The Wednesday with BBQ and terrible fire news from Aus

Hi,

 What a day.  It was trucking along ok.  Got a haircut even!  Got to catch up with Victor and Ed - always a highlight.

Iced latte with Victor and Ed

Victor ready for his caffeine hit

But it all turned very different to normal once the work BBQ started after work.

The BBQ itself was fine - Joe cooked up a storm on the BBQ.  I got to eat the first lot of mushrooms that came off and started the Christmas music.

Then I got a text from Mum saying their place was under threat of fires and she was scared.  Understatement from my mother, as it turns out.  I rang her and heard firsthand how close the fires were.  Dad was driving home from work but unable to pass a cordon that Mum was now inside!  He walked the last few kms.

Got news of fires threatening my parents place - with Mum inside the cordon!

I reckon I saw their place on the news feed I was watching.  Circled in red with my best editing ability.  At 8pm ish their time, the firefighters had set up base camp in their street so I figured they were as safe as they could be at that point.

So worried and feeling helpless from this distance.  I am thinking of them constantly today.  But I know the Australian firefighters try their very best and Dad will make sensible decisions. 

But it has driven home the necessity of everyone to have an emergency plan that they can put into action at a moment's notice.  Grab bag with essentials.  Food stash.  Water stash. 

I am going to reassess in the NY for our situation.

Gingerbread house that Toby and Tessa made!

Meanwhile, Toby and Tessa made a gingerbread house and an army of gingerbread people.  I got to eat one.  Yum!

Army of gingerbread people

Yum!

All sorts of decorating happened

Ummm - a codpiece?

Got an hour sleep ahead of our midnight session of Star Wars at the Roxy.  So glad we went to see it.  it is better than Last Jedi by far.  Gave us the tied up loose ends.  Good story. 

Midnight showing of Star Wars 

Two mins late!!!

Dropped Tessa off at 2.30am at her house and was in bed by 3am.  Zzzzz.

Chatting to Karen during the morning this morning to hear more about the fire situation.  I hope it has passed and my parents are either in a hotel enjoying being far from the scene, or the fires are now well away and things can return to normal.

Lots of love,
Angela

The Wednesday with the midnight showing of Star Wars the Last Jedi

Hi,

After a weird day at work, I was out at the local pub to celebrate the year that was with work colleagues.  Thanks Steph.  Mike and Andrew even turned up.  And, eventually, the rain.  Yep - it rained, ending 28 days without rain here.  Wow!  The grass is so dry everywhere - it's like Australia.

Iced latte at Machete

I did get an iced latte date in with Celia.  She tried a different perspective in the photo shoot.  It's like the paparazzi was there.  :-p

Anyway, I caught a bus home at 7pm and said hello to Toby and then went to bed to try and get a power nap in.  I think it worked because I didn't get sleepy in the movie until the last 20 minutes or so.  Right, so I slept until 10pm then got up and dressed.  Mike was just getting into bed as I left with Toby.  Dressed in our Star Wars t-shirts.

We met Jo B at the cinema and caught the last wee bit of the cosplay efforts.  Then we trooped into the cinema with 40 minutes to go.  I chatted to Jo B and Toby watched the "shorts" closely.  They were all memes from You Tube.  Toby loved it!  Parodies of Star Wars stuff.

And, the movie was fantastic.  No spoilers.  Great scenery.  Great acting.  And a good plot.  There you go!  Go see it!

And now, I am feeling a little like I have glass in my eyes and hoping nothing too taxing drops into my lap today.  Getting out of bed this morning was nigh impossible.

We're back to sunshine today after the wee bit of rain last night.  Woot!

Have a great day.

Love,
Angela