General Chat

Goodnight Diane - try to sleep - keep warm

Berona, that cramp is awful, I get it occassionally, so sympathise with you

Well I must be away to bed too,

So enjoy your day down under,
and sleep well up top,

Goodnight my friends

Dear All,

my apologies for not posting this morning, but last night after a daytime temp of 39c, the weather broke. We had thunder just before midnight so all appliances were unplugged at the wall. Then the rain started and more storms so I decided not to come back on line until all had passed.

More thunderstorms were forecast for today, but so far have not eventuated, and far fron clearing the atmospher today has been hot and extremely humid!

Alison, I'm sorry that you are still experiencing the vomiting from your treatment, and it is a sign of your inner strength that you can talk about it without moaning!

I'm afraid that I would be handling it totally differently if it were me and going into the 'poor me' mode.

Sue I read about that crash that killed those two poor girls and while I am pleased that your own family were not involved, it is dreadful to think that they died in the manner that they did.

As Janet will be aware, given the current weather, the fire warnings for areas North and East of Perth are for Catastrophic conditions


Allan

Allan,
I'm sorry you've got bad weather. Strangely enough there was lightning last Wednesday when I was on the coach between Southamptom and Portsmouth.

I guess you could do with the rain Allan, Gail is very pleased with it being wet where she is so much so she went out and paddled in it.

We are probably in for quite a lot of rain - himself has pulled off a wall of weatherboards off on the side where the hedeg was. There is an add on - done long before we came here - and it has this distinctive crooked look about it and we have sort of kept it hidden by letting the hedge get out of hand. Now that hedge is down to 1/4 of its size the wall looks even worse to us that is. So we have had a tarpaulin up last night and tonight. You can always bet on it raining when you are trying to work outside.

Is it snowing where you are Pat? And are you enjoying your break? I'm not very good on UK knowledge apart from what I see on the TV - the only time I was in London it snowed.

Hope you get some sleep tonight and are not up to Highland Flinging again Berona. Nothing worse than cramp and then when you think you've got it sussed and start to relax - bang it's back again.

Thinking of you Alison - hope you are sleeping well through all this treatment. Take care.

cheers

Persey.

Hi Perse,
It's not snowing where I am. It's raining though. I live in South West England and so we don't normally get a lot of snow. (famous last words!)
I'm having a nice break and I might pop into town to do some shopping.

My daughter met her husband in the UK and they got married in London, his mother lives in Guernsey but is here in NZ at present. My daughter and SIL went down to Cornwall whilst over there and I have a fridge magnet from Polperro. More recently they went back for a few weeks to a friend's wedding which I think was in Devon. My OH has been all over the UK as he worked for a trucking firm when he was on his OE.

Perse (have got my map out having a look)

Hi everyone

What an awful day thought it was much worse weather wise than yesterday when we hit 39!

Allan...we haven't had a drop of rain as yet although yesterday afternoon it looked like we would It didn't eventuate unless when I was asleep. I am hoping that the rain will come now as the fires in the Dandaragan and Tooday are really bad at the moment. People have been evacuated.

Hope everyone is keeping warm/cool..


xx

Hello everyone,

I am having a quiet moment to myself. My son left mid morning, so I have been to the supermarket and have the washing machine running non stop. I need to turn the house round for tomorrow when my sister is due to arrive.

It was lovely to have my son here for several days as I miss him, he lived with us until two years ago.

I have read the thread over Christmas, but apologies if I attribute anything to the wrong person.I am sorry to hear about the danger of fires again, it must be an awful situation to be in.I hope that more of you get rain.

I hope that you are settling in back at home Alison and that you don't have to go back into hospital.

Hi Linda,
I suppose you are now all ship shape and Bristol fashion in readiness for your next round of visitors. You are a busy bee, but it's nice to have visitors, especially your children. It's an absolutely foul day here in wild Wales - nearly dark all day, lashing with rain, and a gale blowing off the mountain. No snow as yet, although it is snowing further south.

Perse I hope the rain held off for you with that outside work to do, it would be typical for it to rain when something's exposed that shouldn't be. I went camping on the island of Guernsey when I was a boy scout, visited some underground bunkers built by the Germans when the island was occupied in WW2 - very interesting.

Allan, I hope your weather has improved and is more bearable, and that your are now plugged in again, also Janet, and I hope the fires are not too close to you for comfort - very sorry for those affected.

Tec

I am reasonably ship shape Tec. It is so cold here but unfortunately I have to go out tonight for cinema duty. I still have a horrible cold and ache all over, but OH is even worse. I am trying to persuade him not to go out tonight but he is insisting on coming, I hope that you are not intending to go anywhere except in front of the fire.

Sorry to hear you are both still unwell. Surely you could have got someone to stand in for you both tonight.
I am not planning to go anywhere except in front of the fire. Tried to take the dog for walk earlier, looking like Nanook of the North, but had to turn back after only 100 yds, as neither of us could stand up in the wind, and the icy rain was ripping my face off.

Nanook of the North

Hello, everyone:-))

I can't believe the extremes of weather we are hearing about on both sides of the globe. OH has been "talking" to his brother in the north east of England and he has been telling us how cold it is.

Our weather is very unsettled. Cool and wet one day and warm, sunny and sticky the next. My fellows are playing golf this morning but by the looks of the weather they may be home early.

The bush-fires are a worry and I feel so much for anyone facing this dreadful thing. Fire is so destructive. On the other hand we have areas that are flooding although it is in areas that have been drought stricken. Crazy isn't it?

Today I need to do the dreaded h....w..k. I've been doing the bare minimum but I need to get stuck in and do some serious stuff.

Does anyone have plans for New Year's Eve? We usually have a very quiet night and have no plans this year. We'll have a nice dinner on New Year's Day.

Linda I hope you and your OH are feeling much better soon. Antibiotics may be needed.

Sue xx

Good Morning/evening all

Janet, the fire at Toodyay, sounds bad. I believe that at least 8 homes have been destroyed and as of last night the fire was still not under control.

I hope that conditions don't worsen but last night it was blowing a gale in the SW of WA, at least on the coast, and the wind is still very strong this morning.

Toodyay is about 80 kms NE of Perth.

Also just to add to the gloom, on my walk this morning (cut short because of the weather) I noticed the Flying Doctor plane leaving Bunbury and thought that some poor person is in for a rough flight tp Perth, and then just as I turned on the computer, another Flying Doctor flight was making an approach to Bunbury.

To see one either arriving or leaving is normal but to see this twice in a day is very unusual.

AsBunbury Airport is not equiped for regular night flying, it is only the RFDS and emergency flights that can use the airport during the hours of darkness.


Allan

Everybody busy?

Sue xx

Hi everyone,
It rained here in Exeter.Later on it dreid up and I caught a bus to town. The traffic was dreadful and a journey which normally takes 15 mins. took an hour!
It was worth it because I got a page day diary from M & S for £1.96. I think it was dirt cheap because there wasn't any packaging only a pick of paper stuck to it which a serial number on it. My boss gave me a gift card and I wanted to get something useful.
Luckily it didn't take long to get home!
Pat x

GoodMorning Sue,
Good Morning Allan

Hope everyone is well - yes it does seem we are all experiencing extremes of weather. I know that the effects of extreme heat are just as uncomfortable as is the cold we are having in the UK at the moment, different conditions bring different hazards. Thank goodness we do not have bush fires here, and I really feel for those that live in areas that are affected in Australia and other parts of the world.
I suppose on a personal level, our greatest risk of disaster would be flooding from the sea - we live about 500yds from the beach, although there is a gentle gradient from the house down to the sea.

I suppose Allan that like us when we see the Air Ambulance around, you know someone is in trouble when you see the Flying Doctor Service in your area. Thank goodness for both services. Is the RFDS funded by Government? or is it like our Air Ambulance and funded by voluntary contribution and fund raising?

Sue...No special arrangements for New Years Eve - but we always stay up to see the New Year in - always enjoy seeing the firework display from Sydney Harbour Bridge, that is obviously ahard of our New Year.

Tec

Good evening Allan , the fires sound awful in your area. It is freezing here tonight,so I was glad that we film tonight was a very short one,so we could get back early

The pavements are still like compacted ice,so we resorted to walking sown the road until we got to the town centre where they had been gritted

Good Evening Pat,

You were brave going into town, hope you were wrapped up. Good bargain in M&S with the diary. I have yet to get one. I've kept a diary for many years, and like to look back in old ones - it's amazing how much we forget happened over the years - well I do anyway.

Tec

Good evening Pat and Tec,

Good morning Sue

Tec RFDS is part funded by the Government (Federal) but mainly by voluntary donations. It is a sad state of affairs as the RFDS provide so many other 'incidental' services.

As an example, when I worke on the Goldfields I had to take water samples from some of the Mininig Towns as they were on a private supply. There was only 24 hrs allowed between taking the samples and having them analysed otherwise the results were not valid.

T send them via a commercial flight and then arrange a courier in Perth meant that very often the deadline could not be met.

So I arranged for the RFDS to take the samples to Kalgoorlie, where they underwnt a process which extended the time limit....all at no cost to Council, although it already made a large voluntary contribution to the Service each year

Allan

Oh hello Pat, sue and Tecwyn, you arrived just as i did.
I haven't dared brave the sales, I don't think that I will bother, I can't face the crowded shops