Who Dunnit

Fri 6th

The ice breaker started at 7 but I didn't have time to get changed after the pool game, so went, as I was. There was a Murder mystery dinner afterwards and many of the people were already in costume. It was good to meet old friends and to get to know others -  both complete strangers and those who previously had just been names on emails.

I headed to my room about 8 to get changed. My character was Bessie Smith a black Jazz singer known as the "empress of the blues".

All the characters were from the 1920s, so we had various actors, writers and poets from that era. The plot was that H G Wells had invited us to a soiree and transported us to modern times in his time machine and was then murdered. I won't say who the murderer was in case you get to go to a similar event.

It was a pleasant evening with great food and was held in the library.

After it finished, a group of us finished up in Steve's suite until about 2am.

What, this old place?

Fri 6th

The Mensa conference was held at the Carrington Hotel In Katoomba. This is a colonial style hotel that was re-furbished and modernised so most rooms have en-suites.

The outside is very grand and the inside is all wood, high ceilings, stained glass and antiques. 



The stairway is directly down from the entrance with a bar to the left and the dining room behind it.

I was on the first floor which had its own lounge and further seating in the passage way between the 2 wings.

I was in a Colonial room which had an ensuite. It too was stocked with antiques.

There were no organised events until Friday evening although Adcom had their meeting during the day. The 4 Adcom members were the only other people, other than Mal and I who were there Thursday night, although people turrned up during the day on Friday.

Fortunately the hotel had wireless internet, which we all had for free. I spent dome time using it and reading in the morning and about 1 headed for lunch joining a group at the nearby Brasserie. THis was originally a bank and like the hotel itself has that old world charm.

The weather was not good so we spent most of the afternoon playing snooker and pool. The snooker table was full sized so games took about an hour.

Road trips

Thu 5th

Yesterday was as uneventful as most of the last week or so - a visit to the library to check emails, etc. I took the gopher again and made a movie of the drive through the village on the way home.

I tried to load it but it failed. Will wait till I get home to try again.

Fri 6th

Time to move again. We left Goolwa about 9. I was hoping to stop at a Dymocks on the way to the airport and pick up a copy of the latest Robert Jordan book which was released on 27th (ie after I'd left Adelaide) but both the shops that were on the way were out of stock.

Consequently we arrived at the airport a bit earlier than planned so I had 2 hours before my flight, which I spent in the Qantas club. I printed off some maps of the route from the airport to Katoomba and located the Dymocks stores on the way.

The flight was uneventful and for the first time in the last month or so I had an empty seat next to me. It was a bit under 2 hours so there was no movie. I read the paper, did the crosswords and that just about filled in the time. We did get a light lunch on this flight.

I had an hour to wait for Malcolm who was flying from Perth on Virgin. He was renting a car so I was getting a ride with him. By then I had my case so had to drag that with me and eventually sat in the coffee shop area in the Virgin terminal and read till. he arrived. We left close to 4-30 and by then the traffic was building up. We stopped at Parramatta for a loo break and picked up some kebabs. These were additional benefits, since the initial reason was to visit the Dymocks there who did have the book. I will now have something to read going home as I'll probably finish the current book I'm reading before then.

Because of the stop and the traffic it was after 7-30 before we reached the hotel and Mal's GPS had us at the back where there were no entrances so we spend some time in the alleys ways behind it before we got to the main road and could drive in. It was raining and foggy and getting dark so we had no views on the way up.

I walked to the Coles about 1 km away to pick up some mixers and nibbles. It was sprinkling and misty so I got a bit damp but not wet. Then I joined Deidree and Peter in their room for a drink. Mal had gone to the Wine shop across the road and returned with 2 bottles of red and needed a corkscrew to open them,but we didn't have one. Peter pushed the cork in with a peg so they could have some wine and I had my whisky. By this time my knee was really aching, not helped by the walk.

Time flies

Tue 3

Only 2 more days till I head off again. The last week or so has been quite a lazy time. I have come here to the library most days to get internet access and check my emails. A lot of the rest of the time I have been reading, watching DVDs etc or just having naps. The photo on the right is with Mum and Dad on their decking.

I have fixed up a number of problems for various clients and done some minor enhancements but generally not done a lot of work. I have looked up tours, cruises and maps for Mum and Dad who are going on a Cruise from Sydney to Melbourne and Tasmania in December. Their are a number of trips available through the shipping company but generally these can be up to double the cost of a similar tour you organise yourself.

My knee is still quite sore although I can move around reasonably well. It tends to be painful when I get into bed and is very painful if I knock it or over-bend it.

I have used Mum and Dad's gopher a couple of times to come to the library when they aren't heading out anyway to bring me in the car. THis travels about 10km so is not very fast but quicker and easier than walking.


I watched Dad at his bowls on Saturday but When we went to see Mum on Thursday she had dropped put of her game due to being overheated. It was over 30 that day and as skipper she spends nearly all the time in the sun.

Mum and I had a drive to Hindmarsh Island for a view of the Murray mouth one day.

Today Frank and Betty visited from Adelaide. Frank is Mike and Richard's cousin on their mother's side so not a blood relation to me. However, I tutored their son in Maths while I was at Uni, so we were quite close. (The son has now turned 50 himself.) I hadn't seen them, like my cousins, since my great aunt's funeral in 2002.

Cousins

Mon 26th

Today we had a visit from 2 of my cousins. Richard is about 5 years younger than me and lives in Adelaide but Michael is around the same age as me and lives in Canberra. He also left school 40 years ago so it is no surprise that his school had a reunion but it was a good co-incidence that it was the same weekend as mine. He is here for 4 days only. I don't think I've seen Mike since Aunt's funeral in 2002.

They arrived around 12 and we had a good long chat all afternoon, with a BBQ lunch around 1. He had a similar experience at his re-union which was also the first one he's been to. Recognising some people almost instantly but others hardly at all. We also caught up on family and reminisced about things, as you do.

The vets hockey next year will be in Canberra, so assuming my knee recovers and I'm still playing I may see him sooner than in another 7 years. Their elder brother is also in Canberra now as are friends of mine from Uni days.

A Lazy Sunday

Sun 25th

This morning the retirement village where my parents live held a brunch for everybody in the centre. It was to support breast cancer. We were (as usual apparently) late but not the last to arrive. However this meant that we could not all sit together since there were only 1 and 2 seats left at the tables. One party had pushed 2 tables together so they could all sit together but this effectively removed 4 places where the 2 joined. The organiser said that they had set up 5 extra places and couldn't figure out why there weren't more spare seats. I didn't bother to point out the obvious 4 chairs. The food was served from a Bay Marie and was the usual cooked breakfast fare - scrambled eggs , bacon, sausages, hash browns etc. Quite nice but more than I'd normally have for breakfast. Mum and I sat together and chatted with the others on the table, they had some raffles and so forth. A pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday morning.

Afterwards we went home. I photographed the crossword from the Sunday paper and did it on the PC so Mum could do the one in the paper, which she didn't do in the end. I then lay on my bed and read a bit before falling asleep. Dad fell asleep in the lounge chair. Eventually I forced myself to get up and Mum and I went for a drive along the coast. We stopped at Port Elliot at the bakery and had a pie for afternoon tea which we ate at the look out on the point. It was very windy and although there was a lot of surf it was quite choppy. Further along we had seen kite surfers and surfers out for a ride. I think the former were having more success than the latter. When we got back to Goolwa we drove to the bridge that connects to Hindmarsh Island. This was the site of the famous "women's business" case many years ago where some protest groups claimed the island was sacred to the aborigines. This turned out not to be true but held up the development for years. They have apparently been pumping water into the Goolwa straight, which is the stretch of water that runs past the town and it was as high as its been since they moved here. There seems to be quite a bit of water around with the run off lakes near the bowling club also full. They still have water restriction here though.

We looked at my photos from the last US trip before dinner and then watched TV again. I feel asleep during the second of the 2 CSI Miami episodes and of course by the time I got up and got ready for bed was wide awake again. I finished of some of the other Sunday paper puzzles and read my book before finally getting to sleep.

Long time no see

Fri 23rd

I'm travelling again, this time to Adelaide.

My knee operation was Monday last week and yesterday I had a follow up with the nurse at the surgeons offices. I had taken of the bandages last Saturday to see a couple of fiximul strips covering the wounds from the arthroscope entry. These were a bit loose so I replaced them. I have only 2 very small scars but the knee is still quite swollen. I was told that this and the pain I'm still experiencing was normal and would get better over the next few weeks.

I tried to check my seat allocation on Thursday night and realised that my flight was with Jetstar rather than Qantas. I was a bit annoyed since I was using my FF points so I didn't "save" anything but flying the budget airline but still had the inconveniences such as having to pay for everything - food, drink and entertainment - that you want. My gold card at least got me passed the issue of excess weight without needing any discussion and I did have a big breakfast and a few juices at the Qantas lounge, as well as picking up so reading matter and crosswords for the flight. The plane was pretty close to full. I managed to sleep on and off and entertain myself with the newspapers and magazines and listen to the audio using a converter from one of my US domestic flights so I could plug my computer headphones in.

The flight was on time and since I was right near the back of the plane by the time I got to the luggage area, my case was already out. I took a taxi to the hotel. My room was reasonably roomy and on the ground floor so I didn't need to drag it upstairs. Once I'd settled in I walked up Gouger street to the markets. It was too late for lunch, due to the time difference and daylighhts savings and I was going out for dinner so didn't want a big meal anyway. I revisited a market day tradition from my Uni days by getting a packet of hot nuts and some Kabana. Quite tasty but you don't want to breathy on anyone till you've cleaned your teeth. I picked up some drinks at the super market and headed back to my room. I had thought of taking the tour of the old school at 6 but realised I didn't have enough time to cdhange and get out there, so I rang and confirm the dinner time and location.

I got a taxi and it was quite a sort trip from the city to the show grounds. These have changed a lot since I was last there, and I can't even remember when that was but probably well over 40 years ago.

The dinner was a 40 year school reunion and there were about 40-50 people there including some teachers, all of whom had retired. I haven't got to any of the otehr reunions, since living in Perth makes it a big issue to get there, but the timing of this one was good enough to co0mbine with the Mensa conference and have a wekk or so with my parents in between.

It was a pleasant evening, seeing people and trying to work out who they were. Some were obvious and others I suspect I didn't actually know at school anyway. IN between there was those that I sort of knew but had to look at the name tags to identify. Of course they probably would have had even a harder time remembering me. I got a lift back to the hotel with the one guy who I have kept in contact since school since we were in the same crowd at uni but it would have probably been 20 years since I saw him. All in all, everyone was friendly, even those that I probably didn't get on with that well at school. Time heals all wounds or perhaps just makes things seem irrelevant.

Sat 24th

I slept in past 9, which is of course not even 7am in Perth time. Theoretically check out was 10 so I didn't have time to do much otehr than shower and repack. I had some sakes with me for a liquid breakfast and was down at reception not that much after 10. Mum and Dad drove up from Gollwa and we were on our way before 11. I had checked for a particular chmist shop and found one on the road we were taking so I picked up some more shakes. I later found there was a baranch in the shopping centre near Mum's anyway so it wasn't really necessary.

We stopped at McLarenvale for lunch at a cafe and then dropped Dad at bowling in Willunga before heading home. This was followed by a quick shop at Woolies.

I then set up my laptop to display on the TV. I had forgotten that they had upgrade to an LCD but since they had I could plug into it. I set up to watch the video of the finals from Hobart, which jumped around all over the place. THis happened when I was previewing it in Hobart before we left. Some time later I had a sudden revelation and sure enough the shuffle setting was turned on. Duh!

We also looked at some of the photos from Hobart. Dad got home about 6. He'd last his match but had won a meat tray in the raffle.

Since then we've had a quiet dinner and watched a bit of TV. BY the end of the night we'd all dropped off to sleep at some stage.

I called the twins to wish them Happy Birthday.