Getting connected

So we finally got our TV connected downstairs.  Now,  instead of sitting cosily in two office chairs, very close together,  to watch TV in hubby's office, we can now sit like normal people on the couch in the living room. The support and connections leave a little to be desired, but hey, it works!  It also works just as well for nodding off, but I think I will miss the closeness of that little office.

It was just a shame it didn't happened before the BIL left. He was a little confused and rattled since there was no TV to watch while eating in our house.  When he is at home, he is always multitasking amongst watching TV, chatting on Fb or Skype, and maybe also having dinner.

Today we went back to a place that I took the in laws to while they were here. It was the visiting centre of Captain Cook's landing place and also to Cape Solander. The latter is named after the Swedish botanist who came out with Captain Cook on Endeavour. I think I might have mentioned him before. That was all very interesting but the lady in the visitor centre and me both agreed that the one that should have most of the praise should be Mrs Cook. She gave birth to six children and none of them survived to adult age. She coped with everything while hubby was gallivanting around the world performing serious and worthy male tasks.

This young girl obviously needed a good spot for practicing her instrument, even though we could hardly hear it since the surf was drowning out the sound

This is a different view of Sydney seen from Kurnell

Your intrepid scribe at Cape Solander in her oh-so-unsuitable shoes

On Friday, after taking the in laws to the airport, we had a great African dinner at African Feeling in Newtown. This reminded me of the time I went to get some lunch for elder daughter and myself at a local Nigerian restaurant in London when she was busy preparing for a show the next day.  The Nigerian lady had no customers so she said she was going to make us something special.  I sat and watched reality TV with some African men and an hour later the food was ready (no fast food here). I took it home and we opened the containers and started eating.  We were starving! After a few mouthfuls we looked at each other. We just couldn't continue. It turned out it was tripe!!!  It must be an acquired taste. We just couldn't eat it, and I am still sorry for throwing it out, sorry for the Nigerian lady and her effort, and for the starving children in Africa who would probably have loved it.

Feels like summer

Just a little hello and also a comment on remarks I have received about school uniforms. Most people said they liked them and and some thought them a real great idea (mainly men). So there you go, I guess  it is like casual Friday at the office when all the guys wear chinos and polo shirts and loafers, trying to be casual but all looking the same. They seem to feel comfortable like that.  However, nobody seemed to approve of corporal punishment in schools, so that's a relief!

We have the in-laws visiting and so far we have hardly gotten up from the breakfast table but I will now, since it is 12.30,  but only to do lunch. I feel this is going to be a pretty relaxed visit.

Continuation from yesterday. After a leisurely lunch that finished at three we decided to go for a drive down to Bundeena, a place that we previously were very tempted to settle in.  Thank goodness we don't live there because I couldn't find it, or at least not intentionally. We did accidentally find signs for it,  after having driving around for ages, but by then we only had time to whizz down there and leave again. We didn't even get out of the car since we had to pick up hubby again from work. We had managed to fit in a visit to the Woronora dam but that was only because I thought we had to see something at least. No one was very impressed though, but hubby now wants to go because he likes dams?!

So today we are going into Sydney, maybe for a harbour cruise but only if there is no wind; if there is, we'll do something else.   The weather is fantastic at the moment, it almost feels like summer, certainly a Swedish summer.

This hurts me more than it hurts you!

Every where you go here in Australia, you see these cute kids in school uniforms. The uniforms are all different depending on the school they go to and also depending on the season. There is a winter uniform and a summer uniform. The hats are also different depending on the school and season.

These boys are clearly in 

I had a very interesting conversation with hubby in the car today about school uniforms. Of course he went to a school where you had to have one and he seems to be all for it. In fact he sees it as something very practical, in that you don't have to chose every morning what to wear, you just hop into the same old trousers and shirt and blazer if you are a boy. Of course if you are a girl it is a skirt instead of trousers.

But... even though it is a uniform you can jazz it up a bit. You can wear the jacket inside out. Or like hubby and friends did, they soaked their caps in hot water to make them shrink so that they had only a silly little cap perched on top of the head without any real purpose - a pimple on a pumpkin. There were very strict rules about when and where you can take of your blazer, and when you must wear your caps.

If you are a girl you can hoist your skirt up and make it into a real mini skirt. You can also do things with your ties, in fact having a uniform gives endless possibilities to invent fashion. I am almost envious, since I went to a Swedish school and no one has uniforms in Sweden, at least not to my knowledge. It would go against the national grain, seeming to inflict a rule about something as personal as your clothes on somebody, that would just not be acceptable.

Sometimes when we compare notes, hubby and me, on our childhoods and growing up, you wonder if we lived in the same universe. For example he told me that he sometimes "got the cane" for some mischief that he had been up to. The last time was when he was 17, and we are talking about "six of the best", on the bottom, with a wooden cane; needless to say I was horrified. Sweden is one of the first countries,  if not the first, where hitting children became illegal, over 50 years ago. There is also an ombudsman who looks after children's interest.  In Victorian public schools, however, corporal punishment only became illegal in 2006!

One problem with uniforms though is that they do tend to cost a bit and if you have a growing spurt in the middle of term you might be told by your headmaster, as was the case with hubby, "Why don't your shoes have a party and invite your trousers down?"  So for the rest of the term he had to wear knee socks and shorts in the middle of winter.  Still he has such fond memories of school that it seems churlish to act shocked and het up about it.

I have been present once though, when my grandmother, bless her, who looked after me and my sister, was at her wit's end and was going to discipline my sister by smacking her bottom with a hairbrush. The brush part flew off its handle and almost broke some ornament and we all three got such a surprise that we couldn't stop giggling, in fact it was one of those "laughing until your belly aches" moment. So much for discipline....with the back of a hair brush!  It became one of our favorite stories when we were thinking back on incidents involving our grandmother after she passed away.

Here is my grand mother with my sister and me, but the above incident was much later.

A fun-packed first week

Amazing! I have already been back in Sydney for more than a week; time does fly when you are having fun!

And I have had fun even though it was with very mixed feelings that I left Sweden and my elderly mother. To think that it was only two years ago that she was with us here in Sydney.

The fun started last weekend which was Father's Day, and only son came out to our neck of the woods for the weekend and took us out on Sunday for a pub lunch which we all enjoyed.

Then it was starting up painting class again with a workshop on Thursday. Great to see the girls again!

Friday we went to a cocktail party at the CruisingYacht Club of Sydney in Rushcutters Bay for hubby's school reunion. It was mainly white-haired men in dark suits reminiscing about old teachers and school in general.

There were a few speeches of course and lovely nibbles and drinks. However, what really became abundantly clear was that schools here in Australia judge their success on their sports results and less, much less, on academic results. In fact, not once were academic results mentioned but everyone seemed to remember who made that winning goal in 198....something!

On Saturday we went to the Sydney Country Music Festival held in Bella Vista.  Since we have not been to music festivals for ages we didn't think to bring something to sit on so we had to wander around and sometimes sit down on tree roots, when our legs started to tremble.

We also came back regularly to the bar where there were seats and cold beer!!! and a Brazilian barbecue. The temperature got up to over +30°C so much beer was needed. Don't worry, it was low-alcohol beer since this was a family affair. In fact during the concert the security guards circulated in the audience and asked to see what was in their picnic baskets (checking for alcohol) What cheek, I thought at first, but I guess they don't want people to be drunk and disorderly or drive home under the influence.

My clear favorites were Justin Frew and the Wolverines and Chelsea Basham from WA but we also liked a few of the other female singers but I can't remember their names.

Oh, let's not forget, Saturday was also the day that Australia went to the ballots and hubby was able to vote for the first time in over 35 years.

The results started coming in when we were driving back from the festival and Australia now has a right-wing government. Hmmm, let's see how that works out.