Well Teacher Mum is out tonight having dinner with five men she met on the Internet, Tris is asleep in bed and Elliott is somewhere north of here, sleeping over. I guess I’m feeling a bit lonely really. So I thought I’d write to you, who’s, errr… away for a year! Ahh well, there’s always the dog. He’s not much company though. Upside down in the lounge, legs rudely apart, snoring his head off.

It’s soooo cold here at the moment. In fact it was the coldest Sydney morning today for decades. Three degrees centigrade might not exactly be freezing, or even as cold as you were in England, but I could see Monte’s breath on our morning walk which is cold enough for me. Actually it was some 8°C below average, so hopefully this cold snap won’t last and we can get back to the dizzy heights of 11°C soon. Areas of the Western Suburbs did drop below freezing overnight and one woman even rang breakfast radio to announce both her bird baths were frozen!

Hey! Presumably you’ve heard…? NO, not that England are out of the World Cup cheated by a useless ref who couldn’t see an elephant if it was walking on top of him… No, I’m talking about Julia our new Prime Minister. I’m rather glad about this actually. Ruddy had not only lost the support of most of his Labor party but worse still, he’d pretty much lost the support of the whole country too. I think Julia can now win the next election for Labor and her appointment seems (by the polls anyway) to have been a very popular change to most people. The election will of course be held later this year some time so I guess we’ll have to organise a postal vote for you.

With Julia’s appointment as PM, some areas of Sydney now have the ‘full house’ with a woman in the top job in every hierarchical position from Local Lord Mayor, through to Sydney Lord Mayor (Clover Moore) through to State MP, through to State Premier (Kristina Keneally) through to Federal MP, through to Prime Minister (Julia Gillard) through to Governor of New South Wales (Marie Bashir) and up to and including the Governor-General (Ms Quentin Bryce). You could of course take it another stage forward and include the Queen or perhaps back a stage, and include the wife! Certainly this country though is at last acknowledging how capable women are and giving them the opportunities that could only be dreamt of by Emily Pankhurst (above), the English Political activist and leader of the Women’s Suffragette movement, back in 1903. Her commitment was an inspiration which climaxed in the ultimate cry for change namely throwing, and killing herself, under the King’s racehorse. She’d be pleased that her sacrifice began this change but probably saddened that it has taken so long.

The Government’s own website reports that ‘Today, women make up just over half of Australia’s total population. More women than men are now educated at secondary schools and universities, and more women than men graduate from university with bachelor degrees. In 2006, women accounted for 54.8 per cent of all tertiary education students.’

With more and more women now being appointed to corporate boards and some becoming excellent CEOs of major companies, Gail Kelly, Chief of Westpac comes to mind, we can be sure of if nothing else of a more balanced future. Some may argue further still and suggest that with women in the driving seat we might even get there sooner too. So ’twas then that last Wednesday many schoolgirls around the country rejoiced in unison as Julia’s appointment was announced. Regardless of politics, this sent a loud and clear message that women can without doubt go as far as their drive can take them. Over to you Miss Alice…

: D

Life ticks along here still, pretty much as you’d remember it. Below are a few snapshots taken this week on my soon to be updated iPhone. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version… assuming you want to that is. Captions below.

1.  2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

1. Rainy – It’s finally stopped raining at last, so I’ve cancelled the building of the ark and we’re going to renovate the kitchen instead.

2. Doggy – Walking the dog is definitely more pleasurable now. Arriving home soaked through was getting fairly tedious, for both of us.

3. Kooky – Still coming up with mad embarrassing ideas. Teacher Mum likes this one though… it’s encouraging me to cook more she says. I thought I might do a ‘MarjorieChef’ one for Grandma’s Christmas present, what d’ya think?

4. Sporty – Tris is still Sports and Lamborghini mad. He’s just texted me to say he was first in the 100 metres at his sports carnival today. Must be the ‘go faster’ Skins. He drew 1–1 in his football yesterday (Yes Monday) and played really well. Off to watch Sydney FC play Manly United tonight in their first warm-up game – not that there’ll be anything warm about it. He’s currently building a Lamborghini out of Lego. Not a kit, but instead just using pieces from the box. His creativity never ceases to amaze.

5. Environmentally – The recycling continues to build up on a weekly basis into sculpture-like constructions. Eventually Mum’s quite legitimate nagging becomes even more painful than simply taking it out and it all disappears.

6. Footy – Getting up at 4.30am to watch the World Cup is proving hard. The most painful bit is that it’s usually only about 5°C and even the dog wants to be wrapped up in a doona. I think Australia have lost me for their next game, but I will still get up for England’s though.

Steph came for dinner on Sunday, and then slept over in your bed. (Sorry, no photos of that. I thought she might think it too weird.) She had a little visitor during the night… No… It was Monte silly. He does like to get in there if the door is left open and he’s asked me several times now ‘in doggy language’ whether he can have your room. I’ve said no, but he still persists. Mum even bought him an ugly plastic bed that lights up in the dark with static electricity everytime he moves. But despite this comfort he still prefers to try and get into your room for some reason.

Lots of love : D

This morning I went all English. I began with a McVities Digestive biscuit and a cup of PG Tips in bed. Later I had a poached egg on toast with Marmite, bacon and Worcester sauce before a final slice of toast topped with Frank Coopers marmalade. Thankfully all these products are readily available in Sydney; were they not, I’m not sure what I’d do. You’d probably be posting me food parcels for a start. Having lived in England for thirty years, it’s not unreasonable to develop certain tastes and, like my accent, I have found these remain hard-wired even after twenty-two years of living as an ex-pat. Your brothers however much prefer Vegemite to Marmite and think Worcester sauce to be the most disgusting way to kill good bacon. How are your Australian taste buds going living in the Motherland? I can’t believe there’s any Australian staples you’ll be craving for… Lamingtons maybe?

So Elliott and his school team are through to the grand final of the NSW Theatre Sports Competition. We’ve booked our tickets at the Enmore Theatre and are all really looking forward to attending. He’s out again today, acting in a school movie. He modestly enlightened us last night that he and a few others have been selected to perform in the final of the 2010 Shakespeare Festival next week. What with this and the lead in the Year 10 play, he’s a busy boy. On the downside though, he once again blew out his mobile phone bill which came in this month at $95 instead of the anticipated $30. One call was $45 alone, mobile to mobile for an hour… err, hello! The home phone would have costed him zip! Must be the testosterone swirling around his body at the moment and squeezing out of his top lip that switched off his brain.

The Tris monkey had his football cancelled for a third week in a row yesterday despite the sun shining all day. At this rate the new Skins will be too small before he actually gets to wear them! The pitches are very waterlogged from all the rain we’ve had. It’s a good job the World Cup is not being held in Sydney as all the grounds would be shut! He’s very taken with the new Apple iPad and has been playing games and reading on it. Incredibly he actually asks to go to bed so he can read his book The Homework Machine on it. I too am reading on it, the US magazine, Wired, and given the digital version is also interactive (including the ads) it makes for a much better reading experience than it’s paper counterpart. As the Editor of Wired puts it: “The irony that ‘Wired’, a magazine founded to chronicle the digital revolution, has traditionally come to you each month on the smooshed atoms of dead trees is not lost on us…” Personally, I think the death knell is sounding loud and clear for printed magazines and newspapers. They will rapidly go the way film did once digital cameras became cheap abundant and seemingly the norm. Maybe printed matter will take a bit longer, as there will still be a demand from the older generations (Grandma would use a digital camera but not an iPad) but mark my words… the writing is on the ‘virtual’ wall.

Teacher Mum has applied to speak at some conference or other. She has put together several workshops and published a second blog, Techie Brekkie so we’ll see how she goes. Last week she presented to all the K–12 staff at school about ‘Blogging in the classroom’ which was very well received apparently. The Headmistress wants to meet with her next week to discuss the subject further in fact. Techie Brekkie is basically a blog of Mum’s fortnightly breakfast sessions she presents to the staff, on the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. The aim is to teach, encourage and help them grow as teachers. Her buzz word this year is ‘collaboration’. It would be an understatement to just say she is ‘enjoying’ this new found passion. Needless to say, I support her with this journey of discovery one hundred percent. I like to think she still needs me from time to time (technically that is), but her knowledge of all things digital is progressing at an exciting rate of knots. Thankfully though, she still can’t play football, so I’m always the parent of choice for Sunday afternoon entertainment by Tristan. Mum’s job description clearly ought to read so much more than ‘classroom teacher’ these days, but this is what she enjoys most of course. So, she continues on, doing far too much for too little pay and often getting very tired as a result. But she’s an amazing woman (something I’d worked out within hours of meeting her) and so perseveres with this conundrum… for the time being. She misses you… as of course do I.

Love : D

Short of time at the moment due to a lot of work arriving on my desk in much the same way London buses have a habit of turning up – but I always have time for you… though I will need to be brief.

Last week Teacher Mum and I went to the opening night of Cats at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre in Star City. It was much more acrobatic than the last version we saw, but equally enjoyable nonetheless. We had also been invited to the after party in the Grand Ballroom which, as Teacher Mum is TS Eliot royalty, we had to attend. Whether TS Eliot would have approved of the three scantily clad, gyrating female DJs, dressed in sexy lingerie is, well… questionable. Personally though, I thought them very talented. The Cats audience consisted of an alarming number of women wearing leopard skin print clothing. I couldn’t work out whether this was a poor fashion statement, or just lame girlie humour. The other two noticeably large group types observed by me while people watching at the interval were, couples of gay men, and mothers with their ten-year-old daughters. And yes, Mum did see some girls she knew.

Rodent Boy, after a blistering start to the school year powering through Bronze, Silver and already nearly reaching his Gold Merit award had a minor set-back this week when he got a detention. Minor misdemeanours had unfortunately accumulated the required demerits, which therefore qualified him for a little extended stay at school tonight. Elliott having never had a detention was quick to retalitate the sibling scorn shown recently by Tristan following the announcement of his inclusion in the Football A team, something he was very well aware Elliott had failed to achieve when he was in Year 5. Oh the joys of parenthood!

The weather here has been wet, wet, windy and wet. All football has been cancelled, including training, making for one very grumpy ten-year-old boy who has been stomping around the house bored and angry. In an inspired move, Mum bought him FIFA World Cup for Wii and this virtual football appears to have temporarily quenched his thirst to play the real game. He is noticably excited about the upcoming World Cup though, as of course am I.

Elliott has thankfully recovered now from his recent ‘Man Cold’. If you want to see what he has been like to live with, watch the video below. Actually watch it anyway as it will prepare you for what you can expect from any future male partner when they are unwell.

Love : D

This week Tristan (Mr10) stepped up a notch in his quest for sporting supremacy. Firstly, on Monday as the last EPL highlights show of the season was about to begin, he confided in me that he now really likes watching football not just playing it. This weekend both his club and school sides won important games and he has since dragged me up to Melwood Oval twice now (in full kit) to practice his shooting. These sessions always finish the same way, namely with him taking a penalty, the scoring of which, will result in his school/club/Arsenal winning the game and therefore the league. If by chance I should save it, or in the unlikely event he misses, his commentary continues along the lines of… “… brilliant save from the keeper, but oh no, what’s this? The ref wants it retaken… one of the players must have infringed on the box… the pressure this boy is under now… I can hardly watch.” He then spits (of course) and calmly steps up and sends the crowd into raptures as I inextricably go the wrong way!

Listening to him jabber on like this I find really rather amusing, as I too played many a ‘commentary game’ with my football mates when I was his age. I was always playing for the mighty Leeds United and frankly, as I remember it, without me they would never have won anything.

Commentating out loud, or silently in our heads, is quite common in males apparently. Adam Spencer was only discussing the subject on the radio recently. Men will, if simply walking up the street, invariably commentate on their ‘sensational performance’ as they duck and weave ‘racing’ against all comers. The innocent people being overtaken have no idea they are even in a race let alone that they just lost the Gold medal to the up and coming Pavement World Champion. That’s just one example of course, but it’s clear that men and boys tend to apply this to everything and anything they do, no matter how mundane the task. It probably stems from our overactive male competitiveness. Make it a competition and we will always apply ourselves like crazed animals.

The highlight of Tristan’s weekend was shopping for his first pair of Skins. Overpriced bike shorts that promise extraordinary ‘dynamic gradient compression’ to expedite muscle recovery following strenuous activity. That’s the science. The fact is though that his friends have them and he sees professional sportsmen wearing them, so he just has to have them doesn’t he? Even if they do cost $80. This outing proved quite expensive as he also needed new trainers. Needless to say, the only ones he wanted and ‘felt good’ were the most expensive child trainers available. These Asics Gel Kayano 16s with Duomax technology for support and stability, promise to do for his feet what the Skins will allegedly do for his legs. All I know is they were 30% dearer than my New Balance 608s.

So, I look forward to watching him play next weekend. Sport is clearly becoming an ever increasing important part of his life (he also made the long jump team this week) and so I have no qualms at supporting him and paying for this equipment. It may be debatable how much the physical properties will improve his performance, but it should not be underestimated how important it is to also massage the psychological side of his game.

: Dad

Last weekend following dinner at an authentic Chinese restaurant in China town, Teacher Mum and I relived our youth at the Sydney Entertainment Centre by watching Spandau Ballet in concert. It was a highly significant event for us as this was the band we saw on our first ‘real’ date back in 1982. Despite only recently returning from skiing in Italy where we’d met, it was already becoming clear to both of us that this might be more than just a ‘holiday romance’. I was even beginning to think that this relationship might have the potential to go the distance. Sharp perception indeed, given twenty-eight years on, we’re still together. Spandau’s ‘True’ quickly became (and still is) ‘our song’ and therefore so we couldn’t wait to see them in Brighton where we were both living at the time. Last Sunday as Big Tony, who might have had a face lift and was almost certainly wearing a corset, powerfully belted it out ‘once more’ [Spandau pun], it was as if he was again singing it just for us… Now at this point, you are probably almost gagging with nausea at the very thought of your parents getting all lovey-dovey, so I wont go into detail of how we hugged and kissed throughout the song, but suffice to say, it was lovely and a very special moment. In fact it was almost the perfect night.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking, a load of old fat ‘has-beens’ forced to reform by their bank manager only to then perform substandard renditions of all their old hits to cashed-up baby boomers keen to relive bygone times. But you’d be wrong. This was actually a very polished performance by a bunch of guys who were clearly enjoying themselves and wanted to be there. They were actually extremely good, in fact I would go as far as to say that they were probably better than ever. The new arrangements of many of their thirty-year-old songs was excellent and it is perhaps testament to the quality of this music that all the songs still sounded as fresh and relevant today as they did back then. It was great to see that Tony Hadley’s smooth, timeless voice and the song-writing talents of Gary Kemp still shine on as brightly as ever.

I expect you are also wondering if I’ve met them? Well yes I have. Not that they would remember though. Tony and Gary used to work in the warehouse at IPC Magazines in Sutton, London when I worked there too. It was common knowledge around the building that these two blokes might make it big one day. I remember standing behind them in the canteen queue one day and thinking that if they ever did get famous, I be able to tell my kids how I once worked with them. Well there you go… I’ve done just that!

Next day your brother (Mr15) asked Teacher Mum if she’d enjoyed the ‘Spanish Ballet’! Ah well… nice of him to ask I guess!

: D

Remember this? (pic right) Can you believe it’s been a year since we were photographing Camellia flowers and Lobsters? Seems only a few months ago to me. The former are now once again in full fantastic bloom and, as usual, falling off the tree almost immediately they open. Not sure I understand why they do this, as it seems to fly in the face of nature.

Life is chuffing along here, although Elliott has a small cold but acting like he has pneumonia, Mum has some random ‘Dry Mouth Syndrome’ probably associated with menopause, but Tris and I remain lurgy free : ) Just as well really, as he has three football matches in three days this weekend. Two on Saturday, one early for school (trial game) and then the huge top of the table clash with Brookvale at 11.30am. As Monday is a public holiday (ANZAC Day) he also has another club game against Pittwater then.

Nothing on your blog yet about your travels? Looking forward to seeing something. Thanks for visiting Tris’ blog, he was very excited to see a comment from you. Much of Elliott’s energy at the moment is going into ‘Scram’. It’s best described as debating meets drama – maybe you know of it? He seems to like it very much and is enjoying competing against other schools.

I have rung your insurance company about your claim for getting stuck in Europe. There was much talk here about some insurance companies not paying out due to it being an Act of God. Absolute nonsense of course, we all know it wasn’t God to blame… but in fact promiscuous women! (See here for the proof).

Basically your insurance company suggested to me that if your claim meets all the criteria set out in the policy (which it should) then they will pay compensation. You will need to download and print out the claim form (click here) as you have to sign it. Once signed, please send it to me together with a list of what you are claiming for and the original receipts. The policy says that only original receipts will be accepted, however if there is a reason why you cannot send the original try to get a Justice of the Peace or maybe your employer to sign the photocopy saying they have sighted the original and this is a true copy. We can then explain why the original could not be sent and that should be okay.

Obviously you are best off trying to get a full refund for anything your carriers could not provide to you. If no refund is available however, then you may claim on the insurance but you will need a letter from either the airline, carrier or travel agent whichever is the most relevant, stating that they are NOT paying you a refund. This should be sought without delay. Failure to get this letter/written confirmation will mean you cannot claim for this particular ‘cancellation’ as the insurance company won’t know whether you have received a refund or not. You will obviously be claiming for your revised travel plans and accommodation as a result of your original flight being cancelled. Just set out in list form, dates, times and what was incurred and make sure a receipt for all expenditure is provided, including food of course. Basically the more documentation, the better. Once I have everything, I will fill in your claim form and handle this for you but I will only get as far as the ‘data’ you provide me. If you need advice or help with what to send, don’t hesitate to email or call. One more thing, make sure your package is sent to me as ‘registered post’ ie so that it requires a signature this end. It’s probably not a bad idea to also photocopy everything you are posting too.

Love : D

Pleased to hear this morning that you’ve made it safely back to your school. On the plus side, at least you’ve ended up seeing more of Europe than you originally planned to, even if it was at the expense of much inconvenience on your part. Uncle Andy tweeted “All these British people stranded in Europe; how about we do a Dunkirk and send over all the little boats for them?” Ha ha ha, but in reality I should imagine not many people are laughing about this volcanic eruption? Certainly not the airlines who, according to the International Air Transport Association, are losing more than $200 million per day in revenue.

It’s been a very quiet week here as Elliott is away on some Youth Camp in the Blue Mountains. So just our ‘not so’ little Tris to keep us on our toes. This week he attended the school football camp and came home very pink and sweaty every afternoon. At the end of the week he was awarded ‘Best and Fairest Junior Player’ so it seems he probably got a lot out of it. He certainly enjoyed himself and that’s the main thing. Yesterday Mum and I watched his second club game of the season, which they won 3-1. A scrappy affair and not particularly pretty to watch, they played a fairly good side that included his old friend Luke. Tristan’s coach is stuck in London waiting for a plane home, but his spirits were lifted to hear that his young charges continue to remain unbeaten in his absence.

Also this week Tristan (sorry he’s the only child here) began a blog. This now means Elliott is the only one in the family not blogging to the world. Heavily encouraged by Teacher Mum, and to a lesser degree by me, he has gone from an outright “No way!” (it sounded like hard work I think) to becoming almost as fanatical as his mother is about blogging. You can view his pride and joy here. Once you’ve checked it out, please make sure you leave him a comment on the latest post. He checks his ‘Flag Counter’ every waking hour and reports back enthusiastically on any new ‘views’ from around the world. He has lots of ideas for ‘interesting content’ that he plans to include, so do check back regularly and always leave him a comment.

I’ll leave you with a couple of ‘Dad’ jokes to cheer you up. You can tell them to your students when they are feeling homesick.

A horse goes into a bar and the bartender says ‘Hey buddy, why the long face?

A magician was driving down the road… then he turned into a driveway.

: D

Hope you enjoyed Scandinavia. The only Swedish I know is how to order breakfast. I was taught this by The Two Ronnies in 1978 and have never forgotten it. ‘Have you any eggs and ham?’ translates to ‘F  U  N  E  X  N  M ?’ ha ha ha. British comedy in the 70s – you had to be there. As I write this, I understand from an excited Teacher Mum (having just got a text from you), that you are about to fly to Poland. Have a safe trip and I look forward to hearing all about the Auschwitz tour, something I’ve always wanted to do myself.

This week as you know Teacher Mum flew to Melbourne for a week long conference with a whole bunch of like-minded Teacher Mums and Dads from around Australia. Here they spent the week exhaustively sharing knowledge and inspiring each other for the common good. Unfortunately I distracted her somewhat on Wednesday by turning up ‘out of the blue’ at 6pm to take her out to dinner. She had a prior engagement, so sadly it didn’t end up being the romantic meal for two I’d originally planned for, on what was her scheduled ‘night off’. I left the following morning after breakfast and have decided never to surprise her again. She made it quite clear that she would rather have known I was coming which rather deflated me somewhat. Ah well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, I even bought a whole new outfit and had a haircut. I guess I was really missing her. Be warned A, love makes people do unexpected crazy things.

She’s back in Sydney now but out again tonight as Amanda’s guest at the theatre for the opening night of Fox. This classic children’s picture book by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks has been brought to life with opera apparently. Sounds like a winner… Not!

Teacher Mum was quite ‘popular’ at the conference (why am I not surprised?) and so it was probably inevitable that she would get on a microphone at some point. Sure enough, on the last day Steve Collis a wonderful multi award-winning teacher asked Mum to tell her story in order that she might inspire others. A 1000 kilometres away in Sydney, after getting a tweet and link from her, I was able to stream it live and watch as well. Not that you can see her, well apart from her hand that is. But you can hear her and that is all that matters. I recorded her nervous, but impassioned description of the journey so far, and you can now enjoy it too by clicking play on the movie below.

Mum’s blog Classroom Chronicles

Lots of love : D

Before going on, enjoy this two minute slideshow I’ve put together to celebrate Mum’s birthday.

Dear Alice,

Happy Easter! On Good Friday we headed down to Cockle Bay Wharf (all four of us!) to celebrate Teacher Mum’s birthday. After first watching Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the IMAX, we then had lunch at one of the restaurants nearby. The weather was just lovely and apart from the boys squabbling all through the meal, it was really quite enjoyable. From me for her birthday, she received the top of the range ‘Goddess’ hair straightener and another yet to be revealed present which she will get next week once it arrives. I have to say, that following a session with said hair straightener prior to going out to lunch, Mum’s hair, and consequently herself, looked absolutely fabulous and I could barely believe she was the age her birth certificate would suggest. Watching Alice the movie was really quite strange, mainly due to the uncanny likeness between you, and actress Mia Wasikowska who plays the on-screen Alice. Given that you are also related (albeit fairly distantly), to the Red Queen, Helena Bonham-Carter, it really made for quite a bizarre movie experience. I found myself constantly analysing Mia’s performance in much the same way that I might have reflected on yours. At times it really was as if I was watching you! Yes, you have a slightly rounder face than Mia, but her mannerisms and the way she just ‘looks at people’ are also very similar to you. Anyway people, for those of you who may not have seen the film yet and, or don’t know our Alice, here are some photos. You be the judge.

: D