The Rites of Spring

So here we are in October, which for Australians signals the start of spring. The children are on two weeks school holidays, and after the hottest September for 150 years, we were expecting to spend it on the beach. The first week, however, passed in a blur of winter temperatures, rain and greyness. All George's mates were away, and he spent most of his time moping in his pyjamas, in the way only a child on the cusp of teenagerdom can, making short trips between the tv, the X-Box and the computer, occasionally mumbling about the unfairness of it all.

This week, the sun is back out, and although not exactly beach weather to my mind (although when I walked the dog from South Curl Curl beach to Freshwater this morning there were plenty of people soaking up the rays, so maybe I'm being too picky!), it looks and feels a lot brighter. George's mates are back, and Anna, as always, has plenty to do, with a couple of days at Sydney Dance Company this week, and three days of dancing at her dance school over next weekend.

Last weekend, we had the excitement of going to watch the opening ceremony for the World Master's Games at the Olympic Stadium. If you haven't heard of this event, you should have, as it's bigger than the Olympics - the largest multi sport, multi nation sporting event in the world. This year they had nearly 29000 competitors - and I ought to know because I watched them all march into the Stadium! Anna's school choir joined with other Public School choral groups to create a megachoir of 500 voices to sing the National Anthem and another song called Dare to Dream during the massive opening ceremony which also featured a rock concert (well - Leo Sayer...) and fireworks. It was a great evening, and we couldn't help thinking how amazing it was that now Anna has sung in the Opera House, and in the Olympic Stadium to an audience of about 40000! Where next? Carnegie Hall? Time Square? Wembley??!

In the UK, I used to hate the school holidays. I think my sister put it best when she put as her status this summer - 'and here beginneth the childcare disaster formerly known as the school holidays'. The holidays meant an even more complex juggling act than normal of childcare versus work, which inevitably left the children feeling let down, and made me feel like a terrible parent. Working from home was far from being the answer, as clients on the whole did not recognise my childcare issue, and probably (although no one ever said this to me directly) wondered what all the screaming was in the background. On one memorable occasion, a phone call to a client was interrupted by a group of children bursting into my office shouting in horror - 'Mummy! Charlie is sexing Nancy!'. Explaining that Nancy was Anna's little friend, and Charlie was a border collie didn't really make things any better (but somehow was easier than explaining the bruises on Nancy to her mother when she came to pick her up...). Having an au pair didn't always help either, as children are a bit like clients in that when things are going pear shaped they want to see the person with the highest authority - you.

As a result, I viewed school holidays as something of a trial, and watched their arrival with dread. The children felt like something that had to be organised, like everything else, and fitted onto the spreadsheet I produced every week to let everyone know what the week ahead held - not like something to be enjoyed and cherished.

These days, however, I can't wait for them to start. No more school runs, no more rushing round to basketball, dancing, choir, netball, drama etc etc. Well, not so much. And the days are longer - everything doesn't have to stop at 2.30pm in order to ensure that you are around when they get home from school. And best of all, you get to spend some quality time with your children, instead of simply providing a chauffeuring service to them. It's bliss! I'm even disappointed when the term starts again, and counting the weeks till the next holiday. Who would have thought it? And these days George and Anna are such good company. We have a great time together. Don't get me wrong.....there are conflicts (for example about the number of days it is reasonable not to get out of your pjs....), but now we can watch movies together that don't bore me to tears, we can recommend books to one another, we can have a laugh. I regret that I wasn't around more when they were smaller, so that I could have enjoyed that as well, instead of always feeling so conflicted by all the different responsibilities I had, but what's done is done, and I'm seizing the day while I still can.

So - the best thing to come of changing our life and moving to Australia?

The opportunity to fall in love with my children all over again.....

Red Dawn

Imagine you went to bed one night after a clear, hot and sunny day, and woke up in the morning to discover the apocalypse had arrived. Because that is exactly what happened in Sydney yesterday.

We woke up as normal at around 6.15am to an eerie red glow coming through the shutters. I got up thinking it was a fantastic sunrise, looked outside and found that in every direction there was just....well we didn't know what it was. But it was red with an orange glow, it was everywhere, and instead of a view down to the beach at Manly, we now had a view which ended at the edge of our deck. There was a weird stillness and a strange smell. What the bloody hell was it?! First thoughts was a fire - we know that bushfires coming at you are either black or a wall of red, but the smell wasn't fire, although our eyes were stinging. The kids got up and George almost immediately started to wheeze. We put on the tv and there were pictures of the Harbour Bridge covered in red smog. We were in the midst of the largest dust storm ever experienced in metropolitan Australia - a dust storm of such enormous proportions that it spread from Newcastle in the north to Woolongong in the south - some 600kms. Air pollution was 1500 times the safe level and 75000 tonnes of topsoil whipped off the rain starved fields of central Australia was being dumped on the streets of coastal New South Wales.

The TV told us that schools were still open, but that people should not make unnecessary journeys, especially if they suffer from respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Not that this was going to stop Andrew walking up to the bus stop and going into the city as usual, although I did persuade him to take an inhaler. After a few puffs of the inhaler, George's asthma seemed to settle down, so I decided that missing school was unnecessary, although we were now going to be late. And this is where our day started to get farcical....

I drove George to school, taking Anna with me, with the intention of dropping her off at her school afterwards. As George was late, I was required to take him in and fill out a late form, so off I dutifully went. However, when I told them why he was late, they said they would really rather I took him back home, as they were worried about how things might pan out for the rest of the day and didn't want him having an acute asthma attack at school. Of course they were right - what was I thinking?! Especially when I had received an email from my mum who, having observed some of the scenes on You Tube, expressly forbade me to let George and his dysfunctional lungs out of the house! It wasn't going to be a day off though - a dust storm wasn't going to turn into an excuse to spend the day on X Box - oh no....so I sent George off to get some work from his locker to do at home. On the way back from there, we bumped into the Head of Middle School, who wanted to speak to me about a letter I written about some concerns I had, so we sent George off to sit in reception whilst we had a chat.

Now, if you thought insisting on your asthmatic child going to school during the apocolypse was an example of substandard parenting, this is where I go into some real prize winning parenting. Because I completely forgot that Anna was sitting outside in the car in a dust storm, and was expecting me only to be a few minutes......

So some 35 minutes later, George comes and knocks on the door. He has received a phone call from Anna, who is in the car, and by now quite hysterical, thinking that something has happened to me. I've left my phone in the car, and she is too frightened to get out and come and find me.

I'm wondering. Do other people do stuff like this? Do other people, for periods of 35 minutes or so, entirely forget that they have not one, but TWO children. One of whom is stuck in a car surrounded by spooky red dust? Or is it just me?

My meeting with Mrs. Oates is abruptly ended, and I rush back to Anna, who is red eyed and trembling, and says she thought I had been kidnapped. I felt so guilty I told them we would all go home together, and she would have the day off as well (despite having perfectly good lungs).

And then the car wouldn't start.

So. Let's recap. We are in the world's largest dust storm. I really shouldn't have left the house. One of my children is asthmatic. The other one is psychologically scarred forever. And we are stuck, on a steep hill, with cars in front and behind us, in our car, which will not work.

Now then. Did I mention that we are not members of any breakdown and rescue group? Could I be more thrilled with how the day is going?

George, being George, and being mainly made of Andrew's DNA, is unperturbed and gets out a book to read. Anna, being Anna, and mainly being made of my DNA, starts eating her packed lunch. Me, being me, decides that the best thing to do is to phone Andrew, and complain about how crap the day is going and to try to make it his fault. Andrew, however, being Andrew, is In A Meeting, and not taking my calls. This means, irritatingly, that I am going to have to sort this out myself...

It is in situations like this that you have to thank God (or someone) that you have great friends. Because Nicky drove over, tried to help me jump start the car (this required a fair amount of giggling, and confusion, as we don't really know how to do this...), and when we failed to get it started, drove me and the children back home. Whereupon, I jumped online, joined the NRMA (the Australian equivalent of the RAC) and arranged for someone to come and rescue the car. An interesting conversation ensued about the colour of my car, which although usually silver, in common with every other car I had seen on the road, had turned orange. Nicky then came back and took me to my ailing car, which naturally was able to be jump started no problem and made me look like the idiot I am when it comes to cars.

You'll be pleased to know that the rest of the day passed without further incident and that by around 3pm the world was back to normal in Sydney and the dust storm was on its way to Brisbane. The 100km winds which had been predicted never arrived, and, apart from grimy skin, a funny feeling in the back of your throat and a covering of red dust over everything, inside and out, you'd never believe it had happened.

And now, all I have to decide is whether to bother trying to clean it all up, when they are saying there is another arriving at the weekend....

Arts North Primary Choral Festival - 14 September 2009

Seven hundred and fifty primary school children sing to a sold out audience in the Concert Hall at Sydney Opera House, and Anna is chosen to sing the only solo of the night! A very proud mum and dad, and a wonderful concert showcasing the very high standards of musicianship and commitment to music in public (state) schools in NSW. Enjoy!

SOLO Heritage ad

George's advert for SOLO - see if you can spot him!

KELLSultanaBran3794K1 1

Anna's Sultana Bran advert - she's the one in front of the fuzzy boys with the red pigtails!

Anna SDC winter 2009 Lyrical Contemporary

This one was choreographed and taught by Reed Luplau - if you are interested in this sort of thing, you can Google him!

Anna SDC Winter 2009 JazzFunkHiphop

This is the dance where you can see the most of Anna. Anna looks good, but it's hard not to look at the girl in the first section on the front row who absolutely ROCKS! Apparently she has only been dancing for a year - obviously a natural. If you are having trouble watching it, because it keeps pausing to buffer, just go away and let it do its thing until it has all downloaded then start again. Then you get to see it without all the annoying stoppages. Enjoy!

Girl's World

It's been a lovely week. Anna and I have made the most of some time just to be girls, and to add to it all, the weather has been unseasonably fabulous.

Whilst we have become accustomed to the old story that 'the weather is not usually like this', this has usually related to torrential rain and UK-like temperatures. On this occasion, however, we have been treated to some real winter sun - with the temperature reaching 26 degrees on Tuesday. I made the most of it, taking Bronson for a walk along the beach at South Curl Curl over to Freshwater, where the beach was buzzing with bikini clad women and small children playing in the sand. The only people venturing into the water were the surfers, who were kitted out in steamers (winter wetsuits), but apart from that, it could have been a spring or early summer day.

A bit of sun on your face seems to smooth away a lot of anxieties, and as a result, I haven't started the assignment I have to have in next Friday...I'm hoping for a lot of rain next week as a result, but I still have it ingrained in me that I mustn't allow good weather to pass me by. I just haven't gotten used to the idea that the moment the sun slips its hat on, I don't need to rush out to catch some rays. He'll be coming back out soon enough.

So what have Anna and I done this lovely week together? Well, time has been restricted by the fact that Anna has been dancing all day everyday at Sydney Dance Company (more on that shortly), but in between, we've made muffins (and successfully been able to protect them from Bronson, who has recently begun to steal the odd thing off the worktop...hmmm), been to see Hannah Montana the Movie (one good song and one fun dance, and that's about it - but don't tell Anna I said that...), and been to see Harry Potter at the Gold Class cinema (film fairly good but marred by a group of cackling women at the back who laughed like drains at anything that was even mildly amusing - god alone knows what sort of a state they would have been in, had it been a comedy...). We've snuggled up on the sofa watching tv, shared my bed, and held hands around the shops. We've had our hair done at my hairdressers, which was a very special treat for Anna, as I feel that even when I go there it's a bit of an indulgence - this is the salon which did the hair for Nicole Kidman's wedding and the owner recently travelled around the world with Hugh Jackman doing his hair for all the press junkets for Wolverine. It's been gorgeous. I've had a day doing a bit of naughty retail therapy in the city too, so pretty much it's been a perfect week. We've received regular updates from our boys, who, by all accounts, seem to be having a wonderful time too, even if they haven't been so lucky with the weather.

And to cap it all off, today I"ve been to Sydney Dance Company to see the winter intensive course showcase. Anna has danced from 10am to 5pm every day this week, being taught and choreographed by some of the most respected people in the Australian dance industry (some of whom we've become familiar with when they have choreographed for 'So You Think You Can Dance') and dancing with a group of 11 - 14 year olds who all also live and breathe it. They've covered lyrical contemporary, Broadway jazz, hiphop, jazz/funk/hiphop, classical ballet and jazz (I think that's all of them) and Anna has loved every moment. She's been to one other workshop at SDC, but this winter is the first time she has been old enough to attend one of their youth intensives. She was a bit nervous at first, as they recommend that the participants have at least 4 years experience to attend (Anna has been dancing for just about 18 months), and she didn't have anyone to go with. In the event, from what I could see, she was able to keep up with the standard, and she made lots of new friends. She is already nagging me about the spring intensive.

The actual showcase was really pretty impressive. There were some children there who were particularly talented, but overall the standard was pretty high. I'll try to get some of the video I took on here, and you'll see that for the amount of time they had, and the number of kids in the class (50!), they all did pretty well.

So Anna is on cloud nine. And not only because she has danced herself dizzy this week, but also because 'her' issue of Total Girl is out. She has a picture on the front cover, and a double page spread on the inside.

Imagine you are an 11 year old girl...it probably doesn't get much better than that, does it?

PS I've added a feed from YouTube which should allow you to see any videos I upload. It's on the left there. Yes there - on the left...well done...

Chinaman's Beach July 2009

Our first girl's day out while George and Andrew are away.

Its Anna!!

Hi everyone its Anna,
Yes ok, i haven't put much effort into this blog nor mine. I have forgotten my login details for both my old and new accounts.
So from now on
I will use the family blog as mine (partially). I am actually pretty busy so i will struggle to post a constant blog entry every day, so i will probably do a weekly 'its Anna' post. Anyway whoever is reading this now is probably getting pretty bored of me blabbering on about how busy i am becoming so i'll start an actual interest now.
As you all know Dad and George are away on George's being 13 celebration holiday, so me and mum are being able to spend some quality time together. So far we have watched TV, gone on a picnic at the beach, seen the new shopping mall in Balgowlah - pretty cool, had a coffee at a nice cafe and then finally watched the 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2' in our pyjamas.
I am exited today even more because we are going to see the new harry potter movie in a gold class cinema!

Hope its good,

Bye

Social Networking...

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I've got myself into a bit of bother.

You will have noticed, one would hope, that there has been a distinct lack of updating going on with this blog.

The thing is, someone introduced me to Facebook. And I'm hooked. Once I found that I could while a way an hour or so looking at people's photos, catching up with old school friends, and throwing sheep at them, there was no hope for me.

There is only so much time in your life for your computer, and I'm afraid that as a result, the blog has suffered.

However, it seems some people have taken note of its absence...which is pleasing.

Course - there have been other mitigating circumstances. For a start, it seems that for my post grad course they do expect me to complete quite a few assignments. Then there is the constant taxi service I provide to facilitate the burgeoning showbiz careers of my children. And on top of that - the computer gave up the ghost and had to have its hard drive replaced (at enormous expense - and thank God for the external hard drive and the wonderful Time Machine...).

No doubt you are dying to know what we've been up to, so I will do a quick summary....

The business they call show has been keeping us busy lately. First of all, Anna filmed an advert for Westpac (a big Australian bank). This involved spending the day in Brighton (yes Brighton) watching her run up and down behind a pretend icecream van with some other children. It's showing on TV at the moment and you can see one of Anna's legs. She is bitterly disappointed, but as I told her, she got paid....Then she got a modelling job for Total Girl magazine - a pre teen publication to which Anna actually has a subscription. Much excitement, much playground kudos. The issue comes out in August. Then George auditioned for a TV commercial for SOLO, the leading lemonade soft drink here. After a couple of call backs, he got it, and the ad also comes out in August. SOLO is sponsoring the Australian football team in the World Cup, and all the matches will feature this ad which also has Harry Kewell in it. Further playground kudos for the Pettifer children. And then Anna got a Sultana Bran advert, which will also be screening this August. So it seems both of them will be all over the telly in a few weeks time.

In sporting terms, Andrew continues to play old man football and to spend most of every Saturday afternoon and Sunday recovering from his various aches and pains. I do believe they recently won their first match, which caused enormous excitement. The team is a nice bunch of people, many of whom are from the UK. George's basketball team made it through to the semi finals, only to be beaten by a team which they had thrashed the week before. Having played brilliantly throughout the competition, this was a blow to them, especially as the winning team seemed to have found a few giants we hadn't seen before just in time for the finals. The boys in George's team seem to be pre-growth spurt, and rather than being outplayed, they were simply towered over. As I said to George, in six months to a year, the other teams won't still have that advantage and then it will all be about talent and skills. For netball, Anna's team remain undefeated, and are getting a real reputation as a team who cannot be beaten. This has led to some rough matches - even 11 year old girls start to get a bit pissed off when they are losing by up to 40 goals. The girls really need some proper competition now, but it's pleasing to see how Anna's game has improved with confidence. She is also playing for her school team, and has been asked a couple of times to play for the year above her, which has also served to boost her confidence.

George has completed another term at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he is studying their Acting for Screen course. He has his whole life all mapped out - he will go to drama school, then move to LA with his best mate Jack, where he will become a film star and Jack will become the world's first internationally renowned white Australian rapper. Hmmm. The back up plan is that Jack will still be a rapper and George will write computer software. We're all keeping our fingers crossed....

Anna is still all about dancing. She did her Grade 5 ballet exam this weekend - the preparation for which has been quite challenging, as she only started ballet 6 months ago. The other girls in her class have been doing it for 6 years. However, she worked really hard, and we are expecting a good result. She also danced in her second ever Eisteddfodd at the weekend, and her group came second. They were so excited, and looking forward to their next chance to get on stage.

Through school, Anna took part in the Junior Rock Eisteddfodd, which is a competition between public (state) schools. The schools create a dance performance to a theme of their choice, choreograph, make the sets, costumes and arrange the lighting, then take it on stage to compete. It was a fantastic evening - I couldn't get over the standard...there is a website where you can view the performances, and when I get the details I'll post it so you can see what the public school system here can do with the arts.

Oh - nearly forgot - we also had a fantastic holiday on Magnetic Island! We've also had some visitors - Kodl and Krystina from the Czech Republic - who we know from Milford, and Andrew has made a secret visit home on business and provided a lovely surprise for both his parents and his best mate Ally.

Other big news was that George became a teenager, which in our family means you get to chose a holiday to go on with your Dad, so on Saturday Andrew and George head off for their boys own adventure, flying to Melbourne to see an AFL match, then hiring a car to drive the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide and then getting the Indian Pacific train back to Sydney. Watch out for photos on here. Anna and I will be having a girl's week while this is going on, although Anna is dancing all week at workshops at the Sydney Dance Company.

The biggest news by far though, is that we are now looking at houses with a view to purchasing one when we become permanent residents in the New Year. We've known for a long time that we won't be coming back to the UK, but now starting to complete the paperwork relating to our permanent residency, it's all a bit more real. We really do love it here, and it's really not that far away. It will be a relief to have our own home, and some more stability.

And there will be plenty of room for you too, when you come to visit....

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

Australians like to play down danger.

This is no surprise really, given the number of creatures they share their land with which could slay them in one bite or sting. They even have a bird that could kill you, for God's sake.

So, although everyone knows the sharks are out there, it's not stopping anyone from going in the water.

Until now, at least.

Recently we have had 3 attacks in as many weeks, one of them a great white on a beach local to us. There have been more sightings than usual from the spotter planes, and anecdotally, people are reporting far more interruptions to their enjoyment of the sand, sea and surf by the shark alarms.

We are told that improvements to the water quality and the establishment of a number of aquatic marine reserves along the coast are to blame. With the cleaner water come more fish, and with more fish come more predators. It's a feeding frenzy, and if you are looking anything like something tasty for a passing shark to nibble on, you are in trouble.

The people who look most like something worth nibbling on are the surfers. Apparently their boards make them look like seals from below, and there is nothing a shark likes more for supper than a nice, rubbery seal. Most shark attacks are on surfers, who tend to be in the water at dawn and dusk, when they get the best waves. It's also when sharks feed. You'd think then, that surfers would be starting to take the hint....but no. In true Aussie style, when the alarms go off, the swimmers duck out, and the surfers ignore it. And despite the 4 or five beaches surrounding Avalon, where the latest attack took place, were closed for 2 days while the authorities looked for the offending great white - the surfers were still in the water.

And despite the warnings about being in the water at dawn and dusk, it's still the busiest surfing time of day.

For me, it hasn't helped my nervousness about the sea in general. You don't generally get a warning when there is a shark about, unless you are lucky enough to be in the water when the spotter plane goes over. And don't be thinking that you'll see the fin like in Jaws. You NEVER see the fin. Sharks attack from below, and the first you'll know about it is when you feel the bite. Interestingly, once they've taken a few bites and discovered that you are not in fact a seal or any other fish, they will usually discard you - but by then it's too late.

So, should you visit Australia whilst we have these unusual numbers of sharks around, you should remember the following:

Don't do anything that might make you look a bit like a seal. If you look a bit like a seal whenever you put your swimmers on - stay away from the water!

Always swim on a patrolled beach in between the flags. This is where the most swimmers are, and statistics tell us that someone else will look like a seal before you do.

Never get in the water at dawn or dusk, unless you are prepared to be a shark smorgasbord.

Try not to swim with seals. I say this because at the moment there is an advert on TV trying to persuade you to go on holiday to South Australia by showing how you can swim with seals. Are they mad?

This has been a public service broadcast.....

Education, education, education....

Of course, in Australia, the academic year runs alongside the calendar year – which means that the New Year brings lots of new starts and new opportunities.

In our household, then, the New Year brought quite a few changes. Anna moved from the private St Lukes Grammar to Beacon Hill Primary School, which is our local state school. She’s much happier there, so far, and repeating Year 5 seems to be delivering the benefits we had hoped for. Anna is regaining confidence in her academic ability, and making lots of friends who developmentally seem to be much more on her level. Instead of welcoming young women into our house, we are now seeing lots of children once again, and Anna seems less anxious in her friendships.

She has joined lots of extra curricular groups, as it seems that the things on offer at this school are more up her street than the majority of those available to her at St Lukes - a dance group, which will perform at J Rock, a local state school spectacular showcasing performance talents, and one of two choirs, in which she will sing at the Opera House towards the end of the year. This is at a concert of choirs from around NSW public (state) schools, and she is auditioning for one of the solo spots.

It's great to see Anna throwing herself whole heartedly into school life again, and this was never more evident than in her performance at the school swimming carnival the other day. Now Anna loves the water, but she would be the first to admit that she is not the greatest of swimmers, especially by comparison the the Australian kids who start learning in Nazi style swim schools at the age of about 3. But did this stop her from competing in every possible event? Not likely! She kept herself busy all afternoon doing breast stroke, freestyle (what they call front crawl), back stroke and then - the 200 metre medley! This involved doing 50 metres of butterfly, which she taught herself in our pool (less swimming than anti drowning really...), then 50 each of back stroke, breast stroke and freestyle. Only 5 people from the whole school entered, one of whom was virtually a fish, and she came second last, but was she bothered? I don't think so! She was just thrilled to have taken part and couldn't wait to tell her dad about it. What a girl!



Other interesting things are also happening on the education front for George, who is still at St Lukes. His task this year is to get organised and start giving a s**t! I'm told this is a common problem with 12 year old boys, and so far he is responding fairly well to our nagging, managing to get to school most days with what he needs, and producing his first ever 'A' grade piece of work for a project in technology. He has also really pushed himself out of his comfort zone by joining the school debating team, which had its first round of the Independent Schools Debating Association tournament last week. George was first speaker for the negative in a debate on 'the wealthy should be given incentives to donate to charity'. The teams of four are given the debate proposition and then are shut in a room without an adult and with pens, paper and a whiteboard to put together an argument. Given that in George's team none of them actually knew what 'incentives' were, they acquitted themselves quite well! They didn't win, but for a first attempt as a team they did brilliantly. For George, we know this was a real challenge as on the whole he likes to stay in the background, so we were especially proud of him.

And so onto me - who is also enjoying pastures new on the education front. A few weeks ago I started post graduate training in psychotherapy which will, in two years, qualify me to practice. It's all been really interesting and enjoyable so far (particularly in the absence of having to hand anything in just yet!) - especially the group therapy element of the training. We have to sort out our own shit before we try to sort out anyone elses, so this part of the training is very much compulsory. The first session was pretty nerve wracking....I think I am going to find out or face up to uncomfortable things about myself....life's a journey eh?

As part of that journey, and also because if I spend any more time doing housework or drinking coffee I will seriously go mental, I've started volunteering one day a week at a special school - Arranounbai School for Specific Needs. This wonderful school provides for pre schoolers to Year 12 who are physically and/or intellectually disabled, and for children with complex medical needs, and I am working alternatively with a preschool class and a senior class. The 5 children in the pre school class all require one to one help in the classroom, but are cute as buttons and enormous fun. The senior class has a group of 7 children with differing physical and intellectual needs, and yesterday I enjoyed helping Georgia with her Year 7 work. On my first day, the headmaster, Garry, took a picture of me with the gorgeous Zoe, which you can enjoy here....



Everyday in that school, I am reminded of how very lucky I am....

A visit from the parentals

You will recall that the last time I updated the blog, I was complaining about how unbearably hot it was.

Then Mum and Dad arrived.

And it rained and rained and rained and rained. The temperature dropped by over 10 degrees, and we were subjected to some of the heaviest rainfall the region had seen for 35 years.

This has not helped my gut feeling that the end of the world is nigh....

My friends are beginning to get fed up about visits from my parents, as this is the third visit that has been marred by the weather.

'Not your parents again! Don't let them come! They make it rain!'

I'm not sure it's fair to blame global warming on mum and dad, but there might be something in it.

Despite all this, we tried to make the most of the family time holed up in the house that this afforded us, whilst also overcoming the urge to kill one another. We played some good board games, ventured out to eat, and went on lovely walks whenever there was a break in the cloud cover. Dad came and watched George play a blinder at basketball (36 - 6), and we all enjoyed the DVD of Anna's dance concert. Over and over again.

And now I have delivered them to the cruise ship Arcadia at Circular Quay, on which they will sail up the coast to Japan and Hong Kong, arriving home in 3 weeks.

I feel sad.

On the whole I feel pretty stressed when they are here. It's difficult having anyone stay in your house for long periods of time. And this visit comes pretty much straight after Andrew's parental visit. So we've had nearly 7 weeks of non stop visiting. And no matter how much you love them, it's quite stressful. It's not really the entertaining that is difficult, as everyone is very helpful - it's the inability to keep to your normal routine. I like my routine.

Then they leave, and you feel sad, and bad. You know you probably won't see them again for a year, maybe two. And you feel bad that you let yourself be irritated by them when they were here. You are plagued by fears about what might happen in the interim. They are not as young as they were. What if they get ill, or worse? And I argued with them about the washing and getting the meat out the freezer! How trivial all that will seem if this turned out to be the last time I saw them, God forbid.

The thing is, that wherever you live, however far away you are, your relationship with your parents is what it is. Just because you miss them, and love them, doesn't mean you no longer find the things that always annoyed you about them annoying. And vice versa. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but, it seems, mainly while the absentees are actually absent....

Suffice to say. I love you mum and dad x

Four seasons in one day...

It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes....

We need to talk about heat. Not the magazine....Because it is very hot. Like train track buckling and melting hot. I kid you not. I cannot walk on my deck without shoes on. My swimming pool is constantly calling out to me (and anyone who knows me well will tell you that I am not a person given to getting in swimming pools, unless I have drunk a great deal of alcohol and inappropriately removed all my clothing). I have been doing my housework in only my pants...

I know you are all seeing on the news about the heatwave in Australia and the deaths in the bush fires north of Melbourne. Thus far there have not been any serious fires in Sydney. Which is fairly unusual. The fact that our house backs onto National Park bushland where there have been fires before does not exactly inspire confidence, but you really have to accept it as a part of life in Australia.

By contrast there has been terrible flooding in some parts of Queensland, where a state of emergency has been declared and many people have lost their homes. And in Europe they are experiencing the coldest and snowiest winter for many years.

Don't you sometimes feel like we are watching the apocalypse?

Most of you will know that I am not exactly religious, but if I was, I would be thinking the end of the world was nigh. I might even have to get a sandwich board with that written on it and parade up and down the northern beaches. And I would, you know....if it wasn't so bloody hot.

On a slightly different tack (but still on the general theme of the end of the world is nigh, so allowable I feel), sometimes when I am watching daytime tv (I know...I can only blame myself) I do feel like maybe Sodom and Gommorah is alive and well in some states of America. Do they show the Maury Povich show on UK tv?? This is a show that is entirely about helping people prove who is the father of their child through DNA testing. Some of these women come onto the show up to 14 times testing various dreadful young men, who they swear they are 100% sure is the father of their child, only to hear - again - that he is NOT the father. Are they really saying they slept with 14 people that month? And if you had - would you want to go on the tv and tell the world about it??

Anyway - I digress. It's probably not fair to blame global warming on the loose morals of an American subclass who just want to get on tv.

We are told that the weather in our part of NSW is about to cool down by up to about 10 degrees and that we will be getting rain next week. This will bring the fear of bushfire down a few notches, but will make getting the washing done problematic.

Life is never perfect, is it?

Random Conversation

I am standing outside the kiosk on Shelley Beach with the children and the dog. A man with two youngsters approaches the dog and gives him a pat.

'What a beautiful dog. What's his name?'

'Bronson.'

A pause...

'Is that after Pierce then?'

'Erm no - Bronson. After Charles Bronson.'

We both pat the dog.

'What breed is he then?' says the man.

'He's a Bernese Mountain Dog.'

A pause....

'Is he from Burma then?'

'...No. Berne. In Switzerland.'

I smile. I don't want him to feel silly.

The children watch with interest while we both continue to pat the dog. I'm starting to wish he would go away.

'So,' he says. 'What does he do for mating?'

'I'm sorry?'

'I mean - you know. What does he do - you know - when he mates?'

Is it me.....?!

Christmas and New Year 2008

In contrast to last year, we awoke on Christmas morning to the sort of weather we Poms have always believed to be the norm for the day - blue skies, big sun, high temperatures. Sydneysiders will tell you that that good weather on Christmas Day is, in reality, as elusive as white Christmases in the UK, but for 2008, the weather outdid itself.



We were joined for the day by, of course, Grace and Bob, who were visiting for 3 weeks or so (they left for Perth and Singapore yesterday), plus Nicky and Graham and their brood. We ate a HUGE bbq outside, played a few games, splashed about in the pool and ended the afternoon drinking champagne in the outdoor spa. It was perfect. The children had a great time - especially when competing with the men at basketball!

On Boxing Day, our tradition (such that it is!) is to take the leftovers to the beach for a picnic, and this year Dee Why was chosen. I think there were more people on the beach that day than I have seen on the beach ever before in Australia, but the atmosphere was extremely convivial, the sea clear and the waves perfect. To be honest, both Anna and I were a bit under the weather with some sort of flu-type bug, but it's not too much hard work just to sit on the beach whilst boosting yourself up with paracetamol!

It was lovely, and I think we are getting closer to having established a pattern for this time of year which will hopefully start to feel as familiar and important as the one we had for the previous 38 years....however, I think in a few year's time we will have to come back to the UK for a proper one....



New Year's Eve was a busier affair. During our last few years in the UK, we had rarely done anything to see the New Year in, sometimes even retiring to bed before midnight. However, when you live in the NYE party capital of the world, what you do that evening is a big deal and a big talking point for weeks in advance. We had decided to do the real thing - to go into the city and watch the fireworks from as close to the action as we could reasonably get (taking into account we had the children with us!). Friends Jason and Julie found a Bavarian Bier Keller in The Rocks (right by the harbour) which could accommodate families and had a bit of entertainment to help keep the children going till midnight and a great time was had by everyone - despite all the predictions of doom and gloom about how difficult it would be to get in and out of the city, and what a nightmare it would all be.



In the event, we successfully parked the car in the Wharf carpark (ooo - you'll never get parked for the ferry....), walked on the first ferry (ooo - you'll have to wait ages till you can get on a ferry...) and successfully found our restaurant, enjoying some of the entertainment on Circular Quay on the way. There were - literally - MILLIONS of people in the city, but the police were out in force, it was very well organised, and the atmosphere was very friendly but definitely inebriated. After our meal and a bit of yodelling and traditional bavarian dancing (think lederhosen and a lot of thigh slapping), we left and successfully found a vantage point away from the main crowds by the water, where we felt the children wouldn't be trampled underfoot, and where we could see the Harbour Bridge very clearly, and watched the best firework display in the world. Definitely an experience not to be forgotten!



Getting home was supposed to also be the stuff of nightmares, but we made our way through the throng, and got on the first ferry we saw for Manly (ooo - you'll wait hours for a ferry home...), picked up our car and went on our way. A great night and no worries, mate...

Another Antipodean Christmas

So here we are, getting ready for our second Christmas in Australia. Can you believe that? In some ways it doesn't feel more than five minutes since we came out here, and in others it's as if we have been here for ever. Certainly life has settled down to normality and generally we no longer feel like we are on holiday all the time.

Having said that though, the last couple of weeks have definitely had something of the vacation feeling to them. The weather has been wonderful, and we've spent a fair amount of time either chilling at the beach or relaxing round our rather luxurious pool. That heavy, warm and tired feeling at the end of a day spent in the sun is definitely something which we all still associate with being on holiday.

The strange bit, of course, is that all this is going is going on when we are also preparing for Christmas. Which feels very odd. Most English people out here struggle to feel very festive, despite enjoying the good weather. Christmas here does not seem to be such a big deal either, and I have theory about that. I think that Christmas is such a massive event in the UK because it is a beacon of hope and fun in the middle of months of dark and dreariness. Imagine the British winter without Christmas! Whereas here, it would be still be sunny and the biggest holiday season of the year.

I decided this year that the way forward was to try to make some australian christmas traditions, rather than trying to emulate the jolly season back at home. I started this by revamping my entire collection of tree decorations, moving away from the traditional red, green and gold, and setting a sort of carnival tone. As you can see from the photo, it works rather well with the sunshine. At the same time, we are having seafood and salads again for the main meal, along with bbq steaks and frankly more food than anyone could possibly eat in one meal. We will be joined by Andrew's parents, Grace and Bob, who are staying with us at the moment, plus friends Nicky and Graham with their 4 children - Joe, Jack, Luke and Chloe. Joe and Jack live in the UK and are over for a visit at the moment.

I think that the thing that I liked best about Christmas in the UK was the stillness, the solemnity and the way the season connected us to ancient times. I loved the dark and the lights and the carols. Here, all that is completely lost. Even at the Christmas service at the children's ( anglican ) school, all the carols were jazzed up. I know it's supposed to be a joyous occasion, but to be honest I find the old style carols a lot more uplifting than jigging along to a barely recognisable version of 'Away in a Manger'.

All that apart, the children are of course still very excited and in fact, Anna is already tucked up in bed waiting for the morning. George will be joining her very shortly, and then Andrew and I will wrap the very last presents and then retire ourselves. So all that remains is to wish you a very wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2009. And I am told that a printed version of this blog is sent up to a Manchester collective of the Chaneys and Penningtons and then circulated. As they are not able to comment, and so never get a special message, this one's for you - a shout out to the Manchester people from The Pettifers Down Under - Merry Christmas!

Good times...bad times...

It's been a tough few weeks.

When we came out here, we thought we had a pretty good idea of which one of our two children would be the most challenged by the experience. Anna was always brimming over with confidence and able to find a friend anywhere. George was more reserved and introspective, and took time to make connections with people. We thought Anna would take it in her stride and George might need more support and nurturing.

How wrong we were......

We've spent the last couple of weeks coming to terms with the fact that Anna is desperately unhappy at school. There have been warning signs. More sickness than usual, and many illnesses appearing on Sunday evening and disappearing once she got to school. A lack of interest in how she looked at school. A declining academic and behavioural record.

Then suddenly a big meltdown. Apparently she hates the school, always has - but didn't want to disappoint us. She doesn't feel at home there and feels that she doesn't fit in.

It's desperate when your children are unhappy. After a few weeks of discussions, and taking advice from professionals, Andrew and I had a worry that had been at the back of our minds confirmed. You might remember that when we arrived here, Anna went into Year 4 - which meant she went up from having 2 school years between her and George to only one. Initially this worked very well, and we felt it had been a good decision. However....this year the older of those girls are over 11 and a half. At just 10 and not 11 till next May, Anna has been struggling to keep up with their level of maturity. At the same time, because these children have been at school for longer than her, she has gone from excelling to being very average. This has been confusing for her, and has knocked her confidence.

Anna is just not old enough for Year 5, and certainly not for Year 6 starting in January.

The result is that we are moving her from the school, and placing her at a local school where she will repeat Year 5. This will give her the opportunity to regain some of the confidence and self belief she has lost, and also get her back in a year group with whom she has more parity in terms of maturity.

Since we have made this decision and sorted it all out, Anna has been like a different child at home. Or at least, she's been more like the child we were used to having around. It's not going to be a bed of roses when she starts at the new school I'm sure, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we've made the right decision.

On a more positive note, there have been other, happier things going on in Anna's life. Her netball team won the Summer Competition (you will remember they won the winter one as well). They have not been beaten by anyone all year! How amazing is that?? Anna is getting quite a collection of trophies! Also, we went to see her dance school end of year show, and saw Anna dance for the first time. Now I know I am a bit biased - but she's rather good! Next year she will be doing 7 dance classes a week, luckily just down the road, and she is very proud that she will be in a performance team.

It now being the 28th November, we have been waiting with baited breath for a glimpse of George's Nintendo Wii advert, as it was released on the 26th in the States. So far, however, after repeated trawling the web and YouTube, I've not been able to find it. Which is very frustrating. I'll keep looking for it, and as soon as I've located it, I'll put a link on here. And if anyone is in the States and sees it, please do let us know!

Perfection

George has just completed his first ever working week. Well - two days. And I suspect that it will be a long time before he earns that much money in so short a time again. We were very proud of him. He worked hard, was charming, was patient and focussed and never complained, although I know at times it was rather tedious.

It turned out that Nintendo Wii adverts are big budget productions. The director hired was Aaron Ruell, who is both a renowned photographer and director of independent films and an actor who has appeared in a number of Hollywood films, most notably 'Napoleon Dynamite'. He is, apparently, the up and coming man of the moment in the film world. It was, therefore, especially exciting when he asked if he could photograph George for his photographic website (www.aruell.com). He likes unusual looking people and takes very detailed photographs. We'll let you know when the photos are on the site, and that's one of his at the top there.

The actual advert will only be shown on American and Canadian TV, and will be released on 26th November, after which time it should be able to be found on YouTube. Oddly enough, there were 3 children in the commercial, of which two were English. So they were filming an American advert with two little English boys in Australia. The world sure is a small place these days.

It was really fascinating being there. It occurred to me that these days we are so familiar with adverts, films, and tv, and yet what goes into its creation is such a mystery to us. What amazed me most was the attention to detail. Everything had to be absolutely perfect - and this often meant doing things over and over and over again (not easy when you are an active twelve year old boy!). They would take a shot, and then start again because they wanted to move a teacup, or remove a person, or change some item of wardrobe because they didn't feel it was working.

Which brings me to the title of this post. We talk a lot these days about the influence of the media in terms of body image and the pressure to be perfect. We are sold the idea that we should aspire to look like women who are 20 years younger than us, airbrushed and injected, and we are disappointed when we can't keep up. But I realised watching this shoot that the idea of perfection pervades our society far more broadly than that. Through the media we are shown homes which have been styled by interior designers and stylists with no expense spared. Every detail of every thing we see on tv and film has been carefully selected, and then carefully placed in the scene. Nothing is left to chance. Throughout the filming wardrobe and makeup flit on and off the set, smoothing hair which doesn't look out of place to the human eye, straightening collars, pulling down hems and generally ensuring everyone looks picture perfect. Other people move teacups, flowers and other items around until the director and the advertising agency are satisfied. At one point, an extra disappeared and another one replaced him, as the agency had decided they didn't like his look (the poor man was only sitting at a cafe table pretending to talk to a blonde woman. Brutal).

All this creates a lot of pressure on us mere mortals, who are not followed around by make up and wardrobe and set hands. The media sends us the message that we must not only look perfect and be perfect, but our homes and our lives must be perfect too.

No wonder we are all going a bit nuts....