Round 7: CHEER CHEER THE RED AND THE WHITE!! The Swannies absolutlely thrashed the Richmond Tigers by 118 points on Saturday. They were playing like the well-oiled machine we saw in operation last year and the commentators are falling over themselves saying that the team will have back-to-back premierships. I'm not so sure about that but it was a delight to see them firing well. Even Mick managed to kick straight and Barry kicked 4. A very pleasing outcome and in a few weeks they will be playing here so I better hustle to get tickets.

After a sluggish start to today I spent an hour or so with my dear berry bushes. I have only begun the process of cutting out last year's canes and tying the new growth up but after the glut in December/January last year I let them to themselves and now they are all tangled together. So it's partly untangling thorny spaphetti and partly general garden clean-up. The mixed berry jam is known widely and kelps fund my charities, besides providing bowls of berries & cream in summer. The sylvan berries are the worst because they are so "vigourous" and left to their own devices would take over everything else. I will have to look up what I do to blackberries since this si the first year there has been anything to prune.