A Brilliant Day

Everything went off beautifully, fulfilling my hopes for the day.

Beach Carnival Tomorrow

The Beach Carnival is on tomorrow at Meelup, one of the most beautiful beaches in the south west. The forecast is 29 degrees and no wind, just about perfect. I've spent all day finishing off preparations for the big event. We've got 508 permission forms in, 421 kids catching buses from Busso and Dunsborough, 80 staff on duty at 12 different areas, running 50 individual beach events ranging from volleyball and beach cricket to kayak relays and iron person races. It has been a logistical challenge to get it all ready, especially all the paperwork, permissions, risk management, medical forms, house lists, swimming qualifications, bus fares etc etc.

I think/hope I'm ready! Not much I can do about it now if I'm not! The crew will start delivering kayaks, sound system, generator, marquees, canteen and sausage sizzle food, rescue boats and various other equipment from 7.30. The kids will arrive on 9 coaches at about 9.45. Events are scheduled to commence at 10.00. That's the plan. Whether it works out that way remains to be seen but I'm hopeful that things will go smoothly. The venue is fantastic, the weather should be good, where else would you rather be than having fun with 500 kids at the beach for the day?

Interestingly, the last major event I ran at Meelup was a funeral, for Nathan, a young bloke killed in a fire at Dunsborough a couple of years ago. He had loved the beach and his family chose Meelup for the occasion.

Tomorrow's carnival should be a much happier event.

Plates

My collection of personalised number plate pictures continues to grow. Here's a small selection.

We had an important family meeting this afternoon. I can't reveal the outcome yet until we see what happens but there could be big news at Holt Press soon.

Finally got to see Grand Torino tonight, produced, directed and starring Clint Eastwood. It's great.

Spurs Take the Points

I didn't make it to the 5.00am screening of the soccer despite waking up needing to go to the dunny at 4.00. I did get to see the replay this evening though and am very happy with the result, a 2-1 away win at Hull City. Breakfast was off the menu but Glass Dave invited me to stay for dinner and very nice it was too, kangaroo with bacon strips and salad, very tasty and nicely prepared. Dave's girl troubles prompted him to say he may have to turn gay to find a compatible relationship!! I said that may deter me from coming round to watch the soccer with him! Come on girls, there must be someone out there looking for a house-trained man with impressive culinary skills who can keep him on the 'straight' and narrow!

After the Youthcare committee meeting tonight Adriane the new chaplain at CNC, Steve and I went to the Vasse for coffee and catch-up then I went to cheap Tuesday at the movies to see Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais. It was quite good, not as funny as I expected but still entertaining. I had wanted to see Gran Torino but it was on earlier. Steve told me it's great so I need to make an effort to see it before it finishes in Busso.

I've sent my apologies for the PD day in Bunbury tomorrow, I've got too much to do for the beach carnival to afford a full day out of the school. As it is I'm not sure I'll be ready for Friday.

Catching up in Pictures

Playing trust and team-building games with the kids on the leadership camp last week.
The failed Duomo spacecraft in the Great Australian Egg Drop.
Kent and Peter, victorious coaches of the SU Slayers, 2008 CFFL premiers.

Mrs Holt Press at the airport upon her return.

Boys from the SW Football Academy run by Clontarf Aboriginal College training at Busso this arvo.

Collo with the Holt Medal at the Winners Dinner.

I had a really good weekend but it left me knackered, I had trouble staying awake at work this arvo!

Glass Dave has invited me round for breakfast and to watch Spurs play Hull City on Foxtel in the morning. Only problem is the game is at 5.00am WADST! Much as I'd love to take up his offer I can't see it happening considering how tired I was today. Full cooked breakfast with all the trimmings though....!!

Home

I'm home.

Mrs Holt Press is home.

More tomorrow.

Blogging From the Backyard in Belmont

I'm at the Tero's place, about to sleep in the caravan in the bed that was last slept in by Mrs Holt Press the night before she flew to Melbourne. I suspect she was a lot more comfortable than I'll be considering both she and the bed are about a foot shorter than me.
The trip to Perth went smoothly. I found some cool toys at a garage sale in Mandurah enroute and managed not only to arrive at the big CFFL Winners Dinner/Pre-season draft on time but also first. The next 6 hours were devoted to the discussion of that most wonderful of all pasttimes, AFL football. We debated rules, voted on changes, appointed a new commissioner, bought players in the auction then followed up with the draft to select our teams for the 2009 season. After the business came a BBQ and the wrap-up and post mortem of the afternoon/evening's proceedings. It was glorious! Apart from Grant having pre-heated the spa when the temperature was pushing 40 which meant we never got in it, it was perfect. And the icing on the footy cake was Geelong's win over Adelaide in the NAB Cup.
A bunch of mates, food and drink, a barbie and more footy than you can poke a stick at, does it get any better than that?
No it doesn't.

In the morning I'll explore the Belmont Swap Meet for a couple of hours, meet Hugh for coffee in Mt Lawley, then go and pick up Mrs HP from the airport. 3 hours later we should be home.

Quick Update

The camp was GREAT.

The taxi shift became extraordinarily busy from about 1-4am which is good for the wallet.

I had an unsettled night's sleep.

I'm getting ready to leave for Perth in half an hour.

All Work

Work work work. I managed to get another big task completed today, preparing letters, permission forms, memos and checklists for every kid in the school to go to the Beach Carnival. But there are several more big jobs to come before I can relax. Tomorrow arvo I'm taking 20 kids (the Student Council and the House Captains) away on a student leaders overnight camp at the Deer Farm in Margaret River. Friday night I'm in the cab. Saturday arvo I'm going up to Perth for a footy dinner and to pick up Mrs Holt Press who arrives back in WA on Sunday. Next week will be just as hectic. Beach Carnival prep all week with a PD day squeezed into the middle in Bunbury and the first training session in Busso for the kids in the SW Football Academy, Clontarf's program for helping Aboriginal kids complete their education. I've been offered the role of contact person and mentor for the 15 odd boys from Busso who've been invited to join the Academy. Finally, the Beach Carnival itself on Friday 27, being held at Meelup for the first time so lots of extra logistics to consider.
I will be relieved when it's all over.

Good news; The Hair is feeling much better and with a little bit of luck should make it back to school tomorrow. I took him to the Dr today who spent a long time checking him out and asking questions. He gave him a referral for a CT scan, told him to cut coffee out of his diet, and to give up head-banging! He even praised the virtues of short hair! I could have hugged him!

Hair-ache

Favourite Daughter is back home after a few days in Perth. It's nice to have her back, and not just because she washed the dirty pots and frypans that had been piled up on the bench. I'm skilled at loading the dishwasher, and telling the nearest Holt Press offspring to empty it, but washing pots and pans is to be avoided.
Together we made dinner tonight; FD cut up the veges and I cooked them and the hamburgers on the Barbie.

Work is busy and hectic with about three projects on the go on top of the usual array of phone calls, drop-ins and interruptions. I generally like it busy but it can be tiring trying to keep all the balls in the air.
I watched a movie tonight for some R&R. Wrong! The film I chose was "There Will Be Blood". If you've seen it you know what I mean. If you haven't I don't recommend it. It's a good film but harrowing to watch. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the lead role as a driven "oilman" who lets nothing stand in the way of his quest for oil and wealth, not friends, family, competitors, not his son, not even God and he leaves a trail of death destruction and cold-blooded ruthlessness and cruelty in his wake.
I don't know if it's based on a real life character. I hope not. Day-Lewis lives up to his usual reputation as one of the finest actors of his generation but this is not an uplifting movie experience.

The Hair has not been well and has missed the last two days of school with a bad headache and associated illness. He has been a mess and asked me to make a Dr's appointment for him in the morning. I've said it before but there are few things in life more difficult than seeing your children suffering. He has been more affectionate of late, giving me hugs and telling me he loves me. I don't know if his Mum's absence or his feeling sick have anything to do with it but it is comforting to know my dread-locked thrash metal-loving 17 year old son is happy to display his feelings. I know he's genuinely not well at the moment. Firstly because he tried to ring his teacher tonight to explain his absence, then said "I can't miss any more school", and finally because he then said to me, "What if I've got a tumour in my head that's causing my headaches?" I think he's watched too much "House"! I tried to reassure him but now there's a tiny little seed of nagging doubt rattling around inside my head!
I told him we can ask the Dr to check it out.

Generosity out of Tragedy

On Friday we had a Student Free Dress Day to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

Today I deposited $2125.10 in the Red Cross Appeal account which the bank teller told me was the biggest donation they've received.

Pretty cool!

Across Australia the total raised has passed $100m.

Proving once again that in times of crisis people come together and community spirit shines through, in this case, nation wide spirit.

4 Corners tonight covered the bushfire story, the pictures and words were graphic but the most heart-breaking part came in the final credits as the names and pictures of the dead were shown, 186 currently, followed by the missing which totalled 29. The last four names were of a family known to a girl at my school, including one of her best friends.

This has been not only the worst fire in our history, it's the worst natural disaster Australia has ever experienced.

As Mrs Holt Press is away I took the opportunity tonight to teach The Hair and Sport Boy to cook the world's simplest meal, spaghetti bolognese. They did a good job.
I also imposed martial law over the ice cream I bought this afternoon. Unrestricted access to the ice cream sees it disappear in about a day and a half. Hopefully with me rationing it out it will last maybe a week!

Garage Sale Before & After

At first glance it's hard to tell the difference but let me assure you there is a lot less stuff now than there was two days ago. As well as disposing of plenty of stuff we made a couple of hundred dollars. I say we because I employed The Hair and Sport Boy to man the sale while I slept in after last night's marathon 12 hour shift in the taxi and while I was on roster at the gallery this afternoon. They did a good job and earnt themselves some extra pocket money in the process.

By late afternoon the flow of customers had dried up so I kept myself entertained by creating a work of art out of a big box of old cassette tapes I hadn't managed to sell (funny that!)

I'm inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, an artist who creates stunning sculptures out of natural items out in the bush eg. rocks, sticks, icicles, grass etc. His stuff is brilliant. Try googling Andy Goldsworthy and have a look for yourself and tell me you don't agree with my assessment! I dare you.

Mrs HP sms'd to say her Dad's birthday lunch had gone very well and the whole family are getting together for dinner again on Wednesday night. Makes me wish I was there!

So far the HP offspring are surviving the single Dad experience quite well. I cooked a BBQ for dinner; they ate a lot of meat and not much salad! We are a family of dedicated carnivores!

The Heir and I watched "Last Train to Freo" tonight, it was good though chilling and sinister, yet surprising and very well acted. Annoyingly the DVD played up in the last two minutes of the film and despite repeated attempts we were left hanging as to what was said in the final scene.

Garage Sale Preparation

I've just spent the last 8 hours getting ready for tomorrow's garage sale! It had better be worth it! I swapped my taxi shift to tomorrow night so I could run the garage sale on Saturday. As I have said before, we/I have accumulated a ridiculous amount of stuff and it is time to get rid of it. I kept finding more and more things to add to the sale. Just gotta hope some of it appeals to the garage sale punters. One things for certain, whatever doesn't leave with a buyer leaves in a trailer! None of it is going back into the house or the shed!

The biggest hassle with it having taken so long to get it all ready is that in a few hours the early birds will come knocking on the door looking for bargains!
I am a much more civilised buyer, leaving it till late morning to begin doing the rounds.
Similarly, I am a considerate proprietor, I'll be open all day, none of this shut the doors at midday malarkey!

I want to see the junk rolling out and the money rolling in!

Talking of which, I had the distinct pleasure of counting up all the money from today's free-dress-day fundraiser for the Bushfire Appeal. The total came to over $2100, way beyond what we normally get for a free dress day, about four times as much in fact.
There's no doubt that this tragedy has touched the hearts of the whole nation, prompting an unprecedented outpouring of support and generosity. The Red Cross Appeal reached $75million last night!!
Thankfully the death toll seems to have plateaued, but the number of houses destroyed has risen to over 2000 I think, with 7000 people homeless as a result of the fires!

In 3 hours time Mrs Holt Press will take-off for Melbourne and her Dad's birthday. So far the rest of the family are surviving fine!

108cm!!!!!

I've been swimming in paperwork today trying to get all the risk management/water safety/event application forms completed for the Beach Carnival. It's painful but I'm finally making some progress.

This morning started early with an appointment with the Busselton Health Study Diabetes Testing unit. I spent a couple of hours there giving samples of blood & urine, completing umpteen surveys, and under-going a battery of tests for vision, balance, reflexes, intelligence and memory, lung capacity, blood pressure, vascular pressure, body fat, and foot sensitivity.
Significant results included being able to reach 100% lung capacity and expel 5.9 litres of air in one second, measuring 187cm when I stand fully erect, having slow response times in my big right toe, having a resting heart rate of 59, blood pressure of 120/75, being told I looked 38 not 47 and having a waist measurement of 109cm!!!!!! This is the number one predictor for diabetes apparently and measuring more than 108cm is a sign of almost certain diabetes occurring!!!!

Time to do something about it. I've already decided on my course of action. I'm not going back for any more tests!!!!

Actually I'm doing a follow up sleep apnea test tonight. But after that, no more tests!!!!

Footy training for Super rules is on tomorrow night, might be time to pull the boots back on!!

In other news, Mrs Holt Press leaves for Perth tomorrow and early Saturday morning flies to Melbourne for a week to join her family in celebrating her Dad's 90th birthday! That's a big milestone and except for losing his eyesight to macular degeneration and problems he's had with his legs for years he's in pretty good health.

I've recruited Favourite Daughter as chief cook in her Mum's absence, not because of gender, but because of availability. After all, I will have to carry on working while Mrs HP is away partying!

The Blob

I spent the day at Yallingup with the year 8's on their orientation day. I ran team-building games with one half while the others went swimming then swapped over for the second session. Lunch. Ice cream at Simmo's on the way home. A bit of a pep talk about attititude and creating a positive school culture. Home. A good day.

I think the kids enjoyed it too.

Scrabble Club

I took Winchester aka Toni to Scrabble Club tonight. That's what she wants to be called. I don't know why. I laughed every time I had to introduce her. She loves Scrabble but this was Scrabble at a whole new level! Scrabble with strategy and lists of two and three letter words! Scrabble with blocking moves! Scrabble played by experts!




She came away with the realisation there was a lot to learn in order to improve her game, but she said she'll be back next month.


I won all three of my games although I thought I was going to lose the last one, I didn't get in front until the very last turn! Even when I made a 7 letter word, "livings", for a 50 point bonus, Olive hit straight back with "quit" an a triple word score and the Q on a double letter! 66 points coming straight back at me! I was under pressure but was able to make "mickey" and go out to win! Mickey is defined in the official Scrabble dictionary as "slipping something in somebody's drink" from memory.

Rack em Up

The finished article from the project I started yesterday, a rack to hold my paints. The theory being that they will be easier to find like this than hunting around in a crate has been. It's a little rough and ready, not as neat and smooth as if Birchy had made it, but it will do the job.

The tragedy of the Victorian bushfires became a little more personal today. A new student who started at school today came to talk to me this morning. She used to live near Whittlesea and one of her friends died in the fire at Kinglake. As you can imagine she was overwhelmed with sadness and grief. With 130 confirmed dead it is the worst bushfire in Australian history. I fear there may be more bad news in the days ahead.

Sports Update: Spurs drew 0-0 with Arsenal despite the Gooners having only 10 men from the 40th minute mark. A draw is better than a loss but really not good enough in the circumstances. On the plus side, the new signings played well, especially Placiados from Honduras.

Black Sunday

This is a very sad day for all Australians. At least 84 people have been killed by bushfires in Victoria over the last two days after searing conditions have baked the state dry over the last couple of weeks. Many more are feared dead as the ferocity and speed of the fires swept through towns and out-lying suburbs catching many people unaware and unable to escape. Over 650 homes have been destroyed and many of the fires are still burning out of control.
Australia has suffered terrible bushfires many times in our history but this threatens to be the worst bushfire tragedy ever. There was a welcome cool change in Victoria today but the situation is still perilous and each news report brings further bad news and a rising death toll.

We went over to Bridgetown this afternoon to visit Walter who was in hospital. He fell ill a few days ago, vomiting, dizziness etc and initially the Dr couldn't find a cause but when he took his socks off they realised he had an infection as his foot was badly swollen. He hadn't injured it but they suspect it may have entered via his toenail!

So we went to see him at the hospital, only to find he wasn't there! He had gone home this morning. That was good news and sure enough when we went round to see him at their place he seemed quite bright, certainly much more healthy than he had been for the previous few days.

We were also returning Mum's car which we've had here for a couple of months over Summer while our UK guests were here and the older kids have returned home.

Knowing Walter would ask me if I had checked the oil and water I checked under the bonnet before we left. Sure enough it was a bit low on oil so I topped it up. What a shame I forgot to put the oil cap back on!!!! No major harm done other than a lot of oil spread over the front of the engine and the car!!! Sorry Walter!

The third reason for the visit was to deliver all the scrapbooking gear we bought for Mum at a garage sale a few weeks ago, she was thrilled with it and very happy with the price which was well below retail and all of the items were new and unopened.

Finally, I also took another bundle of American badges with me to add to the USA Map quilt Mum had made some years ago. At Christmas I had added several badges in my attempt to have at least one for each of the 50 states. After today's efforts there are only 5-6 states without their own badges. We're missing Alabama, North and South Carolina, North Dakota, Arkansas and New Hampshire as far as I can tell. Mum is headed off to the USA and France on another trip, leaving in March so perhaps she can keep an eye out for badges while she's there. It was good to see them and especially good that Walter was feeling so much better.

Not so good was that Sport Boy felt quite sick on the way home and as is his wont, reminded us of this sad fact every few minutes. Nothing brought much relief until he fell asleep, about 15km from home!!

I've been in a busy and productive phase of late, especially in little jobs outside that involve playing with power tools, aaaarrrr!!!! Having fixed the lizard's tail with wire I put an old jarrah frame around it then added some rusty wire for the finishing touch.

I hung my latest Dashboard beneath one of the windows; it has 16 moving parts or things to play with, making it quite an inter-active piece. And I finally got around to putting up a backboard behind the dart board so that the darts go blunt hitting it rather than going blunt hitting the brickwork. I've begun work on another little project too, a rack for housing all my paint tubes similar to the ones used for display purposes at Bunnings and Jacksons, but made from scrap timber. I even broke out the Triton work bench and the electric plane this arvo, woohoo, aaaarrrr!!!!

10 Stripes.

This is my most recent painting, the one I was working on while sitting at the Esplanade pub last weekend for the Brae Day fundraiser. I'm very happy with it, not least because I painted it on an old canvas I bought at a garage sale for 2 bucks! Hopefully I'll make about a 15,000% profit on it! Or $300! I just checked that figure on a calculator and I think it's right but I really have no idea whether I did the equation correctly! Anyway, what I mean to say is it's for sale for $300! Let me know if you're interested!

As we speak Spurs are playing the old enemy, Arsenal, at White Hart Lane. Glass Dave is recording it for me so I'm resisting the temptation to follow it on the Internet. Although we beat them 5-1 in the Carling Cup last season, Spurs have a lousy league record against the Gooners, having not beaten them in the last 18 attempts!!! Hopefully the return of Robbie Keane from Liverpool and Pascal Chimbonda from Sunderland may inspire a rare victory. I have to avoid the news reports tomorrow morning so I can go round and watch it tomorrow arvo. Come on you Spurs!

What do you call people from Monaco?

Thank goodness it's the end of the working week. Getting back into the routine of working every day was tough!! I've just finished my Friday night shift in the taxi. It was dead as a doornail the first 4 hours then busy the rest of the night. For some reason I got a lot of good tips tonight which helped compensate for the quiet first half. I slept for a couple of hours between finishing at work and starting in the cab; without that I would have really struggled. The irony is that now I don't feel very tired! That won't stop me sleeping in in the morning though.

I rang the ABC late night radio quiz tonight because I knew the reason Peter Daicos was in hospital was that he'd been bitten by a red-bellied black snake, some sort of Essendon revenge for the 1990 Grand Final perhaps? By the time I got on the question was "What are the residents of Monaco known as?" I was the about the 8th person to be stumped by this question; my answer of "Monagolians" was sadly incorrect.
So, do you know? Without Google or any of its poor relations' help that is.
Leave your answer in the comments if you happen to know. I'll be very impressed.

On the subject of Monaco, Somerset Maugham described it as "A sunny place for shady people."

Good News

Stop looking everybody, my camera has been found. The Hair read my blog and rang me at
work to say it was in Mrs Holt Press' car. Mystery solved.

And that means I can post pictures instead of talking about them.

On Sunday The Esplanade Hotel aka The Nade, held a fundraising day for a local boy, Brae Fardella, who was hit by a car on his bike late last year and as a result is now a paraplegic.

Our church, Down South Gospel, which once a month has "Church in the Pub" on a Sunday morning and Christian Surfers were involved in helping out with elling raffle tickets, supervising the auction, running a sausage sizzle etc. As you can see from the newspaper article, Mrs HP, Favourite Daughter and Sport Boy all got their picture in the paper. Glass Dave and DJ were there and bought a number of items in the austion. Mrs HP bought a voucher for a Nutrimetics facial, which I presume was for her.

I donated one of my paintings (pictured) to the auction and it sold for $200. All up they raised nearly $9000 on the day which is a great effort.

You can also see some of the things I've been working on the last few days. I bought a coil of rusty wire at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and these are the results of my first attempts at wire sculpting. The pictures aren't great but in real life they look good and I really like them. One is hanging from the peaked roof, with a light rigged up inside it, the other holds a brass bowl with some tealight candles burning in it. I think they add character to our alfresco dining area (patio)!

I got a few old fence palings from another garage sale and have been turning one into a piece of art I call a "DashBoard". I'm always scrounging around for old, rusty, worn looking odds and ends like door knobs, hinges, gauges, hooks etc etc and have mounted them on the old piece of Jarrah.

It was fun drilling and cutting and attaching all the bits and pieces. I had done a similar one previously and used up most of the old gauges I had so today I went hunting around one of the salvage yards in Busso and found a bucket of rusty old bits and pieces that I thought I could use. They charged me the princely sum of $2.50 for the lot! Little did they know I would transform them into a piece of art that one day could be worth......more than $2.50!

Lost Property

I haven't found my camera.

This is bad news. Not only because I can't find my camera, but also because I can't post the pictures I'd planned. I've looked everywhere I can think of, I guess it's time to look in places I can't think of!

Today I introduced myself to a couple of year 8 classes and entertained them with a selection of my toys and puzzles, a couple of games, and a final thought about attitude and respect. It went well and my office was packed with kids at lunch time playing with stuff.

After school I started work on another creative art project. It's not easy to describe. Hopefully it too will appear in a picture soon!

Best of the Badge Collection

My badge collection is continuing to grow, thanks to the addictive nature of ebay, and the contributions of friends and family. This is my "Special Badges" board with the ones that have the most significance or history or sentimental value. The picture would have one new addition in it, if I could find my camera, I think I left it at work, along with my phone! The new one is a Tottenham badge sent to me by Irish Jayne, a fellow Spurs tragic, who also broke the news to me this morning that Robbie Keane has rejoined Tottenham after a brief and presumably unhappy stay at Liverpool. I'm expecting several more packages in the next week or two, mostly from Great Britain and Europe.

I'm starting to get into work mode at work and had a more productive day today. My role as House Coordinator and Beach Carnival organizer is going to keep me pretty busy this term. Tomorrow I'm visiting a few year 8 classes to introduce myself to the new kids in school and explain my role to them, as well as demonstrating a few of my toys and puzzles.

The lack of camera also means I can't let you see my latest creations. I tried something new tonight, sculpting with rusty wire to make some light shades and I'm very pleased with the results, especially at the first attempt. Hopefully I'll have pictures for tomorrow night.

On the Losing Side X 3

I'm 0/3 from the weekend's big games. Spurs lost 3-2 to Bolton after coming back from 2-0 down to 2-2. Federer lost to Nadal in the tennis after trailing 1-0 and 2-1. And this morning Ben Graham's Arizona Cardinals just failed to win the SuperBowl after coming back from 13 points down to lead with less than a minute to go before Pittsburgh scored the game winning touchdown. Although I'm disappointed for Ben it was a great game, and one of my favourite artists, The Boss, played the famous Half Time Show.

The kids went/came back to school today, now the fun begins.