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Saturday 11th June 2005

Today Ann missed out on her usual Saturday lie-in, as I was still sick and in bed. Thomas had had a better night, and had slept up until 6:30 without coughing or crying, so at least we all got more sleep than last night.
As soon as it was 8am, Ann got on the phone to book my doctor's appointment, and obviously the phones had been very busy between 8:00 and 8:01, as the first appointment that was available on th 'unbookable Saturday' was not until 11:20!

Thomas was relatively calm and quiet today, which was better for all of us. I started doing my work from home that I had been scheduled to do for weeks, and it was after I had done all the work and started to do the testing that I found our first problem. A quick phone call to my colleague who was also scheduled to work on this task, and we were working right up until I had to go to the doctors.

11:20 my arse! I sat there for nearly an hour until I got seen - but then again it was a Saturday and there were only 4 out of 9 doctors there. I told the doctor about my aches, headache and swollen throat, and then he had a look. When he wanted to look inside my throat, he got out his little torch and wooden stick, put it in my mouth and said "Okay, just say 'oh my goodness' that's swollen!" - I decided not to try and say it with a stick in my mouth, but I knew that he could see how bad it was. As he frantically typed out antibiotics and painkillers for my tonsillitis, he was commenting how painful it looked - and I just smiled because I was worried that it was just a cold and a sore throat and that it was just in my mind.
I still got confused about the payment, the change was $40, but it cost me $13.80. Then the drugs cost me $30.

After the doctor, I started up the computer and got back to work. The combination of the stronger painkillers and knowing that my illness was identified and not just a cold - all meant that I was clearer and more active. My colleague found a major problem and resolved it, but then I found a major stumbling point. There were major inconsistencies in various parts of the user accounts, and the inconsistencies were themselves inconsistent. So I spent 3 hours fixing it all up, and then considered it all fixed. I just did one more check, and found that almost everything that I had done had been un-done. Strangely it did not affect every user account, and strangely it affected some users in different ways. To cut a long story short, I worked another 5 hours trying to fix it, and all the changes I was doing were un-doing themselves - there must be an automated process that I am unaware of. I will try again tomorrow.

After Thomas' post-lunch nap, we noticed a nasty rash all over his legs, and so immediately called the doctor's surgery. The recorded message said that the office was now closed, but to hold on and we cold book a doctor to come out to visit us. As Thomas was screaming and itching at the bubbly rash, we decided to book a doctor to come out. We were told that a doctor would be with us within an hour or two.
We called them back after the second hour, and they said that they would page the doctor to find out where he was. Thomas was much calmer, had stopped itching and the rash was almost completely gone.
After the third hour, I called them back to say that the doctor had still not arrived. They said that they would page the doctor to find out where he was. 2 minutes later he was at the door.
We were concerned that Thomas might be allergic to the penicillin for his chest infection, and that he was due to have another dose soon. The doctor suggested that we stop the penicillin as Thomas did not have any symptoms of a chest infection, but he wrote a prescription for another antibiotic in case the symptoms came back.
Thomas seems to be very stong and good and dealing with pain and infection - which we are all very happy about.

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Sunday 12th June 2005

Thomas slept from 7pm until 8:30am this morning without coughing or getting upset. Ann, however, had a bad night - she woke up with a very sore throat and aching all over. So I let Ann sleep and looked after Thomas. I am feeling much better (after only 4 doses of Penicillin and 4 hourly Panadeine Forte) but still know that I am sick.
Having said that, I decided to go outside (a beautiful blue sky but a bit windy), and did some DIY. I have now finished the top mould coving for the new kitchen cabinet that Liam and I built. It now looks so much better with the cabinet blending in with the rest of the kitchen. The last bit to finish is just the new benchtop next to the new kitchen.
Liam lent me his tenon saw and even went out and bought a new mitre box for me to cut the moulding at 45° on the corners, and it was incredibly helpful to have the right tools. The fine-toothed saw was harder work, but left a very fine edge on the wood, and the mitrebox was just the right size to hold the funny shaped moulding steady and guide my cutting. Once it was all screwed in and all the gaps sealed and smoothed, it looked really professional - even if I say so myself.

After a visit to some local garden centres, we visited Liam and Shirley for Sunday dinner. We had asked for the roast to be a bit earlier than their usual dinner time, so that Thomas could eat with us. The roast lamb was tremendous (as all Australian lamb is, succulent and tasty), and cooked to perfection. Thomas sat with us, but was not very compliant and embarassed us by throwing his food around and refusing to eat the lamb. Otherwise, we had a great time and have agreed to have them over to our place next weekend.

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Monday 13th June 2005

The Queen's Birthday bank holiday in Australia has been dry. The clouds have been looming and the wind has been strong, but the rain did not come until late evening.

Ann woke feeling terrible, so she had a bit of a lie-in again. Once she was up and dressed, I took the shower apart. I had to check on the dripping that has been getting worse - as it drips from such a height, it splashes and we are starting to get the first signs of mould growing on the grout. Once I got the taps apart and saw the valves, the washers were all worn and perished and needed replacing.
So, we all got in the car and went to the hardware store at the Village to get the washers and some fresh air and coffee. I got the washers and also some paint for the laundry which is a bit dismal - it's grey and very dark with no natural light and just a single bulb. Ann and I chose a warm yellow, and whilst the salesman was mixing the paint, he told us that we needed a grey undercoat for this colour - luckily the wall is already grey!

It was meant to be the start of the Australian ski season yesterday - but there has been a little bit of a problem for the opening parties and fireworks at the resorts in the Australian Alps. There is no snow. The snow machines have made some icy slush, but visitors who have had holidays booked for months are having to enjoy walks and the nightlife.
I hope next year to have an opportunity to take us all skiing in Australia. My father and I used to go ski-ing frequently when I was younger, and then I went with my cousin to his parents' chalet in France, and used to go almost every February or March. I miss my annual excercise.
Ann and I (and Thomas) went to France for a ski weekend when Ann was 3 months pregnant. We had a great time, I got some good skiing in and Ann enjoyed the mountains (although she needed more company). Next time I want to go when Thomas is old enough to be taught to ski and Ann can have a go too.
Recently my father bought a chalet in Austria. He has always loved Austrian architecture and atmosphere, and of course a place where he can go skiing from. It's a large place, but I'm sure he will have parties and take friends all year round - it sounds like he will heavily use it as his holiday home. It's a bit of a trip for us all to make for the ski season, but I am sure that we will take the family over to Austria a few times.

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Tuesday 14th June 2005

I came home from work today and found Ann was gushing with two things - snot from her cold, and excitement from her job interview today. Ann had an interview in the city for a position that had advertised two roles, and when Ann applied, she did not know which job was most applicable for her as her skills and experience fulfilled the requirements of both positions. Ann applied for both jobs, and so when the interview came, she did not know which position she was being interviewed for.
Ann was all excited about the job, and the company - and she thinks that she would be really happy there. They accepted that she had a cold so was not necessarily at her best, and Ann did a typing test, which she think that she did well.

Ann's cold is getting her down - the running nose is annoying her, and there is a growing pile of tissues next to the sofa. I have got Ann tucked in under the spare duvet, and I have been bringing her tea, steak egg and chips and lemsip to keep her comfortable.
Thomas is over his cold completely, he just has a moist nose and cold hands, but otherwise he just wants to run around and play. He is noisier than ever, which is not good for Ann's cold.
Thomas has now found where the play button is on his DVD player. He used to sit in the back room on his sofa, watching his Baby Einstein DVDs whilst Ann was doing housework or preparing his meals, and every time the DVD was finished, he would rush up to Ann and demand that it was started again. Now, he has learnt which button it is (and he is tall enough to reach it...) and so he can start his own DVD. He luckily has not yet found the eject button, which could cause a problem as I am sure he will break it.

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Wednesday 15th June 2005

Ann has been really bad today - virtually no sleep with her running nose, and too weak to do much. I took Thomas in to daycare today, and picked him up after work - which gave Ann time to rest and recover.

I pruned our grapevine and wisteria that are out the front of the house. Yet more instances when I can see the slapdash work of the previous owners. Parts of the vine were tied up with fuse wire, which not only cut into the vine and restricted it's growth, but also had rusted and snapped - when I pruned some of the growth, the vine nearly fell and snapped under it's own weight.
Due to the heavy rain - and hail this morning! - there have been some other indications of bad workmanship that I will have to fix. I noticed that the rear of the house has only one downpipe for the entire side of the house, and it just empties into the garden. Out the front, the rain just poured off the farthest corner of the guttering, and the 'storm drain' along the side of the car port is starting to 'float' out of the concrete - now the drain gutter is sticking up higher than the concrete, so the rain is now running under the concrete slab - I'm going to have to take it all out and re-seat it.

It's amazing what lengths people will go to - our discussion forum is getting people posting anonymous messages, with complimentary messages, and they contain a web site link to their 'online casino' or related page. The idea is, that the more links that they have out on pages on the Internet, the more people will access their site, and the more that search engines will think that their website is 'popular'.
It's happened before - people used to register, and include their website address as part of their registration, but as soon as I changed the registration to require a visual confirmation code, these stopped. The annoying thing about this 'online casino' person is that they post 20 or more messages at once, all from different computer IP addresses, so it's impossible to block them.
I have had to disable the ability to put web site links onto discussion forum messages - so some of the messages may look different. I have also had to set a limit of one message posted every 4 minutes.

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Thursday 16th June 2005

Ann had such a bad day yesterday that she wanted me to stay and help to look after Thomas today, so I did not go to work. Thomas is only allocated Tuesdays and Wednesdays for daycare, and today is Thomas' playgroup. I took Thomas up to Pedare (only 2 minutes drive away), for the playgroup. I did not know what to expect, but it was fun - Thomas was playing on all the toys and interacting with the other children, and I spent most of the time chatting to one of Ann's friends - Sheila - who migrated from England 3 months ago.

Ann went to the doctor, and was told that she had a virus, and that she was getting better so that treatment was not necessary. Ann is starting to feel better - which is good as we are running out of tissues - she has used nearly 3 boxes.

My father called me today, quite excited about the Ski Lodge in Austria. It's close to Kitzbühel and the ski areas of Kitzbuhel and St Johann, and the floorplan shows that it has 4 bedrooms on the first floor.
I am unsure if Terry will be using a management agency to look after the house when it is unoccupied, but he will probably just hire a local cleaner or find a friendly local who could do thinks like cleaning and preparing the house before someone comes and stays. As the house is for the use of Monodraught and not charged out by the day, I doubt that he will pay out for an agency to do the things that they do for commercial holiday homes.

If you want to see the pictures of the Ski Lodge, I've put them on this website, or you can see them from the Estate Agent's site.

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Friday 17th June 2005

Today the 'For Sale' sign appeared on the house next door. That now means that three houses in a row have changed hands in the last 2 months. We are really pleased with the asking price for the house next door, as it's slightly smaller than ours but advertised at 12% higher than our purchase price. Potentially, that means that our house has already increased in value by $23,000.
Just behind our house, on the main road, there are another three houses in a row that are also for sale, it must be contagious!

Linda brought Brendan over to the house today, which was good for Ann as she needed the company. Thomas was very confused as to why Brendan was not playing with him - but Brendan was just lying down and resting after his operation. He was not showing off his appendix scar, but was telling the story about his rushed visit to hospital.

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