A Man of Many Tastes?

'Four Wives'? I thought his one true love was real ale....

[This is part of the latest ad campaign for James Squire beers. Enter any suggested captions in the 'comment' box below]

We're now two weeks in to Term 3 and the rugby season is in full swing, with the GPS Competition kicking off today. Our first game was against Sydney Grammar this morning, who are traditionally not one of the stronger schools in the comp, so we fielded a mixed A/B side whilst another mixed side are playing against The Armidale School.  I took the team to play against Grammar - definitely the better of the two deals; it was a 15 minute journey to stand in glorious winter sunshine in the Eastern Suburbs rather than a 7 hour coach journey and overnight stay in a place that's freezing cold. We won the game this morning, so we're off to a good start.

Gill has been suffering from the 'flu for the best part of the two weeks since we got back from Melbourne; "'flu" as in "cannot move from the sofa/bed for two days due to a temperature and chest infection". We knew it was bad when the chest infection was the first symptom after the sore throat. Only in the last couple of days has she begun to feel more normal. Fortunately, my rock solid constitution has seen me through once again (or maybe it was my 'flu jab in the autumn?) and I seem to have escaped. It's meant, though, that we've both been in effective quarantine for two weeks.

The main news from here is that we have decided to move house - our 12 month lease expires in just two weeks time, so trying to find a place with Gill being sick has not been easy; with the added difficulty that most of the viewings are on Saturday mornings when I'm at rugby. We have loved living here and have made the most of the cafes and pubs of Rozelle and Balmain; The Three Weeds and The Welcome are arguably amongst the best pubs in the city, with the former being exactly 110 paces from front door to bar. Having a backyard has been awesome for bbqs and for entertaining, whilst it's only a 20 minute trip to work for me. However, rental prices here are ridiculous - it's $600 (£400) a week for our one bedroom place. Being a weatherboard house, we are constantly fighting the damp during the winter months, not to mention the mould, and in the summer the bedroom in particular gets unbearably hot; so the dehumidifier runs for around three months of the year, and the airconditioner for about another four. The house is also pretty small; we really need a study, given that both of us are doing teaching qualifications (not to mention school work I bring home). We're also paying for the privilege of being close to the city; something we don't need given that neither of us work there and we only go out in the city probably a couple of times a year.

Fortunately, we've found a rental property that fits our requirements; a spacious, two bedroom, 2nd (top) floor apartment, with built in wardrobes (we have none so our clothes are on makeshift racks!), plus a decent sized balcony with water views - and considerably cheaper, too. It's in Abbotsford, which is a peninsula on the harbour a little further to the west. We've had our offer accepted, so all being well we will be moving next weekend; I'll put more details on the blog next week.

In other news, the Headmaster has announced a planned restructure of the school to take place over the next couple of years. To me it's clearly a very positive change that will see the Heads of House take on more responsibility, with much clearer lines of responsibility than the system that he inherited four years ago. 

I'm keeping a close eye on the Olympics and read the latest overnight updates each morning. Fingers crossed for some proper summer weather!