Dispatches from the sunburned wastelands

We're on our second iPod touch, after the first got a soaking from the gardenhose and promptly died. And by "we" I mean of course the little monster. Although he adores computers, one of the symptoms of his disability is poor fine motor skill - he struggled to use a mouse. After I read about how other autistic kids are using the touch to play games and as a communications device, the LM got one for Xmas. And now he's a whiz at it...but he's still only 3, hence the hosepipe incident. Oh well.


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Posted by HannesB at 4:48 PM Comments

Guess who turned three today...How time flies.

Posted by HannesB at 10:24 PM Comments

Happy New Year!  The good news is, my dad’s out of hospital - he’s had to spend his Christmas day there, unfortunately, but they released him on the 27th of December.  I probably will have to go back soon to sort out some stuff with him and the family.  Down here in Oz, we’re going to have a busy year. The Little Monster is (finally) starting therapy sessions in February – both occupational and speech therapy.  He’s only just turning three, and already has a hectic schedule lined up! (May be a sign of things to come – soccer practice, music lessons, etc…oh so suburban : ).

Posted by HannesB at 4:19 PM Comments

I sure am glad I'm not a Shopping Trolley Rustler in the mall today...people are so rude to you.  People don't really show any Christmas spirit in a mall parking lot, do they?

After a couple of 35 degree days, it looks like it's going to be a relatively cool and rainy Christmas Day here in the Oz Capital.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by HannesB at 12:26 PM Comments

I just heard this morning that my dad is very ill, and might be having surgery before Christmas. Which might mean that I will have to make the trek to South Africa in the next week or two. I wish it was under better circumstances...


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Posted by HannesB at 4:09 PM Comments

As we are sitting here sweltering away in 39 degree heat (my employer apparently decided to turn down the air conditioning, probably to score green points with the local Green political party, with whom they are occasional bedfellows in politics), I'm left wondering about the poor design of Australian buildings.  It's not designed to withstand the extreme heat conditions at all.  I mean, in Canada they build their houses with decent insulating materials to withstand the cold, and in parts of Asia houses are built on stilts to allow monsoon floodwater to drain without washing away houses.  But here in oz, they build like they were still in Europe. The same goes for clothing.  No, I'm not talking about leisure wear, because as anyone knows the Aussies are very good at beach wear.  I'm talking about wearing their (black) business suits to work, in these sweltering conditions.  One could swear we were in Brussels (if it wasn't for the melting asphalt in the shade outside).  C'mon, how hard would it be to adapt to the local conditions?  They don't even do casual Fridays very well here.  Whoever thought that Aussies were all laid-back surfer-dudes, better think again.  They dress more conservatively than a British House of Lords representative.
 

Posted by HannesB at 8:53 PM Comments

I’m feeling sad or rather melancholic at the moment. We just received a parcel from back home, filled with books and music (and a DVD for martin). I usually order something from “home” every couple of months. Initially, when we started living in Canada, I ordered magazines to try and keep up to date, but as the years went by the faces and names in the magazines became less and less recognizable. I still order books from South African writers, but it gets harder to find out about new and exciting reads. One of the CD’s I received contained a DVD of the band playing against the background of the nightscape of Pretoria, the city where I went to university, and lived and worked for a while. Lots of memories tied to that landscape. And the words, of course, touched me too. In case anybody cares, the group is called “Klopjag”, meaning raid (as in police raid), and the CD is called 09. I’m sure you can get a glimpse of it on YouTube…

Posted by HannesB at 11:54 AM Comments