Pupil-Free Day

It was a pupil-free day today where the pupils stay away from school and the teachers attend school without them. I reckon close to 95% of teachers would like to have it this way all of the time but perhaps we'd better not put this to the vote. I had to stay home to babysit The Boy. Isn't it funny how we fathers refer to it as babysitting but the mothers just "stay at home with the kids"?

I had a few plans for my day off which, by the way, I earnt by working on Saturday. Nice to swap Monday for Saturday, whereby I got much more work done due to less disruptions, but I know that I'll pay for it on Tuesday with a full inbox from the rest of the country that was at work. Plans almost went to the dogs as I'm not feeling too well. Bit of a cold and a deal of associated coughing. I was hoping to take The Boy to the golf course to actually play a game. He's only been on the driving range previously.

I did want to take him to the movies also. Managed to find out that Hoyts has a matinee special if you purchase at least two tickets for movies prior to 5pm. The 3D version was on special for only A$12 as opposed to the normal A$20 for an adult ticket. Bargain! Wasn't impressed with the 27 minutes of ads and trailers prior to the movie starting. I think we had only 26 people in the cinema so it wasn't packed.

We watched Toy Story 3. I'd heard that it was good, as was Shrek 4 The Final Chapter, but The Boy wanted to see it more.

Great movie. Better than Toy Story 2 and about on par with Toy Story the original. Wasn't overly impressed with the 3D version as nothing jumped out from the screen apart from the ads. Could have been so much better. Much like watching a normal movie although I find the 3D glasses to be a bit distracting and annoying. I don't know how people put up with wearing glasses normally. Really enjoyed the movie.

Toy Story 3 Display at Hoyts.

Back home to make a subway-style sandwich for The Boy, which he really enjoyed (bit of a surprise there) and then off for some shopping before a visit to the doctor to obtain a blood test for The Boy. He has a nut allergy and we need more information on it. No taekwondo training for me today due to my cold. Not a bad day off though.

Earthquake In Melbourne - Earth Moves In Perth

I read about the earthquake in Melbourne on a friend's blog before I heard about it in the news. So, the earth moved in Melbourne yesterday. Well, it moved in Perth today.

We have decided to lay some turf in the backyard. No longer are we content with clumps of grass that die off over summer. No siree. We want expensive lawn that dies off over summer.

I braved the mozzies this morning to lay the rooster booster (fertiliser) early as I had booked a compacter from Carlisle Handy Hire at 8am. Not a good idea to start your preparation only an hour and ten minutes earlier. I spread the fertiliser then mixed it in. Followed this with lots of soil conditioner and watered that in nicely. Then The Boy and I went to the shop to collect the compacter. Gee, it was a heavy best. A sign on the compacter said to use ear muffs but I swear it was louder with them on than without them. The machine was so easy to use I let junior have a go. No better way to get him interested in helping his old man than letting him use some heavy machinery.

We wacked the soil three times to get it fairly compact, ready for laying turf which is due to arrive on Wednesday. Then the real fun begins. Being a Sunday, which is now our swimming day, and the handy hire was right near one of the pools that we use, we dropped off the compacter and headed to the pool. After a shower we jumped in the pool. The Boy swam a total of 33 laps (16 1/2 Olympic swimming pool laps) and I managed 52 - a mixture of mainly breastroke, some freestyle, couple of backstroke and one butterfly. Surprised myself a bit there with 1300m. Then we mucked around for the next half hour.

Back home for some lunch and thought it would be a good idea to take the boat out for a cruise on the river. It goes at least 50m on the remote which was very impressive. After a while, when Yu-Jin was chasing a duck, it became snagged. We went to the bank on the other side of the river, where it was so humid and the mozzies attacked with amazing ferocity (felt like being in a rainforest), we couldn't reach it. I had to go home and put some old shoes and overalls on as I had to enter the water to rescue the boat. When I came back there was a bit of an audience. They watched me splash about in the water as it was quite a bit deeper than I expected. At least they gave me a round of applause once I had completed the rescue. Talk about soaked though.

After a nice warm shower and tea The Boy and I had a couple of games of chess. He's just joined the chess club at school and needs the practice. I won the first game easily and then he destroyed me in the second game with his queen. I was down to three pieces against about eight. He even got a pawn to the other side and collected a queen but, unfortunately for him, I had positioned my king to take it. I then cut loose with my queen and we got down to him with a king and me with a king and queen. Unbelievably the game ended in a stalemate.

Not bad for my one day off!

Facebook Photo Album - Preparing For Laying Turf.