January 2013

14^th Jan 2013

Finally a reprieve from the high temperatures we have been experiencing lately. This morning it reached the low 30’s and then a front came through from the south bringing strong winds and overcast skies but unfortunately no rain. However the temperature dropped to a very pleasant 27C and this is forecast to be with us for a couple of days before it creeps back up to at least 35C again. At least it’s not like some of the inland areas where temps have almost reached 50C and that’s too damn hot for anyone.

Our daughter Lisa has just returned from two weeks holiday with friends in the rural town of Orange mid NSW country. Even though Orange is up on a plateau and cold as hell in winter she experienced days of 47C and extremely dry. Then again the whole country seems to be tinder dry this year and with the extremely high temps and strong winds it is no wonder a large portion of Australia is on fire. You have got to feel for the rural fire fighters majority of whom are volunteers, they have been fighting these fires for long days and it seems to be going on forever and in many cases their own properties and livelihoods have been destroyed. So many properties have been lost and a lot of livestock as well, it is amazing there hasn’t been substantial loss of life.

I don’t think Nancy and I will be going too far in the caravan until it all settles down.

The pair of us have just successfully completed a two-day first aid course and this is how it came about. Prior to Xmas Lisa accepted a job that entailed working with children again and this necessitated having to refresh her first aid certificate (an annual requirement when working with kids apparently). So she booked and paid to attend a two-day course with St. John Ambulance. In the meantime she was pressured to take on a senior position with another organisation that was dealing with adults and not children directly and consequently wasn’t required to do the 1^st aid refresher. Instead of getting a refund she decided to book and pay for another candidate and presented them to us at Xmas as one of our presents, a strange present indeed but a bloody good idea. We had both been talking about what a good idea it would be to do a first aid course before embarking on our big trip but like a lot of things it wouldn’t have progressed past talking. So after a daunting start and two long days we both passed all of our assessments and the written final exam with flying colours. We found it quite interesting and were amazed at how ideas and applications have completely changed over time. If nothing else is achieved at least Nancy knows an easy method of rolling me onto my side when I’m sleeping on my back and snoring (and of course she never does according to her).

15^th Jan 2013

The temperature today has been quite pleasant, although still windy it hasn’t been blowing quite as hard as other days but enough to reduce the humidity and with a reasonable amount of cloud cover it felt quite pleasant and we almost had some rain. I watched it, a white misty front sneaking up through the Bay so tantalising close that it started to spit but nothing more. Even the Met Radar only shows scuds forming as moist air passed over the southern part of North Stradbroke Island, so by the time it has drifted up the Bay to our locality most of it has basically dissipated.        

The house next door has sold after a very, very long time on the market the owners moved out yesterday and said the new owners were talking of moving in Wednesday. Apparently they are younger people with a couple of young children (not ankle biter’s) so Lisa is pleased to know she won’t have geriatrics for neighbours while we are away. (I guess we are in that category).

16^th Jan 2013

We had a sprinkle of rain last night after several hours of trying there was finally enough to wet the windows so the dust could stick and make them all a mess but not enough to make passing cars put their windscreen wipers on.

I was awake early and heard Lisa leave the house at 0430, she has re-commenced her running training and runs most mornings early. On Wednesdays she normally meets up with a small group of keen runners made up mainly of men ranging from 50 – 70 years of age and finds it quite a challenge to keep up with them. This morning they ran 9kls over the hilly streets of Manly and Wynnum.

I dozed until sometime after five and as the air felt cooler and the wind had dropped I decided to go for a bike ride. Being the first ride for 2013 I took it relatively easy but enough to work up a reasonable sweat and also kept the distance down a bit to start with (16+ kls), be interesting to see if the urge continues.

Looks as if it is going to be hot again today, our reprieve didn’t last long I wouldn’t mind swapping with our friend in London for a spell, they had snow a couple of days ago.