March 2008 Archives

So much for my plumbing attempts on Thursday. When I had a shower on Friday morning, the water was spouting out of the cold water tap and I needed to get the plumber here to fix it. I got him to replace the tap I couldn't get at as well. I'm not sure of the cost yet but at least now they're all fixed. Maybe next time I'll just call the plumber first.

I've been doing quite a few little fix-it jobs around the house. I got a friend to fix a broken window in the front of the house, would you believe the kids were throwing water-balloons and one smashed a window? I also replaced a broken louvre in Alex's bedroom. This time I got the guy in the hardware shop to cut an extra one because they break so easily and so often that I'm always going in there to get another one cut.

I feel good about the all the work around the house getting done. Like tidying up the nest :)

Friday night they held the Touch Football grand final for Junee's local competition and Carly's team made it into the "A" grade final. Quite an achievement because they're all under 18. They lost when the game went to a drop-off (which is the first to score in extra time, and one person drops out at each turn-around of the ball). One of the other mothers and I were sitting at one corner of the field and the players came charging down the field to that corner and one of them trod on my foot. I have a very black middle toe now and it's so sore to walk. Not broken but very bruised. That'll teach me for sitting too close to the field.

It was so hot on Friday night that I had a few stubbies and paid for it yesterday with a pounding head and half a day wasted while I felt sorry for myself. Any wonder I don't drink very often, being sick the next day is a pretty good deterrent.

I tried my hand at a spot of plumbing when I got home from work today and I don't think I'll be swapping jobs just yet. I had 3 taps that were leaking. An outside tap that was easy to fix. A tap over the sink in the bathroom that I've now made impossible for anyone to turn on because the problem obviously wasn't the washer. Then I had a shower tap that was dribbling down the wall from the fitting, that I discovered I couldn't get at the gland nut. It was recessed too far into the wall and I didn't have a tube spanner. I ended up just putting it all back together but now it's not leaking, so perhaps I did fix it after all.

My biggest problem was the leaking tap over the hand basin. I bought a whole new tap to put there, but once again didn't have the right tools to get it undone from underneath. I undid a few things and just decided to replace the washer in the end, and after I turned the water back on and came back in to see my handiwork I discovered the bathroom floor flooded because I didn't do the tap up underneath again. I quickly ran out the front and turned the water off again, and screwed everything up nice and tight, and turned the water back on. That's when I discovered that the tap was still leaking, and couldn't be turned off tight enough, so I got the wrench on to it and turned it off so tight that I may never get it undone again. It's a bit of a pain, because now I might have to get the plumber in to fit the new tap I bought, and I was trying to avoid those costs.

Still, as they say, two out of three ain't bad.

According to event organisers in today's newspaper the Junee Rhythm N Rail Festival was a great success with around 1,000 visitors. Personally, I would have put the figure at around 300. Three times more people attend the Anzac parade each year and I saw the same faces at most of the festival events. I had a great day but I'm sure stall holders would have liked more sales, and hotels were not overwhelmed even with live bands all around town. That could have been part of the problem too: you just couldn't be everywhere.

The Licorice Factory event was a huge success with a record length for a piece of liquorice, but the Guitar event was a huge flop, with only 66 people attending. I though there might be around 500 but it seems everyone was way off. Organisers haven't been put off though, and are already talking about how they can make it better next year and what they might have done wrong.

The Wind in the Roundhouse concert was very nice but less than half the chairs were filled. Previous years have seen much better attendance. I enjoyed the string instruments but nothing was even remotely familiar to me. This was followed by big brass numbers that was certainly different. The sound in the Roundhouse was spectacular though, and for that alone I'm glad I went.

Yesterday morning about 100 people attended the Bush Poets Breakfast and it was followed by the same number (possibly the same people) attending the church service in the old Railway Refreshment Rooms. An African choir of about 13 people sang at the service and it would have been good to hear. Other events were poorly attended yesterday and about half a dozen people attended the Closing Ceremony.

I took Mum over to Wagga so she could go to a garage sale where she bought over a kilo of patchwork squares, and patterns at a fraction of the normal price. We visited my sister-in-law and nieces and dropped in for a cuppa with Emily. Scarlett is over her illness and happy and content again.

It's a beautiful day and already the Junee Rhythm N Rail Festival is in full swing.
 

Last night I was invited to the Sponsorship Appreciation Event that preceded the Cocktail Party and Official Opening. I had a nice evening, and it was a bit like one of those parties you see so often on TV where you just pluck a drink off the tray of a passing waitress. There was complimentary cocktails too.

The festival was officially opened by Tim Fischer, former Deputy Prime Minister, former Trade Minister and former National Party leader who also happens to be an avid train enthusiast. I had a photo taken with him but he was too busy talking to pay me much attention: not that I was bothered by that. There were lots of friends there who have helped out in the organisation of the festival and it was nice to catch up with them. I was given a bottle of wine with a Rhythm N Rail festival label in appreciation for my support.

Thursday night Mum and I and a couple of her friends attended the International Women's Day event on the verandah of the Junee Hotel and that was also an excellent night, with lots of wine and cheese, good food and company. A few women speakers got up throughout the night and talked about their life, and the mix was good, from young to old, indigenous and white, and ended with "Eileen", a surprise guest speaker who happens to be a local identity here in Junee, no other than Neil Smith in pink wig and terry dressing gown who told lots of jokes and had everyone in stitches. Though this night wasn't a Rhythm N Rail event, it was a great start to the festival weekend.

Today the trains arrived about 10 and all over town will be buskers and stalls, and musicians in all the hotels throughout the day. At about 1.30 we're going up to the Showground to be part of the Guinness Book of Records attempt for the most number of guitars in one place, and I've put the kids names down to join in too. To break the record there has to be over 1800 guitarists there, so it will be interesting to see how many turn up.

Tonight Mum and I are going along to the Wind in the Roundhouse Concert at the Junee Railway Roundhouse. The Junee Roundhouse is the only surviving, working railway roundhouse in the Southern Hemisphere and the acoustics there are fantastic for concerts. We'll take some wine and nibbles (I'm pretty sure it's B.Y.O.) and our chairs and watch the Murrumbidgee String Orchestra perform on the rail platform. I haven't been before, though this is the 3rd year of the Wind in the Roundhouse concerts. It should be good.