Monday, October 31, 2005

Firestorm

We spent the last weekend of October preparing for the bushfire season that is almost upon us once again. We concentrated on our firebreaks and clearing the long grass that has sprung up with the unusually long rains. It can take quite a lot of your spare time to get them done in time for the December 1 deadline, so we made sure we started early this year.

In the 15 years I've lived in my beautiful hills, I've learned some important rules to surviving the bushfire season.

1. Be prepared. Firebreaks needs to be done, extra long hose and retic in good condition, gutters cleared of dried leaves, full supply of buckets on hand.

A lot of people think that this area is too built-up for a bushfire to reach us. They'd be wrong. You can never be too prepared.

2. Know you're evacuation routes.

There have only been two times that I've ever been on evac alert or actually evacuated. The first time was when I was 13 and the 50 acres of crown land went up across the road from my Mum's house. It took less than four minutes for the flames to be licking at the tree tops in our front yard and a minute later, we passed the fire brigade as we were pulling out of the driveway.

The second time was last year. There was a fire near Mundaring Weir and about eleven towns went on evacuation alert. FESA (Fire and Emergency Services Authority) warned that this was a wild fire, and when the wind finally made up it's mind which way it would turn, the fire would come. It would come hot and fast and there would be no stopping it. The 30kms between us and the fire would be eaten away in a matter of hours.
We had a plan though. If it came from the south, we would head north on Stoneville Rd towards Gidgegannup. If it came east, we would head west on Richardson towards Parkerville and if it came west, we would take Riley and go to my Mum's house in Mount Helena.

Always have at least three routes in mind, because the wind can change in an instant.

3. Memorise the FESA hotline number.

1300 657 209. One call and you have the relevant info to help you decide if you're going to stay or go.

4. Know in advance if you're going to stay, or go.

They say that in about 90% of cases where residents stay to fight the fire, they save their homes. But this isn't always the safest thing to do. It all depends on the circumstances. If you're prepared, have no children or animals, then you have a good chance of saving the house. But if you have to evacuate children and animals, it's better to go and if you're going to go, you need to go early.

I always have a box of my most treasured possessions by the door. It stays there the entire season. Photos, birth and marriage certificates, keepsakes. Things that can't be replaced. Last year when I was checking the house to make sure that I had everything I needed, I realised just exactly what was important to me. The dvd collection I had spent thousands on, could be replaced. Clothes can be bought or borrowed. Computers aren't all that important anyway. If I could save any five items, what would they be? I don't have to think about that, because they're already in the box.

If you decide to go, grab the box from the front door, turn on the retic on the way out, load the dogs in the car and follow rule number 5.

5. Don't look back.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Sparky

At work we have a customer comment form called a Spark Award. If customers are happy with their 'experience' they can fill out a form that says lots of nice stuff about the teller who served them. I have been with the bank for just under three months now and I have already received two of these (apparently it's quite rare to get them as most customers are happy to complain but don't make the effort often to congratulate someone on a job well done). The bank then gives us a scratchy ticket (lotto thingy) as a reward.

I think the next time the witch who complained about me comes in, I'm going to shove my Spark awards up her arse.

Friday, October 28, 2005

The bane of my existance

Right, so this is a list of some of the things that really set my teeth on edge.

* Drivers who have no idea about traffic laws. These are the charming folks who have no idea how to indicate at a roundabout, tailgaters, people who pull into your safe following distance on a rainy day and the idiots who have yet to grasp the concept of a turning lane.

*Customers (as you have no doubt guessed from previous posts). Need I say more?

*Rude people in gerneral. Manners never hurt anyone and is it really that hard to say please and thankyou?

*Commercial breaks in the last ten laps of the F1 grand prix

*The Australian cricket team (bunch of poor winners and sore losers)

*The fact that I have to change the date and time to local everytime I post on here and the fact that I forget most of the time.

The list goes on and I won't bore you with the rest.

I'll save that for another day:)

Odd fact about me.

Did you know that my right breast is bigger than my left one. Weird huh?

Thursday, October 27, 2005

These are some of my favourite things...

Things that make life worth living.

*My husband. He is above all, my best friend and I love him so much that I hope I die first, as I couldn't bear to live without him.

*My sister's. I talk to them almost everyday and see them several times a week. The perks of seeing them so much, is I get to see my neices and nephews lots, and I get to catch up with my best friends (apart from hubby)

*Museum of Hoaxes Forum. I joined at the beginning of this year but it feels like I've known the guys there for years. We have so much fun there, especially as we all have the same sense of humour and dirty minds.

*Books. I love to read, especially fantasy. I can sit for hours at a time, getting lost in some other world. Fave authors are Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, J K Rowling, Dianna Wynn Jones, Lian Hearn.

*Cars. I'm a bit of a rev-head I must admit but I'm not into pansy V-8's. I love suped up four cylinders, especially Toyotas. I love going to watch Chrsitian drive in a karna-cross or when he goes to the drags. I also love watching Initial D, a japanese anime about a guy who owns an AE86

*Flirting. You may not believe me, but I used to be a very shy, innocent girl. Not anymore though. I just can't help it. I have to flirt. I think it's because I don't have many female friends and I'm just used to being around the guys all the time. I guess it does help that a lot of my male friends are hot.

*Movies. We've never been big on going out to pubs and clubs, but we do go to the movies a lot. Fave three movies of all time are Equilibrium, Boondock Saints and LOTR trilogy.

Tomorrow - what pisses me off.

I hate customers Part 2

The witch who had a go at me yesterday made a formal complaint about me today. Cow. I am lucky though as my manager is a lovely woman who, when told the bank was going to send the witch a $20 give voucher as an apology, said "I'm not giving her jack. She's always a nasty bitch when she comes in and she's not getting anything".

I love where I work!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I hate customers.

Unfortunately for me, customers are part of my job. And most of the time, I deal with idiots who can't do their banking over the phone or on the internet and need help.
I had a woman come in today who I had served once before. I had pissed her off then because I asked for ID before I gave her any info on her account (as per bank policy) and she was rude the second I started serving her. She wanted to make a credit card payment but she hadn't a. filled in a deposit slip b. didn't have her card on her and c. didn't know her card number. So I looked her up in the system to find her details and started filling in the slip for her while she literally threw a wad of money on the counter. I asked her how much she was depositing and she told me "to count it as that's my job". I didn't even bother arguing that we have to know the amount first so we can check it and I did the transaction. Then she wanted me to tell her the account balance. I asked her for ID (we'll take money from anyone but will only give info on the account to the actual account owner) and she threw that at me too. I then told her the balance (as requested), gave her the receipt and she walked off, just to turn around and come storming back up to the counter. "You didn't write the balance on the receipt! Start doing your job!" She almost screamed. I replied that she had only asked for me to tell her the balance and it wasn't usual for us to record the balance unless we were asked to do it. To that she replied "Don't argue with me. Do your fucking job or I'm going to make a complaint about you. Stop your fucking whinging"
Let's just say that if I had access to a spoon, I would have slowly dug out her heart and eaten it while it was still beating.
I take solace in the fact that she will die a pathetic, sad, lonely old woman.
That is all.

Two months till Chrsitmas!

Hurrah! Christmas is just around the corner!
I know many will roll their eyes and say in a scathing voice 'Thanks for reminding us. We just can't wait for Christmas to come, so it can be over and done with for another year'.
This attitude I just don't get. I love Christmas with a passion. Not the whole religious aspect, coz I'm an athiest, but the whole hustle and bustle and family get togethers and buying presents for people. It's just so much fun. Although I must admit that the lead up to the actual day is more fun than Christmas day itself. The day seems to fly by but the weeks leading up to the day drag by so I get to enjoy them.
My family have a traditional routine we follow over the holiday. On Christmas eve we go into Perth to King's Park and have pizza for dinner and let the various kids (neices and nephews) have a play. Then after dark we'll drive through the city so the kids can see all the decorations and lights before we head to one of the houses in the suburbs that are all decorated so the kids can have a looksie.
Christmas morning we go to my Mum's house for breakfast and then head out to the in-laws for lunch. Christmas night is usually spent at either my house or my sister's and we make sure we have all our friends over for a big party.
Not too elaborate but we always have so much fun. Family is so important to me, I couldn't get through a single day without talking to one of my sisters, or getting a big hug and sloppy kiss from a neice. I just can't wait to start my own family.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Watch out world, I'm loose.

I woke up this morning feeling irritable. No idea why. For those of you who know me, an irritable me isn't good. So, in the spirit of world peace, I tried to rid the feeling of perpetual annoyance. I went to the gym (which is a good half hour from my house) and tried to sweat it out and it seemed to have worked, so I decided to call in at my sister's house on the way home to say hello. She wasn't home! Now I know this isn't my sister's fault. She had no idea I was going to lob in on her that morning. But dammit, that didn't stop me feeling irritable again!
So I've come home, thoroughly pissed my husband off and am now sulking in the study. Hubby has no idea what is wrong with me, as he has only gotten "Nothing!" snapped back at him when he's asked what's wrong.
I just think it's so ironic that I can sit here, understand that I'm irritable for no good reason and shouldn't take it out on the world, but still want to yell and scream and curse until someone fixes my non-existant complaint.
Maybe it's premature pms, maybe it's stress, maybe it's just coz I'm a woman. I don't know what's wrong but I tell ya, I wish I had a few spare dishes to break at the moment.

Friday, October 21, 2005

My first post.

Right. So, I guess I should write something for my first post I guess.
I decided to start a blog because I had nothing better to do really. And I tend to talk a lot and my husband probably gets sick of listening so this gives me a way to vent!
I know next to nothing about how to use a computer (apart from email, surfing the net and other basics) so this will probably be a really basic layout.

So, what did I do today in my highly exciting life? Went to work, came home, made blog. Right. Well, it's a start I guess. A start of what exactly, I don't know, but it's the start of something.

Getting to know me

Rightio chaps, now that I've had a bit of a chance to get my head around this whole thing, I suppose I should tell you a little bit about me.
Let's see, I'm married, I live in the most beautiful place in the whole world, Perth WA. I'm a bit of a nerd, but not the computer type. I love reading fantasy novels (Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb etc), favourtie TV shows are Father Ted (as all FT fans can tell by my blog title), Stargate and Atlantis, Firefly, Eyes, the list goes on really.
My fave website is Museum of Hoaxes (*hugs* to all you guys there)
I like Formula 1 and cricket.
Um, what else.
Oh, I look all sweet and innocent but I'm not. I have a really dirty mind and laugh at the worst jokes.
That's probably enough for now I guess. Don't want to scare you off already.