REPORT from CHIEF MISS

Actually some people call me Miss Chief, but I can't think why.











My Mummy had a big bump on her tummy but it has gone away and at the same time she got a new doll she called Becca that had a squashed face and no eyes. She loves washing it when she could be playing with me!
















I have taken Nanny out for walks a lot recently but she needs help with steering the stroller so that Teddy does not get upset.






















Amongst my hobbies I like dressing up and have exquisite taste in clothes. I am also a dab hand in making things with sand.































One of my favourite pasttimes is eating, and Mummy's food always tastes best, particularly when I sit on her knee and she puts her new doll away.






















I am pretty good at stepping stones and such
but was quite surprised when Daddy and I heard a man blowing down a hollow tree trunk making rude noises. Daddy calls it a didgeridoo. I think it is a dodgy don't.


























Sydney is a very sunny place but the downside is that it suffers from drought. I like to keep a check on the water supply to make sure I can have my daily bath.




















Daddy sometimes takes me to the park and throws me round which I love and the exercise helps him to get to sleep early. I also help him to wake up early but he is not so much fun in the morning.











Meanwhile Becca has grown eyes and cries more than me. Her face now looks lifelike. She also has a nice velvety head. What a strange doll!

I expect I will send another report after Christmas when we have gone to see Nanny, Aggi, Gorgon and Diana.

Gosh I am feeling peckish again.

INFORMAL AIR TRAVEL

This a picture of Gibraltar airport looking towards it's Spanish "twin" town of La Linea. The grey horizontal strip is the landing strip, and there is a road crossing it with cars and pedestrians on it.

OK, relax. When a plane lands or is due to take off the road is closed so no-one gets knocked down. One of the buildings to the right of the road is the building housing check-in, customs, immigration, departure gate, cafe and duty free shop. The building is not big and so it is quite compact.

When our plane arrived there we exited by the back of the plane, moved through immigration and customs carrying our hand luggage and there was Ellie waiting for us. And then we walked with her past Spanish immigration and customs. Twenty minutes later we arrived at her flat - no taxi, bus car or any other form of transport needed.

When we left we walked from the Gate to the plane. The last time I did this was some years ago at City Airport.

Going back a lot more years the picture below is of me arriving at Zanzibar airport after my second ever flight. The plane is a Rapide, and yes it was a bi-plane. We and our baggage had to be weighed before the flight so that a clerk could work out a sitting plan for passengers and a loading plan for baggage that balanced the plane fore and aft, starboard and port. No calculator needed or available then. (I have read that some approximate balancing of passenger weights still takes place based on average weights for a man and a woman. That is why in a half empty plane passengers are spread out in the - computer calculated - seating allocation.)

You can see some baggage on the ground and and a schoolgirl stepping down behind me.

I hadn't mastered the art of packing then and so I am carrying my hat in my right hand and some shoes wrapped in a my blazer with help of my left hand. My Dad took the photo. Immigration and customs were very informal then.

Our twenty month old grandaughter has inspired me to kick the blog back into life following very unscientific observation. Her favourite words in roughly declining order of use include:

Mummy, Daddy
No!
More - as in food
Mine - as in lots of things
Biccy
toast
Ta
Uh, oh! - I/you have dropped something
Yay! - Mum is to blame for this one
Look at that! - and this one!
Up, down
Maccapacca, Daisy - if you don't know those you are watching the wrong TV progs
Worta, worta - as in the drink, the sea or a swimming pool
Car, boat, 'plane
Jump, splash
Oc, oc - get me out of this whatever, but quickly
Nanny, Aggi - the latter refers to me, Gramps!

Animals are a separate category:
dickit - chicken as in wild ones in Hawaii
turtle, turtle
pocock - i.e. peacock
doggie
birdy
cat
fish
lizard

She obviously has a keen intellect, is well travelled and has a strong sense of what is good for her.