Great Days Out!

Post by **peter** » Tue May 15, 2018 5:22 am

Yesterday I had a fantastic day out with my wife E. We went up to the Cornish garden at Llanhydrock House - a rhodedendron and camelia dominated ninety plus acres, both formal and woodland - and found it absolutely at it's best. The trees were hanging with huge football sized blooms of every colour, the bushes blazed red, orange and yellow amongst the vibrant green of the late spring growth and the whole scene was thrilling with a life and health as palpable as any in the Land that Donaldson ever described.
To get to this Eden we walked up a mile and three quarter path through sun drenched woodland, alongside banks thick with bluebells and past meadows of grass with majestic oaks and shining cattle munching lazily on sweet fresh grass. I'm not joking; all we needed was a few apple and pear trees, a snake and The Tree of Knowledge in the middle and we would have been there. Cornwall does not have the majesty or scale of much of the world's spectacle - but at it's best it is just that.........the best!

Post by **Skyweir** » Tue May 15, 2018 5:44 am

Wow that sounds spectacular.. I love rhododendrons and camellias. Ive planted them throughout the property but alas my large animals love them

in the worst way

Sounds a gorgeous day out ... its great for the soul isnt it

Did you take pics .. Id LOVE to see them.

Glad you had a great day out

Post by **Avatar** » Tue May 15, 2018 6:04 am

I have such fond memories of Cornwall. One of my favourite places.

(Of course, the Cornish are bloody odd...)

--A

Post by **Skyweir** » Tue May 15, 2018 6:21 am

A qualified complement then

How long were you in the UK Av

Post by **Avatar** » Wed May 16, 2018 4:25 am

Lived there for about 3 years, although not contiguously, just on and off.

--A

Post by **Skyweir** » Wed May 16, 2018 6:37 am

sighs

How lucky you are

Post by **Lazy Luke** » Wed May 16, 2018 4:31 pm

Yeah, that's pretty much how it was yesterday.
I'd gone for a job interview at the shiny new airport-size Amazon distribution centre. Only to find that the interviews were not being held there but in town, actually 5 minutes walk from where I live.
Not having been told the venue of the interview I made the wrong assumption.

Off I went, but, as it was such a nice day I decided to walk instead of taking a bus. And so many adventures were had over hill and dale.

Too many to condense onto a bulletinboard text box, so you'll just have to take my word for it. A-may-zing!

I arrived back in town and was given a re-scheduled interview time. Later in the afternoon I was offered the job.
(And at my age it could well be the last job I ever do.)

However, * the last hoop to jump through is really technical, involving a long online questionaire, of which I've already answered most of the questions in the initial online job application, and the scanning and uploading of various documents to prove I am who I was yesterday when I had the same various documents scanned at the face to face interview. Phew!

I heard that new companies can have an average 15% dropout-rate from newly hired staff. Amazon are recruiting 1000 jobs. I wouldn't be surprised if the dropout percentage was much higher than that.
Not everyone is tech savvy.

* there's a chat service link on their background check site.
how cool is that!

Overcast and grey today with a cool northern breeze. But still warm, green, and very pleasant.

Post by **Skyweir** » Thu May 17, 2018 4:29 am

Congratulations Lazy :nanaparty:

Yes not everyone IS tech savvy......... points all fingers at self

Post by **Avatar** » Thu May 17, 2018 5:11 am

Congrats on the new job, hope it goes well.

--A

Post by **Skyweir** » Thu May 31, 2018 7:29 am

Do you live near Cornwall Pete?

Post by **Skyweir** » Thu May 31, 2018 7:31 am

Theres quite a lot of Brit Watchers .. you guys had a Watch get together? Maybe you should consider doing one.

Am slowly trying to organise something .. but we have one of your lads coming down under .. so we will try put something together when Darths here.

Post by **peter** » Thu May 31, 2018 3:05 pm

Skyweir wrote:Do you live near Cornwall Pete?

In Cornwall Sky! Yes - never sure how many Brit Watchers there are, but at least a fist full I'd guess. In respect of a meet, don't know; Cornwall's out on a limb for most people and I'm not much of a traveller [for that kind of thing anyways]. I'm a bit to anti-social by nature. I tend to prefer the anonymity of the electronic interface as a barrier. For all of my day job where I know [literally] thousands, I'm essentially very shy and insular.

[But if anyone ever does get to Cornwall I promise to buy y'all a coffee!

]

Post by **Skyweir** » Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:49 am

Hahahahahahaha .. my cousin lived in Cornwall and as a kid I would love going to stay for the holidays there. I think theyre in Swansea now or nearby.

Hes my fave cousin and a McCallum but we dont hold that against him. Hes studying at the Oceanology school there, and currently in the Cayman Islands on a research project. Fun huh? I love that part of the world. But then I love a lot of the UK, its so diverse and intriguing how so much of the island hasnt changed. My sister goes quite a lot to the UK with her work and she and my parents when they were alive said the small village we came from hasnt changed a whit.

I cant believe youre shy .. and knowing thousands of folk is the antithesis of an introvert

LOL

You come across as youd be right at home in the pub with a bunch of mates. Well pretty much everyone is intriguing to me LOL .. and Im not a huge people fan. I love going out with friends but Im definitely a home body. Love my creature comforts, especially at my age lol .. 57 in a few months and Ive never been happier in all my life. And I have had a relatively awesome life.

We got to get you to our next chat bane .. it is in June .. towards the end of the month. Try and make it Pete .. Id love to chat to you.

Post by **deer of the dawn** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:35 pm

Pleeeease post some pictures, it sounds so lovely.

Lazy, belated welcome to the Watch. My son has worked for Amazon for several months and says they treat him well. But it is hump-busting work, so I get why people drop out. Probably 15% of the workforce doesn't really want to actually work.

Post by **Skyweir** » Sun Jun 17, 2018 6:36 am

Oh yes Pete .. thats a great idea .. do please

Post by **Kizza** » Sun Jun 17, 2018 11:05 pm

It is confirmed that I am not as fit as I was. Google Mt Lofty to Bridgewater Heysen Trail, and you will see yesterdays walk, It is just over 7kms and is largely downhill bushtrail, but Jaysus my arse and calves are sore today. Plenty of images on google... Its a great walk, we finished at the pub for a couple of beers before heading home for the fireplace and an afternoon snooze.

Post by **Skyweir** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:07 am

Good on you Kizza .. I did many different Heyson Trail walks in my youth. One of my fave places is Milor? I think thats how its spelled?

Such a sweet little place. I did that section one time with two girl friends. We arrived at sun down and it was pretty dark .. but we found a nice spot to pitch the tent

.. the ground was soft enough to push the pegs into .. we were pretty stoked about that. So we are and turned in for the night. Only to be woken up by an unpleasant feeling of wetness... and cold. As I had slept up against the tent wall water was leaching through it on to me. I could hear heavy rain .. and thought damn the tents got a leak. So I climbed over the other two unzipped the tent and saw that wed set up camp in a creek bed

It wasnt deep yet but we were sqarely smack bang in the middle of the creek. By now everyone and everything was wet .. we packed up as best we could and loaded up our backpacks with all our wet stuff. It was cold and the rain didnt let up .. we all felt miserable.. nothing was open. So we called a friend who met us on our way back to the car

and drove us the rest of the way. We felt like the goons we were

My other fave place along the Heysen Trail is in the Flinders Ranges. Yeah flash flooding is prone there too. There is an awesome pub there .. I think its called Oraparina .. best pub in SA. Thick stone walls, they had an open fire roaring .. and was a great place to wind down after a day of hiking.

The longest hike Ive ever done .. though some Flinders hikes come Close was 80kms in 24hrs .. we werent rushing .. we were orienteering which took longer .. as we had to navigate around and through properties. We were stuffed when we finally arrived in Onkaparinga though.

Oh I have stories, so many, many stories. Next time rock climbing in Arapales .. and hiking through the Grampians.

....

the leaches were big fat fuckers.

hate them with a passion

Post by **Avatar** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:26 am

Oh, I know that feeling when you're perfectly aware you're not as fit as you could be, but you take on a challenging hike anyway.

Afterwards you're like "What the hell was I thinking?"

--A

Post by **Skyweir** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:54 am

And youre always glad you did

Post by **Avatar** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:44 am

Well, yes, but that is not the point.

--A

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Great Days Out!

Great Days Out!