I thought another one had bitten the dust.

Technology has progressed rapidly in the past few years,(I know, I know. That is stating the bleeding obvious.) and it is hard to keep up with all the new fangled gadgets and gizmos. For someone born in the forties, it can be a bit dizzying and confusing, but I have surprised myself with the ease with which I have grasped this stuff. My husband has not, much to my annoyance at times. It really isn't THAT hard. We have had our microwave oven nigh on 30 years, and it has only been in the last ten or twelve, that he has become au fait with how it works. He is only just getting to grips with the TV remote. The feature he loves most on that is the mute button.
We do not have enough power points in this house for all our appliances, and have to resort to using power boards and extension cords. Not the best way to go, I know.
Neville was heating some drinks in the mic last night, when it suddenly 'died'. I instantly realized it was not a power outage, as everything else was still working.
I thought, "Ah, well. It is pretty old and had to go some time. Not to worry. I have the one Mum gave me, when she moved house,to give to Deb. I'll just use that." This morning, I replaced the power board and plugged it in, and Voila, it works! Neville checked the other power board, and it had popped the safety button because the cord was pulled out a little bit. (I have no idea how it got pulled out.) He has repaired it, and it works perfectly too.

Coulda knocked me down with a feather!

My friend Sue came around this afternoon, and we were just about to go down town to have a coffee, when a familiar voice said, "Got the billy on?" There is just one person who I know of that says that. My brother. It was such a thrill to see him as he very seldom visits, even though we live in the same town. He is a bit of a loner. He had heart surgery just over a month ago, and has just started to drive again. I put the kettle on and made us all coffee, except my spouse, as he only drinks tea. We sat around and yakked and told yarns for about 45 mins. Robert is still finding it is taking a while to regain his strength and still tires easily. I will sleep well tonight as I am still on cloud nine!

Riley & the Ducks.

I had woken up early, about 5.30, and was not able to go back to sleep. I got up and brought the paper in and read it whilst having a cup of coffee.
I went back to bed around 7.20 and slept for just over an hour. I had a cup of tea and my shower and got dressed. My daughter and her children arrived earlier than expected, as I was checking my emails. I got my things together and we went down town, so Deb could do her shopping. I got a few things and took them and Deb's bread though the checkout and Riley and I sat out the front on some plastic chairs. I have not been feeling very well since Tuesday night I was feeling decidedly seedy yesterday whilst doing my shopping in Naracoorte, and had to go through the check out, having only done half of it, and go and have a coffee and sit down for a while. While we were waiting for Deb, I realized I had not had any breakfast. No wonder I was feeling yuk. Riley suddenly declared he needed to go to the toilet. I told him there was nothing I could do about it. He would have to wait for his mother. As there are no toilets in the supermarket for the public, I did not feel well enough to walk down the street to the public ones.
When we got back in the car, Deb drove across the road to the bakery cafe and took him to the loo. There is a small pond with some ducks on it. When they came back, Deb got some bread out of the boot and gave it to Riley, so he could feed the ducks. He thought this was really great, but was not very keen on the fact the duck was snatching the bread out of his hand and nipping him. He said, "Look Nan, he bited me." (He was a she.) I said the duck did not mean to and he should toss the bread on the ground for it to pick up with it's beak. He did this, and had a great time. They then got the duck to follow them to the water and threw the remaining bread in, and quickly got in the car before it followed them. This made Riley's day.

Paris Hilton, & others like her.

This young woman makes headlines no matter what she does. It is a shame that it is for the wrong reasons now. I have a certain amount of sympathy for her. She is a product of her environment and does not know how to be a 'real' person. While I have nothing against people who are rich and famous, it all depends on how they live and what kind of people they are. It appears her family have not taught her that she is very privileged, and a certain responsibility comes with such wealth.They have also not given her the coping skills for living in the real world. She is accustomed to having her every whim seen to by servants. She surly must realize that it is not how the rest of us live.She is also not accustomed to people saying no to her, which is why she is having a hard time doing her time.
The cynic in me says this may all be a publicity stunt, too. Why should she, or any celebrity, or public figure, think they should get preferential treatment just because they are who they are?
She appears to be very immature, and this will not auger well for her. I just hope she can learn from this experience and come away from it a better person, and not a broken one.

Don't lie to me, you won't get my business.

Last week, I received a phone call from a young woman, who said she was from the telecommunications watchdog, and that she was ringing to inform me, I did not have to pay line rental on my phone, ever again. My ears pricked up, but my alarm bells started to tingle too. As it was one of those telemarketing calls, I was very reluctant to continue the conversation. I am sick of them, and have put my name on the national Don't Call Register. We talked a bit more, and I asked what the catch was. She said there was none, but handed me over to a young man so he could 'give me the drum', as it were. He informed me, if I were to change my phone company and take up a $59.00 capped package, I would have x amount of calls, including international ones. I asked which phone carrier I should join to access this offer. He told me, and I said I wanted to see all relevant data in writing. He was trying to railroad me into signing up there and then. Not this little black duck! He said I could see it on the internet. I looked it up, but there was no mention of international calls in the packages on the Net.
When the young woman rang me back on Monday, I told her this, and she told me I would have to take out an extra package to have international calls for no line rental etc. I told her, that I would not be changing my phone carrier or taking them up of this offer.I do not like being lied to. This was blatant deception, and trickery. I did not come down in the last shower, either.