the format for this posting anymore and I had to delve into my address book to remember what I changed my password to the last time I had a rush of blood to the head.  I thought I might just test who may still be out there reading this should it make it to the blogosphere, before I get too carried away with lots of writing and no one to read it - the old if a tree falls in a forest making a sound and no one hears it, did it fall (not sure if that is the correct saying but near enough I think - you know what I mean, lol).  I have over a year of catching up to do so here goes, will press the button and post - email to say you have received it or leave a comment :)

With restraint and on the road again :)

It has been a hectic few weeks as per usual.  I began last month with a four day course which involved learning how to do restraints in a crisis situation.  We learnt how to deflect someone coming at you to hit you - very easy when in practice when the person goes through their movements slowly thus allowing you to respond in kind, lol.  Then there were the two person restraints where you had a co worker who would assist in the restraint.  The upshot is that shortly, my ID card will reflect that I am licensed to do a standing two person restraint and a restraint on my own.  We had to pass a practical and written test for this. I am licensed to level two as I did not attempt a floor restraint - I would not have the strength or the ability to kneel while attempting this move but I am ok with where I got to.  The trainers were brilliant and kept me engaged for the whole four days and it was a nice break from actually being on the floor.  

Last week I had the extreme good luck to be able to get to Perth for four days, woohoo.  Gerard, the WMH, had several Macca's meetings that coincided with my days off so I tagged a ride down and back with him.  At the end of  three night shifts - two 12 hour ones and then a 10 hour one finishing at 0715, I was home and  ready to go by 8.00am.  Gerard had put a travelling selection of music on his ipod and away we went.  I thought I would get some shut eye on the way down, but between chatting and having the music at nose bleed levels we pretty much rocked our way to Perth before I knew it.  We had one stop on the way down for a toilet break and a quick grab of something to eat and drink and we were on the road again.  We reached Midland around 12.30 which is a major bus/train station north of Perth city, where I got out and then caught a train down to Warnbro just south of Freemantle and Rockingham  to catch up with friends Shelly and Maurice for the night.  

I have decided I love travelling by train over here and it is a shame you can not travel from Geraldton down by rail.  I had no idea what I was doing initially but most of the bigger stations have customer service people and in each instance that I needed help, they were brilliant.  I played the slightly bewildered tourist, and had someone get my ticket for me and all bar putting me on the train, at Midland, lol.  Shelly was there to meet me at the station in Warnbro and within 5 mins we were at hers and wow.  Shelly and Maurice moved over here three years ago and a year ago bought a house after selling theirs back in Hamilton, NZ.  When they first moved over here they lived the first few months with their 12 yr old son( at the time ) at a cousins.  For $390,000 they have got themselves a four bedroom brick home, with three lounge areas, two bathrooms, walk in linen closet, huge kitchen, office, and a swimming pool.  One of the bathrooms had a roman bath with a shower over it (completely tiled bath) and the other bathroom had a shower each side of the bath area - all this plus a walk in closet - be still my beating heart.  The kitchen, two lounge areas  and office have  tiled floors  with carpet in the one lounge and bedrooms. The house is 10 mins away from Joel's school, 15 mins away from Shelly's work and 5 mins away from the shops and is at the bottom of a cul-de-sac   There is also a large area out the back of the house with a covered patio area so indoor outdoor flow is brilliant.  I am thrilled to bits for them and they are still pinching themselves for doing so well.  It had been over a year since I stayed with them last, when they lived in Rockingham,  so we had plenty to catch up on hence it was midnight before I got to bed thus making it 30 hours without sleep.  Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

The following afternoon Shelly dropped me back at the station on her way to work and I caught the train back into Perth and then changed to the Armadale line getting off at Kelmscott where Donna lives.  The next station which is Challis is actually just around the corner from her house but I didn't get that bit of info until after the confusion of us being at two different stations when she came to pick me up.  All good though but she had to walk home from Challis to get the car to pick me up from Kelmscott, lol.  Donna too has just bought a house and is still unpacking so it was exciting to see where she now resides as well.  We decided to go on a mission into Perth and on to Harbour Town the following day.  I was on the hunt for bell pull ends for some embroidery I have completed so before we headed to Harbour town we tried several local embroidery shops first.  We ended up at a place called Pioneer town somewhere in Armadale I think, that used to be set up like a village shopping centre with people in period costume but it has since been sold off for housing and the odd shop still going.  Found a delightful embroidery shop there that I will visit again.  I had no luck with the bell pull ends but did get plenty of ideas for new projects, lol.  

Harbour Town is a huge two storied shopping centre that has mainly clothes shops that have lots of bargains where you can get labelled clothing etc very cheaply.  We walked round each floor shop by shop, mostly window shopping but did find some bargains - clothing for the grandchildren, and bits and pieces from a book shop, stationery shop and dribbled through the Royal Doultan shop resisting buying anything thinking I would be lucky to get it back in one piece but OMG there were some bargains in there.  The hit of the day for me was trying something new to eat. There was in the food hall area, a shop selling gozleme - this is Turkish I think, and if you think of something like roti filled with spinach and feta, folded over and cooked pressed flat like a quesadilla and served with a slice of lemon.  Wow is all I can say, it was delicious.  They also do chicken filled and meat filled gozleme but I think I had the best of it with the spinach and feta.  It was very filling and for around $10 - good value for money.  After we had nearly worn our feet to our knee caps we decided to finish off the day with an ice cream from the gelato bar - I had a scoop of pistachio icecream and a scoop of macadamia and white chocolate - tasted divine,  followed with a coffee to give me enough energy to make the trip back, lol. We had walked from the station to the shopping centre however to my astonishment we were able to catch a free bus back to the station.  Apparently there is a free bus service that goes through the city - so note to self for next time I am there.  We had got a day tripper ticket for the train for $11.50 which I thought was hugely reasonable and so much better than trying to find non-existant or very expensive parking if we had driven in.  

The trip back to Donna's was very entertaining as there was a KISS concert on in town that evening and many of the prospective attendees who were travelling in by train had their faces painted in black and white to get into theme for the night.  Still on the hunt for bell pull ends we thought that Spotlight might just have them so out we headed once we got back to Donna's to see if we could find some.  No luck there but OMG, it was twice the size as the one in Geraldton and it was like being in an Aladdin's cave..... needless to say, I did have to purchase a few things that I didn't know I needed before I got there, lol.  Donna scored some new curtains for her lounge on sale so she was a happy customer also.  We were slightly hungry again ( nearly 7.00pm by now) so we ended up at the Gosnalls Railway market in the foodhall area.  The market is a huge covered space,  like going into a large shed,  with an old locomotive sitting in the middle of the foodhall. The rest of the market which has stalls round the corner (we didn't go there) I think is open in the weekends.  I decided on Chinese getting a mixed plate of goodies and was extremely thankful to return back to Donnas for feet up and a coffee at the end of the evening.  

The following morning I packed and we headed back to Midland to meet up with Gerard again.  We decided to catch up at Midland Gate which is a large shopping centre opposite the train station,  and I am just glad we had so little time to go as there was a KMart, book shops, furniture, clothing, you name it,  plus a great food hall with other coffee shops sprinkled around.  I could have done some serious damage there but had to suffice with a small extra bag of goodies from a bookshop and a couple of selections from the old time candy shop to hold body and soul together on the trip back to Geraldton.  

This time we had company travelling on the way back as two others from Macca's had flown down for the day before's meeting.  After a quick bite to eat for them, we were on our way.  Gerard and I had travelled down the Brand highway to Perth and had decided we might try the coast road on the way back - a decision we had no other option of taking in the end as the Brand highway was then closed because of bushfire burning at Bullsbrook and Bindoon which had burned something like 12000 acres over the previous two days. We got directions from Donna but something must have got mixed up in the translation and it wasn't until we were nearly back at Midland we realised we had pretty much done a circle out of town and back again - this when we had a Sat-nav in the car!!!!!!! - What is it about guys asking for directions,lol.  With the sat-nav finally,  we set off again and this time got it right.  I have to say either way the road is fairly boring to travel with miles and miles and miles of scrub land followed by more of the same.  It was interesting at one stage to be on a piece of road that had about two metres on the side till the Indian Ocean - you cannot get much more to the edge of Australia than that!  We had a quick stop at Jurien Bay to grab something to eat for late lunch - I had hoped to score another meal of fish and chips there but as we didn't arrive until 3pm, they had closed for the afternoon, sigh.   It was on 5.30pm as we got back into Geraldton so not a quick trip back, nearly two hours longer than on the way down.  It was a total tonic to get away for a few days and great to catch up with friends as always.

I had hoped to be heading back to NZ this month for the No 1 son's 40th birthday and the double 90th birthday's of my extended family (wave to Lorne and Noel,) over Easter but I have not been able to get the time off, even though I asked to have it off without pay ,grrrrrrr.  It seems that with being sick last year, and my two trips home, I have used up all my leave. Am not impressed needless to say.  The irony is that I have days off over both occasions but it is the bit in the middle that tripped me up and it is a long way to go for a weekend.   It has made me think that maybe my time in Geraldton is nearly over - will have to put some thought into it as my lease finishes in November and the house has a contract on it at the moment as of last week, so possibly time for a change all round.  Perth could be an option too so will just have to wait and see.  Which ever, I will need to find work which could be the deciding factor where.  Have typed this at work - am on the last of three nights in a row and now I get the weekend off and what is left of today that I do not need to sleep. I had hoped to post some photos but my computer does not have enough oooomph when I am not am home hooked into wireless or whatever makes it faster lol.  Will try for next time instead :):):)

Enter the Fairy tripping lightly, Happy Birthday to Me and Happy Valentines

It is near the witching hour so thought I would recount the day as I cycle through another year on life's clock.  Had set the alarm for 5.45am as I had work today and it was not a pretty sight that greeted me in the mirror 15 mins later as I dragged myself off the bed to get ready for the day.  I had not got to sleep much before 1.30am,  so the years fully showed in the bags under my eyes, lol.  It has been so hot at night, I now have a fan at the foot of my bed and the ceiling one going all night and I merely flop on top of the bed as it is too hot to even have a sheet over me. My air con has broken down and the repair man said yesterday that it is not worth fixing and will need to be replaced ,,,,,,, great except the house is under contract to be sold so cannot see the current owners racing in to spend money, so meanwhile, I gasp about the place like a fish out of water and feel like I lose my body weight in moisture each day.

I had received a parcel in the  post from home and kept it on the mantle piece during the week so once I was dressed I hastened to open it to find several packets, all containing jewellery from family and friends in NZ - all bits that I love and the beginnings of a new collection since nearly all my jewellery was stolen last year.  All came with notes to explain the different sets.  I did not make a fuss at work this year with the kids as it was a school day and one of our lads was having an off day, though a couple of staff wished me well  and then I received txts from several friends which was lovely.  

How does one know one is aging??? In my case today I had more than one reminder :).  I was just biting into a nectarine for breakfast when part of a upper left  hand side tooth parted company from my gum at the roots and I was lucky to spit it out without swallowing it.  Great I thought.  Fortunately no pain was involved so although a nuisance, I finished the nectarine and carried on with no one the wiser.  Not so my next act, lol.

I had to go back to the school to pick up one of the children for an appointment when as I came back to the van from the office, I negotiated the first drop in level from the footpath to the parking bay tucked in beside the footpath, and instead of looking where I was going, I was concentrating on said child getting in the van safely, missed the drop from the parking bay curb to the road, ricked my left ankle and dropped like a sack of potatoes into the road which lots of ouch, ouch, ouch at the pain in my ankle, a scrape down the front of the other leg, a bang on my left knee and then my  wrist where I had put my hand out to save myself plus  a general feeling of being shaken up.  I managed to get up off the road, and drive the van into town and back - thankfully,  it is an automatic and managed another trip into town and back only to jar my ankle as I got out of the van and tried to walk up a step.  I finally got to put my leg up and ice the ankle four hours after I injured it as it was beginning to hurt a lot and I was having difficulty weight bearing - the irony being I had to fill out an incident form and then do a report on the report in my role of OSH person at work. 

While I was typing up my report, I got a call from the WMH to see how my day was going, and to invite me to a birthday dinner he was cooking for me.  He wanted to know how I had fallen .........  I tell you, the jungle drums in Waiuku have nothing on the Geraldton ones.   My supervisor had been into Maccas after work and as her daughter works there she knows the WMH too so no secret too safe, lol.  I finished work and drove home which was an exercise in fine torture, - who knew there were so many gear changes required between work and home and for the first time in my life, an automatic car started to look good as a future option.  

I got home to find another parcel on the door mat and bless it was from the former Principal of the boarding school we both worked at back in NZ.  She sent me a tee shirt depicting a NZ scene and some NZ shortbread so wore the tee shirt to dinner tonight and will save the shortbread for later.  I managed to drive to Bron and Gerard's  ( down the road and around the corner ) and on arriving was settled on the couch, another ice pack on my ankle and laptop set up for skype and emails.  Bless all those who sent a quick email or put a mention on face book - it was all much appreciated indeed.  By luck I was able to chat to Mum on skype though I missed sister Kay.  

Dinner was brilliant - very crispy pork chops, lamb chops, roast veg and stuffed homegrown capscicums for main course and a grand marnier torte for dessert from the cheesecake shop that was enormous.  This was followed by coffee, a tim tam and a glass of Frangelica liquor.  Bliss in the food and drinks department - was back on the couch with more ice on my ankle while having dessert and coffee.

my birthday cake 

We were  relaxing on various couches watching American Idol,  when Gerard got a phone call from daughter No 1 to say she was just in an accident - another car had gone through a stop sign without stopping hitting her and spinning her car around before the other car also spun out and went through a fence.  I waited on at the house while Bron and Gerard went to pick her up and she is one lucky girl looking at the photos of her car which is completely written off.  She had some cuts on her feet from broken glass and some marks from her seat belt but as the air bags deployed on impact she was saved from any major damage.  The people in the other car - a 4WD with bull bars - ended up in hospital.  I waited until they all got back and then got driven home as my foot although feeling better was still too sore to drive and I didn't want to undo all the good works. 

Once home I hied myself off to bed and then started to check through emails and facebook again.  Am very humbled from all the good wishes from everyone - many facebook people I only  know through playing various games so blown away by so many good wishes - and then there were friends and family msgs from NZ, Oz, and England so felt very spoilt by the time I had finished reading them.

And now for a total winge - something has happened to my hotmail account and I cannot retrieve it in its usual form - I managed to get into it off my phone once and Gerard's tablet once and then pffffffffft, I cannot access it again for love nor money. I put my email address in and password and it takes me to windows somewhere else and then will not let me access anything.  Am just about ready to hurl the laptop to the wall in frustration.  I do NOT want the new, improved version with so many bells and whistles - I want my old version back, I do not like the outlook version, nor the live version  (I feel a burst of I do not like them Sam I am coming on here, lol) so am bewildered what to do next.  I may have to head to Telstra to see if they have any bright ideas or maybe a computer shop - much annoyance full stop.

Friday 15.

I started to fall asleep while typing so will give a quick update now.  I am about to head off to the Dr for a Dr's 1st certificate as I am not going into work this afternoon.  This makes it about workers compo instead of a sick day off apparently - I think workers comp is the equivalent of accident compensation at home .....  My ankle is much better but I have not tried driving yet as my car is still at B &  G's,  and I am not wanting to take the risk of carrying small people up and down steps at work.  I have the weekend off and not due back at work until Monday pm so all should be good then. 

Since writing the paragraph above, my face has swollen up with possible abscess on gum where tooth came away so on antibiotics from the Dr.  Ankle is much better, very little pain and swelling right down.  Gerard dropped me off at the Dr's and then I caught up with him at the shopping centre across the road after getting my prescription filled and found him checking up on the insurance for No 1 daughter's car.  We then went to where it had been towed to find it looked even worse in the daylight - and the car is a total write off.  Have done little for the rest of the day, dozed and read a book in between taking pain killers and the antibiotics.  Hopefully I will be restored by tomorrow as my concentration is not great at the moment.  As a friend of mine tells me frequently - aging is not for sissies, lol - I can tell you the outside of me might be clapping out but the inside does not feel changed at all :):):)  And by now, Belated Happy Valentine's to one and all  (have put the apostrophe in for Kay - the teacher, lol)