Learning to walk

The NSW government, in it's ongoing attempts to bail itself out of self-inflicted financial woes, has decided to slash the School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) which provides children with free travel to and from school.

We live in suburbia, 800m from our local public school as the crow flies. To take a direct route means playing chicken with cars doing 80km an hour on a busy highway. Not something I'm game to do with small children and a stroller. The most direct walking route using a pedestrian crossing pushes the route to 2.5km and is not something I'd entertain for primary schoolchildren.

Currently my elder two only take the bus - a 10 minute journey - home from school, not to. Our main reason for choosing this option is to reduce our carbon footprint. The bus will be travelling regardless so why not put the kids on it and take our car off the road.

I'm a WAHM, it's convenient for me not to have to suddenly drop everything and wake the baby to race out the door at 2:55. Mostly I meet them at the bus stop anyway - it's a good opportunity to take the dog for his daily walk - but if I'm sick, or the baby is sick, they can walk the five minutes home.

So for us, opting to use the SSTS has been a matter of convenience and conscience. Now that this 40 year old scheme has been axed, can I justify buying bus passes for both children for a 10 minute journey? The answer is no, it's not financially viable.

I wonder how many more cars will be going back on the roads as a result of this decision? I wonder how many children will be forced to walk along potentially dangerous routes because their parents can't afford the cost of bus passes in an already challenging financial climate? I wonder how many families will be inconvenienced and have to make adjustments to their daily routines to accommodate? I wonder how many services will be cut as a result of being utilised? And I wonder how the NSW Government can justify this latest cut of short-term gains and long-term losses.

Cat therapy

Our cat (age unknown) has been looking pretty manky since winter. Some home remedies and a bit of TLC doesn't seem to have made much difference so today I took him to the vet. I should probably mention here that he's a very odd cats with lots of little quirks and 'normal' doesn't apply.

Vet asked lots of questions. I was on a deadline so rushed through the answers and rudely interrupted her. She probably thought I was on speed. Anyway, the outcome was that the vet agreed cat looked a bit manky and wanted me to spend $267 on blood tests to find out why. I wasn't keen on the idea of working 10 hours to get an answer and suggested we explore some other possibilities.

Vet said cat could be stressed. We discussed some scenarios and decided to treat the condition as if anxiety was the cause and if there was no improvement, we'd go ahead with the blood tests. Vet then said that if the blood test were negative for anything, her best guess would be stress and there's an injection she can give cat but she can't give it unless the blood tests are negative.

Fair enough. But what I want to know is, if there's an injection for cats that will apparently chill them out and also encourage soft, shiny fur growth, why in the name of modern miracles isn't it being developed for humans? We know that stress is a major cause of modern health issues - this sounds like answer. And who wouldn't want soft, shiny fur, erm, hair?
If there are any drug companies reading this, I put my hand up to be guinea pig. Or cat, as the case may be.

Creepy cars

I've bookmarked this page to show the boys - cars and creepy stuff, what more could they want? http://todaytoons.blogspot.com/

Knitter's block

Spring has sprung here in Oz and I must confess to being disappointed with the number of knitting projects I've completed this season. I just couldn't seem to get into the swing of it this year. I started a jumper (sweater) for myself several times but couldn't get it to go right. Perhaps it was the chenille yarn I was using for the first time but even the basic projects I attempted weren't coming off as neat as they usually do so eventually I just gave up.

However, there are still some things money can't buy so these gloves were knitted out of necessity. Cold nights at the park left my little one crying but I couldn't find any mittens or gloves small enough for him at the shops. They were knitted on two needles using some left over yarn and this pattern: http://www.freevintageknitting.com/mittens/92-mittens-pattern.html They turned out a bit too big and are being modelled here by a big brother who thinks the camo look is pretty cool.

Bye Bye Beijing

So the Olympics is over for another four years. No suprises as far as the US and China and their medal tally go but Australia had some suprising new talents. I really think Steve Hooker was more deserving of carrying the flag at the closing ceremony than Stephanie Rice. Yes, Stephanie Rice got three gold medals but we already know Aussies are good in the pool. Steve Hooker managed to achieve something that hasn't been done by Australians in 60 years; a gold medal in a field event.

The other suprising medal tally was that of Great Britain. In Athens they got 9 gold and were ranked tenth. In Sydney they got 11 gold and ranked tenth. In Atlanta they got just 1 gold and were ranked 18th. In Beijing, they achieved 19 gold and ranked fourth. The Beijing Olympics have been their best result since 1908. When I was growing up there in the 70s and 80s, there wasn't a great deal of money put into sport, certainly no where near the support that Australia gives it's athletes. I can't help but wonder if this most recent spectacular effort is because the British government is putting more funding into sports so that Great Britain gets a decent result when it hosts the Olympics in 1912. Which just goes to show the difference that funding and support makes, which in turn goes to show how hard-earned are those medals that go to less developed countries like Kenya and Ethiopia.

One of my favourite moments from these Olympics was watching the oar-smashing reaction of the Men's K1 kayaking bronze medal winner - Benjamin Thomas - when he won Togo's only medal. I'd never even heard of Togo before but thanks to his efforts, it's now firmly on the map and no doubt Benjamin Thomas will return as a national hero.

I lost my wok and other stories

Of course I got caught up in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it was hard not to when living in the same city. I spent quite a bit of time watching events and checking up on the medal tally.


The Athens Olympics passed with barely a murmer, possibly because the time difference meant that all the action was happening in the wee hours of the morning for us Aussies. This time around, with China being a close neighbour (two hours behind Sydney time), the Olympics are once again a big deal. And despite my general lack of interest in anything sporty, I've already been sucked in. On the eve of the opening ceremony I even watched a preliminary football (soccer) match between Serbia and Australia.

For dinner on the 8th of the 8th 08, I made sweet and sour chicken (after hunting down my wok) and we ate it with chopsticks. Or rather we attempted to and made a big mess in the process.

I was impressed by the opening ceremony. A spectacular combination of ancient culture and modern high-tech. I can just imagine the committee for the 2012 (London) Olympics were watching it and thinking, "Crap, how are we going to top that?" England certainly won't be able to use their most well-known soprano, Sarah Brightman, after her appearance in Beijing (I still can't work out what she's got to do with China). Sarah seems to have been around most of my life (she was born in 1960). I can only hope I look half as good when I'm pushing 50.

There have been a lot of good moments so far. I thought the men's cycling (torture?) race had a thrilling finish with six of them going for gold at the end and I enjoyed the soccer game between Australia and Argentina even if it did have me shouting at the TV. But as yet I haven't seen anything truly spectacular. There was a moment during the Sydney Olympics when I happened to be at the arrivals lounge at the airport to meet my sister, flying in from the UK, at the same time as the men's swimming relay were trying to take the 400m gold. Everyone in the arrivals area watched it on a huge screen put up for the ocassion and when the Aussies won there was a huge cheer which sent tingles up my spine.

But even so, that wasn't the most memorable moment. The event that most touched me is a swimmer way way behind everyone else. In fact I think all the other swimmers had already got out out of the pool and this guy still had a lap to go but the crowd were clapping and cheering him on. That gave me goosebumps and after all, even though he came very very last, he's still a better swimmer than most of us. That's what this site is dedicated to: http://www.mcwetboy.net/dfl/index.html

Cake in a mug

I've never been a fan of microwave cooking but when I came across this recipe for choc mug-cake, I had to try it. I grabbed gluten free self-raising flour for the cake flour and as I didn't have any cocoa in the house, I used drinking chocolate powder. As you can see from the picture, my first attempt ended up looking like an unleashed monster from a b-grade movie.

I'm assuming this is because I used gluten free SR flour but possibly it's because I let my 9yo measure out the ingredients unspervised and mix them with a fork.

For the second attempt I used organic SR flour and I still didn't have any cocoa, I again used drinking chocolate powder. I also used a bigger mug and mixed the ingredients with a Bamix (electric wand mixer). As you can see, the result this time was much more satisfactory. It was quite moist so possibly next time I'd reduce the oil. I've also read that the cake can be cooked in a small bowl for a more aesthetically pleasing shape. Feeds two. Delicious with whipped cream!