Tess at work

Tess has just finished a week of work experience which all the Queenwood girls have to do once they've finished their Year 10 exams.  I think it's a fantastic initiative to give them an idea of what work will be like - having to meet new people, travel to unfamiliar places, not know what you're doing etc.  Our original work placement for Tess fell through so we were lucky that Jules was able to get her a week at KPMG.  Sadly, Princess Entitled of Queenwood did not realise how lucky she was.  In fact she complained bitterly each day about having to put in a full day's work: "why can't I leave at 3pm?" and "some of my other friend's aren't even doing work experience, can't I just do 3 days?" were two very familiar refrains during the week.  She also complained about having to wear work clothes although I thought she looked lovely.  I can report that she survived the experience I suspect she even enjoyed some of it but she has concluded that she doesn't want to work in an office.  Jules found this meme which sums up how she feels perfectly.  

During the week the East Coast of Australia has experienced horrendous bush fires which is very unusual for so early on in the season.  The situation on Tuesday was deemed "catastrophic" with temperatures in the very high 30s and strong winds.  The photo is of the harbour which is usually all beautiful blues and whites but the smoke haze turned everything orange.  

On Friday I got a call from the nurse at Tom's school.  He had been injured and potentially knocked unconscious whilst wrestling with some of his friends at lunch time.  I usually prefer a limb to be hanging off before I take him to hospital but he was even more of a space cadet than normal when I picked him up, had a bad headache and was feeling nauseous so I decided to err on the side of caution.  We spent a pleasant 4 hours in hospital and then were discharged thankfully.  

On Saturday morning we had a family outing to watch Tess play water polo.  She was awesome and saved about 16 goals!  

Kate was over from the UK and we had the birthdays of Kate, Kara and Bec to celebrate so we went to Hugo's (of course!) for lunch on Saturday.  It was a very long lunch and I got home at 9pm.  Sunday was pretty much a write off for me.  

We were very proud to hear that Tom has been nominated as vice-captain of the water polo team by his coach.  Another leadership position - he's on a roll!