Which rule? 50 or 69?

Ishbel is currently enjoying the audio book version of Alan Bennett's delightful The Uncommon Reader in which HM Queen Elizabeth II discovers the local travelling library at Windsor Castle, gets hooked on books and starts to worry the equerries with her 'odd' behaviour. The first book she chooses is a bit of a slog but HMQ has been brought up to be polite and she always finishes everything she starts, even books.

I never know what to do about a book that's a bit hard going. If it's a book group read, I try to finish even if I hate it because otherwise it's hard to take part in the conversation. Sometimes I continue because I am waiting for something exciting to happen and find myself at the end before it does. Othertimes I stop at page 56 and think, "blow this, I've got better things to do with my time."

If you aren't sure, here are two tools to help you choose:


1. Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50
Nancy Pearl, librarian extraordinaire (she even has an action figure in her image) and author of the Book Lust books and Book Lust website, acknowledges that "time is short and the world of books is immense. If you're fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you're over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100. The result is the number of pages you should read before deciding." Following this rule, if you are over 100 you have earned the priviledge of being able to judge a book by its cover.

2. John Sutherland's Rule of 69
Sutherland's theory is that you should first of all read page 69. If you like it, then chances are you'll like the rest of it too. Obviously no good for children's picture books.
This theory is explained in full in his book How to read a novel : a user's guide which I have not (yet) read but I stumbled onto the concept in the Guardian newspaper's book blog article on How to find your perfect novel. In this article Charlotte Stretch applies the theory to a number of books - with varying degrees of success.

I'm currently 'slogging' my way through God of Speed by Luke Davies, not quite sure whether to go on or not. I might give both these rules a go, although I am well past pages 50 and 69 . . .

We bought our new house today

We were up and at 'em early this morning and, twenty-six loads of washing through the machine and out on the line later, we were surprised to see the Chapman man arrive to put a For Sale sign outside. We raced out to tell him the house was under contract but he went ahead anyway. Jonathan (our real estate man) explained later that's so that they can take names of enquirers in case our sale should fall through.

At about 9am we went out to see a house at Winmalee. It was the house we tried to see last weekend but couldn't because the real estate guy was late and the tenant said we couldn't go in. The house is listed with two agents so we contacted the other one. As we arrived at the door the agent told us the tenant was at home and therefore we weren't allowed to open any cupboards. I baulked at that and went straight back to the car. It feels intrusive enough when the house is empty but it's very inhibiting when they are there. Karen, who was with us, said she would have done the same.
Ian and Jamie had a look and said it was very big so we decided to go back later today when the agents were holding an Open House.

Meanwhile we went back home and checked the real estate websites for houses - yes the link we sent you was a joke - can you imagine ANYONE paying so much money for so much kitch? I predict that one will be on the market for some time. Karen and I were in hoots of laughter over that one.

Then it was out to take the kids to their sport. All three of them had 12:30pm starts!!!

I took Ishbel out to her soccer match where she was playing against the team Jonathan's son is in. We said hello and he mentioned our appointment for 1:45 that afternoon. Good job we met - we were under the impression it was TOMORROW at 1:45 we were seeing him.
Got on the phone (thank goodness for mobiles) to Ian and Karen to let them know of the new time and we all rendez-voused (?) at the house at the right time.

This is the house Jonathan had shown me earlier in the week. Ex Defence and in good condition. We are the only people who have seen it so far. Ian and Karen liked it too but we still had to go back to the other house for Karen and I to look at.

The tenants were still at home - during an Open House - I couldn't believe it! They'd made no attempt to tidy up, a little girl of all of five was watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show movie at full volume, Dad was tinkering about in the garage and Mum was putting wet washing on a drying horse in the family room. I didn't like that at all. And I didn't like the house.

Our choice was easy then and we went back to Springwood to sign the paperwork for Macquarie Road with Jonathan and to put a holding deposit on the Winmalee house.

Macquarie Road was finally put on the Chapman website today. The photographer has done a terrific job - see HERE - and we wonder why we are selling and whose house have WE been living in all this time?

We haven't got any pictures for our next house, it's not been advertised at all yet. As I said we are the first and only people to be taken to see it but here is a Google Earth image and if you put 4 Red Crowned Court, Winmalee, NSW 2777 in the search field in Google Earth you will be able to have a look around. It's very close to Winmalee Primary School, Winmalee Shopping Centre and a 10-15 minute walk for Jamie to Winmalee High School.


As I think I said before, the settlement date is September 8th.

Boo hoo

Looks like the Blaxland house is gone.

The agent rang me this afternoon and told me it's under contract although there may be a problem with the bank accepting the offer because the vendor has quite substantial debts apparently that aren't covered by the sale price. We've told him to keep us posted if it all falls through before Sunday but I'm not hopeful :(

On the good side, the buyers of our property signed the paperwork today and want a settlement date of 8th September.

(And I'm pleased someone is looking in on the blog - would hate to think I was pissing into the wind!!!)

All good news

Good News Item #1 : Jamie came home with this certificate yesterday. He entered a Science competition with the University of NSW and got a Distinction. Fabulous work!

Good News Item #2 : We seem to have a buyer for our house. They just need to come in to the estate agents and sign the paper work.

In the end there were two bidders. The first ones offered A$30,000 less than our asking price and were told there was no way we'd accept. The others offered spot on but the first ones upped all the way to A$10,000 more than our asking price and the others couldn't go any higher. Apparently they have already sold their house and needed to find something quickly.

So, we also need to come to a quick decision. Once they have signed their offer and we have signed that we have accepted it there is a 10 day cooling off period before it is definitely a done deal.

Jonathan from our real estate agency took me yesterday to see a former Defence Forces house at Winmalee. It was very nice and probably a sensible choice but the house we like in Blaxland (see picture below) is still available and has really captured my heart.

We have an appointment to see the Winmalee house all together on Sunday and are also waiting to see if we can make an appointment to see the Blaxland one on Sunday also. Karen said she'd come along for some independent thoughts.

Good News Item #3 : There was an all staff meeting today. I didn't actually go because it started at 8:30am at Katoomba, a thirty minute drive away and I don't start work until 9am. For me to go would mean either getting a friend to take Ishbel to school and I don't like to ask too many favours, or be out of pocket for before school care. So I offered to man the desk at Springwood Library instead. Gets me out of a boring time. Only it wasn't so boring this time. The library got TWO of the GM's Innovation awards. We won the category (can't remember which category at the moment, probably community something) with The Living Library event we held earlier in the year. And we got a highly commended for the Readers in the Mist library blog.

Quiet weekend, still no boys

There's not a lot to report really, it's been a quiet week without Jamie and Rob. We last heard from them about Wednesday when they had been to Bourke and were heading towards Wilcania. We'll have to see if we can contact them tonight (they are not always in a mobile phone friendly area) and find out if they are coming home tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday.
Meanwhile we've been doing our normal work routine and Ishbel has been going to Tanderra. She had her mate, Ruby, to sleep over on Thursday night. Having watched a Jamie Oliver program about eating properly the night before, we let the girls order pizza so they (we) had pizza and fizzy for dinner and pizza and fizzy for breakfast the next morning. Being the last day of the holidays Tanderra had a party day that day and they would have been eating junk all day too!!! The sleepover (the first since Ishbel's nightmare birthday party sleepover last year) went very well. The girls snuggled up in Robbie and Jamie's bunks and we heard not a peep.
This weekend and last weekend we have been doing real estate stuff.
Firstly we spend time cleaning up our house so it is always ready for inspection at a moment's notice. I hope it doesn't take too much longer to sell, I don't think the vacuum cleaner will cope!
We had a couple of people do inspections last weekend, among whom were a couple who were viewing the house for the second time but I haven't had any feedback on that. Someone else had an appointment to view on Thursday, again no feedback. Today just as we arrived at Ishbel's soccer we got a call asking if it would be OK if people were taken round. The feedback from that sounds positive - the lady is in the defence forces and is keen but wants her Canberra-based parents to also see it and approve and that won't be before next weekend probably. Meanwhile the house will finally get a For Sale sign out the front sometime this coming week and will start showing up on the internet and in the papers.
We saw a few houses ourselves last weekend. Most of them are boring and the rooms are often not very big. For all ours is a 3 bedroomed house and too small for us now, all the rooms are a good size (especially now they have been divested of all the STUFF they usually contain). We did see an "interesting" house out at Yellow Rock last weekend - it was kind of Swiss Cottage meets Notre Dame!!
This morning we had an appointment to see a house in Winmalee at 10:30. We arrived about 20 past and sat in the car in the street. At about 25 past the tenants left and we sat on, waiting for the real estate agent to turn up. A call to the office had him chased up and we got another call letting us know he'd been held up but was on his way. About 15 minutes to 11 the tenants returned. Ian was out of the car, waiting on the footpath and the lady asked if he was waiting to view the house. She told him the estate agent was always making appointments and running late and that we'd have to reschedule. As we drew away the estate agent arrived but as the woman had made it clear she wasn't going to let us in we kept going; we had to get Ishbel to soccer anyway.
As we drove off we commented that the tenants hadn't been away from the house very long - about 15-20 mins and were making things difficult for the real estate (they'd been very definite about restricting access to the morning). When the real estate man got back to us he told Ian they'd had to get a court order to get the tenants to give access to real estate agents at all. Obviously we don't know the whole story, but it would seem to us that being asked to leave at any time is part of the deal if you are renting and one of the motives for owning your own home and that making life difficult for the estate agents and vendors is surely counter-productive in the long run - no reference for your next rental for instance. I'd be getting rid of them altogether if they were in my property; they probably aren't going out of their way to present the house at its best either. Anyway, we'll have to wait till another time to see that one.
Ishbel had a great soccer game. Although her team lost, the two teams were pretty evenly matched, played well and Ishbel was quite well involved this week and there were some fancy moves happening. Well done Miss Ish.
After soccer we did our grocery shopping. Ishbel spotted Karen and Dan's car in the car park and set out to find her. She was brought to ground, covered in bright purple hair stuff at the hairdressers. We've invited her and Dan to join us for dinner tonight. Ben is home from two weeks with his dad tomorrow middle of the day.
Better go and get some cheese and spinach for the cannelloni I'm making for tonight or it'll be toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Psychology 101 via the latest Ian Rankin????

Now I have at least one friend who used to think time spent reading was time wasted and some family members may think the same, but if you get people complaining about you having your nose in a book, tell them you're brushing up on your psychology.


Twice today I have come across an article cited in other blogs that give us good reason (should we need it) to forget about the washing up and go and find a nice cosy corner to read in.

Manly Library's excellent blog, Novel Ideas, posts that the 28 June edition of New Scientist magazine (available at BMCC library) contains an article that explores the mental benefits of reading fiction. Researchers found that people who read more fiction may find it easier to discern the thoughts and feelings expressed by people's eyes. And an article, Socially awkward? Hit the books, in the Globe and Mail (which I found on Stephen's Lighthouse, a librarian focussed blog) discusses the New Scientist article stating that "bookworms have exceptionally strong people skills" and "readers of narrative fiction scored higher on tests of empathy and social acumen than those who read non-fiction texts."

Robbie got his Learner's permit too

FINALLY. On Friday.

(will post picture here when I can)

Pete Bedwell is taking Al and our boys away for ten days or so on Friday for a driving holiday with another couple of men and their sons (its school holidays in NSW for the next 2 weeks). Learners now have to rack up 120 hours of driving under various conditions in order to be eligible to do the driving test and get their Provisional licences. This holiday will allow them both to get a good number of hours up and drive in different conditions.

NavShield weekend

So, I just about survived the NavShield weekend : just walking John Wayne style, that's all. Here are photos from the weekend.

The NavShield is an overnight navigation event where teams of competitors attempt to gain as many points as possible by finding their way, on foot only, through wilderness terrain to pre-set checkpoints. It is held in an area of around 100 square kilometres of rugged bushland within a few hours drive of Sydney, Australia. Each year a different location is selected to give a wide range of conditions. This year the venue was Nerriga which is between Canberra and the coast, a few hours south of Sydney.

I was picked up from the house about 10am on Friday afternoon and we went to the station to load up the food, drink, wet weather gear, turn out coats (winter fire fighter coats kind of like donkey jackets, or like the coats UK firefighters probably wear all year round), tents, futon (yes!!!!!) and sundry other gear. Then via the butcher and the bottle shop we headed to Nerriga.

Once at camp we busied ourselves putting up tents and collecting firewood. Lots of it lying about which we quickly set alight with the aid of a drip-torch and a BBQ dinner was soon on the go. Hugh and Francoise came down separately and later than the rest of us and, with excellent timing, made it to camp just as we were about to tuck in to dinner.

It is rather cold and I was very glad I had two sleeping bags to tuck into. I also had a blanket and a turn out coat plus thermal underwear, shirt, jumper, hat and pyjama bottoms to keep me warm. Despite all that I didn't sleep really well; it's hard to sleep when you are perched on a tiny blow up mat barely wider than your shoulders and when you can hear everyone else snoring about you. I surprised myself by missing Ian quite a bit but the gang were lovely and I got lots of hugs from them instead.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before getting ourselves ready to head out for the NavShield event.

The gang consisted of the Blokes team - that's Nigel, Hugh and Steve (now our Senior Deputy Captain)


and the Sheilas team - Francoise, Rob (promoted to Sheila for the weekend), Bec and Heidi.

We were given maps and sheets with the co-ordinates for each checkpoint on Friday night which we'd dutifully plotted out. I'm quite good at that. The Blokes headed off at cracking pace - Hugh especially wanted to do well this year - leaving the Sheilas to set a more sedate pace.

With absolutely no plan except to go to the nearest checkpoint first, we headed off into the scrub. More by luck than great navigation, although Francoise is very good, we weren't too long before we found the first checkpoint where, because I was the newbie, I had the honour of punching our card with the puncher/stamp thingy. That was the easiest checkpoint to find all day - not least because there were about 40 other people who'd made it at the same time and we had to queue up to do the punch. After that people spread out a lot more and while we kept coming across the same few groups several times over the day, we did our own thing and sometimes went for quite a while without seeing anyone. (This not knowing where anyone else might be made it quite disconcerting when squatting to do a picnic wee!)

We completely missed the next checkpoint we tried for and after a bit of wandering about decided to give up on it and go up to the fire trail that meandered all through the location and try and pick up another one. We did this all day, we'd find the track, head into the bush for the next checkpoint and return to the track again.

The checkpoints all had different numbers which denoted the points that could be scored if we found them. The higher the number the more difficult the checkpoint would be to reach/find. We also had to check in at at least one radio checkpoint and roaming around the place were Bushrangers who were checking that team members had all the essential gear (water, compass, torch, matches, First Aid Kit, etc), point being deductable if we didn't. We got stopped twice by the Bushrangers.

We kept in touch with the Blokes team throughout the day with our fireground radios and met up with them on the track for lunch.

Ours wasn't a very strenuous route, but, by the end of the day, with the dark and the cold coming on and my hips and feet aching, I was dog tired and glad to get back to camp. The wonderful ladies of the Nerriga Progress Association were doing the catering and we all had a lovely feed.

Just before we got our dinner there was the award ceremony - the Blokes got 5th place!!! Us Sheilas were 10th from the bottom (our team number was 82 or so!)

We'd bought a fair bit of beer on Friday on the way down but everyone was so tired not much was consumed and we were all in bed early. I dreamed of walking all night so with the same problem with cold and narrow bedding as the night before, I didn't wake up very refreshed.

It was so cold there was frost everywhere. It was really very beautiful and I can't remember seeing real frost since coming to Australia over 21 years ago. Wish I'd taken photos. All I was thinking about at the time though was surviving the toilets (three days of hundreds of people using a dozen portaloos is beyond description) and getting myself on the outside of a hot cuppa.

While the rest of us packed, Steve and Hugh put the world to rights, re-living old fire fighting campaigns and discussing how they should have been handled. I think I'd started the whole thing off by asking Hugh an innocent question a few hours earlier . . .

A straightforward drive home and we were back unpacking at the station just after 4 and home by 5.

We're back online at home.
It's Ian's birthday on Friday but he'll be spending a very quiet evening with just him and Ishbel at home. The boys are away overnight at a Scout all night movie event and I am out and about with the RFS doing the Navshield competition.

Update from down here

We are offline at the moment at home - I moved the computer from our room to the boys room as part of our selling the house clean up and it's not connected to the internet just now. Not sure if Ian will get round to reconnecting us, or if we'll just live without it until the house sells (suppose that depends on how long the whole thing takes).
Anyway, in the meantime, it's best that you send emails to me at work. I am getting in to the home email account at work but it'll be easier for me to have stuff coming in to the one inbox.
We were very busy this weekend past.
Ian went up to Brisbane on Thursday to do some auditing or training for work and stayed up there for the weekend, going to see Jono and Narelle and grandson bump in Kingaroy for the weekend. They are all doing well and were very hospitable. At the moment the baby's name is Fraser George. I like it.
Meanwhile the kids and I dashed about. Three separate lots of footy training on Thursday night, three lots of footy matches on Saturday. Couldn't get by without friends to help us out. Jamie went to his Aussie rules match with his coach - via the coach's daughter's netball game! Did the shopping while sport was going on so missed most of the games over the weekend I'm afraid. No one won.
On Saturday night we went up to the Megalong Valley for a bush dance with Sharon and Holly and Janet, Steven and Georgia. We had initially planned to go to The Tartan Ball in Springwood this weekend but then Sharon found out about the bush dance. The Tartan Ball was $52 per person and formal and we'd have needed to find a babysitter whereas the bush dance was $15 for adults, free for kids and informal. Not hard to guess why we chose to go to the bush dance.
We had a lot of fun. Everyone had a dance - boys and girls, old and young. It was quite a hoot as people tried to remember the instructions the band leader had given us for the dancing! It is certainly an excellent form of cardio-vascular exercise.
We had such fun that we are going to see the band again when they play in Springwood in September. We'll have to see if we can rope in a big crowd.
It was after 11pm when we got home. We were luckier than Steven and Janet though, they got held up by an accident - a very drunk man who Steven had to rescue from the car, almost getting thumped for his efforts. We'd missed it by minutes, just saw the police cars racing up the mountain.
On Sunday we had a lot to do to prepare the house for sale. Rob wanted to go to RFS Cadet training for the last time - the boys are being interviewed for adult membership this Thursday - so we were at the station at 9am. Unfortunately we didn't realise the training wouldn't be on - the Woodford to Glenbrook classic and training wasn't on.
Disappointing for Robbie but it meant I had his help for more time, and he's a good worker.
I had them clearing and cleaning and scrubbing and sweeping.
A photographer was booked for 1pm on Monday to take photos for the websites and the advertising stuff for the estate agents and the place needed to look just so. I'll post the web pages once they are available.
When I tasked Ishbel with sweeping the paths in the front garden she was grumbling why did she have to do it. "What's your motivation here?" I asked her. "The sooner we sell the house, the more likelihood there is that we can buy that house in Blaxland." She was happy to work then.
Anyway - the house is now completely transformed and looking a lot less cluttered. On Monday morning the estate agent had a sort of open house for other estate agents (the different companies tend to collaborate) so that they were aware of what's available and can offer to show it to people. When she rang to talk to me she said the house looked very cottagy and comfortable. She has arranged for a potential buyer to view on Saturday morning around 10am. Hopefully Ian will have the place looking spick and span - I am away this weekend with the RFS doing an orienteering/navigation competition. I have the children warned to keep the place clear and thus far (3 days only) they have been very very good.