What a difference a day makes…….

What have we been up to since the last update? Quite a lot really. Mum asked if we could take Mr Cheese on a train as he loves them so much and I remembered a place we went to on our Reccie where you took a train ride into the bush. I did some research on ‘tinternet’ and found the place and we headed off on a Wednesday. Trouble was, it was a bit wet and rainy and I seemed to remember that the carriages were quite open to the elements……..

They don't look impressed - and this was the beginning!

It was a very funny day, all in all. Sam was very unimpressed, Adam was more taken with the raindrops hitting his nose and Darcie was the only one putting on a brave face and smiling for the camera. Mum has finally admitted that she doesn’t want to visit any more ‘poxy’ train lines and I have to admit, we have dragged her to a few in our time: Nene Valley, the Isle of Wight, the Dawlish Donkey, one in Skegness near to Butlins…. The list is almost endless and the trains are all the same; run down and musty and operated by old gits with no life. Perhaps we’ll stop here and this will be our last ever train visit. Then again……

The builders finally came back from their Christmas break and we have seen some movement on the site (hurrah!). We have bricks and first floor rooms are starting to appear and today the roof trusses were delivered. You know what that means? Yep – they’ll want more money! The house is beginning to take shape though and looks mahooosive! Not looking forward to the thought of hoovering it all, I must admit.

Lookin' good!

View from the first floor - the very small strip of blue on the horizon is the sea.

Oh, Darcie has lost another tooth. It held on for so long, I thought she was super-gluing it back in every night at Mums, but eventually it must have sucumbed to one of Mum’s burnt fish fingers (o: ha ha! Darcie left a note for the tooth fairy at home and then buggared off back to Mums for the night! Her note said something along the lines of ‘I’m not here right now, please leave a cheque’.

It was no match for a hard fish finger!

The Friday night BBQ’s have started down the golf club again and it’s an enjoyable way to end the week. Paul usually finds some blokes to chat to whilst Barbie-ing and Mum and I quaff our way through a bottle of wine. The kids are happy playing and collecting golf balls and we’re all back home in bed by 9.30pm (believe me, we’re the last to leave!).

A few Sunday’s ago, we took Mum and the kids for a picnic at a local Dam. Lovely, you may be thinking…. Only we picked the hottest day of the blooming year. In the car on the way there, the temperature peaked at 44!!! It was so hot, Mum described it like sitting by a camp fire. There was a slight wind, but even this was hot – like opening the oven door when it’s fan assisted (o: There were parrots there that came to feed on your hands. It was a nice afternoon, but after a while, we resorted to a water fight to cool down.

Happy Campers.

In front of the Dam.

The famous three off on another adventure....

Then, this last week’s been a bit of a saga.

On Thursday, Paul had an unscheduled hospital visit, after they telephoned the day before to check he was OK for ‘tomorrow’s appointment’ which he knew nothing about! Turns out he had to go for a CT and MRI scan as the appointment he knew about for next week was with the Consultant to discuss the results! Sam offered to go with him and kept him company in the waiting room. He was fine for the first twenty minutes, after which the battery ran out on his PSP and he moaned! He was there for four hours and it cost him $20 in Subway afterwards to placate Sam. He admitted that had he of known what the MRI involved, he would not have been as keen to go )o:

We were booked on the ferry to go to Rottnest Island for the day on Saturday, but it all went a bit Pete Tong. On Friday, I popped round to Mums to pick them up with the intention of heading into Mandurah to do some errands, only Darcie was complaining that her ear-rings hurt. Basically I thought the butterflies on the back of her ear-rings had fallen off. Her ears looked a bit puffy and sore, so I thought I’d change the ear-rings for her. Only to start fiddling and realize that the butterflies were actually right in her ear lobe! It was really sore, so there was no way I could get them out myself, Darcie and I trotted off to Peel A&E.
The staff were lovely there (although they gave her an injection and didn’t DO anything to her – only look! What’s that all about!). They decided that she’d maybe need a small operation to get them out, so referred her to Princess Margaret’s children’s hospital at 8am the following morning (Saturday!).

So our trip to Rottnest was put on hold and we went to Perth’s children’s hospital. They were SO lovely there considering I felt so guilty- putting her through all that for a lousy pair of ear-rings! In the end she had Ketamine (a horse tranquilser!), that knocked her out completely for 2 hours whilst the Doctors removed the ear-rings that had grown into her ears! Nightmare! The trouble is that Darcie gets herself into such as state that she won’t let anyone go near her. She just screams and won’t even let them look. Just before Xmas she had a dentists appointment for a polish and we had to come away without the dentist even looking in her mouth as she was so distressed! The dentist has arranged for some trauma counseling for Darcie in the new year, just so she’ll be able to have some dental care!!

She slept solidly in the hospital for 2½ hours and then they had to keep her in for a further two for observation. She was in her element there with computer games and DVDs. The nurse even made sure she had an ice cream before she was discharged.

So, to cheer everyone up and diffuse Sam’s disappointment at missing Rottnest, I booked a table at the C Restaurant (a revolving restaurant at the top of the AAPT building – one of Perth’s tallest buildings with a fantastic view) for afternoon tea on Sunday. We’d just got our bums settled and were waiting for our sandwiches when the fire alarm went off. We had to evacuate and walk down all 33 flights of stairs!! 722 steps Paul calculated it out at and none of us can walk today (apart from Adam who was carried). Sam was really frightened and would only go back in again after a talk from a Fireman. God – nothing goes smoothly for the Delaneys.

Strike a pose, Miss Parcel.

Should have known really – just before the fire alarm went off, Mum actually said she liked it! She eventually finds something she can’t complain about and then she jinx’s it!

Very arty photo from Paul, don'tcha think?

Today we have all been so stiff, it’s just not funny! We’re all in agony and are walking like we have sh1t ourselves! Not funny at all! Mum and I took the kids into Mandurah and bought them an ice cream today. As we were sat on the foreshore, some dolphins swam by. Lovely. The weather was good today and is forecast to get hotter throughout the week, so it should be great for Friday ‘AUSTRALIA DAY’. We’re going to see if we can find the place we went to when we came out on holiday and take a picnic and watch the fireworks over Perth. It was fantastic last time we saw them, when we were on holiday and only hoped we would one day be living here. Fingers crossed they are still every bit as spectacular this year.

I would just like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY for this week. Have a great day mate, wish we could be there with you, but we haven’t got any warm clothes! :-p

Even after all these years, they're still working on the railroad.

And could you all keep your fingers crossed for Thursday when Paul has his meeting with the consultant.

Gotta go - it's 11.30pm and Paul and Sam are watching a recording of the Arsenal/Man U match. I need to get the half time oranges ready. If they shout one more time for a goal, I think I'll expire with shock. Take care guys, don't get blown away in the wind and keep your extemities covered in the snow. Less than two weeks until Mr Cheese's birthday...... can't wait xx

I can’t believe we’re a week into 2007 already!

Mum is enjoying her 'rest' in her holiday home. Ha ha!! Mum said she’ll need a week in Spain when she gets home to recover from the exersion of looking after two kids. She’s even had to peel potatoes and cook (IN AN OVEN!) for the first time in years! She’ll need trauma counselling when she gets home, I think! The kids love it though – they can eat what they want, when they want and I don’t even want to know what time they are eventually falling into bed at night! Still, they’ve got until the end of January before they go back to school, so they may as well enjoy their freedom!

It's a hang ga oooo (as Adam calls them)

On Friday, Mum, the kids and I went to a local wildlife park. It’s a little unloved, but you can feed the kangaroos and they have koalas there, so it’s a good place to spend a few hours. Adam took quite a shine to the Wombat. Darcie however, always finds an animal that takes a liking to her at this park (for all the wrong reasons!). The first time we went, it was a very ugly duck with one of those red, floppy things on the top of it’s beak that make it look as if it’s run headlong into a closed patio door. It decided Darcie looked more tasty than the food in her bucket, so decided to peak away at her instead!

Darcie with her finger up a Koala's bum!

The second time we went, she was harassed by a Dingo. This time, she was followed round the park by a very fierce looking goat – complete with horns! It looked like it had gone ten rounds with Tyson; it had half it’s ear bitten off and everything! Evil. Apart from that, animals were fed, patted and humiliated and we came away happy.

Ride that dinosaur! In King's Park.

Saturday we went to King’s Park in Perth for a BBQ. I was very organised and took with us a flask of coffee, beer and wine and lots of yummy food for the BBQ. The weather was lovely; not too hot, not too cold….. just right! So we sat there and let the kids play all afternoon. It gets very busy there, so there is lots of fun to be had people watching.

Something else to climb all over - hooray!

Sunday, we took the boat out again. We dropped it in Mandurah and went for a blam along the estuary before crusing down the river. We stopped for a picnic and the kids played on the park for a while before heading off again and letting Sam and Darcie have a go on the Donut.

Wwweeeeeeee!

Speed Queen Darcie just wanted to fo ‘FASTER’ all the time. Very difficult on the river where there’s a speed limit of 5 knots! We then pulled up at the pub in Ravenswood and stopped for a beer before heading back down the river towards Mandurah. Just as we passed under the old Mandurah bridge, we bumped into four dolphins and watched them feeding in the shallow water for about 20 minutes. I did manage to get a few pictures, but it’s very hard trying to predict where they are going to appear!

Follow my finger.....

All aboard the Skylark.

Mum changed the booking for her flight home yesterday, so she’s now staying for Adam’s and Darcie’s birthdays. Sam looked a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be prolonging her visit for his, but for Pete’s sake, his isn’t until September!! Paul would be bald if he thought Mum was going to be staying that long! She’s now flying home on the 19th Feb - I’ll look to get her a cheapie to Spain for the first week in March (o:

Oh, yes, we had unwanted house guests for Christmas – bloody mice! Honestly, every house we’ve ever lived in has had a visit from the Mickey gang, it’s beyond a joke. We started off being nice and catching them in a humane trap and releasing them over the golf course. But after a while, we realised that they were making it back into the house before we were and by the time we’d dumped them and washed the trap out, they were already seated on the sofa with a cup of tea and a Tim Tam, watching ‘Deal or No Deal’. That was it! The big guns were out and the poison was unleashed. Mice only laugh at us once, let me tell you. I think they may have stowed away in the container – they certainly weren’t local mice. I could tell this as they had sunburn, cork hats and were commenting that the cheese wasn’t as nice as the stuff from Marks and Spencer. Cheek!

Happy New Year everyone!

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a great New Year celebration! We’ve been out and about (as usual), enjoying the weather and taking Mum to new places.

The Motley Crue on the Foreshore on Christmas Eve.

The kid’s had a lovely Christmas day and Santa was particularly generous this year – thank you Santa! Sam received: an electric guitar, a Buzz PS2 game and controllers and a Jungle Buzz game (which provided possibly THE most fun we’ve ever had on Christmas evening!), a LocoRoco PSP game from Nanny D, Lovely lolly to spend in the sales from Uncle Michael (and Nanny D), Ferrari lego…. Honestly, the list just went on and on…. Darcie got: two Furbys (one ‘Funky’, one ‘normal’), an ipod, an iDog, some Polly Pocket stuff and a Pixel chix mall, a fantastic dancing Barbie from Nanny D (o: ) and Mr Cheese received more Bob the ilder and Thomas than you could fit into a Bob and Thomas catalogue, a lovely new ball and a bicycle! Nanny D got him an interactive game for the TV, which he loves (when he gets a turn on the TV!). Thanks Uncle Michael for the money (o: we’ll let you know what they spend it all on. I’ve got a feeling Sam might be spending it all on connector pens:

Sam and his ever increasing pen collection.

So, Christmas dinner involved seafood, seafood and a bit more seafood. We had prawns (in their dinner jackets, as well as naked!), scallops, oysters, smoked salmon… all very civilised and yummy. It was particularly hot, so the kids hopped in and out of the pool all day. We hung around the house and the kids enjoyed their presents – flitting from one to the other like butterflies with ADD.

Christmas lunch!

Between Xmas and New Year, we all went to watch The Wild at the outdoor cinema in Perth. It’s a lovely experience to sit under the stars, huddled up like an old woman with a blanket covering your knees watching a movie. Quite an experience for Mum, seeing as the last film she’d seen at the ‘cinema’ was 50,000 leagues under the sea, which I think she took me to see when I was in primary school at the Campus West!! But it was good fun and Mum managed to sit through the entire film without asking when the usherette would come round with the ice creams and what time the Pearl and Dean advertising would start. Well done, Mum! Adam enjoyed the film (he always loves going to the pictures!), although he was a bit scared by the buffalo thingies. Eddie Izzard was very funny as the koala – it just suited him down to the ground. The fun thing about watching an open air film in Oz is that they have an affilation with a pizza company and just before the film starts, you get a yummy Dominos pizza delivered to the park!

Getting ready for the film.....

Before we got to the cinema, we did a little tour of the Northern Suburbs of Perth. We do like it up there; it’s a lot more developed and has more to offer on your doorstep, but it’s all coming ‘down south’ and the house prices will just rocket after the train line goes live. Mum actually like a place call Hillarys (in the old cliché of Dad ‘having a good day’ on holiday – Mum actually liked somewhere!!!). There’s a harbour where you can sit and people watch with a coffee – it’s like an up-market Southend, but with less effluent being bilged into the sea. We also let the kids have a play at Mullaloo beach. It’s a favourite of ours – always busy and the view is just GORG-OUS!

Mr Cheese in the pool on Christmas day.

New Year’s Eve started with Yum Cha in Northbridge. It’s a Chinese restaurant where you take a seat and mad little Chinese women wander up and down with trays, trying to tempt you to take their food. If they’ve got something on their trolley that you like the look of, you take one and they stamp your card. At the end of the meal, you pay for what you’ve eaten (kind of like the coloured plate thing in sushi bars). It’s very chaotic and busy, but it’s a real experience. Mum’s face was a picture as Adam and Darcie tucked into a plate of octopus tentacles! Adam really likes them. He spends ages with them on his fingers like an extra from a Doctor Who episode!

Tentacle anyone???

After we filled our faces, we popped into Fremantle for a beer in a brewery/pub called Little Creatures. It’s got lots of atmosphere, but was getting a bit rowdy for the kids, so we whizzed back to Mandurah to watch the New Year’s fireworks at 9pm. Like last year, the teenagers were getting loud (and very drunk) after the fireworks; so after witnessing one completely pi**ed teenage boy wee into the river just in front of us (and a hundred other families sitting on the foreshore!), we bid our goodbyes and headed home to see in the New Year in front of the TV with a party popper (who says we don’t know how to enjoy ourselves?) The fireworks in Sydney looked just amazing. It was weird though that we went off to bed and woke up in time to see London celebrating the New Year with the fireworks round the Eye. You were singing Auld Land Syne, we were having cornflakes and a coffee……

So, Mum is now in her little holiday rental. She’s got it for the month, just in case we were driving her mad and she could have a little respite from us. Unfortunately (for her – ha ha!), Sam and Darcie have moved in with her! We pop over to visit during the day and Adam goes over to visit his siblings, but they are adamant that they want to stay with Nanny! I feel bereft and have had to console my wayward emotions in a bottle of wine each night! OK, that’s rubbish – I usually drink to forget about the kids, now I’m drinking in celebration of their absence! Ha ha. What time is it? Pims o’clock? Marvellous! The house is sweet and I’ve spoilt her with an inside toilet this time. I don’t think she realised this was a working holiday and she’d be an au pair for a month. She’ll know to read the small print a bit better next time.

Last night we took a boat trip down the Mandurah canals to see the Xmas lights. Every year, these multi-million dollar houses decorate themselves (i.e. chav themselves up) with tacky multi-coloured lights and the boat operators spend the evenings cruising up and down the canals with a full compliment of people staring straight into their living rooms! Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos as they were just too chavvy! It really put me off the thought of one day ‘moving up’ to a home on the canals. The thought of two months of the year with every pleasure craft on the water pootling up and down the river at the end of my garden passing comments about my choice of soft furnishings, or the colour of my kitchen units??? No thanks! I’ll take my bad taste elsewhere where it can languish un-discussed and un-ridiculed. Plus, there were all these huge houses with only two sad people sat round a kitchen table! It’d cost me a fortune in ‘rent-a-crowd’ fees to hire people to come and sit in my house to make it look like I was popular and had loads of mates!

It also amazed me how competitive the neighbours were. All that money and no taste!!! They were still determined to out-do their neighbour with an extra 20,000 lights in the shape of a Wise man on a donkey! I think if we ever did it again though, we would go before Christmas. It was slightly sad yesterday on the 3rd of January looking at all the Christmas lights with piped Nat King Cole over the PA system. Adam got very excited when he saw his first inflatable Santa though and was convinced that he was coming to visit him again that night. I reassured him that Santa would only be back to remove presents when he had been naughty – kind of like a repossession for when lego goes bad.

Oh and I’ve already broken my New Years Resolution by eating 5 of Adam’s Lindor choccys that were taunting me from the fridge. Note to self: must got to the Doctors about these voices in my head telling me to do stuff (o:

Hi Guys,

Just a small update at the moment to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful, healthy New Year.

The kids wearing their t-shirts that I made to meet Nanny at the airport.

The weather is scorching here with the forecast predicting 35 degrees for Christmas day. We’ve put the pool up in the garden for the kids to enjoy (Darcie and Sam enjoy swimming – Adam just throws anything into it that’s not nailed to the floor so we might have to rethink the pool thing with the new house and just get a big pit that Adam can use as a land fill site). We’re now fully sorted for Christmas. It’s 1.30pm on Christmas Eve, roasting hot and Sam’s asleep (hoorah!).

Clean at last!

We’ve got beer and wine in the cupboard, more seafood than could supply Iceland for two months and gas for the Barbie….. it’s all systems go. We’ve got the Santa tracking website on standby so we can tell when the big man in red has his sleigh fully loaded and ready for the off.

There’s a free concert in Mandurah tonight that we might pootle down to it depends how many coffee liqueurs (affogatos), we’ve downed between now and then (we’re addicted). You basically turn up with a picnic rug and something to eat and you’re entertained in a Christmas fashion. Adam hasn’t been going to bed until 11pm, so we might need a distraction to wear him out, otherwise he’ll never sleep!

Our trip down to the Margaret River was somewhat eventful! The house that we’d booked to stay in that looked so lovely on the internet turned into a shack in the middle of the woods with an outside toilet! I kid you not!

How inviting would this be in the dark at 2am? No, not very! Bearing in mind, there was a four inch gap at the ceiling and the floor!! Yeuch!

We stuck two nights there, but in those 48 hours, we’d seen more scary wildlife than we’d seen in 13 months, so we moved on and luckily got a cancellation at the place where we took Paul for Father’s Day in September. We still had a good time (we drove 7 hours in one day to visit to the tree top walk in Walpole that took all of ten minutes to complete!

I'm on top of the world, Ma!

Paul wasn’t over impressed, seeing as he doesn’t do heights and didn’t even come on the suspended walkway that took you 40 metres up into the treetops). It literally was all day in the car to spend an hour walking round the forest… (o: Never mind, it’s another thing we can say we’ve achieved!

What's that Skip? Timmy's caught down a mine shaft in Wollomolloo??

We did see kangaroos in the wild. Mum was pleased as up until that point, she’d only see the dead variety by the side of the road! It was lovely to see their little joeys poking out of the pouches. At the holiday house of horrors, we also see our first Huntsman spider (we only saw a little one, but they can grow to the size of a dinner plate!!!!!!),

A Huntsman spider (with it's lunch in it's mouth).

a skink which is a lizard. These are good apparently as they eat the snake eggs (very reassuring!)

A Skink (or as Darcie called them - stinks).

and we came down for breakfast in the morning, and the mice had eaten our bread! Enough was enough. I can cope with most things, but an outdoor loo and wrestling with a rodent for my breakfast was more that we could take, so we checked out….

The rest of the break was lovely. We visited a few vineyards and sampled some nice wine. We also had two meals at the Voyager Winery which is my favourite.

Yes, the cake WAS huge!

It’s gorgeous there – the same place that we took Paul for Father’s Day lunch. The kids played in the sea and Sam got repeatedly stung by jellyfish.

How blue is that water?

They were only small, but they caused little blisters. I bought some home with me to pop into their pool to give it a more ‘marine’ feel (o:

Looking back, we’ve done loads and we’ve forgotten most of it already! Before our trip away, we went to the Perth Christmas Parade.

Happy soul my eldest, isn't he?

We went to last year’s and it’s good fun for the kids. It’s like to old style carnival we used to have in WGC. Very nostalgic!

We’ve also baptised Mum with the boat. We’ve only been out once so far as it’s been a bit manic with Christmas and everything, but she soon relaxed. We dropped it in the river, then scooted across the estuary for some fun, then pulled up for a BBQ. We did see a few dolphins, so that was lovely for Mum to see them in the wild. On the way back to the boat ramp, Mum didn’t even bother with her life jacket, so she must have been quite confident. The river isn’t more than 2 metres deep in most places, anyhow, so she wouldn’t come to much harm.

Oh, what else…… oh, just after Mum arrived, she babysat Cheesey whilst Paul, I and Sam and Darcie went to see Kylie in concert. It was absolutely fantastic!

Who do we want? Kylie! When do we want her? Now!!!

The show was amazing and her dancers!! Well, what can I say – she certainly puts on a show for her ‘gay’ audience! Woo! It was definitely on the THE best concerts I’ve ever been to, but then again, I love Kylie!

The kids all had brilliant end of year reports, with Sam getting B’s in all his subjects apart from music! I’m so proud of them, they’ve adapted brilliantly and apart from the odd moment when they’ve missed their old school friends, they’ve been very happy.

Santa visits Darcie's class. And yes, he is wearing shades!

Sam also pulled a blinder and won 4th prize in the school raffle which was a deluxe four man tent with chairs and inflatable beds (although after our ‘wild’ holiday, Paul said if I expected him to camp outside with (and I quote) ‘all that weird shit out there’ then I had another think coming!). Still, very nice prize – well worth ten dollars spent on the raffle tickets!

The house build has ground to a resounding halt for Christmas. Never mind, better the money’s in our account than theirs! The interest can pay for a box of crackers or two. They have delivered the bricks for the first floor though and this is a picture of Darcie standing near where the balcony will be. Everyone takes it easy over the next two/three weeks, so I shall update when there is some movement (not bowel movement - obviously - Paul goes every day, I'd be exhausted!).

And here is the weather from Secret Harbour today....

So, that’s about all the news I can think of for the moment. I will try and add more when I can. Please feel free to give us a call over the Xmas if you can. We are now 9 hours ahead though due to WA adopting daylight saving measures. If you don’t have the number, phone me and I’ll give it to you (ha ha ha!).

Love to everyone. HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!

This is Mum's holiday house - we haven't broken the news to her just yet!

Miss you all and send foggy WGC our love.

This will be a happier update than last time, you have my word on it /:o)

So, let me see, what have I got to tell you about this time? Well, I bet you didn’t know that we have left England over a year ago now? We flew from Heathrow on 17th November, so it’s been over twelve months now since I last set foot in a M&S (although I found a £25 voucher last week – do you think this would be enough to justify Paul letting me return for a week or so? Nah! Me neither!). Sam got very excited last month when he found a fiver in a pair of trousers. He wanted to take it to the bank to exchange it, but didn’t understand that it wouldn’t be viable. We could start our own little bureau de change I think with all the various coinage we have collected from different countries over the years – most of it ends up in the kid’s money boxes and they think they’re rich. It’s been a busy year and not one without its challenges, but onwards we shall strive.

People are starting to put their Xmas decorations up already. Imagine a huge illuminated Santa hanging off a palm tree and you will get a picture of the weirdness of Christmas in the summer! . There’s a house round to corner from us that’s got a huge Santa in an inflatable snow-dome. It’s got it’s own pump to inflate it and is lit up inside. It’s huge – must be about 4 foot tall. Very swish though – might invest in one for the balcony……. Dream on love!

We had the best day ever yesterday, when we all took a trip into Perth to watch the Red Bull Air Race http://redbullairrace.com

. We headed off quite early (well, for us, anyway!) and drove part way into Perth, where we parked the car and got the bus right into the centre of the action! It was the BEST day! The atmosphere was fantastic! They had video walls and big PA systems all over the place, so as they raced, you got commentary and atmospheric music; it was excellent! Before each pilot was allowed to compete, the following message came over the tannoy ‘you are clear to enter the box. Smoke on’ At which point the pilot turned on the smoke canister on the plane and he commenced the course. We had an excellent view, sat on the bank of the Swan River. The sun was shining, the music was fab and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Those magnificent men in their flying machines.

We did chuckle when they mentioned what a complete wash out the UK leg had been in Longleat as we sat with our ice cream, applying more sun cream than you could shake a stick at (on a side note; what a completely stupid expression that is! If anyone knows how it originates, please let me know. Thank you!).

The kids lap up the sunshine.

After the competition, Paul and Sam wanted to dash off, but it was such a lovely day and still early, so I made them wait to see what would be coming up next. Well, we were very glad we waited as there was a great display from a ‘smokey chopper’; a very small, agile helicopper (as Adam calls them) that flew really fast – backwards! It was amazing to watch. They even had a Qantas jet fly up the Swan with it’s flaps up and the landing gear down. It did a circuit one way, then turned and headed back to the airport, not before pulling an incredibly quick, steep ascent. Don’t get to see that every day! Then, the absolute best bit was a display by the Australian Air Force with their F18’s. Four did a display and pulled off some great formations, then one F18 came back and flew very fast, very low and the noise was fantastic! At the end of this flight (after we were all deaf), the pilot just flew it completely vertical for TWO MILES into the sky, letting off anti-aircraft flares as it went – just incredible (although the kids probably enjoyed the ride on the bus more!).

Not a sight you see every day!

I can't believe how cloudy it looks in the pictures - it was a scorcher!

The house has taken a turn for the better and the second slab was poured today. We now have stairs! They effectively build a large tea tray over the first floor and fill it with concrete; the stairs are also concrete and poured at the same time. I’ll post a few pictures, so hopefully you’ll get the picture. We also have scaffolding now too, so the house looks bigger. We will have to get a lift thingy soon to transport all the bricks up to the second level. Hopefully as the weather’s taking a turn for the better, it won’t be too long before the concrete has dried out enough to let the brickies start on the next layer. I bet the builders will want their next instalment before Xmas, so they’d better get a wiggle on!

The shopping centre is also due to open the first week in December. They’ve got all the dry goods in Woolies at the moment and the other franchises are all moving in ready for opening day.

Ummmm..... shopping.....

I must admit, it will make a nice change not to have to drive to the equivalent of Stevenage to do the grocery shop.

Speaking of the house, we also put a deposit down on a pool this weekend. We’ve gone for a fibre glass one in the end. Concrete is more expensive, is designed for awkward spaces and is rougher on the feet. As we have quite a large block, we can fit a ‘run of the mill’ size and shape on in quite easily. We’ve gone for a ‘Flamingo’. What do you reckon?
www.sapphirepools.com.au/content/fibreglasspools/index.php

First floor slab is now added.

We have concrete stairs!

The kids are doing well with their swimming lessons during school time, although the novelty of traipsing off to the local pool on a coach every day is wearing a bit think now and they are both knackered (although they are able to watch videos on the coach during the journey, so that cheers them up no end). Their swimming has come on in leaps and bounds though. Darcie no longer has to lie to the pool attendant on duty on the water slide and whizzes down it like a looney! (when we first went, she had to lie and pretend to be 6!). She does handstands and rolls in the water now and is a regular little mermaid. Sam is doing well and is hoping to pass level 4 (THE hardest level to get through apparently!). There are a few Xmas activities being organised and Darcie has a school trip on the 6th December to the …….. wait for it…….. fish and chip restaurant in Fremantle!! Ha ha ha! They do have tanks with marine fish in the restaurant and the kids will have a talk from a marine biologist before tucking in to a nice piece of fried Nemo. Only in Oz, eh? I think they are having a special assembly when they’ll be performing all their strange Christmas songs, but I don’t know when this will be. Darcie hasn’t fully forgiven me yet for forgetting that last Friday was ‘free dress day’ to raise money for the children’s chosen cause. They could take a dollar in and wear their pyjamas, have ‘crazy hair’ or just come in their own clothes; only I forgot all about it and Sam and Darcie were in their uniform like geeks! Oh dear! Good job Darcie forgot to brush her hair that morning; she looked like she was participating, but had a very frugal mother!

Darcie’s got a date to visit Year One next week. They can take some money and buy their own snack for recess, so that’s exciting for them all (Darcie likes the giant cookies – they’re as big as her head and last two days (o: ). Because it’s such a large school, they don’t allocate class teachers until two days before the kids go back; there are lists then taped to the library door. All the kids are mixed up every year, so they have to make new friends. Hard in one way if they are shy or have a really good mate as there is no guarantee that they will be together the following year. This is fine for Sam as he just gets a new group of people to irritate next year (o: I think Year 4 will have four classes and Year 1 will probably have three or four too. It’ll be a shame if Darcie is not with Amy and Sam is moved away from Chad, but they’ll see each other at break times and at least by the time they’re in year 7, they’ll know everyone!

Oh, and WA are getting daylight saving. Seeing as we are the only State who don’t alter the clocks, it does makes sense. We are getting a bit cheesed off with people over East calling us at 6am in the morning as their clocks have changed and they are now three hours in front of us. The 3rd December is D day, I think.

I’ve done some more Xmas shopping and put more stuff on layby; which is great, as long as you remember which shopping centre you were in, which shop, what you have actually bought (so you don’t end up buying the same bloody thing again!), and when and how much you have to pay for it. At least they store it until Xmas Eve, although I have already been warned that the queues are a bit mad if you leave it to the last minute to collect it all. I wonder if I paid them another $10 they’d wrap it for me too? Worth a try. Still doesn’t feel very ‘christmassy’. I don’t know if you ever get used to a hot Xmas. Time will tell I suppose…… well, four and a bit weeks!!!

Summer's here!!! Thumbs up!

:o(


We went to see the Consultant today and he said that they removed a large benign tumour from behind Paul’s nose (which is good news - sort of). Good news in that it was benign (that’s the good one!), but bad news in that it was (a) there in the first place, (b) quite big and (c) Paul will need further surgery to remove part of his sinuses that have been affected by the polyps.

The Consultant went on to use words that would have scored well over 150 in a game of scrabble, and left Paul and I looking at each other in bewilderment, but the upshot is that Paul will need another operation – sooner rather than later – at a specialist teaching hospital in Fremantle.

At least Freo is closer to us than Perth and ….. well, the tumour was benign (they are the positives!). The operation sounds a lot more invasive than the one he’s already had – it involves cutting round the profile of his nose, right down to his lip and effectively (as the Consultant described it) peeling his face back to reveal the affected area to allow them to treat the problem. It’s not supposed to leave too much of a scar – especially with the skill in reconstructive surgery and stitches that fade to a barely visible line, but is by far more intensive surgery than he suffered last week.

It took the wind out of our sails a little this morning. We were expecting a ‘…looks fine, take these tablets, call me in the morning’ type consultation – not ‘ah, yes, yours was quite an unusual case….. you’ll need another procedure sooner rather than later’. The Consultant was quite alarmed that it had taken so long to get Paul to surgery (ahem…. YOU cancelled the operation once, Sir!), but fully expected the next op to be scheduled a lot sooner than 9 months. Mum? Can you stay a bit longer? Maybe? Please?

Off for a lie down in a darkened room now. We’re off out later for a walk round Secret Harbour to see if we can find the dog that Paul’s kicked - to apologise.

The Hallow'een Hooter!

Well, first things first and I apologise for posting a year-on update rather than about Paul’s health – so here goes…..The operation took place last Tuesday (Halloween) and I don’t think I can remember seeing Paul that nervous! He was really worried about it. We all went to the hospital with him (and made him more stressed than he was about the op! At least the kid’s behaviour took his mind off the worry and he was just glad to see the back of us, I think! Although I don’t know why he was getting upset at Adam trying to strangle the anaesthetist with a stethoscope (only joking! – I’d already nobbled him with a ‘drugged’ jelly baby!). We left the hospital about 8am and Paul was due down to surgery at 9 – he was the first on the list. I took the kids to Hungry Jacks for brekkie and said they could have the day off school as long as they were quiet whilst I looked after the phones and tried not to ruin us (business-wise) whilst Paul was incapacitated. They spent the day lounging around, winding each other up and colouring things in for Halloween. They were pretty good on the whole! I promised them pizza for dinner, so we whizzed to Dominos and then waited for the trick or treaters…..

Good grief! It certainly wasn’t like WGC. The kids came in bright sunlight and were dressed in the strangest of costumes – mostly nothing to do with witches, devils or suchlike. My personal favourite was two girls wearing hula skirts and bikini tops??? No – I’ve no idea either! The kids were happy though and dished out the lollies before admitting defeat at 7.30. They’d been awake since 5.15am, so they did well.

Scary, aren't they?

Isn't it sad that we can only afford one sandal between the three of them!

Anyhow – back to Paul…… Can’t stay on topic, can I? I phoned the hospital at 12 noon and he was back on the ward. Drowsy, but OK. Then the man himself phoned me at 4pm and sounded like he was speaking to me from the inside of a wheelie bin. His oxygen levels kept dropping, so he had to spend the night in an oxygen mask, hence sounding like he was speaking to me through a bucket. We spoke again in the evening and he sounded OK. Then on Wednesday morning, he phoned to say they were releasing him at 9.30am! I dropped the kids off at school and whizzed up the freeway, only to have him phone me to say they’d delayed it to 12.30 – oh, what a shame – I’ll have to go shopping!

He did the ‘man’ thing – telling everyone who would listen that he was fine and OK to go home; ‘no, the pain’s fine!’ – and then was in agony for the next 24 hours! I picked up his prescription the following day and even the pharmacist warned me that they were ‘very strong’ pain killers. Well, that was it; he was comatose for the next day and a half. I don’t think it was a bad thing though and it made his rest and sleep to repair the damage. He’s got a check up with the Consultant tomorrow, so we’ll find out them what exactly he extracted from Paul’s nose. The amazing thing is, there has been absolutely NO bruising whatsoever. I’d braced myself for the worst – too much reality TV where they have nose jobs and look as though they’ve been punched in the face by Mike Tyson! The Consultant did do a ward round after his op, but of course, Paul was in no state to question him over how the procedure went, so it will be interesting to hear tomorrow what he did and what was achieved! He’s been in quite a lot of pain, but can actually breathe out of his left nostril now whereas he couldn’t get any air through the left one at all before. I shall update you when I hear the news…. (unless of course I forget, but have something more important like a new pair of shoes I bought (o: )

Apart from that stress, the kids are now practising their Christmas songs etc for the end of term. I had to let you have the words for Sam’s song; it’s so sweet!

Christmas where the gum trees grow.

Chorus
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty’s what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near

Verse 1
From England came our Christmas fare
They even said what Santa should wear
But here down under for summer’s cool
Santa should dip in a swimming pool

Verse 2
Santa rides in a sleigh on snow
But down here where the gum trees grow
Santa should wear some water skis
And glide around Australia with ease

Verse 3
To ride around the bush where it’s dry
To cart all the presents piled so high
A red nosed reindeer would never do –
Santa should jump on a kangaroo!

Next week they start school swimming. I think they are more excited about the thought of going on the coach there and back – rush to sit on the back seat….! They’ll be even more grouchy and knackered than usual – oh, can’t wait for that one! We’ve also got the Red Bull Air Race coming up soon the weekend after next. I think it’s the last race in the series and best of all….. it’s free! None of this going into a draw for tickets and then having to pay a fortune to park, we can just turn up with a picnic, sit on the banks of the Swan River and watch the excitement! Paul says he’s got me a job as a co-pilot with the German pilot. I said as long as I get an ‘appearance fee/vomit fee’ and it goes towards our turn over, I’d give it a go!

Three weeks tomorrow and Mum’s due to take to the air. It’s all very exciting and I’ve still managed to keep it a surprise from the kids! Don’t know quite how I’ve managed – we’ve had a few hiccups, but I don’t think they suspect. The kid’s then break up for Christmas on 7th December and we’ve got a few things organised for the hols.

Mum – by the way, I’ve booked the Kylie tickets, so either you’re on babysitting duty for Mr Cheese, or you can keep your earplugs from the plane and come with us!

I’ll post an update on the house. They haven’t done a great deal more. The T bars have held them up unfortunately! We now have bricks over the balcony and the alf(resco), so it’s starting to look quite, well, housey! It’s looking quite large now and our neighbours are commenting even more on our fantastic views and how they’re going to lose theirs – ;o)

The crane placing our balcony girder in position

Bob does some welding on site - shame Dad couldn't have inspected his work!

Will try and add a quick update on Paul’s hooter when I can. Oh and you will be disgusted to know that we had to bring the air conditioning units out of retirement today. How can you go from being freezing one month, to sweating your bits off the next? Amazing! Hope you all enjoyed the fireworks and if anyone went to Burnham Green – bah humbug, I’m not jealous!

View from the front door - the pillar will hold the balcony up. That's the golf course to the front.

Coming together, isn't it?

Well, do you know that this time last year, we were holding our leaving party at the Clock? As usual, we’ve packed a hell of a lot into twelve months and we’re exhausted for it! It only seems like yesterday in some ways that we were in WGC, walking round John Lewis and enjoying the delights of the town centre – yet in other ways, it seems an age since we last saw family and friends. So, on the whole, what are our reflections?

Firstly, the month before we left England was hell on earth! It was a complete nightmare of trying to sort out six month’s worth of packing, selling, winding down the business and goodbyes into the space of less than four weeks! Hand on heart though, I don’t honestly know if it would have been any easier if we had more time to do it – it may just have prolonged the agony and made the goodbyes even longer and harder…. It’s just a shame that some relationships suffered even before we had made the move. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to fit everything in!

The kids have been stars! They have settled better than I ever could have hoped. They have jumped feet first into the Aussie way of life and seem to be really enjoying it! I know that academically, they are way behind the UK (Darcie for instance would be reading by now, whereas she hasn’t as much as been given a ‘reading’ book yet and is still ‘playing’ really in class). Sam too would be completing much more difficult work at Templewood and has struggled a little to go backwards (i.e back to using pencil and not being allowed to do joined up writing until at least Year 4 when he can try for his ‘pen licence’!). However, his confidence in other things has grown enormously. He has performed in an assembly in front of 300+ children, competed in the Sports Carnival and numerous other activities that he wouldn’t have got to attempt in the UK – all of which he has tried without fear and given them all a bloody good go. I’m very proud of both of them and the way they have coped with it all. Obviously, Mr Cheese has just bumbled about in his usual two year old fashion, but he is a happy little chappy who enjoys the weather, going on the boat and looking for ‘dolchins’. I do appreciate that had we still been in WGC, he probably would have been starting pre-nursery in January, and that galls me a little as he is more than ready for ‘something more’, but over here the system is different and they won’t even think about enrolling him in Kindy for at least another 12 months! I think he’ll have taught himself to read in that time if it means he can be more like his older siblings. He can already put on a video and operate the DVD player, so how hard can a bit of phonetics be?

When I look back at the blog, it makes me realise just what we have achieved in twelve months. Set up home in a ‘foreign’ country. Acquired all the ‘essentials’ without readily knowing where to go to obtain all these things (more difficult than you would imagine!). Started a business from scratch that is starting to look quite promising (o: Signed to have our house built and all the associated stress and bureaucracy that accompanies it! Bought a boat and had a year’s enjoyment from it without killing ourselves or drowning! Managed to avoid any creepy crawlies or snakes. Visited some beautiful places, many of them less than an hours drive from our house. Realised a dream to move to another country – lock, stock and barrel and made some good friends along the way!

The other day on the way to the hairdressers, I passed some people on the foreshore feeding pelicans. Just casually – like we would feed the ducks at Stanborough. Its things like this that we are already starting to take for granted! WA is beautiful. It’s a stunning place to live and only today as I was walking Darcie to school, I realised how lucky we are to be living a stones throw from the Indian Ocean on a golf course estate surrounded by such beautiful scenery. I know the kids don’t often appreciate it, but small things (like a stick insect landing on Darcie’s leg this morning as she walked into school – or a flock of colourful parakeets flying over the house, making more noise that a team of motorbike riders – or going to the park in Mandurah and seeing wild dolphins swim casually up to swimmers), do make an impression with them and cause the odd comment.

It’s not actually been as bad as I thought it would. The homesickness and missing friends, I mean. I really thought I would suffer badly and miss Mum terribly, but with the wonder of the 3p phone call and Mum’s Red Cross parcels, we still talk every day and manage to keep up with all the goings on on both sides of the globe. In fact Paul has found it harder than me, which I certainly wouldn’t have expected! I have also managed to withdraw from Eastenders! It is on UKTV here, but it’s so far behind I think Dirty Den’s only just died (for the first time 8-) Although I do find myself watching ‘Engie Bengy’ with Adam just to hear Ant and Dec’s dulcet tones! We get pretty much the same crap telly programs as you – mainly American imports between the hours of 7pm – 11pm, but we are starting to familiarise ourselves with the Aussie personalities and the equivalents to Eamonn and Fiona. We get ‘Deal or No Deal’, but without Noel (not necessarily a bad thing!).

As Paul says, the line between the UK and Oz is starting to blur a little now and sometimes memories overlap and you can’t remember how certain things were done in the UK (because we’re used to the Aussie way!). Things like being able to buy wine in the supermarket. A postman that used to walk on his round (rather than a kamikaze idiot on a scooter who REFUSES to get off his bike and drives over things instead!) and having a postbox at the corner of most streets – oh, and a letterbox in your door, rather than one at the end of your drive! Seeing kids on their bikes, riding to the beach with a surfboard attached to the back. Seeing teenage boys in wetsuits on skateboards carrying their boards to the beach! Being able to pay all your bills over the internet with Bpay and not actually receiving a paper bill – just an email when you have a new invoice to pay. Mobile speed cameras everywhere, with articles in the paper the day before telling everyone where they are going to be situated (they even announce them on the TV!). Double ‘de-merit’ points on all speeding fines over a public holiday weekend. Fines for travelling as little as 2kms over the limit! The price of petrol changing depending on the day of the week (always dearer on a Friday as people may want to fill up before going away for the weekend – always dearer before a public holiday weekend too :o( Free BBQ’s everywhere in the parks for all to use. Banks that charge for EVERYTHING! Getting asked ‘cheque, savings or credit’ when you go to pay using a bank card (and not having a clue in the beginning which one to pick!). Pet shops that still sell puppies. Being able to have a hermit crab as a pet (yeuch! – they are like spiders with a mortgage!). Oh and if I ever hear you moan about junk mail, I will post you a weeks worth of ours! We get four weekly free papers, and enough junk mail flyers every week to wallpaper a small downstairs loo!

I’m still getting email reminders from Ocado to place my on-line shopping order; Grant Shapps (local MP) has me on his mailing list from when I signed a petition (once!) and I get emails with special offers from Butlins and Center Parcs! In fact, I’ve had more emails from Grant Shapps than some of you lot!

Silly things we miss – like a Sunday morning stroll into town with the kids on their bikes, a quick coffee in Costas and then home again (yeah, right – how many times did we do that exactly??) I also confess to missing the shops. The fact that I know if I want decent quality stuff I can go to John Lewis or M&S, but if I want cheapy, I’ve always got Poundstretcher or Primark. There just doesn’t seem to be the choice over here. Supermarkets are dire! The aisles are too tall and too close together and they play crap early 80’s music whilst you are shopping, so that I’m distracted from the groceries and the trip turns into a game of ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ trying to guess all the obscure music. (God, today, I took the kids to a Castaway Kids-type place and they were playing ‘Seven Tears’ – do you remember that song? How naff???)

Strange as it may seem, I would still like to be standing round the bonfire in Burnham Green next Saturday getting smoke in my eyes and dodging the fireworks! They don’t do firework night here – makes sense really given what it’s all about (in fact it’s illegal to purchase fireworks for home use anyhow). Halloween was strange too as we got trick or treaters calling in glorious sunshine wearing hula skirts and bikini tops – I think it’s only scary for the Dads who realise that’s what their daughter will be like in 8 years time (more terrifying than someone dressed as a devil, I think you’ll agree!) I still made Paul get a Pumpkin although it was the equivalent of £10, so he wasn’t chuffed!

So what else is different about life down under? I think we enjoy our weekends more and get out and do stuff together more as a family. Even if it’s only a trip to the beach, or the park, at least the weather’s usually nice and you can plan stuff without everything being called off at the last minute. We’ve socialised more – OK, maybe out of necessity in the beginning to get to know people and stuff. That in itself can be hard – sometimes you don’t feel like making an effort to get to know people and make friends, and it’s hard that no-one knows you or your family, so can’t sympathise or take the piss out of you (you have to get to know someone well before you can take the piss and that’s my sense of humour – OK, I know it’s childish!!) It’s still a huge emotional rollercoaster, but then life is I suppose. We all have ups and downs and the trouble is we don’t actually appreciate the here and now while we are in it and living it – we always seemed happier when we were younger / when we were thinner / before we had kids and had money! Trouble is, when we are in that position, we don’t appreciate the simple things and we always strive for more. I am making a promise to myself to try and be happy for NOW, with what we’ve got and count our blessings, because, god knows with all the stress we’ve been through in the last twelve months, I think we’ve done alright! We’re in a good place. We’re happy (relatively healthy (o-: ) and we’re all still together. Can’t be bad!

…………humph……………

Quite a frustrating tone to the update this week in as much as we paid the next instalment for the house and they have done exactly........... nothing since! Apparently they are waiting for some special T-bars and there has been a delay at the manufacturers and then they have to go for galvanising! We have chased the builder a few times and they say it’ll all be delivered in the next few days….. then the weekend arrives and another week elapses with no first floor. They have told us that the Floortech guys will be on site on Friday to get the scaffolding in place ready for the concrete to be poured for the first floor (although, they didn’t say which Friday, I suppose).

Other than the frustration over the house, everything else is plodding on towards the summer, Christmas and the school holidays. The kids are still knackered, we’re still working hard and Adam’s a little sod! We’ve booked the kids in for swimming lessons at a local pool; not for this pool the sane system of grading the classes by numbers – oh no! I had to go and register the kids as one Tuna and one Salmon! I felt like I was ordering lunch at the deli. The only had their first lessons last week, but Darcie was SO much better than she was in her VACswim classes in the holiday. She was like a little dolphin and did really well. Sam did great too. I think the weekly lessons are better for my lot as they don’t seem to cope very well with going every day for a week. This week I found out that they do two weeks of swimming with the school too this term, so they are going to be constantly wrinkled and smelling of chlorine next month.

Paul’s booked in for his Op on Tuesday (Halloween). We’ve got to be at the hospital ready to be admitted at 6.30am and he now needs an overnight stay. To be honest, I’m pleased about that. At least he’ll be monitored and looked after for 24 hours and by the time he’s released, I know he’ll be OK (ish!). I’m a bit jealous too! – the thought of 24 hours bedrest and no intruders creeping into your bed at night and then sleeping with their big toe up your nose for 5 hours – it’s almost worth having your nose broken and looking and feeling like sh*t for a week. Hell, I look and feel like that anyway (after the aforementioned bad night’s sleep, so a bit of bruising wouldn’t be so bad (o;) Next time you see Adam, smell his hair. He constantly has hair smelling of Paul’s armpit as that’s where he sleeps most nights! He goes to bed in his room, a mosquito must buzz in and wake him up (as he’s such a light sleeper) and as soon as his eye lids flutter, he’s out of his cot (like an extra from a 'Mission Impossible' film) and he’s in our bed before you’ve even noticed the covers being pulled back. I tell you, the Army ought to utilise his night time operation techniques. He could get into Baghdad without being seen, no trouble, if the way he trespasses into our bed is anything to go by. Perhaps he has those green night vision glasses in his room. I wouldn’t put it past him – probably swapped his Noddy for them in the playground. He’s nothing if not industrious! Good job Sam was never around in the ‘Swap Shop’ generation. I’d nip to Tescos only to find he’d swapped Darcie for a Mr Potato Head and probably replaced Adam with a ‘nearly new’ game of Twister.

The kids are getting more ‘aussie-fied’. Peppers are now ‘capsicums’, flip flops are most definitely ‘thongs’ and crisps are ‘chips’. Darcie’s voice is changing the most with the upward lilt at the end of her sentences. Sam’s still a bit ‘cor blimey, guvnor’ but he’s starting to get small Australian inflictions to his voice. He mumbles worse than ever and that seems to be a big Australian ‘thang’. Thankfully his use of the word ‘dude’ seems to have subsided a little and the novelty has worn off. Can’t say I’m sad about that one – I was getting mightily fed up of being referred to as ‘Mum Dude’.

Everyone’s gearing up here for the Melbourne Cup. It’s a horse race, and it’s massive! Every restaurant and bar are advertising special ‘Melbourne Cup’ lunches with big screens and betting available. I’ve been invited to a friend’s house and we have to wear our worst clothes (charity shop stuff) with a really nice hat. I don’t know if I trust them though. I’d probably turn up looking like Nora Batty and they’d all look like Madonna. It’s when they’d tell me to take my wrinkly tights off that the embarrassment would start and I’d have to admit that I actually wasn’t wearing any and I just had saggy kness (o:

I’ve attached a couple of photos; one of the new shopping centre that should be open for Christmas. You can clearly see the Woolies sign (Mum got really excited: ‘we haven’t got a Woolies over town – I love Woolies’ – she was very disappointed when I told her it was a food shop like Morrisons (o: ) The other photos show the new high school (which if it grows any bigger will need it’s own postal code!). It is apparently a centre for the Performing Arts and is going to be a speciality learning centre. That’ll come in useful with Sam no doubt and his thespian tendancies – I said THESPIAN!

The new high school - it didn't seem that close to our house in the beginning!

View of the school reception - impressive, eh?

That's the wonder of good old Woolies....

What do we want? 'A bottle shop'

When do we want it? 'NOW!'