October 2008 Archives

Last Saturday we spent most of the afternoon doing some construction of a new vegetable bed, carting garden soil and related activities in the back yard at Pink Ukulele and Y's house in the north of Melbourne

We have become aquainted with the couple who are the new neighbours, and the charming young man happens to love to ride mini bikes. Consquently, when we are visiting next door, we often hear the put, put and roar of B doing circuits around his back yard.

Last weekend, we were visiting, and he excitedly told us about his new purchase on the most well known internet trading platform of a new bike, which was bought for the princely sum of $400. This was such a bargain that two of his mates bought one each, and so, last Saturday afternoon, there were three hot pink mini bikes on display in the back yard.

There had to be a reason that they were so cheap!

The tale does not end there, later in the afternoon, at the end of our gardening adventures, as we sat quietly enjoying a drink and waiting for the home delivery of pizza, B's partner announced over the fence that the guys had not returned from their first ride on the new bikes, because they were at the police station.

In Victoria, it is not possible to register mini bikes, and therefore there is a hefty fine for riding one on public land and roads. Add to this a fine for not wearing a helment, and for one guy, riding without a licence, and providing a false name, which resulted in a loss of his car driver's licence. The $1000 dollar fine was bad enough, but losing his driver's licence is another thing entirely.

As the days progress, it is clear that the diagnosis of an allergy to prawns may or may not be the correct one, so I am following a medical diagnosis path, to exclude other possibilities. Boring and may not provide any insights at all.

In the meantime, I must smile cheerfully when someone suggests prawns, or fish and chips or a seafood platter...

In a preliminary diagnosis, following some disagreable symptoms, I am now labelled as allergic to one of my favourite foods, prawns. Anyone who knows me well, will know that I consider this to be an absolute disaster, because they are a guaranteed pick me up and first choice on any restaurant menu.

I first experienced symptoms some years ago on holidays in Queensland, with a rash after eating prawns every day for a week, but recently I've had more serious symptoms such as tingling all over. The fact that the symptoms are getting worse each time means I have to be careful in the future.

The reason that the diagnosis is only preliminary is that prior to the previous incident, I had eaten seafood for three meals, so it is not certain exactly what was the cause. I now have to reintroduce each item gradually to determine if there are any ill effects.

Perhaps I have already consumed one person's lifetime allocation of prawns already, and I should feel grateful that I could eat them for as long as I have?

Readers of this blog will know that I had a part to play in chosing a new kitten for my Dad back in January of this year. Eugene proved to be an outstanding choice, with a fine temperament: friendly, good looks. So much so, that Dad purchased a female kitten in about June with the intention of breeding at least one litter...

Sadly, a little over nine weeks ago, Eugene disappeared, and was found a day later, the victim of a car accident. Dad was devastated at the loss and made plans to get another one when more became available.

A few weeks ago, he announced that he thought Tatiana was pregnant, and sure enough, on Monday evening, 7 little siamese arrived in the world, nine weeks to the day since Eugene's departure,

Now, of course this raises a dilemma...Another cat would be very tempting, but I have a hurdle or two at home to overcome first!

The joy of new arrivals...two ex-colleagues are now proud mothers of their first babies

The stress of sudden illness takes it toll on dear friends. May God be with you all.

Many days of business, means little time for blogging, so here's a quick update...

• AFL has finished for the year with my lovely Saints in fourth place, which is an improvement from 9th last year
• The Hawks were a surprise winner of the AFL grand final, after Geelong had been the form team all year long. The Hawks supporters might tell you something different...
• An enjoyable afternoon watching the grand final with our lovely neighbours...
• A small moment of embarrassment at Auckland airport involving a (very) small apple, meant that I am $200 Kiwi dollars lighter than I should be. (Plus foreign currency charges) (And the amused chuckles of my colleagues....)
• A house warming for C & Y at the weekend, with so much food left over that we had to go back yesterday to eat some more food!
• My step mother is finally home after almost four weeks in hospital following her fall of 4.5 metres in September. Walking, talking. WHich in itself is a bit of a miracle.
• Warm, dry weather at the weekend reminds us that summer is on it's way, and parched crops in the North of the state will be struggling, even more.