Tuesday 21st September 2004The weather today was a refreshing spring 29° with not a cloud in the sky.
Ann and I took Thomas along to his arranged swimming lesson at StateSwim Golden
Grove. We knew that Thomas would love swimming because of his enjoyment of bath
time - but we did not know how he would react to the chlorine in the water,
and not being supported by his bath seat.
We decided that Thomas should be supported by Daddy in the pool, and Mummy outside
watching. Once we arrived, I went in to get changed into my swimmers in the
boys changing, and Ann took off Thomas' shorts and T-shirt, as he already had
his waterproof nappy "little swimmers" underneath. After a wait for
the last class to finish up, Thomas and I got into the warm water to wait for
instructions. We introduced ourselves to the pretty young instructor, and Thomas
gave her a flirting smile - which got the session off to a good start. Thomas
seemed a little confused by the water at first, and did not kick around as much
as we were expecting.
The class of 5 other babies and their mothers was structured around 6 nursery-rhymes
that encouraged the babies to understand what was happening. We used an inflated
ring, and other times I just held Thomas whilst he was encouraged to splash
and wriggle in the water. As it was our first time, we made lots of mistakes
with the group singing and the associated movements - mostly caused by my lack
of knowledge of the hokey-pokey and incy-wincy spider. Thomas really loved the
whole 30 minutes, but we were expecting some complaints from him when we took
him out of the water, but luckily he was OK. Then came the confusion of how
to get the chlorine water off Thomas, and me, at the same time, with the boys
changing room only having a concrete floor. So, we had to juggle with Thomas
coming into the boys changing room for a shower, then being handed to mummy
so that he could be dressed, whilst I had a shower and got into dry clothes.
Next time, we will take the push-chair into the changing rooms so that Thomas
can be put down whilst one of us gets dressed.
After the swim, Ann booked Thomas in for another 10 lessons on every Tuesday morning. We all got home a little tired (maybe the warm weather did it, or the excitement of swimming), and found that we had forgotten to take any bread out of the freezer for making sandwiches at lunch. So, we were a little naughty and had a meal at a restaurant for lunch. It seems an un-necessary expense, but it ended up that we did not have any dinner.
I had been invited out for drinks with one of the agencies that has been trying to place me in roles. The drinks was in the CBD, in an 'English' pub - and they provided a free bar and plates of nibbles. It was great to drink pints from a proper pint glass again (not a "schooner" or half-pint), and the nibbles were very Australian - mini pikelets, mini meat pies and sauce. I was the only person out of around 70 who was not employed - the agency had invited me when they thought that I was going to be selected for another role, because the drinks is for all their currently placed contractors. I got a taxi home from the drinks, and it cost $35 to go 30km. I asked the taxi driver what he thought it would cost to go from the Airport to Golden Grove on Christmas day, and he estimated $55 (£22), which we might need for when my father arrives on Christmas day.
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Thomas' second birthday party today! No, the birthday was not for him, but
for Anna. We went to the Hungry Jacks between Fulham and Henley Beach to celebrate
Anna's 3rd birthday. Kyle and Heather had arranged for food and drinks to be
provided to all the children and parents, and we were all outside by the children's
play area. I have put up the 
photos
of that day.
Thomas coped very well with his chicken nuggets and fries - he ate pretty much
all of it, and even tasted some of the ice-cream birthday cake. All the other
children were girls, and they were all walking, so they were able to play on
the slides and climbing frame.
Thomas had thrown some of his fries on the floor, and one of the children that
was not with us had noticed them on the floor. The little boy was a little round
thing, and he saw the chip in the soft play-mat surface that was under the play
area. He focused in on the food, ran over, and stuffed the chip in his mouth.
Then he offered the part that he was holding to Thomas (which Thomas thankfully
declined) and then tried offering the chip to all the other children. We don't
know where the boy's parents were, but he looked as if he was keen on his food.
When we got home, Thomas had been really good all day, so we put him down for a snooze. Later on in the evening, we think that Thomas took his first steps. We have been holding Thomas upright for some weeks now, and he enjoys being on his feet. He is very unsteady, so we have to support him, but he had in the past always had his feet firmly fixed to the floor. We had tried tipping him, to encourage him to put one foot out in order to steady himself, but he had never moved his feet - until today! When we tipped Thomas, he put one foot out, and then the other. It really looked like he was trying to walk. It was a bit trying for him to take two steps, so he stopped and we both congratulated him on his efforts.
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An eventful day today. The schedule was very full of arrangements. In the morning,
Thomas and Ann went off to their usual physio appointment to develop Thomas'
walking skills, and I had to stay at home so that the new roof could be put
on.
The small outside area that is next to the
dining
room had had a new roof built, and this was to be installed. The owners
of our house are in the metalwork business, and they had some of their people
come and install a metal frame with corrugated smoked plastic sheeting. It looks
very simple, and I don't know that it will offer much rain protection (unless
the rain is coming straight down and there is no wind), or much sun protection
(unless the sun is at a particular angle), but it's good to have all the same.
Then, once Ann and Thomas had come back, the blind man came over. We had told
the landlady about our holland blinds (roller blinds) falling apart in the bedroom,
and so she had arranged for them to be replaced. This man came over to measure
up, and we first thought that Laurence
Llewelyn-Bowen had arrived, and then when I shook his hand, I knew that
this guy was a bit more camp than that.
Ann was chatting to him, and describing why she did not like the curtains -
saying that they were "yucky". After he confirmed that that was a
valid technical term for the curtains, we also showed him the vertical blinds
in the lounge room. We explained that the curtains smelt badly of BO when you
get too close, and asked him to smell them. He was not keen to touch them because
of our description, but then he held his limp wrist up to them and dived in
for a deep sniff. He left shortly after.
Another major event today was my job interview at the SA
Ambulance Service. The role is for a Project Manager for a new system that
they are trying to get into place that will integrate the metropolitan fire,
ambulance, police, country fire and rescue services (SAPOL,
SAAS, CFS,
SA-SES, SAMFS)
call distribution. This will allow a 000 call (that's a 999 call for all you
English people) to be passed to the right agencies in the correct way, and allow
the call centre to be able to know where every ambulance etc. is, and send the
call to the closest available emergency
unit.
The job is interesting because of my history with dealing with the London
Ambulance Service, and because of experiences that I got with their call
dispatch and the on-board computers in the ambulances - it wasn't much, but
it's still more than any of the South Australians who are applying for the job
too.
The interview went really, really well, and so I am feeling very hopeful about
it. They were pleased with my answers - even giving murmurs of appreciation
and satisfaction after I had answered each of their questions. I was able to
give the anecdotes and stories of the way that things are done in London, to
show them that I have lots of ideas and will be really helpful in this project.
The salary is not huge, but ample, but it's a 12 month to 3 year contract instead
of a full time role.
If you are reading this and are from the LAS (I
know
you read this...) then get
in touch...
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After the excitement of yesterday, today has been a bit slow. The usual shopping trips and cleaning the house, fighting with Thomas when he is trying to play with his food rather than eat it, and searching for jobs.
Before I left the UK, I sent all my P45s and P60s for the last 4 years off to a company who was going to do a tax return for every year, to attempt to claim back some tax. The main thing is that when I left, I had only been working for around a month in the financial year, and the first £4500 of earnings in a tax year is tax-free (that allowance is normally spread over the year, so most people don't notice it). So, I gave them all my original documents, signed some Inland Revenue papers and hoped that they would get it all correct. In the last 5 months, I have had 2 calls and 3 emails from them, each time asking me if I really want them to do my tax return. I got really frustrated the last time they contacted me, and so I told them that I had already approved the request, and had already given them all paperwork, but that nothing had happened since they last contacted me. They apologised and said they would start working on it - but then they asked me to sign a document. The document was just the last page of a 55 page Self-Assesment tax return for the Inland Revenue, and there was a box stating "I, the undersigned, agree that the information I have given in this Tax Return is correct and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief" - and so they wanted me to sign before they had done any work! It's frustrating, but I need to try and get back some tax, as I think I have several thousand owing to me.
Today I have been drinking my home-brew beer.
As I said before, I tried to filter some, and left the other half unfiltered.
The unfiltered beer was very cloudy (and looker unappetising), and the filtered
beer was completely clear. After about 5 days, the bottled that had the cloudy
beer had gone hard (from the secondary fermentation which makes the beer fizzy),
but the filtered beers had stayed squishy. I was a little worried that the filtering
process had removed too much yeast, and so the secondary fermentation would
not take place, leaving a flat beer.
To my amazement, after 9 days of secondary fermentation in the bottle, all the
beers had cleared up completely. The milky haze of the unfiltered beers had
settled to the bottom, leaving a clear beer. Also, the filtered bottles had
gone hard, and there was almost as much dead yeast sediment as the unfiltered
beers. So, after all the effort to filter the beer - it seems to make no difference.
The taste test went quite well - there was no difference between the filtered
and unfiltered beer in either taste or fizziness. The beer is a little nutty
and more "full" than the beer that I drink here - but then again the
beer I normally drink in Australia is a "light" beer with only 2%
alcohol.
That brings me on to the next question - exactly how much alcohol is there in
my new beer? The short answer is 3.5%, the long answer is that the specific
gravity of the wort was 1.035 and after primary fermentation it was 1.009 (the
water here has a specific gravity of 1.002), finding the change in the SG (1035-1009)
and dividing it by the proportion of sugar that turns to alcohol (7.46) means
that in the 5 gallons of beer is 3.5% pure alcohol.
When I used to brew my own cider when I was in University, the alcohol rate
was 12% to 15% for each batch - no wonder only two pints got me drunk!
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Today is a big day in Australian life, and an important day for Adelaide. This
is the "one day in September" when they have the AFL Grand Final in
the MCG at Melbourne, if you are English, think of this as the final of the
FA Cup and the Premiership at once. The Australian Football League (AFL)
is along the same lines of the Premier League in England, but there are only
16 clubs
spread around Australia, and there is no relegation or promotion.
The Grand Final is always held at the 100,000 seater (currently 78,000 seater
because of development) Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG),
and this year it was unusual because neither of the teams in the Grand Final
were from the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is. The two teams playing were
the Brisbane Lions, and Port
Adelaide Power.
Port Adelaide were the underdogs, because the Lions have won for the last 3
years. The other interesting thing is that Port Adelaide have only been competing
in the AFL since 1997, before that they were playing in the SANFL
against teams like Sturt and Central. This is the first time that Port Adelaide
have got into the final. I keep referring to them as Port Adelaide and not just
Adelaide, because there is another team called the Adelaide
Crows, which did not get into the final...
I managed to watch the last quarter, and it was a very exciting match. As I have said before, Australian Football is very fluid and fast moving, lots of action to watch, and high scores. Whilst I was watching the last 20 minute quarter, Port Adelaide scored 5 times, and Brisbane only once. Port Adelaide won the Grand Final by 40 points with a score of 17.11 (113) to 10.13 (73). The first digit is the number of times the ball was kicked between the main posts (6 points for a goal), then a dot, then the number of times the ball went between the outer posts, or if it went between the larger posts without being kicked (1 point for a behind). The total is in brackets and is all that matters at the end.
Ann did not watch the football with me, because she was off with Linda and
some of Linda's friends, having a "clothes party". Imagine a tupperware
party where the ladies buy clothes instead. Ann was there with around 8 girls
there, and the party went on for a few hours. Once the party had finished, some
girls went home, and Ann and a few others remained for drinks and pizza, whilst
watching the footie Grand Final.
Ann called me (just as I had started to give Thomas his tea of last night's
leftovers) and invited me over, so Thomas and I dropped over for a bit of pizza
and a chat. The house that we went to is right on the edge of a conservation
area, nestled in the hills at Vista. A really wonderful setting, and Peter and
Helen's house was very much what Ann and I want to end up having. As soon as
I arrived, Helen showed us around their home, describing what was wrong with
the layout, because they are trying to extend their home at the moment.
After returning home late, Thomas and Ann went straight to bed.
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