Socks!...

Hi Readers,

Well here we are on the 2nd last day of holidays (I don't count the weekends as holidays, as we already get them!) and I have finally sat down to do a post. I clearly remember doing a post at the start of the holidays saying that I expected to do quite a few...fat chance of that happening now!!

Last weekend I spent a few days in Melbourne with my wife, something we try to do every extended break.
We just fluffed around the city, went shopping and also went to my first AFL match in a few years.
This was heartbreaking as my team, Richmond, got absolutely flogged!!

One of the goals of our shopping (apart from me visiting every motorbike shop that I could find!) was for me to find some more new socks for work.

That does sound strange I know, but let me give you some background to this...

I have always liked brighter colours of clothes, and a year or so ago I bought a set of socks that had bright toes, heels and a bit of a stripe down the side.
Over time, the kids at school would notice these when I sat down with them, and they would often ask me each day what colours I was wearing.

I also had lots of other bright colours, these are the leftovers!

Now, as my regular Readers would know, I spent a few weeks overseas last year on a scholarship. During my time in London I came across some socks in Marks & Spencer that I thought would complement my collection, and they turned out to be very popular when I started wearing them back at school.

As you can see, the bright colours were a big attraction for me!

Over time the children at school started to make requests.."Mr K, can you wear green tomorrow?"

If they weren't making requests, then there would often be many of them just checking to see what colours made the grade for that day.

Then, after a little while I asked one child what colour I should wear the next day. She couldn't decide between two colours, so that night I decided to wear one of each the next day, and didn't this create a monster!!!

Once the word got out that I was wearing odd brightly coloured socks, more children than usual started to show an interest in it.

Keep in mind though that this only happens in the cooler months when I wear long pants, as wearing these socks with shorts (which I often wear) would not be a good look at all, especially in my role as Deputy Principal of a large school.

Fast forward to January this year, and you will find Jen and myself overseas again, visiting Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Austria.

In Barcelona we actually found an entire shop dedicated to selling these types of socks! I was in sock heaven!!!

I loaded up on a few pairs and waited eagerly for the cooler weather to set in later in the year.

At first I could get away with wearing a different pair each day, but then the kids remembered about mixing up the pairs.

Not only was I now mixing two colours, but I was now being asked to mix colours and designs!

Kids don't just ask me what I am wearing, but sometimes they might come up from behind and lift my pants cuff to see what socks I have on for the day, or ask if I can show them.

They even come up and try to guess what the combinations might be.

As I am on after school duty most nights, this is when I will often get requests put in for the next day, so I have to be on the ball in trying to manage these requests.

Here are some of them, and the names that the kids give them...

 "Strink" - Stripes and Pink

 "Grots" - Green and Spots

 "Shurple" - Shapes and Purple

 "Blink" - Blue and Pink.

 And here is my latest purchase. Notice that the two pairs on the left come already mixed- what a bonus!!

And on the right are my latest Richmond socks - They will NOT be mixed with anything else, they will always be worn as a pair!!

And now my sock drawer has a distinctly bright theme to it!!

I mentioned just above that the socks will be worn as a pair. This generated lots of discussion with the kids about "What makes a pair of socks a pair?"

Many see that they must be the same to be a pair, while others say that as long as there are two socks, that makes a pair.

Either way, I'm not fussed as it has been a great way to further build relationships with the kids at school as it encourages communication and further builds those bonds with the kids that are just so important.

Furthermore, as I get my socks ready each night/morning, it really influences my outlook on the day and puts me in a really positive frame of mind. Whether that is due to the bright colours I'm not sure, but it does give each day added purpose as I know that some kids are going to make a beeline for mr to check out the socks for the day.

This then opens up opportunities to talk with them about lots of other things, they are just great icebreakers.

So here I am at the end of my holidays talking about socks, and in a way it has already got me motivated for next Monday.

So Readers,

Until my next post...

Cheers!!

It's Holidays again!

Hi Readers,

After a period of being really slack, I have committed myself to adding another post, my second for the week!

I can't guarantee it will be worthwhile, or contain anything that could be considered even mildly interesting at best, but I'm having a crack!!

This morning is the first day of two weeks of holidays from school, and the day could not have started any better.

My wife, Jenny, as she went to bed last night left me with the words "I might just stay in bed until mid afternoon tomorrow", so I knew she had plans for a great big sleep in.

I fell asleep in the lounge watching the football, and woke up as Sydney were singing the club song in the rooms after beating Melbourne. So, off I went to bed, but had a really restless night, and ended up back on the couch at 3.00 am so that I wouldn't disturb Jen who was sound asleep.

I then woke very early, so decided to have a little workout to stretch and maintain the rehab I need to do on the bits of my body that continue to ail me.

To my surprise, I then see Jen up and about just after 7.30, apparently she couldn't sleep either, so her plans for a big sleep in never worked out either!

So here we both are, first day of holidays, and up at the same time we normally do for a work day. DOH!!!

But all was not lost!!

We both had a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs, read the papers and had a few lazy cups of coffee by the fire. A very relaxing start to the day.

All the while we had the most beautiful music laying through the house, which needs a bit of explaining.

This week at school, we hosted the Australian Girl's Choir (AGC) for some workshops with the kids as well as a whole school performance. They were just brilliant, and to think that they come together from all over Australia to travel together for two weeks was just amazing.

I arranged a number of families to host a group of them, so each morning they would come to our school before heading off with their adult leaders for the day.

On Thursday, Grant Shannon, one of our teachers who has a therapy dog that he uses in class was passing through the office area with Sonny.

I asked if he could introduce Sonny to the girls, which he was proud to do, and the way that the girls embraced Sonny was very special to witness.

They asked lots of questions, and Grant, as always was more than happy to oblige.

I've been trying to upload a short video about the program Grant has introduced, but have been having some technical snags, but will get it sorted over the next few days.

Sonny and Grant certainly do have a special bond.

 Grant and Sonny with some members of the AGC.

 

And I often get to spend quality time with Sonny if Grant needs to leave him somewhere for a short period.

This was yesterday just for about 20 minutes. As I was working in our office Sonny came in to be looked after by me. As I was tapping away on my laptop Sonny just wandered around and just made himself comfortable. Lo and behold he then came and stood beside me and just watched what I was doing on my laptop, then plopped his head on my lap and just rested there.

It was just so relaxing as it made me stop stressing about what I was doing, so I just rubbed his back for a while and listened to the music that I had playing. Now I know how the kids feel in class when Sonny helps them to relax.

Maybe Grant sensed I needed a visit from Sonny!!!

So, back to the start of my post, this is why we had the AGC music playing in our house this morning while we had the most relaxing morning ever. They gave me a copy of their CD for the work we did with them this week as a thank you, something which I really appreciated, and will continue to play when I need relaxing.

 This morning was particularly cold, down to -3 degrees and a severe frost.

I find this weather nearly unbearable, and actually found the -16 we experienced in Salzburg back in January more enjoyable. Probably because I dress more appropriately for the weather when travelling than I do when it gets cold at home and I still get around in a t-shirt and light jumper rather than something more suited to these cold days!!

 You can se where the sun is coming up and melting the frost along sections of our yard.

So Readers, what does the rest of the day hold for me?

As it is cold, but still sunny, I am definitely going out for a spin on my trusty motorbike- just have to get my fix!! I'll be rugged up, but all ready to experience the beauty of being out on it.

My football team, Richmond, are playing tonight so that means I have to get everything done before then so that I can watch the game. That means after my ride I change from all that protective gear into my running shorts and t-shirt and get my exercise fix before it gets too cold again.

Hopefully I'll be back in time to lay some food on the BBQ and cook up a feast for us, as that is nearly one of my favourite places to be at home! The only worry is that I may leave it too late, and will be out at the BBQ in the freezing cold! I need to be well organised!!

Well Readers, the Suzuki Boulevard is calling me, so that's it for today.

Stay tuned for more regular posts these holidays.

As always, until my next post...

Cheers!!

The USA is back!!

Hi Readers,

Very short and very sweet!!

My last post has only been up for 5 minutes and already has had 10 hits from the USA, more than Ive had from there in the past few weeks!
Plus one from Germany!!

Now if I can get this spread to continue, how about asking a friend to have a read, maybe just once?
Who knows, they might actually like it!!!

Hopefully they might be coming back!!

Thanks!!!

Where have I been lately??????

Hi Readers,

My apologies for such a gap in between posts, it must look like I have fallen off the face of the earth lately!!
It has been about a month and a day since I last posted, and I'm not going to make up or use any excuses.
Basically, I have been slack!!
Each night I think about doing a post, then the procrastinating side of me wins by saying "You've had nothing interesting to write about lately" so I take the easy way out and do nothing.
Sorry!!

So tonight will most likely be just a few short snippets about just a few things that have been going on. Our school Principal has headed away for 7 weeks, so I have felt a bit under the pump at times, but over the past week have been able to juggle my commitments more effectively.

It is indeed a small world!

First of all, one of our boys, Will, moved to Canada a few months ago to work in Banff.
He is working at Banff Gondola, and recently the previous Director of Education for our part of Victoria (a state in Australia where I live) was travelling there. Apparently she heard an Australian voice and asked Will if he was Australian.
She then asked where he was from, and the interchange was something like this...
 "Victoria"
Which part?
"Bendigo"
What's your surname?
"Kerrins"
Are your parents Bernard and Jenny?
"Yep"

What a small world!! We really enjoyed having Philomena Billington as our Director, and it has been a couple of years since she was in that role, but for her to bump into one of our sons overseas was totally amazing.

Phil meeting Will at Banff Gondola.

We hope you were looked after Phil!!

Will (left) and a few new friends trying their best to catch a fish on a lake in Canada.

Clearly, he hasn't had a haircut since lobbing over there!

The weather is certainly changing...

We are now one month into Winter and I am totally over it already!! I much preferred the really cold winter we experienced in Europe back in January when we were in Italy and Austria and Budapest, being knee deep in snow!! Perhaps it was the novelty of the snow that made it more appealing?

Anyway, I just hate these cold mornings and evenings.

Why? Mainly because I like being outdoors and doing things outdoors, so when it is really cold it just makes me a tad miserable. Also, it has been too cold to ride my new motorbike to work (had to give it a plug somewhere!!), but the afternoons have been really good riding weather. 

I did ride it a few times recently, but even with double gloves on I was still unable to undo my helmet and zips on my jacket as my fingertips got so cold.

Okay, it doesn't look pretty here, but it is very practical on the bike. This 'neck sock' keeps the gap between my collar and my helmet warm on cold days on the bike. 

Might need one for my head now that the follicles are appearing less and less!!

 Okay, so I just had to get another shot of my bike in the blog!! I'd spent the best part of the day mowing our yard in the background, so I felt I'd earned the time on the bike!!

Simple bike philosophy!

Driving to school last week, most mornings have been between zero and 3 degrees, so I've been precious and driven instead!!

It may have been cold last Friday morning, but the sunrise was just beautiful on the way to work.

Another son, Sam, is working in London, having been there for a few years now. He is soccer mad and just loves playing the game, so how excited do you think his old man was to see him in a football (Australian Rules that is) team photo recently.

He plays in this competition in London at the end of his soccer season, and as I was brought up on this game I just love it when the boys play it. A shame I have rarely seen them play though.

That's Sam,back row, 2nd from right.

Something else that has been exciting this year has been watching my Australian Rules Football team, Richmond (the Tigers) actually start winning games and becoming a serious challenger for the end of season finals. We have lost 5 games this year, but 4 of those were by 9 points or less which were just heartbreaking as we been in winning positions in each of those games. We just have a habit of losing games in the last minute of play!! 

No wonder us Richmond supporters cop so much stick from the supporters of other teams!!

 One of the most in-form players this year in the competition, Dustin Martin, and he is ours!!!

He is out of contract at the end of the year and lots of clubs are dangling big wages at him, but we are desperately hoping he stays with us!!

And this sums up exactly how I feel after some of our recent wins!!

Jen and I recently spent a Saturday at a Camping and Caravan show that was on here in Bendigo. We often think about buying a caravan, but for the moment we are trying to do as much overseas travel as time and finances will allow.

But on this day, while we did see lots of vans that suited us, all we came out with were a few bottles of wine, cider and liqueur that we saw at a winery stall!!

If we ever do get a van, one of our first trips will be to Cobram to get more of these from this winery!!

These haven't lasted long since we bought them!!

And just a bit of light humour that has brought mixed reactions from many female siblings, friends and colleagues!!!

This might alienate me from all of my female readers!!!!!

And something else that I have needed a lot lately...

I think my colleagues must get sick of me saying every time a potential problem surfaces at work..."We have no problems here, just solutions"!

And since I have mentioned our two other sons, how could I not include our youngest, Lachie, who is the only one still in Australia?

It doesn't show up here, but Lachie has as much hair as I don't!! It tumbles way past his shoulders, and thankfully he has it neatly tied up here. He told us last night that he is considering doing a 'cut for cancer', where he has to take off a minimum of 30 cm. If only I had 1 cm!!!

We had the pleasure of having Lachie home for a few days, which is a real novelty for us as it is usually just the two of us at home nowadays.

Now what has happened to my U.S. Readers?

For some time now, the majority of my readers have been from the U.S.A.

For reasons unbeknown to me, this dramatically dropped off a few weeks ago, not gradually, but suddenly.

Why?

I just don't know, but if anyone who has been a reader can shed some light I'd love to know.

I don't think that I publish anything that is offensive or controversial. Rather, I am content that if anyone from my school read this blog it would be totally safe for them to do so.

Whereas I was getting close to 1 000 hits a week from the USA, I am now getting single figures, and for the life of me I cannot explain why.

It does disappoint me somewhat, as when I write I really do remember that I am writing for an audience, and I hope that I am giving them something of interest.

If all of my USA readers suddenly got bored, let me know and I'll rise to the challenge and produce posts that will leave you craving for more!!

There you go, the challenge is set, and hopefully I'll not let you down!!

Pleasing to see that I scored a few hits over the past week from Finland, a country I visited last year and would dearly love to visit again.

I learnt so much from the schools and people I spent time with when I was there and have been trying hard to implement some of your ideas over here.

It is hard and slow, but I will persevere!

Thanks for reading Finland!!!

Well Readers,

I am sorry for my tardiness with my posting of late, hopefully I will rectify that as we begin two weeks of holidays at the end of this week.

And remember, comments are always welcome!!!

Until my next post...

Cheers!!

Have I been here before????

Hi Readers,

Really short and sweet tonight!

As the regular readers would know, I do love my daily exercise.
Some call it obsessive, I call it dedicated!

Tonight when I was running up and down some of my favourite hills in the centre of Bendigo, the smells, the temperature, the clouds...just about everything took me back more than 20 years when I lived in Ballarat and was running a lot more than I can do now.

It actually felt as if I had been transported back in time to a run that I had done so many years ago. Everything just felt that I was once again running along one of my favourite routes in a city where we lived for more than 15 years. I actually felt that I wasn't where I actually was!!

It felt weird to say the least, but this often happens from time to time, when I'm doing something and then I start to think "This same thing happened to me long ago".
I don't expect this to make sense to anyone but me, but I'd be interested to know if any other readers have experienced similar things?

I still have vivid memories of experiencing the 'zone' when running around Stanley Park in Vancouver a few years ago.

And also when running along the foreshore in Vancouver a week or two later, and finding this painted on the path.

Also when running, some days the legs just don't want to be a part of it, but on other days the body feels like it could go on forever. I call this my 'zone', a time when everything is perfect.
When this happens I always try to get a photo, but I rarely run with a camera, unless I'm overseas.
Tonight I could have taken that photo, but as I didn't, I know I can keep the memory.

 A motto I live by.

My sort of poetry.

Exactly how I think!!

I love doing my hills.

And how I feel if I don't do something each day!!

While I don't like the use of the word 'lazy', this reflects my sentiment.

Now how much do you think I'm looking forward to tomorrow's workout? My bag is already packed and in the car ready for a session on the way home from school!!

Until my next post Readers...

Cheers!!

So What has happened lately?....

Hi Readers,

Sorry for the delay in making a post, but it has been very hectic at work lately, and most nights I have been catching up on things. (Neglecting my Blog!!)

It has also struck me how far behind in my work I got when I missed so much time last term when I was away sick for so long. I'm still chasing my tail trying to catch up!!

So, what has been going on?

Our new school video...

I don't want to bore you by banging on about work things, which would be as exciting as watching paint dry, but over the past few weeks we have been creating a promotional video about St Francis of the Fields, the school in Bendigo where I am one of the Deputy Principals.

You have to be quick to see it, but you'll see me kicking a football in the yard with some kids, and also laying on the floor in a maths lesson. (That's where you will usually find me in a lesson!!)

The video highlights so much of our school, but it also shows what an amazing environment we work in. It goes for 25 minutes, so grab your favourite beverage, find a comfortable chair and enjoy!

To see the clip, go to this link.

https://vimeo.com/217145334/8ea9ff8cc0

Now that you can see where I work, it might help you to know me just that little bit more.

Also, for my international readers, this is how we roll in Strathfieldsaye!!

A new baby in the house...sort of!!

My regulars will know that recently there was a new addition to our family.
No, not what you are all probably thinking, but it sort of is my new baby...

Yep, my Suzuki Boulevard 800, my new pride and joy!!

The cooler weather is now starting to descend upon us, but we are still having some lovely afternoons.

I like riding the bike at any opportunity, and over the last fortnight I have ridden to school a few times.

While the rides home have been just sensational, the rides to school in the mornings have been far from enjoyable.

I always wear the right safety gear, but my gloves were still not good enough to ward off the 2, 3 and 4 degree chill in the mornings. The majority of my hands were okay, but it was the fingertips that bore the brunt, and before too long I lost all feeling in them.

You have no idea how frustrating it is to be unable to undo your helmet straps because your fingers don't work!!

So, to remedy this situation I went and bought some 'inners', or thinner wool gloves to wear beneath my leather riding gloves. These proved only mildly successful, as I was only 3 or 4 minutes down the road last week when I realised that although my hands were warmer, the fingertips in particular were still going to suffer.

Despite the best protection, the cold still gets through.

So, now I only ride in the mornings if it is not frosty, but I definitely use up every opportunity after work and on weekends to go for a spin if the weather is right.

I don't normally ride if it is wet, due to safety reasons.

Actually, that's only part of the reason. I also don't like to ride in the wet as it makes my bike dirty, and I'm pretty obsessive about keeping it spotless!!!

An era is coming to an end...

In the next week or so, it will be the first anniversary of the passing of our much loved eldest brother Maurice (universally known as 'Moose')

Moose was the last owner of the family home at Colbinabbin, a small country town with a population of about 200 in the state of Victoria.

It has been my task to sort out all of his estate, and one of the last things I had to do was sell the home at Colbinabbin. This is easier said than done, because the house was very run down, and property sales in Colbinabbin are as fast as hibernating snails!!

Imagine my surprise when I was able to get it sold (actually, our brilliant real estate agent I should say!!) in just over 12 weeks!

It is settlement day in just over a week, so over the past few weeks I have been back and forth mowing and cleaning up the place with my siblings.

Last week I smashed up a few old cupboards and brought them home and had a lovely fire last Saturday night with a few relaxing beers.

While burning these old cupboards I was aware that I was burning some of our last connections with Colbinabbin as we have all now moved away, and our final connection has now left the family.

The best thing of all was that in the morning there was not a a bit of wood left, all burnt away completely. These are the most relaxing nights as I just crank up the fire, grab a few beers and listen to the football on the radio.

Richmond, you keep breaking our hearts!!

And speaking football, the last four weeks have been the most miserable I think I can remember for many years.

I follow a team by the name of Richmond, perennial losers who never seem to be able to match it with the big boys, but I still love the team.

We won the first 5 games of the year, but have now dropped the last four.

Our first loss was to Adelaide, who were also undefeated at the time, so no big surprise there.

But over the next three weeks we have lost two games where we were well into the lead right up until the end, and in the other we came from being well down to just missing the win.

The absolutely devastating thing has been that our last two losses have happened with less than a minute to play, despite being in the lead for most of the game.

We are now the laughing stock of the football world. 

Last night's loss just didn't hurt, it was shattering. Especially as it has been revealed that the umpires missed a glaring free kick and penalty in the last minutes that would have guaranteed us a goal, but there is no point in complaining about things that we cannot change.

We play Essendon this week in a huge match, and there is no way I have any faith in our chances for a win.

This is how we all feel. Often !!

Probably my only consolation was that I was able to watch most of the game on my iPad while cooking tea on the BBQ. We were well in front at this stage, little did I know about the heartbreak that was just around the corner!!

My good deed for the day...

I love getting my daily exercise, and when I was sick for those 6-7 weeks recently, being not able to exercise was like being told not to breathe.

One of my favourite places to run is the hills that surround the Cathedral in Bendigo.

Very steep, but great for building aerobic capacity.

When I got there last Friday, just on dusk, I noticed a car with P-Plates (signifies first 3 years as a driver) with its lights still on, but they were getting dimmer.

It was clear that the driver had forgotten to turn them off, and judging by the fading colour of the lights I knew there was no way the car would start.

So I just kept doing the hills and keeping an eye on the car, hoping that the owner would turn up while I was there.

Soon enough a young man and his girlfriend turned up and straight away I could see their anguish when they realised they'd left their lights on. They tried to start it, no luck, then they were on their phones for the next 10-15 mins. I didn't want to interrupt their calls so kept my distance.

After a while they both just slumped back in their seats looking helpless, so I approached them and asked if they'd like some help, as I had jumper leads in my car and would be able to get them started.

The relief was clearly obvious as they said they had no-one available to come and help.

I had them started in next to no time and was just glad that they could be on their way, when the young bloke pulls out a $20 note from his wallet, and was insisting I take it for helping him.

This then created a friendly stand off as he kept insisting I take it, while I kept refusing it.

Just the fact that I knew I had been able to help was all that I needed.

Also, the note was the only one in his wallet, and as he was probably the same age as our youngest, I know the value of that much money to someone of that age.

When I said to him "How about you spend it on your girlfriend instead?", he just smiled, put it back in his wallet and said, "Can I at least shake your hand?"

That clinched the deal.

For all I know, he has driven off and paid that favour forward to someone else in some way.

It just felt good to know that I had been able to help.

The hill where I just love to run up and down beside the Cathedral.

That's about it for tonight. I thought I had nothing to bang on about, but as always, something manages to come out.

Whether it is interesting or not depends on you, so I hope it hasn't been too much of a sedative!!

Until my next post Readers...

Cheers!!

Are you one of these Readers?

Hi Readers,

Over the past few days I have been looking at where you are all reading this from, and there was one country that I had never heard of, and I usually pride myself on my geographical knowledge!!

I now know where this country is, and am very impressed that someone from there is reading this blog, so welcome to my new reader/s from Cote d'lvoire !!

Where is it? I hear some of you thinking the same question!

It is basically on the West coast of Africa, near the Ivory Coast.

I'm always intrigued as to how people stumble across this blog, as it has no real structure, theme, focus or anything that people might be searching for. It is just the ramblings from a teacher in Australia who needs something to do while sitting on the couch at night watching TV, or procrastinating about getting school work done. Or house work. Or the dishes. Or cleaning up outside. Or mowing. etc...

Rarely do I plan what to write, I just open up a new page and just see what happens.

Imagine how good it could potentially be if I actually put some real thought and planning into it!!

Anyway, that's just the way I roll, and part of me thinks that if I go and change it a lot it might result in many of you, the Readers, dropping off as you have become accustomed to my style. Or lack of it more precisely!!

So Readers, check out the results of a recent day, week, the past month and then all time.

To those in the USA, thanks for your continued support. I just hope you are not the CIA or FBI tracking me!!

This is for one day last week

I know some of the Australians who read this, but as for any overseas readers...?

This one shows the number of hits for the previous week.

This is for the past month.

One can begin to see that there are a few new countries joining in.

Welcome Columbia!!!

This is the result from all time since I started the blog back in 2013.

I remember getting really excited as I was approaching my 1 000th hit, now I've had 36 034!!

There are also quite a few other countries that have registered, but they do not show up on the all time list if they are less than 20.

I find it a bit strange that here I am in Australia, yet most of my readers are from the USA.

I'm not complaining mind you, I have no concerns wherever my readers come from, just as long as they enjoy what they are reading!

My next challenge is to try and garnish some feedback from some of my Readers.

At the end of each post there is a little section that looks like this...

Please feel free to drop a small comment, or to disagree with me about something, or tell me how you found the blog, are you a regular reader or not etc.

And don't be shy in giving me ideas about how to improve it, or if there are things you'd like me to bang on about. Trust me, I can waffle on about lots of things, and occasionally I make sense!!

You can also hit the other links and direct other readers to the blog if there is something that you think might interest them.

Finally, some of you might be bloggers as well, so if you are, let me know so that I can read yours too!!

My wife, Jen, recently went to a wood stove business to buy a new wood heater to replace the one we already had that was near the end of its life.

Imagine our surprise a few days later when we are notified that we are getting it for free as we had won a competition that we were totally unaware that we had been entered in!

No complaints from us and it went in on Friday and has been burning beautifully since.

A few thousand dollars that we ended up not spending!!

               Out with the old, and in with the new!!

Okay, this house is not the Taj Mahal, but it is to me and my siblings, as it is the family home from Colbinabbin, our home town that none of us live in anymore as we have all moved away.

Our late brother, Moose had it as he was the last of us to live in Cobinabbin (or Colbo as everyone calls the town) until he moved away as well 3 years ago to work in Broken Hill, until his sad passing last year.

Moose had tenants in it, so after Moose died we decided to sell up, and this was going to be a long, drawn out affair as houses in small country towns with a population of 200 just do not sell very quickly!

Imagine our surprise when an offer came in last week,  after just 3 months of being on the market!

We weren't chasing a big price, we just wanted it sold so that I could settle his estate, so I was very elated to sign the contracts last Friday.

 My brother Damian posing out the front after we spent time there on Saturday cleaning up some more.


And yours truly on perhaps one of my last visits to a house that has so many wonderful memories to cherish.
It wasn't a house, it was truly a home.

And how could I not finish my weekend with a quick ride on my beloved new toy, my Suzuki Boulevard 800!

It is just so peaceful (not literally, as it is rather loud!) to cruise along as there is nothing to distract me, such as listening to the radio or looking at instruments on the dashboard.

The weather is starting to cool down significantly, so today I put on some inner gloves as well as my usual riding gloves. I rode to school during the week wearing just my usual gloves, and my fingers were so cold by the time I got to school I couldn't undo my helmet straps!!

It's back to work tomorrow so this blogger needs to focus on getting some other work done, and stop procrastinating!! Last week was my first full week of work in 12 weeks after I got sick earlier this year. Although I am getting better, I still felt the physical effort of it as I get incredibly tired very quickly still.

That's it for today Readers, looking forward to some feedback, and lots of new readers!!

Until my next post...

Cheers!!