Anotherblog

Home #4: Townsville, flat on Paxton St (I think)

When we moved from Canada to Australia (after a few weeks in Fiji, at which I lost Lawwie, my sheepskin blankie and favoritest thing ever, though dignity may well prevent me from whispering it on my deathbed) we ended up in Townsville.
I know, I know!
As I understand it, there was a position for a pediatrician there. For years in Townsville, there were three pediatricians in the whole place, which seems low for a place that had over 50k people even in ‘77. Dad worked very hard, and was often on call.
The first flat was temporary, but I don’t remember how long we were there. I do remember breaking a glass louvre next to my bed and being very embarassed about it. The flats were constructed of bright orange-red bricks, and had palm trees out the front. Townsville was a distinctly tropical change from Winnipeg.

Home #3: Winnipeg

I remember that it was part of a really big apartment block, and going down to the carpark to see our new car, which had fake wood panelling along the sides. In winter, the snow was sometimes so deep we could make person-size tunnels in it, and we did. At halloween we went to neighbours in the apartment block. I dressed as a ghost and Jen dressed as a gypsy fortune-teller. I didn’t like the pillowcase head of my ghost costume because it looked too much like a pillowcase. I wanted something a bit more cowl-esque. One neighbour asked for a trick, and I had no idea what to do. I was very embarassed. Jen told their fortune.
Under the apartment block were big sets of tunnels that people could use to walk to work or school when the snow was too heavy. I did that with Dad sometimes. I was fascinated with the colour-coded pipes in those tunnels.

Home #2

…somewhere in Sheffield. I vaguely remember the layout of the block, because this was where I learned to ride a bike. We had neighbours Lizzie and Sarah on one side. Their Dad was into meccano. He had built a human-sized robot. I was more into lego; I didn’t like how fiddly the bolts were in meccano, and the fact that you could (and sometimes had to) bend the pieces.
Jen and I played with Lizzie and Sarah fairly often, I think, as well as the boy on the other side, who had a cleft palate. The town common was somewhere nearby. We went there to pick blackberries and play cricket. One time the other team hit the ball into a fenced-off area and made ten runs as we tried to retrieve it, which I thought was cheating.
We also played in the hospital building site. There were piles of chalk, which was really fine and got everywhere, and there were big holes everywhere. We had to creep in through a hole in the fence. We would have big throwing fights with other kids there. One group was called the pear throwers, another the apple throwers. The nastiest group were the stone throwers.
I don’t know what our group was called, but it was me, Jen, Lizzie, Sarah, and the kid with the cleft palate. I got hit above my eye and ran back home to get a bandaid, then Dad chased everyone away and that was the last time we had a big fight.

New computer

We have a new dell desktop computer, with a nice big flat-screen monitor and a quite powerful spec. I stayed home this morning to await the delivery. Sadly, I was unable to do much with it, because I couldn’t connect it to the interwebs. That will have to wait until tomorrow, when Von stays at home to await the ADSL Modem delivery.
Meanwhile, I’m enjoying “Plants vs. Zombies” on the mac. It’s an amusingly themed tower defence game.

Flexibility

I can touch my head against my knee with my leg straight. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do that before. Thanks, company-encouraged workpace breaks!
Actually, lest I sound like a company shill, I should point out that most people at work hate Workpace breaks and turn them off.
Also new for me: I’m pretty sure I’d win a 1km running race against any of my past-selves. I went for a jog around the park the other evening and had that old feeling of exhileration from speed, only this time it was sustained instead of my usual sprint-then-collapse.

Home #1

I don’t remember much of 64 Cashel St, Christchurch (though I’ve been told cutesy stories of how I was taught it in case I got lost, and how I would recite it often). I remember remembering remembering that there was a big flood, and Mum & Dad were blocking the front door to stop water getting in, and how later we drove through the streets to a friend’s place and I slept in a strange cot, and how there were abandoned cars on the street.

Moving house

Let’s see, places I’ve lived in:

1. House in Christchurch, NZ (70 – 74)
2. House in Sheffield, England (74 – 76)
3. Flat in Winnipeg, Canada (77)
4. Flat in Townsville, QLD (78)
5. House in Townsville (78 – 79)
6. House in Townsville (79 – 90)
7. Flat in Townsville (91)
8. Flat in North Adelaide (92)
9. House in Elizabeth, Adelaide (93-94)
10. Flat in Broadview, Adelaide (94-96)
11. Share house in Artarmon, Sydney (97)
12. Flat in North Sydney (98 – 99)
13. Flat in Dulwich Hill (99 – 00)
14. House in Marrickville (00 – 09)
15. Flat in North Ryde

That’s a lot more than I remembered!

Phone reconnection

Hooray! Got a new home landline. Unfortunately, that means a new phone number. For those for whom this is relevent (my mobile is still the same) I shall hopefully be calling around in the next week or so. Soon as I find my address book.
Also: the puzzle comp is finished. I’m pretty pleased with how it went this year, we’ve had a couple of complements on puzzle quality already.