English Visits in the Rain

Hi!

Well. Am a little late. I have a good excuse tho (don’t I always?), I had a friend and her small daughter come to visit/stay with me for a few days, from England. They left yesterday morning at 4am for Sydney, so I cleaned all day. I mean all day. And it rained all day too. It was just a long, busy day. But here I am (writing from work at the moment)! After yesterday’s rain, it’s been amazingly nice and dry all day. Not that I was out in it much, being at work and all. Hrumph. But, (home now) the lorikeets are certainly out there squawking and chattering away like little multi-colored lunatics, arguing who gets to eat which seeds from the palms first. The evening is temp is perfect, there's a very lovely, cool and dry breeze. Got mah very nice glass of cool Semillon-Sav Blanc from Preveli (from the Margaret River region, love the label). The house is clean. Life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Everyone is gearing down for the holiday break. Sounds like it’s been a tough year and everyone needs a good break. Yeah, I can’t talk, I’m just happy to have the work and happy that I got my break before I started! Otherwise, work is good. Have had a few more little things to do, but nothing major – yet. I hear a big proposal/bid is coming early next year. Fingers crossed my contract gets extended past April?! Because the one big thing about hiring me was they thought I’d get Citizenship in 6 months. Well, I’ve always known that wasn’t going to happen, but I had to apply regardless to make them happy. Well, I didn’t get it of course, am not eligible as I need to have Permanent Residency for a few years first, which I never got or needed being a NZ citizen here we don’t need special stuff (I know, it’s way confusing). Sooooooo am just waiting for The Declined Letter from Citizenship so I can give that to HR in the new year. Sigh. I wish I didn’t have to but I don’t have a choice. So we’ll see what happens? As always, will keep you posted!

And then there was the weekend. Started off a bit early on Thursday with the arrival of Caroline and her daughter Savannah, visiting from Bristol, England. Haven’t seen her in yeeeeeeears and this is the first time I’ve met Savannah, her 4 year old daughter. Wow, Savannah’s certainly a handful of stubbornness. But we managed to get out and see a few things and have some nice meals out. It went by soooo fast tho. Was sad we didn’t get to catch up more, but I guess a toddler has that effect on things. They were off first thing Sunday morning (at 4.30am!) to meet up with Savannah’s father and spend a few days in Sydney before heading home. A very short but sweet visit!

And then the other weekend….. Chores. Hadn’t done them in a couple weeks. So rain or no rain, got all the laundry done, floors mopped…. Those chores took forever as we only have one dryer and I had all my sheets and towels, etc. Put it this way – I was still doing laundry at 7pm last night, which is why am checking in today! Gah! But, all I know is the little dumpy apt is clean and happy, and I now know for certain that I would hate to be a hotel maid! Oh, and I managed to pick Kona up from the cattery a day earlier (cos they left so early), because no way was he going to hang around with a rambunctious toddler chasing him. I’d never see him again. He’s happy to be home and probably even happier he has no idea what he missed out on.

And that’s about that. The whole city is quietening down for the holiday break. It makes walking into work nicer – less traffic on the sidewalks getting in mah way! But that also means I’ll have lots of spare – PAID – time on mah hands……… nice change from how things were last year, that’s for sure! I know I need to save every dime from this point forward, and I’m not thinking of doing anything crazy, but I would like to knock a thing or two off my Australian Adventure List, just little local day or two-day tours….. Pretend I’m a tourist for once….! Hmmmm… will have a look around, or stick my head into the Tourist Info Office!

Well, so there you have it. Hope you’re all well up there and surviving the winter. I may whine about this constant rain, but at least it’s not a hot and humid furnace (yet) or snowing! So if you need a break, c’mon down! The weather is fine!

BYE!

J!