Friday 11th September 2009
The weather was bad again last night and pretty unpredictable today, we are still under a severe weather warning, although not the same severe weather warning as yesterday.
We have worked out that all weather warnings finish at midnight, in the UK when there is a storm front and it is going to be around for a few days the forecasters used to say something along the lines of, “it’s going to be stormy with a chance of wind damage in the south west for the next three days”.
Over here the forecaster will say something like “there is a severe weather warning from Mandurah to Albany until midnight”.
When your house gets blown down at 4am the next day you, you might think that you would be within your rights to call the weather forecaster a moron for getting it wrong, however, if you had been listening to the radio at three minutes past midnight, you would have heard him say something along the lines of “there is a severe weather warning from Mandurah to Albany until midnight”.
It might have taken us eighteen months to work it out, but it would appear that weather warnings only last until midnight, so if you don’t hear the severe weather warning at three minutes past midnight, the chances are that by the time you get out of bed you probably already know about it and don’t need telling because it has kept you awake for most of the night.
Of course it is possible that with WA being a little bit behind the rest of the world in most things, they aren’t actually sure that tomorrow really exists until the clock turns midnight and don’t want to be accused of misleading anyone by making rash statements about severe weather on a day that may not exist.
The Café was quiet again this morning, but just like yesterday we were mobbed at lunchtime for a couple of hours which put us back on track for a reasonable week.
Showing posts with label Chilly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chilly. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Flying Tables
Thursday 10th September 2009
We were woken at 4am this morning by the wind and rain, we have had and still got a severe weather warning in place at the moment, when Ian went to work at 7am the rain was horizontal and plenty of it.
We were really quiet at the Café this morning, we had expected to be busy as the weather was so bad, it normally works out like that.
Then at about 11.30am the Café was mobbed, hardly a seat left in the building, and it carried on like that for about two hours which helped towards making up for the rest of the week, although it did get a bit stressful at times.
During this couple of hours the weather outside was horrible and just as we were at our busiest, a young girl came to the counter and suggested to Ian that he might want to dismantle the large umbrella that we have outside to shelter those who need to eat and drink outside (smokers) even during inclement weather, as it was trying to take off.
Ian knew it was a risk putting the umbrella up this morning, so he made a point of bolting it firmly into its base and tied the canopy part to a pole on one side and a hook in the wall on another, this had worked quite well all morning.
When the girl came in to say that the umbrella was about to take off she wasn’t lying, when Ian got out there, there were three girls holding the table to the ground, the wind had got under the umbrella, picked it up with the base still attached, the base couldn’t pass through the hole in the table, so it picked the table up and would have quite happily taken the umbrella, base and table for a spin round Busselton if it hadn’t been for these girls holding it down and a trellis type construction overhead that stopped it being whisked away before the girls could do anything.
Tonight after the kids went to bed, we watched a film called Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal, it was a bit dated but good fun none the less.
We were woken at 4am this morning by the wind and rain, we have had and still got a severe weather warning in place at the moment, when Ian went to work at 7am the rain was horizontal and plenty of it.
We were really quiet at the Café this morning, we had expected to be busy as the weather was so bad, it normally works out like that.
Then at about 11.30am the Café was mobbed, hardly a seat left in the building, and it carried on like that for about two hours which helped towards making up for the rest of the week, although it did get a bit stressful at times.
During this couple of hours the weather outside was horrible and just as we were at our busiest, a young girl came to the counter and suggested to Ian that he might want to dismantle the large umbrella that we have outside to shelter those who need to eat and drink outside (smokers) even during inclement weather, as it was trying to take off.
Ian knew it was a risk putting the umbrella up this morning, so he made a point of bolting it firmly into its base and tied the canopy part to a pole on one side and a hook in the wall on another, this had worked quite well all morning.
When the girl came in to say that the umbrella was about to take off she wasn’t lying, when Ian got out there, there were three girls holding the table to the ground, the wind had got under the umbrella, picked it up with the base still attached, the base couldn’t pass through the hole in the table, so it picked the table up and would have quite happily taken the umbrella, base and table for a spin round Busselton if it hadn’t been for these girls holding it down and a trellis type construction overhead that stopped it being whisked away before the girls could do anything.
Tonight after the kids went to bed, we watched a film called Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal, it was a bit dated but good fun none the less.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Frost
Tuesday 8th September 2009
It was bloody freezing this morning, at just after 7am when Ian was driving down the highway, there was a frost on the grass by the side of the road, nobody told us there would be frost, they said it would be hot and there would be droughts, they warned us that we would need sun block, they totally forgot to mention that we might also need hot water bottles and thermal underwear otherwise we wouldn’t have left it back in the UK.
Presumably because of the cold it was a very quiet start to the day today in the café, but as the weather warmed up, it didn’t get any better.
There were plenty of people about and we can’t remember doing anything to upset the masses, so we can only assume that it was one of those days when people weren’t in the mood for coffee.
Kristian went to Scouts with Fraser and Marisa this evening and Kristian has already been told that he can go to their meeting next week, they are going to be doing a bit of campfire cooking apparently.
We’ll have to make sure we’re late picking them up from that one, just to make sure there is none left by the time we get there.
It was bloody freezing this morning, at just after 7am when Ian was driving down the highway, there was a frost on the grass by the side of the road, nobody told us there would be frost, they said it would be hot and there would be droughts, they warned us that we would need sun block, they totally forgot to mention that we might also need hot water bottles and thermal underwear otherwise we wouldn’t have left it back in the UK.
Presumably because of the cold it was a very quiet start to the day today in the café, but as the weather warmed up, it didn’t get any better.
There were plenty of people about and we can’t remember doing anything to upset the masses, so we can only assume that it was one of those days when people weren’t in the mood for coffee.
Kristian went to Scouts with Fraser and Marisa this evening and Kristian has already been told that he can go to their meeting next week, they are going to be doing a bit of campfire cooking apparently.
We’ll have to make sure we’re late picking them up from that one, just to make sure there is none left by the time we get there.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Broken Screen
Friday 4th September 2009
It was a very busy day today at the Café, made worse by the fact that a couple of large deliveries needed to be put away and we still hadn’t finished organising the storage area.
The room dividers that we had bought, had yet to be fixed into position, so Ian had left them with a couple of boxes in front of them to stop them falling over, the staff in their enthusiasm to clear away the deliveries and reorganise the storage area didn’t take this into account and put said boxes where said boxes should have been put, if they hadn’t been doing something useful, like ensuring that the screens don’t fall over. One of the screens had other ideas and when it had made sure that there was nobody around to catch it, it fell over, deliberately fell over, breaking itself in the process and causing large amounts of steam to escape from Ians ear holes, this is not one of Ians better days.
Coles the supermarket opposite the Café had a deal on Coke cans today, just for one day we could buy them from the supermarket at about half the price we can get them from Coke direct, so we had a load of it, most of which is sitting in our hallway because we haven’t got room for it at work.
This evening the kids didn’t go to Freaky Friday, this time it was because something to do with the pool had broken which makes a change.
We are now officially in spring and it is colder than it has been all winter, it looks like we are about to get the persistent wind and rain that we didn’t get all winter as well.
It was a very busy day today at the Café, made worse by the fact that a couple of large deliveries needed to be put away and we still hadn’t finished organising the storage area.
The room dividers that we had bought, had yet to be fixed into position, so Ian had left them with a couple of boxes in front of them to stop them falling over, the staff in their enthusiasm to clear away the deliveries and reorganise the storage area didn’t take this into account and put said boxes where said boxes should have been put, if they hadn’t been doing something useful, like ensuring that the screens don’t fall over. One of the screens had other ideas and when it had made sure that there was nobody around to catch it, it fell over, deliberately fell over, breaking itself in the process and causing large amounts of steam to escape from Ians ear holes, this is not one of Ians better days.
Coles the supermarket opposite the Café had a deal on Coke cans today, just for one day we could buy them from the supermarket at about half the price we can get them from Coke direct, so we had a load of it, most of which is sitting in our hallway because we haven’t got room for it at work.
This evening the kids didn’t go to Freaky Friday, this time it was because something to do with the pool had broken which makes a change.
We are now officially in spring and it is colder than it has been all winter, it looks like we are about to get the persistent wind and rain that we didn’t get all winter as well.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Mission Impossible
Monday 6th July 2009
The Café was busy today, the weather was a bit iffy and the tourists were out in force looking for somewhere to pass the time away.
Carolyn and the kids started the first day of the school holidays cleaning the kids bedrooms, the kids weren’t totally impressed with this turn of events, but as it was raining they couldn’t do anything outside and Carolyn wasn’t going to let them play inside until their rooms were tidy.
Marisa went out for the rest of the day with her friend who happens to be a boy, they went round to his house to play his Guitar Hero.
Carolyn and the boys came to the Café in the afternoon, we were still busy so Carolyn helped out while the boys took themselves down to the foreshore for an ice cream.
In the evening we all sat down together and watched Mission Impossible, the Tom Cruise version, it’s pretty naff as far as super exciting espionage films go, but the kids enjoyed it.
The Café was busy today, the weather was a bit iffy and the tourists were out in force looking for somewhere to pass the time away.
Carolyn and the kids started the first day of the school holidays cleaning the kids bedrooms, the kids weren’t totally impressed with this turn of events, but as it was raining they couldn’t do anything outside and Carolyn wasn’t going to let them play inside until their rooms were tidy.
Marisa went out for the rest of the day with her friend who happens to be a boy, they went round to his house to play his Guitar Hero.
Carolyn and the boys came to the Café in the afternoon, we were still busy so Carolyn helped out while the boys took themselves down to the foreshore for an ice cream.
In the evening we all sat down together and watched Mission Impossible, the Tom Cruise version, it’s pretty naff as far as super exciting espionage films go, but the kids enjoyed it.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Blowing a Gale
Sunday 28th June 2009
Last night the wind howled and the rain hammered the windows, Ian coughed and spluttered and we didn’t wake up and get out of bed until 11am.
When we did eventually get out of bed, the kids had set themselves up with breakfast and telly and were so engrossed in it that they hadn’t even noticed that we hadn’t got out of bed.
Ian was feeling really ropy and felt that he needed to get some fresh air down his neck, so we drove out to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse which has probably the closest thing you will find to a Cornish type coastline round here.
The wind was still blowing a gale, but we braved the elephants and walked down to the whale watching point, there have been a couple of whale sightings in the area this month but it is a bit early for them really.
We got to the whale watching shelter just in time to take cover before the next band of wind driven rain descended on us, it was cold, it was wet and it was blowy, but it was just what Ian needed to clear the cobwebs after his bout of Quadruple pneumonia + One, we are amazed at his powers of recovery.
Bad joke time, the whales reminded me of it.
If you weigh a Whale at a Whale weigh Station, where would you weigh a Pie?
Answer at the bottom of page.
Having had a good bit of fresh air and exercise, we headed for home and had a relaxing afternoon veging out in front of the box watching a film called Motocrossed, a Disney film with a hero so the kids loved it.
We then watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, which the kids also thought was great, especially the bits where he could be horrible to people and it would be like nothing had happened the following day, or was that the same day, anyway it is good fun.
After the kids had gone to bed, we watched an episode of Shameless before going to bed for an early night.
Answer: Somewhere over a Rainbow.
If unsure of the answer, feel free to ask for an explanation.
Last night the wind howled and the rain hammered the windows, Ian coughed and spluttered and we didn’t wake up and get out of bed until 11am.
When we did eventually get out of bed, the kids had set themselves up with breakfast and telly and were so engrossed in it that they hadn’t even noticed that we hadn’t got out of bed.
Ian was feeling really ropy and felt that he needed to get some fresh air down his neck, so we drove out to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse which has probably the closest thing you will find to a Cornish type coastline round here.
The wind was still blowing a gale, but we braved the elephants and walked down to the whale watching point, there have been a couple of whale sightings in the area this month but it is a bit early for them really.
We got to the whale watching shelter just in time to take cover before the next band of wind driven rain descended on us, it was cold, it was wet and it was blowy, but it was just what Ian needed to clear the cobwebs after his bout of Quadruple pneumonia + One, we are amazed at his powers of recovery.
Bad joke time, the whales reminded me of it.
If you weigh a Whale at a Whale weigh Station, where would you weigh a Pie?
Answer at the bottom of page.
Having had a good bit of fresh air and exercise, we headed for home and had a relaxing afternoon veging out in front of the box watching a film called Motocrossed, a Disney film with a hero so the kids loved it.
We then watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, which the kids also thought was great, especially the bits where he could be horrible to people and it would be like nothing had happened the following day, or was that the same day, anyway it is good fun.
After the kids had gone to bed, we watched an episode of Shameless before going to bed for an early night.
Answer: Somewhere over a Rainbow.
If unsure of the answer, feel free to ask for an explanation.
Monday, June 29, 2009
De-Gagged
Monday 22nd June 2009
Kristian had to go to the Dentist this morning, in the past he has gagged when they try to take x-rays and haven’t been able to do any work on him.
With Marisa being in pain for the last week with her teeth, we think it brought home to him the fact that if the work doesn’t get done it will be more painful than having an x-ray, so he let them do the x-rays and some work, although he does need a fair amount done to bring them back up to scratch, but at least he knows he can do it now.
The Café was quiet today, hopefully it’s got something to do with the weather, everything about Busselton is so unlike the adverts at the moment, the weather is grey, the people are grey, it is windy, in fact it’s just like Bognor Regis in the middle of winter. Still, only another five months of this and it will be summer again.
Kristian went to Cubs tonight and had a good time, after he got back and the kids were in bed, we hit the pit for an early night.
Kristian had to go to the Dentist this morning, in the past he has gagged when they try to take x-rays and haven’t been able to do any work on him.
With Marisa being in pain for the last week with her teeth, we think it brought home to him the fact that if the work doesn’t get done it will be more painful than having an x-ray, so he let them do the x-rays and some work, although he does need a fair amount done to bring them back up to scratch, but at least he knows he can do it now.
The Café was quiet today, hopefully it’s got something to do with the weather, everything about Busselton is so unlike the adverts at the moment, the weather is grey, the people are grey, it is windy, in fact it’s just like Bognor Regis in the middle of winter. Still, only another five months of this and it will be summer again.
Kristian went to Cubs tonight and had a good time, after he got back and the kids were in bed, we hit the pit for an early night.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Crocodile Keith to the Rescue
Thursday 18th June 2009
It was an average day at the Café today, we were up to full strength and Michelle was back from her holidays, so it was just as well that we weren’t busy as it might have interfered with the chatting in the kitchen.
The weather has been pretty horrendous on and off, fortunately Carolyn managed to get Crocodile Keith from over the road to come over and replace the broken tiles we had.
He loves being up in the air, trees, roofs, you name it he’ll go up there, there were seven broken tiles in the end so most of our back up stock has been used and we’ll have to go and find some more.
He was on the roof for about two hours in the end, so we bought him some flowers and a box of chocolates as well as letting him have the top off our old wood burner flue which he wanted to buy.
When the rain started again this evening there appeared to be no more leaks, let’s hope so because Crocodile and his Mrs are off doing the grey nomad bit in a couple of weeks so we won’t see them for a couple of months.
It was an average day at the Café today, we were up to full strength and Michelle was back from her holidays, so it was just as well that we weren’t busy as it might have interfered with the chatting in the kitchen.
The weather has been pretty horrendous on and off, fortunately Carolyn managed to get Crocodile Keith from over the road to come over and replace the broken tiles we had.
He loves being up in the air, trees, roofs, you name it he’ll go up there, there were seven broken tiles in the end so most of our back up stock has been used and we’ll have to go and find some more.
He was on the roof for about two hours in the end, so we bought him some flowers and a box of chocolates as well as letting him have the top off our old wood burner flue which he wanted to buy.
When the rain started again this evening there appeared to be no more leaks, let’s hope so because Crocodile and his Mrs are off doing the grey nomad bit in a couple of weeks so we won’t see them for a couple of months.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Quick Reply
Wednesday 17th June 2009
We were still short staffed today with two away so it felt busy again, running around like blue ar*e flies does get on your nerves a bit, but at least we’re saving on wages and we are back up to full compliment again tomorrow.
Marisa had to go to the Dentist this morning, she has been complaining about toothache for a couple of days now, it has affected her sleep and is showing no sign of abating.
It turned out that one of the teeth the she had had filled previously, had split in two and become infected so the Dentist patched it up for her and is going to contact the Orthodontist to see if they will be happy for it to be pulled out.
We received an email back from Toby’s restaurant, they replied to it within a couple of hours of us sending ours, but we didn’t see it until today because we don’t stay up that late.
It was an excellent email, very apologetic, they said they could remember Carolyn making the booking because she had been so specific about what she wanted and admitted that despite the fact that they were busy, there was no excuse for taking our table.
They have offered us a voucher towards another meal there and we have accepted, we are going there for dinner on Saturday.
Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t taking them up on their offer because of the voucher, we have been offered vouchers in the past by other institutions and not used them, we are taking them up on their offer because of the professional way in which they have dealt with the situation, both prompt and courteous.
The kids had just gone to bed this evening, when Fraser came out of his bedroom to let us know that he could hear water dripping onto his ceiling, we have got gale force winds and torrential rain tonight.
Ian opened the loft hatch or manhole cover as they call it over here, located the leak and then got Carolyn to climb up there and put a bucket under the offending leak.
Ian would have climbed up there himself had it not been raining so hard and the step ladder had not been out in the shed, you see the only other alternative was to stand on a stool, stand on someone’s shoulders and climb through the hole.
Ian didn’t think that Carolyn would appreciate him standing on her shoulders and being a gentleman, felt that the honourable thing to do would be to let her stand on him.
Anyway, it turns out that one of the tiles has been cracked in half, presumably by some dodgy overweight tradie who has been paid good money to fix something else.
After putting the bucket under the leak and getting the kids back into bed, we watched another episode of Shameless before going to bed.
We were still short staffed today with two away so it felt busy again, running around like blue ar*e flies does get on your nerves a bit, but at least we’re saving on wages and we are back up to full compliment again tomorrow.
Marisa had to go to the Dentist this morning, she has been complaining about toothache for a couple of days now, it has affected her sleep and is showing no sign of abating.
It turned out that one of the teeth the she had had filled previously, had split in two and become infected so the Dentist patched it up for her and is going to contact the Orthodontist to see if they will be happy for it to be pulled out.
We received an email back from Toby’s restaurant, they replied to it within a couple of hours of us sending ours, but we didn’t see it until today because we don’t stay up that late.
It was an excellent email, very apologetic, they said they could remember Carolyn making the booking because she had been so specific about what she wanted and admitted that despite the fact that they were busy, there was no excuse for taking our table.
They have offered us a voucher towards another meal there and we have accepted, we are going there for dinner on Saturday.
Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t taking them up on their offer because of the voucher, we have been offered vouchers in the past by other institutions and not used them, we are taking them up on their offer because of the professional way in which they have dealt with the situation, both prompt and courteous.
The kids had just gone to bed this evening, when Fraser came out of his bedroom to let us know that he could hear water dripping onto his ceiling, we have got gale force winds and torrential rain tonight.
Ian opened the loft hatch or manhole cover as they call it over here, located the leak and then got Carolyn to climb up there and put a bucket under the offending leak.
Ian would have climbed up there himself had it not been raining so hard and the step ladder had not been out in the shed, you see the only other alternative was to stand on a stool, stand on someone’s shoulders and climb through the hole.
Ian didn’t think that Carolyn would appreciate him standing on her shoulders and being a gentleman, felt that the honourable thing to do would be to let her stand on him.
Anyway, it turns out that one of the tiles has been cracked in half, presumably by some dodgy overweight tradie who has been paid good money to fix something else.
After putting the bucket under the leak and getting the kids back into bed, we watched another episode of Shameless before going to bed.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Leaking Light Fittings
Tuesday 16th June 2009
Ian didn’t sleep well last night and was up early this morning, so rather than toss and turn for hours he got up and went to work early.
It is so much less stressful starting work early, Ian can get so much done before opening without any interruptions, if only it didn’t involve having to wake and get up early in the morning it would be a great thing to do every day.
It was a very slow start to the day, but by about 10am when the weather had started to take a turn for the worse, the people were starting to come out to play.
We have another water leak at the Café, at about 4.30pm Ian noticed that rainwater was coming through one of the light fittings, it is the same light fitting as last time.
Ian had let the owners of the centre know about it last week when it happened for the first time, and when the centre manager came round last Friday he pointed it out to him again.
So when it happened again this afternoon, Carolyn rang the centre manager to let him know and he just said I’m going to see someone about it later in the week. Better hope we haven’t drowned by then, then.
Kristian went round his best friends house after school again today, he must have had a good time because he came home he couldn’t wait to tell us in true Kristian gibberish about this new game that he and his mate have made up.
The game appeared to consist mainly of talking nonsense, making funny shapes with their hands and bouncing off walls, the other boys mum must have been glad to bring him home.
This evening Fraser and Marisa went to Scouts, they were going for a walk by torchlight through the reserve in the hope of seeing some wildlife, alas all the wildlife were tucked up in the warm out of the wind and rain wondering what these idiots were doing wandering around in the dark, getting soaked by the rain, when they had a perfectly good, warm, dry hut that they could have been sheltering in.
Carolyn went to a Scout Parent meeting this evening, they only meet for an hour every month and it is not long enough to get as much as they want to get done.
Ian fired off an email this evening to Toby’s Restaurant at Wyndham Resort Dunsborough, letting them know that we weren’t happy with the way we were treated when we turned up there on Sunday for Ians birthday breakfast.
Ian didn’t sleep well last night and was up early this morning, so rather than toss and turn for hours he got up and went to work early.
It is so much less stressful starting work early, Ian can get so much done before opening without any interruptions, if only it didn’t involve having to wake and get up early in the morning it would be a great thing to do every day.
It was a very slow start to the day, but by about 10am when the weather had started to take a turn for the worse, the people were starting to come out to play.
We have another water leak at the Café, at about 4.30pm Ian noticed that rainwater was coming through one of the light fittings, it is the same light fitting as last time.
Ian had let the owners of the centre know about it last week when it happened for the first time, and when the centre manager came round last Friday he pointed it out to him again.
So when it happened again this afternoon, Carolyn rang the centre manager to let him know and he just said I’m going to see someone about it later in the week. Better hope we haven’t drowned by then, then.
Kristian went round his best friends house after school again today, he must have had a good time because he came home he couldn’t wait to tell us in true Kristian gibberish about this new game that he and his mate have made up.
The game appeared to consist mainly of talking nonsense, making funny shapes with their hands and bouncing off walls, the other boys mum must have been glad to bring him home.
This evening Fraser and Marisa went to Scouts, they were going for a walk by torchlight through the reserve in the hope of seeing some wildlife, alas all the wildlife were tucked up in the warm out of the wind and rain wondering what these idiots were doing wandering around in the dark, getting soaked by the rain, when they had a perfectly good, warm, dry hut that they could have been sheltering in.
Carolyn went to a Scout Parent meeting this evening, they only meet for an hour every month and it is not long enough to get as much as they want to get done.
Ian fired off an email this evening to Toby’s Restaurant at Wyndham Resort Dunsborough, letting them know that we weren’t happy with the way we were treated when we turned up there on Sunday for Ians birthday breakfast.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Kevin Rudd Didn’t Stimulate Us
Monday 11th May 2009
The weather is starting to get a wintery feel about it, it is getting down to temperatures that make you feel like not getting out of bed in the morning, at least not until the sun has had a chance to warm the house up a bit.
In reality, Ian has worked for so many years doing late turns or in pubs, he will probably be retired before he reaches the point where he feels like getting out of bed in the morning, even on a warm day.
The workload at the Café seems to be levelling out now, presumably in response to it starting to feel wintery, so we are looking at ways to try and boost trade, especially in the afternoon.
Ian and Carolyn went to see the accountant this afternoon to sign off our tax returns for last year, would you believe it, everyone else in the country that fills out a tax return seems to be getting stimulated by Kevin Rudd and given $900 for the pleasure.
Just because we didn’t pay him any tax to start off with last year and no doubt because we still aren’t totally accepted over here he is not going to stimulate us, now how mean is that?
After work, Ian and Carolyn went for a walk down by the beach to see if one of our cats, Sterling, had got himself lost in the bush down there. we haven’t seen him for a couple of days and he does like his meal times, so we thought we had better try and find him, no luck though.
Fraser had a mountain of homework to do again tonight, he did as much as we would let him but if we let him carry on, he would be doing it for homework sake and not for learning sake which would be pointless.
Kristian didn’t go to Cubs again this week as we were not sure if there was going to be enough adults there to look after them.
After the kids went to bed, we watched the film Burn after reading, it was vaguely amusing but not really our thing, it will go on the crap film list.
Carolyn said that she was glad she hadn’t paid to go and see it at the cinema, Ian then pointed out to her that if we had we wouldn’t have gone out and bought it.
The weather is starting to get a wintery feel about it, it is getting down to temperatures that make you feel like not getting out of bed in the morning, at least not until the sun has had a chance to warm the house up a bit.
In reality, Ian has worked for so many years doing late turns or in pubs, he will probably be retired before he reaches the point where he feels like getting out of bed in the morning, even on a warm day.
The workload at the Café seems to be levelling out now, presumably in response to it starting to feel wintery, so we are looking at ways to try and boost trade, especially in the afternoon.
Ian and Carolyn went to see the accountant this afternoon to sign off our tax returns for last year, would you believe it, everyone else in the country that fills out a tax return seems to be getting stimulated by Kevin Rudd and given $900 for the pleasure.
Just because we didn’t pay him any tax to start off with last year and no doubt because we still aren’t totally accepted over here he is not going to stimulate us, now how mean is that?
After work, Ian and Carolyn went for a walk down by the beach to see if one of our cats, Sterling, had got himself lost in the bush down there. we haven’t seen him for a couple of days and he does like his meal times, so we thought we had better try and find him, no luck though.
Fraser had a mountain of homework to do again tonight, he did as much as we would let him but if we let him carry on, he would be doing it for homework sake and not for learning sake which would be pointless.
Kristian didn’t go to Cubs again this week as we were not sure if there was going to be enough adults there to look after them.
After the kids went to bed, we watched the film Burn after reading, it was vaguely amusing but not really our thing, it will go on the crap film list.
Carolyn said that she was glad she hadn’t paid to go and see it at the cinema, Ian then pointed out to her that if we had we wouldn’t have gone out and bought it.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Winter is here
Monday 31st March 2008
Winter is here, and the weather forecasters have got it wrong, the temperature went down to about 18 degrees instead of the 25 degrees that were predicted, it rained all day with Perth getting a Months rain in one day, they didn’t state which months rain it was or whether it expected that month to be dry so that it could balance out over the year but it was still quite a bit of water.
We dropped the kids off at school and were told that we weren’t needed for listening duties today because the children don’t take books home over the weekend; they are allowed to play games instead.
Excuse me if I have got this wrong but it seems odd that during the week when time is tight, the children need time to play with friends away from an educational environment, they need time to have a family life, they need to sit down to a well balanced meal, they are expected to have an early night so that they are in top form the following day, they have then been given a book to read in the hope that they will either read it of their own free will or find another busy, time constrained person in the house that has got the time to encourage them.
The alternative would appear to be that you send the child home with a book at the weekend when it is more likely that there will be family around to help them with their reading, when time is less likely to be an issue, when it is not so important that they go to bed early, when the time available will generally be more relaxed and stress free.
If they did that the kids might enjoy it and turn up for school on a Monday with an enquiring mind, but there again that would be a pain in the backside for a teacher.
We had our interview with the management company that runs Busselton Boulevard Shopping Centre today in Bunbury, it seemed to go quite well and we think that they liked us and our ideas, if we are accepted the only thing that may hold it up is that we have asked for either an option on the current lease or a new 10 year lease which if agreed will have to be drawn up and may take time. The management agent didn’t think that we stood much chance but said that she would put it to the owners to see what they said.
When we came out of the interview we drove back to Busselton to check if we had received the mortgage documents, but when we got back we hadn’t received anything so we went to the Café to check our emails. After that we bought a couple of bits for dinner tonight and went home to find that the mortgage documents had arrived.
It was a mad dash then to get the house insured and the mortgage offer signed by 4pm when the bank closed, plus we had to make time to pick up the kids from school. When we got to the insurance office it was about ½ hour before we received our certificate of insurance which meant that it was almost 3pm by the time we came out, so Ian went to the bank to start signing the forms and to make sure that one of us was in there at closing time so that we could not be locked out before signing the documents and ensuring that they reached the lending department with enough time left for the sale to go through on Friday. Carolyn went to school to pick up the kids and came straight back to the bank to sign her bit and we left with about 15 minutes to spare.
The Realty agent has been on the phone suggesting that we withhold money and use it to pay for the outstanding works to be done so we had to pop in to see our settlement agent to see what he thought. He was quite happy with the idea and said that it was quite common in Australia; basically it means that we get the work done to the standard we want and then bill them for it. We are quite happy with the idea because it means that we can have the cooker that we want and only have to pay a portion of the cost, plus the installation will be paid by the vendor and we can get the decorating done before it is fitted.
In the evening the kids went to bed early and we panicked because we thought we had lost lumps of this blog and at one point thought that we had lost the whole lot because of a glitch in the computer that decided to change the name document. We eventually found most of it and saved it to a different memory stick which will hopefully be more reliable, after that of course we had to run a system scan so we ended up having a much later night than intended.
Winter is here, and the weather forecasters have got it wrong, the temperature went down to about 18 degrees instead of the 25 degrees that were predicted, it rained all day with Perth getting a Months rain in one day, they didn’t state which months rain it was or whether it expected that month to be dry so that it could balance out over the year but it was still quite a bit of water.
We dropped the kids off at school and were told that we weren’t needed for listening duties today because the children don’t take books home over the weekend; they are allowed to play games instead.
Excuse me if I have got this wrong but it seems odd that during the week when time is tight, the children need time to play with friends away from an educational environment, they need time to have a family life, they need to sit down to a well balanced meal, they are expected to have an early night so that they are in top form the following day, they have then been given a book to read in the hope that they will either read it of their own free will or find another busy, time constrained person in the house that has got the time to encourage them.
The alternative would appear to be that you send the child home with a book at the weekend when it is more likely that there will be family around to help them with their reading, when time is less likely to be an issue, when it is not so important that they go to bed early, when the time available will generally be more relaxed and stress free.
If they did that the kids might enjoy it and turn up for school on a Monday with an enquiring mind, but there again that would be a pain in the backside for a teacher.
We had our interview with the management company that runs Busselton Boulevard Shopping Centre today in Bunbury, it seemed to go quite well and we think that they liked us and our ideas, if we are accepted the only thing that may hold it up is that we have asked for either an option on the current lease or a new 10 year lease which if agreed will have to be drawn up and may take time. The management agent didn’t think that we stood much chance but said that she would put it to the owners to see what they said.
When we came out of the interview we drove back to Busselton to check if we had received the mortgage documents, but when we got back we hadn’t received anything so we went to the Café to check our emails. After that we bought a couple of bits for dinner tonight and went home to find that the mortgage documents had arrived.
It was a mad dash then to get the house insured and the mortgage offer signed by 4pm when the bank closed, plus we had to make time to pick up the kids from school. When we got to the insurance office it was about ½ hour before we received our certificate of insurance which meant that it was almost 3pm by the time we came out, so Ian went to the bank to start signing the forms and to make sure that one of us was in there at closing time so that we could not be locked out before signing the documents and ensuring that they reached the lending department with enough time left for the sale to go through on Friday. Carolyn went to school to pick up the kids and came straight back to the bank to sign her bit and we left with about 15 minutes to spare.
The Realty agent has been on the phone suggesting that we withhold money and use it to pay for the outstanding works to be done so we had to pop in to see our settlement agent to see what he thought. He was quite happy with the idea and said that it was quite common in Australia; basically it means that we get the work done to the standard we want and then bill them for it. We are quite happy with the idea because it means that we can have the cooker that we want and only have to pay a portion of the cost, plus the installation will be paid by the vendor and we can get the decorating done before it is fitted.
In the evening the kids went to bed early and we panicked because we thought we had lost lumps of this blog and at one point thought that we had lost the whole lot because of a glitch in the computer that decided to change the name document. We eventually found most of it and saved it to a different memory stick which will hopefully be more reliable, after that of course we had to run a system scan so we ended up having a much later night than intended.
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