Nearer family

Oh I am so happy!! I will have family in Australia for the next four years!!! (hopefully) I know that they will still be a four hour plane flight away but it's a damn sight easier and cheaper than Britain! And I love Melbourne so yayayayayayay!

Update on phone frustration

We received this month's bill and, amazingly enough, Telstra had stopped charging us $11.00 for the T-Box. Oh yes. They had, instead, charged us well over $200 as a cancellation charge.

Needless to say, after a mild heart-attack, I contacted Telstra. No more going through the accounts department for me. I went straight to the heart of it and called complaints. I spoke to a lovely chap who took one look at the record of calls on his computer, took a deep breath and apologised wholeheartedly. He sorted it out, confirmed that there had been a huge mistake and then thanked me for being so nice about it and not shouting at him.

And so it ends.

Until next month...

Some fun

I couldn't help myself with this one, it just made me laugh. Please, if you need cheering up just follow the directions below:

1. Go to 'Get Directions' in Google Maps;
2. Type in 'Japan' as your starting point;
3. Type in 'China' as your destination;
4. Go to point 43.
5. When you stop laughing, tell someone else.

Why?

Some days, it's all going well, and then something, some little thing will happen. Someone will say something completely innocuous, I'll catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye or, without warning, it will hit me like a sledgehammer and then the tears come.

I'm not actually depressed. My doctor told me so. It's happening less these days and I'm getting better but sometimes I just can't stop the tears, that's all and the one thought just goes round, and round, and round in my head.

Why not me?

Then, by and by, it passes. And I'm happy and relaxed again and I get on with my life and everything's good but a part of me knows that deep down, that question lurks sometimes hidden, sometimes yelling and screaming to get out.

Why not me?

tv

I have often wondered about Australian tv, before the advent of all the digital channels, for the most part all you got was either sport or American sitcoms (either new or re-runs - M*A*S*H was on constantly when I first got here).

However, since free to air digital tv, it's almost like I've been transported back in time to my childhood. Take tonight, for example. I had the choice of watching (listen carefully, I shall say this only once...):

'Allo 'Allo*
All Creatures Great and Small**
Vicar of Dibly
Bless this House
Heartbeat
Bargain Hunt
Escape to the Country
Birds of a Feather

and at other times during the week

Keeping up Appearances
Love Thy Neighbour
Jonathan Creek
George and Mildred
Pie in the Sky
Wycliffe
Coronation Street
Emmerdale
Hollyoaks
Quincy ME; and
The Antiques Roadshow

And that's really without venturing into the realms of the ABC (think the BBC but Australian...and with adverts) which is the acknowledged place to find all programming of a British persuasion. The ABC is where I get my Dr Who/Torchwood fix :)

You can also catch at various times Knight Rider, The A Team (loving it!), Get Smart*** and Hogans Heroes*** and the original Star Trek.

* Graham had me in fits of unexplainable giggles the other day when for some reason something he said about a picture made me ask "Is it the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies?" He still doesn't understand what was quite so funny.

**I had to laugh at the description of this on the guide - it was apparently "*all new*" 'All Creatures Great and Small'. From 1989.

*** Didn't actually see these in my childhood but discovering them made me feel like I was back there anyway :)

Phone frustration

Ok, I'm sure I've probably mentioned this before but, as I sit her on hold for the 17th minute, I feel the urge to say again how flipping hopeless Telstra* are. We bought a landline and what they call a T-Box which is a set-top box with free internet music/sport/movie channels. Sounded good. Unfortunately, not only was reception a bit dodgy in our area but to get the movies (which is what we really got it for) you had to register and confirm your age with a credit card. We don't have one, nor were we told that we'd need one.

So, after two whole weeks of trying to get Telstra to explain to us why we couldn't register and receiving a myriad of excuses until we found the one person who knew straight away what the problem was, we said that we no longer wanted it as it didn't do what we'd been told it should. "No worries" said Telstra "Just send it back to us in this lovely registered post bag that we ourselves will provide to you and call us if you keep getting charged and we will sort it out". Too easy.

The next bill arrived not long after. With the monthly charge. I ignored that one as we had only just sent it back. The next bill arrived and of course, we were still getting charged (and not only that but they had whacked a massive 'one off' charge on which apparently always shows on your second bill. Not happy as this had most certainly not been mentioned, I think I would have remembered someone saying 'Oh, and by the way after lulling you into a false sense of security with your first, normal bill, we will then give you a heart attack with a massive second bill". Made such a fuss that they credited that back to us too) So, I rang up and they credited us the $11.00 and said that we wouldn't be charged any more. Fantastic.

Next month. $11.00. I mean, honestly. So here I am, again, on hold to Telstra (the all Australian company which is why I'm talking to someone in the Philipines...). Maybe this time...**

*for those of you in the UK, this is the Aussie version of BT
**one bright spot, they said at the end that they would put me through to a survey and instead the line went dead. Yay :)

The trouble with the tropics

Ok, my feet itch. Badly. I look diseased.

This is my own fault, I know, for being for some strange reason highly attractive to mosquitos. And then compounding the issue by spending an evening sitting in a boat club handily situated by a swamp. I got chewed.

To cap things off I went fishing today with the husband (first time in ages - he can't understand why I don't like getting up at 3am to go and bounce around in a boat - apart from the fact that getting up that early makes me sick even without the added problem of trying to brace for waves you can't see because it's still pitch bloody black. Anyway...) and, despite covering myself with lashings of sunscreen - factor 30+ no less - every few minutes, I burnt my knees. No other part, just my knees.

So, in summary, I look terrible from mid-thigh down. It's not a good look when most of the clothes I own these days (do I hear shocked gasps?) are skirts.

Hmmm.

Oh, and did I mention that my feet are on fire!!!

Names

I've been thinking a lot about names recently. There are some Welsh names that I absolutely adore but I know that I can't use while we live over here. Two names may give you an example of what I mean...

1. Megan. Pronounced with the 'e' the short sound you get at the start of 'egg'. Lovely name. Here, they pronounce it 'Me-gan' as in 'you and me'. Irritating.

2. Sian. To you and me, this is a simple name. The 'Si' is the soft 'sh' of 'shop' and the 'a' is a long round sound 'ah'. Sian. Easy. Not to the Australians. Oh no. Here, they say 'see-ann'. I despaired until I heard someone called 'Sian'...until I saw that they spelt it 'Shaan'...

Grrr.

Great TV

We've recently gained some new free to air tv channels, namely 7 'mate' (which is frankly a take off of Dave in the UK) and Nine Gem. 'Mate' shows mainly shows along the lines of 'That 70s Show', 'Scrubs', 'Family Guy', 'American Dad' and 'My Name is Earl. Generally, great favourites with both the husband and myself. Gem, on the other hand, didn't look too promising. It specialises in old movies and shows and for the first two weeks it seemed to show nothing but 'The Virginian'.

It redeemed itself last week however, by showing 'Swallows and Amazons'. I was converted! This week it went even better and showed 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'* So, I wait eagerly to see what gem they have on next. I'm sure that, amongst all the dross, will be another movie I haven't seen in years - and I can't wait!

Unfortunately, today's treat has been being made to watch not only Jurassic Park, but 'The Lost World' as well and I've just been treated to the sight of someone's lip being chewed off by mini velociraptors. Yay.

*this celebration was slightly muted by the fact I recorded the repeat on early on a Saturday morning and the husband did not realise that I actually meant to record that 'silly looking western sort of movie' and turned it off. When I pointed out it was a musical, he said that no-one was singing in the bit that he saw, which means he saw the only 2 minutes of the whole thing where no-one bursts into song or nicely choreographed dancing (or chopping wood, or dumping snow on someone). Anyway...

New born baby goodness

I got to hold a 2 day old baby this evening. So tiny and lovely and gorgeous enough to make any one melt. I lived in a happy little world of my own for a good 10 minutes, just me and the baby whilst her mum chatted to other friends around me. Can't begin to imagine what it's like when the baby is your own. Can't wait to find out either.

One day.

For now, the memory of that tiny little person snuggling up to me will keep me all gooey for a good while to come.

Saving money

I'm going to have to start saving money. Need to afford flights!

Skype

I love Skype!! I got to not only talk to but actually see my mother, brother, sister-in-law and my two adorable nephews this weekend for the first time in two years! I cannot even begin to describe how happy I was to get this finally up and working.

I have also talked (well, there was some miming involved in one case) to two of my best friends in the last couple of weeks. Getting the internet was a brilliant decision.

Classic FM Classic 100

Ok, so I voted for the following (in no particular order):

Beethoven - Egmont Overture
Smetana - Ma Vlast
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Bizet - The Pearl Fishers (for Au fond du temple saint of course!)
Rossini - Stabat Mater
Verdi - Requiem
Mozart - Requiem
Copland - Rodeo
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Bernstein - Candide

What do you think?

Moments

I have moments. Sometimes a lot, often not for ages then one will come along and grab me by the scruff of my neck and shake me about a bit. I had one tonight. I think it's been brewing for a few days but I managed to keep it under wraps and focused on a completely innocuous girly book (Anybody Out There by Miriam Keyes if you're wondering) which I picked up from our lunchroom bookshelf at work. If I could keep it aimed at the book, I could function when I wasn't reading it.

Anyway, I started reading it at work, which meant I was desperately trying not to cry in the middle of the lunchroom. This, plainly, would not do. So, I brought the book home. By the time I finished it tonight I was a sticky mess. The tears I've been holding back for days I could finally let go because I was on my own and it was ok. No prettily crying for me, oh no. Huge, gutwrenching heartbreaking sobs and tears that seemed like they wouldn't stop.

Still, I must have needed it, because I feel a whole lot better now.

Powderfinger!

I go to see Powderfinger tonight, yay!! Please spare some (ok, a lot) of sympathy for my poor husband. These tickets were his birthday present, and work sent him away this morning for a week...not a happy hubby, oh no.

Geekiness

GO! (Channel 88) is showing Deep Space Nine! All is right in my world :)

Domesticity

What is it about men and cleaning the kitchen? There's absolutely no problem when it comes to arranging the garage down to the minutest details, cleaning floors, cleaning fishs tanks etc. but ask them to do something in the kitchen and suddenly all sense goes out the window. In what possible world does putting dirty plates in the sink count as 'cleaning up'? How do they think dishes will get cleaned in the dishwasher when they've dumped them in in such a manner that the water will not actually be able to get to them.

I know an effort has been made and I do appreciate it but it just means more work for me in the end because I end up doing the dishes sitting in the sink and reloading the dishwasher so I won't have to do it again.

It can't be that hard, surely?

Mind you, I have had tea cooked for me the last two nights in a row so I can't complain too much ;)

A new chapter

I've been thinking about this for a while. I've contemplated that eternal question, to tweet or not to tweet, and thought about restarting my old blog. I keep thinking of things which are closely followed by the thought "Oh, I should blog that".

I'm not sure about Twitter, yet. I may still join. I don't know.

My old blog. Yes, well. I must admit, I re-read some of my old posts and I'm quite amazed by some of the things that I wrote. I can be quite eloquent at times. I can also be quite incomprehensible. That probably won't change! Still, my blog was started when I was travelling and needed a way to report to my family without sending mass emails. It saw me through about 4/5 years during which I came to Australia, met a couple of reprobates and finally met the man (in a packing shed on a farm of all places) who, in a very short space of time, became my husband. It saw, over time, our wedding, our first couple of years of marriage, the purchase of the boat which is my husband's pride and joy and the purchase of our first house. It ended, and there I think it should stay, when I miscarried our first baby at the end of my first trimester.

So there you have it, in a nutshell, the trials and tribulations of the last 5 years.

This is not, exactly, a new beginning, more a new volume to an ongoing series. So, read it, don't read it, I really don't mind. I'm just glad to be writing again.