Happy New Year to all who visit Patra's Places!

One thing about living in Melbourne, if you don't like the weather, stick around for a day - it is sure to change...and thank goodness for that! Yesterday (N Y Eve) the sun was blazing down, and it got to 43 deg.C (somewhere about 110 deg.F). Ken and I just flaked out. We had the air con. flat out all day and into the evening. Today, the sky is cloudy, there is a lovely cool wind blowing, and the prediction is rain. All our doors and windows are wide open, and the minute the wind slams one shut, I jump up and prop it open again! Inside the house it is still warm, as the bricks can hold the heat for several days. I am tempted to go out and hose the whole place down, which would help the cooling process along, but if everyone did that, our water supply would plummet even lower than where it is now - 58% the last time I looked on Foxtel's weather channel. So I won't do it.


We usually spend NY Eve with friends, either at home or at their place. Not always the same friends - it depends on what everyone has planned. But we usually find others with nothing else planned, as we did yesterday. A couple about two streets away, who we have known for about 23 years, were staying home because of the extreme heat. So when H invited us around there, we accepted, rather than just stay home. I cut some ham sandwiches, and we arrived there about 10 pm. We had some nibbles and sweets, drinks, and at midnight we toasted in the New year with champagne and ham sandwiches while watching the fireworks in Sydney and Melbourne on t.v. If you're wondering about the significance of ham sandwiches, my MIL says this is an old English or Scottish tradition - to have ham sandwiches and shortbread on NY Eve. Don't know why, but we do it anyway! (Helps to soak up the alcohol...)