With the moon now full in the sky we can be sure the cursed three weeks is well and truly over. Indeed anciently this is how Jews knew for certain that the three weeks is over, they look up the sky and see the full moon. Tisha B'Av falls on the 9th of the month of Av, the full moon marks the 15th day. And being in the days before there were any computers, internet, electronic devices, atomic clocks, etc, in which they could keep up with the days of the month, they needed to look up the sky. Indeed the full moon of Av marks the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Av known as the Jewish Valentine Day, generally a happy day when they knew for certain the three weeks is over for another year, but also is traditionally a day when weddings are held and Jewish couples goes out on dates - much like the Roman Valentines Day on Feb 14. The day anciently marked the start of the grape harvest, and on this day single Jewish ladies would go out dancing in the vineyard and no doubt plenty of eligible young Jewish guys turned up to the show!! ;) It also happens to be the day when Sally and I met back in 1998 unbeknown to either of us at the time!!

However it has been a rough few days. Sally's condition took a turn for the worse last Saturday being Tisha B'Av, and without going into the gory details we were left to deal with issues connected to her health which took up both my time and energy. Hopefully *touch wood* things are beginning to settle down. There are still no end in sight to the sores, the legacy of the Tisha B'Av period of 2011.

We have had no eviction notices nor any word from the landlord during the three weeks. This does not mean we are out of the woods for such a letter could come at any time, and a likely scenario is that the decision was made to evict us during the three weeks, and the decision just needs to be formalized with a notice - the date of the notice would determine that.

It is noted that the London Olympic Games began on Tisha B'Av. What has this got to do with Jews aside perhaps the few Israeli athletes participating? Well the same could have been asked for the start of World War I also on Tisha B'Av. Afterall the war began in Europe not in the Middle East, and Jews were not involved with the war. But it wasn't until many years down the track when the implication for Jews started to be felt culminating in the holocaust.

Yesterday we received a txt message that $500 was deposited into our bank account, and we had no idea whatsoever where it could have come from. We thought perhaps a Centerlink bonus payment since Sally is on the pension, or some tax compensation though I haven't yet submitted my tax return - I never do during the three weeks!! So I gotten online to check my account and saw that the funds were neither from Centerlink nor the tax office, indeed it wasn't from anyone that we knew. It appeared to be a mistake. So I buzzed off an email to the bank querying the deposit, afterall as it is said, honesty is the best policy, well its a good idea anyway! ;) And within two hours I gotten a reply!! Banks are very quick to attend to queries where funds are CREDITED by mistake, but when it comes to funds being DEBITED by mistake such as possible overcharging of fees, etc, it is forever before we hear back from them!! Nevertheless I was glad to hear from them so soon to have the issue resolved. There had indeed been a few accounting errors with customers receiving deposits by mistake, probably a computer glitch of some sort. The issue would be resolved, and the $500 would be going to its rightful owner - unfortunately not me!! LOL!!