and then, in walked Kylie wearing only a pair of socks and a ‘kiss me quick’ hat.
Sorry, it would appear that we have been having a few technical issues and all the fantastic blogs that I have been writing and posting since last October haven’t been making it onto the interworldwebwide thingy. I can’t think how that could have happened when I clearly have such a great grasp of this modern technology malarkey.
So, I’ll use this blog to bring you up to speed with what’s being going one. Firstly, I have to inform you that, in the missing missives, I had successfully predicted: England’s Ashes success; the death of Trevor Bannister (Mr Lucas from ‘Are you Being Served’*); Andy Murray would lose the final of the Australian Open (okay, so that foresight doesn’t make me any kind of genius); that a Kenyan would win the London Marathon – Men’s and Women’s (again, probably not a wild stab in the dark) and that the first F1 race of the season would be held in Australia due to civil unrest on a roundabout in Bahrain. I know what you’re thinking (apart from ‘you big fibber, you’), did he put his money where his mouth is and put a wager on these predictions? Well, I tried to but was thwarted by the aforementioned Internet connection problems. No, really.
Right, so what has been going on in Perth these six months past? Well, we have had a very hot and dry summer, and so far an autumn that’s going along very similar lines. We are hoping that the long Public Holiday weekend will bring the traditional ‘Bank Holiday’ rain with it.
We actually have an extra day off, for this long weekend, besides Good Friday and Easter Monday. In fact (and this is official, I haven’t just made it up) Easter Monday has been moved to Tuesday. This is to make way for ANZAC Day (always 25 April) which falls on Monday.
We aren’t getting a day off for ‘the wedding’ though, and I haven’t checked with the neighbours but I’m pretty sure that there aren’t any plans to hold a street party to mark the occasion either. It has to be said though that Will and Kate’s nuptials are getting a fair amount of coverage down here, so if you thought you could come over here to escape the media frenzy then I’m afraid you are sadly mistaken. In fact, I got to the counter at our local supermarket the other evening (I forget exactly what health food products I was purchasing) when I was confronted (in the impulse buy section) by the golden couple’s smiling faces beaming at me from a commemorative tin of shortbread. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud if you like but my impulse buys tend to be for Lion’s confectionery, Blues CD’s on the Hallmark label, and deely boppers, not $25 tins of biscuits.
Who’s doing what/when/how?
Harriet (Hattie, Princess, Treacle, Lulu... she answers to all these and more besides) is learning to torture (did I say torture? I meant play) the flute. It’s funny because the comment we get most in reaction to this news is ‘well, at least it isn’t the violin’. Actually she plays the two notes that she has been taught, so far, very well. She has also been persuaded by her music teacher (not by her pushy parents) to join the school choir. It is my job to tell her that despite all of these talents, and her dancing ability, she is never going to be allowed to audition for ‘Australian Idol’ due to my phobia to reality TV.
Hattie and Wendy have tickets to go and see Kylie in June. On this occasion Ms Minogue may be wearing a little more than socks and a ‘kiss-me-quick’ hat – a little more but probably not much more. How is it I wasn’t invited to go?
George is now a teenager, goes to secondary school, is a Surf Life Saving cadet, spends all of his pocket money on hair product, and has more contacts in his mobile phone than I do (especially the female ones).
Last term, he represented the school at a swimming carnival and finished third in the 50m breaststroke. He probably, needs a bit of improvement if he is going to make it over to London for the Olympics next year as part of the Aussie swimming squad. He’s probably got more chance of coming over as part of the cricket squad for the 2013 Ashes series though.
Wendy is two thirds of the way through her Business Migration university course. The girly swot has passed the first two units with high distinctions and is, at this very moment, reading the learning manual for the third unit which starts next week. It’s a long time since I took an exam but I’m pretty sure that my studying technique was slightly less organised and relied greatly on the right question coming up.
She was unable to get out surfing at all this summer - due to the fact that her hand injury has been slow to heal, and not because of a lack of surf or inclement weather or anything like that (they would have been my excuses).
Clearly, there must have been other things that have happened in the last six months that I have overlooked but I’ll fill in the gaps another time. My next blog may well contain flashback sequences, mindless waffle, and obscure musical references... nothing new there then.
During the writing of this blog I have been mainly listening to The Vaccines, Paul Weller, and the Wonder Stuff (next time I’ll be choosing from the X-Z section of my record collection... might be a very brief blog).
Enjoy the Easter Weekend (that’s an order).
*Is on TV here on a Tuesday night along with (wait for it)... Bargain Hunt, On the Buses, Some Mothers do ‘Ave ‘Em, To the Manor Born, Dad’s Army, and Hale and Pace.
Sorry, it would appear that we have been having a few technical issues and all the fantastic blogs that I have been writing and posting since last October haven’t been making it onto the interworldwebwide thingy. I can’t think how that could have happened when I clearly have such a great grasp of this modern technology malarkey.
So, I’ll use this blog to bring you up to speed with what’s being going one. Firstly, I have to inform you that, in the missing missives, I had successfully predicted: England’s Ashes success; the death of Trevor Bannister (Mr Lucas from ‘Are you Being Served’*); Andy Murray would lose the final of the Australian Open (okay, so that foresight doesn’t make me any kind of genius); that a Kenyan would win the London Marathon – Men’s and Women’s (again, probably not a wild stab in the dark) and that the first F1 race of the season would be held in Australia due to civil unrest on a roundabout in Bahrain. I know what you’re thinking (apart from ‘you big fibber, you’), did he put his money where his mouth is and put a wager on these predictions? Well, I tried to but was thwarted by the aforementioned Internet connection problems. No, really.
Right, so what has been going on in Perth these six months past? Well, we have had a very hot and dry summer, and so far an autumn that’s going along very similar lines. We are hoping that the long Public Holiday weekend will bring the traditional ‘Bank Holiday’ rain with it.
We actually have an extra day off, for this long weekend, besides Good Friday and Easter Monday. In fact (and this is official, I haven’t just made it up) Easter Monday has been moved to Tuesday. This is to make way for ANZAC Day (always 25 April) which falls on Monday.
We aren’t getting a day off for ‘the wedding’ though, and I haven’t checked with the neighbours but I’m pretty sure that there aren’t any plans to hold a street party to mark the occasion either. It has to be said though that Will and Kate’s nuptials are getting a fair amount of coverage down here, so if you thought you could come over here to escape the media frenzy then I’m afraid you are sadly mistaken. In fact, I got to the counter at our local supermarket the other evening (I forget exactly what health food products I was purchasing) when I was confronted (in the impulse buy section) by the golden couple’s smiling faces beaming at me from a commemorative tin of shortbread. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud if you like but my impulse buys tend to be for Lion’s confectionery, Blues CD’s on the Hallmark label, and deely boppers, not $25 tins of biscuits.
Who’s doing what/when/how?
Harriet (Hattie, Princess, Treacle, Lulu... she answers to all these and more besides) is learning to torture (did I say torture? I meant play) the flute. It’s funny because the comment we get most in reaction to this news is ‘well, at least it isn’t the violin’. Actually she plays the two notes that she has been taught, so far, very well. She has also been persuaded by her music teacher (not by her pushy parents) to join the school choir. It is my job to tell her that despite all of these talents, and her dancing ability, she is never going to be allowed to audition for ‘Australian Idol’ due to my phobia to reality TV.
Hattie and Wendy have tickets to go and see Kylie in June. On this occasion Ms Minogue may be wearing a little more than socks and a ‘kiss-me-quick’ hat – a little more but probably not much more. How is it I wasn’t invited to go?
George is now a teenager, goes to secondary school, is a Surf Life Saving cadet, spends all of his pocket money on hair product, and has more contacts in his mobile phone than I do (especially the female ones).
Last term, he represented the school at a swimming carnival and finished third in the 50m breaststroke. He probably, needs a bit of improvement if he is going to make it over to London for the Olympics next year as part of the Aussie swimming squad. He’s probably got more chance of coming over as part of the cricket squad for the 2013 Ashes series though.
Wendy is two thirds of the way through her Business Migration university course. The girly swot has passed the first two units with high distinctions and is, at this very moment, reading the learning manual for the third unit which starts next week. It’s a long time since I took an exam but I’m pretty sure that my studying technique was slightly less organised and relied greatly on the right question coming up.
She was unable to get out surfing at all this summer - due to the fact that her hand injury has been slow to heal, and not because of a lack of surf or inclement weather or anything like that (they would have been my excuses).
Clearly, there must have been other things that have happened in the last six months that I have overlooked but I’ll fill in the gaps another time. My next blog may well contain flashback sequences, mindless waffle, and obscure musical references... nothing new there then.
During the writing of this blog I have been mainly listening to The Vaccines, Paul Weller, and the Wonder Stuff (next time I’ll be choosing from the X-Z section of my record collection... might be a very brief blog).
Enjoy the Easter Weekend (that’s an order).
*Is on TV here on a Tuesday night along with (wait for it)... Bargain Hunt, On the Buses, Some Mothers do ‘Ave ‘Em, To the Manor Born, Dad’s Army, and Hale and Pace.
