Oh Susanna

I made the mistake of leaving the bag unattended one night, and I could hear some scuffling noises, and a ball of wool was discovered on the floor the next morning in a knotty mess.

Their antics certainly make us smile, on another night when I was just settling down to sleep, I heard an unusual noise at the door, leaned over and switched the light on, and Millie was half way up the door, climbing on a coat which was hanging on the back of the door. In our pantry room, she loves to climb to the top of the door, to sit on the top of the door, surveying the mayhem below.

We have a magenta coloured cat "house" which is a promotional item from one of the big pet food manufacturers, which is normally sitting on the landing upstairs. Recently, the house has migrated downstairs, two or three times. We haven't seen it moving, so we have no idea how it has got down the stairs, except that it just appeared.

The weather has got much colder in recent weeks, and if one of us is not home, this leads to three cats on one pair of knees. Good for keeping the knees warm, but just a little cramped.

I read somewhere that it is better for cats to have company, they get into less trouble that way...

We can all share in someone else's excitement at a change in life, whether it's a new baby, an engagement, marriage or simply a milestone like a birthday, or an arrival or departure.

Counting the days, and hours helps to maintain and build the excitement.

The first time that Aussie Lass flew back from France, I tried to imagine where she was at various times during the long flight from Europe..., counting the hours: thankfully sleep provides a respite for us, at least. All of a sudden, it's off the airport, and waiting for what seems like hours, but is really not very long at all. This time, she and muffin man will be arriving in the evening, so we'll have all day to wait.

Yesterday one of my colleagues was waiting to depart for her first overseas trip, leaving plenty of time to get to the airport, while our more well travelled colleague was much more laid back and blasé about arriving at the last minute. The plane was delayed once, by two hours, then again by another two hours, so that an unpleasant arrival time of midnight (destination time) turned into 4 am arrival at the airport. By the time they got to their hotel it would have been 5 am, and with three hours driving and meetings to attend, today will have turned into a difficult one.

I love going to the airport to meet travellers. If you stand at the gates waiting, you can can see the excitement as people come through the doors from customs, anxiously looking for friends or family, amidst the exhaustion that comes with long haul travel in economy class. There are many stories to be told, no matter where the traveller comes from.

Oh yes, and I am counting the days until the first of the imminent arrivals....49 days until the Aussie Lass and Muffin Man arrive, and doubtless many others to anticipate over the years to come.

At the risk of being regarded a total footy tragic, I have resisted the temptation to write every week about my beloved Saints...who have now played 12 games this season, and have won every one of them.

It doesn't matter what the statistics say, this is the first time two teams have been unbeaten after 11 rounds, and it is likely that this will remain so after Geelong plays West Coast this coming weekend. And the statistic that no team who has won the first 12 games of the year has not reached the grand final...but, need not to be over confident as there is still a long way to go.

There again, we should celebrate the successes, and my friend M has just lashed out on a brand new car. Pity there is not a touch of white to reflect the Saints' colours, but it still looks fantastic. And as she will point out it does reflect the Bombers (Essendon) colours, so that is alright...

Another weekend in a busy life, with lots of things happening, including a Saturday afternoon snooze to recharge the batteries, and a chance remark last week which got me thinking along a theme...what does make the pulse beat just a little faster?

• Climbing to level 3 at Docklands Stadium- need to get fitter, once a week is not enough...
• The lead changing, backwards and forwards,  in the last quarter of the St Kilda vs Brisbane Lions match
• Stevie Milne's snap off the ground in the last quarter for a goal, which turned the match around
• A hard fought win, even when the Saints were not playing as well as they would have liked
• Nick Riewoldt kicking for goal
• Getting three fifty point bonuses in scrabble in one game, for using all the letters up
• Clever, witty conversation  with a touch of sarcasm...too few for my liking, I need the practice.

Over the past few weeks I have discovered that one way of making sure that I can watch the footy, even when my better half does not want to watch, is to hand over the iPod Touch, so that he can play some games instead.

Lucky for games like Trism, Bejewelled and Fieldrunners.

For me, I had a long winded run on Trism, getting one score in the 1 billion range, but I am over it now. I have also downloaded the Scrabble version from the App Store, and can happily play against the computer for hours. I guess I will get sick of that soon, too.

These devices are addictive, but also very useful. With the benefit of a wireless network, I can check the latest footy or cricket scores and stories thanks to the apps which cater for these interests, as well as check the latest AU/ US fx rate; the headlines and stories in The Age, Le Monde or the ABC. And I (or someone else) can play games for hours, and having more than a thousand music tracks, a French English dictionary, some electronic books and hundreds of photos of my last holiday in France are just added bonuses!

Nerdy? Maybe, but lots of fun.

The AFL season is upon us, and for the long suffering St Kilda fan, it is a strange feeling to be sitting on top of the ladder with a percentage of 212% after winning the first five games of the season, ahead of Geelong on percentage, with both teams two games clear of the rest of the competition. There have been some newspaper articles written in the past about long suffering Saints supporters struggling to come to terms with not being the valiant loser when there has been a series of wins which I have related to, and which, sadly, I have kept electronic copies, as they seemed so reflective of my feelings at the time.

The role of the courageous loser has been our lot for many, many years, except once, in 1966. This year, our boys are tough competitors who through sheer domination and determination in defence and superb teamwork have kept their opposition to miserly score lines all season. In 2004, when a stream of 10 victories in a row (including the pre-season cup) including some victories where the team really didn't play all that well, but still won, were challenges to that old psyche. That is because a victory, seemingly not earned, does not have the same deserving feeling as a loss, when a brave performance was not enough to get across the line, but could always be lauded for the spirit of the defeat, in some small way like the Anzacs at Gallipoli Cove, fighting an un-winnable battle with honour, despite the pain.

It's a long way to go till the end of the season, but it's far better to be sitting on top, than struggling, winless or 2 and 3 after round five of twenty two. This year, the battles do not look un-winnable, even so, wins cannot be assumed, because there are many things that influence the result of a game of football which are outside the control of the team, including injuries, suspensions and bad umpiring decisions. And while the team is playing well, I will bask in reflected glory, and enjoy the moments of pleasure which come, and maybe, just maybe, dreaming of a better year than the last.

A busy couple of weeks, working long hours has meant that I have had little time for updating here, and as I have been so busy, not much time to think about anything else but what needed to be done.

News from a couple of weeks ago: a new baby boy to G and A in Brisbane, a little brother for William.

Another arrival is imminent in Melbourne to P and A...

A 90th birthday party a couple of weeks ago, too, and an 83rd on Saturday.

Time to celebrate.

The lyrics of a song that I heard yesterday have inspired today's post...what would I do if I had five minutes with you

For Nermal

Five minutes :

Is too short to make the coffee, it needs to be brewed, ready to go...

Not enough time for

• a game of scrabble
• to discuss the books we are reading
• to talk about the clothes we are wearing or what we are going to do tomorrow

Plenty of time for

• a long hug
• saying I love you

And looking forward to August...

Edited on Friday evening; I thought I should add a few words of clarification. The song I was listening to was Mistral Gagnant, which was written and sung by a famous French singer-song writer Renaud. Luckily with the aid of a charming Frenchman at work I was able to understand the lyrics much better than I had at first- I now understand what les bombecs fabuleux, Mintho, vrai roudoudous, coco-boers and Mistral gagnants are: French sweets or lollies mentioned in this delightful song written for his daughter, Lolita. 

The bonus of the increased understanding was learning some new slang terms, as well. And the song reminded me of shopping trips with the girls when they were small...a trip to town (50km away) on a day off from school meant afternoon tea at one of the cafes in Ararat. The fun of reading the menu, choosing something to drink, and something to eat- they could have whatever they wanted.  Not so sophisticated in world terms, but small steps on a journey that has taken Aussie Lass to live in Paris, and Pink Ukulele to live in Melbourne in what seems like another world.

And, it took me back to my own childhood, with trips into Warracknabeal as a child, when my Grandmother would take us to a cafe, for sandwiches and soft drink, or if one was very sophisticated, a cup of tea. A bag of lollies from the shop: four pieces of chewing gum for a penny, and having a shilling to spend was indeed a delightful thing.

For my colleague, it was also a nostalgic trip to his own past, in the suburbs of Paris. Not a waste of time, at all, for either of us.

This morning it was 12 degrees when I was driving to work, hard to believe just under four weeks ago it almost made 48 degrees in  Melbourne. Snow flurries in the Alps today, but good news continues, in that only two bush fires remain to be contained.

Cooler weather means that cats like knees even more than usual. The two little ones find room on one pair of knees, and Coco takes over the other set. Whether or not one wants a warm knee is not at question, it is what must happen.

Mille has now been with us for nearly four weeks, and she and Mischa spend a lot of time chasing each other around the house. That, and sleeping. I would say that Coco tolerates the two babies, but would prefer on the whole to be left to solitude. She has realised that first in is best dressed, though. We've had some enquiries about Millie but noone has yet been keen enough to come and have a look. In the meantime, she is happy, which is a good thing.

Meanwhile, at work, many of the people in our team have enrolled in a 10,000 step a day walking program. The idea is that one determines a base level of activity, which is what we are doing this week, then work on increasing our steps until we are doing at least the target number a day, using pedometers to measure the steps we are taking. I may need to do some shopping trips, because I don't seem to notice the extra steps when out and about thinking about other things. The program lasts for 10 weeks, so we should all notice a big level of improvement in fitness over coming weeks.

In the meantime, it is a source of wonder that some can sit, unmoving for hours and only tally up 200 steps by lunch time, and for others doing 17,000 can be done with relative ease. There have been arguments about what should be done when the pedometer does not mention steps accurately when running, and whether running uses the same number of kilojoules per kilometre travelled. It doesn't really matter, I guess, because if we are doing more then we will be improving fitness.