General Chat

I don't think so Colin. Maybe that was in the post which you lost and had to re-type.

Looking forward to hearing of your encounters with the wildlife!

Hello Allan. Hope you had a good day at the office! Have a good evening.

Colin - nice to see you. I hope your lady is feeling much better and a "fixable" reason is found for her turns.

Diane, I do hope you get your week off - in fact a couple of weeks would be good. Do you get paid for your time off?

We did some more gardening this afternoon.. Our daughter will be so pleased. We only had two children today as their other grandma took one of the twins out for the day. So OH had a quiet time with the kids while I was out interviewing new volunteers and they helped - sort of - in the garden.

In most cases I really enjoy interviewing new volunteers but today we met a fellow who is totally unsuitable for what he would like to do. Of course there are a lot of things he can do but he wasn't interested. Although the committee makes the final decision we are still answerable to the department boss if we place people in positions not suited to them.

Sue xx

Colin - to answer your 'why?"
The stickied thread is read to Jean because her condition is now affecting her sight and a known offender added a cold and callous post which caused quite a number of people to complain - but instead of the post being removed, the entire thread was!
This incensed a lot of people who began creating threads - two of which had "f" in the topic line - so we knew those would go! A few other threads contained words which are disallowed too, so they went as well and yet another person cancelled their membership - and we seem to have a couple of members taking a 'break'.

Good evening Sue

I'm glad to see that you are still relishing your guardian duties, both family and volunteer.

I had a h*ll of a shock today as I was told that I had to do an appraisal on the young lady I am mentoring.

Normally this is the responsibility of the Departmental Manager, but as I am standing in for him, albeit in a Consulting capacity, I have been advised that it has been handballed to me.

I don't have a problem with it as the lass is very good at her job even though she has only beeen in post for 8 weeks, but I would have thought that a direct employee of the Council would have been more appropriate

Allan

Hi Sue, good to see you posting. We've missed you, even though you have been there at times.

I don't envy you having to interview someone who is obviously unsuitable - especially if it's for a voluntary position. I have met people on committees, who are willing, but somehow manage to do things in a totally different way from that which everyone else does them. You are left with trying to explain without offending - and it's not easy!

Good morning everyone. I have spent the morning battling with more banks. You would think that for an admin job, a prerequisite would be the ability to string a coherent sentence together, but it seems it isn't

Please excuse me while I go and bang my head on the nearest wall.

Calm down dear,
You seem to have forgotten that these people are from another alien planet, and should be treated as such.
Speak slowly,and precisely. Then ask which part of what you said they do not understand.
It works for me. Good luck.

Tec.

Thank you Tec,
I have spent the morning sorting out problems which should not need to have been problems in the first place.

I am off to entertain the tourists now, heaven help any stroppy ones!.

See you later

Linda

Just one of those round robins, but some bits made me laugh. For our Aussie friends Nigella Lawson is a very "blousey" TV chef

1. Nigella's Way

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice-cream drips .
The Real Woman's Way
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Goodness sake. You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

2. Nigella's Way
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
The Real Woman's Way
Buy Smash and keep it in the cupboard for up to a year.

3. Nigella's Way
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
The Real Woman's Way
Tesco sell cakes. They even do decorated versions.

4. Nigella's Way
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a potato slice..
The Real Woman's Way
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's tough!. Please recite with me the Real Woman's motto: 'I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.'

5. Nigella's Way
Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks
The Real Woman's Way
It could keep forever. Who eats it?

6. Nigella's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
The Real Woman's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it into a big glass of vodka : Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but you won't care!

7. Nigella's Way
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
The Real Woman's Way
Why do I have a man?

8. Nigella's Way
Freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for future use in casseroles
The Real Woman's Way
Left over wine???? Helllloooo!!

goodevening/morning all

Colin hope the new gadget help's the OH and they are able to sort her problem out'

Sue, nice to have a bit of a break from the little one's as much as you love them, did you find any other person that was suitible for the job.

Berona, Well after all the commotion on the board's and the removal of a sticky thread ( instead of just the post ) Jean's new thread had been stickled again. It's a shame so many have been sent on a holiday.

Allan , good luck with the report you have to do. sound's like it will be a favourable one.

Hi Barbra see you later

Linda hope all these problem's are soon sorted out and you can return to a normal life, it all goe's on for such a long time you feel it will never be sorted out. By the way love your Nigella's way and normal every day folk's way lol.

Diane

Now just in case you all think I'v forgotten my promise of keeping you all up to date
Well the visitor came had a natter to his mum about updateing employer's detail's, only had to change one ( his father's death ) told her that the person who doe's the restbite care normally is probably going to retire, but after her op ( the reason she is unable to do the restbite at the moment ) has said when she is fully recovered from it she is still willing to keep my employer on. This will not be until about the end of January as the op is on her feet. In the mean time they are still trying to find a suitable person to step in, one problem's they have finding some-one, is most of the people who do the restbite care in are area already have their full quoter, and also they have to find some-one who has a stairlift or downstair's bedroom, so it doesn't look very hopefull at this moment in time.

Diane

Hello, I might have beaten Allan this morning. Two reasons-I couldn't sleep and thought I would catch up, and his time is 3 hours behind mine so he should be up soon.
Linda, loved your Nigella's way notes. Those of us who watch ABC TV know Nigella. Very easy on the eye for us blokes.

Wildlife... when I was much younger and both more cautious and more stupid, I drove (in four days) from Adelaide to Sydney via Broken Hill, Gilgandra and Coonabarabran & the Warrumbungles. In early January. I left Adelaide about 9 pm. A cooler time to be travelling. Thousands of kangaroos on the road; I drove at about 80 kph with the lights on low beam. Must have worked, I didn't hit one although braked a few times. Pulled over at Broken Hill for a sleep in the car. Next leg was during the day. Thousands of kangaroos and other wilddead on and beside the road, mostly I imagine killed by trucks.
Another time I was on a historic rail trip between Canberra and Sydney. I was able to have a brief ride in the diesel cab. Rather crowded, as the cab was not roomy. Just before I went up, a mob of sheep were seen running in all directions from the line. The locomotive had hit about half a dozen. Plenty of meat for the crows and bigger birds that morning.
The Canberra train is one of the few where I regularly see kangaroos. It is used mostly for goods traffic but has 2 or 3 passenger trains a day. As it goes up the gorge in the evening we often see 'roos scatter.
My favourite sighting of an animal was on the back road north of St Albans. A beautiful goanna (a lizard like reptile), at least 5 ft long nose to tail, black with a yellowish stripe. I acted too slowly so no photo.
Another wildlife story. I have seen echidnas in western Tasmania and northern NSW. Each time, sadly, it ran under a bush and buried itself in the ground, so no photo.
For our t'othersiders, the echidna or spiny ant eater is about 8-10 inches long and can curl up into a ball. The female lays eggs, has hair and produces a milk through glands in her chest. Sort of a link between reptiles and mammals. The platypus is the only other mammal that lays eggs, but I have only seen these in the zoo.
Berona, as you probably know I am not near Parramatta Road. It's just that it sounds more romantic than Victoria Road. I imagine it has been many decades since kangaroos wandered along the Parramatta Road.
Smaller marsupials have adapted to urban life though. We have a family of possums- possibly a tribe, judging by the noise they make - nesting in the roof space of our units. Once when I was working behind Grace Brothers at Broadway we found one in the street. Bats roost during the day in the botanical garden in the city.

Good Morning/Evening Everyone,

Nice sunny day here in my part of Wales, but raining now. Rather cool, so the heating has been on.

Sue I think today is the day SuperGran hands the children back. I expect you are both ready for a rest, enjoyable though it may have been. Hope your daughter enjoyed her break, she is a very lucky girl to have such caring parents.
Berona they wouldn't let me on the flight because of excess baggage, buckets, mops, carpet cleaners, etc etc. I hate to let a lady down.
Linda I thought the Nigella Lawson thing very funny. Hope you have recovered from your frustrating morning dealing with zombies.
Diane how did the meeting go? are you any nearer to getting some time off, I do hope so - if not, we may have to come and kidnap you.
Colin maybe the tests your OH is having will lead to some positive treatment, and that she can be helped. I have a niece with a similar type of epilepsy. In answer to your question, my OH has Type 1 diabetes, and has been on insulin from initial diagnosis.
I found your recent explanation of the weather patterns in the various areas of Australia very interesting, and informative. Thank you. I can remember being uncomfortably hot in Sydney one summer while helping friends to renovate an old bungalow ( nearly rebuilt it) Freezing half to death in Melbourne on one occassion, and being in Adelaide during a freak heatwave that developed into an emergency for the City.

Tec.

Hi Tec, to save me repeating myself please go back to my earlier post today at 7-53pm hun
How is OH today, well I hope ?

Diane

That was a large Seagull, Barbra. I'm surprised that they had the window open whilst broadcasting - must be very high up. Maybe the seagull was surprised too!

On another thread, someone was having a few gripes, one of which was that people are using the chat boards for dating purposes and that they should 'get a room'.!!! I hope they weren't referring to THIS thread!?!
Oh Tec - do you think someone is on to us?
Allan - that rendezvous in Alice Springs - I didn't think anyone knew!
Colin - ? It can't be Colin, can it?

I really don't think I need to worry. All three are gentlemen and my lips are sealed!

Hi Everyone,
I liked the Nigella Lawson thing. Very funny.

Linda - I liked your post on cooking. I learned a lot about cooking from the TV in earlier years - but I can relate more to the Real Woman's Way from the time I started a family!

Diane - does this mean you have to wait until January to get a week off? I hope not.

Allan - not here yet. Probably still out on his walk. I'm sure you will give a good report and make a young lady happy because of it!

Colin - Victoria Road is as bad as Parramatta Road if not worse. One of my sons lives near the Aquatic Centre, but I've only visited at weekends and that's bad enough!

How rude of me. Apologies. I haven't said good morning or good evening to anyone yet. Well, hello to all I have already spoken to - and also to Pat and to Barbra. - oh dear, I hope I haven't missed anyone!

Hi Pat, how's you today hun, well I hope

Barbra, the seagull thing reminded me of the time when I worked for the Hollywood Bowls 8yrs ago and we were haveing fire drill practise, while we were outside waiting a big Seagull S**t on my head I turned round to the General Manager and said, fire drill or not have to go inside and sort head out, before I got back into the rest room I had thrown up on the floor, "Yuk" was heaving for about 10mins all the time I was sorting my hair out and then to top that I had to clean mess up that I had made. I had to put up with all the staff's jib's for about a wk calling me S**t head, all good fun.

Diane

"french or what" - I think it may be "what".