Saturday
16th April 2005 A day of packing for us. Ann and I took the advantage of
Thomas' lunchtime snooze to pack most of the stuff, so much so that we have
now run out of boxes. It's not really a problem as we have enough to do the
job. I did not realise how much stuff we have, until we got it out of the cupboards,
wrapped up in newspapers and into boxes.
I spent most of the morning cleaning the barbeque - I had to use oven cleaner
and wire brushes, but at least now it will be possible to pick it up without
getting covered in grease. Yesterday I popped out to get some rubber gloves
from the $2 shop, and got lots of disposable cleaning products and protective
gear. Whilst cleaning the barbie, I got through three scourers and 5 pairs of
gloves.
It's now cooled down enough that we can go up to the 
park
with Thomas and play on the swings. This afternoon we all walked up to the top
of the hill, but for some reason Thomas was not very interested in the swing,
but now he is very extremely excited by the slides. We kept on being asked to
lift Thomas up to the top of the slide, and then I had to get up there to make
sure that Thomas did not dive down the slide face first, or otherwise hurt himself.
The playground had recently had a fresh layer of woodchips laid under the equipment,
and Thomas had great fun in running his hands through the flakes, and picking
out the almond shells that were still in their husks.
After the playground, we decided to go up to the "Fasta Pasta" at the top of the hill. We got there only a few minutes after it opened, and it was lucky we got there when we did, as the place quickly filled up with other families with small children, and nearly every table had a highchair. Fasta Pasta is aimed at high speed delivery, and once we ordered, the food was on the table within a few minutes. Thomas had the best chicken nuggets and chips that we have ever had for him, and Ann and I had great meals too. Along with Thomas' children's meal, we got a free soft drink and an ice-cream. Ann chose vanilla in a cone, and got Thomas started on it. When Thomas got his chance to suck on the ice cream, his face screwed up with shock at the cold, but he was straight back for more. Eventully he took the cone from Ann and then immediately turned the cone over and started to eat the cone instead of the ice-cream. He found the cone more interesting that the ice-cream - a lesson for next time (Ann will have the ice-cream and Thomas will have the cone!).
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Another day of packing and cleaning. Cathy and Katia came over to pick up the small fridge that we had borrowed when we first moved in. They came in for a coffee and a chat, and we went on to the Internet to find Cathy a hotel room in Melbourne for a trip that she it taking next weekend, and she was telling us that they are taking a flight back, after a train from Adelaide to Melbourne - 11 hours during the day.
That reminded me of a few experiences that I had a while ago
on long train journeys. Most years, I would go skiing with my cousin John and
his girlfriend (now wife), Susie, some of their friends, and my friend Oliver.
We would get from London to the French Alps by train, on the overnight "Snow
Train" from Calais to Albertville at the base of the mountains. We would
get on a coach in London, cross the Channel, and then get on the train late
in the evening. Almost all of the passengers on the train would be loaded down
with two main things - their ski wear and duty-free alcohol in large amounts.
When we found our cabin, it was six-berth sleeper, which was three-level bunk-beds.
After cramming all of our bags in, and arguing over who was going in which bunk,
we then headed to the highlight of the train - the 'disco car'. This was simply
an empty carriage, with a few bench seats and a corner bar. Most of the passengers
had brought their own duty free into the carriage - most times we travelled
a total stranger would hand me a tepid can of beer. As the train hurtled through
the French night, the people in the disco carriage would be thrown from side
to side whenever the train went around a corner, which would be great fun for
the semi-drunk revellers. The disco lights consisted of the guy behind the bar
switching off the red lights and then switching on the yellow lights, and the
music was either a ghettoblaster or a CD Discman with some little speakers -
but everyone was having a great time.
When it came to get to bed for the 7 hour journey, the difficulty was that everyone
else on the train wanted to carry on partying like first year University students,
running up and down the corridors and going in to the wrong cabins, but we all
wanted to get some sleep. We all knew that we needed to get plenty of rest,
as when we arrive at 6am, there was the opportunity to get a whole day's skiing
in.
One thing that Oliver and I found one year when we went by ourselves was that
all the 20-something lads who were laden down crates of duty free beer then
had to try and struggle to carry them up from the transfer coach to their chalet
- through the snow and ice, whilst also carrying their snowboard and skiwear.
It was very funny to watch them sliding around and smashing litre bottles of
vodka on the ice and ending up on their bums.
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Today I had my interview for the permanent position at the University in the Exchange and Applications department. I dressed up in my best suit and made sure that I something to eat before the interview but not too much to drink. It was strange having an interview with people that I already knew, when they were asking me to describe my personality. It was also a bit strange when they described scenarios for me to resolve, where I already knew the history and extra information that would allow me to focus my answers towards the actual environment. When I finished the interview, I passed the next candidate in reception, but chose not to wish him luck.
Ann has still not heard back about the job that she was interviewed for a week ago. It would have been good if Ann had been able to start work before we moved, so that she would have had the opportunity to get a feel for the business - like when I started at the University for a week before Christmas, it made the entire Christmas period more relaxed. But then again, I'm thinking as if Ann has already been selected for the job! We just don't know at this moment.
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Ann has still heard nothing yet about her job. She called up, but everyone was unavailable and the person that she spoke to did not know if the decision had been made yet.
On the other side, I found out today about the job interview that I had yesterday. I was called into a meeting where the decision was explained to me. They explained that I had all the technical skills and abilites to get the position, but that I would not be a good fit within the rest of the team. As they explained, it made total sense and I knew that they had really understood me and the way that I work - much more than anyone else I have previously worked with. It's good to have the decision explained in such a good way, and so I will be carrying on with the job that I am enjoying and doing well in right now.
It was the last astronomy class tonight, and again I volunteered
to stand up in the aquarium planetarium and talk to the class
about some stars. I talked about some of the best places to look with a small
telescope (along the Milky Way, above the Southern Cross), and then gave my
method of remembering the names of stars in and around Orion - which is difficult
to explain in writing, but everyone thought that it was great and I got a big
laugh and a round of applause - which I enjoyed.
I decided that I enjoyed it so much that I will do it again. I spoke to the
guys who run the astronomy club and they are happy for me to present a 45 minute
to 1 hour presentation to the rest of the 'SuperNova' club during one of their
three-weekly events.
At daycare today, Thomas had the best day ever. He was playing with the other children and had a second helping of his lunchtime chicken curry. There was still a little bit of seperation anxiety, but he is having a great time.
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In the news over the last few days has been a shocking story about a golfer who was killed when a branch fell off a tree and hit her on the head. It was a calm day with no wind, and it has been sunny and calm for the last few weeks, but the 13 metre long branch just fell out of the blue directly on to her.
Obviously the news has also been full of Pope Benedict 16th, and more about Camilla and something about ITV making a film about the early years of the relationship with Charles. A funny item that I found on the Internet was about a rabbit called Toby - a guy in America is threatening to kill, cook and eat his pet rabbit unless he gets US$50,000 in donations. Suprisingly he already has US$25,000. It reminds me a bit of the old Bonsai Kitten joke website, but this guy is making money. Now all I need is my own original idea, and a website!
I've made a small change to the homepage of the website - the weather section was delaying the loading of the whole of the rest of the page, so I have moved the weather a bit down the page to reduce the time when the page was nearly empty.
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I was involved in a small car accident today. There is a patch
of road that goes past the airfield, Main North Road, with a speed limit of
100Km/h, and the accident happened on the patch of the road where the limit
drops to 80Km/h. There had been another accident about an hour earlier, but
it had slowed down that part of the road so much that there were many other
smaller accidents.
Anne and I were driving to work in the traffic, had just got up to 100Km/h and
then noticed that the traffic in my lane was slowing up very quickly, so I slammed
on my brakes and managed to stop before hitting the car in front. I looked in
my rear view mirror and saw a car approaching very fast up behind me, and braced
for impact, as there was nowhere that I could go. He hit me at only around 5Km/h,
but it still made a large jolt and threw stuff around in the car. In my rear-view
mirror I could see other cars approaching even faster, but they were able to
pull off the road into the verge - there were probably more accidents in the
traffic behind as the traffic piled up.
When I met with the driver who hit me, he looked at the damage to our cars and
was more concerned than I was. There was a crease and bump and a bit of flaked
paintwork on my bumper and the front of his car was quite badly cracked and
broken. We looked in my boot to see if there was any damage and we could not
see any major damage - but I am going to take my car in to have it looked at
as soon as we are moved in.
Unfortunately Ann also had a less than good day today. She did not get selected for the job that she was interviewed for last week. They said that there was someone else that had more experience recently with dealing with court documents. Ann will keep on looking.
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We are both very tired today because we have been moving into
our new house! We got the house around 1pm, but I had been sitting outside the
house in the car, because the electricity company had told us that we had to
be at the house between 12pm and 5pm for the supply to be connected.
When I say we got the house, it was really just the offical ownership - the
old owners were still there packing up. They got out of the house a little after
1pm, but for the rest of the afternoon they were coming in and taking more stuff
that they had left outside the house, like the dog kennels and the larger of
the children's toys.
Once Ann and I got into the house, we started to clean. Luckily the house was
in a relatively good state, and the wooden floors makes it easier to keep clean.
We then started to unload both cars, piling up the boxes that we have been packing
over the last few weeks into the 'spare' bedroom at the back. We did a few journeys,
and even used Liam and Shirley's car to bring in another load.
Thomas was kept amused at the old house by Liam and Shirley for a few hours, and then when it was time to take Thomas to the new house, he got really excited. He loved being able to stand in the corridor and look up at the ceiling fans in the three bedrooms all at once. He will have a great time in his new bedroom with his new fan too look up at! Thomas also had a bit of a run around his new play area at the back of the house which is all secure and paved. We have not yet let him into the garden or the sandpit, as the previous owners had dogs and so I need to clean up first.
The guy from the electricity company never turned up, but the electricity and gas are connected already. Ann called up to find out why he never turned up, and Origin said that they did not know why Ann had been told that someone should be at the house. We were both furious, as throughout the day we had been very careful to ensure that someone was at the new house at all times, when we could have been loading up more boxes to move!
We have been so efficient with moving the boxes that we have already packed, we are confident that when the furniture is moved on Wednesday, we will have already moved most of the smaller stuff by Monday.
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