J did not turn up today which is a bit of a shame as S had already spent some time this morning on the pre-cleaner clean! Still, how lucky was that - given our unexpected visitors this evening? I had heard of people who have done this - pre-clean preparation but I had never though S would be one of them.
S listened to yesterday's Phillip Adams interview with K Rudd and was very impressed with K's performance. She thinks he has "learned the lesson" and is more humble than he was before the upset. He is throwing his weight completely behind Ms JG and the Labor effort to re-win Government and even though he had taken some personal hits, he was sure the country would be condemned (not his word) to ruin if Tony Abbott takes over the reigns.
J's brother David came to dinner at the pub too, as well as Daughter No. 1 and her boyfriend, and it was a lovely evening. Talk, naturally, led by me, turned to the Yowie and D told me that someone had hit one with a car - but that was in the '70s he hurriedly clarified. I told them about the scare I gave myself on rubbish night with the lights in the rear-view mirror and he said he had had a similar experience some years ago when he was attending the Ag cottage. He and some mates were out walking near the lake on a moonlit night and had seen three bright lights reflected in the water. They ran all the way home. They did find out what they were from ... F1-111 after-burners - not bad given the base is 60km away! (S said by this point she thought D had lost some of his credibility!)
Wonder how many sightings in the just-released British UFO files were put down to aircraft - experimental or otherwise. S was saying that there is one case that Winston Churchill (of the false teeth who would flick them across the room and the further they went the worse the war effort was going) did not want released because it would cause mass hysteria in the public and shake their faith in the church. Those files have (not surprisingly) disappeared.
Closer to home the Gold Coast's newest hotel is on track for a November/December opening. The Surfers Paradise Hilton had the first of its towers "topped off" this week and is now waiting for fit out. Sales have been good so far - but an apartment in the complex may not be the first thing on the shopping list for the Gold Coast's latest Gold Lotto millionaires - alas, not us. The latest winner - one of two this week - was a woman from Labrador, who bought the winning ticket from Parkwood Plaza News while she was picking up coleslaw (which even I think, while handy, would not necessarily be the best place to get coleslaw).
Ms JG is denying claims she's deliberately slurring her speech in order to call the opposition leader "Mr Rabbit" instead of Mr Abbott. Hmmm, only this morning I was having my usual rant with S that they should all just grow up and get on with contesting the election on policy issues -not doing schoolyard bickering, brawling or bullying. And John H can stay out of it as well - no-one wants to hear his opinion that Ms JG is worse than K Rudd (although, to be fair, there was some suggestion that he was saying it based on policy and performance).
The traveller's message and call were well received as they set out for the heartland of Russia and the land of the extremely expensive internet communications. We'll keep the home fires burning although me thinks that what's really needed is someone to give some relief to the heat wave situations over there which have left the peat swamps dried out and burning, forest fires, and so much smoke that visibility is down to 100 metres. Did someone say it was a lovely place for a holiday - and that there is nothing to this global weather change theory? Thank heavens the Russians are saying they have removed all their uranium waste - and when S asked how they had moved it, I told her "with a big boat" - hopefully not the travellers'.
Beautiful weather here again at Latimers and hopefully it will continue tomorrow.
