House, Garden and Dogs – Page 83

Fires, thunderstorms and fires

19/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Fires burning out of control 90 miles from here.

Over 20 fires are still burning in South Australia and the residents in the Northern Grampians in Victoria have been told to be ready to evacuate as a massive fire burns out of control. Once our fires are under control we will be able to spare firefighters to go over to Victoria and help out. I am so glad that we don’t do fires or floods here. The heat has not abated any and we are still in the mid to high 40s and have been for five days now. I have tried my best with water and mulch but my plants have just burned off and the Natives are struggling. And the constant wind means that my garden has become a leaf depository on steroids. Once this heat is over and we go back to normal it will take me ages to clean the place up. The heat I can take but I have never known a period when we have had constant wind day in-day out and it becomes more of a struggle to keep the place clean because the dust gets everywhere. The wind is fanning the fires burning out of control some 95 miles away in the National Park. However the main threat is in Victoria where several small town have been evacuated.

Right at this very moment we are in the middle of a thunderstorm and Chienne is going gaga. Her distress is now passed to the Man and he is a bit upset. It is loud and it is a bit scary. I have medicated Chienne but I am reluctant to give anything to the Man that I have not already cleared with the Vet. The Thunderstorm is a cause for further concern and it is believed that the lightening could spark off further Fires. Tomorrow the temperature is due to crash from 44c today to an overnight low of 30c and then down to a cool 28c tomorrow, and then we just wait for the next belting :o)

It’s down to 29c at the moment but over the border in Victoria fires are still burning out of control and although conditions in the South East of SA are starting to ease, we still have a couple of fires burning out of control with over 12 homes destroyed. If the cool weather lasts for a bit. I’ll go out and plant the Pencil Pines.

The cool weather is really not helping the areas where the fires are burning because of the wind change – and it’s a fairly strong wind. All it’s doing is causing the fires to change direction and

The fires on the far side of the Spencer Gulf

add more problems for the hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes. I have posted here a photograph that was taken from a hill at the foreshore. In the foreground to the left, is the Iron Ore export jetty and in the distance, over the water is the fires burning on the hills at Port Germain about twenty miles away. And yes I did say that the fires were a long way from us and that’s true (170 klms by road) but I have not yet seen or heard of a fire that can travel across 20 – 25 miles over open water.

I am still having major problems with my email system and I know I’ve just lost another batch of mail. It was there this morning but when I went back into MS Outlook a little while later it was all gone. I cannot find it anywhere, so it looks as if I am going to have to bite the bullet, buy a new MS Outlook – from Outlook 2010 – Outlook 2013- and see where we go from there. If it cannot be fixed it might be just as cheap to have a new battery put into the AppleMac and abandon the PC. Please understand I am not ignoring anyone. Everything else is fine, just MS Outlook.

Heat, Fires and the RFDS

17/01/201417/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

It’s 4:35am and I am sitting here hot and sticky. The temperature has been hovering around the 46c mark for the last few days and will continue for the next few days with a cool change coming in at the weekend. I was in bed at 11pm last night so I guess five hours or so in this heat is fairly good. I do not have an AC in my bedroom, only overhead fans – which I find are only really effective in moving the warm are around, not really cooling it. Still, it’s better than nothing. The Man finally crept out from under my bed at 10pm last night. The dry thunderstorm (no rain) sparked off a number of fires (200) in South Australia, one of which is only about 50 klm. east of the city. Water bombers have been brought over from NSW and Victoria to assist. As the high temperatures continue the possibility for bushfires increases., but I have to say (although Chienne would not agree) the light show last night was quite spectacular.

This is not ours, but it gives you an example.

I bought three Pencil Pines when I was in Adelaide, but because of the heat I have not planted them. They should be safe enough remaining in their pots under cover and well watered until I can get them out. Normally I would do it at the weekend once the cool change comes in, but this weekend I am busy with the Royal Flying Doctors and fundraising. On the subject of the RFDS, we are bringing a 10 meter simulator into town at the end of the month. It’s coming from Central Operations and we will have it for four days, so we will make the best use of it we can. With 557 landings here in the last 12 months, I think many people would be interested to see what the inside of an RFDS aircraft looks like and what range of medical equipment it carries. We can’t take an aircraft out of service, so the simulator is the next best thing.

There are still fires burning out of control across parts of South Australia as the temperature shows no signs of letting up at the moment. Some places further north have recorded temperatures of 50c – and – would you believe – 11 incidents of people leaving children in a car and 4 of a dog left in a car. True one of my dogs will be in a car today, but the Man will be with me and you may be certain that the AC is on at full. We will only be driving for about ten minutes – to the groomer – and a further ten minutes when I collect him.

When I was a boy I went camping, fishing and hiking in the Scottish Highlands with my Dad. After my Dad died, I went off hiking on my own and an kept up the fishing. No. 3 GF came hiking with me but we are talking about the late 1960s in Scotland, so camping was out and we stayed in B&B – separate rooms, of course and if I went in to see her, the room door had to remain open. Even better – she liked Sinatra!! I get slightly amused with the term “relationships”because we never had “relationships” which seems to me to be a fairly modern term. You either had Boyfriend or you had a Girlfriend – there was no relationship – or what moderns would consider a relationship. Yeah, but what about the 60s, Woodstock, Hippie Generation, Free Love and all that – yes certainly in America, possibly even to a small extent in England, but in Presbyterian, Conservative Scotland – I think not!?! After herself and I were married we went back to the Highlands and the mountains for a few carefree years before the twin adventure dampeners of mortgage and family. After the first son was born we did spend some time in the North and my family looked after the child. When he was about four, we introduced him to Loch Earn. We even took him out to Rannoch Moor for a walk. Not really knowing much about Australia I assumed that I could go for long walks and to off fishing. The bulk of Australians fish from the Jetty and that really didn’t appeal to me. The nearest river was the Murray – about 100 miles away and the nearest trout fishing was in the Australian Grampians which are cold enough for trout. I didn’t get used to the flies and still have not, but I missed my highlands so at weekend for the first year or so we were here I very selfishly took off to the upper Flinders Ranges. It wasn’t too bad walking through the SA High Country because we seemed to be out of the way of flies. I don’t think I will ever get used to them.

High Heat and Thunderstorms

15/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was asked why the “obese”comment with the photograph and my reply was that the problem with my foot is fairly common among athletes – particularly runners. Outside of the athletic community the problem is generally – but not always – associated with overweight and obesity – addition strain being placed when walking. Since I am not an athlete or a long distance runner, I just thought, before anyone added one and one and got three, I would show a recent photograph which indicates that I am not obese and other than doing silly things, like with ladders, I really don’t know what the real cause of the problem is – and neither, for that matter did my doctor – other than to make comments about footwear and ladder rungs. Secondly, why is there a big cockroach in Adelaide? I thought I had explained this but here’s a brief rundown – nearly twenty years ago the State Government and the Adelaide City Council proposed to take some land, about 30 miles North of the city and create a waste disposal landfill for the Adelaide garbage. The land owners protested because of the risk this would propose to an environmentally sensitive area, and one of the farmers, more enterprising, created a range of “sculptures” depicting problems associated with landfills. Despite the protests, the State Government went ahead and did what they wanted to do – probably on their usual basis “if it’s good for Adelaide, it’s good for all of South Australia”. The statues remained and have become a feature that we look for traveling Port Wakefield Road to Adelaide. One of these statues was the giant cockroach. It went missing and a search was made for it – led by the State government and the Adelaide City Council. It was finally found and although slightly damaged, was cleaned and restored — but what to do with it?? It was decided that is would grace Rundle Mall (Adelaide’s main shopping area) until such times as it could go back to its original position in the land off the Port Wakefield Road. The Statues, which have been there in all sorts of weather for the last twenty years, are starting to show signs of wear, so the State government is going to contribute funds to help restore them – they now consider them a ‘Tourist Site”, loved and looked for by those of us who travel that road on a regular basis. So I hope that answers these

questions. I would love to take masses of photographs when I go on my twice daily walks with my dogs, but there’s nothing here to see. Yes, I could take the dogs down to the beach – or someplace, but that would require a major operation and ear plugs to drown out the loud and persistent whining of Chienne because she’s in the car that she hates, and the barking of the Man because he is clipped into the seat belt in the back seat and he wants to sit on my lap and since the police regularly patrol the beach area, they would see this – and I can’t afford the $285.oo fine and the demerit points that this would attract.

Electricity Windmills – our state has an obsession with the blessed things and they want them everywhere. Protests – totests – the State Government just walks right over the top of them and what’s a few landowner concerns when the electricity needs of South Australia (Adelaide) are concerned. Other than the Sculptures and the windmills, there is really not a lot to see and we are no longer allowed to venture off the road because the land is now owned by the Army. For years we held an annual concert and Jazz Festival at a place called “Red Rock” that’s off-limits now.

We climbed to an official temperature of 46c today. My thermometer recorded 48, so it’s at least accurate. Same again tomorrow and Thursday. Thunderstorm this evening and Chienne was medicated. The man got under my bad and stayed there. I found an old pair of shorts and put them close to him, so he bunched them up and curled up there for most of the evening. Probably more thunder tomorrow night. Trip to the vet I think.

Road Trip, Adelaide and Fire Bans

13/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The drive to Adelaide was uneventful. The temperature was about 35c, but I did leave at 7am so I avoided much of the heat. I arrived in Adelaide at 11;10am – from Adelaide out to where Alan is took me

This is me. Obese I am not. Just thought I would get that out of the way.

– via the South Road – from 11:10 – 12;27, which is when I parked the car. I had spoken to him fairly regularly – every few days – but I was unprepared on how frail he had become. Having spent some time with him, I had a much better understanding of why the Medical staff were against him being in a car, without oxygen, in a 44c heat for nearly six hours. Anyway, I did spend some time with him chatting with him and bringing him up to date on herself and the boys, Trish and the girls (Trish is Andrew’s Partner and the girls are hers). He spends nearly all of his day in a chair, hooked up to the oxygen and watching television – which means, the conversation was fairly one sided. I wanted to get back into town and spend some time there, so I only stayed for about an hour or so. I should be going back down in early February so I’ll try and take a run out to see him again. Certainly it’s a lovely place – I mean it REALLY is a lovely place and the staff are very helpful, but that being said – it is still a Nursing Home and he wont be coming out of there until …….

Making my way back into town I stopped off at the Garden Center and bought some new plants. I bought three new pencil pines for out the front and two new hibiscus for the back to compliment the native hibiscus. The colours should should provide a good contrast. I did some shopping in town and went into the Optus Shop and upgraded herself’s phone. Apart from other things, it was a long day but still not over yet. I made my way to the hotel, settled in and parked the car. I walked up to the main road and caught a bus into town and walked to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) – a fair distance. Considering I have been suffering from a condition called “Plantar Fasciitis” it was not a very pleasant walk. A friend of one of the elderly ladies in the church had an accident and was flown to Adelaide. I said I would go visit her when I was in Adelaide. I arrived at the RAH and asked where the lady was only to find that she has been flown back to the local hospital the previous afternoon. I was not really overjoyed at the walk back to the bus stop. I am glad that she is back home ( well, sort of) so she can have visitors. That was good – the walk back to the bus stop was not. It was a hot sticky night so thank goodness for air

conditioners. How did I cause the damage to my foot – well I saw some jobs that needed to be done and went out to do them – “Wont take long ” I thought. That being so I didn’t bother to put on work shoes but spent the day climbing up and down ladders wearing sandals. Ok so it took longer than I anticipated, and whilst this may not be the exact cause, it certainly didn’t help. And if there is anyone who feels the urge to berate me for not wearing the correct footwear for the job, please don’t – my doctor has done it for you :o)

This week in South Australia is one of extreme heat. It starts today with a temperature of 39c – 42c Tuesday – 44c Wednesday – 43 Thursday – 44 Friday and then a cool change late Friday afternoon. Saturday we drop down to the high 20c/ low 30c. The Emergency Services and the hospitals are on stand-by as the sun bites and humour takes a back seat. There is a total fire ban across the State. One person asked me today what I was going to do to keep cool and I said that I would probably curl up with the dogs on the ceramic tiles in the laundry. I don’t think it registered…

Cricket, Trekies and Roses

09/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished.

Five wickets fallen for a total of 22 runs. That is abysmal in any language. England is down and Australia is slowly kicking the life out of it. Not good, not good at all – bad for England and bad for cricket in general. But the question has to be asked why England has performed so badly and my view is that they are burned out. They have come to Australia at the end of a fairly hectic tour in India and Sri Lanka whilst Australia haven’t been anywhere yet and are fresh and on fire. Just listening to the comments and no one seems able to believe how bad England are. They are coming up with all sorts of excuses and I feel they are just wandering around the problem – there is far too much cricket and too much is being asked of the players. India and Australia have a lot to answer for in this regard –

The strange people you meet in Adelaide :o)

Australia with the Big Bash League and India with its India Premier League = lots of money involved. And yes many of the Test Cricketers in England don’t play for the IPL but they are still involved in International Tours and England has just finished a tour of India and Sri Lanka, so my feeling is they are burned out – too much cricket. There is no such thing as an “Off-Season” anymore and it’s less of a sport and more of a business venture with the potential for corruption with the serious on-line betting and betting on individual players and ball by ball results. This is already under investigation and corruption has already been an ugly feature of the Indian Games. But that aside. England really has some serious soul searching to do. They didn’t lose the Ashes, they gave them away as a Christmas Gift. Oh and if anyone is thinking ‘Just Sour Grapes” please remember I am Scottish, not English – winning or loosing is not the issue, the game is and this was not a game, it was Play School on a Cricket Oval.

The weather has been odd lately and when I have taken the dogs walking in the mornings I have been wearing a track suit. Same at night, it is decidedly chilly. At the moment it’s a case of half walk half carry with the Man. However, he’s still had full mobility wandering around the grounds and the house and I really don’t mind having to carry him sometimes. But it is getting to the point when I need to give serious thought to a set of wheels for him. On Friday I

head off to Adelaide, returning Saturday. I said I would go down and spend some time with Alan and this might be the last opportunity I get for a while, since the weather is starting to heat up again and should be in the mid to high 40s next week. It means navigation the vagaries of the South Road but it is starting to come together now so it’s perhaps not quite as bad as it used to be.

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

02/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Ah Australia - 22 million people, 10 Billion Flies — Ah Australia – 22 million people, 10 Billion Flies

Growing up in Scotland was different from Australia. Family and friends lived within walking distance and, since there were lots of people about, walking to and fro to different houses, was generally quite safe – even for a person on their own. Many people and families were out and about after midnight on New Year. And that was the thing – you walked – rugged up against the cold. Even when herself and I got married, our house was not all that far from her parents in one direction and my family in the other. When we first came to Australia it was like that here. This was very much a British Community and we all shared the same values and traditions – sort of. The family all lived within walking distance and we took turns each year of hosting Christmas and New Year. All this began to change with the depression of 1985/6. The story takes too long to tell but suffice to say after 1986 everything changed. Most of my family and many of the friends we had made, all left to find work in other places. We no longer had family Christmas Dinner together but my remaining sister and I looked after Mum until she died a few years ago.

I was thinking about that last night and chatting with my oldest son about tradition, the concept of “First Footing” and the fact that my father took it

very seriously. But it was not really a problem because the first person to set foot in your house in the New Year was generally a Neighbour, and so they all went first footing each other – then branched out to walks to family. And the Scots who came out here brought these traditions with them – all gone now, along with the traditions of other communities – The Croatian Club- gone/ Club Italico (now the haunt of a few very old men) the German Club – gone / The Burns Society – gone / St. Andrew’s Association – gone / the Masonic Lodges – gone. What has taken their place is open all night hotels and pubs, mostly haunted by teenagers who go there with the sole intention of “having fun” and for many of them, having fun is getting plastered ( like the classy lady Suzie81 wrote about some time ago) – although many of them are half tanked before they get there. True, we are not too bad here, but in Adelaide it’s a nightmare – alcohol fueled violence most weekends in Rundle Street (Street – not Mall) and politicians and police seem to be unable to stop it. Of course having a bunch of Justice Jokers who think a serious punishment is a severe talking to and a three week jail sentence- suspended – doesn’t help. People have been giving a suspended sentence for killing a person – drunk driving. The family of the victim are outraged – the public are outraged – the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) throws out his chicken chest and talks about a sentence that is ‘Manifestly Inadequate” promises an investigation – then quietly forgets about it as soon as the furor dies down. And that’s why we have continual alcohol-fulled violence – consequences for most things is minimal – look contrite, tell the Justice Joker how sorry you are and how you feel for the family of the victim, and Bob’s your uncle – home in time for dinner.

Isaiah 59:11
We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.

Some parts of Australia, mainly inland , have brought in the New Year with temperatures of 50c. We were 44.5c , which Is just a tad warm. I took the dogs out walking after the bite had gone out of the sun, and was silly enough to think that the wind would keep away the flies. As I said, silly decision, and I gave up after about ten minutes. One thing I have never adjusted to in Australia is the continual flies – hoards of the things that follow you around like a cloud. I hate it. I like Australia but I hate going outside and spending half my time batting flies away from my face. As I said before, the personal fly-nets that fit over your hat are becoming quite popular. It still looks a bit silly, but then people with very painful sunburnt feet think the “English Thing” – wearing sox with sandal -, looks silly :o)

Get your Hot Cross (Easter) Buns Here, folks!!

01/01/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was not going to post – honestly – at least until later in the week, but I had to – I just had to!!

Wednesday 1st. January 2014

Cricket, Paintings, Poems and New Year

31/12/2013 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The Christmas Plant. — One of my Plants – this one was given to me as a gift.

I liked cricket. Notice the word “liked”. I used to sit up to the wee small hours of the morning to watch the Test Match in the UK. I loved to watch the skills and the sportsmanship of Ian Botham, Clive Lloyd. Vivian Richards, Graham Gooch, Dennis Lillee , Rod Marsh, Alan Border, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower, Kapil Dev, VVS Laxman – to name a few. I loved to listen to the commentary of former – before my time – greats such as Freddy Truman. These days I very rarely watch cricket because it’s just not the same game anymore. Money, technology, and changes of rules have altered the game to the extent that I think it’s called cricket, but it’s in name only. Yet having said that, over a quarter of a million people turned up this last week to watch the Melbourne Boxing Day Test. When I liked cricket, the decision of the Umpire was final – if he said OUT you were OUT or NOT OUT, as the case may be. Not any more – technology and the spy camera can have the decision of the umpire overturned, after all there’s money involved here. The Big Bash League, T20 have contributed to the death of cricket as we have known it. There is a lot of money being thrown

around and why should a person bother playing this Test Cricket stuff when he can make a lot of money playing in the T 20 – or even going over to India and playing there. Even ODI ( One Day International) games are suffering. T 20 is irreversible, it brings in punters and revenue, it brings in the players with just the ability to batter the ball to all sides of the ground with as few as strokes as possible. If people want to watch this game, fine, but – inflated egos, players who believe that they are greater than the game itself, are not for me, I leave all that to the Me/Now generation and their overwhelming desire for instant gratification – The Big Bash. These last few years – I don’t know – but it’s just not the same.

There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night —
Ten to make and the match to win —
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,
But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote —
‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’

Yes. well, I always liked Sir Henry Newbolt. Not many people did – he is very Victorian and very dated. I liked his poems about Drake, Devon and Clifton. Surprisingly enough, I often think of

Newbolt, probably because on the wall in front of me is a copy of “The Fighting Temeraire” by J.M. Turner, and one of the great poems by Newbolt is The Fighting Temeraire. There was an exhibition in Adelaide called “Turner From the Tate” and people expressed disappointment that The Fighting Temeraire was not included. I don’t think they really understood the title of the Exhibition “Turner from the Tate” because the Temeraire is not in the Tate, it’s in the National Gallery. Oops…

So here we are, 31st. December and the last post for the year. It’s been an interesting year, sometimes difficult, sometimes frustrating, but always good. I, like others have had periods of ups and downs and it’s been a year when I discovered that I am no longer superman – I cannot lift and move fallen trees on my own – no longer invincible – I damaged my sciatic nerve in trying to do so, but it was all good :o) lessons generally can be. A quiet night tonight – we are far enough away from the main areas not to be bothered by clowns. Tomorrow, the boys, Trish and the girls will be here for lunch and then we are back to “normal” – Old Clothes and Porridge . I hope everyone has a great new year. I will watch the Edinburgh Tattoo and have a glass of something, wet, alcoholic and 22 years old.

Take care everyone – if you are driving – take special care – and I look forward to being with you again in the New Year.

A society addicted to “Celebration”

29/12/2013 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Christmas is an event that takes place from 1st. November to 30th December. Almost immediately after Halloween we start to see Christmas Decorations in the shops along with plum puddings and fruit mince pies. By the end of November and early December the whole thing is in full swing and the advertising machine is on overdrive. In essence things really stop today – 27th December – and by next week all the Christmas Stuff will have gone except some of the dated stuff that didn’t get sold and traders are trying to flog off an a fraction of the cost. At the end of today the Post Christmas Sales – at least the major ones – will be over. The reason for the delay in South Australia is because we are “Adelaide-Centric”and all Adelaide central shops are open for business,- Boxing Day Sales – but the suburb shopping centers are not allowed to open on Boxing Day because it might take away revenue from Rundle Mall and surrounds. They have to wait until today. By mid January, Easter Eggs and Easter decorations will start to appear and the bakers will start to produce Hot Cross Buns – which political correctness requires us to call ‘Easter Buns” With any reasonable luck we might manage to clear Australia Day on 26th January before the madness begins again. As a society we seem to be addicted to celebration – we’re not fussy – just give us a good excuse and the bunting is out and the flags are being waved. In Australia any excuse is good for a party and drink.

The forecast for the New Year is for temperatures of 40+ and Victoria (the State) has been warned to expect the possibility of lightening strikes and bushfire and there is a Cyclone warning in the north of Western Australia. Today is 37c but at least there is no wind – yet! I cannot recall when we had continual wind like we have had this year – it’s quite depressing. Still, I suppose we should be thankful – we are in the middle of nowhere, we don’t do floods and we don’t do fires and if there is a local fire, it’s small and put out very quickly, and, the nearest major fire zone is about 70 miles away in the Mount Remarkable National Park.

still nowhere — -and all around there was empty land

On the last road trip I did take some photographs but there’s really not a lot to see and what you can see is all owned by the army. Sometime next week – after the New Year road madness is over, I want to take a run down to Adelaide and head out to see Alan. I did promise that I would get down and spent some time with him after the Christmas-New Year period, and I would like to do that.

My little Man continues to confuse me – I suppose that’s his job – in that he seems to have difficulty controlling his back legs, he falls down, yet when he is outside in the garden he seems to move like a proverbial hare. I take him out for a walk and he tires very easily, so I lift and carry him for a while – only a short while and he fights to get back down again, but then it’s not long before he is tiring and dragging behind again — I can only walk so slowly!! Other than that, he seems to be quite happy, but he does sleep a lot. I have not yet measured him up for the wheels and I think I might put it off for a little while yet – but not too long I think.

email, lost mail and Birthdays

26/12/2013 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

23rd December.

This is the Main Highway to the rest of the world.

Firstly I need to say that I seem to be having strange problems with my email – and it’s only a recent problem. I asked about this and I am informed (not yet verified) that MS Outlook will stop working if you do not upgrade to Windows 8.1. I did the Google thing and discovered that this is a fairly common fault between Windows 8 and Outlook and I found that upgrading to 8.1 really doesn’t help. So please bear with me and if I am not replying to you, or if I seem to be ignoring you, please be assured that I am not and give me some time to get this problem sorted. Just remember “to err is human – but to really stuff up needs a computer!”

I had a word with the Guru and buying Outlook 2013 will not really solve the problem. Microsoft has suggested that we download MS Windows Live Mail, which I did, and that seems to be working. It still means that the mail I have lost on Outlook will still be lost but at least I can start to get mail again and get back up to date with things. What I have to do now is find a way to transfer my Address Book over.

24th December and it is Herself’s Birthday. As a family I made sure the boys and I – even when they were still young – did not merge two things and buy a combined present. We have always kept the two things separate. I set out her breakfast for her each morning and yesterday I laid all her Birthday Cards next to her Cereal Bowl. Over the years we are able to distinguish between what envelopes contain a Birthday Card and what contain a Christmas Card. The boys came round during the course of the day with their cards and gifts. John will be staying with us for a couple of days. In the evening we went to the Watch night Service and were surprised by the number of visitors. The Service lasts just over an hour – enough to take us into the 25th – 11pm to just after midnight but much of the time is taken up by the congregation selecting and singing Christmas Carols. The actual service, with a very short address, takes just about 30 minutes.

25th December and the house is still asleep. I’ve fed, watered and walked the dogs. Now, whilst everyone is still asleep, I am going to make coffee, stick on a set of headphones, and watch Casablanca, which I never tire of, and even if I did, well, we’ll always have Paris :o)

The photographs of the highway is the main highway – No that’s not just a part of it – that’s it, single lane either way for 56 miles. We don’t even have the provision

of a passing lane.

This was a quiet day but sometimes, when it is busy and you get stuck behind a slow moving fuel tanker – or even two in a row – you are stuck there for much of the journey. It is very frustration when you consider the hundreds of millions that are spent by the state government on Adelaide Roads (the South Road being a good example) and the same government cannot find money to upgrade country roads.

The family were here today and it was a very enjoyable Family Christmas Dinner. Afterwards I sat with a glass of wine and watched the Queen’s Christmas Message.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: