So

[hnpcc]

not much to write about. Could rant about the umpiring last night at netball (if that umpire's not actually biased against me in particular and the team in general she does a bloody good impersonation of someone who is) but hey, we're into the finals so why bother. And besides, it'll just get me more pissed off.

(It's not often I get a goal from halfway back in the ring, so to have it called no goal because there was a ball from the court next door which had come on to our court kind of pissed me off. Especially as the ball was at the other end of the court. And of course I missed the next shot. *sigh*)

I haven't really managed to read the news recently, so for a nice change I've not really much idea of what's going on in the local community. Or the bits of the world that the local news is interested in.

I'm not sure why exactly I haven't seen/read the news recently, because it doesn't feel like I've been overly busy. I have been a work a bit later than usual and we went out Tuesday night, so maybe that's it.

Tues was good - catching up with people I tend to see when one particular friend returns from Cambodia i.e. 1-2 times a year. Sad, really, when you consider that we all live within about 5km of each other. But we managed our yearly gathering at the Belgian beer cafe - this time on a Tuesday night so we could hear ourselves think. I was running late from work, so by the time I got there everyone except Dean was on to their second Leffe - Dean was finishing his first still. I got a Hoegaarden wit - which ended up being my only drink for the night cos I was driving! :-( Next time we'll tram it. :-) The food was good - for a change I didn't have witlof, being much more in the mood for meat. Funny really, because mostly what I ate in Belgium was lasagne. Go figure. Much nice conversation, and promises to try again before the year is over and before CJ heads off to Edinburgh. Although I really shouldn't let Dean and J. sit next to each other - somehow they managed to get from Bluetooth viruses to porn on fridges. I don't know, I didn't ask. I just let them sit in the corner and giggle.

Went to the physio last night, for the first time in a month. What happened to June, anyway? I think I was here. My ankle is healing although still swollen (7 months down the track) and the tendon is very tender to the touch across the bone. This seems to be because I walk funny - I think I roll my ankle either in or out when I walk. Either way I'm getting a referral to get orthontics, in the hope that that will make things a bit better. In the mean time of course i'm still running around playing soccer and netball - oh and I seem to have damaged a ligament in my right heel, probably by compensating for my left ankle. D'oh.

I got an e-mail from my youngest sister on Wednesday.

So, if a red Ford Laser spins out of control on the Eastern Freeway, across three lanes of traffic, and up the bank on the other side but does not hit or injure anyone, is it an accident?
yours tremblingly,


As far as I can work out what happened was she went to change lanes and didn't realise there was a guy in her blind spot until he tooted her. She then jerked the wheel back to her own lane and managed to start skidding/spinning. The guy in the blind spot managed to also start skidding/spinning. Somewhat miraculously neither of them hit anything and both ended up on the same side of the freeway, about 100m apart. No damage to either of them (except maybe psychologically) or the cars. Where the accident occured is a low point on the freeway, so my current theory is that there was water on the road and they both aquaplaned for a bit.

Either way, I'm very glad she's OK. And not just because my parents are currently somewhere near Broome and I'd have had to find their itinerary to try and get in contact with them.

I drove her home Wed night though, she was still shaking.

Comments

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

So, if a red Ford Laser spins out of control on the Eastern Freeway, across three lanes of traffic, and up the bank on the other side but does not hit or injure anyone, is it an accident?
yours tremblingly,

Ouch. I'm glad she's okay.

[hnpcc]

So'm I. Although my thoughts went (in order):

1. Thank God she's OK!
2. Wonder where I put my parents itinerary?
3. Oh thank Christ I don't have to get fill ins for soccer and netball!

[epideme.livejournal.com]

So she stopped trembling by the time Soccer was played? How did you go? Glad she is OK.

[hnpcc]

Yes, she managed to drive herself from work to netball on Thurs and to work on Sat OK.

Soccer went OK, we lost 3-2, but mostly because there were 5 of us (Fraser was sick) and we all got really buggered in the last 5 mins. Seriously, we were winning up to the last 5 mins. Oh well. It was a good match though, we were passing quite well and if we'd had an interchange or two we would probably have won it. Mixed Breed had 2 interchanges.

And it's nice to know that Chris is willing to "bend" the rules when he's desperate to save a goal... ;-)

[epideme.livejournal.com]

And it's nice to know that Chris is willing to "bend" the rules when he's desperate to save a goal...

What did he do?

[hnpcc]

Heh. Slid outside of the circle (admittedly he was just inside when he started sliding) and handballed outside the circle (again, just outside - the ref didn't notice but the other team did!)

Admitted afterwards that he was too far out and a bit desperate!

[frieda.livejournal.com]

Lucky escape for your sister, there, and blind-spot-guy. I'm not surprised she was still shaking. I've had a couple of "moments", and they're great for getting the blood pumping. I spun my Beetle once, after taking a series of very quick bends too quickly. It was a flick right, flick left sort of corned, but I flicked a bit too quickly and the back end stepped out... and kept on going. I ended up on the grass verge, put it into first and drove off. I was grinning like a Cheshire cat, but my girlfriend was less impressed.

The second real moment I had was on the motorway on the way to work one morning. It was wet and raining, and I was in a hurry. I turned off the motorway on to the slip road to exit, and I was still tearing along when another car loomed out of the rain in front of me. I knew I would never stop in the wet, but I managed to steer just enough to evade his rear end and tear up the hard shoulder. I slowed down, and pulled into the traffic again further up the queued line. Externally I was nonchalant, but inside, my heart was thumping like a steam hammer.

Last weekend I drove up to Newcastle for a friend's wedding. On the roundabout as I exited the M6 at Carlisle, I noticed that the car felt a little slippy. I put it down to the rain lifting diesel and oil to the surface, and drove on. A couple of miles further on, I noticed that the steering felt a little peculiar. I though "Oh, that makes sense, I must have a puncture", so I pulled in to the side of the road, got out and inspected the tyre. No puncture. I decided to be on my way, but another few miles further on, I had to brake quite sharply. This time the car pulled violently to the right under braking, and I thought "Hmm, something's not right here". After pulling in to a lay-by, I inspected the underside of the car, and noticed that one end of part of my anti-roll bar/steering linkage assembly had fallen off. Two bolts had come loose and been deposited somewhere. How long they'd been working loose, I've no idea, but I'm glad the last one finally decided to fall out when I was doing 20mph on a roundabout, and not 10 minutes earlier when I'd been doing 95mph in the wet on the motorway. =)

Oh, and on my way home I got GATSO'd. Ho hum.

[hnpcc]

GATSO'd?

Man, you skid way more than me. I've been lucky so far (touching wood), and only managed to aquaplane around the same corner three times running.

[frieda.livejournal.com]

GATSO is a type of speed camera, and I got flashed. /o\

[epideme.livejournal.com]

boy racer!

[frieda.livejournal.com]

Hehe, not really. It was the middle of nowhere (well, A69 between Newcastle and Carlisle), and dual carriageway. Still, 60mph limit and I was doing 80 or so, so fair dues if I get a ticket & points. Nothing has arrived yet, so I don't know. It was an oncoming flash, and I'm not sure that the GATSO camera can deal with oncoming traffic properly, plus the fact that there was a grass reservation between the carriageways. Anyway, we'll see.

I do know some boy racers, but I drive a diesel, for crying out loud. =)