Some weeks are rollercoasters
English: shower head Deutsch: Duschkopf mit strömenden Wasser (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The week started well. We had good Love versus Goliath book reviews, media coverage and were listed in the Schools Catalogue Information Service.
I had taken Mr O Jnr 2 to the doctor on the weekend with suspected tonsilitis, but the doctor felt he would be OK with rest. He gave me a prescription in case Mr O Jnr 2 didn’t get better.
Not only did the young man not get better, he so very kindly passed his bug on to me. I’ve spent two days at home, with him, us both on antibiotics. We returned to work and school today but I’m not sure it was a great idea!
The incessant heat in Melbourne continues. And continues. We are told we might get a break by NEXT Thursday. But of course there is no such thing as climate change, is there? Of course not.
Mr O got test results back and scored 100%. Take that, Mr Scott Morrison! That cheered our Thursday up a bit lot.
W for Wonderful Weather
Australia is a LARGE piece of land. So large we have several different climate zones, ranging from tropical in the north to temperate in the south and bloody cold cool in Tasmania.
Temperature conversion
Temperate doesn’t translate into any form of constant temperate ranges though! Down here in Victoria, we have be freezing one day and cooking the next. Yesterday I popped out to the shop in bare feet – I nearly burnt my feet on the asphalt! Man that stuff was hot!
While the northern reaches are more humid, down here it can be a very dry heat. Like your oven.
Today is going to be 41 Celsius. For those still using Fahrenheit, here is a quick conversion chart I stole off the internet prepared earlier.
41 C is 105.8 F. Adelaide, I hear, is going to be 44 C and Whyalla is forecast for a massive 46 C.
It is very unusual for us to have these sort of temperatures this early in the year, but of course global warming/climate change is a figment of our imaginations, isn’t it? 
V for Victoria
Map showing the Australian State of Victoria (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Australian state of Victoria is the state where we live. Where I have lived for most of my life. When I first came to Australia I got a flight into Melbourne, not Sydney (where Mum came from and my planned ultimate destination) and I seem to have just stayed! Melbourne is a lovely city, so I’ve not really been tempted to go anywhere else. I did consider Perth once or twice, and I did move to Tasmania for a brief period. I just like Victoria.
Victoria is the pink area on the map to the left.
The following slide show has a random collection of images I’ve collected in my travels. Other Australian shots can be found on Australia in Pictures, including shots of Victoria. I’m just not big on city pictures: in my warped perspective on life, if you’ve seen one city, you’ve seen ‘em all!
TAFE funding cuts
I am not employed in the education industry, but I DO have four children in school and a husband who is an apprentice. Funding has been ripped from the TAFE (Technical And Further Education) sector in Victoria and, I believe, in New South Wales. Both states with Liberal governments. How can they be reducing education funding?
My husband was supposed to start his theory education this term. He kept getting told to go, then told not to go: finally went for one day and then was told he can’t start until next academic year. This is demoralising for him. No, he hasn’t said anything but he doesn’t need to. Here he is trying to build a new career and gain a qualification, being paid an apprentice wage which is not really enough to live on, and he isn’t getting the schooling he is supposed to be getting.
I am lead to believe, although I haven’t been formally advised, the cuts to TAFE funding are the reason. This is clearly impacting on Victoria’s ability to produce tradespeople. Yet we are short of tradespeople. The company my husband works for employs a certain trade from the United Kingdom. We hear many industries complaining they can’t find tradespeople to employ.
Community participation – Angela Taylor Memorial Run/Walk
Oyeniyi family ready to run/walk
Today Team Oyeniyi did some team work with a lot of other people. Twenty-five years ago a young police constable went to buy lunch on March 27. A car bomb exploded, the Russell Street bombing. This innocent young woman was severely injured and died 24 days later. Please click on the link and read the full article in today’s Age.
I have no words: MasterChef Apprentice
For those of us in lovely Victoria, Australia the last two weeks have been school holidays. As we both work, we leave the noise machines at home, hoping they don’t burn the house down. Don’t all parents hope the same thing during the holidays? These noise machines are 17, 14, 11 and 9 respectively.
Last night they just HAD to show me some photos taken during the day. The first looks lovely, doesn’t it? Wait for it……….
MasterChef Apprentice
Isn’t he a sweet young man, cooking an omelette for his younger siblings. And, it seems, aspiring to be an entrant on MasterChef. Read more 
Bullying isn’t cool
The Victorian Government is running an anti-bullying campaign. As parents, bullying is something that Mr O and I watch out for signs of, as any parent should. Fortunately, we haven’t seen any indications and the children attend schools with active anti-bullying strategies in place so we don’t expect to see any signs! How do I know about this campaign? Mr O Jnr 2 wants to enter and win the iPad, iPod Nano and the $500 iTunes voucher prize! Clearly though, they have been talking about the topic at school.
There is a competition to name the campaign, entries can be made at http://www.namethecampaign.com.au/.
In the old days, bullying was physical or verbal in nature. Now it has expanded:
Cyberbullying: is direct verbal or indirect bullying behaviours using digital technologies. This includes harassment via a mobile phone, setting up a defamatory personal website or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/healthwellbeing/respectfulsafe/unacceptable.htm
I find it sad that as a species, humans seem to manage to turn anything and everything to a negative purpose. There is a page devoted specifically to cyberbullying on the Education Department site.
Bullying doesn’t just happen in school. Victoria has criminalised bullying in the workplace, prompted by the death of 19-year-old Brodie Panlock in 2006. Brodie committed suicide after co-workers bullied her relentlessly. Over the years there have been many reported cases of “initiation rites” going wrong in workplaces and young people being badly injured or killed. While not specifically bullying, surely a workplace culture that accepts or promotes such activities is rather strange. It is one thing to send an apprentice on a hunt for a left-handed screwdriver or striped paint: it is another altogether to encourage or demand dangerous activities.
