Res Publica

Laundry Blues

Yesterday morning the iron malfunctioned or rather the lead did. Sparks were coming out of it down at the plug end (probably not a good sign) where the wires were protruding from the fabric sheath.  I guess it wasn't earthing otherwise our system would have tripped out.  Fortunately a suitable replacement has been obtained which will allow The Handbrake to happily continue her wifely duties without interruption.

The washing machine is also on the blink.  After 9 years of faithful service (except for a couple of replacement pumps) the gearbox has decided to dispense with any form of lubrication and dumped a load of oil on the concrete floor of the laundry.  Mr Repairman says it's not worth fixing but could continue to run 'dry' for some time before finally expiring.  Either that or the weird noises its making will force us to buy a new one in due course.  Sadly it doesn't look as if it'll be making the big trip to Brisbane with us in the new year.

Shopping Spree

Today we finally bought a wooden toilet seat.  A snip at $67 up at Bunnings.  I can't tell you how long I've wanted a wooden toilet seat.

And in a disgusting display of rampant consumerism I ordered £60 of CDs from Amazon. Stage 1 of replacing my old cassettes which are no longer playable - because we don't have a cassette player any more. The Yes Album, amongst others, I can't wait.

Ups and Downs

I'm one of those people who keeps stuff, records mostly, old phone accounts, bank statements, often well past their 'useful by date'.  In recent years, assisted by The Handbrake's non-hoarding tendencies I've actually thrown stuff away.  Except on the computer, where the statistical clutter doesn't look so obvious and I can get away with it. 

I even keep records of the plane flights I've been on, although the list is incomplete in the late 1980s and early 90s when I was probably more than a bit preoccupied trying to put up live with my ex.  I've just updated the spreadsheet with my latest return trip to work.  1007 flights, no wonder I'm getting sick of it. I've come a very long way since I was a young lad cowering on the floor of a Cessna on my first joy-flight at an RAF air base in the early 1960s.  I'm not frightened any more, just bored.

On the plus side I've got an indecently large pile of frequent flier points.

Round the Corner

Hurrying through Brisbane airport the other night I heard someone calling my name.  I looked around quickly but recognised nobody and hurried on, assuming it wasn't aimed at me.  Then I heard it again and looked around a bit more closely.  A former colleague hove into view, much heavier than when I saw him last but he's had major financial issues and life hasn't been easy for him these last few years.  He has easily added some 30 kilos, if not more, and looked positively unhealthy.

Then, a couple of nights ago, while I was finishing off my nightly phone call to The Handbrake, I turned a corner in Townsville and saw a familiar looking young woman unloading a 4WD outside the motel I'd already checked into.  She was stacking no end of baby-stuff, pushchairs and other infant paraphernalia, onto the motel's luggage trolley and simultaneously trying to stop it from rolling off the pavement into the side of the car.  It was quite funny to watch but all the more so since I actually knew the lady concerned.  I rang off and offered my assistance. It had been 18 months or more since we'd last had a chance to catch up and we ended up getting through the best part of a bottle of wine before I headed for my room at 11.30 which was just as well because I had to get up next morning at 4.30 to catch another sodding plane.

On a sadder note, one of the chaps at a nearby work-place went to the doctor's with a bad stomach ache a few weeks ago.  He was buried last week.  Yes, the big C, the discovery was far too late to do anything about it.  In his mid 50s.

You never quite know what's round the corner, do you ?

Banksia Ericifolia

Last year it had one flowering head (about 6" long), this year several - Banksia ericifolia - or Heath Leaved Banksia to give it its more popular name.  Not long after it came into bloom last year the guys who come and trim our poinciana managed to drop a sufficiently large branch onto the Banksia to nearly destroy it but it has bounced back surprisingly well.  It has taken a few years to get this far and didn't seem to do much for the first couple of years (I scanned the ID card in October 2004).  Sadly, if our plan to move to Brisbane in the New Year eventuates (and I can't see what will prevent it) this will be the last time we see this in flower.

In other exciting news, I learnt today of the existence of 'pales' while I was helping The Handbrake with the washing.  'Pales' are neither 'whites' nor 'colours', and there's also 'fluffies', to further complicate the issue.  Suitably enlightened, I'm still left wondering why the female population continues to delude itself into thinking that strappy things get a decent wash when they're nicely protected in one of those bags to stop the straps getting tangled. 

Peripheral Vision

Yes, I'm still here.  The last few weeks have been particularly difficult for blogging.  My work lap-top has started to misbehave and gone off to the computer hospital for repairs and we spent one of my breaks down in Brisbane, all of which has made summoning up some sort of post a bit too tricky.  On the plus side, while we were in Brissie we splashed out on a new printer, a Canon MP970.  Little A's old Lexmark expired some time ago so we passed on to her our previous Canon, a small one which has gone very well for a couple of years and graduated up to this beast, a combined scanner, copier and printer.  It wasn't cheap, of course, $418 to be precise but if, like me, you can remember paying $500 for a scungey dot-matrix printer this rates as a total bargain. The only snag so far, the scanner doesn't seem to have quite so many bells and whistles as my old one - which also died recently.  This new one can scan negatives and slides so I shall be reviving a few old memories next time I'm home.

Dire Straights

Young A has one of those hair straightening devices which she got last Christmas.  It has proved most popular and has become something of a morning ritual.  This morning she also straightened her left ear with it and gave herself quite a nasty burn which looks quite uncomfortable.  Well after the event I suggested that next time she should run cold water over it for 30 seconds, an unwelcome suggestion it would seem or perhaps she's just not a morning kind of person.

Too Buisy to be Polite or Spell Correctly

We headed off to the Woodgate Fair yesterday along with hundreds of other people from the Bundy area.  Woodgate's a few ks south and on the coast and we were quite surprised how big a turn-out there was.  We'd seen many of the stalls the day before at the weekly Shalom College markets in town but it did get us out of the house for a while.  We bought some very nice local kalamata olives (Burnett Valley Olives over Murgon way) and sampled some very  good pecan pie.

A lust for fried food overtook us at one stage so we headed for the fish and chip van so we could share a cup of chips ($4 for about 1 large potato - there's money to be made there).  The van was run by Mr Antisocial, one of the most depressingly miserable and rude people I've come across in a while.  A sign on the side of the van announced the buisness was for sale, complete with 'Fully equipted food van'.  Perhaps it's the same attitude, can't be bothered to be polite, can't be bothered to spell properly.

T & G = There and Gone

This is what Stanley Street in Townsville looks like at 4.45 am - rather quiet.  I only noticed while I was waiting for my taxi to the airport that the old T & G building and clock tower, which was something of a local landmark, has gone.  Looks like the developers got the green light too but not without some local resistance I suspect.  It used to be in that dark area on the opposite corner.  The building hadn't been used much of late and its end was inevitable.  Bang goes another local icon. 

Crap Thursday

Sometimes you get a Crap Thursday before a Good Friday.  Work had gone well, the last day of the shift being typically busy with meetings and hand-overs to the oncoming crew and it was with the usual sense of relief that I headed into town for the flight back to Townsville.  That's when everything started to go a bit pear-shaped.

One of our Cairns bound planes had just started its run-up when the right wheel locked up sending the plane off the runway at right angles. Mercifully this happened while he was travelling slowly. I dread to think what might have befallen the plane and passengers if this had happened just prior to take-off.  So there it sat, marooned on the edge of the runway, going nowhere fast. Meanwhile, our Townsville plane, which was an hour late started flying in circles overhead waiting to see if we could get this thing clear of the bitumen strip.  We eventually did, courtesy of a lot of pushing and rocking and a 4WD with a snatch-strap.

I eventually got to Townsville, but so late that I had to cancel a much-anticipated pizza and wine dinner with some good friends.

So I went to the Scottish Restaurant in Flinders Mall just before they closed for the night.  I asked for a McFeast (now they've finally deigned to serve it again after x years where x is a very large number) but they declined to cook one for me.  So much for fast-food, I wasn't going to order a three course meal for crying out loud. So I went to the Cowboys Club.

The Cowboys Club insisted my membership had expired.  I'm damned certain it was a lot less than 5 years ago when I opted for the 5 years membership renewal option.

The hotel I had made a booking for through Wotif had no record of my booking.

I ended up having yoghurt and fruit juice for dinner.

Friday has been considerably better, good in fact.  Apart from the having to get up at 4.15 bit.