Our Trip to Fairymeadow

Well, what a fun Saturday I had with Carmen. We met on the train and headed to FairyMeadow with picnic in hand. After we failed to complete the many crosswords we attempted on the train we got off the train and headed for Fairymeadow beach (pic above Carmen and me on the beach).

We had some sandwiches and a blue snow cone laced with champagne. After finishing the bottle we headed into the surf which was kinda rough. Our boobs popped out of our swimmers a couple of times but who cares when you're a bit tipsy. I got fully dumped by a wave and we both had more sand in our crotch than anywhere else.

After the beach we headed to Waves, nice pub with a kiddies playground. We consumed a few beers then hit the play equipment with gusto ingoring the sign that read "No-one over the age of 12 is allowed on the play equipment". Pictured below is Carmen hanging off a wobbly piece of equipment doing a bit of pole dancing. Above right I was playing shop.

Here is Carmen playing shop complete with in-built plastic calculator. We also had limited use of the flying fox until those pesky kids under 12 got hold of it. After mucking around it was back inside for more beers/wine in a bucket. We popped about $10 each in the pokies and I managed to get the feature over and over again on the Lucky Gold machine pulling out $80.

We then progressed to drinking some more and soaking up some of it with sausage and steak sangas.

As soon as things got too drunken we were chucked out by a lovely

Cameroon bouncer who let us take some more photos before we

headed back to Towradgi train station stopping at the bottle

shop on the way through.

Lucky for us we stumbled across street of the week, 2005 week number 4. Carmen was doing her best not pass out but what a great place to pass out........on street of the week.

After more stumbling and some throwing up by Carmen we ended up in someone's front lawn. Three old blokes out the front gave Carmen a glass of water and then we continued the epic walk to the station.

Carmen passed out on the station with great snoring sounds. I had a chat to some guy that just got out of jail until Carmen woke up and we boarded the train, train ride pic on the right.

We said our goodbyes when Carmen got off at Helensburgh and thankfully she must have made it home alright.

Sunday I had a bit of a hangover

Cricket, valentine's Day and Firies

Finally time was here to go to the cricket on Friday night. My friend Sean has member tickets so I was lucky enough to sit in the members section with all the civilised people....I probably stood out like dogs balls. I finished work at 1:30pm so I could get to the game on-time and we met each other out the front of the member gates. Note: I will be throwing the word 'member' in as much as possible. We entered through the member gates and headed for the member stand and found a comfy seat with a great view of the groud (see pic below). We were also near the commentary box which is situated in the members section. I took a picture (as seen above) you can just see Mark Taylor's head and Mark Nicholas head, more like just their hair. I waved profusely at them but they were too busy watching the cricket.

Me and Sean (Pictured above) had a good old natter and hoped the rain wouldn't stop play. We got to see all the Aussies bat and I got to do a 6 signal like Billy Bowden because Ryan Harris belted a 6 off the last over before being given out after the 5th ball. I thought it was pretty funny and it definately beats doing it in front of the telly at home.........because we were in the member's section.

Rain stopped play so we headed home at about 8:30pm but I was still super happy to have seen the aussie cricketers from the MEMBERS SECTION. Oh! I also bought an Aussie warm up shirt and I wore it to bed that night and all the next day, it needs washing now before I wear the insignia off it.

Saturday was a day of study for me because I was sitting my Bush Fire-fighter exam on Sunday morning. I studied all day and stopped every now and then for food and walking breaks. Grahame and I walked to Gymea in the afternoon which is an hour walk.Yes, I am still trying to lose weight.

Sunday morning I was up early and ready for my exam. Elise (fire-fighter friend) picked me up from home about an hour and a half early because we wanted to study some more and go over the trucks before we headed out to do our practical. First we sat the theory and it took about an hour because some of the questions were kind of obscure. I managed to get 17 out of 20 which was a pass so I was very happy. Our excellent assessors went through everything we missed and I was explained to in more details why we need to wear goggles which was a great learning curve.

After theory it was out to the paddocks to do the practical side. We ran through 5 different fire scenarios includeing large fires and fire over-runs. My assessors were pleased with my work and told me I communicated well........not sure how because the fire-ground radios weren't working very well. I did impress our Deputy Captain at one stage by checking on our Hydrant fillers, this is when we fill the truck from a Hydrant off the road. I managed to work the portable pump okay apart from the fact I forgot to switch it on. I bowled out lots of hoses and as usual me and Elise worked amazingly together. I always work well with her and hopefully now she can train as a driver.

In the arvo Grahame and I had dinner together, I cooked spag bol. He surprised me with some flowers with a chocolate in the middle and an 'I Love You' balloon. I haven't had the time to make his card yet but I will do it tonight and surprise him tomorrow............I feel slack for not getting him anything but I did cook him dinner and he was very happy. Then I got to watch more cricket COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Australia won again.

I got to work this morning to see an email from Croft (our secretary at firies) congratulating all those that passed the Bush Fire-fighter assessment. I thanked him and Matt Kelly and Greg Freeman for all there hard work. Not sure how our mate Jacques passed because he seems to know nothing about fire-fighting and he has been up at the station as long as me.

What's been happening......

I haven't blogged for a while probably because I haven't been as camera happy as usual but I thought I would give you an update anyways even if it's just to get things off my chest. I must admit I use this space as a bit of a diary.

Lots has been happening in Melbourne with my brother's wife Vicky being sick. She suffers from post-natal depression and it has hit hard this time. I waited to blog til she was getting better and things seem to be a little better now. Sean has been coping well as usual but losing a fair bit of sleep over it. I have been back and forth on the phone but there isn't much other than the occassional phone call I can do from here. I didn't want to disturb Sean too much over it because he has had a lot to organise with two kids. Hopefully in a few weeks Vicky will be back at home and cuddling my nephews Daniel and Christian again.

My mum and dad have been looking after Daniel and Christian somtimes as well. They even missed out on a trip they planned to look after Daniel while Sean goes back to work. They give so much when it comes to family and I am relieved to have them as parents. I can't say I haven't had my problems with my parents but who doesn't, plus they have had more problems with me over the years that has given them enought to worry about. They are coming to Sydney to go on a cruise at the end of March so I will get to see them for a short time.

My flatmate has now moved out and I have a vacant bedroom. I think Grahame is going to move in because he is doing super well not drinking. He was having the occassional beer but now he has given up drinking all together............phew! I would like the help paying the rent too and I think we are ready to make another go of it.

I've had my keen eye on the cricket, especially this man above Mitchell Johnson. He has been rested for a while but he is back fast bowling now. Shaun Tait managed to get the fastest ball in Australia on Friday night at the 20-20 in Melbourne, great to watch. The Windies are in Australia now and coming up to Sydney this week, I am hoping to go on Friday.

My neice and nephew have started at new schools this year and I am so proud of them. Jo sent me some photos of them on their first day and they looked super keen. I was glad to hear how keen they were, I remember thinking how scared I was when I went to new schools so I am super happy to hear they are growing up and 'tuffng up'.

I have my firies exam on Sunday the 14th of February (Valentine's Day). I am confident in my theory but was less confident in practical. Sunday 7th of February training took us through some trial runs of fire situations so I am more confident now.

I spoke to my friend Jacqui on the weekend and she is getting married in August. Plans are in place to have the hens night at the start of May so fingers crossed I can afford the trip to Melbourne for it.

That's life for now........I'm not Derryn Hinch.

Back in Sydney now, this was Melbourne

What a fine time I had with the family in Melbourne this Christmas and I managed to catch up with some friends too. I flew into Melbourne on the 23rd and went straight to my brothers for a lovely dinner and to meet my new little nephew Daniel (pictured bottom) for the first time. I was lucky enough to have lots of cuddles and a play with my nephew Christian. The next day I was off to mum and dads and they surprised me with a manicure and pedicure! It was great fun because I have never had one before. It was early to bed on Christmas Eve after wrapping my presents, flights can be pretty tiring.

The next day it was up early to help set-up for Christmas dinner. The whole family was coming over and I was running around for mum who wasn't well.

At about 12pm Noel (pictured below), Jo (pictured above), Oliver, Alex, Bib, Vicky, Sean, Daniel and Christian arrived and we ate and drank. We opened lots of presents and ate some more. I managed to get everyone to sit down to read te Christmas poems I had written for them. Unfortunately I got a little emotional but I think everyone liked them.I stayed up and ate lots more when Noel and Jo brought out the seafood platter which was lovely. The next day it was off to Noel and Jo's for some more fun. Shopping on the way for a great weekend of laughs. It was nice to spend some quality time with them, I don't see them enough

On Sunday the 27th I popped over to the Mentone Hotel for a few tasty beverages with some of my old friends, this is Me and Tracey (pic above) one of my old school friends. Sunday night I stayed up quite late with Noel and Jo and had a few vodkas but I was up bright and early the next day for bowling.

I went with mum and dad down to Mordialloc Bowls Club and had a few laughs. I am now known as the dumper because I really can't bowl very well and I dump the ball instead of bowling it.

Later Sean, Vicky, Daniel (pic above) and Christian came over for dinner and I had another hold of my newest nephew.

The next day I went shopping for Jo's birthday present and a present for Grahame who met me at the train station near the airport. Later in the afternoon I went to the beach with Dad (pic at the top). It was nice to go walking with Dad and try to get rid of some of that Christmas belly.

I had a great time and I can't wait to go back but I think Bali is next on my agenda if I can save the money.

Sydney Board Games Dinner

Well, what a fine dining experience with great company we had last night. It was the Sydney Board Games annual dinner and as usual our President Wayne or 'El Prez' as we know him made it a night to remember.

We started off with a few drinks at the bar and then made our way to our seats in the air-conditioned comfort of Stapletons Restaurant in Sutherland. Our waitress made us comfortable with a dribble catcher on our laps and then we were served some delicious bread as a starter. There was much conversaiton around everyone's holidays and the Christmas celebrations to come. Harro had our appetites going with the news he ate a Grasshopper in Thailand....apparently deep fried grasshoppper is quite a nutty flavoured delicacy.

It was nice to see Gary back after his overseas adventure and he is ready to join the group again next year. It was also great to see partners of the players joining in our celebration. Big thanks to my other half Grahame for coming along even though his work comitments meant he had to get up at 3am.

Entrees came out and I filled up my glass and drank through it. There were many oysters and calamari dishes but no lambs brains?

Main course was delicious as usual thanks to our chef Leo (seen in group picture above). Many of us indulged in his great steaks and ribs but probably not enough 'spuds' I heard from one. I enjoyed the Eye Fillet steak with Bearnaise Sauce......I definately recommend it.

When our tummy's were full we went onto trivia and trophy presentations which is always a great time of the evening. The trophy standings were:

1st - Rob Askew (seen pictured above)

2nd - Rob Harris

3rd - Leonie Shephard

Wooden Spoon - Gill Grey

Aub's wife explained how she would make a great curry with that wooden spoon making us all laugh. This year they were great trophies too, well picked out El Prez!

The trivia certainly had a few tricky questions this year. None of us knew the New Zealand flag had 4 stars on it, most of us said 6. I was also intersted to learn Clint Eastwood's real first name is actually Clint. Well done Rob Askew and Gill for getting 17 out of 20 in the trivia, can that Rob lose anything?

Rob Askew's wife Christine showed up after her Christmas Terminal do so it was great to see she made the effort to come along and see Rob get his trophy

Whoever the winners and losers are we know we always have great laughs when we get together. A big thank you to El Prez for putting it all together and our money man Rob Askew. Thank you everyone for making it a great year and after last night I can safely say I will be back again next year for some more good clean gamey fun as long as I can get a lift to peoples houses...anyone?

I must also say my year has had it's fair share of ups and downs, I have been able to count on the Games Association to give me plenty of giggles throughout the year. When that Monday night comes around and we all get together, we all seem to forget our problems for the night and enjoy each others company. El Prez introduced some great 'homemade' games to us this year and we are looking forward to some new ones early next year.

I woke up at 5:30am this morning and it felt like I had been hit in the head by several passenger trains. Damn that cheap red wine. Work is a little bit ouchy today.

Thanks again everyone for last night and a sad 'Good bye' to Leonie as she ventures on her overseas trip next year.......good luck and I hope you come back to us safely.

BBQing is here for the summer

Well, as you can see Grahame constructed the BBQ last night. After 2 and a half hours and me constantly saying "Is is ready yet?" it was ready to go.

I brought home some beef skewers, pork skewers, prawn skewers and some barramundi to be cooked. By the time it was ready, about 8:30pm a huge storm was headed our way. Not the most ideal conditions for a BBQ but Grahame managed to get it working despite the gas blowing out 4 or 5 times and causing him a headache, he did very well.

The storm got progressively worse and it started thundering and lightening, it was also blowing a gale. Some of the trees near the unit looked a bit dodgy but after about an hour it was over.

A word of warning to any new BBQ enthusiasts, if you get a new BBQ always wash the hotplates before you use them. We managed not to wash them therefore all the food tasted a little bit weird, kind of plasticy.

I threw together a spinach leaf, paremsan, capsicum and spring onion salad with Balsamic dressing which turned out okay, see picture above. We also had some pasta salad store bought from Woolies which is Grahame's favourite...........I spoil that boy.

You can see by the second picture Grahame was ready to BBQ his head. The poor guy had worked from 5am to 4pm, picked up the BBQ and got home about 5pm. He walked up to the station to help me carry my shopping bags and then spent all evening putting the thing together and cooking. By the end he was exhausted and in bed by 9:30pm.

I'm pleased to say I have made some contact with some more school friends from Kilbreda, one I found out is living in Sydney! I just sent her an email telling her we need to catch up, it's probably been 18 years since we have spoken. Another friend Rochelle, who used to be my cricket buddy, is working for Victoria Police. We met through our brothers both called Sean and we never looked back. I am hoping to see her over the Christmas break but it is a busy time of year.

So far I have received 3 Christmas cards and I have sent none so I am doing really well. Tomorrow I will be starting work on my family poems for Christmas day so I am looking forward to that. it's been a full year of laughs and tears.

Back to work I go, thanks for reading me

Back to Work, It's Monday Again

Well what a great weekend I had. It started with Friday off work. I had to go to Court for Grahame and everything went as well as it could have done. Unfortunately he has a drink driving charge hanging over his head now, sentence to be handed down in February. He will probably get community service and a $3,000 to $5,000 fine. Good news is he has been great keeping away from the alcohol, he was especially good all weekend.

We went home and did lots and lots of washing then it was off to the post office with the pictures Sean bought off ebay for Daniel's room. I tell you what, those pictures are driving me up the wall. Who buys pictures in Sydney for $10 and then have to get them posted for about $50 (including bubble wrapping)? Poor Grahame lugged them all the way to the post office and after I found out the price he had to lug them all the way back. I am gonna kill my bruva!!!

Friday night I made Jo's mexican tortilla stack and it was absolutely delicious. Grahame loved it and we ate heaps and heaps of it. Thanks Jo for the tasty recipe, I just had the last of it for lunch.

Saturday it was time for a bit of a sleep in, then we went up the shops and bought eggs and bacon for breakfast. I had another community outreach activity for the firies. This time I was down at Engadine promoting fire action plans, partaking in sausage sandwiches. It was rather a hot day. Me and Elise had a good chat and we popped into her sisters to see her new kitten 'Simba' on the way back. We also hit the Reject Shop and I spent my usual $20 on heaps of junk. I bought little disco balls for the Christmas tree, awesome at $4 a box.

When I got back to Sutherland it was time to do more resting and snoozing. I painted my nails and Grahame even helped me stick some pretty stickers on them (see pic above). Thanks Mum for getting them for me.

Saturday night Grahame took me out for dinner to our local Thai restaurant, Thai Rose. He ordered the usual Chicken with Cashew nuts and I had Thai beef salad. I drank nearly a whole bottle of red wine so I was a little bit tipsy....maybe more than a little bit.

We got home about 10ish and we turned the balcony Christmas lights on. We took a photo of ourselves when we got home (pic above), I tried to take a photo of the lights but it wouldn't work. I popped a DVD on called 'I Love You Man' and it was hilarious.

Sunday it was up early to make my standard Sunday morning breakfast - Eggs Benedict. I woofed it down and Grahame enjoyed his then thankfully I got a text from Elise. She picked me up on the way to firies, lucky because my head was a little fuzzy from the red wine the night before. I hopped in her car and she had brought me a banana smoothie (bless her cotton socks), she even cooked Anzac biscuits............yum!

We trained with Acting Captain Matty and he is a great trainer. We simulated different ways to tackle a fire, firstly doing a head attack, coming up directly behind the fire and attacking it head on. We trained down the back of Loftus and it was very tiring, We had to drag 3 lengths of hose up a steep hill and continually wet down the area. We were all glad of the debrief afterwards because we sat around drinking lots of water. I enjoyed throwing my water at Big John and Petey. We then did the attack again, this time I had to lug a breeching piece up the top of the hill along with a dry length of hose and a branch (Nozzle). We split the attack from further up the hill and I backed Elise up. We always make a good pair on the fire-ground.

We packed up our many hoses and headed off to refill the tank because we were only left with a quarter. We went down to the creek and drafted. I used the pump again and had my turn at priming the lines and filling the tank. We were absolutely filthy by this stage, me and Elise started cleaning the top of the truck. The weekend trainers had used foam in the tank and it started spilling out everywhere like something out of Ghostbusters. By the time we had finished we were drenched. On the count of 3 Elise whispered into my ear to give our capatin Matty a hug. We gave him a huge bear hug and covered him with our dirt. I think it's the filthiest I have ever gotten at training. Back to the station at about 1pm and we were very happy to take our yellow pants off. I love taking my pants off anyway HAHAHAHA!

Elise gave me a lift home and I ate more tortilla stack with Grahame. I had my afternoon snooze while Grahame vacuumed, cleaned the balcony and cleaned the glass balcony door. I couldn't believe it when he was finished, I woke up to a lovely clean house. What a gem that boy can be!

One of my mates Lee droppped off her birthday invite for the 19th of December at the Brass Monkey, only problem is that's the date I am celebrating Christmas with Grahame so I won't be going to her birthday. Big shame because it would have been fun but I will have lots of fun with Grahame.

I cooked up some steak and sausages and chips and vegies for dinner and fed Grahame as much as possible. He needs to eat more, he is only 4 kilos heavier than me which is outrageous. He was in bed early last night because he has to be up at 4am, that's the life of a Grabo.

I wish it was still the weekend but good news is now it's only a couple of weeks until I leave for Christmas with my wonderful family in Melbourne..........I'm counting down the days.