House Guests, A Flood and ANZAC Day

With all the chaos of the past few weeks, the BA's random comment regarding an invitation to her boyfriend's parents had kind of passed me by.

Here in Australia, it is the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli during the First World War.  The ANZAC spirit was conceived and birthed at Gallipoli and the media is saturated by documentaries, dramas and news reports detailing the preparations for the centenary celebrations on the shore of Turkey, half a world away.

Here in Adelaide, the 7th RAR will march through the city in the commemorative ANZAC Day Parade and the BA's long time boyfriend (an Army man), will be in the thick of it. His parents drove from his home town in the countryside of New South Wales, to watch their son march and the BA thought they may as well stay with us.

The fact that I have only met these people once, for 5 minutes, two years ago, is neither here nor there.

Nevertheless, I was keen to welcome them. The BA and Army Boy have been going out together for over two years now and she has spent a number of holidays over with his family. On the first occasion, she returned in tears. Army Boy's family were the antithesis of our dysfunctional mess. The BA felt very welcomed and loved. So when Baz and Kazza (not their real names) arrived, I was determined to make them welcome.

Here they all are, with a set of grandparents. What a nice family.

They were installed in the downstairs double room, complete with its own ensuite and wardrobe.

At 5.30pm, as they showered and changed ready to meet Army Boy for dinner, Kazza came upstairs to me and  asked somewhat sheepishly,
"Do you have a plunger?"
It turned out that the shower had flooded. When I went downstairs to check things out and decided to flush the toilet for good measure, the water levels rose to the top of the bowl!! Clearly we were in need of a plumber.

The following morning saw a trail of tradesmen. I had already booked the gas repairman and the arborist but here now we had a plumber, and eventually another plumber,  with a camera! Suffice to say the news was all bad. It seems the downside of our beautiful gum trees is invasive roots in the sewers. On a happy (and unrelated) note, the gas wall heater, which has stood unused for 9 years, was repaired easily with a new solenoid costing a third of the quoted price! That was, however,  the only good news of the day. The plumbing quote for repair of the sewer: $4500.00

Nevertheless we had a lovely weekend with our house guests. We walked in the Gorge, cooked together (well, they cooked, I looked on in awe) and ate out in the beautiful Adelaide Hills in Autumn.  Due to another open inspection, I missed the Parade but the rain held off for photos. Back to the battle front of school now....

 He's somewhere in the front few rows...

Time For A Change Or Two

This is a little chart I prepared this evening upon receiving our gas bill. The gaps are the bills that are in the tax archives (need to retrieve and add to the total picture) but you get the general idea...

Partially this upward movement has been the result of price hikes, particularly the electricity component which has been affected by our soon to be late-lamented carbon tax. The gas bill on the other hand relates to two significant 'improvements' in lifestyle.

At the end of winter 2011 we installed a gas heater. Bliss! Joy!! No longer was one knee roasting and the other ice cold as we huddled against an electric bar heater.

Now let us examine the gargantuan LEAP in gas usage as we hit 2013:
Exhibit A.

When the spa was installed, the technician assured us that it cost around 16c per hour to heat.
I am now of the belief that he is probably delusional.

So that is change number one for Himself. No more gratuitous heating of the spa, for his own hedonistic wallowing, every third night, without the benefit of some form of insulation.
If he does wish to continue this extravagant practice, he can consider doing it on a single income.
I'm actually not kidding here.

The second big change for all of us is the result of last Saturday's General Distraction, I mean Election.  We have a new Prime Minister and a new Government. Most interestingly we have a bunch of total nutcase losers holding the balance of power in the Senate! Three cheers for democracy and the stupidity of the general population.

This could be the reason.....

That's our Senate ballot paper. Trees died for this farcical attempt at proportional representation. In the polling booth it extended up one wall, across the desk area and up the next wall. No, really, it did. There were 73 candidates who hailed from parties as revered as: The Australian Motor Enthusiasts Party, The Shooters and Fishers Party, The Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party (HEMP),  The Climate Sceptics Party, The Smokers Rights Party and the Australian Sex Party. Not only did a kangaroo poo flinging representative from the Australian Motor Enthusiasts Party get himself elected with no less than 11390 votes (0.5% of the primary), but this gentleman was elected because his Party (The Liberal Democrats) was the first Liberal type party on the paper and were thus, seemingly, mistaken for the major mainstream Liberal Party by large numbers of punters in a hurry to get out of the polling booth and into the beautiful spring sunshine.

As one clever pundit quipped, "He was elected on a platform of 'people not looking very closely at their voting papers'!"

The gentleman in question, who is also a card carrying member of the Outdoor Recreation Party (??? having visions of nudists frolicking around a BBQ here!!), managed a massive 283,000 votes which is probably 280,000 more than he deserved - but there you go, he will be one of possibly 8 cross bench representatives controlling the balance of power in the Senate. Not surprisingly, there has been a general frothing at the mouth and gnashing of teeth - along with cries of 'electoral reform!' ringing around the halls of power (ie the bars where all the media types enjoy their communal talkfests). But really, you've got to wonder....I mean....The Brick With Eyes for goodness sakes????

On a cheerful note, those of us who felt that neither of the major parties had anything resembling a compassionate, humanitarian approach to the problem of refugees being exploited by people smugglers, mounted a minor protest by 'folding our votes like a boat'. No mean feat considering the size of that Senate Ballot paper!