Sunday 21st November 2004 Today we all decided to go down into central Adelaide to
try and see some cars from the Adelaide
Classic Car Rally. Ann is a petrol-head at heart, and I have always wanted
to go to see a car race like the Grand Prix.
So, we all went in to the heart of Adelaide, and started off by doing some window
shopping in 
Rundle
Mall. We needed to get some bin-liners for our rubbish bin that we brought
from the UK, and there is only one place that I have found that we could buy
them, and they had to order them in for me... Tediously boring, but it saved
a trip.
So, we then walked to Hutt Street, where Ann had heard that they were going
to shut off the street for the finishing of the rally. Unfortunately, Hutt Street
is very long, and we had started at the wrong end. About 20 minutes later, we
had walked nearly the whole length of Adelaide, and then we arrived at a very
crowded podium, with a large ramp up and a large ramp down. There were presenters
talking over a PA, and large crowds of mostly 30-something men wearing logos
for some car or another.
The crowds made it difficult for Ann and I to find somewhere to sit and rest,
and so we kept on walking until we got to a roadside restaurant that had spare
seats. Unfortunately, it was too far from the small podium for us to see anything,
but we had a good snack nonetheless. Thomas had a great time, we got a seat
under a tree, and he was amused by the leaves moving for at least an hour -
he was giggling and jabbering with great enthusiasm.
We did not get many photos of the Classic Car Rally, but
here
they are.
Thomas wanted to see what daddy has been doing at the computer
for 14 hours a day for the last 2 weeks, so he asked to sit next to Christian
in the end room. Ann took some good
photos
of Thomas, so have a look.
Ann has stumbled across some websites for ex-pats and people
who have migrated from England to Adelaide, so I have compiled them into their
own page. There are lots of people who have
migrated to Adelaide from England at some time in the past, nearly 100,000 -
that's 10% of the population.
Ann watched the final of Australian Idol tonight. She was most shocked at the result, as Casey has always struck us as unable to communicate verbally or sing well. It was interesting for us to find out the the most recent UK winner of Idol (Michelle McMannus) has done nothing since winning the competition. She was also a 'large' girl.
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I accidentally deleted the whole website last night, so I had to put it all back together again - so if anyone had a problem (or if you do in the future), just get in touch and I will make sure that the page you are looking for is put back up.
Ann and Thomas went to Kindermusic this morning. It's starting to get better, as the first session that Ann went to was a bit of a disaster, the teacher seemed totally lost and unable to keep control of the class. Ann initially complained (mostly because Ann had to pay up-front before the class began, and then did not like the class), and tried the next session. The second session was also bad, with Ann being the only one to turn up (obviously the other mothers didn't think it was any good either), but once Ann and Thomas were moved to another location and class, it has all got much better.
When I was getting Thomas out of his high-chair today, I was
struck at how Thomas can be very clever. Once I undid the belt buckle, I held
the shoulder straps forward, and Thomas tucked his arms in to get under the
straps - both arms at the same time, and without looking.
Also, Thomas will help when we get him dressed. He will hold his arms up when
we are taking off a t-shirt, and when putting a jumper on, he will put his right
arm up through the sleeve and then hold his left hand by his shoulder, ready
for the next arm. Pretty soon, he will be able to dress himself! Providing he
stops playing with his clothes and trying to eat them.
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Thomas awoke with some nasty scratches on the small of his
back. At first, we had no idea what could have caused them, but then when we
were changing his nappy, we noticed that the size ticket on his shorts was very
rough and sharp - so obviously it had been annoying him and he had itched at
it - which made it worse.
By the end of the day, the scratches had cleared up.
I had to trim Thomas' finger nails today, because they were getting very long
and were sharp. He was very calm whilst I got my penknife out and snipped at
his tiny little fingers. At least now when he grabs at our faces, he won't leave
marks any more.
We wandered up to the Golden Grove Village Shopping Centre, just to get some fresh fruit. Now that we have found a new route, we can walk almost the whole journey without having to go up and down some steep hills.
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Thomas and Ann did well in the swimming lesson at Golden Grove State Swim. The photos that were taken last week were up on the noticeboard, but all the ones of Thomas were not very good - his expression was either annoyed or preoccupied.
It was a quite normal 31°C today, with not a cloud in the sky. It's summer next week, and they are predicting the temperature will stay between 31°C and 36°C for the next 5 days. There have already been grassfires around Adelaide, and they expect more.
No news on any jobs today. The whole December to February time is slow for recruitment, it's school summer holidays, and many businesses take time off around Christmas and New Year.
I have started to write a section all about
our
migration, but it's quite short at the moment. I will be adding to it over
the coming months.
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It was 37°C today, the sky is blue and the sun is shining
it's happy face on everything. The air conditioner in our house has been in
use for a few hours here and there, and it's quite good at getting the temperature
down. Thomas has had the fan in his bedroom going without causing him any problems
- but his room is still at 29°C.
It has been so sunny today that both Ann and I have nearly scalded ourselves
on the water from the tap. The cold tap.
If we get 5 days of temperatures over 35°C, then it's officially a scorcher.
They are predicting at least 5 days of this temperature.
It's too hot for me to make my next batch of home-brew. The
wort needs to be kept under 30°C and
the bathroom temperature is 32°C. It's a pity, as I am running low on my
last batch - it goes down so well that I can have a couple of pints a night.
The job at Hostworks annoyed me today. I had my second interview with them over a month ago, and had called them 4 times to ask if a decision had been made. I called them again today and they said that I did not get the job and that I "should have" got a letter already.
We washed all the bedclothes that are on the bed in the spare room, so that my mother can have a fresh bed when she stays over Christmas. I also decided to was the duvet, as we have a large washing machine. When the duvet was washed, I put it on the line and it was dry within 30 minutes.
This evening it was cooler outside than indoors. Ann and I
sat out on our garden furniture that we
brought from
England, and had a glass of wine and watched the
sunset
and took some
photos. It was a really tranquil
evening.
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Thanksgiving Day (US)
Friday seems to be our shopping day. We went early to miss the crowds, and were pleasantly surprised at the air conditioned coolness of the shopping centre. As we were driving in, we noticed that the servo (petrol service station) had a price of 92c a litre, so we decided to get some petrol after our shopping. We went around and bought all our bits and pieces, then by the time we got out of the car park and went to fill up, the price had risen to 107c a litre. That 15c jump had happened in the space of two hours! The price will probably be back to the mid 90s by the middle of next week.
It was very strange to walk around the shopping centre to the tunes of "let it snow" and "I hope it snows at Christmas", when the outside temperature was 35°C. When we were shopping in Woolworths for our food, we were dismayed at a 2 metre tall robotic santa, singing carols in what seemed to be a deliberately slowed and deepened voice, like the batteries were running low. It was scary. Thomas loved it though, and when Ann pushed the shopping trolled to the Christmas aisle, Thomas was pointing and smiling at Santa.
This evening Ann and I decided to go out to the seaside for
a meal. So, we left Thomas with his grandparents (with just a few hours notice
- isn't it great to have them around, that's why we came to Adelaide!) over
night and went down to
Glenelg.
We walked around Holdfast Shores Marina, looking in on the many restaurants
and bars. We avoided some of the seafood-only places, and settled on the 7th
restaurant that we looked at, and settled down with a view of the sun setting
over the Southern Ocean.
As the sun set, the sky turned orange, and then pink, and then ended with a
vibrant crimson red line on the horizon, which seemed to last for ages. As the
sky darkened and the lights came on, a warm breeze broke the 30°C heat at
9pm.
After a disappointing meal (Ann's fish was so tasteless that even I could eat
it), we slipped off our shoes and walked on the fine golden sands under the
full moon. The ocean was lapping silently on the beach, and the restaurants
were vibrant with their chatter, music and sounds of people enjoying themselves.
As we got closer to the jetty, there were more teenagers, and the noises of
teenage larrikins filled the hot, still air. We could hear the sound of high-powered
motorbikes bouncing off the historic buildings, and as we walked though we saw
a line of well over 50 expensive motorbikes lined up in front of the post office,
with proud owners showing off their chromed and polished symbols of power and
masculinity.
By the time we got home, it was still 30°C, and I got a call from my mother. She will be over here within 10 days.
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