Elvis, babies and wasting time.

Work has been a bit of a rush this week. One of the managers has asked me to put all aside and concentrate on completing a stocktake of all our hardware. This is a huge job. She would like it done by the end of the week. Mmmm. It's the following Monday and no, it's not yet complete.

It's Wednesday morning. Zman remarks that the traffic is heavy and seemed to be a bit slower than usual. Not that we are usually V8 supercar drivers. We get further down the road and the traffic seems to be merging into the inside lane. Uh oh. Yes, there it is. An accident between a old model ford like a fairlane and a new model holden astra. We can't see what happened but somehow the front wheels on the fairlane are out of alignment; the rear passenger side wheel of the astra is completely torn off. A paramedic is comforting the driver of the fairlane; someone has pulled up a little further down the road and a man is jogging back to the cars.

The astra remains in the middle of the lane with the hazard lights flashing. Everything looks to be under control and we continue.

It's only later as we we gossip about what we have seen that we realise there wasn't an ambulance in sight. The paramedic must have been one of the accident victims, perhaps on her way to or from work.

My immediate manager decided that we might spend some time in the mornings doing a tour of the Great Court, a large grassed area surrounded by sandstone buildings and archways. We take about half an hour to do three circuits. I'm hot and sweaty by the end of it, but I think that's more the weather than any effort on my part!

Thursday they were mowing the courtyard. Even though it's full of people. This patch of uni is VERY popular! The mower dude is tearing up and down, and we notice the witches hats in the middle of the ground. There in the middle of the hats is a plover. Standing tall, wings outstretched and yelling for all it's worth! The hats must mark a nest! The bloke on the mower just ignored the whole show.

For those not in the know, witches hats are a colloquial term for orange traffic cones.

We've got an early Christmas present from Ma. She insisted we open it. I love to wait and often will tuck my presents away until later in the day. This annoys the Elder and Teen no end. Anyway, she insisted we open it. We weren't sure at first - the box contained assembly instructions but no indication of what it actually was. Mmmmm. We scratched the label that she'd scribbled over and lo! It's a planter box.

It's raining still on Saturday. We spend Saturday morning wandering around Bunnings - in the rain - looking for things to put in it. Lots of potting mix, some gravel to line the bottom and some herbs. It looks good. If the herbs survive, I'm putting more in. I need lots of coriander and parsley! Come Sunday and it's STILL raining. It's been raining all night. We've got some smoking planned for the barbeque, but if the rain continues like this it might not be going ahead. I've got a new recipe for smoked pork ribs I want to try. It's been raining for so long, MOTH hasn't been near the garden. The lawn is racing ahead in leaps and bounds and let's not look at the weeds, shall we? I've lost the garden and all I see is dandelions and cobblers pegs. Wretched things. I'm out in the rain - it's only sprinkling at present - pulling weeds. The ground is muddy and I'm wearing gardening gloves. Not real ones, these are the leather heavy duty ones. My finger tips hurt by the time I've cleared a couple of small stops. No, I might have to wait, the job is too big.

I'm indoors now, and inspection is coming up at the end of month. I've polished mirrors in both bathrooms, cleaned off the benches and scrubbed a wall. I think that's enough for the day.

MOTH checks the recipe but we don't have all the ingredients. We substitute the cajun seasoning with bush spices. We're set up and ready to go. But here's a word from the wise - if the recipe calls for 3kg of pork ribs and you're only working with 1kg, shorten the cooking time to suit, yes? The ribs were very over done; crispy and dry. But in one or two places they were not. And delicious there to boot.

Today is up early. MOTH has been scheduled for day surgery. No breakfast for him and because of the timing no breakfast for me either. We're on our way to the hospital and it's 05:45. It's still raining. Heavy with squalling gusts of wind. We find a park and fingers crossed, sit in the car waiting for it to die down. Fifteen minutes later and no such luck. The brolly is in the car boot of all places. Sigh. We grab it and made a damp dash for the entrance.

Among other patients is a heavily pregnant woman. A little eavesdropping establishes she's in for a cesarean. Her partner walks in. Whoo! It's ELVIS! Late 70s style, with long dark hair and full sideburns. Although dressed in shirt and jeans, not a sparkle to be seen.

Eventually MOTH is seen and we head off for the pre-op clinic rooms. We check in, find a seat and wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually, his name is called along with two others. We're sorry they say. Clinic has been cancelled and your appointment has been rescheduled. What?? Apparently there is quite a number of staff who couldn't make it in that day.

So now we wait another month. The only upside is that I get another day off work.....

Oh, and Elvis had a baby girl....