Tiny

Last Wednesday at 6.58pm Adelaide time, Jasmin Lily arrived, 7lb 6oz and six days early.

It all happened very quickly, at 2.00pm Mandy was reading a book on the balcony, at 3.00pm were on our way to her regular check up. At 4.00 she was in the delivery room and to everyone’s surprise, particularly the midwife’s, a mother by 7.00.

All in all it went pretty smoothly from where I was standing, although Mandy tells a different story.

Since then the girls have come home and settled in, we haven’t got a clue what we are doing but Jasmin is being very patient so far. And obviously, we are thrilled to bits.

I had one wobble when a friend sent some flowers with the note 'welcome little Aussie!'. Well, that threw me and I quickly took little Jaz for a walk around the ward to explain things to her. I think she understood it pretty well.

And that’s it for now, all of a sudden there seem to be a thousand things that need doing!

Cheers for now
M, W & J

Rain

At last. For the first time in four months the endless, cloudless blue skies gave over to a charming and brooding shade of grey. And the drab clouds emptied warm torrential rain on the city. Bliss. People left their offices to stand in the deluge to make sure it was real.

The effects were almost instant. The gum trees on our lot visibly perked up, appearing visibly greener, the leaves no longer hanging limp. The creek beds came back to life as the first trickles ran down from the hills. Our water tanks over flowed and Mandy had a bath to celebrate.

Seriously though, while some parts of Australia have flooded, we have had the driest winter on record. The grape harvest is around half what would be expected, other crops suffered similarly and the pastoral regions up north are full of painfully skinny cattle and sheep.

Most alarmingly though, the mighty River Murray has hardly anything in it; partly because the winter snow never came, partly due to the drought but also because farmers in four states take far too much water to irrigate needless crops like cotton and rice.

The river meets the sea about an hour from Adelaide and apparently it is only waist deep at the moment and its estuary, one of world significance for bird and fish life, has nearly dried up. This is a massive river, really massive, it runs for 2300 miles and without care and some painful sacrifices, it will be dead before long.

Moving on, the clocks went back last week. Assuming the clocks went forward in the UK at the same time, we jumped from 10½ to 8½ hours ahead. But daylight saving is not that straightforward in Australia, mostly because each state can decide if it wants to change its clocks or not. And some states like to be different; all of which can be very confusing.

Let me try to explain. Adelaide is on Central Time which is 30 minutes behind the east coast. I have no idea why we picked a half hour difference, but nevertheless, it covers South Australia and the Northern Territory, although nobody much cares what happens in the Territory.

Western Australia is 1½ hours behind SA and 2 hours behind the eastern cities.

However, when summertime comes it all changes. Some states put the clocks forward some don’t. The Northern Territory doesn’t and neither does Queensland, (who like to be different). So one day we are half an hour behind Brisbane, then the next day we are half an hour ahead.

Just to confuse everyone WA is now giving daylight saving a go. They have never done so before and everyone is very happy for them, but convincing them has been a struggle.

It is fair to say that they are an odd bunch in WA. Isolated from civilisation (or what passes for it here) by 2000 miles of desert they have always believed that changing the clocks will bleach the colour from their curtains and that the cows will not milk. The bus timetables would also prove to be a challenge. So it is a big step for them.

Now the first trial has ended, the state’s housewives and farmers will be scratching their chins, checking the milk and debating if it’s worth another go next year.

Anyway, back to the home front. No news yet on the little one, due on 17th April, but any minute now I guess. This has meant a slow Easter break with nothing planned except waiting, tidying the house and eating.

Mandy can’t sleep very well right now, certainly can’t walk very far and is pretty much good for nothing else, so I reckon the sooner the child comes along the better. But she’s doing a great job and looks very well on it, even if she hobbles like a lady twice her age first thing in the morning.

Apart from that, it’s been a lovely autumn so far the weather is warm, rain is in the air, the skies clear and yesterday an eagle was soaring over our house.

Hope all is well.
M&W