Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Here comes another one!
So...last night a huge centipede (picture from Youtube) wandered into the house, probably to escape the damp weather outside, but what do I know...I certainly don't know much about centipedes.Will had never seen such a big one and I caught it under a plastic takeaway tub and Will carried it off outside, though I noticed that his prompt return meant that it had not been removed to a distance that I would have preferred.At the 'Book Cave' today I hear that on Saturday a lady was bitten by a centipede in the children's section...that is the place where the children's books are not the place where children come from."Holy Pincers Bookman!"What is it with this place? Even the centipedes are out to get us!
Taking the Pi#*!
So...it is perhaps a sign of the times that the local authority for which I now work is, like many other authorities introducing Drug and Alcohol testing for its employees. Today I attended an awareness session about the new policy which was very interesting and a bit of an eye opener.'Drug and alcohol testing' is part of caring for employees and a way of minimising workplace accidents, we were told, as well as a way of cutting down absenteeism and compensation claims. It will be done within the law and by professional people with years of experience.We were told of one poor guy in an Executive position who lost his job following a 'Non- Negative' result caused by a nurse mixing his sample up with someone else's. Thankfully the professionals, who will be doing our testing, came to the rescue by taking some of his hair and proving conclusively that he had taken no drugs for the last three months." What if you don't have much hair," I tentatively asked the session provider, " and you want to keep what little hair you have?"He never battered an eyelid, nor even smirked and completely deadpan said,"We won't be using the hair method. We will just be taking the piss."I learned so much about drugs but the most eye opening thing was the lengths some people go to to avoid getting caught.The testing will involve a breath test and urine sample and during the latter test 'men' are monitored from behind, while women are left in private.Did you know that you can apparently purchase prosthetic penises in varying colours, conditions and sizes that people secrete about their person ready loaded with drug free pee for this kind of eventuality? Luckily the professional testers are highly trained in recognising the sound of a genuine 'tinkle' from the sudden spurt of a squeezed rubber appendage. There is no pulling the wool over these guys eyes.Awareness session over all we have to do now is wait for the white van to screech to a halt outside our place of work and drag us off for testing. I just hope I can perform with someone breathing down my neck. Still it will put an end to all those terrible incidents where people have been badly injured by someone drunk in charge of a book trolley.
Wet!
Wet 1:So...since I have been back there have been far many more cloudy days than the clear blue sky days that I am used to here. We have had a little much needed rain and the ground around Frogknot that was dried and brown upon my return is beginning to look greener.With both sections of roof now up on Blue Moon House we don't need to worry so much about protecting the wooden upstairs flooring from the rain but it would be good to get a new water tank to begin to collect the rain off that roof. Our other water tank is almost full once again from the rain we have had recently.Wet 2:On my usual day teaching at the local school this week I found myself thrown into the shallow end of the Stanthorpe outdoor pool teaching getting some of the 'preppies' used to being in the water. This week Prep to Year 3 were bussed to swimming lessons every day at the pool and I had to fill in on Thursday. Typically the day I was there was the cloudiest of the week and it was actually raining while we were in the water...not that we could get any wetter, but when the session was over and we got out it was pretty cold tottering to the changing room.Wet 3:It would seem that since my return all has not been well with the house I left clean and tidied in Penrith for the new tenants. There has been a water leak from the bathroom and I am now having to replace the lounge carpet and underlay and possibly the lino in the kitchen. Thankfully, the fact that I have hardly had an idle day since returning Down Under means that the coffers are quite healthy and so I can afford to make the necessary repairs.Wet 4:I was treated this morning to the sight of four wallabies chasing each other around the dam. They were so engrossed in the activity that they did not even notice me standing there watching them. They were making strange deep growling sounds at each other and at one point all four leapt into the dam and one of them paddled right across the middle with just it's head above the water. I have never seen one swim before and surely when it got out it's pouch must have been overflowing with water but it seemed to hop off unhindered. It was a nice start to the day...and then I had to go to spend a day in the Prep class at the town school.