More or Les (was Bloody Plurals)

[Hobbit]

Hi Jack

Please don't worry about posting.  Just enjoy a wonderful visit to your daughter, son in law & the grandkids  Think they'll keep you on your toes I had to look back through our old posts to remind myself where they live!  Brunswick Heads.  There were some gorgeous pictures on Dr Google's maps.

Zoe's plotting & planning how to catch you out

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen,

The world looks better after 5 hours, albeit exhausted, sleep.

The mob were holidaying in Brunswick Heads at one point but they live in Brisbane.  I don’t mind the heat here, 33⁰C today, but I do find the humidity debilitating.

I am looking forward to Zoe’s challenges.

Andrew came up with us, so I will get him thinking too.

There are sounds of wild boys coming from upstairs, so I must go.

[Hobbit]

Morning Jack



It's very cold & frosty here this morning & I'm working in an office with no heating  
     

Here is Zoe's challenge.  It's 3 words & the pattern is 6, 2, 9. 

of
I'm struggling to give you a clue without giving the game away!
  The four legged one is your clue

Going back to my reception desk where I'm hoping it'll be a bit warmer!

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen,

Our weather is a bit different to yours.  As I am typing this it is 1.39 am and 27^oC and 85% humidity (compared with 16 and 65 respectively in Bowral).
 
I think I have the answer to Zoe's puzzle but I can't determine whether the queen's name ends in "te" or "ta" - sources vary.

I am typing this in semi darkness so as not to wake anyone up. I will try to get back in the daylight.

great cartoons on topic, by the way.

goodnight from the

[Hobbit]

Oh Jack I know I moan about the cold but that sounds awful!  How on earth do you sleep in that heat/humidity?  It really is just like being in a sauna!
I suppose your daughter & her family are used to it.  Does it cool down & get more comfy in the winter?

Zoe wrote the puzzle down for me & she spelt it ta at the end   She's going to have to get up early in the morning to catch you out methinks

Penx

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen,

Brisbane has a really good climate except for a few month each year.  See this chart.

These days quite a few houses have air-conditioning although many only have it in sleeping quarters and dining rooms.  The predominant architecture is the "Queenslander" which this article explains.  The proliferation of overhead fans make life bearable even in the hottest, most humid conditions.

Our "granny" quarters are on the ground floor and are not air-conditioned but with the fans going all night and a few nightcaps before bed I slept like a top with only two brief interruptions.

Of course, we both know that Queensland can produce some unique characters (sorry, Moyra) but the easy going relaxed lifestyle has a lot to recommend it and, about July each year, I mutter that I am getting too old to put up with the cold and we are selling up and moving to Queensland.

I really enjoy Zoe's puzzles and I wouldn't have a chance if wasn't for my friend,Ms Google.  When I can get a quiet hour or so I will try to pull my weight.

It sounds like a herd of elephants are on the loose upstairs, so I guess I'd better get back to my very pleasant duties as a grandparent.  We are lucky that "Uncle Andrew" being younger and more active is with us to do all the "heavy lifting".

   

[Hobbit]

Hi Jack

I mistakenly thought Brisbane was very hot all year round!  Looking at the chart I can see why you would mutter about upping sticks & moving there when it gets a bit cold in the winter!  You could always pretend you're living in the UK and complain about the weather   The Queenslander article was interesting   Didn't Les hale from that neck of the woods?

I will tell Zoe you enjoy her puzzles & get her to come up with some more.  Don't worry about pulling your weight - just enjoy your visit.  There'll be plenty of chance for you to flummox me when you get home

      

Talking of elephants...

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen,


It’s been a long day.  We started a board game with the boys about 4 O’clock that was supposed to take an hour or two.  We suspended the game for dinner and it went for another two hours after dinner.

Les lived about 4.5 miles from here, much closer than that as the crow flies.  His spiritual home, the International Hotel closed over a year ago.  It was sold last year and is now a public car park.  There is reputed to be big plans for redevelopment.

We have a big day planned for tomorrow.  We are off to Noosa, a pretty little seaside resort a bit under 2 hours away on the Sunshine Coast, so the boys can go snorkelling.  Well, it used to be little last time I was there about 30 years ago.

A few meagre contributions tonight

     


Doctor Bell fell down the well
And broke his collar bone.
Doctors should attend the sick
And leave the well alone.

[auntiemo]

Oh Jack...I think you might notice a few changes in Noosa !!
Our weather has been very sauna-like for a few days (?) now...you really couldn't have picked a more humid time to visit. We think it's worth putting up with the high humidity to get the weather we are blessed with for the rest of the year. We lived in Darwin for a while, so this is not unknown to us...but still pretty hard to cope with. And yes, our bedroom is air-conditioned.
I agree totally about Queensland's unique characters....that's part of the attraction. AND  we're only laid back when it doesn't involve State of Origin. You can explain that one Jack...if you're so inclined at a later date.
Enjoy your stay, spoil your grandchildren, then go home and relax.

[Hobbit]

Hi Jack

I had a busy day & am a bit knacked this evening  
I enjoyed your cartoons & limerick   Cheered up my afternoon!

After reading Auntie Mo's post I shall be interested to hear how you got on in Noosa.

&
Happy Snorkelling

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen.

Apparently, it is was not only the adults who where worn out by yesterday.  The Elephant stampede upstairs is a bit later starting today, so I will quickly take up Moyra’s suggestion to explain State of Origin Rugby league.  Rather than be original I will cherry pick quotes from Wikipedia.  

A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory, popularised by the rugby league State of Origin series. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval in Perth, the initial brainchild of Leon Larkin.

In Rugby league the criteria players are selected for where they either first played senior Rugby league or where they played in the majority of senior competitions. The annual rugby State of Origin series is one of Australia's most popular sporting events.

It was devised to address the drift of most talented from Queensland to New South Wales because of its far stronger and financially attractive competition. The latter was due to the increased funds of the New South Wales clubs, due to poker machines, which Queensland laws prohibited.
 
Traditionally, the basis for selecting players in representative international sides (i.e. their country of origin) did not extend to interstate sides in Australian rugby league. Instead players represented the state in which they played their club football as per the 'residency rule', in which they played for the club which represented the district they lived in. This gave a significant advantage to New South Wales as the movement of players south was far greater than the movement north.

Former Queensland captain and Australian vice-captain Jack Reardon, who had later become a journalist, was the first to suggest that Sydney-based Queenslanders should be available for selection to represent their state. This would not eventuate until decades later however, when New South Wales and Queensland played their first "state of origin" match on 8 July 1980.  Queenslanders showing enormous interest in the game although NSW-based players and journalists described it as "the non-event of the century". Queensland defeated New South Wales in that match, and State of Origin has grown into Australia's greatest sporting rivalry.

The popularity of State of Origin matches since then has not waned and they remain one of Australia's (and indeed the region's) biggest sporting events. A record crowd of 88,336 attended a game at Stadium Australia in 1999. The record for the annual three game series was set in 2004, when a total of 203,309 people attended. The 2005 series saw an attendance record for a series with two matches in Queensland, with 187,374.[6] The record television audience was set during game 1 of the 2009 series and stands at 3.48 million.  Queensland has won 18 series from 1982–2013, and NSW has won 13, with 2 drawn. Queensland have won the most series in a row. (8 Series 2006–2013).

Australian international teams are often selected based on performance in the State of Origin series.

In 2018, New South Wales won their first State of Origin series in four years, defeating Queensland 22–12 and 18–14 in the first two games. Queensland scored a consolation victory 18–12 in the final game. In 2019, Queensland defeated New South Wales in the first match 18-14. New South Wales then defeated Queensland 38-6 in the second and also won the third game 26-20. This was the first time since 2005 which New South Wales won a series decider and a consecutive series win.

New South Wales play in sky blue jerseys and are known as "the Blues", a term dating from 1974 when a journalist used the name in an article. The Blues won that series, leading coach Jack Gibson to comment "I thought they went pretty well for a bunch of cockroaches". The Queensland team plays in a maroon jersey and are called "the Maroons". Both teams also have unbecoming nicknames — New South Wales: "the Cockroaches"; Queensland: "the Cane Toads".

Our family is split in the sides we support even though all were born south of the border.  I am the only “Blue”.

The stampede has started.  Bring on Noosa

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Moyra,

You were so right about Noosa.  We went to Noosa Heads and there is so much development I didn't recognise it from the memories I had of the one time I had been there previously.  It was so crowded people seemed to be going around in circle trying to find a parking spot within walking distance of the beach.

As we were coming home we called in at Peregian Beach.  This was was what I had expected Noosa to be like.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

[Hobbit]

Thanks Jack that explains it very well.  The nicknames tickled me   Rugby League is more popular in the North of England & was sometimes referred to as 'that northern game' by the players & supporters of union.  When I was (much!) younger it was always on the BBC on a saturday afternoon.  There was a commentator at the time called Eddie Waring who had a famous catch phrase "it's an up & under!"   In those days Rugby union was still an amateur game.  I remember a few players changing codes.  Jonathan Davies, who played union for Wales, moved to league.  I didn't realise but when I looked at Wikipedia he played in Australia for the North Queensland Cowboys.  He ended his career back in Ruby Union which was professional by this time.  On a quiz programme he was asked what was the biggest change after returning to union.  His reply?  "It's the first time I've been cold for seven years. I was never cold playing rugby league."  Maybe that's because there's fewer players & you have to work a bit harder?!

   

Two local rugby teams with a feisty rivalry are playing each other on a Saturday afternoon.
On the day of the match, the weather conditions are absolutely appalling, and as the home team coach is addressing his team, he says.”Right, gentleman, because of the weather conditions, our main tactic today will be to kick ahead “.
The burly cauliflower eared prop puts his hand up and says,” Anybody’s head in particular? “

    

Back to the grindstone...
Hope you had a smashing day in Noosa

[Hobbit]

Oh Jack I've just seen your post to Moyra.  What a great shame Noosa didn't live up to your expectations or memories.

[Ozzyjack]

Hi Pen,

I must be tired as I have lost this post twice because I didn't follow my own advice about copying as I went.

It wasn’t so much that Noosa fell short of my expectations.  It has developed into a thriving, busy, well serviced resort and most people would say how marvelously it had progressed.  It’s just that I prefer smaller places with a village type atmosphere,

We needed two cars, so I drove the car I had hired for our visit by the quickest route up the Bruce Highway and we were extraordinarily lucky to get two two-hour parking spots within a kilometre of where we wanted to set up on the beach.  There was a bit too much chop for the boys to enjoy their snorkelling but they had a good time anyway.

I had arranged for my daughter to be an authorised driver of the hire car so she drove home so I could appreciate the views .  No, Pen it was not what you were thinking I only had one glass of beer over lunch

We lunched a short distance south at the Sunshine Beach Surf Club and it was first class.

We then went on to the Buderim Ginger Factory, which is not in Buderim  but in Yandina, to stock up on some Ginger products.

We came back to Brisbane on the high country roads which were a bit slower but afforded magnificent views  of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

Altogether a tiring but enjoyable day.

P.S. great post of yours.