Well we didn't see any other houses worth a second look so Bentleigh it is! As we move next Thursday I decided to book the kids into 'Occasional care' for the first time and start my packing this morning. Occasional care is a great childcare service over here that you just book a week in advance (or two in some places) and you can use it for a few hours whenever you need it. It's heavily funded by the government so it cost $44 for both Celia and Max for 3 hours - loads cheaper than nursery, although funding is due to stop in December - even Australia is feeling the global pinch.
By the time I had settled Celia (not Max - he was fine and it was his first time!), done a couple of errands and had a cup of tea, I only managed to get one hour of packing done - oops!
We have spent the past couple of weeks feeling very relieved that we no longer live in London. I know that the media can blow a few isolated incidents out of all proportion (everyone from Northern Ireland is only too aware of that!) but it really did seem that all hell had broken loose. If it makes those back home feel any better, life in Australia has it's downside too. Firstly there was the incident last week where a lady tried to run me and the double buggy off the pavement with her Doggy buggy (yep, she took her poodle for a walk in a stroller and expected us to move out of its way?!) Even more annoying, her dog was wearing a coat that was probably more expensive than Max and Celia's together and to top it off, it wasn't even cold enough for my children to have their coats on! The 'cold' thing is really starting to get to me. One day it was sunny and 18 degrees and we were on our way to the park in teeshirts when the lollypop lady, who was wrapped up in a fleece and woolly hat, said "oh, I hate those chilly breezes" then shivered....
I took Celia and Max to the beach for a picnic on Tuesday as it was a gorgeous day and the only other person I saw was a woman walking her dog and she also had a fleece and a woolly hat on (at least her dog didn't have a coat!) I started to think it must just be me but when I got back to the car the temperature gauge said 20 degrees??
One final annoyance was last week's Q&A (Australia's version of Question Time). They had the usual political and journalistic types on the panel but I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that one of the panelist was a 'Playschool' presenter - Carol Vodermann all is forgiven.
Doesn't quite compare to riots in your streets I know but all joking aside, I really did despair last week. Things can only get better..............
By the time I had settled Celia (not Max - he was fine and it was his first time!), done a couple of errands and had a cup of tea, I only managed to get one hour of packing done - oops!
We have spent the past couple of weeks feeling very relieved that we no longer live in London. I know that the media can blow a few isolated incidents out of all proportion (everyone from Northern Ireland is only too aware of that!) but it really did seem that all hell had broken loose. If it makes those back home feel any better, life in Australia has it's downside too. Firstly there was the incident last week where a lady tried to run me and the double buggy off the pavement with her Doggy buggy (yep, she took her poodle for a walk in a stroller and expected us to move out of its way?!) Even more annoying, her dog was wearing a coat that was probably more expensive than Max and Celia's together and to top it off, it wasn't even cold enough for my children to have their coats on! The 'cold' thing is really starting to get to me. One day it was sunny and 18 degrees and we were on our way to the park in teeshirts when the lollypop lady, who was wrapped up in a fleece and woolly hat, said "oh, I hate those chilly breezes" then shivered....
I took Celia and Max to the beach for a picnic on Tuesday as it was a gorgeous day and the only other person I saw was a woman walking her dog and she also had a fleece and a woolly hat on (at least her dog didn't have a coat!) I started to think it must just be me but when I got back to the car the temperature gauge said 20 degrees??
One final annoyance was last week's Q&A (Australia's version of Question Time). They had the usual political and journalistic types on the panel but I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that one of the panelist was a 'Playschool' presenter - Carol Vodermann all is forgiven.
Doesn't quite compare to riots in your streets I know but all joking aside, I really did despair last week. Things can only get better..............
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