banjo48

My old mum had an Agapanthus she treasured in a pot in the lounge, it used to flower really well, over here in oz they grow like weeds ! On one of her visits to oz before she died, she took some Jackaranda seeds back with her, yes shock horror, but she got them growing to about a meter high, but the cold finally got them even in her greenhouse. They are a medium tree that gets covered in large blue/purple flowers. I actually saw a specimen in the hot houses on Woodthorpe park once. Some quite nice aussie plants and trees in there.

Can't remember when I cleaned a pair of shoes properly last time. I have two pairs of good leather Clarkes shoes (which I always replace when I come to the uk) but I tend to just wipe them witha cloth now, but then again being retired I hardly wear them here in oz ! dont wear long trousers much, unless I go on my motorbike ! My main footwear now is a pair of sketchers that just get thrown in the laundry and come out like new, the most comfy casuals I've ever owned. My others are yes you guessed it, flipflops or as the aussies term them "thongs". But they are Scholl ones again from the uk.

Thanks for that, another place to have a look at on my next trip over.

Not only in the uk, our tv "aunty ABC" have also been on the bandwagon, with our so called aussie stars , and Who do you think you are. Thinking about it though, it's cheap tv to produce compared to big budget dramas, and Ancestry.com sponsor it big time, as it ecourages others to join and do the same so increasing their turnover and profits. I actually did some of my family tree a few years ago and did join Ancestry for a year as it was a super special deal to join, but then it went to the full price which was ridiculous IMO, so I gave it away. I also dont like the way they want to auto

#269 Dont get that rubbish anymore Mick, since I became an Apple person, so refreshing !

I've had to ease off with the excersise for a few week now, had a health issue rear it's ugly head, still walking and gentle cycling but not as much as I was before. Had every test known to man a couple of weeks ago and now awaiting to have a ct brain scan, not as bad as it sounds hopefully, they think it might be a mini stroke that I had, but scared the bejesus out of me at the time.

Wish they'd fine the parents here in Oz for taking the little buggers out of school ! latest thing is to take a gap year or two so they can see the country camping with mum and dad, and mummy becomes their "home school teacher" Yer right. All it does is turn out more little obnoxious brats with no respect for anyone or anything.

Paying "corkage" in a cafe or restaurant to have some twerp remove a cork from my rare BYO bottle of wine with a meal. Paid $5au last evening for the privalege and only a bistro ! wouldn't mind but my wine only cost me $10 !!!!!!

Not one of my favorite singers, but rest in peace Cilla you made me laugh sometimes ! don't think she ever recovered from the loss of Bobby.

Toothache, put an asprin on it. Boils Kaolin paultice, splinters sugar & soap paultice. My great aunt and gran 5 drops of laudnam (spelling) in a little medicinal brandy, and all your troubles went away ! made you sleep good too. :-)

The most beautiful sound to me is the lack of "human" noise, just nature at it's best at some remote water hole or wherever, where the birds are flitting around in pure peace and serenity. Here in oz just before daybreak the birds all seem to fire up together to welcome the new day, a wonderful sound as the sun comes up.

Remember it well, I nearly drowned there as a child ! my brother took me and was supposed to watch over me, but he was playing in the deep end with his mates, I was alone in the shallow end but decided to go and jump in at the deep end as it looked more fun, the lifeguard fished me out, as my brother never even noticed me floundering away. Hated water after that till one day at Butlins in skeggy, I overcame my fear with the help of a mask & snorkel and finally learn't to swim at around 12.

Very interesting reading about your English car habits. Here in W Australia we don't have mot's but in NSW they do ! In Vic you need a road worthy cert. to sell only. I currently have an Isuzu NPR truck which I tow our 5th wheeler around this big brown land, just 3 years old now. It's still only done 27,000 klms ( just over 21000 miles), we don't rush around and often stay in some places for a few months if we like it. A new home may be on the cards at the end of the year according to my wife, we'll see, I just love the freedom so far, think I've got gypsy blood in me somewhere. As for a n

I believe the old Be ro cooking booklet is still available, or was a couple of years ago, My wife used to have my mums original copy but it fell apart and i got her a new one from ebay uk. Wife still makes her scones using that recipe, and a nice butter cake with butter icing. Sorry to go OT, you railway enthusiasts.

Not really relevent to me now as I've just moved up to a Macbook, but from what I've heard is if you've got 7 then stick to it for now ! I did read that this new 10 will share you wifi connection details between contacts by default so must be switched off, but no idea how or why. I know a couple of chaps that have been running the beta version and they were not too impressed, and were the one's saying keep 7.

My credit card, my bank card, my medicare card, my RAC membership card, drivers license thats about it, if I carry cash I dribble it away quickly.

Just been reading a great book of how the US space program, mainly how Appollo came to be, and fllew to the moon. "How Appollo Flew to the Moon" by W. David Woods Some very amazing facts and insights of the development and final landing on the moon. May interest some, as just the development of the technology is worth reading, and how it impacts on our lives today, think mobile phones, GPS, silicon chips and many more.

Just found another one, spruikers or whatever they are called in shopping centers, waylaying you as you go about your normal business, trying to flog you something or sign up for cheap gas of whatever else is currently the special on offer ! It like a maze, dodge them, dont give eye contact, walk faster, hide behind someone else, just to go to woolies or in your cases Tesco's.

Probably said it before, litter droppers, fly tippers, inconsiderate smokers, inconsiderate pet owners the list goes on ! Oh my latest is the "Nanny governments or states" in our case that have to protect you from yourselves, with ridiculous new rules and regullations, whatever happened to common sense.

My middle 3 girls (eldest daughter and twin younger daughters) went there, Janine the eldest was there in 76, my eldest son may have gone there too, but cannot remember. We lived on the Nurseries estate just around the corner, my wife used to walk them round, she remembers mr Murphy well but no miss Loneck. I occasionally picked them up if I finished early from work.

Feral cats are a big problem here in oz and have been for years, I drive around quite a bit living full time traveling and we see more cats that anything else ! the next would be foxes then rabbits,and even pigs ! all introduced species which have proved successful in living in the wild. What one has to understand is these cats are no longer little fluffy friendly pets, but grow large (some I have seen are huge) and are very agressive if approached, even the kittens can do serious damage with heir claws if tried to be picked up. They become very "canny" and will avoid traps and baits almos

As a young fellow I used to work on rooves with my dad, a builder, he would think nothing of shinning up a triple extender wooden ladder with a crawler ladder on his shoulder and stick the crawler up to the chimney stacks while I footed the ladder then climbed to the junction to pass dad a bucket of mortar or some slates, while he sat happily on the roof. Then in my 30's I became a Telecom tech and did the pole climbing thing and again used to go up and down some real scary big telegraph poles, especiallly around Sherwood and Mapperley park, in all weathers. As I grew older I have become a w

I remeber the implimentation of the PT vividly. In 1989 we were preparing to emigrate and kept getting these silly forms to register myself amd family for the dreaded tax, knowing we were leaving the country soon , I, being a bit of a rebel at heart, filled the form with a set of ficticious names such as Michael Mouse, Minnie Mouse etc. We left and never gave it another thought, a few months later my mum rang in a panic as I had been summonded to a court appearance due to my sillyness ! Anyway after a few long distance phone calls and a stautory dec. from me, stating I no longer resided in

Wouldn't think twice about it if it was fresh. Often used to see the local indigenous remove a big roo tail from a carcass at side of the road in our North. As they would say "Good tucker".

One of my twin daughters when she first got married, rang her mum up to ask how to boil an egg ! not how long mind but how did you do it. She loves cooking now and even bakes her own bread. As a child she was a real tomboy and would rather help dad at work than learn to cook from mum.