The new book by Stuart MacBride, an author I have much time for. I have read all of his books; however the last two I have read have been very disappointing indeed. “The Dead of Winter” sucked me in and I persevered because I was sure it had to get better, after all it was Stuart MacBride, but it was shite and I can’t believe I wasted my time reading it. So when I saw there was a new book from him coming out I reserved it at the library thinking to myself this one has to be better, I was wrong.

“In a Place of Darkness” is his latest effort and it got off to a good start, there were the usual gruesome details of the murder scene followed by a good bit of old Scottish banter which makes it sound all that more realistic and then they introduce some stupid character called “Angus” who is no more than a bumbling fool. I don’t like this kind of slapstick writing and reading about the minutia of inadequacy’s that he has and the coy interactions between him and others. It is absolutely pathetic and to add insult to injury an American character is introduced using stupid Americanisms and then I see what Stuart has done, he is pandering to the American market.

I would love to find out who the killer is and be drawn into that world of intrigue and read about all the gory details as they unfold but I cannot get past the inane simplicity of the language at times and how a whole chapter can be dedicated to the small calamities that befall Angus. I mean, getting soaked in the rain, ripping his trousers and getting stupid messages from his mother and a friend which are just there to create text on a page. Absolute shite!

I returned the book to the library this morning; I hadn’t even got to the halfway mark, it wore me out…………

I rode to the library and after dropping off my book I went for a latte at “The Rafter & Rose” café before heading home. The sun was shining, it was not too hot and all was well……

This is great fun playing with an AI image generator

Sunday morning and oot on the bike; I headed towards Kholo, haven’t been out this road for a long time. When I came here last I was riding a bike that was too small for me and then I got a puncture.

It’s been over ten years since then, the roads are steep and turn into dirt after only a short time. Just before the dirt road the hill I climbed stopped me in my tracks, breathing very heavily I took a few minutes to recover but otherwise felt fine.

I turned onto Leslie Road which is a gravel road before you hit a dead end and it turns into a bush trail. One last climb to reach the end, wheels slipping as I push hard on the pedals. The sweat is running off me and there is not a breath of wind. My breathing is hard and I begin to feel sick. I sit down and remove one of the layers I’m wearing and drink water. The breeze arrives just on cue and chills my body, sweat lowering my body temperature. A dry boak but I keep my breakfast in place but I feel like shit, weak and hot.

After five minutes or more things are beginning to feel normal once more and with the breeze still coming up the hill I get back on the bike and ride down the fire trail. It’s very rough but worth the effort. The remains of an old car just off to the side, no idea what it used to be.

Back to the main gravel road which soon turns into tarmac once more. I’m getting back to civilisation because I can hear the motorway. Time to head home, thankfully the ride home will be easier, I’ve done all the hard hill work on the way to the fire trail.

I’m feeling OK on the way back but I’ve gone over my two hour window and so I can feel that my body needs fuel and I have a pot full of pasta waiting for me when I return. Incentive enough.

After lunch I retire to the hammock, my legs are feeling very heavy and my body needs to rest. All those other jobs I had planned for today will just have to wait until tomorrow. A few more carbs and I’ll be hunky dory.

A couple of weeks ago I started with another bus company which as it turns out ferries only Aboriginal students, not being racist but less than half of them are black. In fact I have more chance of passing as an Elder.

I don’t really want to work but sometimes one needs too. I’m traveling in February so I need some cash and this place pays more money than the other company and there is also the option to do hire work which is easy.

On the first few days we were both sussing each other out and there were a few altercations including a fight between two of them. I stopped the bus and went up to the back where the two kids were facing off and I grabbed one and told them both “Sit on your Fuckin’ arse” which seemed to surprise them and then there was deathly silence 😋

The language from the youngest is much the same as the rest of the bus . I’ve listened to some interesting conjunctions which make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Calling someone “Borat” seems popular as well as “Nigger” and of course every second word is “Bro”, which I may add is not gender specific. We also have the usual F & C used throughout. It’s a cultural experience indeed. Oh and then they say to others that they are too white!!

Apparently they are descendants of the oldest living people’s on the planet!

I’m not sure whether this is the norm these days for all kids, however after talking to the other drivers they assure me that it’s only the aborigine kids that act in such a manner in their experience of transporting kids around over the years.

I was also told that it is some kind of right of passage that they can do what they want till they get to the stage of adulthood, to me they are closer to being a bunch of savages.

Mind you in amongst this melee there are a couple that seem to have been taught a few manners but they dare not show them or they might become ostracised. Out of the dozen or so kids on the bus I would say that there might be 3 that will go on to make something of themselves, as for the rest I guess they will continue on as they have done for years..

The last week has been a prelude to summer. Yesterday it reached 36C, it was the last day of Winter, an ominous sign for the future.

I used the Air con, I was tired after being out on the bike yesterday and I’ve found that my recovery time takes a bit longer these days and because it was so hot I thought I would stay home. I did go out around 3 pm to the shops and the streets were deserted, I think many others had made the same choice as me.

Sunday is set to be another hot day so I went out around 7:30 to beat the heat. It was a leisurely stroll, however I had to stop a couple of times to cool down. It doesn’t take long to feel a bit light headed but if you catch it quick enough it’s easy to recover. I’m going to have to take two bottles of water out now, I had to ration my one bottle to get me back home. Thankfully the humidity is low which makes it so much better.

After lunch I retired to the hammock for an hour in the gloom of the “Basement” where the temperature is very much lower, mind you the thermometer is reading similar to yesterday but it doesn’t feel as bad.

Had a shower and headed into the main shopping centre, don’t normally come here and especially at weekends because it’s as if you are going on safari…. So many weird and wonderful creatures, well not wonderful that’s not the correct word to use… Ugly, hideous and fat… Yes there are so many fat people and I’m sure it’s not all related to medical conditions. Tattoos are stretched and sagging down the massive fat encrusted arms, it’s really quite repulsive!

It’s as if you have gone to a different planet or the ocean depths and seeing all those crazy shaped beasties 😱

The attraction for me today is the air conditioning, I’d rather use theirs than mine and I need to get some shopping so I’ll kill two birds with the one stone and try not to throw up…

Today our fortnightly meeting was held in the Ipswich Mall of all places to challenge ourselves and maybe to attract some new blood into the group. So we really were speaking in public and I really had to concentrate to make sure I didn’t swear because sometimes I just do.

Everyone got up and gave a speech and the topics were far and wide and the sun was shining. A pleasant change being outside rather than stuck in a stuffy room. A very successful day.

My topic was the Cochrane House Hotel, a place where I spent a considerable amount of time and it was a little bit hard to condense so many years into 10 minutes but I think they got the gist of the place. Some of the best years of my life were spent there and there were a few unhappy memories as well but luckily they disappeared into obscurity……..

Looks like I’m saying a few Hail Mary’s !!

I arrived in Australia in 1988 and I stayed in Armidale for the first 12 months with Catherine and as it was a small town it was not easy to find work but I managed to pick up one day helping to unload the art from the truck to the gallery and I got my picture in the paper 😁

I wish I could go back to that version of me and explain and advise me of a few decisions that were going to be made along the way, and what roads I should take and not take and the ones that I end up taking.

Some paths I took should have been avoided at all costs and opportunities that were offered should be taken.

Ah well C’est La Vie!!

It’s a pity I can’t just reformat this life and then reinstall with knowing.

After buying a 30m roll of storm water pipe I realised that my initial solution to fixing the water coming from the central downpipe was not going to work, there would have to be too much digging and the length of pipe would exceed 40m which is also the length of the trench……..way too much.

Plan B is simpler, although it means modifying the existing downpipe and changing its direction to the east instead of the current westerly position. Before I do this I will have to put up some cladding in the overhang where the top and bottom halves of the house meets. Once this is done I then have to figure out how to get two lengths of 6m downpipe to the house, way too long to put into the trailer.

I’ll take back the storm water pipe to the store and see if they can do me a deal on delivery because it normally costs $60 which is more than the cost of the pipe.

A few days ago I water blasted a section of the deck out the back of the house. After leaving it to dry for a few days it looked like the water blasting had worked a treat stripping back the layers of grime, sun damage, lichen and old oil from the surface. I used one of the small rollers attached to a long handle and coated the timber with a coat of Ultradeck Natural oil and the results are great. I will need to give it another coat, maybe two, but the winds over the past few days have been horrendous and there is shit all over the surface so I will have to wait. These high westerly winds are common at this time of year and can be destructive.

You can see the difference between the old and the new and I’ll do the next metre next and hopefully get away with only doing half of the deck, at this stage I just want to protect the timber rather than it look all hunky dory and pristine.

Sunday morning was fresh and dry and the sun was shining, summer is upon us……..I think spring will just take a holiday this year. I’m enjoying exploring the streets of Ipswich; I used to hate cycling around here but in me old age I enjoy the leisurely riding style these days. I hadn’t planned any particular route but I found myself heading towards the bike path near the showground and so I cut down there and onto Briggs Road which took me passed the Ipswich Cycle Park, I’d never noticed it before so I wandered in. There are two circuits; one is 400m and the other just over 1000m. The surface is great, really smooth and instead of a Velodrome style the road is undulating and kidney shaped. I did one circuit but this is not my idea of fun, riding a bike as if I am a hamster does not appeal. There were a few Lycra clad Mamils “middle-aged man in Lycra” I’m not one of them.

You tend to find that there is a direct correlation in the amount of Lycra that a rider wears and the arrogance and stupidity of the rider.

Tomorrow I have to get up early as I will be driving for another bus company for the next few weeks. I still haven’t won the lottery and so this is the only way I can save up for me trip in January where I am hoping to go to Egypt and Thailand.

Well when I woke up this morning the rain was bouncing off the roof, it has been a long time indeed. I’m not complaining and in many regards I’m very happy that the rains have been slight this winter because stress levels are low.

Two years ago there was flooding and so having a week of rain this year after three months of dry weather is seen as good for the garden and the water tanks and so in moderation there is relief and joy.

I dug a new trench for the second downpipe on the front of the house in preparation, I still need to get some PVC, but the trench seems to be working well this morning pulling the water to the front of the garden and away from the corner of the house.

In doing this I’ve decided that the lawn will be getting transformed into a new space with plants, bushes and shrubs and in doing so this will be less grass to cut. Win win.

The rains also brought in the Cockatoos, haven’t seen them in a long time although you do hear them most days. All I had to give them was a piece of bread and I know that giving them bread is frowned upon but this bread is full of grains. He took it out of my hand and sat on the balustrade eating it slowly, taking each deliberate bite with dexterity and purpose. I’d forgotten just how large these beautiful birds are. I was having a thought, wondering if this was the same guy that used to visit years ago, he does look familiar 🤔

Noo I’m 64,
I’m a perfect square,
I’m a perfect cube
I am 2 to the power of 6,
I’m 64 bit,
An old git.
A Commodore,
I am Nintendo.

So I’ve done no bad,
But sometimes I’m sad,
‘Cause ah canny eat chocolate,
Ma body reacts,
Eyeballs filled wi’ goo,
Ma stomach churns,
Mair methane than a coo.

I still ride ma bike,
Can still get it up a hill,
But no need for a blue pill,
Just Telefast.

Ma nose… a snot depository,
Reigning for hours,
Hankies in abundance,
Cupboards foo,
And many shares in Kleenex too.

Health is important,
Maintain the diet,
Maintain the regime,
Feed the mind,
Protect your knees,
Protect your core,
Protect your integrity and even more,
Don’t suffer the fools,
Do not engage,
Control the rage.
Embrace your age,
Use your wisdom,
Learn every day,
Leave your comfort,

But I wonder…
Now that I’m 64 have I become a bore?
Or have I always been?
Do people find me a chore?
Is that how I’m seen?
A stupid old man with oot a clue,

But you know what?

Ah don’t give A Fuck!
I like me and that’s all that matters,
And if the illusion shatters,
I care not a jot...