by Allan McKelvie
Did I ever tell you I worked on a building site in Germany? Well I did, briefly. I was a puny 19 yr old at the time and I was lumping slabs of concrete round the construction site for a new mall in Troisdorf. Me and a couple of my mates had been asked by a bloke down the irish pub to help out and promised us a good wage.Needless to say we didn't get paid for it. Granted it was only for about a week but all I got out of it was strained forearms and a bit of auf wiedersehen pet banter. Looking back it is mighty funny. A real Frank Spencer moment.
The reason I tell this tale is I just saw a builder's arse on tv, we're watching Sarah Beeny's Property Ladder program. A couple have bought a derelict railway station in Devon and the market has just crashed. Bad luck, but they have bad taste and a bad attitude so sympathy is in short supply from my end.
Anyhoo, the news. Nae much, although we've booked a few days in Perth at the end of Nov, which will be smashing. Jo is presenting at a conference over there and I, as is customary, am heading over under the ruse of supplying moral support whilst in reality it's any old excuse for a bit of travel. Perth's nice too.
My wee mammy has had an operation on her foot and has been recovering at home with the help of my old man, who I am told has become a real whizz around the house. How times change, gone are the days where he burnt the salad and put a crease in the jeans. Well done big Alistair. And get well soon Maw.
Much like my beloved sister's recent foray into athletics, I've started a new exercise regime, which is basically getting back to running. And i've found a way to do it regularly, which is to go at lunchtime. I'm into my third week and my times are improving. I run 6km round the grand prix circuit at Albert Park lake.
Albert Park Lake: I took this whilst running
There are a load of black swans on the lake, and just last week I seen they all suddenly have had cygnets. Its as though there is one night a year where they get busy with the old swan shuffle, and hey presto, everyone's kids are born on the same day. The lake is lovely and its a nice break to the day. Hopefully by the time the wedding comes round I'll have a body like Sly Stallone.
We've been watching the Bourne trilogy, I wasnt a big fan of Matt Damon beforehand but he is quality as JB. I like the fact that its set in a lot of non-American locations, thats always a good thing in my opinion. I look forward to the fourth one coming out.
So those snails came back, would you believe. Well, not the exact same ones as I pretty much crushed them with my bare hands and threw them in my soup. But their identical cousins moved in so we are going to have to take evasive action. Maybe put a scarecrow up or something.
The Spring Carnival has started here, which is about 2 months of seemingly world class racing, the highlight of which is the Melbourne Cup. We are hoping to head along at some point, I've still never been to the gee-gees and whilst I don't like the idea of horses being spanked senseless for the sake of filling my hip pocket I'm willing to put up with it as long as I win...
As you can tell, tonight I've just opened up my tiny brain and let thoughts trickle through my fingers onto the page without any real structure. But I'm drying up now, so let me bid you farewell. We'll be back sooner than you know it.
The lovely Jo says g'day roos. I say fit like min.
Laters
Al & Jo x
