Sports Day 2007 - What A Day

My boy's primary school had their annual Faction Carnival (Sports Day) yesterday. It's early spring over here and probably not a bad time to have it. At great expense to the management I took the day off work. I told them that I'd be coming in on Saturday instead but the truth is I would have worked Saturday anyway.

It was a beautiful morning and I arrived early to help with setting up. Working all the time I never get to help out at school so this was some service that I could offer. It entailed putting out some plastic sheets, hammering in marker flags, erecting a couple of gazebos and bringing out a BBQ for the sausage sizzle later on. A few other parents came along and I at least found someone that I knew. Getting to meet the PE teacher and the headmaster was nice.

The boy setting up my seat - Sports Day 2007


Expecting some rain they changed to programme somewhat so that the events that were required to choose the team for inter school races were run. The day started off well with a few sprints and Yu-Jin gained a third place in his 50m race. He was also involved in tunnelball, a bean bag relay, tug of war and over and under - his team came first in this event. He picked up a second for the tug of war which wasn't bad considering there were 23 competitors on his side and 30 for the opposition.

Third place getter - Sports Day 2007

First place getter - Sports Day 2007


We did have a rain interruption which sent the kids under cover for about 10 minutes. When approximately half of the total events, and nearly all of the running events, were completed it started pouring. And this was after Mrs Meeko assured us that it wasn't going to rain. I don't think that she is going to live that prediction down for a while. I sat in my chair under my rug and umbrella and not getting wet. The same can't be said about the other spectators.

The rest of the day was spent under shelter and lunch was called. When it was clear that the rain wasn't going to let up the day was called off trophies were presented. We were able to go home early and it was only about 1:30. Sorry, but I wasn't prepared to help pack up as it was still raining.

Pouring rain - Sports Day 2007

People getting drenched - Sports Day 2007


As I had the afternoon at home what better thing to do than fix the front door mortise lock. I had received my replacement screws so that the handle wouldn't fall off any more. I had instructions that the screws must go all the way through the door furniture. Grabbed my drill and started drilling after disassembling the lock somewhat. Drilling was more difficult once the metal was reached and then the door latch became wedged. It was after this that I realised the mortise lock was probably buggered. Rang the door handle guy and he told me this. Even though I had followed his instructions, he'd forgotten to mention the part about removing the mortise lock completely before drilling, he wasn't prepared to take any blame. Another phone call to abuse my builder for the slack carpenter that he had employed which set this all off and then I phoned the door company. Now Rocky, from Goodman Doors in O'Connor, suggested bringing the buggered lock to his shop and he would exchange it for a display item. Bloody champion. Door was fixed in no time and works like a bought one.

Next item on the agenda was replacing the lamp in the boy's room. It appears that the lamp got super hot when it popped and melted against the plastic batten. I couldn't unscrew it and then put a lot of pressure on it. Guess what? It then shattered in my hand sending glass all over the room and cutting my hand in a few places. Ended up removing the remainder with a set of pliers - power off, of course. Worst nightmare when changing a light. Not too much damage done though. I'll live.