Public loos.

Nobody likes them much, but they are a nessecary evil, as the saying goes. We went to Naracoorte an Monday, and I had to use the loo. They have just had new loos built, and it was the first time I had used them. They are not at all attractive on the outside, being a dull, uninspriing dark grey. They appear to have been architcially designed. Probably by some 'new age' up and coming young male, with very little imagination. They are semicircular on the outside, and quite spacioue inside. The deco could have been more colourful, as well. They doors are painted a pale khaki green. I wonder if that was someone's idea of a joke? The seats are black, concave and hard as the hobs of hell. Most uncomfortable and quite painful to sit on. As we pay rates in this council area, I have been toying with the idea of writing to them, and telling them what I think of this aboniation.

Stick 'em up, Riley!

I have sent activity books with stickers to my three grandsons, and my daughter told me that her son Riley loves stickers, only problem is, he sticks them on himself and anything else they will stick to. I sent him a Bananas in Pyjamas book, and he was running around with a chook sticker on his forehead, so she decided that it would be prudent to stick them in the book for him. Deb has just rung me, and I asked he about it again, and she told me all the above, and that she and her brother,(Frugal Bastard) and their step cousin, Nick, bought a roll of stickers when they were very young, and stuck them all over our car. I have no recolection of the incident, and their father only vaguely remembers it. It seems I am going to have to rethink my 'Granny gifts' for Riley, in future.
They were all here yesterday, as they had hoped they could get Deb's Corolla going, so her mother-in-law could have it to drive to work. Riley was very excited, as small boys are about such things, and ran inside to tell me what was happening. Neville could not turn the motor over, and has had to take it out again. He said the crank shaft had siezed as it was too tight when he put the motor back in before. It has been sitting in the back yard for six months or more, and that is not good for it, either. He has put the crank shaft bearings in back to front, according to the diagram, as it is the only way to get the motor to turn over. Pete's mother, Margaret, has just bought an old Ford station wagon, and of course, as she went on her own to buy a car, she got 'dudded' by the salsman. She put $30.00 petrol in it last week, and it was all gone when she got home from work that night. She only had to go roughly 60 miles, there and back. Hence the need for a more economical car.

Adelaide sojourn

Last Thursday, Neville & I went to our capital city for business and medical reasons. He had things he needed to buy for the car and farm, though he was not very successful on either score, and he had a chiropractor's appointment. I met my mother and sister at Castle Plaza shopping mall, as mum as having her hair done there. Mum had shopping to do as well. While mum was at the hairdresser's, Bron & I went and had a drink and a chat, at one of the food kiosks. My mother is recovering from knee replacement surgery, and is doing very well indeed. She had a cane, but doesn't really need it to walk, but it is a security thing. It was a nuisiance most of the time, as she does not have a strap on it to put over her arm when she is paying for things. When we got to Coles, mum gave me a list and asked me to go to the bargain shop and buy her some cards. Thank you, sympathy, male and female birthday.She wanted several of each, but didn't give me any money. That was not a problem, as I knew she would pay me back when we got to her place. Bron came over and gave me some money from mum. Don't know who remembered.
We went to a much larger shopping mall down south.Westfield Marion. Mum had to pay her rego, and get other things. We had lunch at a bistro, We had doorstops on Turkish bread. Mine was cream cheese, smoked salmon, avocado,and melted cheese. Yum! It was very rich and very filling, but as mum was paying I didn't feel I could leave too much. Don't like waste, anyway.
By the time we got back to mum's, I was exhausted. It is a real struggle for me to get about as my back and knees are 'shot'. Mum cooked Porterhose steak and veg for tea. I' hit the sack' early. Very early! I was in bed by 8.30. I don't usually go to bed before 10.30. We stayed the night at Mum's. It was a first for me.
The next day was mum's birthday. It has been a long time since I have been able to spend any time with her on the day. Neville went back to the chiro early, and mum and I had a nice quiet time chatting over a cuppa. She had opened her presents the night before, as she said it would be too lonely doing it on her own, on the day. We gave her a blue plant pot with some bulb potting mix and Fresia bulbs, which I planted for her the next morning.We also gave her some Ferero Rocher chocs, and I gave her some boxed note cards for Mother's Day, which was the previous weekend.
When Neville came back, we had to make haste, as we had to be at the eye specialist's for our biannual check up. All is well in that department, though I think our doctor must have had 'vinegar off a fork' for breakfast that morning. He was in a very 'funny' mood. He was quite rude to me, which is unusual. After the eye check up, we made our way into the city, which is close by, as I had an appointment at Daved Jones for a fitting. After that, we went and got the car and I grabbed a couple of Pasties for lunch. They hardly filled a small crack, so I bought salad sangers when we stopped at Big W. I tried to buy some track pants for one of my grandsons. They had them in his size in every colour but navy, which was the colour required.

You learn something every day!

We have a very old car. It used to belong to our son. We have two other very old cars that are in the shed. They have not been going for a long time. The old car we use does not have a shed to protect it from the elements. This has not been a problem, untill this morning. It has been raining, well, drizzling anyway, over the last week. This morning when we wanted to go to the shops, the car would not start. Neville discovered it has moisture under the dizzy cap. He wiped it with a rag, and tried again. No luck. He tried several times, still no luck. He then poured some petrol down 'it's throat'. Still nothing. He sat in the car and said idly, that when this happened in the 'old' days, you could put it in the oven for a few minutes and it would dry it out. I said he could still do that. He said we don't have an oven. I am very proud of the fact I held my tongue and did not make any comment on that score. It is a VERY sore point. We don't have an oven as such, as the damn thing has not been working for nearly THREE years!! I said he could put it in the toaster oven. This he did for about two minutes, and it did the job, and we were able to go to the shops. The guy just does not get it, or he is being deliberately obtuse!

Telemarketers. (Nuisiance phone calls!)

My mum has been having trouble with this type of call. She had one Indian bloke ring her every day for nearly two weeks. This is not something that is easy to take for the rest of us, and my mum is in her eighties, and has recently had major surgery. She was advised by her phone company, to leave her answering machine on, to screen the calls. This caused another problem, she then had to play the message and ring the caller back, thereby adding to her phone bill.
I had one of these calls on Monday. The young lady sounded Asian, probably Thai, by the sound of her name. She was calling on behalf of some discount travel firm. I hung up when I heard this. If we want to go for a holiday, we will decide where and when and how much we can afford to pay. I object very strongly to being 'head hunted' so someone can get a commission when they get so many 'hits'! It is to no avail that I try letting the calls go to the message bank, as there is not set time for them to call. I also had an Indian bloke call from somewheere,but the call dropped out. I wish I was quicker, and could remember to ask them for their number, and say I will ring them back, reverse charge. I think they would hang up pretty quickly.

Fun with Grandies.

This past weekend, we had the very great pleasure of one of our grandsons to stay. This does not happen very often, one reason being, the two eldest are at school, and one of them is too far away. We do not get to see this one all that often, because school takes up a lot of his time.
This weekend, Lachlan and I played Fish, (a card game) Connect Four, a game of strategy, he did a jig saw puzzle, and played games on the computer. I read him a couple of stories the first night. Saterday, he went to the Town Hall, where a clearing sale was being conducted, with his Pop, (grandpa.) Pop bought a good netball among other things, for Lachlan to play with. He bought himself some overalls, a new pair of boots, and a hat. That afternoon, we all went out to get a load of fire wood. That evening, Lachlan played with the Lego.He did some water colour painting in a big scrap book . He told me it is very quiet here. I guess he gets sick of the constant noise at home. He ate all his meals no trouble, even when I accidently put gravy on his Saterday roast, after he said he didn't like it!
He and his cousin turned six this week end. Lachlan is a very quietly spoken lovely boy. He said he had a good time.