Winter and whipper snippering

Well winter has more or less come.  It is still quite nice during the day, but getting colder at night and we have had our first fire.  This fireplace really warms up the whole house. When the home owners were here over the summer they did quite a lot of work to the grounds, and chopped down one or two trees that were dropping lots of stuff into the pool. We have the benefit of that now with plenty of firewood on hand for this year, although Peter and some friends chopped down a couple of trees down by the road last year. So firewood is not a problem for us.

  The cooler weather also means the grass is not growing so fast, meaning less mowing. Most of the work is done on a ride on mower, but at the back of the house there is a bank and it is too steep to mow, so Peter does that with a whipper snipper, also known as a weed whacker or weed eater depending on where you live.

 We have a man called Jeff Higgins who is fascinated by weather, and lives in Queensland. A while ago he started posting information on facebook, and he is pretty accurate with his information. He is especially interested in storms, and most of you will know that here in Australia we can get some really vicious thunderstorms, not to mention the cyclones etc Queensland gets from time to time. Anyway, Jeff puts up some wonderful photos, and here are two really good pics.  I have also put up his Facebook page if you want to check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/HigginsStormChasing?fref=nf

And here is his website...its's worth checking out.

Back to the noise and the cold

I have had three days in the warm, similar weather to Brissie, and am now back in the noisy town of Putian, with horns honking, motors revving, and general mayhem going on all around.  It’s about 15 degrees, and at 3.58 pm nearly dark due to the heavy low clouds.

I’ve also come back to some really smelly slippers. I bought some winter slippers the day after I got here. They just ponged. You know that new rubbery smell sometimes around places like The Warehouse and Crazy  Clarks, well it’s that sort of chemical smell, and I have had them outside since I got them. They still pong so I am going to wash the things and see if that will get rid of the terrible smell.  If not I’ll have to get some more.  Slippers are a necessity here. 

I have to say that the two and a half years I have had back in Brisbane have made me soft, and I rather like it. The inconvenience of not having a car, of having to do everything on crowded buses or trains that are a 20 minute bus drive and a 5 minute motor bike taxi ride to the train station, (or if you prefer to do a 25 minute gallop) and especially having to deal with a stomach that really didn’t like today’s lunch, and insisted on divesting itself of the contents in three quick actions, one on the plane just as it landed, another in the airport, and the third after 90 minutes on a bus to Alex’s house, well it’s sort of wears a bit thin.  I plan to spend the next few days ensconced in the house, typing and doing stuff, before I have a few days with Debbie in Longyan.

Anyway I’ll make the most of my time here, do what I can, see who I can, and enjoy my simple pleasures of a car on four wheels and Aussie food when I get back.