How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana.

Right then, now that I have your attention...

Our weekly meetings/training sessions for St John started for the year a coupla weeks ago, so that has been keeping me busy. On top of the Monday night adults and Friday night cadet meetings I went in for a coupla Wednesday nights to help Leon do some electrical work on the hall, as we have been getting some renovations done. I was also sorting out cadet stuff and helping Ruth with stores for our new custom made cupboards, which look mighty spiffy. Tomorrow is our AGM, which should be a tonne of fun. Much voting and stuff will take place.

Cadets have been continuing with their boating badge, which has been great. Today a group of us went on the ferry from Queenscliffe to Sorrento. It’s the first time I’ve been on the ferry, and I wasn’t expecting it to be so big. I don’t know what I was thinking, but the only ferry I can remember goin’ on was the one in Goolwa. Remember that Mum, Dad and the rest of the mob? It was one of those tiny platform ferries that only fit about three cars on it and ran along some kinda cable. Can you imagine crossin’ the bay on one of them? *shakes fist at own stupidity*

Anyway, it was a good day. We only spent a short time in Sorrento, eating lunch and goin’ through some boating theory. I took a few photos cause I’m hopin’ to get a cadet newsletter happenin’ and thought some shots might be nice. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post pics of the cadets on here, so I’ll just post some of these funky lookin’ fishin’ boats I saw at the Queenscliffe port. I’ve never seen squid boats like this before, well not that I can remember. I thought they were very interestin’ lookin’ with all the globes runnin' along the side. They would look mad all lit up. Hope you can see it clearly enough in the shot. For some reason, blogger is makin' my pics look blurry. If you want a better image, try going to flickr, by clickin' on the photos in the little flash square on the sidebar of my site.

I’ve been on a coupla duties the last few weeks. Did a stint at the huge lifesaving championships they have on here at the moment – Rescue 2006. I did a coupla hours at an open water swim they held at Eastern Beach, in Geelong. It’s an international competition, so there were lifesavers from South Africa, Japan, Egypt… even Scandinavia, only I can’t remember which country exactly. We had two of the cadets on duty that day too, so it worked well – we just got them to treat all the casualties. And they did an excellent job.

Also went out to Avalon Speedway last night after tennis, but unfortunately it got cancelled. So I missed arvo tea and drinks at the club afterwards – for nuthin’! Aw well, soon got over that as Ruth and I ordered pasta, came home and watched Farscape for the rest of the night! So, it turned out quite well, although I would have liked to spend the time with my team, drowning our sorrows after our defeat. Plus – free pool!

Next week I'll be helpin' Leon with more theory sessions on Wednesay night and might put in some hours at the Queen's Baton relay on Saturday and Meredith Motorbikes on the Sunday.