Happy New Year to you all

Santa manged to stuff these big things into his sack and the kids and their mother are out there now, having a great time on the trampoline.

I'm trying to motivate myself to sort out some paperwork so I have a clear start to the new year.  I've done the major cleaning jobs like dust, vacuum and clean windows and am now left with great piles of those wretched colour brochures with graphs, begging letters from charities, car registration papers, my Opal card (for trains, buses, etc), and various other annoying things that arrive in the mail and pile up and up because I hate attending to them and always leave them till later.  

The most urgent job is to answer emails.  Long overdue.  I always leave the ones in French and Italian till last, then try to get my brain into gear for these almost forgotten languages.  I so envy you clever people who learn a second or third language with ease and always retain it.

LATER  It's 8:45 pm and I've had a delicious dinner upstairs with the family and been to aquazumba. Now I'll sit down and watch the fireworks on telly.

Today's disaster is:

Oh dear, here we go again.  Another disaster.  I'm trying to decide if I'll stop listening to / watching / reading the news altogether.  I planned, this being Monday, to get back into normal routine this morning, but was woken by a peep from my iPad, telling me this plane has gone missing and I was thrown into the doldrums again.  (I used to speak Indonesian fluently and did a course in central Java many years ago and flew from Surabaya to Den Pasar in Bali on my way home.)  

Nevertheless, I made the effort to get to the swimming pool and swam 12 laps, then hosed the car and house windows when I got home.  I plan to have a big cleanup today.

I've listed 18 things as New Year resolutions, and will practise them between now and New Year's Day.  If I manage to keep to anything, I'll leave it on my list, otherwise forget it.

Winifred, I hope your sister is OK.  I've been hearing all about your dreadful weather on BBC4.  Today is absolutely perfect here, 23 degrees at the moment (10:15 am) and 30 forecast.  

Sad things happening...

Of course the kids got lots of presents and we had a feast yesterday but a pall has been cast over Christmas this year with the death of a friend and the news that another friend is dying.  Almost a disaster a day, it seems, with the dreadful things going on in the world.

You may well ask what a photo of a frog is doing here.  No logical reason whatsoever. This fellow and a mate were both swimming in the pool this morning, so we fished them out and put them into a dish of fresh water.  One hopped away, but this one stayed for quite a while, giving me some nice poses.  

If I haven't replied to your mail or card, please forgive me, as I've been feeling pretty low.

With my own eyes...

I went into the city yesterday to pay my respects to the two killed in the Lindt siege. 
Flowers stretched over a large area and it was touching to see.

As I type it has been announced on the radio that the killer's partner's bail has been revoked.  Thank goodness!  She was laughing at us.  I thought she would have gone underground - was surprised she actually turned up at the court.

Here she is with the murderer, in better days:

Amirah Droudis Man Haron Monis

Why bail was ever allowed for them both is beyond understanding.  She is charged with murdering his former wife and he with being an accessory (as well as many other offences).  Evil creatures, both.

Sad aftermath

Thousands of people are lining up to leave flowers for the siege victims.  

The press has gone right over the top - it was NOT a terrorist attack, but a deranged man who happened to be a Muslim.  There are sieges like this maybe every week across Australia and they don't get any publicity.

For what it's worth, Russell Brand agrees with me:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/russell-brand-blasts-media-and-tony-abbott-for-linking-sydney-siege-to-terrorism-20141217-1293lr.html

Winifred, I hope your Philip and Janna have arrived safely.  I hate it when family/friends are in the air.

It was LOVELY to get a Skype surprise last night from a German epal!  I was absolutely thrilled.

Too sad for words...

A nightmare...it could have been any one of us.

Oh dear...

On Tuesday I completely forgot to have lunch with a friend.  Have never been so embarrassed in all my life!

Woke up to yet another storm

The plumber is here, putting in a pipe to divert some of the water.  Let's hope he gets it down before the next downpour.


3:55 pm
Another storm caught me just as I was picking Emma up from school and I couldn't take her to piano lesson as I had to rush home to see if the new pipe was working.  It was.  But I still needed to switch the pump on to get rid of some water, now flowing in from another direction.

Here's another good pic:

If you Google Sydney weather you'll see lots more.

Another day, another downpour

This is becoming monotonous - drains cleared out; new pump bought; towels; buckets.

And still more storms are forecast...

Yes, we're lucky to have our grandchildren so close, Winifred.  Ours are pretty good eaters, even greens.

More storms

Luckily the plumber solved the problem by cleaning tree roots out of all the drains!  Let's hope the one outside my bedroom won't overflow any more.  Yes Winifred, bringing the sunshine inside would be a very good idea - much cheaper than hiring that big blower.

This is a fabulous shot, a long exposure taken by a Sydney man.

More storms to come.  This is like February weather.  Not hard to believe the weather all over the world has changed.

It's raining at the moment, and hot and humid.  Emma has come down for her Saturday night with Nanny and the big countdown to Christmas.

Storm

Yesterday about 5:30 pm I was curled up on my bed reading when an almighty wind blew up, followed by torrential rain.  Poor Philip had just got off the bus a few doors down the street and was soaked. He burst into my bedroom, exclaiming that all was awash.  I'd been so engrossed in my book it hadn't entered my silly head that water might be lapping round the bed as had happened once before in a dreadful storm.

The problem is my granny flat is very low - too low - to the ground and the paved path outside slopes towards the building, instead of away from it.  There are several drains along the wall, but when there is an absolute torrent of rain in a few minutes, they can't cope, so the water flows into my bedroom and bathroom.

Philip put a hose into one of the drains to siphon some water downhill on the other side of the pool and we both then scooped bucketsful of water and threw it over the side fence. The whole downpour was over in about 10 minutes, but caused a huge problem.  We had to move a chest of drawers into the bathroom and put all the drawers on the bed, and put blocks under the piano. Once we've had a new drain put in we won't put carpet down again, but tiles.  For the moment we'll do nothing, as the carpet, in spite of two drenchings, is reasonable (and Muffy likes to eat lizards and vomit on it).

At 6 am this morning Philip hired the industrial blower in the photo and we left it on all day.  (Last time he got two, and left them both on for four days and nights.)  During the day I spent a long time sweeping leaves and bark from the deck, and scooping stuff out of the pool.  It was all very stressful and exhausting.

Unfortunately we're told to expect more summer storms.

10:30 pm  Oh no, another downpour.  Philip, Manami and I bailed out and were successful this time.  No water came inside.  Plumber will be called in the morning.

Friends everywhere

This mosque has been in the news lately, with the visit of Pope Francis, and I've put it here for you, Feyzi, (an online friend who is actually studying in Istanbul at the moment). 

Lovely to hear from you, Michael, and to know you are still looking at the blog.  Haven't heard from Olga for a while - are you about, or gallivanting round the world with Wadim?
And Bianka, what are you up to in your exciting life?

Winifred and Frank, you are both is constant touch, which is good.  And of course I often see Lina, who lives not far away.  Various other friends dip in and out of my life, but never disappear.