Well it’s August and still no rain, although there are a few clouds kicking about. It’s been really cold in the mornings, there’s even been a few frosts which have numbed my fingers when I’ve ridden to the old bus company.
I’ve done more riding of the bike than walking recently and it’s been rather enjoyable, keeping to the side roads and bike paths. Last weekend I cycled around 30km, today I only managed 15km. I woke up with a sore head after a very restless night’s sleep and I can only blame it on the generous whisky that I had. The Campbeltown whisky is 57%, so it’s a bit bitey.
I had a spicy vegetarian pizza for lunch and scoffed the lot, nothing better than junk food to make the body feel better. After lunch I had a snooze to try and finally get rid of that niggling headache.
And so to the jobby on the driveway. Well the dog must be a new age thinker or maybe a Buddhist because it’s shit was lying in an East West alignment which is why I’m thinking that. It was also placed exactly in the line of the tyre tracks of the car which also makes me think it’s a sneaky wee bastard.
Well here are a few pictures of the plants in me garden that think spring has sprung to take your mind off the wee jobby.
I stopped for lunch in Tenterfield on my way to Armidale today, catching up with Catherine and Stuart this weekend. Last time I was here, unbeknownst to me, I had caught Covid on the way back from the UK and so I drove down one day and back the next.
This time I’ll be here for the weekend, maybe head home Monday or Tuesday… See which way the wind blows.
The roads were busy up till Warwick and then I managed to get passed the bulk of the traffic and it was pretty good after that.
Not much colour in the countryside, it’s looking rather dry for most of the way here, but the old Ford’s looking good 😁
Stopped at Balancing Rock for a wee photo opportunity and I think it turned out quite well.
Now if I had fallen down the rabbit hole I could think that the lone gun man that took a chunk out of Trump’s ear was a Maga employee undercover that was sacrificed to help and embolden the man’s presidential campaign or we could say that he was just a bad shot, either way it’s a bad day for the world that he didn’t hit the target.
A missed opportunity!!
The world is in turmoil and as America deficates on the rest of the world this Teflon Don is now almost definitely going to get into power.
This narcissist, this Fucking Moron, Grifter has conned most of America and I find that absolutely staggering and very worrying at the same time.
I’ve never held them in high esteem and the prophecy of “Back To The Future III” seems closer now than ever.
As the world sits back and watches the unravelling of this war economy, the death spiral you could say, wondering who will be next to suffer if this Fucking baw bag gets into power.
We can only hope that if another opportunity arises that the outcome might be better.
Continuing on the renovation work around the house, well I started them over three years ago now and it’s about time I did a bit more and maybe finish. A lot has happened in that time and the reason for the delay is down to the flooding that took place over two years ago, it put me in a very bad frame of mind to the point where I just wanted to up sticks and leave but the house didn’t sell thankfully.
Circumstances and the gods railed against me and so here I still am in the same house which I happen to like. Your mental health is very important and mine took a tumble after the rains came. A few months later when I took the house off the market I went on an adventure travelling through five countries and nearly killed myself in the process, life has a habit of making you focus.
I had to go the brew the other day and the young lassie is asking me what job do I want to pursue because they need to find me a full time job, they are not happy that I work part time and get a top up of the dole, Big Brother is not liking my lifestyle.
I told the young lassie that I live a very simple life, she said “That’s great, I wish I could” I tell her I live from week to week and don’t have the money to do what I want and I do want to work because I need money to do a few things. My car is nearly older than her for Christ’s sake.
Like many people at the moment you have to make choices on how you spend the money you get and budget as best you can and give up on those little luxuries that you might indulge in on a regular basis. My simple life is good at this moment but I do worry about the future.
In the meantime I’m back working downstairs in the garage. I’ve started painting the workshop and laundry side and once that is done I’m going to gyprock and insulate the eastern wall because in the summer the heat is intense and in turn it floats through to the rest of the house and I’m also going to install a small air conditioner in the rumpus room because last summer was so hot and humid, so I’m hoping that this will make a difference. How am I paying for all this when I’ve just said I’m skint? Well the Queensland government has given electricity rebates and I’m using that to cover the expenses which is great and it will make the cooling of the house easier when the insulation is installed. Win win..
I still have a small amount of paint left and I have plenty of architraves in the garage, so all I really need to get quickly are a few brackets and shelving to finish off the workshop.
Sunday morning a bike ride was in order and I went a bit further than last week, just under 30 km. I didn’t do much for the rest of the day, finished off my library book and watched a bit of TV. Oh I cooked up some chilli and it was pretty tasty.
Just when I thought winter was going to be cold the temperatures rise dramatically. It’s been as high as 14C overnight and today has got up to 27C. It’s mental and scary at the same time, what is summer going to be like?
I went out on the bike this morn, third day in a row, but todays plan was to go for a longer jaunt. I did a circuit that I haven’t done for many months. The good thing about this “winter” is that the UV is low and that you don’t have to rush out at crack of dawn to miss the heat. At 9am it was around 18C and very calm and the roads were still quiet, although I gave the royal salute to one P plater that came a bit too close. Fuckin’ Numpty!
I’ve wanted to get out for a longer run for some time but just ain’t had the energy or stamina; it seems that if I can continue a few runs over winter I can maybe break the 30KM mark again. Mind you I find that two hours perched on a small bicycle saddle is just about as much as my arse can cope with.
I didn’t see many Lycra clad “professionals” out and about this morning, usually in the lead up to the Tour De France they come out in droves. I on the other hand don’t wear Lycra and don’t feel guilty if I ride on the pavement if the road is narrow or even staying well within a bike lane, the Lycra numpties prefer to stay out in the line of sight of the traffic and dance with death.
This set me up for lunch, I salvaged the Fray Bentos from the bottom of the cupboard and did not look at the used by date, it’s been in there for a while’ and then popped into the oven where after half an hour it was ready for a scoffin’ It tasted grand and washed it all down with strong black coffee.
The daybed was calling me after lunch and so how could I refuse. The wind began to pick up and the wind chimes did their thing. I bought them in Maleny many years ago and they sound and look great. There is no way I could sleep with the noise from them and the chaotic bird life in the garden but lying outside in the sun was definitely the best place to be for an hour. Batteries recharged I headed in for a bit of blogging.
28th
Caught up with Wayne, Nicole, John and Ann on Friday for lunch at the Saigon restaurant in Calamvale, haven’t see them since November last year and a lot has happened since then for everyone. Hopefully it won’t be as long before we catch up again . The food was delicious and I was able to show off my amazing chopstick skills.
25th
Went to the Optician for the first time in over two years, couldn’t believe it’s been that long but it took quite the time to discover that chocolate is the enemy. When I returned from China many moons ago I began to get eye infections on a regular basis, I went to a specialist that put me through a gruelling painful experience when he cleaned the inside of my eye lids. Not something that I wish to do again. Through trial and error I discovered that chocolate sets the whole thing off and causes my eyes to become covered with an oily film that won’t go until after a few days when things slowly return to normal. However if I have something else sweet such as sweet and sour sauce it will happen again but not as bad and so I have not had a bite of chocolate for nearly three weeks but I still haven’t thrown the chocolate in the fridge out yet but I will do that today because it is way too tempting to have that sitting in there. This is my kryptonite.
I felt like a weak fat slob when I returned from China, I could hardly do one open hand pull up which I found fairly easy before I headed off.
I’ve changed my diet cutting out mainly rice and eating more fresh fruit and vegetables coupled with exercise which included walking, cycling and even doing a bit of heavy work around the house and garden. I’ve still got a few niggling injuries but they are healing slowly.
The changes I’ve made seem to allow me to fit into a few pairs of trousers that were a little bit tight a few months ago. All I have to do now is to maintain whatever it is I’m doing and get rid of the last few fatty bits.
The older I become the more I realise that peace of mind is very important, to live in the moment but don’t feel too guilty if you just want to sit in front of the TV for a day. Don’t feel guilty about your comfortable life because as we know the here and now is never constant and so this is reason enough to enjoy the moment. Take the time to stop and watch the world around you. For example watching the bird life coming to the garden to feed or to have a bath in the afternoon after the sun has warmed up the water to just the right temperature and then they still give me a dirty look if there is no food to be had after they have finished.
Yesterday I drove to Wonglepong to catch up with Ann and Trevor, it’s been a very long time since I went down that way to see them, it was good to catch up and it was also very enjoyable taking the old Ford along the country roads although there was a scary moment when a very large Kangaroo jumped out in front of me.
Now this set me up very nicely to enjoy my Drunken Pad Thai which I got from “Rin’s Chinese and Thai” takeaway. The cash flow is not great at the moment and I have only visited here once this year and so I thought it was time to put that to rights. Best decision I’ve made in a long time. It was absolutely delicious and not too spicy although there was a bit of snot beginning to form by the last mouthful. A great way to keep the winter chill at bay and make my stomach happy too.
Sunday morning I set the alarm for 6:30 so that I could get up and get out on the bike for a wee run. The park out the back was white in places and so I guess there was a light frost, the thermometer said 5C when I checked it. It was closer to 8:30 by the time I got on me bike. Three layers on. T-shirt, Bike shirt and my light UV jacket on and as I reached the top of the hill and the shade the wind chill was kicking in. After about an hour it was warm enough to remove the UV jacket, it’s always quiet on a Sunday morning and it is by far the best time to venture out. Mind you I do try to stick to the side roads and ones that are fairly wide these days, I have no desire to go at the clappers and to try and beat previous times or distances for the matter. It’s good to just have the road to myself and to wander along at a pace that is comfortable and of course it’s an excuse to eat a bit of junk food after.
Toast and Cheese with Pineapple, a blast from the past indeed. In my early 20’s I went out with Lynn and most nights when I went back to her place her Mum would often make us something to eat and this was one delicacy that I really looked forward to. Haven’t eaten this for years and it took me back to another moment in time when life was good.
After a short siesta on the day bed, so much warmer out on the deck than in the house today, I headed to the shed to look for my Chinese tea cups. These are the special cups that have the tea strainer on the top, I’ve got so much Chinese tea that it’s about time that I began to enjoy some of it. Not only did I find the cups but I also found my two dragons which will hopefully look after everything.
I was really hungry last weekend “Saturday” and so I decided to have pizza, I would normally go for the spicy vegetarian……….very adventurous I know but this time I opted for Domino’s Philly cheese steak pizza and it was shit!!
I can not believe that I ate half of it, I was absolutely Hank Marvin and so I just shovelled it in. Thankfully I regained control of my senses and hunger and binned the rest of it over the balcony into the garden where I shared it with the beasties.
A week later that same pizza is still lying in the garden, although it has been nibbled a wee bit, but it is mostly intact. Through blazing sun, ants, other insects, birds and maybe even the odd possum being in the vicinity they have all turned their noses up at the Domino’s Philly cheese steak pizza. Even the Kookaburra’s refused to eat it and they will usually scoff anything that you put in front of them.
I’m not sure what this Domino’s Philly cheese steak pizza could be used for but eating it is not an option.
