This sunburnt country, a country of extremes,

A country of fresh air and big mountain streams,

A country where the animals are unique and some might just kill you,

There are Crocodiles in the rivers and sharks in the ocean

That’s enough to set the adrenalin in motion,

There are snakes and spiders and lizards too,

Really big Kangaroos that look so cute, but could break your legs in two.

So yes, it can be dangerous but you have to understand

That the most dangerous creature here is the walking talking man

A country that looks like it’s on the up

But not is all as it seems

Frustrated for years by the amount of indecision,

The country has no direction, the country is in stagnation

Problems exist but there is no inclination to fix.

The government is not equipped the government is retarded,

Christ, they don’t even know if they are foreigner or a local, or should that be a yokel

The country is run by parasites that have the junkets and the limos

But to pay for all this, to make them so bold, they rape the land and rip out your innards.

Sell it to Adani or the Chinese to fill the coffers,  

Kick the farmers off the land to dig mighty holes,

And contaminate the aquifer for a few dollars more,

Destroy the Barrier Reef for a few litres of gas

And then sell it to others while they shaft the locals in the arse,

They have created a society where the debt is out of control,

Along with obesity, domestic violence and public opinion polls

So, sell your soul to the devil and buy that 4-wheel drive,

Cause you need to drive it to the school and the shopping centre just to survive,

This country had so much promise, its position unique,

To learn from the mistakes of others and not get caught in the bleak,

But instead blinded by arrogance or stupidity or both,

The country has been run into the ground by those that love it the most.

The GFC was viral and brutal but Australia survived quite well,

They had won the lottery because of all the minerals that it could sell,

Instead of saving for a rainy day or building for the people,

It was pissed up against the wall and left the country in the foetal,

Personal debt is staggering and one bump could cause a fall,

The dominoes are lined up and ready for one and all,

Waiting to topple after the first little quake

And if it does then what will it do, no worries….and so what will it take

A baby bonus buys a new TV and $1000 to all,

I would have preferred a high-speed rail or maybe better roads to haul,

Maybe investment in solar or better houses to stay cool,

But quick satisfaction and gratification of the masses,

Knee jerk policies by a bunch of school yard politicians,

A kindergarten government with its heads in the sand,

Squabbling over he said she said what a sorry looking band.

The government is useless and has been for many years,

Bring back Keating I say he used to break a few knees.

There’s no foresight, no forward thinking there is only greed,

As long as I get re-elected of course, we will succeed.

Corruption is on the agenda from the bottom to the top,

But who gets caught, no one of note so this needs to stop,

They have too much money to beat the system and it’s the poor that take the hit.

Farmers are struggling not only with the mother earth but also with the bureaucratic shit,

It’s all for one and all for me, cut down the trees and destroy fertile land,

 I’ll make more money that way and life will be grand

The barrier reefs a wonder of nature is dying before our eyes

Mining companies and greed and because we believe their lies.

A multicultural masterpiece so tolerant and diverse,

But scratch below the surface and you will see it’s in reverse,

The white folk are feeling marginalised and picking on the migrant,

The plebs and the dross so common in any society,

Are joining the Hanson wagons,

But nothing will change, only the weather

Greed is still too strong and the pollies just blether,

The rains will come and the rains will go,

The floods will return and the destruction will flow,

The fires will burn and the earth will be renewed.

But you know, as long as we have cricket or football and sport,

They couldn’t give a rats about anything of import.

The flight cost me $145, business class to the UK on Cathy Pacific, mind you it was a one-way ticket and I did use around 125,000 Flyer Points. Brisbane to Hong Kong and then Heathrow and no idea where I was going to end up. Well for the first month at least I had plans, but after that…

I stayed in London for a few days before picking up my hire car which I had for a month and then I’d see where the wind took me.

Ken and Linda have always been kind enough to let me stay at their place and this time Ken was on a Sabbatical and it was good to just chill for a while and spend some time together catching up on old times and wondering where the wind will blow us both. This continued until September or so and then I caught a one-way flight to China via Thailand. It was only after I arrived that things went to shit for a while. A friend, who shall remain nameless for now, promised me a teaching job and told me that they needed help setting up the new training centre. Weeks before leaving Glasgow I had wandered around book shops trying to find suitable material to take with me, I had a teacher friend accompany me too and this all turned out to be a complete and utter waste of time.

As I was going off to my bed that evening, in the dreadful accommodation that had been organised for me, it took all my willpower to not go completely ballistic. There was no school, nothing was in place, there was no need for me to be here yet, I could have still been travelling and ticking off a few more places on that every increasing bucket list. I was so angry that I just had to stay away from my friend and just about everyone else, mind you the latter was quite easy because I didn’t know anyone here yet.

After about 4 months and after my first visa run, things began to get better. I had picked up some work from Patrick, who ran a training centre and had given me work, managed to get me new accommodation and my life began to get better. Once more I was in a clean comfortable place and not some shitty old apartment.

Patrick had a finger in every pie it seemed and knew many people in Suzhou, I was at the centre of this universe for a time and it was great. I became a minor celebrity and no matter where I went, I seemed to be known. For a city of 11 million people, I just could not understand how and why. I was invited to many functions, day trips and all I really had to do in return was a bit of PR for Patrick or whoever else was organising an event. As a foreigner living in Suzhou, life was good.

I met Amy, she ran a travel agency and knew many foreigners. She would often set up an excursion and invite a bunch of us to give feedback on the proposed new adventure and in return we got a great day out. Amy was very influential as well and she had many extravagant day trip and I was also invited to a State Banquet one evening with a doctor friend from India. Life was mental and I had become a social butterfly.

The first two years my accommodation was always on a fragile status, I flitted from place to place and so it was magic when I returned in 2018 to meet Sissi. I booked one of her apartments for a few days after returning from my winter trip in Europe and Thailand. She was wanting to set up a more upmarket house in Suzhou centre and so I took one of the rooms. It was a four-bedroom apartment, she rented out the other two rooms to help pay the rent and for the most part it worked out, however every so often there would be a complete and utter cunt would come to stay and upset the ambience of the place. I did not enjoy this one bit and began to crave for solitude once more. I was caught between a rock and a hard place again and compromises were made, but it allowed me to have a fairly good lifestyle on a budget. Every 3 months I had to do a visa run and so I was able to explore many places. I went to Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Italy, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma and many parts of China when I returned.

In January 2020 I returned form my visa run, I’d gone to Singapore and Thailand this time and I retuned to Suzhou on the 8^th January 2020. A week later we were in lockdown due to the Covid outbreak. The next 3 months were fairly intense. Suzhou turned into a ghost town. Sissi would not go outside because that’s what the government had told everyone. I went out every day and went to the park as usual in the morning and enjoyed the peace and quiet, I had finally got my solitude. Everywhere you went there was a QR code to be scanned and you worried each time it was scanned because if it turned any other colour than green then you might get dragged away. I had many confrontations on returning to the gated community I lived in when trumped up over zealous nutters tried to demand to see my passport or tried to refuse me entry. It got very heated in the first week of the lockdown until a friendly policeman told them to back off.

I left China on the 15^th March 2020; it took a long time to find a flight that I could afford. I paid $1000 for a one-way flight and I did see some flights to Brisbane for close to $20,000 which was just obscene.

So now its July 2026 and it all seems like a dream and not a nightmare. It was an experience of a lifetime and I cannot imagine not having done it. I can still remember sitting outside having a bit of lunch in December 2015 and wondering where I could go with the Qantas points, I had and then I found this one-way flight for $145 and thought I have to have that and so I booked it and thought no further than that. I would go home for a holiday and then get a flight back at some point. Four years later I returned and I often wonder where I would be now if Covid had not come along and upset the apple cart.

Sometime in life you will come across a sign in some respect and you should take heed and think to yourself, maybe I should just do that and Just get oot there!

If you watch the TV or wander through YouTube you will hear all kinds of reports on the current state of affairs within China. There are two channels that talk about all the negative social dilemmas, including the many factory fires that seem to be happening every week and the reason given is due to unpaid wages and the strange thing is that you very rarely see this information on any other news outlet.

There are also the many reports on the natural disasters that plague China along with the flooding that usually accompanies them. It seems that there are two main reasons for the flooding and they are as follows. Unofficial release of water from dams and the other is that much of the drainage systems are fake, they look real enough but on closer inspection it’s quite obvious that the pipes lead nowhere, which is similar to some of the fire hydrants that you get in high rise apartments.

I’m going to China at the end of the year and so I am always keeping an eye on things and depending what channel I am watching changes my mood. At times I’m thinking, “What the hell am I doing going back there?” and then I realise that I really like China and there are many more places to investigate. There is so much bullshit online and there are many that exaggerate just because it gets them more views. I’ve been to some of the less salubrious streets in China and so I can spot bullshit when I see it. mind you China does have many problems with unemployment and I have first hand testament as to how difficult it is to find a job. I’ve seen first hand the poor neighbourhoods in large cities, including Suzhou where I lived and Suzhou is one of the richest in the country. You don’t have to wander too far from the CBD with the glass and concrete to come across squaler and the lifestyles that accompany.

On the way to the wet market in Shi Qian Jie, and about a twenty minute walk from the SIP zone you will also find young women in tiny, tiny rooms with only a bed and a sink. I would estimate the room to be about 4m x 3m and it has only a small window which was very rarely open. In fact I only got a glimpse of the interiors on a few occasions. When I used to stroll through this shortcut and meet one of these young ladies I used to always say hello to them, I would never entertain a liason with them even although I got a few invites. Just be aware, prostitution is illegal in China and if you are a foreigner you would be in a lot of trouble if caught and you would also be leaving yourself open to exploitation.

When I was living with Sissi, she was run off her feet making money and she did make money. She was running 3 Airbnb houses . She was a risk taker and almost almost it paid off for her each time. Now she cannot find work and when she does they want her to work for peanuts. She has many skills. Her English is good and she is adaptable to new situations and yet even finding a job such as a sales assistant is almost impossible.

A couple of months ago she started with a Japanese company in sales and she was offered 6000 RMB per month and this was for working 6 days a week. On the second week they told her that they will only pay her 3000 RMB and so she left because it was just not worth it after travel expenses.

She jumped on a train to a different province a couple of hours away to start as a housekeeper in a hotel. Sissi has worked in the hospitality industry many times and knows it well, she has high standards. After being there for two days they outlined the job. They were looking for a 24 hour concierge and the payment for this? 3000RMB. Sissi is now over 40 years old and she will just give up, well according to Chinese society that is. They want young people that they can exploit. All over China this is a big problem. Wages have dropped or wages are going unpaid and of course those with money are doing everything to keep it.

However when you watch the mainstream there still seems to be massive infrastructure projects taking place and the future looks rosy. The future is bright, robots will be the new norm and when you see one of the robots is quite lame. They give the impression that they are all autonomous, however all of the time there is a guy in the crowd with a remote control. Ah, smoke and mirrors, I guess their bullshit is even better than Trump’s.

It was only at the last minute I realised that the school holidays were for three weeks instead of two, oh happy days.

The first week off is dedicated to personal maintainance, such as the dentist, optician, skin clinic to check for skin cancers and finally my GP, where I will ask about the shingles vaccination and get my annual blood test. I even put the car in for a quick check on the fuel tank and it seems like the fuel pump seal has perished and that is what’s causing the fuel smell and more importantly the leak if I fill the tank to capacity. The car is 28 years old you know and so I’m not really surprised. I’ll book the car in for a weeks time and get that done. The old credit card has had a major workout this passed week. Apart from the other things I’ve mentioned, I have also had the car registration and insurance, tis an expensive time of the year.

Oh and I bought a new BBQ and my computer shit itself, that was another grand oot the door. No food for me this week 😣

Finally there has been a hint of winter, all this week the heating is on when I get up, however it’s only been about 7C outside which of course is not really that cold. Ten years ago we were having nice crisp frosts in the park behind the house, but not these days.

Today was “Build the BBQ day”, this is where I’ll find out if the review I read will be true. A woman had written that it took 2 1/2 hours to build it and she felt that was just not acceptable, why was it so difficult for her husband to build?

Yes, it took me closer to 2 1/2 hours to build my BBQ too, however I listened to the Division Bell and then Meddle while putting it together. It was very straightforward to put together and I did follow the instructions, maybe that’s why. Every so often the Butcher birds would come to watch my progress or maybe they were just looking for food.

I think I have to season the plates first before I cook any steak on it, and at the moment I canny be bothered, but I will use the side burner in the next couple of days to see how that goes. I think it looks rather good and I’m hoping that it will last as long or maybe even longer than the last one.

I have very vivid memories of me sitting in the kitchen when I was a kid eating breakfast, possibly Frosties, and the transistor radio would be tuned to the BBC. If I remember correctly, there was sometimes a bit of an argument as to what station we should listen to. Mum was more Engelbart Humperdinck and we were more radio one, which played the latest and greatest pop songs of the 60’s and 70’s.

In September 1971, the Old Grey Whistle Test began on BBC2, this was a new kind of music program which would often highlight only one or two bands instead of playing all the music of the day.

The running order included:
Theme music: Area Code 615 – “Stone Fox Chase”
Lesley Duncan performing:
Sing Children Sing
America
Riverside
Children
Studio rehearsal footage from America performing:
Riverside
Children
Film clips featuring:
Alice Cooper – Hallowed Be My Name
Jimi Hendrix – Wild Thing (from Monterey)
Bob Dylan – Maggie’s Farm
Clyde McPhatter – You’ll Be There �
TheTVDB +1
The first song ever performed on the programme was “Sing Children Sing” by Lesley Duncan, making her the first artist to appear on OGWT.

Bob joined the OGWT in 1972 and was called “Whispering Bob” because of his very quiet and nervous delivery as host. He has been a pillar of the music industry since.

Due to the time difference between the UK and Australia, I was able to listen to “Bob Harris Sunday” on a Sunday morning instead of having to wait up until midnight. His eclectic music taste introduced many of us to new and amazing music and then he would play a blast from the past to bring us back to our roots.

He hosted “Sounds of the 70’s” in 1970, however I don’t recall listening to him on radio back then, I was introduced to Bob on the “Old Grey Whistle Test” For many years “Sounds of the 70’s” was hosted by Johnnie Walker, and I was never a fan. He was a long time staple of the BBC and the industry and I listened to him here at night time, but I was never really a fan, however I love the music from the 70’s. I personally think Johnnie Walker stayed on way to long, he was ill with cancer and praise to him for battling on, but the play list each week was becoming predictable and stale. There is only so much Status Quo you can listen to.

Bob returned to the show in November 2024 and it was such a breathe of fresh air, he was far more skilled and his music was fantastic. Yes he played some of the staple songs but they were few and far between, instead he once again introduced many of us to the vast array of music that was the 70’s. His stories and anecdotes are second to none. He is 80 years old and he lived through the best years that music has had to offer and he has been gracious and consistent and always able to blow your mind. He is part of the DNA, the fabric of music.

https://www.instagram.com/whisperingbob

Bob stepped away from the Sounds of the 70’s in March this year due to ill health. He has been battling cancer for sometime, although you would never know it. He said that if he could not give 100% to each program he did, then it was unfair on the listeners. Such a sad day, the world is not the same without Bob Harris on your radio. He recently turned 80, although he certainly doesn’t act like it. He is currently resting at home getting over the latest regime of treatment and I’m sure everyone that knows him or just heard him on the radio like me, wishes him all the best and we hope that maybe he might just return to the mike once in a while to let the world hear his dulcet tones.

Sounds of the 70’s with Bob Harris

It’s the end of another week, Friday evening and I’m sitting here with a glass of whisky and thinking of the chocolate that I used to be able to eat. I’m still off the cheese too, and that has been a lot easier than I anticipated because I just feel so much better. I now look at cheese as my Achilles’ heel, but only if I continue to consume it and after a month, I have had one slice of that 500g block and the rest has gone to feed the birds.

So, nothing has been happening, nothing worth talking about. Life goes on and the days come and go and the routine just kicks in. I hardly need to look at my watch because my body seems to know exactly when it’s time to move to the next phase of the day.

When I got back from the morning run this morning, I went out for a walk and picked up some bits and pieces from the shops on the way through. It was good to hit the fresh air too, because it’s been a bit wet this week and today the rain finally cleared and the temperature is gradually going down. It will soon be time to pull the thermals oot.

As I came back to the house, I noticed two older women walking down the road. By the time I had gone upstairs and dropped off me shopping the door bell rang. It was the Jehovah’s! Oh, what a delight. Feeling refreshed after my walk and listening to a podcast, my brain was firing on all cylinders and I was ready for the battle to commence.

Both were in their 70’s and were seasoned in the art of Jehovah. I laid out my cards fairly quickly and told them that I was a heathen but sometimes I have a gin and tonic with my friend Lucifer. This little detail did not seem to deter them one iota, if anything it seemed to fire them up.

No Bible is carried these days; there is no need when one has an iPhone and can conjure the Bible up in seconds at the beginning of Genesis. I liked the way she meandered the conversation, or should I say monologue to arrive at the point where she told me that God had created heaven and Earth. I asked her, “How do you know God did that? Who wrote this?”

She changed tact once more, I don’t think she liked my response.

“Where do you think we go when we die?” she says.

“Well, we have energy in our bodies and energy cannot be destroyed, only transferred to another state. Maybe we are just absorbed into the aether or maybe we shift sideways into another one of the parallel universes that are supposed to exist, you know as it’s stated in String Theory”

This banter went on for a wee while. I could see that she was getting a bit frustrated because she was making no headway, so I gave her a crumb and I told her that I do like to travel and when I do I spend a lot of time in Churches, Cathedrals and any religious building really because I find them absolutely fascinating. I also said that I find religion interesting but that is as far as it goes. I also pointed out the that basing a religion on a virgin birth was very bold indeed and if it had been set in Glasgow and not Bethlehem the idea would never have flown.

The quieter of the two ladies said to me that she had once gone to Thailand, I had mentioned that I thought the Buddhists have worked out the best way to take money from the poor and still make them feel good. I asked her, “What did you think of the temples in Thailand” She replied, “oh I did not go in, I mean why would I want to go in when I have my own faith and path to follow. It just would not be right”

Isn’t that sad? She travels to Thailand and does even look at one of the most important parts of Thai culture, it is irrelevant that it is a religious structure……. many of these temples are just amazing and if you have every been to the White Temple in Chiang Rai then you will know what I am talking about. Their religion brainwashes them, as they all do and controls them to the point where maybe they feel just looking at something will get them into trouble with their god.

We spoke about Faith. When they accepted the Holy Spirit and had faith then their worlds changed and they felt content. I told them that I have faith in myself and that many people who do put their faith into their god don’t worry about things because it gives them the freedom to get on with life as they think that their God is the one making the decisions for them. Oh and the only spirit that I am interested in is Whisky.

 I just remembered, I told them that my house is actually built on consecrated ground because there used to be a church on this site up to the mid 1970’s and I felt it quite ironic. They said that it makes no difference it’s just a building, nothing special.

This ping pong match was going on and on, however it wasn’t too long where I could see them getting ready to leave and move onto another lost soul, however I kept the conversation going and eventually they thanked me for being so nice and polite and scurried away down the driveway. I don’t think I will have any further visits from her and her crew anytime soon. I’ll be black listed hopefully. They did look rather frazzled and not as energetic has they had been.

In the age of influencers and the multitude of folk that are telling you that you are doing everything wrong and you need to start right now!!, and do this!!! I mean, what a load of shite people.

I was flicking through YouTube, after I’d watched Harry’s Garage, to see what the algorithm was going to produce. One of the most ridiculous ones that appeared was; “You are not drinking water correctly, what your doctor won’t tell you” And just to make it more credible you have a 40 something guy with trimmed beard in a blue hospital uniform and a stethoscope. It’s fuckin’ mental. I sometimes think I would like to meet some of the nutters that watch these videos and then I quickly come back to reality, knowing that they would just drive me to insanity.

We live in sad times, and the best of times. For those that can distinguish fact from fiction it can be rather amusing or scary. However, if you are one of the billions of sheep then you are at the mercy of the algorithm and with little or no hope of escaping. I know some of those sheep and I’m stunned and also fascinated by them. Of course, it does give you an opportunity to have a look into the wormhole that they have found themselves in and I’ve sometimes given them a nudge to find the exit, but they just don’t see it when it is in plain sight, or they just don’t want to leave because this world is far more predictable and maybe feels safer in a twisted fashion and no one likes change.

In America the MAGA experience has got to be one of the most extreme roll plays in the western world, what a LARP it is. The rest of the world tunes in each day to watch this soap opera, struggling to believe the story lines and plot twists, each of the main characters are straight from the pages of Marvel Comics or DC Thomson, who produced the Beano and the Dandy if you didn’t know already. These Desperate Dan stooges are such bad actors and yet they read each line with such conviction and belief that it makes for one of the best comedy dramas, if only it was.

One of the most corrupt individuals on the planet is the star of the show. He certainly cannot speak the Queen’s English, especially if it has three or more syllables and then he goes off script and waffles with some verbal diarrhoea, creating new words. Mind you, sometimes he is very funny. His stupidity is second to none. And, he is often overshadowed by some of the “Arse Lickers” that constantly hang on his every word, repeating his words and giving them new meanings and translating for all the stupid people like you and I that don’t speak MAGA.

Oh, it’s a laugh at times………….

When I’m not watching the “Soaps” I go out, outside to the fresh air and do stuff. Last Friday I went to Inala to get my supplies of Lao Gan Ma (老干妈), and Chinese 5 spices. Inala is a great place for Asian food, and it has many Vietnamese businesses. I had a couple of Bánh mì for lunch, bloody delicious.

On Saturday I caught up with a friend to go for a walk at Toohey Forest, which is not far from Brisbane city. It is a vast area with good tracks that crisscross the forest and if you are lucky then you might just see a Koala. After which we need to refuel and so once again it was Vietnamese for lunch and this time Lemongrass and chilly beef. It was absolutely brilliant and even better than the Bánh mì. So, all in all a very productive tasty weekend.

I like The Allergies; however, I have been plagued by allergies for most of my life. I was told that I was allergic to Penicillin, I freaked out when I got the Polio vaccine, I’m allergic to cats and I have rhinitis. I went to the doctors as a kid and they did an allergy test on me by drawing a grid on my forearm and then scratching me with umpteen different things, almost everything turned red.

This year has been dreadful so far in regards to the amount of snot that my nose has managed to produce. In the morning I cough and splutter till I’m firing on all cylinders. The neighbours must think I’m dying in here if they hear me. Tissues, I have boxes and boxes of them, I’ve got shares in Kleenex.

Antihistamines are popped like sweets to try and control the onslaught and the flood of snot. It reminds me of Ren & Stimpy at times. I have many different kinds of antihistamines, Claratyne, Telfast, and a few other brands. I have had to rotate them because they stopped working for me.

In recent years I have also had problems with food. Life can be cruel at times, now I am unable to have chocolate. Memories of munching my way through a bar of Dairymilk with either a cup of tea or in more recent years, a glass of red wine are just figments on the ether.

When I came back from China after Covid, I sort of overdosed on many things that I had been unable to have while living there and chocolate was one of the first things to be worshipped. After a few months I began to get eye infections, things like stye’s and my eyes became more and more dry and my tears seemed to thicken. I went to a specialist and he scraped the inside of my eyelids and then gave me this regime of treatment to cure it. They improved slightly, and then one morning I was sitting outside wondering why my vision was blurred once more, trying to figure out what had I done or what I had eaten. I’d been at Aldi the previous day and I bought a packet of Orange Club Biscuits and I had scoffed at least two of them, they are really sweet.

This is where I made the connection between chocolate and the effect it has on my vision, my stomach also complained but I could handle that side effect. So now I have had another epiphany, it’s the cheese causing problems. I’ve been buying the mature cheddar cheese from Aldi for ages and I go through nearly 500g in just over a week, mind you I do share that with the birds too. Just over a week ago I stopped having cheese everyday and now a week later I have not had one antihistamine and I don’t have the snot problem. I get up in the morning and I might blow me nose and then it’s breakfast. I’m not coughing like a forty a day smoker filling up a spittoon. My eyes feel so much better. Chocolate and cheese are my Kryptonite. I know that old age brings its own issues along for the ride and so far, I have been lucky, but cheese and chocolate? How cruel!

Three weeks into the new school term and I am already planning for the Christmas break. I only got back from Malaysia at the end of March, but I’m hankering to get back onto a wee plane and jetting off. However, this year I will wait until December so that I can escape the summer heat, because I have a funny feeling it’s going to be hot hot hot.

Heading back to China for a month and so I have been busy planning and I have already booked my return flight and nearly fainted at the price rise due to the American Orange Eegit! Before I left to go to Thailand in March, I could have bought a ticket for around $2200, now $3000. I can always cancel it and get my money back, and I will if the price drops nearer the time. But I thought I’d book the flight while I could.

The rain arrived last week for the first time in months. The cracks in the ground are slowly disappearing and the plants are beginning to look happy again. The front door is jamming again and there are cracks in the plaster around some of the columns in the garage. The house is constantly on the move and sometimes it’s the doors that don’t close properly and of course the locks won’t lock and need to be adjusted. Not complaining about the rain, it’s a pleasant change and its cooled things down. Today though, the sun is back and we reached 28C and it feels more like summer than Autumn.

Yesterday I got out on the bike, never got out the previous weekend due to the rain. I did a usual route and felt quite good all the way really, only around 24km though. I’m going to have to build up my strength so that by June, which is the next break, I’ll be able to double that distance once more. I’ll do another run into Brisbane and then get the train back.

The young Butcher Birds are becoming very brave, especially the young male who will come right up to me or sit at my shoulder when looking for food. When I was having a snack the other morning, he came right up to me as bold as brass. He’s got no fear. He’s also a cheeky wee sod because he’ll have ago at my toes if I’m not looking……..

This is my good side 🙂

I’d just done my shopping at Aldi and Woolworths; I’d picked up a few frozen and fridge goodies and then I thought that I’d fill up the car so that I wouldn’t have to do it in the morning. I was going to hike Mount Edwards. The car was running really rough on Petrol, I normally use LPG, and I had put in a bottle of injector cleaner in preparation.

I put in 30Lt of Petrol and about the same for LPG. The next thing I see is a pool of petrol appearing on the concrete. I didn’t realise that there was a problem. It did happen last year, but I thought it was because I had overfilled the car and the petrol on that occasion went everywhere. I paid for the fuel and then headed off, switching to petrol before going. The car was running as rough as a badger’s arse; it was even Pinking. I went onto the motorway to try and give the car a blast and also to use some fuel to save it from just pouring out everywhere. I then realised I had my weeks shopping in the boot and it was hot outside; I had to go home.

At home I put the car in the garage and unpacked my shopping. I looked under the rear of the car and there were no drips of fuel, excellent!

I checked after about 15 mins or so and still all was well. About half an hour later I went back to look and I could smell the fuel before I got downstairs. It was slowly dripping onto the floor and then it had gone down the expansion joint of the concrete. I put the car outside and then put baking soda over the spill. The place was stinking. The last time this happened it took weeks to clear and my health suffered because my bedroom is above the garage, the vapour just comes up.

I shut the windows upstairs, opened everything up downstairs. I ran the fan in the room to keep the air moving. That worked really well and over the next few days the smell dissipated to the point where there was just a whiff.

Of course, the next morning, Tuesday after this drama I planned to take the Olde Ford for a jaunt to Moogerah Dam and I was climbing Mount Edwards, and so we did. Got there around 9am. I opened the back windows and had the air con on and the air stayed fairly fresh upfront; I only got the odd whiff of petrol. It’s about 70km to the dam and me Olde Ford was still not happy and coughing a fair bit by the time we arrived.

The Mount Edwards hike is only 6km, but it is steep. You climb to 634m over a fairly short distance and the track itself is good, however there are sections that are really steep and the ground has a lot of loose rocks on it and this became more of a problem for the descent. I really should have taken my walking poles with me; they would have been ideal and made it a whole lot easier.

It took around 90 min to get to the top and I was running out of juice by the time I arrived. The view is absolutely spectacular. The weather was perfect and you could see for miles. I don’t know about you, but sometimes there is an urge to get too close to the edge and then wish that I could fly like a bird over what lies beyond and that of course would be the last thing I would have done.

I was soaked by the time I arrived. I sat near the edge on a flat rock to admire the view, eat my muesli bar and to dry out my trousers because my arse was feeling quite soggy by this point. Glad I took the muesli bar because my guts were asking for food, I was running on empty.

Oh, I forgot to mention that half way up I heard a noise and the next thing I see is this bipedal Ibex running down the track, absolutely mental. I was surprised by the speed of him and he sailed passed and was gone. I have no idea how he could do that because when I was coming back down my boots seemed to catch every pebble and I was sliding everywhere. Mind you he was about half my age.

I got down safely and then headed to Boonah, which is about 23km away and had lunch before taking a rather large detour home. I went via Aratula and turned onto the Terome Road and headed for Rosewood before heading back to Ipswich. By the time I got home I had driven close to 200km and the Olde Ford was no longer coughing, in fact she was running very smooth indeed. Very happy about that. I usually use petrol one day a week, however I think because I had been on holiday and she hadn’t moved for three weeks and maybe I had picked up some dirty fuel the last time was reason enough for her cold!

Mount Edwards

Click the link to get more info on the walk…..