Saturday
29th January 2005 Some of my blog entries recently have been shorter than normal
- I assure you that there is an explanation for this...
The keyboard that I have on my desktop computer is connected through USB. The
keyboard also has two USB sockets in it, where the mouse and keyboard are connected
- this means that one USB socket on the computer is driving 3 devices (which
is well below the limit of 16 devices per socket). But, sometimes the keyboard
stops responding - but the mouse keeps working. This can happen at any time,
and unfortunately this can mean that I loose work. When I have written a whole
load into the blog, and then can't save it, I normally can't be bothered to
type it all again, so I end up just putting in the bare minimum...
So, today, Eleanor and I went out shopping, and she bought me a replacement keyboard. It actually works, and it includes a wireless mouse, and most interestingly - a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader is great fun, and Ann or I can log on to the computer just by touching the fingerprint scanner. It also has a tool that stores all my usernames and passwords, so when I want to go to a web email site or go to someone else's discussion forum, I only need to touch the fingerprint reader to log in.
We also bought some insect barrier spray, which I can use to protect the house from the increasing incursion of creepy-crawlies that seem to be all over the house. We have ants on the mouthwash bottle, earwigs crossing the lounge room, and cockroaches leaping out from dark corners. Even worse, when I squash a cockroach, the next day there is a little swarm of ants eating the residue that I did not manage to scrape up.
Ann had her hair cut today - an efficient and practical short cut, the way I love it, and it really looks good. Ann has been bothered by the amount of hair that she had, and it really did need a cut. She is now going up to the Highlander Shopping Centre at the top of the hill between Greenwith and Golden Grove - the same place that Thomas gets his hair cut.
Eleanor is now booked to go to New Zealand on Thursday. She will be away for nearly 2 weeks, and then as soon as she comes back, she will be off to Kuala Lumpur. I'm not sure if Eleanor will be able to meet up with everyone she knows that will be down there, but at least Eleanor will get the chance to enjoy the scenery.
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Last night's stargazing was really good. The night sky was
very clear, and I could see stars down to a magnitude
of 5 with the naked eye, and with the telescope down to a magnitude
of around 8 or 9. This meant that I could see more than the starcharts
were showing me.
I would have spent a bit more time out looking, but I was getting tired and
wanted to go to bed. I packed up my telescope and went to bed content.
Today I wanted to spray insect killer and barrier spray around
the house, but before I started, I wanted to clean the window frames and door
frames. This was a task in itself, as not only did I have to remove dead insects
and cobwebs, but the accumulated mud and muck that was in the tracks.
Finally, I cleaned and wiped, so then I could spray. The outdoor spray was pretty
much odourless, but the indoor spray made both my mother and I feel a little
ill. As Eleanor had been cleaning the windows with window cleaner, she had the
added effects of that and was quite queasy.
So, we went to the Village and did some shopping to get out of the house.
When we returned, the house still smelt strongly, and so we opened the windows and doors to let some breeze through. The redback spiders in the shed were now dead and hanging in their own webs.
During all of this, Ann and Thomas were out having fun with Heather & Anna, and Heather's friend Lisa and her children James (5) and Owen (20 months). They met up for a chin-wag and to let the children play. Thomas enjoyed digging up Heather's garden and eating party cakes! We gave Thomas a bath tonight and the bath water turned a dark grey colour, which can only be good for the plants - every time Thomas has a bath, I gather up the water and put it onto the garden.
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It's back to school time for most children today. Last week,
when we went to see Cathy, we asked when Julia was returning to school. Julia
did not know - thinking that it may be next week, or February 1st.
This reminded me of something that happened to me when I was younger. When I
was at boarding school, every month we would have an 'exeat', which was really
just a weekend when we would go home. My mother would drive from East Devon
to North Devon (an hour's drive), and collect my brother and me from school,
then we would have a weekend at home and be driven back to school to be in our
dormitories by bedtime on Sunday.
One year, there was a very large forest fire that started one Sunday afternoon.
We were all unaware of the fire, and so when my mother was driving us back to
school, the Police forced her to double-back on our journey and then we got
stuck in traffic and it ended up that we took nearly 2 hours. My brother and
I were very concerned, as we knew that we would get punished for being late.
We were egging my mother on to drive faster so that we would not get into trouble,
and so she was obviously as concerned as we were. When we got to school, instead
of just dropping us at the main gates and kissing us goodbye as all mothers
did, Eleanor came with us so that she could speak to the Head Matron to explain
the issue, to avoid punishment.
As expected, the Hitler-in-a-skirt decided that she did not believe the story
(even though the fire was reported on the news) and that my brother and I should
be punished for not leaving enough time to make the return journey. Obviously
this upset everyone in my family, particularly the punishment that my brother
and I had to endure. It's very different here, where Julia does not even know
what day she is meant to return to school on.
At work today, we were joined by a 18 year old trainee who is doing a TAFE course in computing. He is going to be working 2½ days a week for 12 months. After working with him for a while, I was amazed by his existing knowledge and his ability to resolve problems.
Today was quite a big one as far as Thomas was concerned -
he has not had the guts to start walking unaided yet, and tonight, in front
of Liam, Shirley and Eleanor, Thomas stood unaided for about 3 seconds, and
then took his first step - immediately followed by dropping to the ground where
he felt safer.
This shows that Thomas is willing to make the step (plenty of pun intended)
of trying to walk unaided. He has the strength and balance, just not the nerve.
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Yesterday Eleanor was taken to Strathalbyn by Liam and Shirley
(which is why they were all over to see Thomas' first step). They all had a
great time, but Eleanor was a bit tired as she is not used to being in the back
seat for so long...
Last night we decided at the last minute to go out for dinner - but when we
got to the top of the road to the Chinese/Thai/Indian restaurant, we found that
it was closed. So instead we decided to drive down to North Adelaide and select
from their dozens of fine restaurants. We ended up selecting an Italian-style
restaurant, where we had great service and great food. Thomas was not as well
behaved as he normally is, but he was very tired - by the time we got home,
dressed him for bed and gave him his bottle, he was asking to be carried to
bed - and it seemed like he fell asleep before his head was on the mattress.
Today they predicted rain, and it came. The day started out quite cloudy, but with patches of blue. Then in the late morning, the rain was coming down in buckets. There was a lucky lull around lunchtime for people to do things, and then it rained a bit more for the rest of the day.
Eleanor and Ann stayed at home, and Eleanor took advantage
of the slightly cooler weather to walk up the hill to the Village to pick up
her tickets for her trip to New Zealand. Once Eleanor got the tickets at the
weekend, she took a couple of brochures and then looked at hotels. Then on Sunday,
we went on to the Internet and tried to book with the hotels directly. The most
important was the hotel for the first night, as she is arriving in Christchurch
at near to midnight, so would need to have a bed already arranged instead of
hunting for a hotel when she got there.
When we looked up on the website to find out if we could extend beyond the first
night, all other dates were booked up. So we rushed and booked that first night
to ensure that at least one night was arranged. Then we started hunting for
other hotels. It was lucky that the first hotel had indicated to us that we
should arrange for rooms on Sunday and not leave it until later this week, as
our hunting found that only one hotel in Christchurch was available in one uninterrupted
booking for the entire 2 week period. So, we booked everything on the Internet
and now my mother is all reserved.
There are three people that Eleanor can catch up with in Christchurch; my brother's
old girlfriend Claire, Eleanor's friend from school (50 years ago) Liz, and
the daughter of one of Eleanor's friends, Rebecca. What a coincidence to have
so many people down in New Zealand all at the same time!
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What interesting weather. It got as high as 20°C today, but it also was hailing at some stages. The hail came down so hard and heavy in Mawson Lakes that the ground looked like it had been snowing. Strangely enough, within 5 minutes of the hail stopping, the sun came out, shone down the SunPipes into the office, and all the hail had melted. 30 minutes later the pavements were dry and the sky was blue.
Ann, Shirley and Eleanor went to the Harbour
Town outlet shopping village on the outskirts of the Adelaide International
Airport. They were going to look for formal
suits and clothes for Ann to look good in when she goes to any interviews. Unfortunately
Ann could not find any good clothes, and when Ann came home there was a "thanks
but no thanks" letter from one of her job applications.
Thomas had also been a bit grouchy all day and so it was all a bit wearing for
Ann. We decided to have a takeaway from the Chinese/Indian/Thai Oriental Fusion
restaurant up the road.
A bit of good news came in today, relating to our visit to
"Barossa
Under The Stars" concert that Ann and I are going to for Ann's birthday.
I originally bought the tickets, hoping that we would be able to get a hotel
room in the Barossa before the concert to see The
Beach Boys and Bjorn
Again. But, even though I bought the tickets to the concert on the day that
they became available, all the hotel rooms were fully booked. We considered
getting a taxi to take us there and back, but the quote was over $300. We finally
decided that we would drive there and back.
Fortunately, Ann had asked the best location (the Barossa
Novotel) if we could go on a waiting list. And today they called and told
us that we could have a studio apartment, and that it was at a reduced cost.
The Novotel is
a luxury resort, with views over the Barossa Valley, directly overlooking Jacob's
Creek. Ann and I are very excited.
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More wild weather today. It was wet and grey, with some wind thrown in. They said that yesterday was the first time in February that it had hailed in Adelaide for over 30 years. Also, Melbourne has had the heaviest rainfall on record.
Eleanor flew to Melbourne today. It was the first leg of her journey to Christchurch in New Zealand. Unfortunately, due to the timing of the departure, she had to take all of her luggage to the dentist, and then have a car meet her there to take her to the airport. It ended up that the 90 minute dentist appointment (all future appointments rolled into one), only took 30 minutes, so she had to kill an hour in the Tea Tree Plaza shopping centre.
Once Eleanor got to Melbourne, she could see the flooding and impact of the weather below, but she was in luxury, being the only passenger in business class - she had a hostess to herself! My mother gave me a call when she landed in Christchurch from a queue.
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I left work early today because I was feeling unwell. The rest of the day was a bit of a blurr.
The weather is starting to improve - it's been warming up
a little, and they predict that this weekend should be much better.
During a conversation at work this morning, one of the guys pointed out that
Adelaide has as much rain as it needs for the whole year, the problem is that
most of the rains comes down as stormwater, and ends up just going out to sea.
I wonder if they are working on ways to capture more stormwater.
I remember seeing in some documentary about a place (I forget where) that had
similar problems - a rainy season and then a long, dry season. They also were
on the sea's edge with hills behind them, but they didn't have Adelaide's sandy
shoreline - this place had a rocky shore and only a small harbour. In the documentary,
they showed plans of building a foreshore and harbour a 100 metres or so out
into the sea, and then the space between the new harbour was sealed up and became
one large storm water reservoir, being slowly pumped up to the hills where it
was stored and processed before becoming tapwater. The new concrete sea's edge
became a big development, including a marina, shops and appartments. So this
place would be getting fresh water, solving the stormwater problems and also
got a prestigious development at the same time. It was quite a while ago that
I saw the program, so I don't know if it ever got built.
Yesterday, Ann took Thomas in to childcare again - this time she stayed for lunch with him, as this had been the time that he had been the most upset. Thomas would not eat unless he could see Ann, and she ended up having to sit next to him.
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