For quite some time, Hugo has had a little red wagon sitting in the doorway of his bedroom just begging to be played with. Claire and I have pulled it out a few times to show Hugo, however despite our best efforts – he was never really interested in playing with it.
Since Hugo started walking, lots of different objects around the house have suddenly become more interesting. For instance, he now loves to drag the rubber non-slip mat out of the bath, carry around a pair of Claire’s red thongs and more importantly, tow his little red wagon around as well:
One evening during the week, I received a phone call after 7PM from a number I didn’t recognise. It turned out to be an overseas number, which didn’t leave me with much hope that it was going to be a useful phone call for me to take and not yet another person trying to sell me a holiday.
After struggling to hear the woman and also comprehend what she was saying through a very strong accent, the lady informed me that someone would be coming around in the following week to check the power at our house. It was hard to understand her but I did pick up Energex and Origin throughout the conversation. At that point I thought it must have been something official, which was reinforced when she said it was like the recent in person visit from a Gold Coast Water employee to check the water quality.
As indicated, someone did come around to our place and they were there to check the power. They asked to see one of our power bills to check whether we were being overcharged on our bill. The bloke went through and checked the bill against his sheets and shuffled some stuff back and forward in his folder and then confirmed that I was being overcharged. At this point I thought, fantastic – we’ll be reimbursed for whatever we have paid over the normal. At this point in time, then came the sales pitch – the guy was from Integral Energy and said he could save me 7% of my power bill by switching to them instead of Origin Energy.
It pisses me off that they were deceptive on the phone, dropping names like Energex and Origin Energy so I’d feel comfortable with what was happening. It annoys me even more that the lady said it was just like the recent Gold Coast Water check, however with one distinct difference – Gold Coast Water didn’t try and sell me something, they were legitimately here to verify that our water quality was okay. I’m frustrated that the salesman wasn’t upfront about his intentions. I think it is sly that he said he was on knocking on my door because someone else in my area requested them to come around – which apparently gives an excuse to knock on my door and sell me something I don’t need. I hate and I d mean hate, not dislike, that people selling over the phone and at the door think their best chance of getting the sale is to pressure me into it and not let me consider it on my own time and furthermore that when I say no – that they don’t stop their sales pitch and piss off.
This sort of behaviour is the exact reason why I won’t change my power provider to someone offering cheap power. Not only will I not use their cheap electricity, if someone asks me about them – I’ll now be the first to tell them not to take the up on their 7% savings on their discounted power plans.
When Claire and I are out at the shops with Hugo, we like to let him walk around as much as possible. He really enjoys strolling around whatever shop we’re in, exploring the different nooks and crannies and touching as many different things as he can manage to get his hands on.
Whilst out doing some grocery shopping just before Christmas at Woolworths in Upper Coomera, Hugo was walking around like normal. However this time, there happened to be an unused shopping basket to one side of the isle. Of course, since he loves to help out with whatever we are doing – he proceeded to pick up the shopping basket, fiddle with it so he knew how the handles worked and went shopping.
At the end of November, Hugo realised that he could stand up on his own and began taking his very first steps.
It is completely amazing how quickly little people learn different things from being able to flap their arms in excitement when they are only babies, learning to roll over, sit up, crawl and subsequently balance standing up. I have to admit, I find it fascinating to watch it all unfold right in front of your eyes.
With only a week of practice walking, Hugo has gone from only just being able to stand and take a few steps to being able to walk quite a distance with a pretty reasonable amount of stability, all things considered.
The Doodle 4 Google winner, an 11 year old named Jessie Du from Rydalmere East Public School in Ermington, New South Wales has their artwork on display for everyone in Australia to see. Just head to Google Australia and you should see it in lieu of the standard Google logo.
