Five things Friday (still cold here)

Good afternoon, another cold day here, just had a nice hot bath and feel warmer now.

It is the last day of the school term for two weeks.

Well here are this weeks five things for Friday

No Leo here (he didn't want to stay)

Me sad (because Leo not here)

Achilles tendon (still giving me a lot of pain)

Amazing daughters

Not a size small but still beautiful and loved  

Who's Van Was Used, Not Jessica's

Hello everyone, how is everyone today?

It has been another cold and wet day here in Newie, had the heater on for a while and Tim didn't complain.

This afternoon Jessica and I went to Leo's school for an open day where parents could go and see their child's classroom and meet their teacher and check out their work. So Jessica took the afternoon off work and someone else covered her run, the woman had to pick up Jessica's work van for the run but by the time I picked Jessica the woman hadn't arrived so Jessica left the key in the van.

So when I drop her home her work van is still parked where she left it so she rang the “TSO” (travel support officer) to see if the women picked her up and did the run, she said yes they were one the way home, so Jessica ask what van they were using. The relief driver said she went to the door of number 10 and the woman gave her keys to the van parked there. So who's van she was driving is anyone’s guess she related the address to Jessica and she had the address right but not Jessica's van.

As Jessica said to me who just gives their car/van keys to someone who knocks on their door saying they are there for the van. The TSO said she will tell Jessica tomorrow were they got the van from, the van they used didn't have Newcastle Limousines on it but not all of them do. However, the van did have the Samaritans written on it which is a local charity. 

Photo Wednesday

Want to rear about my morning go here: https://joannerambling.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/my-morning-2/

A bit about Princess Cruises

Ok all as everyone know I recently went on a cruise with Princess Cruises so I am going to tell you just a little about Princess Cruises. It all began way back in 1965 with a single ship cruising in Mexico, today Princess Cruises are one of the worlds largest and best known cruise lines, sailing to all of the seven continents.

In 1977 the Princess line shot to fame when it became the star of the television show “The Love Boat”. The long running show introduced millions of viewers to the still pretty new concept of holidaying at sea. Princess Cruises and their famous “Seawitch” logo have remained a well known sign of cruising.

The Princess Fleet is among the most innovative at sea, providing a wonderful cruise experience, all the ships are designed to provide passengers with all the onboard activities and such found on large ships while providing the ambiance of a smaller ship. Princess ships are said to have more balcony staterooms than any other cruise line.

In the 1990's Princess began to emphasise personal choice and a more flexible atmosphere onboard for its passengers and today that ground-breaking concept is evident on every cruise. Most notably, it is only Princess that offers an array of dining choices where passengers can enjoy world-class cuisine when, where and with whom they want in a variety of dining venues.

Princess sails to more than 300 destinations around the world and has a well deserved reputation as a leader in worldwide cruising.  

Did you know Monday

Here we are at another Monday, this morning when I dropped Leo off at school he said he had a sore throat, I told him if he gets worse to tell his teacher who will ring mum to go get him and he was ok with that.

Anyway since it is Monday it is did you know day, so today I am asking did you know..................

Even very clever people use only about 1% of the possible words in the English language when they talk to each other.

                                                                             Or that

Ants are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as half a million other ants in it

A Sunday Post

Well hello everyone been pretty busy since Friday, so busy I didn't do a post on Friday I just didn't find the time in fact Friday morning when I went to Charlie for my weekly shopping I left the house without my hearing aids and shopping list and the invitation to dad and Sandy's birthday party that Jeannie is going to send to her son Tyler.

By the time I got home on Friday afternoon I was in so much pain with my right ankle I could barely stand let alone walk. Also when I got home as I pull up to reverse the car onto the lawn which is where I park it, I noticed the front door was open and thought someone is here, than I noticed Kathy's car and thought it's Kathy. I than continued reversing and then there was a loud bang as I hit the trailer breaking the tail light on the car and my first thought was Tim is going to go off about it.

Kathy said it was only the tail light and dad would be ok as it was just an accident, well I sent him a text and told him what happened and sent him a photo of the tail light and was he ok with it, no he made me feel terrible. He went on about how I am costing him money and he has so much financial stress and I don't care. So all in all I ended up wanting to cry. When he got home he was still going on about it which didn't help how I felt. Saturday he was ok with it and stopped going on about it.

Last night we had Leo in fact we had him most of the day and all night as his mum was working again, last night he lost another tooth and when I asked him if the tooth fairy came he at first said no and I said I saw money on his desk so he said oh yeah I think nanny tooth fairy came as in me.

Yesterday we also had Sydney-May and Summer here with their mum for about four hours the girls and Leo were playing together and having a great time, in fact Leo wanted to go home with them as they were having such a great time together but of course that wasn't going to happen.

Kathy has been a big help to me recently she with her dad cleaned out the laundry cupboard last Sunday and on Friday she cleaned out one of the kitchen cupboards and also cleaned up my bedroom and vacuumed out for me.

Of course I have been up since 4.30am this morning and did 1hr and 21mins of exercises although yesterday I didn't exercise at all I took the morning off and rested my ankle. Leo has been up since 5am this morning.

Tim is working today so I hope Jessica isn't too late picking Leo up this morning.

Shoes and Socks and Pain to boot

Hello everyone here we are at Thursday, another nice day, dry and warm in the sun but generally cold.

On Tuesday when I went to take Leo his school shoes one she the left one had the sole coming off so I though I cannot send him in this and went and tossed it in the bin the other shoe was anyway I came inside and thought what am I going to do, I rang and checked with his mum that she didn't have another pair of shoes,she didn't. So I didn't know what I was going to do but I then remembered that I had one shoe from the last pair I had kept as he always wears out one shoe faster than the other. I find the other shoe and thankfully it was a left shoe so I sent him to school in odd shoes. Did Leo care that he was wearing odd shoes, nope, he thought it was cool.

So I put on my joggers and took him to school and went to Lake Fair to buy him a new pair of shoes and of course Big W had none in his size so I then had to go to Kmart at Glendale and thankfully they had a pair of shoes suitable for school in his size. I got him the only pair of black shoes in a size 4 they had.

I have been trying to get him new shoes for over a month but they have not had any in his size, the school shoes have to be black, although on Tuesday I was at a point that I would have got any colour shoes in his size.

I also bought him another 6 pairs of socks he has a habit of losing socks he wears them home and they don't come back here. At the start of the year I had bought him 12 pairs of socks and since then I bought him another 10 pairs and now another 6 pairs.

Now after I got home and took my joggers off the achilles tendon of my right leg again was really sore and I am having a lot of pain when walking and I told Tim that I am going to need a better pair of joggers all he said was that I should get inner soles for the shoes, I will but I am not expecting a lot. If he was in this amount of pain he would go and buy good shoes without thinking twice about it.

Last night he said I am only 54 and I am getting around with a cane and like an old woman but it is because of the pain in the ankle that is causing me to have so much trouble. Does he think I like having so much pain and not being able to move without pain.

Photo Wednesday

Hi all here is a photo Tim took of some native dances at the markets in Noumea, they are talented and so friendly. These markets are in town on the cruise we took last  year the ship docked right where the markets are held but on this last cruise it was a bigger ship so docked somewhere else and we had to get a bus into town mum stayed on the ship as there was no way she would have managed to get on and off the bus into town

About Rabaul

Today I am going to tell you a bit about Rabaul in Papua New Guinea this is a pretty large place the harbour is Simpson Harbour with a lot of history. During the Second World War up to a 100 Japanese ships including battleships, heavy cruisers, destroyers and merchant vessels were anchored in these waters.

It was from this harbour that the famous “Tokyo Express” raced south to re-supply Guadalcanal and other embattled Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands during WW11.

These waters have seen the worst violence man and nature can produce, man during WW11 and nature due to the active volcanoes in the area.

The Rabaul area was originally a German possession, however, in September of 1914 a small Australian force defeated the Germans near Kokopo ending German control of the area. In 1921 the League of Nations granted Australia a mandate to administer New Guinea as a trust territory and Rabaul became the capitol.

On the 23rs January 1942 the Japanese overwhelmed a small Australian garrison and realising the strategic value of the area established their most powerful base in the South-West Pacific at Rabaul. At its peak the fortress of Rabaul included 5 airfields, a seaplane and submarine base plus a huge naval anchorage with support facilities.

The Japanese garrison numbered around 200,000 personal at its peak, as the allied offensive surged towards Rabaul the installations came under relentless attacks and the Japanese decided to move underground, honeycombing the hills around Rabaul with hundreds of kilometres of tunnels these included hospitals, repair facilities and barracks.

Many allied POW's and local inhabitants experienced extreme deprivations while digging these tunnels, you can visit the Japanese barge tunnel at Karavia Bay and the Kokopo War Museum and Bitapaka War Cemetery which I would have loved to have done but Tim didn't like the cost.

The locals are Melanesian people with dark skin and fuzzy hair and are suppose to be very friendly they were so isolated from western influence for so long that the very first wheel ever seen was the propeller of an aircraft.

Everywhere you can hear the locals calling “ha-lo” to you which is “hello” there are no taxis in Rabaul there are a number of street vendors selling souvenirs but they are limited.  

Did you know Monday

Hello Monday, how has everyone been, well and happy I hope, it is a lovely day here in Newie not too cold nor too hot well not hot at all a bit warm in the sun but that's all.

I am home alone this afternoon and tonight as Jessica is finished with Tafe till after the school holidays which means no Leo here at night during the week, we will still have him on Friday night though.

Anyway my weekend was ok it rained pretty much the whole weekend, yesterday at 3.30am I woke with a headache what I call a mini migraine meaning a really bad headache, so bad that I spent most of the morning in bed. I did get up for a couple of hours and had breakfast but felt that bad I went back to bed and slept for three hours, then when I got up I felt fine no headache.

While I was laying down Kathy-Lee and Tim cleaned out the laundry cupboard and it does look a lot better and a lot tidier. Kathy has also moved a lot of stuff out of a kitchen cupboard into the laundry cupboard, not sure how I feel about that yet.

Anyway it is Monday so it is did you know day.............................

So did you know that the longest running animated TV series is The Simpsons you must know that every man and his dog knows that.

How about the fact that the door to 10 Downing Street only opens from the inside, you know the home of the British Prime Minister.

Or that adult humans breathe about 23,000 times a day, do human children breathe more or less I wonder or about the same, if you know tell me because I am clueless.

Five things Friday

Hello Friday, how is everyone this Friday?

I have been up since 4.30am and did an hour 26 minutes of exercise before getting dressed to go shopping also had to go and get Leo from his mum so I could take him to school as per usual.

So here I am doing this weeks five things for Friday

Cold Feet

Headache

Back ache

Warm socks

Slippers

Photo Wednesday/A cruise shot

About Luganville

Ok today I am telling you about Luganville, this is a small town situated around 50 kilometres south of Champagne Bay on Espiritu Santo's south-eastern coast.

Espiritu Santo is Vanautu’s largest island and is part of the New Hebrides' archipelago, Luganville is the provincial capital of Vanautu as well as its second largest town, it is part of over 300 islands scattered throughout Melanesia.

It has a population of around 14,000, the climate is suppose to be characterised by comfortably mild temperatures all year round with relatively little to no extremes so no snow or stinking hot days.

The inhabitants of Vanautu’s northern islands commonly refer to Luganville as “Santo”, Espiritu Santo's rural inhabitants call Luganville “Kanal” which is derived from the French Segond Canal.

Most of the roads around Luganville have not been tar sealed and in fact most of the island's roads are dirt roads or old cement paths that date back to the Second World War when the Americans laid the cement.

Many people walk around the town due to its small size and most of the town is suppose to be pretty flat thus easy for walking around, I do not know since I didn't get off the ship but Tim did and he found the walk into town easy to do.

During the Second World War the U.S.S. San Juan cruiser sunk two Japanese patrol boats in October 1942 and the surviving Japanese crew became prisoner of war under the command of Luganville juggernauts and were forced to remain in a small jail facility which tourists can still visit.

In 1942 when the Americans arrived in Luganville the found no real structures existed to support the troops, so the Americans erected the BP Wharf as the most monumental wharf of its time. This wharf is still there.

After the war large amounts of American weaponry and gear was dumped into the sea and is still there resting at a depth of 40 meters beneath the surface, there are bulldozers, trucks, forklifts and containers.

Near the sunken S S President Coolidge there is an memorial to an American Army Captain Elwood J Euart who died while rescuing men from the sinking ship, the memorial was constructed at the end of the war a a tribute to his selfless heroism.

Did you know.............Monday

Ok just realised it is Monday and I haven't done a post so here is this weeks did you know.............

William Shakespeare was 46 years old at the time that the King James version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46 the 46^th word from the beginning is “shake” and the 46^th word from the end is “spear”

Interesting.............or not..................

Five things Friday

Ok it is still Friday here so here are today's five things

Cold

Wet

Hot bath

34 years

Still in love

Convict Women and Orphan Girls

I have written before about convicts and such but yesterday I was watching a show called Convict Women and Orphan Girls which has made me want to write a little about them again. Between 1787-1868 over 166,000 people were transported as convicts to this great country, 25,000 of them were female and over half of those were Irish.

Some convict women brought their children with them but I wonder if they knew what type of life these children would have here would they still have wanted them to come with them. Children under the age of 3yrs could stay with their mothers but once they reached the age of 3 they were sent to the Orphan Schools where they stayed till the age of 12-14 when they were apprenticed out.

These so called schools gave little education and treated the children so bad that they had a high mortality rate twice what was normal for the times.

Convict women were regarded as breeding stock and generally thought of as prostitutes many were not prostitutes before they arrived here and only turned to it as a way of surviving. These women were transported for such minor crimes such as stealing a potato or a pot lid, some women during the Irish Famine would set fires in order to be arrested and transported as a way of getting food and surviving.

There was also over 4,000 Irish orphan girls sent to Australia because the ratio was 9 or 10 men to every female and more females were needed, these orphan girls were free migrants and most married within 2 years of arriving and raised families.

Interesting 90% of the females transported here stayed and married and raised families in Australia compared to only 25% of males transported, I don't know what the other 75% of the males did maybe they returned to England or Ireland I just don't know the show didn't say.

Photo Wednesday

Kiriwina Island

Our third port of call was the Kiriwina Island, it is one of the world's most intact island cultures on one of the world's most untouched islands according to the info sheet handed out with by Princess Cruises.

The island has a population of around 12,000 they speak Kilivila and other dialects as well as some English.

They often use the Kula Ring bartering system to boost social status and to gain trust with neighbouring island communities. Several priceless shell trinkets have been circulated between islands for hundreds of years.

There is no payphones on the island nor do they accept credit or cash cards they prefer to be paid in Kina the local currency although some will accept Australian dollars. The only means of transport for tourists on the island is by foot but it is only a small island and everything you would want to see you can reach by walking.

Access to the island was via tender so mum was unable to go ashore, but both Tim and dad did although it took a lot our of dad.

Did you know...........Monday

Hello Monday, had a busy start to the day, up at 4.30am as usual when I dropped Leo off at school I had to go into the office to drop off more medication than I had to go and do something for mum before coming home.

I also bought more pies, Leo loves pies and he asked if I would get him some pies today he likes chunky beef or cheese pies.

Anyway since it is Monday, it's did you know Monday, so did you know...............................

Blood is thicker than fresh water, but about the same thickness as sea water...........................

Sundays Post

Hello everyone, how is everyone on this cold and wet Sunday morning?

I am well been up since 4.30am did 70 minutes of exercises before getting Tim up and having breakfast. Tim is at work today so for the most part I will be home alone and can tell you I will love it as I like being home alone.

Yesterday I spent most of the day in bed as I could not stay awake, I got up as usual at 4.30am but wasn't able to stay awake so went back to bed for a couple of hours then I got up and got dressed and did my exercises than I went back to bed as I was so tired.

I got up again at midday but was only able to stay up for a couple of hours before going back to bed again for another couple of hours. Today I am ok I don't know what the go was with yesterday, with me needing to sleep so much but that was then and this is now.

Friday afternoon when I went to get Leo from school I found him the carpark with his school bag crying, he gets in the car and said he had a headache and felt sick and just wanted to go home. So I took him to the office and told them where I found him and how he was crying and I was able to sign him out and take him home.

One of the teachers explained to him why wondering off without telling anyone was wrong and caused the teachers to worry about him.

After we got home I gave him pain relief medication, telling him that it would taste terrible but it would work and thankfully half an hour later the headache was gone and he started to feel better. So even though the medication tasted terrible he learnt that it worked and helped him feel better.