Japanese banking crisis

Following the problems in the financial sector in the US, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal. Oh yes, and the Karma sutra bank is f****d.

(Thought I'd get a laugh in now whhile we can)

Sign language

These Sign Language pages from the Daily Telegraph had me laughing out loud.

There is more than just one sign each week; see there are more to scroll through at the top right hand side of the page. To go to a previous week click on Related articles under the scrolly thing or on the Last week's sign language link under the main picture.

Not the weekend round up

Ian is away up in Queensland to help Jono and Nelly with young Fraser. Sounds like they are all having fun.
Meanwhile, Ishbel and I got our baby fix by spending some time cuddling with Xavier. He likes sucking and got a little ratty when he couldn't get his finger in his mouth. At other times he was sleeping and lovely to cuddle.
Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning (she takes the bus from outside the front of the library). Jamie had announced at 10 to 8 this morning that he needed $10 for a calculator for his maths exam today. I had not 10c, never mind $10 so we had to duck up to the shopping centre and raid an ATM. So Ishbel and I were at the bus stop a bit early this morning. We decided to go and get a hot chocolate. Ishbel also conned me into getting her a chocolate freckle too.
Getting to the end of the chocolate freckle, she announced that it had been too chocolatey. She doesn't really like chocolate. What is a girl who doesn't really like chocolate doing having hot chocolate and a chocolate freckle?? Anyway, I didn't even get a little nibble.
The children have all gone back to school this Monday after two weeks holidays. Jamie and Rob went straight into exams - on Monday morning! Didn't have a chance to catch their breaths. Rob finished his last exam this afternoon and was angling for a day off - no way Jose and Jamie will finish tomorrow. There'd not been much evidence of study so the results will be interesting. They have the proper School Certificate exams in two or three weeks (equiv. to the O Grades we did).

Here's Karen's new boy

Xavier Christian Hale

Born : 12 October 2008

Time : 21:52 hrs

Weight : 3.845 kg (8 lb 7 oz)

Length : 54 cm (21.25 in)

Head Circumference : 36.5 cm (14.3 in)

Pictures in the slideshow at the right or via the Flickr site (link above).

Giving Karen Curry

With the Colquhoun boy arriving on his due date, young baby Hale is on notice not to keep anyone hanging about.

Karen and I had lunch today and decided to try out the (relatively) new Indian restaurant in Springwood, something I've been wanting to do for ages as everyone I've met has enjoyed their meal there. Folklore has it that curries hurry babies so we had extra reason for giving it a go. That having failed (as far as I know thus far), he's in for a long drive down a bumpy track! And other remedies which are too rude to write about.

Another generation of Colquhouns

Fraser George Colquhoun

So the long-awaited first grandson has arrived, born last night in Brisbane.

His grandmother reports that "He's pink, well-covered, 52cm long and "chatted"!!!! Long fingers and toes, significant shoulders! Mum was very calm, probably pretty tired, but happy and well".

Jono, Nelly (Narelle) and Fraser George

Aussie Rules

I've been playing Aussie Rules tonight! There is a summer social comp. for over 14s and other old folk and Jamie and I are going to go only Jamie is at his friend's house tonight and didn't go. I didn't have much of an idea of what was going on but it was a fun time.

Holiday Monday

We arranged to go to Manly with Sharon & Holly and Steven, Janet, Kate and Georgia (Addison) for Monday. We arranged to get the 9:05 from Springwood. So with great difficulty we dragged ourselves out of bed and were almost ready to go out the door when Sharon rang to let us know the Addisons weren't ready, could we aim for the 10:05? So we all stood down for an hour. Only to get another call to say the Addisons weren't coming with us, the weather didn't look promising (it was overcast & spitting), Steven had hurt his back and Janet wasn't in a good mood. We took the train to the city then caught the ferry over to Manly. Manly was very busy, it always is but this weekend not only had Manly won the Rugby League Grand Final (40-0!) but there was a jazz festival on. There were several stages on the corso (which stretches between the harbour and sea) and more on the beach front where there was also a market. We got some fish and chips for lunch and sat dodging the seagulls on the beach wall. Then we walked round to Shelly Beach which is a nice little beach tucked into a corner south of Manly. There is a restaurant and cafe down there so we walked round for a coffee/hot chocolate.

By the time we got round to Shelly Beach the sun was out and we had to buy some sunscreen. Ishbel went for a swim but it was a bit tame for the boys who wanted to go back to the surf beach at Manly but by the time we'd walked back again not only had the clouds come over but the heavens opened and it chucked down for a while. We took refuge amongst the stalls of the street market.

After an icecream we headed back for the ferry. The sun came out again and we had a nice journey back to town. We took a picture of the sun on the water and sent it to the Addisons to tell them what a lovely day we'd had and when we got back to Springwood we went round to their place and cleaned them out of cheese, biscuits and pickled onions!

A good day!

Cirque du Soleil update

We thoroughly enjoyed the circus last weekend (not that the pictures show that!! They were taken at the interval and it was very hot and thirsty but the food and drink prices were a complete rip-off.)



We were in a block near the back with Ian's work colleagues. Although it was near the back, the view of the stage was very good. There was quite a lot of empty seating though and after the interval we were allowed to move and went closer.

The clowns were Ishbel's favourites. They came out before the rest of the performance started. They helped one man get to his seat - follow me they said then proceeded to climb over the back of seats to the front, then along the front of the rows and then back up to where he started from! Later they pulled him out of the audience and made him do the introduction to the circus, picking his pockets and generally being silly. They picked on the poor man several times during the performance but it wasn't until the fourth or fifth time that we found out he was one of the clowns too!! Meanwhile we had all just been thanking our lucky stars it wasn't us they'd been picking on.

I remember Dad taking us to the circus in Camberley. I must've been 6 or 7 at the time. All I really remember was the gorilla who came into the audience and took a lady's handbag. It then took out her undies and a bra! And I remember Karen being absolutely terrified and clawing her way up Dad's front to get away from the gorilla. Anyone else remember that?

Kitchen renovation - our current obsession

Thought some people might be interested in the kitchen plans. Can be skipped over for those competely disinterested - just be grateful you don't have to hear us in full flight if you came to the house!

Our kitchen is being done in Kitchen Connection Bordeaux style. It will be off white and has tongue and groove panels in the doors. The benches will be made of Caesarstone.

Here is the kitchen as it is now. Instead of the U shape we will be having a galley style kitchen, open on both ends.



The space where the fridge is will not change - just the new cupboard above it.

Next to it there will be a narrow cupboard with winerack above then a corner pantry.



Next to the pantry, sort of where the microwave is now, will be a wall oven then a little bit of bench space then the cooktop.






We have chosen a Smeg induction stove. It was not only on sale at a very good price; it comes with $500 worth of pots and pans.















The bench top against the wall will then extend another couple of metres. Under the benchtop, from the wall oven to the end will be 3 sets of drawers. They have a shallow drawer on top for cutlery, etc. The bottom two drawers in each are deeper, for pots and pans and other stuff. We had deep drawers at Macquarie Road and found them much easier for keeping pots and pans in than a cupboard - less bending to see where things are.

On the other side of the kitchen will be a bench running parallel with the one against the wall. In it will be the sink - a white, square, porcelain Butler/Belfast sink and a dishwasher under the bench beside it. The bench will then extend down to end at the same place as the one on the wall and will have an overhang on the other side and at the end so we can put a few stools under and have a breakfast bar thing happening.