Call me a doubting Thomasina, but I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes - we now have water! There is even a tap that you can turn on attached to the connection pipe - for proof! See pic of the actual tap with water gushing forth... On Wednesday the plumber and his trusty team quietly bored under the main road outside our house and came up on the other side - only to find that the water mains was so strongly built that Sydney Water will need to order special equipment to tap into it. But no matter - as a temporary measure the same Sydney Water representatives have hooked onto our unsuspecting neighbour's water pipe. So for all intents and purposes (and to appease the council inspector) we have water coming down to the back lot where our house will be built. The really great thing about this is that we can now finish the driveway and start submitting our papers for the final subdivision approval. Then we can start building!!!
Last weekend I managed to fit in a performance of Cirque du Soleil (Varekai), a 20 year school reunion (egads!) and some time at my brother's house in Toronto near Lake Macquarie, helping clean up after his renovations. Varekai was fantastic - so much better than I expected. I laughed, I oooohed and aaaaahed and I was moved by the beauty of it all. It had an authentic European flavour and the comedy was mostly mime and gesture, and quite original. I even liked the merchandise - very colourful and nicely designed. I got P. to take some photos of the clothing for future artistic inspiration. I liked the music so much that I bought the CD and am planning to listen to it at work while I'm tapping away at the computer. I found out the music was arranged by Nithin Sawney - one of my favourite musicians at the moment. I have also been inspired to take up dancing - at the moment I'm looking around for a suitable class.
When I walked into the hotel room full of my old school mates I scanned the room and felt I had come to the wrong place. I hardly recognised anybody. Then slowly, one by one, the faces came into focus. I was definitley better at faces than names. Half the night I just nodded vaguely when someone said "You know so and so, well she...". I was at that school for only two years after all and most of my friends from my junior high school days who had come along to this high school for years 11 and 12 didn't show, which was rather disappointing. The two other women from my group of friends and I have now decided to organise a reunion of our junior high school class.
At A's place in Toronto I had the honour of testing the oven by baking a cake. I had to use a bit of elbow grease to clean it all out, but it came up pretty well. And judging by the crumbs left on everybody's afternoon tea plates, the oven did its job rather well.
This is my first week of working at the beginning of the week (Mon to Wed) and I've been feeling a bit inside out all week. Add to that the change in daylight saving and too much partying on the weekend and it is a real doozy of a week! Nevertheless, I am sure my new timetable will be a change for the better. It means I can catch up with friends and my mothers' group more easily and L. and I can get together with my mother on Fridays - he's been missing her lately. His version of her name (Nanabel - a combination of Nana and Isabel) is' Nanawi' and since we saw her on Sunday, he's been calling for her every day.