Not an English phrase...

So...every morning at school starts with 'Word of the Day'.Once we know the word we have to decide whether it is a verb, a noun or proper noun, an adverb, a pronoun, a preposition, an adjective or a conjunction. Then we have to count the syllables, the sounds and record whether the letters are consonants or vowels and whether the vowels are open or closed. Next we list words that rhyme with the 'Word of the Day' before finally writing the word in a sentence.Our 'Word of the Day' today was 'go'."Can anyone give me a sentence with the word 'go' in it?" I asked.Levi's hand shot up."Yes, Levi?""I go pigging," he smiled."Indeed," I said.It is not a phrase you hear in England.

News from the treadmill.

So...I have survived to 'Tav Night' and I am on the cusp of the weekend and nearly halfway through the first week of my second 'fulltime' fortnight.Monday found me teaching discus throwing to Preppies and Year 1's! I hadn't expected to be doing that when I arrived at the school and certainly would never have predicted it but such is life. Apparently, I suspect I might be doing shot put next Monday!Since Tuesday I have been at the school in town and so far so good. You may remember that after accepting the work I discovered the addition of an extra class member who I witnessed kicking off outside on a previous visit. He has autism and I was told he has one to one support all the time but I have discovered that is not so and there are a couple of 30 minute periods in the day where there is no support for him. So far all has been fine though I did end up having to take him to Parade (assembly) with his box of (paper) snakes, to keep him occupied. He hates to stand and sing the National Anthem and nearly kicked off at that time but spent the rest of the time slouched on my knees with his paper snakes nibbling at my arm.The class have been working well though it would seem when they get outside all hell breaks loose and a few of the Senior Management Team are on break time surveillance watching some of the boys from my class.I know some of them can be a handful but so far in class they have really listened well and been trying their best to please me. There was some incident with two of the girls yesterday that I knew nothing about and at 3.00 pm I had a mother wade in, she looked like she was wearing war paint as she had three blue stripes across each cheek, (It was a State of Origin football match yesterday between Queensland and New South Wales....blue signifies a NSW supporter)...any way in wades war paint woman, like a lioness protecting her wounded cub, spoiling for a fight." Excuse me can you tell me why my daughter has been....""No," I cut her off, " I know nothing about it. It happened at lunchtime so I suggest you go and see someone at the office as they were the ones who have sorted it out."I don't normally care about State of Origin but Queensland beat NSW last night so war woman would have been very disappointed. Ha!I was dreading the computer lesson today from previous experience but it turned out to be far worse than I expected as instead of computers we were doing CLAY!I don't know where I found the strength from to get me through that hellish 45 minutes but I did and I lived to endure another day.4 down, 6 to go. I can't wait to get back to my old routine of pretty much doing what I please for 6 days a week.Oh, I almost forgot...I have something else to look forward to.I have booked my plane tickets for another 'Up Over' visit from the 8th to the 29th September. I am flying alone this time as Will is staying to make cheese. After his month away last time it took ages to get everything back to normal again on his return.I shouldn't complain about the work as that is paying for this second trip this year...but I can't help it....and so I will.

A 'Marvel'-lous time in Brisbane!

Saturday - We walked miles around and through the City, met up with Ros and went to see 'The Mummy' which was pretty bad.

That's the holidays over!Back to the grind tomorrow! Oh Joy!

A 'Ripper' time in Brisbane!

So...we are down from the mountain and have journeyed to Brisbane for the weekend as on Sunday Will has his second One Straw band practice. It is the last weekend of the Queensland school holidays and so we have splashed out and booked a room in a hotel on Kangaroo Point for two nights. It is not quite slap bang in the city centre but we don't mind walking. I booked it because the room had a bath, there was free Wi-Fi and parking and breakfast was included in the price.We are having a city day together tomorrow and then I will have another day on Sunday while Will goes off to practice.It was quite misty when we arrived which is unusual for Brisbane.

'Flying Foxes, Cheeseman!'

So...last night lying in bed we heard a weird screech. It was not one of the sounds we are used to like the rustling of mice and rats ( yes, they are back!) in the kitchen, or possums racing across the roof and the rasping call of doom like the demonic hiss of the offspring of Gollum and an Orc that the cute looking Brush tailed Possum makes. The other night there was a loud and startling bang which turned out to be a possum dropping the soap it had snaffled from the shower. It must have taken it up the tree and it slipped out of its paws onto the tin roof.No, the screech was a new sound that we had not heard before.Tonight we discovered what it was.The Yellowbox tree behind the house is in bloom and during the day you are showered with its blossom as the parakeets nibble at them in the topmost branches.Now it seems the tree is getting no respite for after dark it is being visited by Flying Foxes, large fruit bats and it is they that chatter and screech in the night.Will has never seen them here before.