Elton. New Years Eve.

G'Day,
Tonight is New Years Eve. Happy New Year all!!!!! I have been watching a concert by Elton John. He is soooo.... good, and hasn't lost his abilities as he has aged. In fact I think I enjoy his matured voice much more than when he could sing in the falsetto. His music and songs have been part of my life since forever. Well ever since my early teens anyway. Every song they had on the concert tonight was a classic with all the love, emotion and memories they engender. Fun, sad, happy etc.... When I was 15 my best school friend, Anna and I, used to go into the city (Sydney) to see the musical, Tommy. I think we saw it every weekend for about 3 months and I reckon I still know every word and image in the movie. I remember analysing it for an English essay and getting in trouble off my very religious English teacher, because I thought it was analogous to Christ's story. Ha. I.E. he came from the bottom of the pack and overtaking obstacles, made good then was dumped on by his supporters, there were analogies to lots of social issues that were current at the time also like the drugs and the searching for answers etc. Elton's music was only a small part of the movie. I don't think I ever had any more than 2 of his albums then, money didn't run to that in those days. I had Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I have a double C.D. with all the old songs, and some newer ones on it now which I play in the car.
I have thought about artists that we have around now days and thought about what ones could be remembered in a few hundred years like Mozart, Beethoven , Tchaikovsky etc, are now. I don't think it will be the Brittany Spears dolly birds, or the silly Spice Girl type of artists that will be remembered as being the icons of our age but maybe the people like Elton John, Beatles, Mick Jagger, even Michael Jackson, (who love him or hate him, has had an undeniable influence on today's music and who has an undeniable talent), who will live on. O.K. we all have our tastes in music which are many and varied and could be added to make a list as long as your arm and it is all subject to personal taste after all. I won't be around to be proven right or wrong I guess.
Yesterday and today were real stinkers. Today it got to 42 degrees and yesterday it got to 37 degrees. The old scale equivalent to 100 Fahrenheit is 37 point something Celsius. I watered today for an hour out the back, what a pleasant way to cool down at the end of a hot day. I enjoy hand watering. My garden seems to be standing up well to the heat at the moment, as there is still some subsoil moisture left in it from the recent rain we have been lucky to have. I have put quite a bit of work into improving my soil over the last few years because of the drought, so the dividends look like they are paying off.
I am not going anywhere or doing anything tonight, I will leave that for the young ones. I have rarely gone out on new years eve anyway. My evening usually involves watching the clock tick over and watching the fire works at midnight on the tele, exciting stuff.... not! Or I just go to bed to sleep. Very boring and normal for me. Plus both Pete and I have to work tomorrow. Nice penalty rates.
One of my workmates has had a real bad scare over the last few days. Her son who is 8 yrs old was rushed to Wagga by ambulance with a suspected case of meningococcal. I haven't rung her to find out if she is still in Wagga Base with him but have heard along the hospital grapevine that he is improving and will be alright. The diagnosis won't be back until tomorrow because the tests take 48hrs to get back. There have been quite a few cases of meningococcal virus around in the news recently. I have only heard of one other locally though, a woman in Cootamundra.
Mum cooked a lovely roast leg of lamb for our tea tonight. Lamb is so expensive now days, about $23 and upwards for a medium sized roasting leg. It used to be mostly what we ate growing up as it was cheap and very available. Now I think beef is the cheaper meat to get.
I got a phone call from Annie earlier tonight, the ginger kitten we got for Michael's Christmas present was very stressed and dehydrated because of the heat, they don't have air conditioning. I told her to dunk it in a bucket of cold water and leave it for half an hour then ring the vet if it didn't improve. I rang them back and he was o.k. again and running around and attacking everyone, so all is well. I've had to do that to my chooks before (they die very quickly from heat exhaustion) and it works on them too. Even Jack our cocky, has had to be sprayed with the hose to cool her down on really hot days. Good old Australian summer eh!
We have had 2 deaths at work over the last few days. One in the acute care ward and another in the long term department. These things usually run in bouts of three so what is next. Sometimes death is a blessing when you see people are ready to go and suffering though. I am sure it is easier on them to go suddenly than hang around and wait to die and for them to know what is happening, but I am sure it is easier for the family to get used to the idea than have a sudden shock. I know which I would choose for myself. I remember when my Dad died, before hand, I was praying for him to be taken gently and I guess that is what happened. He didn't have to lie around wait and get sicker and sicker. Even though he did his share of suffering with his health. I always think I look more like my Mum but I think like my Dad. But he was quite good with numbers and I never acquired that skill. Lol.
Good Night Love Linda.