General Chat

Allan........
I'm fairly practicle about the house - jobs - DIY etc.
But nothing mechanical
The Internal Combustion Engine is a complete mystery.
I get in the car, turn the key, select a gear, and it moves.

How - Why- I have no idea, and I don't care,
so long as it gets me there

Tec.

Allan, I'm not sure, because I haven't been into the City of Sydney for years, but if you walked around State Parliament, Botanic Gardens, etc. then I don't think you would have seen the Queen Victoris building, as it is near the Town Hall - unless you walked a long way - but then, YOU just might have done that!

lol Berona.

As I recall I did walk a long way
Allan

Well I'm off to bed now my friends.........
So have an enjoyable day whatever you do.......

Goodnight
Tec.

Good night Tec

Hi, Berona. I'm afraid you're wasting your time trying to teach these old dogs new tricks. That wasn't very nice but hey.....it's my thread:))

Yes, Allan that is the building with the huge tree - it's very impressive. As for Janey - well, she is rather full of her own self importance but I guess she's entitled to her say. I just think with all the inequality that goes on in the world where "might is right" etc. that to be concerned about what title you put in front of your name is of little importance

Sue xx

Edit - nighy night, Tec.

Sue, it's strange but I've never been bothered by what people call me.

I had to laugh though when a letter appeared in the local paper from an expat Brit who was seriously claiming that to be called a pommy was blatant racial discrimination!

This would have been a couple of years ago now, and I thought at first that it was tongue in cheek....but no, the writer was serious.

On various threads I refer to my self as a pommy, and also as an Aussie: I also do this in face to face conversations!

Berona was corrrect then: I must have walked a fair distance that day in Sydney

Regards

Allan

Goodnight Tec. At least, I got to say something to you this time - and if you miss this, you can read it next time!

Yes, Sue, I have been on the receiving end of the one who quotes the Internet a lot. I think the Internet is a wonderful thing, but I wouldn't use it as a bible to beat all other means of gaining knowledge. I have also been ticked off for asking for help on Trying to Find - I asked about the parents of a person who had been asked about and was told I should have picked up the earlier thread. Told in no uncertain terms, too!! I prefer not to answer when I get messages like that. There always seems to be others who are quite willing to help without barking orders at me.

Allan, I should have known you would think nothing of walking that far! It shows how long it is since I went into the City - I've been through it in a car - as a passenger - but the days of roaming around the city, taking in the sights, are far behind me these days.

Hello to all.

Sounds like those of you on the east coast are in for some wild weather today - hope your areas do not suffer any damage in the winds that are predicted.

The Queen Victoria building in Sydney used to be occupied by the Sydney County Council, Sydney's electricity supplier. I worked there for a few years in the late '60s. It was a dark and dreary place inside with old rickety lifts. the type like cages. The Council moved to their new office tower on the corner of George and Bathurst streets shortly after I started.

The old building was then restored and converted into a shopping area. One of the best things about the restoration was the revealing of the dome from inside. I think this is the area where they have the Christmas tree each year, rising from the ground floor and passing the upper levels of shops.

Tec, you said your boat was in dry dock in Sydney for a time - was this at Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour? My father was a fitter and turner and he did a lot of work there for many years on a lot of P&O boats. When the Oriana and the Canberra first came to Sydney he got passes to take us on board to have a look around. We thought they were the height of luxury!

Sorry for the multiple posts - seems I am being rationed on the length of what I can submit at one time. Maybe it's time I just kept to one- liners.

Well, the sun is out, and I think I will catch up with my sister today. Hope all the Aussies have a pleasant day, and that the Brits are having sweet dreams,

Bye from Susan.....

Hello SueMaid, the Sues with and without numbers, Carole, Amanda (have we spoken?), Berona, Tec and Allan and all the others who have become friends and sparring partners on this thread.
Hi Susan, I think one way around the problem you are having with the GR Reply panel and long replies is to type up your reply as a word processing document, as I have done this one. The following applies to Microsoft type computers, but obviously you can do much the same with Apple although the keys are different.
Having typed your post, you simply select the lot (hold down CTRL then press the a (for all) key. Then CTRL and c (for copy). Go to the reply panel on GR and paste the message into the panel You have to edit-paste as CTRL-p doesn’t work on GR.

I think the building Allan is talking about is the QVB. The building is impressive, although more a tourist venue. It is however part of a good undercover route through to Centrepoint. The tree really is impressive. Other Christmas trees include an open air one in Martin Place, if the Lord-Lady Mayor hasn’t banned it recently on PC grounds. Possibly, Allan was talking about the David Jones department store opposite our Hyde Park, but I don’t think so from the description. The store has some rather charming Christmas displays.

There were indeed fairly wild winds across Sydney this morning, up to 90 kph but most damage seems to be power lines brought down. I worked last night and the wind was howling. One of the scariest moments was coming home. I was driving a work truck, a utility. It received quite a battering as I crossed Gladesville bridge, 30 or 40 metres high above the water. The really scary part was the cars roaring past me on the lanes on either side at high speed. The winds have eased today, but another front is coming. Illawarra, watch out!

I haven’t had a run in with Janey but she does seem to have some fairly strong opinions. I don’t see a real problem with using a famous web search engine for information and I don’t think she is showing off. Maybe she feels she needs to confirm her information and provide a reference, rather than just rely on memory, as I found out recently. If it is the same Janey I am thinking of, the second part of her nick name indicates that she comes from north of the 39th parallel. I am sometimes tempted to be sorry for New Zealanders. Their country is next to a much bigger and rather overbearing neighbour. At least there is 1500 km of water between us. How much worse it must be to be a Canadian with a common border. It might account for her strong political opinions. Insert smiley face here- not for “I am joking” but more for I am content to let her be, although some of her views disturb me.

Hello, Berona, Colin, Susan and everyone else:))

The QVB is a beautiful building and within walking distance of Darling Harbour - one of my favourite areas of Sydney. I've also seen the tree in Martin Place. Very impressive. Susan I found it interesting that the QVB started out as Sydney Council. Were the tiles there at the time or are they are recent addition?

Colin, I've often read some of the posts that Janey has put on various threads and found them to be interesting. However I don't like her method of attack when someone doesn't agree with her strong opinions. She attempts to belittle the other person and I don't like that. I think I'm inclined to avoid her in future. Colin it’s nice that you think of us as friends and the banter is a fun way to start or end the day even if the jokes are pretty bad at times.

It's quite windy here and I noticed when I went to the shops this morning that a tree on a nearby street had partially blown down and wrecked the front garden of the house it was in. As it was quite close to the house and driveway I think they were lucky it blew down in the direction it did. I don’t like the wind and I try to stay out of it if possible. My OH is not happy because of all the work we did the other day. We cleaned out under the pergola and swept away the leaves that had accumulated there. Now they’re all back and from trees we don’t have in our yard. Perhaps our neighbours are getting our leaves.

Linda, if you’re looking in I do hope your mother is continuing to improve. Take care of yourself – I know from experience how tiring it can be.

I really enjoy our group of regulars and the visits from various other people who join in the fun or serious discussions.

I meant to say Colin that I’ve taken your advice to Susan and written this in Microsoft Office and then copied and pasted onto the GR reply panel. The problem I’ve had is double posting and after a few lines the reply panel jumps making it difficult to see what you’ve typed. This has fixed the problem – thank you.

Sue xx

Good morning everyone,
The sun is shining today,which makes a nice change from the torrential rain we had yesterday afternoon.

Mum was not at all well yesterday,she now has pneumonia and an infection in her bloodstream which they can't identify. The are growing a second blood culture to see if they can work out what it is. In the meantime, they are giving her two different types of intra venous antibiotics, ones which are general sweepers to try and blitz everything.

It may work,I hope so, but the pneumonia is not a good sign in someone so old and with such chronic health problems. Still yesterday she actually said that she was hungry and was wondering what type of soup it was for dinner,so maybe she is on the up.

She has had several long stints in hospital before where she nearly hasn't made it,so I have been through it all before. Plus my father died four years ago from Multiple Myeloma,so that was a very long and distressing illness. I don't want mum to have to face such a long struggle. anyway what will be will be.

Onto more cheery subjects, I got an email from an aussie friend this morning which mentioned the Ashes,as in

"Oh and by the way, well done in the cricket, not a bad result for your lot, even though a doctored pitch and "bent" umpires did help."

talk about a sore loser!

Linda, I'm sorry your mum is still unwell. No, pneumonia isn't good but she's in hospital and getting good treatment so hopefully she will start to improve soon. It's physically and emotionally exhausting so, again, take care of yourself as best you can. You'll be no good to anyone if you become ill.

Oh and by the way are you sure your friend was being a sore loser? Or just telling you how it is:)))

Sue xx

Glad you jogged my memory, Susan - I couldn't remember who was in the QVB before it was refurbished. I do, however, remember who was there even before the County Council.

It was a number of shops, but mainly the large menswear store belonging to Millards. I still remember the catch-phrase on their radio advertising -
"Millards - the store for men - Townhall end of the Queen Victoria Building in George Street". I heard this daily on the radio until they eventually closed down after many years. Couldn't forget it as Millard is a family name of ours. I still haven't worked out if we were related, though.

I did hear that catch-phrase when I was at school, so you would have to be as old as I am, to remember it!

No Sue, definitely a sore loser lol.

Good morning Berona, all the talk of Sydney really makes me want to visit,but the lottery ticket hasn't come up yet and I can't contemplate flying all that way anything other than business class

Linda - I do hope you Mum improves. Pneumonia is not good but she is in the right place for the right attention. I'll be thinking of you.

I'll agree with you about your friend. I think the best team won this time.

Good evening all:))

Linda...I hope your Mother is getting better, she is in the best place and they will take good care of her.Take care of yourself. xx

Hi also to Sue, the Susan's with and without numbers, Berona, Amanda, Janet, Posh, Tec, Allan and Colin and everyone else that visits:))

We are having some very wild weather here, very strong winds and lots of rain. The wind always scares me, as we live quite high up on a hill.
One year we lost our garden shed, it ended up in our next door neighbor's back yard. We ended up replacing it with a shipping container.

Good night all Aussies:)
Have a great day all others:))

Carole xx

G ood Morning Australia all States
Good evening Great Britain all Counties........

Having spent the day on my hands and knees, and not having got as far as I wished, I am obviously going to end up with knees like a camel.
Have you ever seen a camels knees?
Linda.........I hope you found some improvement in your mother's condition today. Thinking of you - take care. When I win the lottery we will all fly to Oz business class............
SueMaid...........Did you infer that I am an old dog? Well look here young lady - thedog bit I don't mind - noble, loyal, inteligent creatures that they are. Just because I'm a guest on your thread, and admittedly older than you, doesn't give you license to call me what you like. I was taught to respect my elders because of their wisdom and experience.
I am not old - just mature - like a vintage wine to be savoured.
Susan..........Yes - it would have been the dry dock you mention. The Oriana and Canberra were fine ships. I actually saw the Canberra on her maiden voyage - she was just going out through the Red Sea as we were coming home from a world cruise. I think the older ships were more luxurious than modern ones - that's because the newer ships are designed for short term cruises, rather than long voyages. Although I would settle for a world cruise in a canoe right now lol.
Carole..........Hope nothing blew away in the wind you've just had. We are expecting the residue of Hurricane Bill tomorrow - it having wound its way around the Caribean and now crossed the Atlantic to us. So we can expect it to be very wet and very windy tomorrow - ugh!

Tec.