General Chat

Good Morning Carole,

Hope the sun is shining for you today !

As for me, well as it's ten minutes into Sunday here, I'm off to bed.
So have a good day everyone down under,
and a good night everyone up top,,

Goodnight all
Tec.

Diane, I shall let Tec tell you my secrets as he is obviously privy to them from his spy equipment

It gives new meaning to the salutation " Hi Tec"

Allan

Good night Tec

Well hello everyone and Lynda - cheeky woman!! Happy Fathers' Day to our fellows including Tec although it isn't technically your day. And a thought to all our absent dads - I'm missing mine very much today. I'm off in a few minutes to pick up my mum and then we'll go to the Memorial Gardens then back to ours for a bbq lunch. Allan, hope your family do went well - I'm sure it did:))

We were up very early this morning and went out at 6 to set up a market stall. Our town has a Fathers' Day Street Fair and we have a stall to raise funds for our charity. We then went out for breakfast and now my OH is slicing veggies for coleslaw and onions - lots of onions:)

I've endeavoured to give my boys at least the basics for a smooth domestic life. The older one is more Army trained than mother trained but the youngest is just lazy. Why do anything around the house when mum's around. He sure doesn't starve when we're away nor does he live in squalor or dirty clothes so something has got through. My OH is a better cook than I am and a dab hand at vacuuming and washing. Ironing? Well I have to confess - I send the ironing out:))

Must get on with my day. Enjoy your day Aussies and have a good evening our Pommie friends.

Sue xx

Catch you again Sue, enjoy your time with your family today speak to you soon hun

Goodnite Tec catch you again soon

have a good day Allan speak to you soon hun

Berona speak to you soon have a nice day

To all other's I'v forgot to mention
Goodnite or good-day to you all


Diane x

Hi everyone..

Hope all is well.

Happy Fathers Day to the upside down dads !! :)) Have a lovely day with your family !!

The boys have all gone to the footy games today so I am left all by myself (such a shame that) lol. So I will be getting on with homework and housework that has been left during the week. Still have this cold lingering on but feel like it the tail end now.

I am in the hope that my boys will get better as they get older about doing jobs around the house...The youngest is dreadful about even keeping his room clean and they all wonder why they don't get pocket money ! They do help out occasionally but they are at the eye rolling stage at the moment.

Well must press on and do some things before they are home again have promised a roast when they arrive home and to them that is a treat as I don't like to cook...Poor things :)))

xx

Hello, all, and happy Fathers Day to all the fathers - even though your own father may not be present, they are always thought of, especially on this day. My OH is overseas on a business teip, and at this moment winging his way to London, so no fathers day here this year. We normally just get together for a meal - brunch, or lunchtime bbq - but that will have to wait until he's back next weekend.

Cooee, Persephone, nice to meet you. Look forward to hearing what is happening over in the land of the long white cloud. I don't know if it originated in NZ, but years age there used to be a brand of tinned baked beans and spag here in Aus called Kiaora, Never knew it was a maori greeting. When my parents bought our family home in Sydney in the '40s, it had a plaque on the front wall which said Te Whare - meaning "our home" or similar. It must have previously been owned by NZers.

Did some ironing yesterday - hate it with a passion!!! #@*&!!@# - sorry, lost control there for a second, but I still have quite a bit left (never get to the end of it). But I think my salvation has come in the shape of Allan - just down the road (it may be 11/2 hours drive, but, hey, this is ironing and I would go to any length to get rid of it!!) Allan, your wife is a lucky woman!

Only one son left at home now. He can cook, as he is a 3rd year apprentice chef, and he can iron as he used to do his cadet uniform when he was at school with knife edge pleats using half a tin of ironing spray.
But I do it for him now - probably won't be long before he leaves home anyway once he has qualified and is getting better pay.
Other son is being re-trained by his girlfriend I think - not my domain now.

Got tickets to see Fleetwood Mac when they arein Perth in December. Going with Oldest son's girlfriend's parents and their friends. They are really nice people, both Dutch, and have lived in Australia for years. My son gets on well with them.

Hope you are all having a good Sunday, wherever you are. Bye bye for now,

Susan.....

That was a boo-boo - Kia Ora was not spag and beans but lemon and orange cordial etc. Think it was Pick-me-Up brand for the beans and spag - where do these things come from that pop into my head???

SusanWA - I remember the Kia Ora products - particularly the fruit crush - to mix with water. I hadn't missed the brand until you mentioned it - probably bought out and/or merged with another combine!

Berona, according to Wikipedia, Kia-Ora lemon squash was first made in Sydney in 1903, and launched in G.B. in 1917 where it is now licensed for manufacture by Coca Cola.

Hello you lot:))

Pick-me-up tinned peas...I remember:) and Kia-Ora i also remember.

What a busy, busy day. Up early to set up the market stall, breakfast out, back home to make potato salad and "cukcakes" for the children. BBQ lunch with the family sitting on the verandah in the sun. Back to the market stall to help pack up then back home to find the washing up done and the kitchen reasonably tidy. Watched a DVD with mum, OH and son and then took mum home. Phew.....has that tired you out just reading it?

It's lovely to have you all posting - just taking a few minutes to look in and say hello and catch up with everyone.

A lovely, sunny Sunday to all our Pommie friends and a good evening to our Aussie mates.

Sue xx

Good evening all,

Janet, I'm sure that your sons will soon learn the domestic ways, with your guidance

SusanWA, bring your ironing down. The opening of the new road later this month wlll cut at least 30 minutes off the trip to and from Perth so you can deliver, wait, and return with a basketful of ironing.....lol

I hope that everyone in Oz and New Zealand had a great Fathers' Day.

I will be back again next Wednesday Morning (Tuesday Night for Brits)

Best wishes to you all

Allan

Hello all including the upside down Linda (do I have the spelling OK? – so sorry if I have got it wrong). Hope all is well with everyone.
I don’t come on to this board enough. I have had to read five pages to catch up since I last sat down at the computer. Sue M said I only have to read the last page, but there are too many interesting comments.
I remember Kia-Ora drinks etc. but they are long gone. PMU is still around. While we shouldn’t get commercial, I rather thing their baked beans are rather not up to the standard of the market leaders. They are cheaper though, so you do get what you pay for.
Another old Aussie brand I remember is IXL jams. For the uninitiated, you say each letter of the name out loud.
Welcome to Persephone from Aotearoa. If you feel comfortable about it, can you give us an idea of which part? Or have I missed something? I am in the inner north west of Sydney, and know roughly where Suemaid and Berona are. I am glad you liked Tasmania.
I haven’t ever been to the bushfire ravaged areas of Victoria, although I have visited the Beechworth area which was also under threat last summer. In late April I went to Melbourne for a week but didn’t really get away from the city. Canberra has also had bad fires, I think in 2003. Some months later I went to Canberra and visited the museum of Canberra (the one in Civic, not the National Museum). It had a display at the time on the bushfires and it was gut wrenching. Not often that I feel on the verge of tears.
I used to work a couple of hundred yards from the Lane Cover River National Park, and walked through a small part a few weeks after the 1994 bushfires. It was amazing to see the new life springing up. Tiny shoots out of the ground rubble and from the burnt trunks of trees. I feel encouraged that life does go on.
This was going to be a short hello before bed time. It’s now 11.16 and I have to be up in seven hours. Silly me. G’night Aussies, good afternoon & evening t’other side of the worldies.
Colin

Good morning/evening everyone:)

Good to see you posting Colin. I remember IXL jams. My mother would buy jam in a big tin and when opened would put some in a jam dish for the breakfast table. The milk would be put in a jug - no milk bottles on the table. There would be a butter knife and a jam knife - no bits of jam in the butter dish:)) Mum would set the table the night before for breakfast. Sunday would be a roast dinner and then in the evening we would have sardines on toast or tomato soup with toast. This was the only meal allowed in front of the TV - we would watch Disneyland. I would be most disappointed if it was Adventureland as my favourite was Fantasyland. Nice memories:))

The images of the bush-fires on the news reports were dreadful and I'm not ashamed to say I cried openly when I heard the reports of more deaths and the destruction of people's homes. As I said in an earlier post we can only hope that lessons have been learned and that new procedures have been put in place to save lives. We have already had a taste of what's to come with the bushfires last week on the South Coast. We could smell the smoke from where we are and it's worrying.

Linda if you're looking in we are all thinking of you.

Sue xx

Hi all
goodevening/ goodmorning
hope you aussies had a great father's day,

Allan will catch up with you when you get back hun,

I too remember Kia-Ora squash, it was very nice, I liked the pine-apple one.

SueMaid you really had a busy day yesteday hun, I can sympathise with you, most of my day's are busy like that, as you know I work every day, I start my day's by getting up at 5-40am and in work at 7-00am and work till 1-00pm, monday to friday, saturday I work from 8-00am till 3-30pm, and sunday I work from 8-30am till 4-30pm. Then I come home and do whatever I have to do, like house-work, shopping and of cause cooking LOL

Diane x

Hi, Diane. You are a busy girl:)) Do you enjoy your work? I can imagine it's not an easy job.

Sue xx

Good Evening, Brits - and good morning Aussies. Overcast but fine here this morning - which doesn't mean a thing where I live! (Eel's country - but don't ask me about football - I know nothing!)

Hope the Dads all had a lovely Father's Day

Yes, we have started having fires already, although not as bad as they can be. With the reasonably dry winter behind us, we can expect more fires again this summer. It's just a matter of where? Only so much can be done in preparation - it's a big country.

Oops! Good morning Kiwis - my apologies, I was thinking of you when I said Aussies - should have said "upside down people" - meaning all of us this side of the equator.

Good Morning/Evening everyone,

Hi Sue, Colin, Diane,

I remember IXL jam, it was available here in the 60s, and 70s I think. I only remember 2lb tins of pineapple, there may have been others. I loved it then, but maybe it would be too sweet now. The only Australian item in the pantry now is Acacia Honey. I am very fond of honey, my daughter treated me to a pack of four varieties of Australian honey, from a rather expensive shop in London.

The bush fires were well reported here, and like everyone, we were absolutely horrified at the loss of life and property. Also the effect on wildlife. As you say Sue, maybe lessons have been learned, I hope so. Could they not reduce dense vegetation around residential areas. I realise this would not be desirable, but maybe an answer. I pray it doesn't happen again - anywhere.

Regards
Tec.

Hi Sue
how are you today hun,[busy] tell me about it lol, Yes I do enjoy my job even though at time's I wish I could have a couple of day's off through the week, I do a lot of lifting and help with the housework and it can be very tireing. In your job what do you mainly do?

Diane x

Hello, Berona. It's raining here and my fellas have gone out to play golf. They're mad but as it's my son's only day off this week it's today or wait till next week.

I forgot we have a Kiwi on board. That's ok - we can just say Pommies and Down-Unders.

Where's Tec - he hasn't shown his face yet.

Sue xx

Good Morning Berona,

I could teach you how to play footie on the cruise - I'll find you a pair of boots, we could have a kick about around the decks, you'd love it I know.

Diane.........At the time you get up, you could accompany Allan on his walks if you lived nearer.

Tec.