Its strange to be adding to this blog and not including any photos. I just haven't been using the camera for some unknown reason even when there have been plenty of opportunities. We have had old, sorry, that should be friends of long standing, staying with us. Val and Rod came out to celebrate their Ruby Wedding anniversary and to see their daughter who lives in Sydney. They stayed in Balmain with Jennifer and Brad but came to stay with us for a couple of nights. It was very difficult to not let on that we would all be meeting up again as Jennifer had arranged a surprise lunchtime cruise on the harbour. She had also arranged for her sister Ruth to fly out from the UK with her new baby as another surprise. We had a great day. We picked up Ruth and Jacob from their hotel, met up with other guests and boarded the boat prior to Val and Rod. Great surprise!! I thought Rod was going to have a heart attack! We had a private function room directly below the bridge and the food was very good.
A few days later and it was Di's birthday. We drove into Balmain to pick up Val and Rod, calling in at Becky's so that the boys could wish Nanna a Happy Birthday. Ben ran up to her and said, " Nanna we have made you a birthday cake but its a surprise and so I cant tell you.!" Whats that saying about out of the mouths of babes and sucklings! Anyway we spent the day showing Val and Rod the lovely beaches to the north of Sydney, lunching at Terrigal before heading up to The Entrance. We called in to Becky's on the way back home to have cake and champagne. Its been busy with all this running around and trying to fit work in as well.

The flood saga continues!! As expected the local paper was full of letters with strong condemnation of the unnecessary bridge closure. It turns out that there was so much infighting between Council, the local branch of the State Emergency Service, the RTA, and the Police that no one was prepared to make a decision. The final decision was made by a RTA road gang from out of the area who had never seen the river in flood before. Oh, and to top it off, the Roads and Traffic Authority is now called the Roads and Maritime Services, I wonder how many millions of dollars was spent to do that. Today there is a report in the SMH about concerns from local prominent people about what would happen, in a major flood like we have had in the past, to people who have built in low lying areas. One of these LPP just happens to be the ex mayor who passed all these building approvals. No wonder I have little hair left.