Waltham Traveller

The garage sale is almost finished with lots of fabric etc still left over. We have decided to donate it to a couple of groups who make stuffed toys for kids in impoverished lands. Joan would approve! Already this afternoon, one group of women took a lot of fabric to make clothes for women and children who have had to make a quick getaway to a refuge from violent partners

When we were searching through cupboards etc to collect together all Joan’s stash, I found my grandfather’s gold pocket watch. It is an American Waltham watch made in 1899. It is a Traveller model which is not their top of the line, however it is rather nice and I was looking at having a new face glass fitted and a clean and lubricate. The first rough estimate for a clean was $350 - $400.
I can only guess what a new glass will cost as I believe it has to be hand made.

Time for a rethink as I am not one to ponce about pulling a gold pocket watch out of my waistcoat pocket attached to a fob chain to check the time at the supermarket.

Alternatively I could sell it as is?

'The Literary Larrikin'

After I posted my little report on the riot in Vancouver, a regular reader, Bernie, who lives in Canada, told us that the next morning around 1200 of the Vancouver citizenry turned up to do a big cleanup of the mess left by the mob. Very impressive! I wonder whether the result would have been the same here in W.A.?

The garage sale of Joan’s stash went well, but there is at least as much again for a second sale this Sunday. $1200.00 was donated by buyers and when we finalise the second sale and add the total from her books sold it should be over $2,000. Not a lot....but she would be well pleased by it all.

I am not psychic and don’t believe in it at all, however some coincidences make me think. On Saturday night I had a meal with another couple and the conversation turned to books and I mentioned a local author, Tom Hungerford. One of his books is the first collection of his short stories. The collection is called Wong Chu and the Queen’s Letterbox. I have mentioned Tom Hungerford before, because in the early part of the 20th century as a young lad, he had a couple of holidays on my grandparents’ farm at Toolibin and forged a close relationship with my mother and my uncles. On Sunday Tom died. He had had a wonderful life signing out at the age of 96.

He worked for a turbulent few weeks on the memoirs of WW1 leader, Billy Hughes and resigned, noting that Billy Hughes was as cold as sea ice, vain as a peacock, cruel as a butcher bird, sly as a weasel and mean as cat shit. I don’t think that they got along too well.

Tom Hungerford's biography has been published under the heading of The Literary Larrikin. Google Larrikin if you want a definition.

Rioting for fun

I guess I live a pretty dull life. No riots for me. Vancouver, Canada is a nice place and one would not think that the citizens of that place would riot using the excuse that their hockey team lost to a Yankee team....but they did!

Cars burnt, shops looted, lots of agro with the police and everyone smiling, cheering and filming the action on their phones. They seem to have forgotten that the damage they did is to their own property, not of the dastardly Yankees.

One little problem with the need to be seen on FaceBook and Twitter is that the cops are working their way through the rogues gallery to try and identify the culprits.
A more restrained sample of a FaceBook post by a highly intelligent chap.

A couple of facts

Today I learned a couple of things. Firstly one should not turn on the sink tap when there is a spoon in the sink.

Secondly, a fact that is not well publicised about photovoltaic roof panels. It seems that whilst our unit can produce around 1200 watts in bright winter sun, I should not expect that the Australian bright summer days will produce the same amount. The reason being that every increase in degree (Centigrade or even Fahrenheit....you remember F don’t you?) heat of the solar panels results in a proportionate reduction of power production. So when the sun is bright and the panels are relatively cool the highest yield occurs. So there! I confess that I only heard this fact this morning when talking to a tech. who was finishing off the installation of Helen and James’ system. Of course solar hot water systems work in the reverse....summer is far better for hot water production.

Joan's stash

Lots more yet to be brought out
Joan’s friend Juliet and sister Dorothy made another push to collect together and categorise Joans collection of fabrics and dyes for the upcoming garage sale next Sunday. It was Joan’s wish that they sell the collection and funds raised be donated to a local cancer support group. The sale of her craft/embroidery books brought in over $350 and we believe that the garage sale will most probably double that result.

That amount will not really do much for cancer research, but will help the group give comfort to Western Australians who need information, support and care while they fight their own battle against the disease.

Dorothy and Juliet are contacting quilting, embroidery and craft groups to let them know of the sale.

Joan would be well pleased with what is happening.

This old love

Our son Martin rang yesterday evening to say that his hot water system had ‘kacked itself’. As the landlord I could see some big problems ahead. His hot water system is in a vertical space shared by units on three floors. I drove down with the keys to the HWS cupboard. Fortunately when we opened the cupboard it was obvious that the upper floor unit’s HWS was the problem. Saved some money and problems there. The upstairs tenant was not home so Martin left a note on his front door. He is a bus driver and gets home around 6pm.

I am having the odd teary episode over the loss of my wife Joan. I’m not depressed, but when I am reminded of some event in our 46 years together it gets to me. On Thursday, I went next door to give our neighbour Judy one of Joan’s pieces of fabric art. I didn’t know it was going to end up in a sad situation, but it did. Driving down to Martin’s unit I was playing a CD of the Australian singer Lior. The first song has a beautiful chorus...

we’ll grow old together
we’ll grow old together
and this love will never
and this old love will never die

Listen to it here.

Done and dusted

All the computers are gone. They are at North Lake Senior Campus where they will be distributed by the IT department to needy students. The lounge room looks a bit bare after hosting some 16 machines. Next clean-up will be the dining area once I move all the ‘stuff’ to my workshop.

The police drama I mentioned a couple of days ago never made it on to TV. No report in the newspaper...nary a whisper. Something strange there as the police helicopter and a Channel 7 chopper flew around here for at least 45 minutes and there was a TV crew on the ground where a task-force type group of cops were gathered.

Copper Chopper

As I write there is a police helicopter hovering overhead...has been for about 35 minutes. I wish the crims would go somewhere else; that copper chopper is extremely noisy. I ventured out to see what the fuss was all about and just a short distance from our place there was a large police presence at a house. It is quite a nice house and I doubt that it is one of the drug labs we hear about too often.

I guess there will be something on the news tonight.

I managed to sell the leftover rolls of turf from Helen and James’ place. The bloke who is taking it cannot pick it up, but is willing to give James $20 for delivery and $4 per roll. Better than having to take it to landfill.

Yesterday I contacted a government Senior High School close to here which caters to a lot of newly arrived immigrants from places like Somalia. I figured that many of them could use a computer and to that end the school’s IT man visited and took away 10 machines and will collect the rest this afternoon. He will distribute them to worthwhile students, get their story and take their pic so that I can place them on a photo site enabling the people who kindly donate their machines to see where they have ended up.
Refurbished and ready to go

Lawn Vs Rocks

Yesterday we finished preparing ground and laying the lawn. It looks good, but there are 16 rolls of leftover turf to try and get rid of. Later today I will make up a few handbills to place on shopping centre notice boards. Could be lucky!
The previous owner of Helen & James’ house obviously didn’t like lawns and in several areas which we changed back to lawn he had covered the ground with old carpet and then covered the carpet with about a ton of river stones. They have just gone to a landfill site

Joan’s rose bush has had its first flower. It has a lovely scent.

Of lawn and fabrics

Yesterday James and I finished off the lawn laying project at Helen and James’ house. It is not a huge area of lawn, but it replaces a bed of stones which was very difficult to walk on and not much good for Ruby their dog to roll on. It looks great, but unfortunately James miscalculated and ordered far too much lawn. It is quite expensive and today I will put a notice up at the local shopping centre to see if they can sell the remainder locally at half price.
Alternatively James will build more lawn areas as an alternative to the rock gardens the previous owner established. The lawn is a buffalo type called Sir Walter and even comes with a certificate of authenticity....Wow!

Also yesterday Joan’s sister Dorothy and Joan’s friend Juliet continued with the sorting and grouping of Joan’s huge stash of fabrics. They will need another day of sorting before it is all ready for a big garage sale. Amongst all the fabrics and craft stuff they found a genuine fur. Joan had bought it years ago to make Teddy Bears. Helen liked it, but these days it is not politic to wear genuine fur.

In the afternoon, I received a phone call from an aboriginal lady I gave a computer to about three years ago. She tells me it has lost all her games. I will drive north of the city on Monday to reload games. I will take another iMac with me in case hers has decided that it is time to retire. This is the first time anyone has chased me up for a ‘warranty repair’ on a machine I have given away.

Prohibition

It would seem that the state government of Western Australia will look again at the problem of indigenous communities in the state’s north. Alcohol is the scourge of these communities and quite a few have banned the sale and importing of alcohol. This has resulted in large numbers of outstation people moving to camps outside larger towns so that they have access to grog shops.

This is a little ditty from prohibition times in the U.S.
Yesterday we had a gathering at Margaret’s house with the usual suspects. Lots of needed laughter with one gem from Ralph; an ex-airforce friend.

The Alcoholics Calendar

Rumday
Boozeday
Wenchday
Thirstday
Dryday
Shaterday
Chunday

I've won!

will not be writing the blog any more as I have just won 950,000 British pounds in a lottery I didn’t even buy a ticket in. Just pure luck, I guess. With all that cash I shall hire a ghost writer to carry on with LFR.
Click the image to enlarge

Or maybe I will write until the cash arrives.

I have decided to give Helen our breadmaker, It is a bit long in the tooth and also I can’t seem to follow the instructions to get a nice loaf. I have been buying a nice commercial loaf at $2.00 which lasts me almost a week without growing penicillin mould. Joan would program the breadmaker to deliver fresh, hot bread at 7.30am on bake days. I’m OK on computers, but this breadmaker has me foxed.

Climate change

Went for a counter lunch with a lifetime friend Jack, today. As usual too much food, but lots of good conversation. When he dropped me back home I found that I had a power blackout. It has been raining heavily and I thought that may have caused it, although in the 7 years we have lived here we have had only one previous blackout. I openened the meter box and reset the tripped mainboard switch. A little while after, it tripped again, so I rang the solar installers and they will come tomorrow and investigate.

Last night I watched a wonderful movie 'The Station Agent'. Well worth a look if it is at your local library. 8/10 from me.

We are just getting into winter here and now that I have the solar array on the roof I want some sunshine to reap the rewards for being a Greenie. Here in the west of Australia we have a very mild climate and even winter brings many sunny days.
Unfortunately it is getting very dry and the climate doomsdayers say that it is going to get worse...soon. Last evening there was a discussion on SBS TV with an American scientist versus about 60 climate change skeptics. He held his own and I think there were quite a few skeptics who were swayed by his answers to their questions. I figure that most, if not all the people on the program will be gone before it can be shown that climate change is not just an aberration of the norm.

Halal

Yesterday my job was to be around when our (my) solar panels and inverter was installed. The whole installation by a team of four men took around 2+ hours. Then I followed the team around to Helen and James’ house to do the same. When their house was finally connected a bit of sun poked through the clouds and their standard meter was running backwards. Good sign!
Looking at the panel on the inverter one can see the input change with cloudy or clear sky. The inverter is quite a large beast and it has piggy-backed a large heat sink. I guess there is quite a lot of heat produced converting the incoming to 220/240 volts.

Last night on Four Corners on ABC TV, there was an expose of the cruelty of the live cattle trade. The report was specifically about the trade with Indonesia. The live cattle trade with Egypt was suspended years ago because of the cruelty carried out there. The argument is that they must be live to assure consumers that they are slaughtered according to Muslim rites.
Surely those rites must not condone the horrid treatment given to the cattle. I felt quite sick with what I saw.

It is time that Halal slaughter is done humanely in Australia, supervised by Imams and frozen meat only be exported.

PS. If you can stomach it, here is an edited version of some of the cruelty.

More on waste water

Click up both images to enlarge

In today’s paper there is a follow-up article with a graphic explaining how waste water is refined and placed in the aquifer for further filtration. In the same paper a letter to the editor tells us that it is impossible to filter out hormones and consumers will ingest them as do battery chickens. As it happens Australian battery chickens have not been fed hormones for some 20 years. The hormone for growth story is still around as an urban myth. At the moment just 6% of Perth's waste water is used to recharge our groundwater reserves.

Here is a scan of adverts on the back page of a theatre programme from 1961. Ads have certainly changed since then. Western Australia has also changed. In 1961 there was only one major brewery in W.A. and most of the beer drunk flowed from the Swan Brewery. The advert did not even mention the Swan Brewery but in one of the sketched there is a bottle of Swan Lager on a table. Subtle eh?

Today is John Wayne’s birthday. His epitaph featured a piece that he himself wrote. Nice!

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself into our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

Last Thursday was just four months since my Joan died.

Joan, Amber and Ravens

I have been inviting Joan’s friends to visit and look through her clothes and shoes. I had no idea she had so much even though the walk-in robe was/is a mass of colour not associated with my drab wear.

Masses of clothes and shoes have been taken by friends who are not only very happy with their selection, by feel good about keeping a few things of Joan’s. I am thankful too that I won’t have to take it all to the Good Samaritans. There will still be quite a lot that will go to charity.

A couple of days ago I wrote about our cat Amber being unfriendly and the possibility that she would have to go. This morning, as if Joan has warned her, Amber is being quite nice. She has rather a Pavlovian existence, conditioned to wake me at around 5.45am and yowl until I get up and give her some food. I hope to break this habit by making a self feeder filled with food that is not her favourite eat. That way she won’t necessarily get too fat, but will keep off my case every morning.

This morning I put out on the lawn, a plastic meat tray with scraps for the morning Raven visit. Through the kitchen window I watched as a Raven circled the tray about ten times, obviously suspecting that this black tray was some sort of trap. Eventually the bird gingerly flipped the tray over and ate the contents from the lawn, away from the tray. I recall as a young lad on my grandmother’s farm that I could go out onto the verandah with a broom and point at crows in the field without any reaction, but if I did the same with a ‘pea rifle’, (.22 calibre) the crows would take flight. Smart buggers!

The West Australian newspaper this morning had a typical journos sensationalist beat-up headline.
Click to enlarge to read the article
We will not soon be drinking sewerage, but eventually getting water from what is called the Gnangara Aquifer to which has been added almost pure water from treatment plants which will be further filtered in the aquifer.

Cats and Lobsters

I have just stumbled across Oprah Winfrey’s first of her final three shows. I had to turn it off after a few minutes. The audience looked like about 5 or 6 thousand in a foot ball-like stadium. The fans could be easily convinced had she announced that she was in fact a reincarnation of Mary Magdalene; many of them would have gone for it.

Maybe not.....they might be hoping that she would give everyone there a BMW. Crass stuff!

Our cat has developed some strange behaviour patterns. I had reason to yell, and scream at her recently when she urinated on a heap of computer cables in the house. Now she is quite happy to be friends in my bedroom but in the room that I gave her a bit of grief in she sees me in a different light and runs scared when she sees me. We have not been good friends since she came into our household and I am thinking that she may have to leave.......maybe to a friend who has a lobster boat.

That should get a few comments.

Joan's Rose

Today, in accordance with Joan's wishes, we planted a rose bush intermingled with her ashes. I was happy to have the pot placed at Helen and James' house as they are more likely to last longer than me and I do have a track record of neglect of rose bushes. Helen also told me that my ashes could join with Joan's when I go. When we had finished the planting Helen gave Joan, and the rose, a glass of champagne. A few tears were shed.

Jesus and Mary in Kingaroy

Today is the start of the end of the world. Apparently it will end at 6pm U.S. time....not sure if that is East Coast or West Coast time. If it is East Coast time we in Western Australia have until 6am tomorrow to finish off all the grog in the fridge.

I don’t think it will happen, as recent reports tell of a couple who live in Queensland declaring themselves to be Jesus and Mary....it seems reasonable! They have purchased a large property and as many 40 disciples have purchased adjoining properties to be near Jesus and Mary. A few couples were interviewed on TV and they seemed to be of above average intelligence. I see a compound in the future and possibly a Jim Jones termination of the faithful. As he (Jesus) says, many people have claimed to be Jesus, but I am the one.
For the short list see here.

How come Jesus selected Kingaroy of peanut fame to settle down. What's wrong with W.A.?

Check out JC and M here.

Dinner Fail

Wednesday evening I decided to go unhealthy and cook fish and chips. Just about everything I cook now is unhealthy. At the local supermarket the seafood trays had ‘fresh’ scaled and gutted fish which looked OK to me, so I bought a couple to fillet at home. I also bought a packet of frozen chips. This was going to be good!

I preheated the oven and opened the chips only to find they were sweet potato chips. After almost ten years in PNG eating sweet potato or yams because of the lack of real spuds I had to force myself to even try a few chips......Nah! The fish was also lousy.
I broke another of Kev’s rules which says don’t buy fish when the head has been removed. Sunken eyes are the giveaway for non-fresh fish. Consigned to the compost bin.
I started to read a book Joan gave me a few months before she died. I was a bit busy then and only yesterday took some time out to finish it. The story is narrated by Death himself. The Book Thief is a great read. I recommend it.

More from the drawers

When we returned from our six year stint in Papua New Guinea at the end of 1975 our son Martin was hospitalised in Fremantle Hospital’s infectious disease ward with typhoid.
It was quite a shock as the last case of typhoid in Western Australia was in in the 1950s or 60s (?).

When we left Popondetta in PNG for our final flight back home we stayed over for a couple of days in Port Moresby with friends before flying south to Sydney. We had a few days in Sydney and because of a baggage handlers’ strike had to fly to Perth on an Air India 707. That plane and the general cleanliness in the cabin was a bit of a shock and later I thought that it was the source of Martin’s sickness.

During our previous leave from PNG we had purchased a wonderful old colonial house in Bicton and of course, when we moved back in all our friends and relatives came to welcome us home and take a look at the house.....around 60 people in all.

Less than a week after our return Martin got sick and listless. We went with him to a GP who was unsure what the problem was and suggested we watch him carefully. A couple of days later we returned to the GP and he immediately had Martin admitted to Fremantle Hospital and the next day or so test results showed he had Typhoid.

Every person we had had contact with over the previous three weeks had to be contacted and tested by Public Health. That included the friends in Port Moresby. The PNG Health Department had an investigation as it was thought that the Popondetta fell within the three week contact/infection period. No one tested positive.
We, however, had to remain isolated from the general public.

Then the media circus got into gear. Daily phone calls and visits to get some tidbits to pad out the story. In all there were 12 newspaper articles in the one newspaper.
Click to enlarge the image

After 5 weeks in the infectious disease ward, Martin was discharged and returned home for good. Whew!

50 years ago

Today, May 16th, is exactly 50 years ago that a group of 60 trainees, selected from all states of Australia, landed in Rabaul in what was then the Territory of Papua & New Guinea.

We were the second batch of teacher trainees rushed through to bring fast tracked education to remote and isolated schools throughout the ‘Territory’. The big push was in answer to the United Nations criticism of Australia’s progress in bringing PNG to Independence.

Of the 60 trainees on my course, I was the second youngest at 21 years of age. Many friendships were formed and I still keep in touch with four of that group. A good friend during training and since, is Jim Meehan who is still teaching at Batchelor College south of Darwin. Batchelor College is not as one would think, a college for batchelors. The town of Batchelor was named after a politician.

Only one successful reunion has been made. Many of the 300 plus teachers were in their 40s and 50s at the time of training and have since died. The reunion in 2010 in Queensland’s Gold Coast rallied only about 20 attendees which included two of the original lecturers. They looked in better condition than most of the teachers there.

Growing old gracefully is a myth.

Modesty

Every day that I find more of Joan’s personal stuff I am amazed at how modest she was.

One envelope had programs for 16 plays which she acted in from high school to university and beyond. Our walls do not have Joan’s degrees framed and on display. Other documents show that she was editor of her primary school newsletter and the front of house for university productions. She was a Prefect at Geraldton Senior High School; etc etc.
Joan, probably at Bridgetown Repertory Society performance circa 1964

A couple of our friends would wax lyrical about Dylan Thomas and his classic ‘Under Milk Wood’. Joan never mentioned that she acted in Under Milk Wood in the 1962 Festival of Perth. I would have milked it to the max had I been in her shoes.

Here is a photo of Joan when I first met her at Bridgetown High School where we both taught. I cannot believe that she selected me to be her lifetime mate; and now I am alone.

Growing up

I have been searching through drawers for some software for one of Joan's sewing machines and found some quite wonderful stuff. There are a couple of notes our kids wrote to us when they were quite young.

The first one was after we made a trip to Bali, Indonesia, with our children. One night we were walking along a footpath and Martin fell into a smelly drain which was open with the metal grate set aside. He was stuck with his arms supporting him until I managed to lift him out. As we struggled to extricate him a street vendor was trying to sell me some silver jewellery. I told him to POQ. Martin didn't much like it when back home we told the story to all our visitors....and so the note.
Helen's note is a much earlier one and I think we told her that we might get a new daughter if she didn't do her chores. Martin once told us that he was going to run away and live at the tip in a cardboard box with the seagulls.
Joan has lots of interesting bits in places around the house and I am reluctant to dispose of them.

Ruby the Destroyer

Over the weekend I dined at Helen and James’ house. Helen made a great Fish Pie.

Here is the recipe....

On Saturday I helped James and Helen collect their ‘island bench’ from a furniture place. Very heavy. I fell backwards helping unload it from James's ute and cracked my head on the concrete driveway. No damage, but a note to myself..I am no longer a young bloke. Ruby the destroyer made a thorough inspection, probably with the thought of eating it. She is still a puppy, and eats anything and everything including stones in the garden. She is particularly fond of cat poo.

This cartoon could well be about Ruby.

Mothers day passed with a few tears.

A scaredy cat

Our cat, Amber, usually spends some time outside in the yard, but something...probably the aggressive black male cat which cruises through our yard, has spooked her and she won’t venture outside. So now she is a full time house cat. That could be a good point if I try and give her away. She was given to Joan as a lap sitting companion during her sickness, but that never happened. Amber remained either timid or aloof.

She does, however, watch me wherever I go around the house. Yesterday I was about to take a shower and went out to the kitchen to bring a phone into the bathroom should someone call. I was naked and Amber showed no emotion to this most unattractive sight; she continued to look at my face only. Strange? I scared myself when I looked in a full length mirror upon returning to the bathroom. Cats don’t seem to give TV a second look either.

I noticed that the price of dried coffee beans (parchment) in Papua New Guinea is for Robusta K4 per kilo and Arabica is K7 per kilo.

Those prices are not at roadside in villages and are factory door prices. Also the exchange rate for Australian$ to PNG Kina is $A1 = K2.6. Hard work for not much reward.

Theft by Lewy Body

Our friend Joyce rang and told me of her visit to see John, her husband, in care. He was as usual unaware of her visit and after some 20 minutes she went to leave when he called her back.

She wrote this of her sad visit.

Painful Memories..

Is there an end to the sadness of heartache

When all around are reminders of happier days.

The love of music that takes you to a special place

Alone, and wishing it wasn’t always this way.

He sits in his chair, unable to walk and barely talk.

A beautiful man who gave his all to life and family

Most times now too difficult to break into his world

As his tired body drifts into untroubled dreams.

We watch and wait for signs of recognition

Willing his face to light up for just a second

Validating that his life with us can still be remembered,

Those eyes that once spoke volumes, now lifeless.

Just as it seems he is trapped in a dark passage

He sometimes comes back to life, as we know it.

Uttering aloud words that are very clear, to remind us

He still has thoughts and feelings of bygone days.

Today was a sad day, with words now etched upon my soul.

“Why wont you stay – this has to change,”

“All I want to do is teach and talk my head off,

But no one can understand me”

“Where are my family?” he said.

And who could possibly have believed

These memories were still within his mind.

I cannot think of a worse imprisonment.

Joy Rowe

30^th April, 2011

Over the years John has been in care, I have visited him and often not really had a glimmer of recognition of my presence. John was an academic at a local university and a good friend. Lewy Body Disease stole his character and personality.

Today, I and a friend, went to visit Bronwyn Owen who taught us in the 1940s. She recently celebrated her 102nd birthday and whilst she was chatty, we doubt she really knew who we were. When we visited her on her 100th birthday she recalled both our families and remembered all the names.

The Wedding etc

Well, I watched ‘The Wedding’ yesterday. I shouldn’t be embarrassed about confessing to that....millions of others watched it too.

I watched until the actual wedding ceremony then l tried to find another channel not showing TW. Not too many!

I am desperately trying to think of things that make me better than the Royals.

Hmn....I, at 71, still have more hair than all the male Royals except that carrot-topped one.

Our wedding didn’t cost as much.

I didn’t have to have to fawn to the plebs as they will have to.

Not too many people would hear about me making an ass* of myself.
There are others...I just can’t think of them at the moment.

Will the newly weds have in-law problems?
Is QE2 going to call? The conversation could go like this...’We haven’t seen or heard from you for weeks...what’s going on?’ Oh Jeez Nan, we’ve been down at Blackpool for a piss-up’.

One thing is for certain; the next few months is not the time for the proletariat to try and depose the Royals. This show will give Britain a revitalised place in the world order.

* That is the horse-like animal

There are nice people out there!

I have had a good day...quite a few people have been nice, and helpful to me.

The local branch of the ANZ bank helped me avoid filling out a long and complicated claim form to get a $260. credit Joan had in an account that had been closed. A simple phone call to Head Office and a cheque is winging its way to me. Similarly, ComBank at Spearwood where I now have a lady who helps me out with things difficult, cancelled a $20 late payment fee on my credit card. When things are all again running well, I will buy her a nice bottle of Champaigne.

The third win for the day was at an auto parts shop where a young lady gave me trade discount on a set of spark plug leads for daughter Helen’s car saving me about $25.00.

I had to get a statutory declaration witnessed at a Police Station this morning. It was to do with transferring Joan’s Superannuation fund into my name. The form looks crazy, but is a legal necessity. Here is part of the Stat. Dec.
Click on it to enlarge to readable size

Nero Wolfe

Earlier this evening here (It was two hours later in NSW), I rang a long time friend from PNG days, Graham, in Sydney.

We talked about Joan and her last very difficult days and how I was missing her. Graham said that after being so long together (46 years), I must forget that she has gone and talk to her about all sorts of things.

How true. In times when I am distracted by, say a TV Quiz show, I yell out for her great general knowledge to answer a question before the contestant can. Joan was never really into TV except for a few programs and I could rely on her to answer any general subject question. All that reading....we should promote reading more!

Her library of craft and sewing/embroidery books has already been donated to a group who will sell them off to raise funds for cancer research. Her other books numbering hundreds: I don’t know what do with. I am too old to start reading SF. Can’t have empty bookshelves all around the house though.

I may start to read Nero Wolfe again. Author Rex Stout's character was a large man who tended orchids as he solved nasty crimes. One time when we were in NY, I went to look at Nero’s fictional house near the harbour. In searching through the bookshelves I found two paperback magazines from the ‘Bestsellers’ series from, I guess, the 1970s.
I will find time in the next few days to read them and hope that it rekindles my interest in reading. In Papua New Guinea in the sixties and seventies we read because there was no TV and radio reception was poor. Today, here, other forms of entertainment are too easy.

Home Security

Easter Sunday lunch was a good family gathering; Helen, James, Mike and Dorothy (Joan’s sister and husband) my brother Graham and me. Our son Martin declined as he wasn’t feeling well.
Here is a pic of Graham and me. When we go out somewhere on the weekend there is always the comment from someone Graham knows, like....... ‘Oh is this your father?’ Hell, I’m only 9 years older than him!

Today caused me a bit of a headache and ear ache. I was up on a ladder doing some plastering work on a wall when I heard a beeping sound which I traced to the keyboard of the security system for the house. The interface told me the problem was an ‘Open Circuit’. What to do???
Before long the external siren started sounding..very loudly! We haven’t used the system for about six years and any codes to stop the noise were probably in Joan’s purse, lost about two months ago. Meantime Dave next door had been knocking on the door, thinking that I might have fallen, drove to Helen and James’ house and they arrived as I was again on the ladder, ears stuffed with cotton wool opening the alarm box to disconnect the siren.

Good to have good neighbors!

The beeping continued even though I had disconnected the siren from the backup battery. I couldn’t find the key to the control box inside the house and had to force the lock to disconnect the storage battery powering the whole thing. It seems that Dave has had a similar problem and a flat backup battery in the main control box is the fault. All is silent once again and I will do without home security.

What is next?

Lamb flaps

Today we are having the Easter Sunday family lunch. I expect there will be food left over. I remember my parents reminding us of the kids in Europe just post WW2.

‘Eat your dinner...think of the children in Europe,’ That came out when we were expected to love the taste of tripe with white sauce.

Papua New Guineans are having a bit of a crisis because of the change from village gardens to a cash economy and eating tasty, but unhealthy food. In town centres such as Port Moresby, Kai Bars (roadside food bars) sell a very popular snack which is more than 90% fat...lamb flaps (read hogget) from New Zealand. Several politicians are spearheading a drive to have such imports banned as they can see the results of such a diet.
According to a summary report from a National Capital District workforce study, 40% of the workforce was overweight, 30% obese, 15% had high sugar levels and 20% was not involved in any physical activity. Wonder what problems the other 5% had?

Yesterday I spotted a nearby garage sale and bought a nice bicycle for $20. Helen and James bought a dog kennel for $20 also. Their dog is actually using it and I am using the bike.
The bike looks like it was purchased as an exercise tool and having been ridden once was shoved in a shed.

Ceviche

Yesterday, Good Friday, I along with Joy and Margaret, two friends who are also without partners went to the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour for lunch. Being a nice day, several thousand others decided to do the same. We eventually found a table and had fish and chips and seafood baskets. Not bad!

This seafood thing is a Catholic tradition borrowed from the Pagans. It is an abstinence thing. It used to be every Friday. I feel sorry for the poor souls who ate meat on a Friday and are burning in Hell....and then, later the rules were changed. No retrospectivity there! Going back to the 50s and 60s everyone seemed to have fish and chips on a Friday without considering the religious aspect.

When I was a young fella, Catholic girls at Friday night parties would set aside the meat pies and sausage rolls etc until the big hand and little hand met at 12. I can't recall the guys worrying about it, but I guess I looked at the gals more than the guys.

Our family is having a lunchtime gathering on Easter Sunday at Helen and James’ new home. Brother Graham is making Ceviche, his specialty. Yum!

Mole Scan

On Monday I had a MoleScan session at a local clinic. At first I was a bit skeptical about it, but was impressed when the computerised images were shown on the screen.

‘Dermoscopy is the use of a special skin microscope. It allows the doctor to see beneath the skin’s surface. The ability to see elements deeper within the skin provides the doctor with more information to make a decision regarding a suspicious skin lesion or mole’.

One small lesion, or rather scaly area, was, after observation, biopsied. Recently a GP had said there was nothing to worry about. We’ll see once the results come back.

The patient before me had had several moles/cancers frozen. It was obvious that dozens of others has been done before.
Another patient waiting was decked out in PE teachers’ gear and they are prime candidates for melanomas.

Boot and Trunk

A few days ago a friend of Joans rang to say that Joan had wished to give her craft and quilting books for a book sale of which the profits would go to cancer research. I didn’t know about Joan’s conversation with Teena, but was sure that she would have wanted Teena to collect them. Teena came around yesterday and we loaded up the boot (trunk) of her car with about 150 books. Later in the day our daughter Helen told me of another bookshelf in a spare room which had an estimated 300 more books. Today I loaded up my car and delivered them to Teena.
Loading the books into my boot/trunk or whatever.
The books on Teena’s loungeroom floor.

Writing this, I thought about the differences between English U.S. and English Au.

I can see why Americans call the ‘boot’ of their car the ‘trunk’, but I can’t see any way to justify calling it a Boot. The Early 20th century cars often had a metal or leather trunk attached to a carrier at the rear of the car.
Here is a low resolution pic of a trunk. In front of the trunk is what we would call the Dickie Seat, but in the U.S. is called a Rumble Seat.

On the other hand Americans call Mudguards, Fenders. Surely a fender should be a bumper bar? Mudguard seems more appropriate, especially in the early days of automobiles before Macadamised roads.

Singer Featherweight

This morning I searched in cupboards and found a couple of Joan’s vintage sewing machines. They are both quite wonderful. The Elna needs a bit of a service (by me), but the Singer is in top condition. The Singer is a Featherweight 222k model and can sell for up to $4,000. Not sure what the Elna is worth yet. The Elna is a Model #1 and is nicknamed the Grasshopper.

I photographed them on a blanket which I noticed had a lot of Joan's hair from chemo days.
The Grasshopper case folds out to be a sewing table...not bad for the 1940s.

I delivered a Mac Laptop to a young (16 year old) lass this afternoon. She is a mum and with her man living in the family residence. She is lucky to have a sympathetic mother and I have a feeling that things will work out for them. She is still at high school and the computer is just what she wanted....bluetooth for their phones and WiFi for MacDonalds.....and of course a machine to do assignments on. I also gave her a thumb drive so that she can take her work to school and print it out without the cost of buying a printer and the subsequent inks at outrageous costs.

A worthy cause

Each time I place a computer at a needy person’s home I wonder what I will find when I get there. This morning I delivered a Mac to a family in Cloverdale. They were most grateful and I was pleased that it was a worthy cause.

Their situation is not at all good. The husband has only one leg and his wife is mentally challenged. They have two children and one of them is 5 years old and severely affected by autism and other mental problems. They live in a rental property owned by the State Housing Authority...’Homes West’. I was told of their need for a computer by a welfare lady who is the wife of a colleague. Fortunately the husband is going to be present for most of the time the kids will be on the computer to make sure they do not create any headaches I have to repair. I will search out some simple educational games for them. They will not be connecting to the WWW.

I try to be altruistic in my Mac giveaway project and not worry about whether the mac will be sold on etc. No problems with today’s gift. The wife had prepared a thankyou card for me and the welfare lady..nice!

An in-service course

Tonight I watched a program on ABC (au) about a family which eventually had to commit their wife and mother into full time care. It was about Alzheimer's Disease, but essentially about a family breakup.

I am still hurting badly about the death of my wife, but I am grateful that she did not suffer the indignity of dementia.

I would like to see some statistics about dementia sufferers.....are more intelligent people less prone to dementia?

Joan was fully aware of her situation and was at no time delusional...perhaps hopeful beyond reason, but not seeking out help from a mythical God.

I miss her terribly.

Today I ran a short in-service course for teachers at a special needs school for staff who are unfamiliar with Mac computers. It went very well and all of the participants had fun with the operating system and the nice things that come with Mac. I had many thankyous for the short session. I didn’t get paid for this PD. The school is having problems with the W.A Education Dept. internet server as they are decidedly Mac unfriendly. It will get better as Mac is having a rebirth in W.A. schools.

An IT boss at the senior high school I taught at for many years, wouldn’t let a Mac computer on the school network and has just purchased a Mac laptop. Say no more!

Radical man!

The weekend was ‘full on’. We made a number of trips shifting Helen and James’ stuff into their new home. There is still a lot more to come, but they can do a bit each evening coming home from work. The new house is starting to look lived in already.

I am going to sell Joan’s sewing machines. She has some class machines...embroidery, designer, overlocker and several valuable vintage sewing machines. I took advice from a sewing machine specialist Joan told me to consult and it seems that like cars and computers the value of each item has dropped dramatically. Joan did tell me that she had bought a Husqvarna Designer SE machine, but wouldn’t tell me how much it did cost. I do know that she had it insured for $9,000.00. The SM specialist tells me that there is now a new model and I could, at best, hope to get $3,000. C'est la vie!

A good friend from Papua New Guinea days emailed last night to tell me he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This morning he Skyped me and we had a long talk about PC and specifically what his urologist said and what my treatment was when I had prostate cancer. I had what was called ‘the gold standard’...radical prostatectomy and fortunately, the cancer was removed with the prostate. Albert was told that he could do nothing...’watching and waiting’ and he would almost certainly get another 10 years. Alternatively he could have the radical prostatectomy; be free of the cancer, but may have impotence and incontinence. He sounds like he is going for the radical prostatectomy. Faced with that situation again I would do the same. Get rid of the beast!

Reincarnation

Our neighbor Fiona called me to the fence to chat. She told me that she was feeling a little uneasy because she thinks Joan may be trying to contact her. It seems that there is a dove which perches on our letter box which is where most of the conversations between Joan and Fiona took place. She can park her car right alongside the letter box and almost touch the dove before it flies off. Joan had told me that if there was ‘something or somewhere’ after death that she would prefer reincarnation. It would be my luck to come back as a cockroach or a blowfly.

Yesterday I went to W.A. Newspapers to collect 5 late model Macs. The newspaper prefers to give their cast-offs to me rather than to staff or people who would later seek help if something goes wrong with them. I am obliged to write to my contact at W.A. News, thanking him for the gift and noting that they will not be sold, but refurbished and given to needy folks.

This afternoon is the big day when Helen and James take possession of their new house. We did the final inspection on Wednesday evening and I was further impressed with some features that we didn’t notice when they first made the offer to buy. Looks like a heavy weekend of cars and trailers shifting furniture etc from one place to the other. I need some exercise.

Libya in suburbia

The local paper once again praises Western Australia for being the best or worst at something. This time we are the nation’s worst at merging on entering a freeway. Don’t know how they decided that, but I found this gem which may well apply to us here....’I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!’

This afternoon I thought I was in Libya. All that was needed to make it real was a bit of gunfire. Quite close to our house was a pretty fierce bush fire which destroyed a house and damaged four others. TV channel helicopters hovered for a couple of hours filming the action as water bombing helicopters swooped low over our house en route to the fire. I don’t know where they sucked up the water, but it was black and dirty looking. The nearby Bibra Lake is as dry as an airstrip so they must have gone to other nearby almost dry lakes.

The police arson squad thinks this one was deliberately lit. The fire started just after school was dismissed for the day. Kids get bored. School holidays present lots of problems for shop owners. Say no more!

Of sheets, fruit, Tapas and a nice Gal.

I changed our/my bed sheets this afternoon. Fitted sheets are always a problem for me. I nearly always get the base sheet the wrong way around and today I came up with a Kev solution. Put a large ‘B’ on the bottom of the fitted sheet with a permanent marker...it won’t be seen unless someone spots it on the washing line. Not sure Joan would approve of that though.

The last few days have seen quite a few flowers on my passion fruit vines. The bees don’t seem interested in them so I’ve been hand pollinating the flowers with a feather. There is a one-day window of opportunity to pollinate PF flowers and I am having success and about a dozen flowers are developing fruit. The vines are just starting to flower, so I should have dozens of fruit in a few weeks. Click the pics to enlarge them.
As the pollinated flower wilts, the new fruit is shown.

Over the weekend I received a floral tribute from a wonderful young lady named Katrina who over a few years has donated Mac computers for my giveaway project. She is the Office Coordinator for an organisation for native land titles. I was greatly moved by her kind thoughts. The media highlights the low-lifes of the world and there are plenty of them, but I think we good people far outnumber them. Katrina is one of us!

A pic of some of the tapas from Saturday’s lunch.

A double birthday celebration

On Friday I had a few friends around for lunch. The are the ‘usual suspects’, good friends who have known each other for a long, long time. The numbers are dwindling....some have died or unable to attend. John is in care and is now past outside trips. Lots of stories and laughs; a good afternoon!

Maybe I should stop taking photographs at these events.

Here is the latest....we don’t look too bad, eh?

On Saturday, we, Helen and James, Martin and I met up at the Gypsy Tapa restaurant for a lunch to celebrate Martin’s 40th and Joan’s 69th birthday. Joan had planned on dining at the Gypsy Tapa before she was bed ridden. She would have liked the variety of tapas, but I would still have whinged about the cost. A lot of people dining there would have topped up with a burger on the way home. I paid for the four of us and with a couple of beers it cost $150. I guess the experience of it all and the definitely hippy waiters could have been interesting to some. I have never seen more metal studs in all parts of the face, nor a collection of op-shop clothing such as this. Sorry, I lie; JB Hi Fi seems to appoint only staff who are so adorned with heavy metal and crazy haircuts.

Helen and James dropped me off home around 2pm and I decided to drive down the freeway about 20 kilometres to visit an ex-student who has built a house on a newish estate down there at Baldivis. Jayd works at the Public Trustee in Perth and has flexible working hours, so can go early to the train station nearby and be in Perth in 30 minutes. Her house is nice and the surrounding area looks very civilised. I don’t know whether at times she feels a bit isolated down there...I didn’t think I should have asked her. Lovely gal!

I'm doing OK!

Yesterday I signed up to get a roof-top 1.5kW solar power system. Australian government subsidy on this system is considerable and it will end up costing all up just over $2,000. The government is soon to reduce the subsidy, so now is the time to sign up. It is hoped that it will halve my power bill and on times that I may go away, sell back power to the grid.

Joan wanted us to get a solar system even when she knew she had little time left.

Several friends have told me that Joan expressed concern about how I will manage when she went. Joan, I’m doing OK!

Today I am having a few friends around for lunch and doing a culinary re-run of Joan’s wake.....finger food such as dips, pizza, party pies, cocktail frankfurts, fruit and drinks. I was going to BBQ, but today threatens a hot one and I figured it would be better inside in airconditioning.

Joan and Helen when we were all younger.