No Rest for the Wicked, and Other One Act Plays

Where to start… Apologies to all whom I have neglected to catch up with of late. Alot has been happening… mostly good and interesting things. I went back to work on 7th April to begin our 12 week Term. Wooh! Gotta love 12 week Terms. However, we are already 16.66% through and time is flying faster than I’d like to think.

So… an update of what’s been happening hey? Well over the holidays Sister Nell, Dad, and Josh came to visit which was great fun for me. I think it was hard work for them… Check out the photos of Sister Nell & Dad’s handy work on her blog (link is to your right somewhere). We painted, cleaned, built, sanded, filled, screened, gardened and stripped like there was no tomorrow (Lino… not our clothes)… A few moments of R&R were enjoyed also though… Fishing out at the Anabranch (an off-shoot of the Burdekin River) was a highlight. So peaceful. Some fish were caught as were several Turtles. The legendary Barra remain exactly that… legendary.

After the visitors embarked on their (return) 23 hour train journey I spent the next day or so panicking about school. Did stuff all work during the break so had to pull a few late ones in week one. Arrived at school to the nice surprise of a slightly reduced load for this Term… I have an extra 3 hours per week of release time that was not available in Term 1 so that was a welcome change. Current focus is preparing a rather diminutive school band to march on Anzac Day next Friday… We are playing Colonel Bogey March. It’s all sounding very sluggish at present but I’m hopeful it will all come together. It usually does. Otherwise, have been concentrating on trying to enjoy teaching… the best bits (by far) are those that one actually spends teaching people stuff.

Hmm what else… am hoping to organise travel plans for the next holidays. Aiming to visit both Melbourne and Brisbane. Looking forward to seeing those I haven’t seen for a while (and those I have seen in a while!) Was all excited about doing a house-sitting holiday but subsequently decided that it is all too stressful and annoying to organise.

Charters Towers (sometimes called “Charlie’s Trousers”) has been fairly quiet of late, save for the 50 metre road trains that pop past every 30 mins or so each night. Not much news around the town. Country Music Festival starts in about 2 weeks. Did a bit of a clean-up in the yard this morning… Tip run with the (old) kitchen floor and a Ute load of sticks and branches. Once again I need to mow the stupid lawn… I’d swear someone must be secretly watering it. Went into Townsville today and bought a quilt cover set for my bed, some slippers (Yes it actually feels cold in the mornings!)  and also 4 pairs of socks… I seem to be losing more socks as I age. I hope this trend does not continue.

Finally… I know over-analytical crazies such as myself pay way too much attention to real-estate trends… but as at least 4.7% of my blog audience are similarly minded, I must share the following:

Mar 2006: Dep Principal purchases 5br house (Charters Towers) for $170K

Feb 2007: Sad to be selling so soon, but tidy profit selling at $225K

Fridays Newspaper: Same house on market… asking price $419,500

OGT? We did not find any slithering creatures when loading the old lino and masonite into the Ute this morning… We now assume that our slithering  friend has moved onto greener pastures… I’m sure soon we’ll stop sleeping with a shovel under our pillows Just kidding