neighbourly

last night a 'date' was booked, B and I were going to the movies, but we didn't quite get there. One distraction followed by another, and we decided to stay in. One of those distractions however was most welcome, and came in the form of dinner from the neighbours directly opposite us.

We couldn't believe it, the neighbours have 6 sons and 3 of them came bearing dinner just as we were about to head out the door. It was quickly decided that it would look rude of us to head off for the movie straight away (eat dinner later), so a raincheck was made on the movie.

How different it is in our house in the 'burbs as opposed to the townhouse development where you would think people would be more neighbourly.

PS. Dinner consisted of some sort of homemade sausages, seafood salad, lebanese bread, a very garlic dip, and some other sort of dip, and the best green salad ever (it was very lemony and even had tiny bits of lemon with the skin intact in it). YUMM! and thank you neighbours.

locked out

our house is (almost) secure. I know this because B lent his house keys to a friend yesterday, for the day, which ment that his house keys were not on the same key ring as his car keys. The outcome of this was that when he got home from work, realised he should have put petrol in the car and decided to go straight back out rather than leaving it to the morning, he grabbed his keys - the car keys.

I had been invited on the trip, and clad in pj's, socks and a jumper (I wasn't getting out of the car) I didn't have my handbag/keys. I did the responsible thing though of asking B if he had his keys when I was waiting for him on the front steps, and he said he did. However, just as he closed the door, he realised he had his car keys and no house keys! TOO LATE.

Out in the cold a phone call was made to the only person with a spare, but since that call went to voicemail we had to think of another way in...cutting a long story short, thank goodness for the poor maintenance undertaken by the previous owner and the use of silicon to hold in the window panes (in the only window without key locks), and thanks to dad for leaving the window repair tools with us. We managed to break in without too much effort, at the same time as cleaning up one of the three panes that need the silicon removed before the putty can be replaced.

Office Cat

At the new house Jasmine has taken to sitting on my lap whilst I am at the computer. However, this afternoon was serious business as I was making at start on my assignment for my Strategic Management subject so my lap was not on offer. This caused Jasmine something of a dilema - where the empty wastepaper basket looked good until she got in it, not really enough room to get comfy, next stop was squeezed between the printer and the in-tray, but she didn't last too long here either. Her final resting place was a box in the corner where she is now still fast asleep - sorry no photo, maybe it was the flash used for getting these photos that was the real problem.

validation required

at the moment I feel like I am swimming against the flow. I have so much I want to achieve but have so many things that need to be progressed first before achievements can be realised. Uni and work are real endurance tests for me at the moment. Uni in particular, the last subject I did was a real challenge, especially with B in hospital and what seemed to me like a slow recovery that followed, and even after achieving an overall mark of 58.5% still being failed. I have lodged an appeal but do not like my chances. So that means even if I successfully finish this semesters subject there is a distinct possibility I will be repeating 'Accounting' from last semester. I am seriously thinking about taking a year off uni, but as I don't like things hanging over my head, I will probably battle on.

Compounding my mood:
~ the WWW (no, not the world wide web) has struck again. My message to this person is - we are over it, OK. You won. We are getting on with our lives and you should too. I cannot be bothered by your latest stunt - it's just mean.
~ I would like to give my friend P a hug, her dad has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, I think it's cancer.

I am hoping to return shortly, with a more positive post. I am knitting a scarf, I might share some pictures of that with you next time...

I am still here

I feel compelled to write something just to let you know that I am still here. So here goes. B is back and has gone again - back tomorrow night. I am suffering here on my own... I have unpacked most of the boxes, and found places for most of our things, although, we have a distinct lack of storage, and what does look like storage aka one of the built in wardrobes, has no shelves. A trip to IKEA is needed.

In addition to all the unpacking, I have spent the last 3 weeks at work and on weekends working on the house, namely replacing glass which I would have given up on if it were not for dad (and mum providing the sustenance). The glass is all replaced now and after a productive weekend the light is replaced in our bedroom (brought with us from the old place), we have wall lights in the dining room, an austrian blind and curtain material has been purchased for the bay window, a new letterbox is in place, and more of the privet has been chopped down.

We have met the neighbours to the South, and that is another story......

On the buses….

Over the last two days, I feel as though I have done nothing but sit on a bus!!! Yesterday, after the day’s conference proceedings, I jumped on the Llandudno Tour Bus, which went around town from the North Shore to the West Beach, which by way of chance is the home of Alice (Alice in Wonderland) and that of Conway. Conway, is best known for Conway Castle.

Conway Castle

Conway Castle

Alice In Wonderland

Alice In Wonderland

Then, in the evening, we had a function (sponsored by Syngenta) out at Kinmel Manor, Abergele. This was a great function, where I teamed up with some fellow aussies from Western Australia. We sat down at a table in towards the centre of the room, when all of a sudden, the MC for the evening announced the arrival of the Ladymayor'ss and her Consort and they came and sat at OUR table! And, what's more, we also had the CEO of Syngenta also at our table! How embarrassing, but it did have its pluses. That is, when it came to getting dinner, we were the first table to go to the Buffet to get served!!!!!

Then today, the day started early with the technical tours and for me it was off to Edgebaston Cricket Oval, where in two weeks will see the Test match between the Australian team and England in the ashes battle, and toDunstalll Park Racecourse. We had an additional stop that was not advertised to Birmingham City Football Club, and wow what a stop.
So, after a very long day, here are some more pics….

Edgebaston strip

Birmingham City Football

Llandudno garden

Rear Grt Orme

This must be a dream…

Monday 11th July 2005

If so, please do not wake me up! I feel as though I am in the French Riviera, Monte Carlos or some other exotic location. In fact, in today's welcome by the Lady Mayoress and fellow Council member, we were told that this place is the 'Preferred Resort Location for many Brit's' and it is not hard to see why!

This morning, after waking at around 5.30am local time, I went for a walk along the Promenade. It was already so warm that I went for a swim in the little pool at the Eastern end. Then upon returning to the hotel and showering and getting dressed, I went downstairs for another hearty breakfast before heading to the first day of the conference. You know, what I actually came here for!

The day lingered on and on, and I finally got to meet two of the absolute gurus of the Turf world. They are Jim Beard and Prof. Bill Adams. Two of the worlds most highly regarded Turf Scientists in the world.

Anyway, the day continued on until 5pm, which marked the end of the day, so it was now time to hit the town, beach or what ever. I took the swimming option after getting some more pics of the place. Remember though, it is still daylight here until 10PM! That is, the sun is STILL up, so a walk along the Promenade quite late is very comforting indeed.

So here are some more pics:

Llandudno houses

Llandudno Pier

Grand Hotel from Pier

Grand Hotel footings

Little Orme view from hotel
Orme view from Hotel

Pics added, so go BACK!!!

Pics added, so go BACK!!!

Tremendous view

Today, I walked up to the cable-tram that takes you to the summit of the Great Orme. This, at first, looked rather... umm scary, but once we were on our way, it was quite peaceful. It took about 20 mins to reach the halfway house, here we change cable cars, and then about another 15 mins to reach the summit. From here, it is a spectacular view of Llandudno and its surrounds. All I can say is a picture tells a thousand words!!

Llandudno street

Llandudno square

Llandudno shops

Llandudno prom night

Llandudno Prom

Grt Orme half view

Crossing meeting

Decending

City view

City views

Cable Tram

What a beautiful day….

The day started with a lovely breakfast, served approximately 2 hours after waking (6.30am). I had orange juice with corn flakes followed with a 2 x Danish Bacon, poached egg, sausage and tomatoes all served with toast and coffee. After which I scurried on upstairs to my room to wait for the call from Australia. And I waited…. Waited and waited…. In the end I called to confirm the number, (previously sent via SMS) and thought to be a fax by some (L). L was rather surprised to hear from me but excited all the same, and proclaimed that she had just seen off the MIL & FIL and was about to call. So I hung up and within minutes, she had called through as promised. After about 1 hour and 10 or so mins, we decided to call it a morning (for me) and a night for her, as there were more important things to do. For me it was to climb the Great Orme, and explore the sights of Llandudno and for L it was a long soak in a hot tub!

So off I went downstairs where I met the lovely owner’s wife. She was commenting to the head of housekeeping to my size (6’3”) and so on, and after about 20 mins or so, it was all about me the colonial lodger whom needed a longer bed! Not that there was anything wrong with my bed (or view) apart from the fact the wardrobe at the end made a lovely stop for my feet!!! So, they decided I needed better and I was moved as a ‘Person of size’! Can you believe it? When I have watched Airlines on TV, they use this line to make a person pay for two seats! I hope they are not going to charge me for two rooms!!! But, seriously though, they are truly lovely people here as they even offered to do my (small) amount of laundry, and I get to use their Internet connection!!!

Why I here you ask? Because the stupid Department of Environment and Conservation gave me a laptop with NO Internet to connect to, bloody idiots!