My super boring journal I would like some more pressed duck.

Birthdays and Batteries

UNITED KINGDOM | Wednesday, 7 February 2007 | Views [1645] | Comments [6]

Hello all,

Firstly, I would like to say happy birthday to Helen! I hope you will enjoy an extended birthday.

I have come down from the giddy excitement of Europe and have settled in once again to the giddy apathy of Ryde High School. The kids are all doing exams. The grade boundries here are weird. To get an A sometimes you only have to get 55% in the exam! A B will be 38%!

They are all doing pretty bad though. I had a 9 out of 100! Probably a C. J

In other news, our car broke down this week. It was Saturday and we were on our way to see that movie about American Football with the Rock in it when the car wouldn’t start. In retrospect it was probably a blessing I didn’t have to sit through 2 hours or societal reform through sports.

Anyway, We didn’t have use of our car. I immediately ran inside the house and rang Dad. He confirmed that the battery had died. Usually he would then come over and fix it for me but he said the trip would be too long! Selfish.

So, I rang my boss who came over and tried to jump start the car. It didn’t work. Our car is diesel and needs a man-sized portion of energy. Then we decided we needed a new battery. We went to a place in Newport who said a new battery would be 74 pounds. That is $184. As the car was free we declined and decided to find a cheap second hand one.

After school today we went to the scrap yard. It was awesome! There was a huge mountain of wires and then a huge mountain of doors, another of bumpers and so on. We were ushered to the battery mountain and shown an old diesel battery that cost 7 pounds. ($17.50) I couldn’t buy it quick enough.

At around 8.00pm my boss popped in to lend us tools to change the batteries over. He was in a rush and didn’t stop to help us. Jon Paul and I changed the battery in the freezing cold dark all by ourselves. It was tricky too because the battery was awkwardly bracketed in. About 30 minutes after entering the cold to tackle the battery we emerged victorious over the machine, elated with our newfound sense of self sufficiency. We did a victory lap around Cowes and freaked out the Chavs.

How exciting my life must be! My car breaking down is the most interesting thing to have happened all week.

Tags: Packing & gadgets

Comments

1

Im glad Juan is OK.
Why do I look so short in that picture. I'm taller than that. Where you'se wearing stilettos or something?
Coles rang me today and for the first time EVER they want to cut down my shift, instead of giving me more hours. I am quite pleased

Ebony Feb 7, 2007 5:27 PM

2

Thanks for the Happy Birthday :)It was a great one, go 2007.

The following story has nothing to do with my birthday however. It is just a boring story for the sake of it.

Yesterday I opened a new bottle of hollinaise sauce, before work, (but that is another story) and shook it with the lid losened... It went EVERYWHERE... it didn't just spill, I mean literally everywhere, On the walls, in the stove, behind the stove, behind the fridge, over thew newly washed dishes, in my hair, on the ceiling. I cleaned it up before I went to work and thought I had gotten it all but as it dries out over the day, into the very structure of the walls, it turns an attractive yellow colour. I didn't get it all.

H Feb 9, 2007 11:30 AM

3

On the way to school this morning part of the exhaust fell out of Juan. He scraped for a while before we pulled over. I am waiting to see how mush it'll be to get him back. Pray for Juan.

Susan Feb 10, 2007 4:04 AM

4

Just reading of Helen's "fun" with the bottle of sauce reminded me of a funny occasion like that in our family. Some years ago, Simon & Tim's aunty was vigorously shaking a bottle of tomato sauce, the insides of which just wouldn't budge. She loosened the lid and then had another go and this time it did budge - all over her poor husband. Ugh!! Funnily enough, her name, too, is Helen!!!!! And on another occasion, this same lady, many, many, many years ago at a large family Christmas celebration, was asked to pass some trifle down to the other end of the table. This she did, but scooped out a large spoonful, called out to the person who wanted it to hold up his dish and she tossed it through the air and believe it or not it actually landed in the dish!!!!! You really had to see it to believe it.
Anyway, after all that. hello Sue.

Mrs J Feb 10, 2007 2:56 PM

5

Hello Kittens,
Susan AND Mel, good to hear your electronically reproduced voices across satellites and copper cables. It was a bit of a surprise, especially when I said that I was at the Faheys, and Mel said SHE was at the Faheys as well, which led me to believe that she had been kicked out of the UK, and was standing at the Faheys front door with two ASIO police. As opposed to being at SUSAN Faheys, on the Aisle of Wight.
I am writing because I actually have something to write- adventures, battles, men in leotards holding hands, talking lizards. No, not another episode of Wheel of Fortune- this all occurred on stage. I took my drama class to see "The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie."
It was pretty great- it was part of the Festival of Perth, a musical, pantomime style, based loosely around the original stories and drawings. It was written by John Clarke, who starred/ wrote 'The Games' and Doug McLeod, chief writer on 'Kath and Kim'. So there were plenty of silly jokes and pop-references. AND it has Simon Burke, who after being on there for 18 years, is instantly recognisable off Play School!
So going on excursion with Year 9 and 10 DRAMA students into Subiaco on the TRAIN for the whole day would seem like a walk in the park, RIGHT? Oh you silly fools!
After finally getting the last permission slip filled in THAT morning, I then had to worry myself with the rigmarole of taking a girl with diabetes on excursion. After the insulin pen, laminated instructions, emergency sugar-food and operating theatre were packed into a bag, I went to gather up my eleven, already hypo drama students.
After getting to the train station and spending a small fortune on train tickets, (during which time a boy managed to lose a ball onto the tracks, and asked the train guard to get it for him. Why he bought a ball to the theatre, I don't know. Better than tomotoes?) we occupied an entire carriage half, and scared away anyone from barely even getting on the train. By the end of forty minutes, most of the stundets had tested the hand rails by hanging from them, and had discussed in depth episodes of Family Guy. In the time it took to change trains at Perth, we had the man on the loudspeaker tell students to quit mucking about on the escalator.
Pouring out of the train at Subiaco, I was instantly plagued with requests to buy food, because everyone were so HUNGRY that they would get headaches, and faint, and die. It was 10.30. I told them to buy something from the theatre beforehand. Ten seconds after arriving in the foyer, Diabetes Girl (not her real name) states there is no real food here, and needs something else. Sigh. "Ok, go look." Eight students think that is a great idea, and head off into Subiaco in three different directions. Mr James has to try and track them down, the theatre bell ringing in his ears, announcing it is time to take your seats AS THE PLAY WILL START IN TEN SECONDS. They eventually made their way back, with burgers, drinks and McFlurrys, just to tide them over until morning tea...

We sat down. The play went for two and half hours, with a half hour intermission. The kids were trapped in their seats (quite literally, the seating at the Regal being quite tight, one kid complained about having big knees) and couldn't do much- except use their mobile phones.

At intermission in the foyer, some students made friends with the Festival of Perth rep, who was wearing a bright mustard yellow suit. They even got to wear his sparkly polka-dot hat and twirl his cane. Many of the kids asked me if it had ended, and one even asked if we were going back in to watch it again. I had to explain that intermission meant a break in the MIDDLE of the play, and we were going to watch the second half. Also that normal narrative structure usually demands a conclusion of some description, and not leaving multiple story strands completely up in the air.
Afterwards, we quickly grabbed HJ's, which was not the as-planned, healthier SubWay, as it was not where Mr James had expected, and we were running out of time. We then made it back to Subiaco station, surprisingly, considering their crossing the road skills.
An express-train trip home making pretty good time, we got back to school with minutes to spare. Most of the kids I quizzed said it was 'alright', which meant that they didn't HATE it.

Phew. I hope my principal doesn't read this.

CAUTION. Noted comment may contain traces of exaggeration.

Simon J Feb 14, 2007 12:40 AM

6

Hello! We are in Barcelona! We have just had all you can eat sushi. Being spain there was banana in one of the sushis. It was good! Mel will say three things about our trip in spain:
1. Marion the German lady at the hostel is lovely but there are many rules. You have to go to the toilet sitting down (even if you are a boy) and you have to wipe up your hair in the shower with a tissue (which only me and Sue do cos we are scared of Marion) and you are not allowed to shower after midnight!
2. Antoni Gaudi is a famous architect who designed many of the buildings in Spain. They are Awesome and very Dr Suessish. One biulding was started in 1904 and is still not finished. They are predicting 2022.
3.There are awesome food markets. We saw dead rabbitts and chickens hanging up still with feathers and fur.YUCK!

Susans three things:
1. The weather is awesome, about 20 degrees mostly.
2. Many Spanish prefer mulletts.
3. Where we ate lunch this lady was dipping bread into her coke.
Love to all!

Sue and Mel Feb 16, 2007 7:58 AM