11 Things About My Weekend

1. The flight to Melbourne was torturous. Tiger. The price you pay for the price you pay.  Jammed into a space too small for a man half my size, for 4 hours, overnight. No comfort. No sleep.

Very glad to be on the ground in Melbourne.

2. Picked up hire car and headed for Gary and Christine's at Laurimar, for some much needed sleep and a shower.

3. Hunted around Melbourne for footy badges. Went to a GREAT game of footy on Friday night at Docklands, finished in a draw between Hawthorn and StKilda.

4. Saturday morning drove down to Geelong. Visited Mrs Holt Press' Dad Alan who had forgotten I was coming. A pretty good visit. It's the first time I've seen him since Mother Mary died and there is a sense of sadness and emptiness in him.

5. To Kardinia Park to see the Cats belt the Lions, a most enjoyable afternoon. Gazza was in great form and kicked 5 goals. Have to make the most of  the chance to see what will probably be one of his last games for Geelong. I feel pretty sure he's going to sign for Gold Coast next season.

6. Back to Melbourne and another good game at Docklands, Essendon and North Melbourne. The Bombers first win in a couple of months. Met a couple of lovely older Ladies, one of whom gave me one of her Essendon member's badges for my collection.

7. Sunday morning, quick trip to the South Melbourne markets in search of footy badges then onto Docklands again for the Dockers v W Bulldogs. Freo's bubble has burst and they got pummelled.

8. Left at 3/4 time and went to the MCG to see the last half of Melbourne v Sydney. In a big upset the Demons thrashed the Swans.

9. For the first time since I got to Melbourne, got to spend some time with Gary when I got home. Always good to see him. Our Dads were mates so I've known him since we were little kids so he's not only one of my best mates but also my oldest. Talked footy, politics, work, health, ebay and Masterchef! 

10. Monday, headed into the city again. Met with a guy from Leading Teams to discuss some business ideas. There is the possibility of some BIG news in the Holt Press world. I'll keep you posted.

11. Dinner with Gary and family. Packed. Dropped off hire car. Hung around airport for two hours before flying home. VERY happy to score an exit row seat with decent leg room. Tried to sleep but failed. Still felt fresh enough upon arrival to pick up my car from Cam's and drive home rather than stay the night in Perth.

A good and quite productive weekend.

Up Up and Away

Gotta fly, literally.

Just heading to Melbourne for a few days, a mix of family, business and footy.

4 hours till flight time, no time to waste.

May blog from there time and technology permitting.

Health Scare

We took Sport Boy over to Bridgetown on Wednesday to stay with his Nan for a couple of days.

Mum brought him home on Friday and is now at our place for the weekend.

Just as well.

She developed very bad stomach pains at about 2 o'clock Saturday morning and I ended up taking her to the hospital it was so bad.

They gave her some morphine which thankfully took away the pain and enabled her to sleep. Various tests showed no sign of gallstones or ulcers the next morning. The Dr thinks it was a reaction to her arthritis medication.

I'm pleased to report she is back to her normal happy healthy self now.

Work is progressing on my book, I've written 25 pages so far.

Viva Espana

Spain 1 Holland 0

Sport Boy and I are both very happy.

Finally Bitten the Bullet

My sporadic blogging is set to become even less regular for a while because, after thinking about it for a number of years, I have finally started writing a book!

It's called "Nine Lives".

I've written 13 pages so far!!!

It is hard work!

I'll be happy if I crack 100 by the time it's finished.

You read it here first. (Pronouced "red")

No Rest for the Wicked

I got home from Country Week about 8 o'clock Friday night and an hour later was taxi driving, not quite the way I'd planned it but they needed a driver and I needed the money.

By 2.30 I was too tired to continue even though it was unusually busy.

I needed some sleep because I was rostered to umpire a reserves game at Margaret River at 12.20 Saturday arvo. I was not the picture of speed across the ground but managed not to upset too many players with my decisions. The captain of Donnybrook's reserves only has one arm, it's pretty inspirational watching him play footy and compete with the best of them.

I grabbed a few hours sleep when I got home before heading out to drive the cab again on Saturday night. It was a lot quieter and I finished fairly early! Sort of! I got my second wind and watched the Spain v Paraguay quarter-final of the World Cup when I got home.

Sunday at last was a day of rest, watching the Cats beat the Kangaroos round at Glass Dave's on Foxtel and Rafael Nadal winning Wimbledon last night.

I was up early this morning and drove the long shift of town services buses all day today.

Interspersed with all that Mrs Holt Press worked two shifts at Eagle Boys so we haven't seen much of one another for the last week.

Things will quieten down for a few days now which will be a welcome relief.

Before I left Perth I got a new phone, an iphone in fact. $0 up front on a $49 plan with Telstra, a much better deal than I expected to get. It is pretty cool!

Favourite Daughter did her final sums today and is very pleased with how much money she made for doing the lunches at Country Week, well worth all the stress and occasional tears!

I knew I had spoken too soon on Tuesday night when I said I'd had no trips to the hospital with injured kids!

Two on Wednesday.

Two more on Thursday and one last one to the dentist on Friday morning after breaking a tooth playing football!! I told David I want a bonus for hospital trips next year!

Country Week ended up very well, the kids were great and had a really good time. Busso won the boy's and girl's soccer and were runners-up in football and boy's volleyball.

I had to feel sorry for my mate Dave who managed Bunbury's CW team. Bunbury were announced as overall Country Week Champions at the closing ceremony but the next day the organisers discovered they'd made a mistake in adding up and the actual winners were Albany! Bad luck mate!