Cindy already has a couple of beds. One is permanently in my room where she sleeps at night and another, older bed is in the back room as she likes to nap there sometimes. I bought another for her earlier this year but it turned out to be just a mat, not well padded. With the move coming up I thought I’d buy another one that was a bit softer as like me Cindy is starting to feel her age a bit.
I ordered a generously sized bed, probably a bit bigger than we needed but Cindy likes to stretch out so I thought it would be nice for her and since it came yesterday she seems to like it.
This evening Polly decided to investigate it and she obviously approved of it too. Not long ago I heard very loud purring and looked down to see that she had climbed in there with Cindy. I took a couple of photos but they were spoiled by the flash reflecting their eyes. I looked again a bit later and they had both gone to sleep. Plenty of room for two.
I couldn’t help it. When I see the word, the first doctor I think of is the Doctor. “Doctor who?”, you ask.
People all around the world now know this British sci-fi show. It originally began in 1963 and I am old enough to remember the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell, his granddaughter Susan and her teachers Ian and Barbara who became curious about her and followed her home one day only to see her disappear into an old Police Call Box.
Me in Scarborough, England 1990
The original program was made for children’s television and by today’s standards, it looks very cheap and corny with model space ships and costumes that could have come from a theatre prop box. However, I know I was not the only six year old to be found hiding behind the couch when the Daleks appeared. They were so scary, not so much the way they looked but they were so damn mean! They hated everybody and everything that was not a Dalek. I didn’t know the word xenophobic back then but that’s what they were. When they exterminated someone it looked horrible, the poor victim was transformed into a negative image.
When the decision to replace William Hartnell was made the show’s writers came up with an idea that I think was quite unique at the time. Regeneration. It cleared the way for many different actors to play the same character but keep continuity. Each Doctor’s personality and look was different but he was still the same Doctor. As we left England around the time that this happened and I didn’t see Doctor Who again for a long time I was unaware of this and simply didn’t understand what had happened. That was not the proper Doctor Who as far as I was concerned. I didn’t see the Patrick Troughton episodes until I was an adult and never did see them all. I wish I had now.
I started to watch the show regularly during the seven-year run of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker. I still enjoy those old episodes. I managed to see most of his predecessor’s episodes. The Third Doctor was Jon Pertwee whose episodes were largely earth-based. I guess the BBC was trying to keep the budget down. A lot of stories were based around UNIT with regular characters Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, Doctor Harry Sullivan, Captain Mike Yates and the then Corporal John Benton as well as the Doctors companions Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.
Dalek “Exterminate! Exterminate!” photo by Naomi
After Tom Baker’s departure the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison took over. I liked him but I did not care for the Sixth Doctor played by Colin Baker, so after a few episodes, I stopped watching the show and didn’t bother with the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. At the end of 1989 Doctor Who was cancelled, seemingly never to return.
I should mention that two Doctor Who films were made in the 1960s starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who. They were “Doctor Who and the Daleks” 1965 and “Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.” Daleks were huge in 1965. These films are not considered part of the Doctor Who backstory and that’s why I was dubious about the Doctor Who film of 1996 that featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Movie Doctors are not the real thing to me.
The Tardis photo by Naomi
Then in 2009 the reboot series arrived, now aimed more at adults although not so adult-themed as it’s spin-off Torchwood was to become. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but after watching Christopher Ecclestone for about ten minutes I decided that I did. I notoriously dislike having to get used to a new Doctor but after getting used to them I did like Doctors Ten, Eleven and Twelve. David Tennant (Ten) will probably always be my favourite. Matt Smith I initially thought seemed too young and Peter Capaldi too old but his Scottish accent won me over.
I am currently on hiatus from watching Doctor Who though. I thought that as he is only supposed to regenerate 12 times Peter Capaldi might be the last Doctor but when he left the showrunners decided to cast Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. There have been Time Ladies in Doctor Who in the past but I didn’t see why they needed to make the Doctor a woman. I had seen it coming with The Master/Missy and had not liked that character. It seemed as if the writers were just casting a woman to be PC to me and I decided that I would skip the unlucky Thirteenth Doctor and if there is a Fourteen maybe I’ll watch again.
Is copying and pasting images or information off the Internet
plagiarism? Do you credit those whose work you ‘borrow freely’ or
do you think the idea is repugnant? (Credit for this question goes
to GC and Sue)
Copying and pasting images and information without giving credit is basically stealing. When I write articles for our doll blog I always include the links to the sources I used to research and I try to only use photos that are available in the public domain. I have sometimes contacted people whose material I wanted to use to ask their permission and most have been more than happy as long as I credit them. Using my own photos as much as possible avoids the issue.
Do you let sleeping dogs lie?
I think so, mostly. I don’t
like conflict anyway and would rather avoid it so I will let things go even if I
am still mad. If someone has really offended me I am more likely to avoid them
than fight with them.
I always let Naomi’s dog
Toby lie if he’s asleep. He can wake up grouchy.
Toby has small paws
What’s the strangest pet name (for adults) that you’ve ever heard
someone called?
This is one of these questions I can never answer because I don’t remember. I think pet names are a bit dumb except for pets, to be honest.
Do you like to dance? If yes, what’s your favourite and if no, why not?
I don’t like to dance because I feel uncoordinated and self-conscious. At home, I might dance around with the pets once in a while but I never learned dancing except for the folk dances we were forced to learn at school and I was bad at that. I won’t dance in front of others.
Andrew Ross from No Visible Means Marketing and Communications recently published this post about Open House Hobart. I have attended it once and it is a fascinating event where you get to peek into buildings that are not normally open to the public. We have some really interesting buildings around Hobart.
My theme for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge today is a historical one. Many of the older settlements in Tasmania were built with convict labour using bricks which were also made by the convicts. Naomi’s home town of Oatlands is one of those along with Ross, Richmond and Campbelltown to name some of the more well-known ones. Here are a few old photos re-edited.
Side of a building in OatlandsSteps at the old Oatlands GaolPost office at Ross
There are not many Punch and Judy shows in Australia these days but when I was a child the Punch and Judy Show was a feature at many British seaside resorts including Clacton where we always had our summer holidays.
This traditional puppet show known as Punch and Judy in the UK has counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and many other countries all over Europe. The puppeteers are known as Professors.
There are various scripts for a traditional Punch and Judy Show but for those unfamiliar with it the story always revolves around Mr Punch, his wife Judy and a cast of characters that usually includes a policeman, a butcher, a crocodile and the Devil. The Professors will often include other characters who are more relevant to a modern audience. You can read a typical script from the 1960s here.
The Show Goes On
Usually, the story is a series of short scenes rather than a whole story. Punch always behaves badly and hits the other characters with his slap stick. It’s traditional for the audience to participate by shouting out warnings to Punch or Judy when danger appears. The characters will often break the fourth wall and address the audience too.
I’ve seen a few Punch and Judy shows as an adult and while I don’t usually enjoy violence I do appreciate the satire that sometimes creeps into the scripts and it is fun even though it is not very PC.
Until just a few years ago there was a Professor here in Tasmania and Naomi and I saw the show a couple of times at different events around Hobart before he retired. Before the show he would come around the audience with some large puppets to talk to the children and at the beginning would always announce that of course it was just make believe I guess to reassure any children who might be frightened or maybe to stop them from thinking it was OK to throw the baby out the window, steal sausages or hit people with sticks.
Naomi and I are just back from our trip to Sisters Beach. We left Oatlands early on Thursday morning. It is a long drive but despite wet weather and roadworks we made good time and had time for lunch at the local shop and a quick drive around the neighbourhood before going to the house.
We were hoping to show you some photos of the house but due to some miscommunication between the owner and our real estate agent, we arrived to find that the tenants were in the process of moving out. We were able to have a look around but didn’t take any photos inside we will have to keep you in suspense for a couple more weeks.
We did manage to take some nice photos of the beach between showers though. It’s just as beautiful as we thought it would be. Here are a few of my photos and below Naomi’s photos and impressions of the day. I have read that it is possible to see whales and dolphins from the shore at this time of year and I am looking forward to that. Once we get settled we’re going to research the history of the area a little more and we’ll share what we find here.
Sisters Beach TasmaniaFishing JettyJetty.Sisters Creek Well, the big day finally arrived on Thursday, November 7th after much anticipation. I got up early and made some breakfast for each of us and then after settling the dogs we piled coats and cameras into Wazza and set off. November has been very cold. In fact, it has not been much of a Spring at all. We have been having temperatures of eight and nine in Oatlands and the weather all the way to Sisters Beach did not look promising. It was rather a gloomy day with wind and rain but we left in high spirits to the sound of some of our favourite 70s and 80s artists. With stopping for fuel along the way I think we did the trip in three and a half hours.
Sisters Beach, of course, is on the north coast near Burnie and Wynyard. Burnie is a city while Wynyard is a very large town. So if you are thinking of looking it up on a map that is where you will find it, 12 kilometres west of Wynyard. We got there a little early as I had suggested leaving early to allow for the seven-year Midland Highway upgrades and other problems that might occur throughout our journey. As it was raining we had taken it a little easy. Despite this, we had plenty of time for lunch and a little drive around the neighbourhood. I was pleased to see that there were still quite a few of the original little timber houses still standing. An original Sisters Beach home
Around by the beach, we found a nice park. There was a playground for the children and a lovely lawn area. There were clean toilets and a large car park. We found a few paths leading to different parts of the beach. It was raining so we only had a quick walk on the beach. I decided to take my photos later if the weather cleared up a bit. We went to the one and only General Store which is the heart of the community. They have meetings there for the town as well as selling take away food, the paper and other odds and sods. We got some hot chips and a hot drink each and stayed there until it was time to go to the house. To pass the time while we waited for our food we checked out the notice board and watched to see if any locals and holidaymakers would enter the store. I was all ready to suss them out. Well, the big moment finally arrived and we drove over to Buz Street. Our home faces Lagoon Street. Buz Street is just an alley to connect Lagoon to Honeysuckle so I had to park on Lagoon. I found I could not park at our house as there were numerous vehicles including the tenants moving van. I found a spot behind the agent’s car across the road. The scene looked pretty chaotic with people packing up, cats and huge barking dogs that were not thrilled to have visitors. Still, we ventured inside and had a bit of a look around since we had come all that way. The house was in an uproar and the agent was, of course, curious about us and asked us about ourselves and our plans. We happily chatted as we explored the house trying to picture our furniture in the various rooms. The idea had been to measure the spaces and match them up with what we had written down in our notes but I found the presence of the agent and the tenant who had stayed back rather distracting. This is our house.
Our new home (not my car)
I was thrilled with the house as it had big rooms, two kitchens and multiple bathrooms giving us choices. We’ll explain about the rooms later. The fancy red carpet is just right to go with my dark timber furniture. Outside there is a good-sized laundry, a double garage, gazebo and covered walkway to get to them. We also have a lovely big balcony where we can sit and enjoy the fresh air. We will take photos as soon as we can get back there so watch out for those at a later date. So after looking around at the gardens and chatting with the tenant, we thought we ought to leave so we went back to the beach and had another drive around. Here are a few pictures I took while at the seafront.Sisters Creek meeting the sea.
I found the beach lovely and clean.Big waves came rolling in.Rocky Cape I don’t know that the little island is called yet.Sisters Beach from the beach.
Sisters Creek meeting the sea.
