Drama, drama, drama!
Hello everyone!
Massive apologies for not getting this posted sooner – I had intended to do it last night when I got home from work, but there was drama in Hurlstone Park, which I shall tell you about in a minute …
Leila, I have to say that you put me to shame; you are such a dedicated blogger and your entries are always informative and enjoyable to read. I especially liked your description of Finnish food – I had heard of the wonderful variety of fish that’s available in your country, but had no idea about any of the other things you describe, so thank you for extending my culinary knowledge! I’ll try to match your excellent standard and get another post up and running over the weekend. Thank you all also for your suggestions – I’m on it!
Well, let me tell you what happened last night! As you know, I work on Wednesday nights and we have a lovely babysitter who looks after Owen until Chris gets home at about 6.30. A good friend of ours has a little boy a couple of days older than Owen, and she was on her way home with him when her car broke down … just at the junction near our street! The car had totally conked out, and the people behind her were starting to get impatient (Sydney drivers are NOT famous for their patience and consideration!), so she thought she’d call Chris to see if he could come and help her out. Just as she was about to make the call, she saw him crossing the road to come home, so he and another guy helped her push the car round the corner. So she and her son came home with Chris, then Chris gave them and our babysitter a lift home – meanwhile, I was delayed at work, so I missed my train and had to wait half an hour for the next one; when I got home, Chris and my friend’s husband were sitting waiting for me so they could go out and try to fix the car. They drove it back to their house and then Chris came home, by which time it was about 11.30!
And then there was a MONSTER in the kitchen!! Really!!
4am:
C: There’s a noise in the kitchen.
R: I’m asleep.
C: The bin’s making a noise.
R: Go away.
C: But it’s a really regular noise.
R: It’s probably about to fall over. I’m asleep.
(Bin makes another noise)
C: See?
R: If it’s bothering you that much, go and tie it up so if it falls over the rubbish won’t go all over the floor. I’M ASLEEP!
(C goes into kitchen)
C: But it’s still making a noise.
R: Oh for heaven’s sake! I’M ASLEEP!
(R stomps angrily into kitchen. Bin is indeed making a very strange noise)
R: Oh *#*#*#** there’s something in there!
C: I told you it was making a noise.
R: There’s something in there!
C: What shall we do?
R: Put it outside.
C: I’m not going outside. It’s 4am!
R: Not outside outside, just outside the door and then you can throw it out on your way to work.
(C puts bin outside front door, goes back to bed and falls straight back to sleep. R goes back to bed and can’t get back to sleep at all – typical!)
We think it was a moth or something that had fallen into the plastic bag and couldn’t get out, but it was really making a very strange noise!
Anyway, that’s enough drama for one night! All the lovely photos that Leila had been posting have inspired me to dig out the following pictures of our trip to the UK earlier in the year. Last week I told you about spring in Sydney and how it’s not as noticeable as spring in the UK, where everything bursts into life practically overnight. So I thought you might like to see some photos of spring in the north of England, where I come from, just to prove that it’s not always rainy and miserable! Owen and I flew over in April, and then Chris joined us in May for another four weeks, so we had a great time catching up with family and friends, and revisiting our old haunts.
This is Owen making friends with the local wildlife (a baby hedgehog) in my parents’ back garden.
These two were taken in Durham, where Chris and I met (we were studying at Durham Uni).
And this one is at Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire; we went up to the moors for a week with my parents (we always used to go camping there when my sister and I were little) and had a great time. Owen loved the Abbey, mainly because there are lots of stairs and tunnels and things to explore!
So, do you feel like a little bit of vocabulary? I hope so, because ...
... here are the answers to the last set!
1. A place that’s dear to my heart is a small town in Lincolnshire called Winterton, which is where my grandparents lived. My sister and I always used to spend some of our summer holidays there, and every Christmas as well. Thank you all for sharing the places that are dear to your hearts – I enjoyed reading about them!
2. One business near me that’s doing a roaring trade is the smokehouse in Dulwich Hill, where they produce and sell sausages and smoked meats. They used to be open 3 days a week, but due to the huge demand for their produce, they’re now only open to the public on Saturdays, and the rest of the time is spent on production. (I love their sausages so much that I go whenever I can and stock up on things to freeze and whenever I go Chris refers to the owner and staff as “Rachel’s sausage boyfriends”)
3. I think most of you got these – landscape, cityscape and seascape. I can’t think of any more, but if you can, feel free to add them!
4. Again, you’re absolutely right – upgrade your computer, job …
5. The last time a machine conked out on me was my toothbrush (my dentist advised me to start using an electric one) and something went wrong with it and I couldn’t get the stupid thing to turn off! Eventually it conked out altogether.
6. I am hooked on reading – I will read anything, even complete rubbish (I always hope that a bad book might get better, so I’ll read it to the end just to see). I reread books too – some of my favourites I’ve read dozens of times. Chris is hooked on cricket, and Owen (bless him!) is hooked on Thomas the Tank Engine. I don’t know which is worse!!
Well, I hope you’ll forgive me, but I’m going to be terribly lazy and not give you any homework tonight (bad teacher!!) – I’ll make up for it next time, though!
Good night, sleep tight, mind the bed bugs don’t bite! (Do you know this bedtime rhyme? Or do you have a similar one in your countries?)
Rachel
PS Thanks for all your questions – I’ll get round to them in my next post, so watch this space!
And, of course, a bit of vocab for you from today …
to put sb to shame (expr)
to get sth up and running (expr)
to dig (sth) out (phr vb)
to catch up with sb (phr vb)
old haunts (collocation)
to make up for sth (phr vb)
Comments
Hi Rachel, great pictures. I was trying to find Rievaulux Abbey in my atlas but I haven't seen anything but the Hadrian’s Wall seemed interesting to me just because its name reminded my own name. You and Chris are very funny (you should write a book together) and Owen always cute. Sorry for my answer, Rachel, I don't know why on earth I understood that you wanted a rhyme for a word ending in scape. I think I wasn't entirely in the zone here. I know a bedtime rhyme. I don't know where I have seen that, perhaps in the animated film for children on tv: Jakers. Have you ever watched those adventures of Piggley Winks? Say hello to Chris, send a kiss to Owen and have a deserved weekend. The bedtime rhyme:Good night moon, see you soon.
Dear Rachel, Your post reminded me my wife’s complaint why I am not interested to renovate roof of our building. The drama you have written is our daily routine of life. As I already mentioned you that I am working in night shift in office and my bed time is usually early in the morning. We live in a building which has tin roof and a false ceiling is made to make it look nice. False ceiling is made up of plywood and this is a cause of daily drama. This false ceiling is better place to live for rat, cockroach, pigeon, and other insects. At the night time they become active and make unusual sounds and my wife get disturbed with strange sounds every night and complaints me often and I use to say that I am planning to renovate roof and change it to concrete roof. This is the story of everyday and I am not able to manage my time get roof renovated and sometimes I get afraid that I am becoming miser and not paying proper attention to my family make life easy for them. From the next month our business start to roar and it will be really hard for me to manage my time between office and house. Photographs are nice. Meaning of words: to put sb to shame (expr) - to make someone feel ashamed to get sth up and running (expr) –organise and make it work to dig (sth) out (phr vb) - to find something that you have not seen or used for a long time to catch up with sb (phr vb) –Punish, causes problem (which do not match with meaning of text.) old haunts (collocation) - a place that someone visits often to make up for sth (phr vb) - to replace something that has been lost
Hi Rachel! What a Wednesday you had! But the weekend is coming, so I hope you can compensate the hours you couldn´t sleep :-). Oh the pictures are so lovely Rachel, and the colours are very vivid indeed.Your parents´gardern seems to be wonderful. The yellow flowers are beautiful. Are they tulips? Well, I didn´t know the bedtime rhyme you´ve mentioned, and I also couldn´t remember of any rhyme. Anyway, I have a go at the vocab now: to put sb to shame (expr): to cause someone to be embarrassed; to get sth up and running (expr): get sth actively working (?); to dig (sth) out (phr vb): to find sth that you haven´t seen or used for a long time; to catch up with sb (phr vb): hmm... I´m going to kick this one. To get an update of everthing that happen in sb life and vice-versa; old haunts (collocation): I´m going to kick again Rachel: places that you used to go when you when you live in UK; to make up for sth (phr vb): to compensate sth bad with sth good. Well Rachel, I hpe hear from you soon. I´m off to bed now :-). Good night( I think for you now is good morning), Ana Paula.
Hello Rachel, Lovely photos! It seems from your appearence that you must be tall. And Owen looks like a prince, he is very cute I must say. How does it feel when you meet your parents after a long time as you live far away from them? As for bedtime rhymes,I remember when I and my sisters were little my father used to sing a bedtime rhyme but he used to sing so..(my dad would mind) that we tried to memorise as fast as we could so that he did not have to sing for us. As for the rhyme you have mentioned, I have come to know of this one for the first time and it's lovely. Along with my comment I would like to write to Ana Paula that, 'Thank you for the virtual vase of Azaleas!'. And Thank you so much Rachel for your interesting posts. Take care, Naheed
Hello Drama Queen! ;) Hope you had better sleep last night. Thank you for sharing such nice photos. Watching the one of Owen with a baby hedgehog made me amazed once again at how rich English wildlife is. Well, hedgehogs is not such a rare thing in Russia... But you will never see here rabits jumping in a field, foxes running between rubbish bins on a city street, bats in the night sky, swans on a river!!! And all these I saw in the UK! I was DELIGHTED, particularly when I was running after five rabits in the backyard of one of Fort Williams' B&B!! :-D They were SO cute! No, I didn't manage to lay my hands on any of them, but if I had... I would have tickled them and blown into their belly button fur (or do rabits not have belly buttons... oooh it doesn't matter). I am joking, joking, but I LOVE animals and would at least have tried to stroke their floppy ears. Have a good day Rachel. Sincerely, Ana
hello Rachel, how are you?? what a lovely baby you have? he is very nice . We have a warm song before sleeping that our mothers used to sing . It starts with " Nam..Nam" meaning " sleep..sleep" and then it is followed by some senteces in the same rhyme . They have the meanings of care and sympathy from the mother to her child . I can translate some of its meanings like " sleep..sleep..my dear ..sleep and I'll cover you with the feather of an ostrich....." ((dozens of kisses to your little boy:-)
Dear Teacher Rachel: I´m sorry this is the first time I write, but I´ve been working hard... I appreciate reading so many things about Oz and your family. I have a question related to gerunds and infinitives and the next statement: "He was frightened, but and ingenious reply helped him wriggle out of the mess". Is it "to wriggle..." or "wriggle..." without "to"? Can a pronoun be along with a to infinitive verb? Thank you so much, I will be looking forward to hearing about a Pom in Oz. Bye
Hi Rachel :-) Monster in the kitchen? Wow! How is it possible that you, I mean you and Chris, didn't even try and find out what or maybe who it was? And what if it was an ill fairy who had wanted to help you in the kitchen but had been taken ill? Shouldn't you help him? Do you believe in fairies? If not, all the worse for you, because they don't help those who don't believe in them. Bye for now and until next time.
Hello Rachel! I really like the photos! Nice to know your old haunts - the Abbey looks fab! Owen is as cute as a button! He must have been the hedgehog's good friend. It's great to have the wildlife in the garden! Two years ago we had a squirrel in our garden. he was staying in the trees but had to leave due to being disturbed by the neighbour kids. It's a pity! I was going to keep him. And your funny drama also reminds me of my scare when I was young. We grew a big guava tree whose branches covered our metal house roof. The tree did bear good fruit that we used to climb up the roof to pick and enjoy. I couldn't sleep at night just got some near break of day as I heard a noise from the roof. Exactly, light movement ... halt, then move slowly ... I told my brother. He said, 'a ghost'. I was haunted until my sister dragged me out, pointed at the roof. A mouse was nibbling a ripe guava. Rachel, We have lots of bedtime rhymes in Vietnam. The melodious rhyme calm and bring us to sleep. But these days they are fading away. So some folk musicians have to give lullaby lesson to young mothers. Hopefully, all the babies are lulled to sleep by their own mothers not the CD :-). Best regards, Myen.
Women especially working women are not much famous for their patient and consideration. Are they? Princes R not even spare Prince C to throw away the rubbish outside the door at 4 mornings. I am really sorry for prince C. The drama on the street and another in home was interesting one. Prince was the hero of the drama on both occasion and princes was mere spectator. And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.
Hi Rachel and everyone! I had been so grumpy last three days and lazy even to work on my English for pains in my back, freezing wether and biting wind allowed me very short walks to do only. But I was rewarded by your post and comments which made me laugh. One of Adriana´s about caring of the chidren had been giving the picture of warmth and calmnes into my mind and on the other hand another one the same doubts.
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