Saturday, October 29

We had our training session yesterday for the work at the Exams, with all the familiar faces fronting up for another year.  Some people are certainly getting old and I wonder how long they will last.  However, they love the extra cash they will earn and the chance to feel useful again.  Or, at least, that's how we feel.

Marilyn finished her stint with the Council election count yesterday; she completed 27 hours and she enjoyed it so much, I think she would have done it for nothing. 

The exams start on November 8th; between us, we have 14 sessions which will keep us busy. 

Friday, October 28

 We're rushing out the door this morning again. Marilyn has been asked to do another half day at the election counting and I have my Poetry group.  We need to be at Launceston College for a training session in the early afternoon as well so life remains busy.

I might try and write a little more about our day when we finally get back home.

Thursday, October 27

There's nothing particular in our lives to celebrate today. Marilyn is happy to be gong off to work but al I have to do is have my eyes checked and my hearing aid adjusted.  Oh, that it's come to this!

One bit of good news is that a juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit has set a world record with a 13,560 Km continuous flight from Alaska to Tasmania.  It took him (her?) 11 days and one hour.  In reading the details of the flight, I find that the bird did not fly alone; it was, probably, part of a flock but was carrying a satellite tag which allowed  it to be tracked. The flock left Alaska on October 11, took a route test of Hawaii and flew over Kiribati on October 19.  About 2 days later it flew over Vanuatu and continued south about 620Km east of Sydney.  On October 23, the bird and the rest of the flock, took a sharp right and arrived in Tasmania on October 25, landing at Ansons Bay in the north-east.

I confess I have never heard of a bar-tailed godwit but from now on it will be top of my Favourite Birds list.

Wednesday, October 26

 Marilyn had a call yesterday asking her to work in the afternoon.  It was the Election Commission, who were about to start counting  the votes in the recent Council elections.  I didn't want her driving home after dark so said I would drop her off.  The building was in an industrial area of Launceston and, of course, there was no parking nearby.  There were hordes of people coming from all directions and Marilyn said there were at least 150 people in the room where she was working and there were two other rooms operating as well.

She finished at 8 o'clock but was back on the task at 8.30 this morning.  She tells me she loves the interaction and conversation with other people (and the wage sare handy too).

There was an email waiting for me when I got home, with the roster for our work at the Higher School examination starting in a couple of weeks so we have a busy time coming up in November.

Tuesday, October 25

We finished watching Karen Pirie yesterday and what a fantastic show it is.  There were three parts, each of about two hours and it was probably the best bit of television I've seen for a long time.  My dilemma about whether to read the book at the same time as watching the show was resolved by the fact that the program diverged from the book quite significantly.  Although they shared characters and the basic premise was similar, they were different enough that I could enjoy both stories without becoming confused.  

It was satisfying that both plots ended up with the same evil character being found guilty.  When it comes to the crunch, we all like to see the baddies brought to justice.

There's no second series on the horizon yet but it seems the writer of the first series has been looking at other books by Val McDermid with Karen Pirie as the main character.  I'm reading the second series of the books at the moment: A Darker Domain, and there are more after that.

Saturday, October 22

I'm bemused by the kerfuffle that's going on in UK politics.  They finally get rid of Boris but replace him with a dim-witted bimbo who has only lasted a few days before being cast into oblivion.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing from her on the news bulletins.  Could she really be as inept as she appeared?  So I checked YouTube so see whether she had always been like this, and she has.  

So, the powerbrokers stir themselves and get rid of her.  And now, seriously, they are thinking of bringing Boris back.  Are they all mad?  What has changed since they got shot of him before?

I think of Nicola Sturgeon over the border in Scotland.  She must be thinking it must be like floating down a river tied to a corpse and hearing the sound of the waterfall ahead.  Cut yourself loose, Nicola, it's not going to get any better.

Thursday, October 20

I drove out of the garage this morning, on my way to the gym, and was surprised to see that the concrete in front of us was covered in bird droppings.  I glanced up at the roof and it was the same.  This could only have happened in the last couple of days because there's been so much rain prior to that the surface would have been scoured clean.  It looked like there had been some sort of Bird Convention but we hadn't heard a thing.

I've noticed seagulls in the area from time to time even though we live a long way from the sea, and they're notorious for making a mess, so they're likely candidates.  

I started reading a Val McDermid book yesterday called The Distant Echo.  It's quite interesting: about a murder in St Andrews in Scotland.  By chance, last night we watched the first episode of a new show on Britbox called Karen Pirie, and it's the same story!  What a coincidence.  Now I don't know whether to stop reading the book in case it spoils the show, or give up the show until I've finished reading the book.