Next door’s dogs are driving me crazy and I wish they would just drop dead or drop into a sink hole , however today I happened to notice that they pulled a package out of the mail box and proceeded to rip it apart, it was an item of clothing, it looked like a shirt and I can’t wait to see what happens when the owners return………….

I’m also going to have to get them to do something about the dogs, especially the wee one that is just a fuckin’ nuisance and is the instigator of all the chaos. It barks at anything and antagonises the old dog and I’m just hoping that after today that it might just get its P45………….

I went up to Rockhampton on Saturday to catch up with James and Jess, they live just outside Rockhampton in Gracemere on two acres.

It took around nine hours to get there. I stopped at Gin Gin for a bite to eat and a well deserved coffee, driving for four and a half hours without a stop was a good effort.

In Rockhampton I wanted to familiarise myself with the suburbs once more as there are many properties for sale but it seems that they all use the same beautifying filter on their pictures to make a shit house look good. It’s almost false advertising if you ask me. Most of the places I looked at were not suitable.

The Range is still the area that I feel the most comfortable in, however as usual it’s the most expensive. If I can’t find an older property there then I might look in Gracemere, even although it’s around 15 mins outside Rockhampton. But I’d prefer to be closer to the town centre.

It wasn’t all work, we also had many drinks. Gin, and for the first time Jack Daniels although it was mixed with lemonade, sugar and a slice of orange. Oh and there was also the obligatory whisky tasting.

It was an enjoyable few days and it’s always good catching up with James, we’ve known each other for around 20 years or so from our terrible days working in the Austar help desk.

Got back last night around 6pm after picking up a pizza. I drove straight home and only stopped for fuel. The car ran well, no problems thankfully but if I do anymore road trips I think I’ll replace the front suspension before I travel.

One thing I did notice however was this; I got the distinct feeling of “Deliverance”, if you know the movie you might understand where I’m going. I stopped at Gin Gin for lunch on the way up and the two waitresses had the same high forehead with similar tats. On the way back I stopped at Childers and had to take a double take at the lassie in the petrol station because she looked just like the ones I’d seen a few days earlier, no banjos but it’s not a place I would like to break down anytime soon.

Had a lazy day today, picked up my push bike as it was in for repair…the rear axle snapped and so it meant a new wheel and gear wheel, it looks very good and I’ll have to go out for a ride this weekend.

In my old age I find my memory is not as it used to be, but this date is significant because it’s the day I arrived in Australia. I’ve been here for 35 years and at times I wish I had not spent so much time here.

Don’t get me wrong, coming here was a good idea at the time and as the years went on I made some mistakes and wrong turns along the way but I’ve managed to buy a house and lived a relatively stress free existence with moments of madness.

Mum passed away in 2004 and I went into hibernation for a while, but I did manage to change career shortly after returning to Australia so I’m thinking me Ma helped me to find a new path.

I moved house too, in fact the house sold on the day of Mum’s funeral and 6 months later I bought a new place which unfortunately got flooded in 2011 which really made an impact on my life and mental health.

The flooding was so bad that people lost their lives and hundreds of houses were affected. Some houses were lost completely and many people lost everything because they had no insurance or they had trouble getting paid.

12 years later the court case against the dam operators has finally concluded and not everyone has received compensation, in fact a few have only been given a couple of thousand dollars because after a survey it was suggested that their house would have flooded anyway even if the dam was not at fault. I however should receive a small amount but not enough to cover me for the stress, hardship and the ongoing legacy of the flood. Insurance premiums are high and the house prices have fallen but I will try to sell it again next year.

Since 2012 I have wandered in and out of the country, I guess I was looking for something. In 2013 I went to China for the first time and I was captivated. I love Thailand and have been there many times but for some reason China got under my skin and through a few serindipidous meetings I ended up going there in 2016 for four years, however it was with a heavy heart that I returned to Australia in 2020 due to Covid. Three years of hiatus, three years of life wasted because I never wanted to return in the first place.

I’ve kept in touch with most of the close friends I made while living there and I really hope to return in the future although I think it will be early 2024 at the earliest before I return, mainly due to visa access. I need to go back to the UK so that I can once more apply for a two year business visa, Australia can only offer me one year and anyway I would rather travel using my British passport.

My passports run out in three years from now, so I’m thinking I’ll get a new British passport before I apply for the Chinese visa. All going well I’ll head home in January via a few other destinations and if I am successful in getting a visa I’ll come back to Australia and rent the house once more.

Between now and then I’ll do the jobs that need to be done at home and that incudes the retaining wall that’s looking a bit sad and this is by far the most costly repair.

So the next six months will no doubt fly by, however next weekend I’m going to head to Rockhampton for a few days before I begin all the jobs that I need to do and I’m looking forward to that and when I get back I’ll start with painting the house.

A cold start to the day, winter has been promising good things so far…. cold mornings, blue skies, the sun shines and there’s not a cloud in the Sky, I like winter.

After breakfast I went for a walk, I haven’t done this much lately but I’m trying to make the effort so that I can strengthen my ankle in preparation for my next adventure which I think will now be the end of the year all going well.

I went passed Cameron Park, which has an exercise park and so I did pull ups, push ups, and a few weights and seemed to be in competition with a guy 20 years my junior, however when he decided to hang upside down I thought “you win”

Mind you his pull ups were being done the easy way so inside I knew I’d won 😀

It was still cool in the shade and with the slight breeze I was thinking that I should have worn a thicker jacket, however as soon as I was back in the sun and the wind stopped it was great.

Sitting out on the deck at this time of the year is magic. The deck faces north so I can sit with my back to the sun partly in the shade and I can read my book until the Magpies and Butcher birds begin to harass me for food. The Magpies have a real attitude, they look like a couple of thugs getting ready to kick your head in.

Sundays are quiet in the hood and most folk observe this, apart from the guy across the road two doors down who feels it’s OK to get on his very noisy ride on mower to remove the top 2 mm to keep the lawn under control…. He’s a dickhead….we can only hope he falls off and he runs over himself……. Soon!!!

The weekend seems to go too fast and I’m back to my routine tomorrow and so that’s it for another week, I look forward to the day that every day is a Sunday.

I did have a play with an AI image generator and the wee picture on this post was made this way.

My life is quiet at the moment and I’m struggling with that I guess because I’d rather have a project to work on and so I’m trying hard to enjoy this time. A few weeks ago I got my Yamaha amp and 5 disc CD player fixed and it’s been great to go through my vast collection of CD’s.

I can of course play the media on my phone, however there is quite a bit of music on CD that I don’t have on the phone and the quality of the CD is so much better because the bit rate of some of the mp3’s are relatively low. The Yamaha system sounds pretty darn good especially when the speakers are sat on the concrete floor.

I was playing Roxy Music, Supertramp, ABC, Bowie and Dire Straits while I was in the garden and then I decided just to lie down and immerse myself in the sounds and vibes blasting from the Yamaha and as I lay on the day bed feeling the waves wash over me my guilt also disappeared and I began to enjoy the moment.

I’m thinking that I need to be doing more, but listening to music and giving 100% attention to it is really great and I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy this. Listening to music has been a big part of to life since I was a kid. I have many strong memories of my first listen to an album.

On a Saturday morning I would get the bus to the west end of Paisley near the museum where I’d visit the independent Listen Record Store and pick up something new and I’ve still got all my records that I bought 40 years ago.

I remember the time I bought Meddle by Pink Floyd and when I got it home side two would not play properly because it kept skipping, upon inspection it seemed to have something stuck to the surface. I took it back to the shop and the guy took one look at it and said”I think it’s strawberry jam” He gave me a new copy and I went home to conclude the experience.

Music is a big part of my life and it will often transport me to another time and place and mostly I’m transported to home to a time before I arrived in Australia which the older I get become more powerful.

I’m thinking I might have to dig out the turntable and play a few records and reminisce to the sounds of old.

Haven’t written anything for weeks, haven’t really been interested……..life has become one continual repetitive motion that holds few nuggets. Boredom has set in, mind you I did manage to go for my first 10km hike last weekend with little complaint from my ankle so that’s good news. Groundhog Day is in full swing and so more than ever I need to find a way out of this rut that I have become mired in.

Travel is always good for the soul; however that requires “much money” which is in short supply the noo. Stimulating challenges are what I need right now and preferably get paid for my trouble which is easier said than done. The driving is boring me to tears, the cargo are a plague infested cacophony of sounds that I have really had enough of. This week I succumbed to a snot infestation that has left my nose bloody and raw and I need to crank the amp up to 11 just to appreciate it.

I took the week off and it was great to hibernate in my cave, the down side is that the cash flow comes to a halt when I do this. The obvious solutions are of course winning the lottery, change of scenery or a new job…………….I prefer the first option but last night’s draw was not successful for me but there were 7 lucky winners that managed to collect enough cash to keep them fed and watered for many years to come……….

I’ve been home three weeks and I’m bored to tears because I’ve spent most of that time sitting on my arse with my ankle strapped up waiting for it to heal. Three weeks on I can finally walk down the stairs without too much effort but I’m still resting it as much as possible because by the time I settle down for the evening my ankle complains a little and so I put the ankle brace back on.

I’ve cut the grass this week and walked to the local shop and today I returned to work and so I’m on the mend but I’m not doing too much to upset the healing process. However it does make me restless once again and so I’ve been thinking about my next travel adventure which I’m hoping will be either China or Morocco.

For the rest of this year I’ll also focus on repairing the retaining wall and getting the house ready for this time next year when I’m hoping that the market will have recovered and I can sell up and move on.

I’m also going to see if I can get another Chinese visa and research the possibility of another stint living there or if I can find a better job then I’ll maybe move to plan B which is to buy another house up north with the intention of renting this house out. Who knows what the future will bring but I know I’ll need to change my current trajectory.

Egypt broke me mentally,

Jordan broke me physically,

Turkey chilled me to my core,

Greece, the coffee I do adore,

And for Doha, well you were a bore…………..

Julie was kind enough to pick me up from the airport after my 14 hour flight from Doha and it was great to see a friendly face. She also got me bread and bananas for breakfast which was bloody marvellous, no need to worry about going to the shops.

The house was exactly the way I’d left it, although there were a few more cobwebs and I found one cockroach in the kitchen dead and the remains of one near the front door, so I guess the Gecko’s must have had lunch one day.

I flicked on all the power, hot water system and the aircon etc. Turned on the gas and the water and everything seemed to be back to normal. It was good to be home. The house was remarkably tidy and I guess I must thank my pre-holiday self for making sure everything was done well.

I made some tea and sat in front of the huge TV that I have in my living room, so much bigger than anything I have been used to over the past few weeks. It’s not long before my bed beckons, I went to have a shower and then realised that I had no hot water………..

No alarm but I wake around 5am and get up to the sound of the butcher bird and the magpies having their morning chat, it’s nice to hear them again. A simple breakfast is also very welcome including a nice coffee for a change. The sun is shining and as I look over the garden I’m surprised that after nearly two months away it’s not looking too bad, in fact it seems to be thriving however as usual the weeds are always one step beyond.

In the afternoon I went to see Doctor Muhammad about my ankle, he tells me that he won’t send me for an x-ray simply because it has been a few weeks since my adventure and my ankle has already begun the healing process and he is convinced that the ligament damage will repair. I buy a compression stocking and have been told to rest as much as possible for the next three weeks and I should be able to get back to business as usual, no site seeing for a while. My ankle does feel slightly uncomfortable and I think that this is due to the fact that I sat for nearly 14 hours on the flight from Doha.

Before going to see the Doc I had to see if the olde Ford would fire. I reconnected the battery and then turned the key and she burst into life and after a wee cough she was sitting quite happily spouting CO2 into the air, very happy about that.

The rest of that day is spent sitting at my desktop downloading the camera pictures, phone pictures and putting them onto storage before formatting my new phone and setting it up properly. It’s great to look back over my travels from the camera as I had no idea until now what I had captured, my only regret really is that my camera will not take pictures inside without the flash going off and so there are no real close ups of the tombs, however the pictures from the phone are still very good. My new phone, which I bought in Doha, has a 104MP camera 🙂

So now it’s just after midday Sunday, I’ve been up for only an hour and a half so I guess I’m still on another time zone ……but’s ok I have no plans and I will follow the doctor’s orders and do as little as possible for the time being.