Ladies Brunch & Cancer Support

Wednesday:  Yes it’s still Wednesday and it’s still wet. It has been raining for most of the night and it’s still raining now. Needless to say Benji and I did not go out for our morning walk. If it stops during the course of the morning I will take him for a walk around the wetlands – staying on the bitumen, of course. At the moment it is pretty heavy with no sign of any let up. Mind you the forecast did say rain today and there you are – it’s really raining

There is a dispute ( like we need more!?!) with the decision to break up Arrium and sell it off.  The State government,  whilst not entirely opposed to the idea, expressed the view that Arrium should be sold as a whole, not broken up, it stated this morning that if anything in the sale was to the determent of Whyalla or SA then they would pull the  tax-payer funded support package. Love this State Government  it so inspires confidence!  Today is Friday and it’s still raining off and on and tomorrow – Saturday – the ladies hold the  “Presbyterian Ladies Brunch” which raises funds for the local Cancer Support Group, which is based at the  hospital. Much of the funds raised by various groups goes to a central place in Adelaide and not all that much ever comes back here.  Like others we were doing this whilst our local  support group struggled but then the ladies decided that this was not right so they stopped supporting organizations that do very little for the local community and instead they wanted to keep the funds they raise local to benefit local people – much of which is breast cancer. I was in favour of that since Annabell went through all this some years ago when they discovered a lump, which after several tests and biopsy, turned out to be a benign cyst. It was very scary for a while.   The local people

were very supportive. The Session Clerk went through the same only hers turned out to be cancer.

I am generally a scones and butter person but I have been told that scones and honey is very tasty so I am going to take some honey with me tomorrow. Well, I will be there  from start to finish and then help with the clearing up. Not sure but I think the Scones and Honey might by an Easy suggestion. Speaking about Easy, I think Easy and his staff are still having a difficult time with the spread of the  strikes and disputes – according to the news, France is not all that  pleasant at the moment. I remember what life was like before we left Scotland – Miner strikes, Rail strikes, Transport strikes – power cuts. I remember going to the newsagent every day to get the paper because the centre pages

contained a map of the city and highlighted the areas that would be affected by power failures that day and night. Annabell and I and a baby went through similar problems, Easy, so we have a bit of an idea what you are going through.   In Scotland army units took to the street because the garbage men were on strike and that was the only way we could keep the streets clear and  stop any spread of disease. The month after we left to come to Australia,  Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Attendance was down  this year and a rough estimate is about $840, but given the industrial climate at the moment, this was to be expected. We believe some families have already left for other places. Still it was well attended and everyone was quite happy. We had a small table with Gluten Free food option and that went well. No one ever leaves our table feeling that haven’t been fed  :o)