I always associate the Blue Mountains with attending youth convention there at this time of year. Oh my heavens, I used to think they saved the hottest weather for us then!
Much cooler yesterday and today, thank heavens, means a few jobs are actually getting done, rather than lying down and avoiding any movement at all!
At present it's a bit overcast and even mizzly when I brought the bins in!
My Aunt tells me regularly how she detests going on the Bruce Highway, traffic is always heavy and stressful.
KYC?
I went once; I have always had introvert tendencies but I was minding a colleague's home in Chatswood and the church I went to insisted I come! It was fine, but crowds aren't my thing. I think I must've went on the one year God brought cooling winds: people I met told me of the usual heat.
A week of humidity. Cooler, but sticky. I whinge and whine, but it is so physically draining.
@Climacus, yes KYC my then boyfriend really struggled with the heat and even though the music was heavenly, the heat made it really hard to concentrate and get the most from the weekend. We used to attend with people we knew from a loose church association. It's probably totally not my scene any more (and not just because of my age).
I do recall one year where the rain fell very heavily and the whole place was mud, I've not experienced anything else like it!
Today it's been a overcast day, so I've been out in the garden, gotten the inside recycling into the outside bin, listened to a couple of podcasts, done some washing, got the dishwasher on and done. So I'm feeling really productive and can legitimately have some time to myself after lunch.
Cheery son is having his girlfriend over for a visit this afternoon, so I'll be a third wheel either watching tv or enjoying some reading. Friday night means no cooking for anyone other than myself, which I really enjoy!!
Last day @ work today. Feeling shell shocked after a mad day of writing handovers, sending out emails and texts to patients and my last ever notifications to NSW Health. Saw one longstanding patient to do his checkup and say goodbye. It’s been quite a ride.
What a career you must have had, Sojourner! While I believe in the dignity of all work, your profession in particular is one of giving and helping and I'm sure many people are thankful for knowing you.
Thanks Climacus. Work started as a student nurse @ RPA Hospital March 1972 after failing 2nd year medicine. Did 2 years then back to repeat 2nd year 1974 then graduated end 1978. It’s been non stop and never a dull moment punctuated by the arrivals of my 3 ( now adult) contraceptive disasters. Hard to believe that it has come to an end. Not sorry to doff my medico hat.
Welcome to the wonderful world of retirement. I'd take some time to enjoy doing nothing before jumping into all the opportunities (mostly unpaid) that not working has to offer.
Thanks Sarasa; more than a bit unpaid happening already. A big change at almost 73, especially as the best working years have been those since July 2016 when I became a pox doctor.
@Foaming Draught it looks as though things are getting hairy up your way, any flooding near you?
Thanks for asking, CG, lots of flooding near us (eg evacuation orders, multiple road closures incl the Bruce north and south, no church today or tomorrow) but our little cottage is elevated enough to be out of riverine flood and tidal surge risk. So we're fine, just stir crazy (the poor dog is even stir crazier).
@Foaming Draught it looks as though things are getting hairy up your way, any flooding near you?
Thanks for asking, CG, lots of flooding near us (eg evacuation orders, multiple road closures incl the Bruce north and south, no church today or tomorrow) but our little cottage is elevated enough to be out of riverine flood and tidal surge risk. So we're fine, just stir crazy (the poor dog is even stir crazier).
The news is saying that Magnetic Island has floods.
The news is saying that Magnetic Island has floods.
That's tidal surge and storm drain flash flooding. We're just out of tidal surge range, and our road runs down to the sea, so storm drain overflow will follow that route away from us.
YaY!! My neighbour popped over to pick up something she had lent me, so I mentioned my usual computer room was now not receiving the internet and she has tweaked it to improve the connection.
She also inspected the roses while she was here and I asked her to thank her mother and her mother's rose guru who had advised that the roses would make a comeback if I kept watering them.
I also gave way to my addiction and bought a bright orange mini rose yesterday.
That sounds like an addiction to be encouraged, @Huia. Good to hear also of your improved tech connection, that is an added bonus to having a visitor.
I've had a pleasant day of loving my pot plants and reading. Cheery husband and I also made a quick foray into the calculator tools of the super fund to try to get some idea of how much I might be able to access. I need to set up a proper appointment with a consultant, I've spent too much time putting that off!!
Keep safe FD and Clarence with all the water near you. Too much near you and not enough for people in other places ...
And here I am, safely back in my Other World™, after a month sick leave, and it's 29C which makes me happy but it's not home home with Kuruman which makes me sad but this too will end (in a nice way) which makes me happy.
And did I mention sunny and 29C? Off for a happy walk.
I am on an expedition to the other side of town today. My favourite craft shop has moved and is no longer on my bus route . Fortunately it is on a bus route I have travelled on some years ago and the drivers are usually very helpful. Of all the places I have lived Christchurch has the best bus services, and the frequency of the buses was a factor in my choosing the location of my house.
This is the second shop I frequent that has moved in the last couple of months due to the landlord raising the rent.
I was glancing at an email detailing those from Sydney Uni in the Aust Day Honours List. One such recipient was honoured for service to competitive scrabble!
Thanks F.D. Waitangi Day was fascinating. The M.P who was most vocal about people protesting about a bill before Parliament (The Treaty Principles Bill) was the same person who made a racist comment about deporting Mexicans* in Parliament recently. (Of course his comments were just robust debate)
Good morning teacher, good morning class...
Today my news is about nbnco, who I think are really great, at least the four guys who came out to our place this week.
It's our turn to get an upgrade to FibreToThePremises. (The elimination of copper should see our speed more than triple. I'm excited. )
Anyway, I'm smiling to have had such pleasant interactions with tradies at my door-step.
Also looking forward to working at polling places again soon. Maybe we'll dismantle or democracy too.🤔
Today my news is about nbnco ... FibreToThePremises. (The elimination of copper should see our speed more than triple. I'm excited. )
We have FTTP. All that stops me from getting near Gigabit download speeds is my modem. TPG will upgrade it for $10 delivery. So I don't even need to wait for the next pension cycle.
We have FTTP. All that stops me from getting near Gigabit download speeds is my modem. TPG will upgrade it for $10 delivery. So I don't even need to wait for the next pension cycle.
I've gotten around to stepping away from iinet at last. First booked up with them in 1994...
This week has been one of those that has whizzed by and I've done absolutely nothing!! Too much watching on the video sharing platform and keeping cool. I did get outside yesterday for a bit of gardening and hope to get out again this morning, before the sun gets too burny.
We've enjoyed a bit of rain for the garden and the pond, but have not enjoyed the thunder and lightning, particularly the furry ones, who hide for a couple of hours before it begins, giving us plenty of warning. I'm glad to have a couple of cooler days and to get some jobs done!
0.3mls rain since midnight. That's the longest dry (as good as dry) period since what the BoM call A Rain Event started at the end of January. In that time, we've had 1,500mls.
No Sunday service at St Mafia's last week because surrounding roads were flooded. Now it's closed because mould is deemed to be a health risk. So I worshipped at the gym.
I think we had a sample of summer today. Temperature reached 25C for 10 minutes or so. Usually February is the hottest month, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'd quite like a bit more rain though,not torrential just enough so I didn't need to water so much. I never know how close I am to paying the extra for overuse.
Eight years ago today I had a second heart attack. We were living in rural SE Qld, 9kms from the main road, >20kms from the nearest ambulance station. Amazingly, the First Responder turned up, flashing lights and all, only 15 mins after @Clarence called 000. @Zappa was staying with us, he guided the ambos up the drive. The transporting ambulance wasn't far behind.
I was carted off to the Royal Brisbane Hospital where my cardiologist took one look at the angiogram and said, "No stent for you this time Richard, it's a graft". The RBH doesn't do grafts, so I was to go to the Prince Charles (TPCH), another public hospital. Thus I learned a couple of things about bypass surgery and Prince Charles. First, on the morning of my transfer, an RBH nurse asked was I ready for cabbage at Charlies? I didn't have the foggiest what she was talking about, did she perhaps mean my lunch meal choice at a trendy restaurant? No, Charlie's is the eponymous hospital, and cabbage is CABG, coronary artery bypass surgery. But wait, it gets better. She went on, "It's good that you're going to Charlie's rather than Camilla's, they have the best cardio-thoracic surgeons." What on earth is/was Camilla's? Adjacent to TPCH, on the same campus, is a private, Catholic Health, hospital. It used to be Holy Spirit, now it's St Vincent's. And Camilla's? "Charlie's bit on the side" 🤣
That was a long winded way of remembering the goodness of God and Australia's great health services.
The graft is the G in CABG.
I had my cabbage coming up to nine years ago. I was already too gummed up for stents, so it was straight to grafts using a vein from my leg.
One of our LKKlets had open-heart surgery on day two of his life at Prince Charles, followed up with another at 8 months, and a valve replacement when 17. With the advances in surgery we hope that his next replacement can be done with keyhole surgery.
I love all the humour in you story @Foaming Draught , glad to know all has gone well though it must have been stressful at the time. I do hope your son's next surgery can be done with minimal invasion @LatchKeyKid.
Our kid has a cardiology visit in March, though they keep switching the dates and driving me crazy with all the crossings-out on the calendar. It turns out that the actual appointment is the same day as the oncology follow up, so we can pass the info from one specialist straight onto the next. Very efficient!
Lots of thunder and lightning last night, nice and cool for sleeping too, and this morning still overcast so I could get out into the garden and reduce our load of weeds by about 80%. So humid though, my hair was wet! We are supposed to have more rain later, so hopefully some weeds out the front can be dealt with before the end of the week! Now putting my feet up for a bit.
Mostly just for fun, we still send a Christmas card to my sister near Johannesburg, the joke being that in a good year it arrives for Easter. But a few days ago we had one returned as undeliverable, despite the correct address. We thought this was pretty good - Canada to SA and back in only two months, but no, closer examination revealed that it was the 2023 Christmas card! Somewhere on this planet there may be a worse postal system, and I wonder where it could be. The International Space Station probably gets much better service.
That is amazing ST! I am thankful for a good postal service and particularly parcel deliveries, they are just so convenient and quick, quicker than letter deliveries these days!
Today is bright and sunny and a day for "jobs" as it's bin day tomorrow. Thankfully the green bin is nicely full so I'm not feeling as though I have to rush out into the garden, which is looking quite lush after all the recent rain.
Hope you are recovering well, @Foaming Draught and finally getting a day off the rain. We are having a very pleasant day here, fine and sunny with a light breeze and a maximum of 27°C which is just about my favourite temperature. The fridge technician came to fix our fridge, but it wasn’t sufficiently defrosted. Anyway, he gave us some advice about defrosting more completely, and will get his office people to rebook the call without charging two service fees.
Thankyou @WormInTheGrass, we still have a problem or two. For example, our trusty rain gauge, which has been faithfully recording 1,500ml since the end of January, has suddenly stopped working and is showing 0 ml since midnight. And there's something wrong with the sky, which is meant to be 🌑 but has been 🔵 all day. And there's this ☀️ thing up there, too. Weird. Dunno when it will be fixed.
If you recall the complexities of kangaroo cricket, the equivalent in Aotearoa is Rabbit/Hare cricket. Hedgehogs don't count. Not that there's much opportunity here - I don't get a lot of night driving in because two minutes after you get into the car you've arrived, so opportunities for an all nighter are rare. But I grabbed a quick 3 1/2 hour drive this predawn morning, with a score of 153/4.
Two hares, two rabbits ... possibly a couple more but like Biggles I can't count them if they're not demonstrable. Ad the runs were thick and fast during want 20 km stretch.
Comments
Much cooler yesterday and today, thank heavens, means a few jobs are actually getting done, rather than lying down and avoiding any movement at all!
At present it's a bit overcast and even mizzly when I brought the bins in!
My Aunt tells me regularly how she detests going on the Bruce Highway, traffic is always heavy and stressful.
I went once; I have always had introvert tendencies but I was minding a colleague's home in Chatswood and the church I went to insisted I come! It was fine, but crowds aren't my thing. I think I must've went on the one year God brought cooling winds: people I met told me of the usual heat.
A week of humidity. Cooler, but sticky. I whinge and whine, but it is so physically draining.
I do recall one year where the rain fell very heavily and the whole place was mud, I've not experienced anything else like it!
Today it's been a overcast day, so I've been out in the garden, gotten the inside recycling into the outside bin, listened to a couple of podcasts, done some washing, got the dishwasher on and done. So I'm feeling really productive and can legitimately have some time to myself after lunch.
Cheery son is having his girlfriend over for a visit this afternoon, so I'll be a third wheel either watching tv or enjoying some reading. Friday night means no cooking for anyone other than myself, which I really enjoy!!
Welcome to the busy life of the retiree.
All the best for the retirement!
I'm glad a potential trip up there was postponed! Stay safe.
This from me too.
@Foaming Draught it looks as though things are getting hairy up your way, any flooding near you?
Thanks for asking, CG, lots of flooding near us (eg evacuation orders, multiple road closures incl the Bruce north and south, no church today or tomorrow) but our little cottage is elevated enough to be out of riverine flood and tidal surge risk. So we're fine, just stir crazy (the poor dog is even stir crazier).
Stay dry, Townsville folkies 🕯🕯🕯
The news is saying that Magnetic Island has floods.
That's tidal surge and storm drain flash flooding. We're just out of tidal surge range, and our road runs down to the sea, so storm drain overflow will follow that route away from us.
She also inspected the roses while she was here and I asked her to thank her mother and her mother's rose guru who had advised that the roses would make a comeback if I kept watering them.
I also gave way to my addiction and bought a bright orange mini rose yesterday.
I've had a pleasant day of loving my pot plants and reading. Cheery husband and I also made a quick foray into the calculator tools of the super fund to try to get some idea of how much I might be able to access. I need to set up a proper appointment with a consultant, I've spent too much time putting that off!!
Keep safe FD and Clarence with all the water near you. Too much near you and not enough for people in other places ...
I’ve just been speaking to a family friend in Perth; I fear her prayers for rain have been mislocated. She has none and we have too much.
And did I mention sunny and 29C? Off for a happy walk.
I have returned, even though on FB I didn't think I would. @Doublethink 's kind PM persuaded me to give it a go.
I am on an expedition to the other side of town today. My favourite craft shop has moved and is no longer on my bus route
This is the second shop I frequent that has moved in the last couple of months due to the landlord raising the rent.
I was glancing at an email detailing those from Sydney Uni in the Aust Day Honours List. One such recipient was honoured for service to competitive scrabble!
* Two of the Green M.Ps are Mexican.
Today my news is about nbnco, who I think are really great, at least the four guys who came out to our place this week.
It's our turn to get an upgrade to FibreToThePremises. (The elimination of copper should see our speed more than triple. I'm excited. )
Anyway, I'm smiling to have had such pleasant interactions with tradies at my door-step.
Also looking forward to working at polling places again soon. Maybe we'll dismantle or democracy too.🤔
We have FTTP. All that stops me from getting near Gigabit download speeds is my modem. TPG will upgrade it for $10 delivery. So I don't even need to wait for the next pension cycle.
We've enjoyed a bit of rain for the garden and the pond, but have not enjoyed the thunder and lightning, particularly the furry ones, who hide for a couple of hours before it begins, giving us plenty of warning. I'm glad to have a couple of cooler days and to get some jobs done!
No Sunday service at St Mafia's last week because surrounding roads were flooded. Now it's closed because mould is deemed to be a health risk. So I worshipped at the gym.
I'd quite like a bit more rain though,not torrential just enough so I didn't need to water so much. I never know how close I am to paying the extra for overuse.
I was carted off to the Royal Brisbane Hospital where my cardiologist took one look at the angiogram and said, "No stent for you this time Richard, it's a graft". The RBH doesn't do grafts, so I was to go to the Prince Charles (TPCH), another public hospital. Thus I learned a couple of things about bypass surgery and Prince Charles. First, on the morning of my transfer, an RBH nurse asked was I ready for cabbage at Charlies? I didn't have the foggiest what she was talking about, did she perhaps mean my lunch meal choice at a trendy restaurant? No, Charlie's is the eponymous hospital, and cabbage is CABG, coronary artery bypass surgery. But wait, it gets better. She went on, "It's good that you're going to Charlie's rather than Camilla's, they have the best cardio-thoracic surgeons." What on earth is/was Camilla's? Adjacent to TPCH, on the same campus, is a private, Catholic Health, hospital. It used to be Holy Spirit, now it's St Vincent's. And Camilla's? "Charlie's bit on the side" 🤣
That was a long winded way of remembering the goodness of God and Australia's great health services.
I had my cabbage coming up to nine years ago. I was already too gummed up for stents, so it was straight to grafts using a vein from my leg.
One of our LKKlets had open-heart surgery on day two of his life at Prince Charles, followed up with another at 8 months, and a valve replacement when 17. With the advances in surgery we hope that his next replacement can be done with keyhole surgery.
Our kid has a cardiology visit in March, though they keep switching the dates and driving me crazy with all the crossings-out on the calendar. It turns out that the actual appointment is the same day as the oncology follow up, so we can pass the info from one specialist straight onto the next. Very efficient!
Lots of thunder and lightning last night, nice and cool for sleeping too, and this morning still overcast so I could get out into the garden and reduce our load of weeds by about 80%. So humid though, my hair was wet! We are supposed to have more rain later, so hopefully some weeds out the front can be dealt with before the end of the week! Now putting my feet up for a bit.
Today is bright and sunny and a day for "jobs" as it's bin day tomorrow. Thankfully the green bin is nicely full so I'm not feeling as though I have to rush out into the garden, which is looking quite lush after all the recent rain.
Two hares, two rabbits ... possibly a couple more but like Biggles I can't count them if they're not demonstrable. Ad the runs were thick and fast during want 20 km stretch.
Back in the Flanks of the South for 48 hours.