It’s been a good start to winter, it’s mostly been dry with crisp mornings and blue skies for most of the day. When I first moved to Queensland over twenty years ago this is what it was like, although it was much colder at night. But I’m enjoying these days and long may it continue.

I’m still working part time driving the bus and when I cycle to work in the morn it’s not long before the snot wants to exit the nasal passage, it’s usually as I ride along the side of the creek because this is where it’s the coldest. So some mornings I sound like and old engine that’s been sat for years and trying to fire for the first time. Never leave home without a supply of heavy duty tissues at the ready. And I’ve also noticed that some poor homeless lass has set up camp on the other side of the creek, can’t imagine how she can sleep at night.

At this time of the year the weather is perfect for getting work and chores done and one job that I have put off for many years is taking off the front door, sanding it back and then treating it to two coats of natural oil stain. I also took off a few mm from the bottom to try and stop it from sticking on the bottom kick plate. The weather had been so humid and the doors swell and stick and so I’m hoping that by shaving a bit off the bottom and applying the oil it will prevent this from happening any more.

The treads on the back stairs are finished and look good. I’m going to start on the short flight that goes down to have to lower level, there’s only three steps and they are hardwood so it would not be right to paint them so I’ll sand them and then use this oil. I also want to do all the new fence posts on the retaining wall.

I have one internal door downstairs to do and I really need to finish off the underside of the entrance in front of the garage. I put insulation in the cavity and I have one more sheet of fibro to attach and then all should be well. I have many many other such tasks to finish, however when the weather is so good it’s always more appealing to go for a stroll or just potter in the garden.

Where does the time go? It’s June, which means I have been back a month already and I have no idea where the time has gone to. I don’t feel I have achieved very much since returning from China.

Last week I did a bit of work doing the old bus driving, quite enjoyed it. It was a local run and very relaxed and very easy. I did it for four days and by the time Thursday morning arrives I am regretting telling them I would work the four days. I hate the split shifts, but it will get me some extra cash which is what I am chasing. Got many expenses this month; Car registration, car insurance, road side assist and there is something else which I can’t remember and so it will be costly and I might just make enough to cover said expenses.

I removed a few more treads from the back stairs, sanded them back and put one coat of oil on both sides. I managed to do this before the rain arrived yesterday. The humidity is very high and so I will wait until next week before I finish with the other two coats of oil, not sure if that affects it much but I want each coat to dry before applying the next.

I then turned my attention to the driveway; I noticed the other day that there was a tinge of green coming through the dirt. After the rain the drive looked so filthy, time to give it a clean. Dragged out the high pressure washer and connected it up to the water tank, however the tank was not filled to capacity and so on Friday I started the cleaning but had to stop after an hour or so due to lack of water. It rained shortly afterwards and I collected about 500 litres which I ended up using today and I still have a bit more left to do. It’s raining tonight so I hope I collect enough water to finish the drive tomorrow.

Come to think of it I went to the doctors the week before for an MOT and service. My oil pressure was a wee bit high but all the fluids and other bits and pieces were hunky dory. Feeling lucky I headed off to the dentist and to my surprise I only needed to have clean, no nasty fillings and the like. At the doctors the consultation is free but at the dentist a check-up and clean was $204 and so I didn’t eat much for the rest of that week. Mind you happy that all is well.

And it was Happy Birthday for the Bremer Forum which is the public speaking group that I have been a member of since 2008 and if it were not for some of these wonderful folk I would never had taken the plunge to work overseas trying my hand at teaching. These days standing up in front of a crowd is not as daunting as before and so if you have any fears in this regard I recommend that you seek out this organisation or similar and allay your fears once and for all.

Time to begin the winter chores. The temperature has fallen dramatically, especially in the evenings; I’ve even got a thermal on tonight. The mornings are in single figures and it has been difficult to get out of bed in the morning.

With no work on the horizon I’ve decided to begin the long task of covering the deck with oil, only this time I will use a natural coating instead of a stain and so this means that I will have to sand everything back to clean timber. I won’t have to remove too much just the surface “oxidation”

One coat below

I began with the treads on the stairs that lead up to the deck. I removed every second step and will sand them first and then refit them back in the same position before removing the rest of them. There will be two steps that I will have to leave in place do to the railings being connected to them and I really don’t want to tamper with them as they are integral to the structure. That’s the reason why I have only removed every second stair tread, just in case there is any movement as they haven’t been removed in over 15 years and they have survived major flooding along with numerous subtle house movements over the years due to the expansion and contractions attributed to droughts and rains.

I’m using Intergrain Natural Timber Oil and I’ll put at least three coats onto the treads and I might even put four because they are in the sun all the time and they do soak up quite a bit of abuse and of course I need to use them to climb up to the deck. After a light sanding the colour of the timber made its presence known and after just one coat of the timber oil they looked great. A couple of the treads were looking a wee bit rough, looks like someone has been nibbling along one of the edges but the oil will seal it all up and breathe new life into them all.

Two coats

So after I do all the treads, there are fourteen of them, I will move onto the balustrades and hand rails which are all also hardwood. Not all of them are in sunlight all of the time and so they are in better condition, however keeping the birds off them while I process them will be the challenge. There is not a day goes by where at least one birds will happily land and then shit all over the place.

The deck, which is 48 m² needs to be done also but I will do that last. The timber oil is rather expensive and this 4 Lt tin is only enough to do all the other bits and pieces including the steps of the retaining wall, posts and then the front door. I’ve also got to sand these as well and that is fairly time consuming. So the goal is to get the deck done before the summer heat or the spring heat for that matter.

A few trees and bushes in the garden are getting a bit out of control and I will be tackling them too. I dragged one of the 4 metre trestles out today and began pruning the large bottle brush tree because it has had a major growth spurt and is now nearly 8 metres tall which is way too much and it’s not letting too much sun reach the plants on the floor, plus it’s heading for next doors garden. So tomorrow morning I’ll start with the tree and then when the temperature rises a bit I’ll put another coat on the treads. I’ll refit them and then remove the rest of them and sand and stain them too. Oh, I have also painted all the coach bolts black so that should look rather nice beside the freshly oiled treads.

And so I have many jobs around the place. I have plenty to keep me going for the next few months, in fact but I would like to pick up a wee bit of work along the way to pay for all of this. Mind you as I have said before my retirement plans are to win the lottery………..

Is the time that I have been back in the hoose. I must say that it was at least a week before I felt like doing anything of note. I started with my pictures. Sissi had given me an etching in 2020 and I didn’t bring it home with me at the time, I’d left it in my silver case that I had to leave behind, well as you know I now have it back home.

I bought a timber frame for it and spent an hour or so making it slightly smaller so that it would fit the frame. The timber etching was just slightly bigger than A4 and so finding an off the shelf frame was becoming too difficult so I decided to remodel the etching.

2020 was of course the year of the Rat and I too am a Rat in more ways than one, some may say. Sissi made me this wonderful Rat and I finally got to hang it on my wall at the front door to keep an eye on things. I think it’s absolutely marvellous!

For nearly two years now I have had several other paintings lying in the computer room floor still wrapped in bubble wrap and at the ready to be returned to storage at any moment. They were put into the bubble wrap in June 2016. There are still things in the shed that I have not unpacked since I came back to the house in 2020. I’ve not been ready to settle, to move on I guess. My recent trip to China has made me realise that I will not be heading off as before, well I say that now but maybe I’ll pick another country when the time is right but I thought I would once more enjoy the many pictures and prints that I have collected over the years. I still have a few more to put up but at least I have made a start and unpacked them.

The next day I began to sort out the many clothes that I have, I’m running out of places to keep them and I haven’t worn many of them for years and so a trip to the charity shop is on the cards. many of the clothes I brought back from China will be recycled and there are a few more that are looking a bit threadbare and some are just too small…..I guess they must have shrunk 😁

And I got some good news from Sissi also. The flat that we moved into was for sale and the plan was that we would move into it and with any luck would be sold within three months and then Sissi could break the 12 month lease and that is exactly what has happened. I was a bit concerned when I left that the Sissi might have issues breaking the lease if she could not get anyone else to move in but now all is well, great news!

The flight from Guangzhou was delayed due to the weather, Guangdong had been hit by severe weather and looking at the news the other day I think that the hour delay we had was fortunate.

I had bought a window seat and as luck would have it I had three seats to myself and so I was able to stretch out shortly after take-off and claim my prize. After dinner I settled down to the horizontal and I did get a sleep, however the turbulence was a reminder that we were flying high.

As we came over Darwin there was an announcement asking for a doctor as there was a medical emergency, this continued for a bit of time and I thought that we might be diverted to Cairns and I know it may sound dreadful but I just wanted to get home. The plane stayed on course to Brisbane but when we landed the paramedics boarded the aircraft to assess the passenger, still no idea what the medical emergency was, but the paramedics didn’t seem to be too agitated so I guess all was going to be OK or they had already snuffed it…………

Passport control was very quiet and my bags appeared fairly quickly so I loaded up my trolley with my two large case and headed for the bio-security guys. The big fella looked at my trolley and asked what’s the story and I told him that all I was declaring was some loose tea , however it was sealed. He thought for a few seconds and then said that I was fine to continue to the exit, I really feel that he just didn’t want to go through the vast amount of luggage that I had, and I was also very happy with the outcome. I really didn’t have anything else apart from tea this time.

I got an Uber. The roads were quiet, still cost over $100 to get back home. The house is in one piece thankfully and my garden is actually looking rather good. The grass is looking great, Rebecca across the road has done a great job looking after it for me and the rest of the plants seem to have grown quite a bit in my absence along with the weeds!

I’ve been home 5 days now and I am still feeling weary. Glad to be home, maybe need to feed myself some protein. No Covid this time but my body is relaxed as I ease myself into my simple life here. I’m so happy to be out of China, funny how things change. When I lived there before I obviously ignored many of the things that really got on my tits this time. The noise, the amount of people, the pollution, the driving to name but a few.

I’ve changed I guess, I’m more of a grumpier old man now with little patience for what I encountered in China. From now on China will be for holidays only. I’ll travel before I settle for a few weeks to visit Sissi and others. I don’t think going for two months is a good idea, I feel that 6 weeks is sufficient time to live out of a suitcase.

Give me a few months to recover from this and I’ll no doubt be heading to an airport for another jaunt. In the meantime I have plenty to be getting on with here. I need to find some work to get some cash. I need to get back into my calisthenics to toughen up once more, two months without doing any exercise apart from walking is not good for the body. The list has begun and I will work my way through it over the cooler months. So glad to be heading into winter, just hope it is a dry winter for a change.

I met this little guy in the lift the other day and I had absolutely no idea what he was doing, well I have found out.

This little guy is a food robot. When the delivery driver arrives he calls the room and tells them that the food is on its way. He places the order inside the robot and punches in the room number and the wee robot heads off to the lifts. Magic!

I got free entry to the lounge tonight, very happy about that. So much more relaxed than I was in Dali because everything just seemed to go wrong. Guangzhou has been a better experience thankfully.

I had satay chicken with veg and a glass of something, it’s supposed to be white wine but it looks more like a sample 🤔

The hotel was great, very comfortable and the staff were so helpful. The free bus to the terminal was also a bonus because having those two rather large suitcases was no easy task.

Currently sitting in the hotel after having pizza for lunch. My favourite restaurant was closed so I didn’t know what to have for lunch. It’s hot and very humid outside so I thought I’d ease myself back into western culture by having pizza for lunch.

It was a Margarita pizza which had an interesting flavour but it will suffice, I’m just hoping that the cheese was real. You hear so many stories about fake food.

I checked out at noon and I’ll be here till 6pm and then I’ll get the bus to the airport. I have my two large cases which are going to be a challenge as they are both around 23kg. The second case has been here with Sissi for four years and I’m finally getting to take it home.

Once I get the two big cases checked in it will hunky dory because then I can go to the lounge for a couple of hours because I have a free pass which is good.

I’ll arrive about 8am tomorrow and by the time I get home I’ll be ready for a snooze me thinks, but I’ll have to go to the shops and get supplies after I reconnect the car battery and hopefully the olde Ford will be happy to go for a run.

And I hope that the house is still in one piece after two months. I don’t think there has been much rain so hopefully all will be OK. I’m also hoping that the grass is not ten feet tall.

The territory was divided into two concessions given to France and the United Kingdom by the Qing  government in the 19th century (1859 to 1943). The island is a gazetted historical area that serves as a tranquil reminder of the colonial European period, with quiet pedestrian avenues flanked by trees and lined by historical buildings in various states of upkeep. The island is the location of several hotels, a youth hostel, restaurants and tourist shops selling curios and souvenirs.

I did not write that, as you can tell I’m not that eloquent. But I did go there today, it wasn’t planned, I just happened to stumble in it’s direction.

I went into Guangzhou to look at a few tech markets near the river and when I got off the metro everything was closed, I forgot that geeks don’t get up early. So I wandered down to the river. The river was a lovely brown colour due to the flooding further up stream. There were also some flood defences in place and in the few hours I was here there was a significant rise in the river.

I’d seen the concession somewhere recently and was very happy to have found it. The architecture is so different and yet recognisable as well. On the riverside you pass the old customs house with its links to Queen Victoria me thinks.

It’s a great place to visit to get away from the hustle and bustle of Guangzhou which is undoubtedly one of the busiest city’s in China. This oasis is a very calm and beautiful place to just spend time in marvelling at some of the best architecture for miles around. Oh and don’t forget some of the beautiful trees that compliment this colonial boulevard and some have been here for nearly 200 years.

The only sad thing is that a couple of places have been bought by the usual culprits and they have plastered their logos out front for all to see.

Kubla Khan came across these mountains and after being nearly at the top I’m quite impressed. I got to just under 4000 metres and my poor old body knew about it. My lungs were working overtime and as I reached the top I could feel my legs beginning to tire, but I got there and there were still pockets of snow on the ground.

I was still wearing my thin summer clothes but I was generating a fair bit of heat so I didn’t really notice until I stood still.

Your chest begins to tighten, your breathing increases and your legs feel twice the weight but I just kept my breathing steady and a slow steady pace and all was well. We only had to climb a further 230 metres or so after we got off the cable car but it was still quite the workout😂

This glacial lake sits just under the 4000 metre mark and is called Horse Lake because it is said that Kubla Khan watered his horses here in 1263.

A ticket cost 320 RMB. I wasn’t going to go because of the price but the taxi driver stopped at this gate instead of the one I was going to go to. The other gate only went half way up and was half the price, but as I’m leaving here tomorrow I thought “what the hell” I’m glad I did go up on this one because the view is spectacular, and you can almost see the whole of Erhai Lake. I’ll come back again one day and I’ll stay on the lake I think as it will be a lot more peaceful.

At one section the cable car gets quite a swing happening, the wind was very strong and it made the journey that bit more exciting.

A few people had bought oxygen and one young girl in the car began to use it shortly after we left the bottom, not sure how she got on at the top.

I got there early and so the crowds had not arrived yet but as I made my way back to the cable car the tour groups were just arriving.

I was hoping to do a 14km walk but the climb was over 1000 metres and me thinks that my fitness is not good enough to tackle this and after last years fiasco of falling in Petra I took the easy way and took the cable taxi to the top instead.