I thought I would go to the local Vietnamese Cafe that’s recently opened and have some beef Pho, it was delicious and so was the coffee and apple strudel that followed 😋☕

Was the day I left the UK on a one way ticket to a brighter future, well that was the idea. In Scotland I had a good life, good friends but life was just standing still and there was no future on the horizon. I immigrated to Australia, I did this because I had been there 18 months earlier and thought that it was new and exciting and so very different to life as I knew it.

34 years on I’m looking to leave Australia as life is once more stagnant to me. I am going through the motions living with the noise of a country that can’t decide to move into the future. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lovely house which I have worked hard for and many friends but there is no mental stimulation here for me anymore. 34 years ago I really wish I had the balls to go to a country that was very different to my origins.

I’ve had a fairly easy life here but I’m bored and have been for many years, hence the reason why I pissed off in 2016 and of course if the dreaded plague had not arrived I would have been still wandering the planet chasing new adventures and all the time nowhere near the dreaded accents of the Australians. I’m currently working alongside a bloke that is a fine example of an Australian that completely bastardises every vowel, he’s a lovely bloke but listening to this accent all day is like having nails dragged down the chalk board.

I’ve met many other British expats over the years and have been very jealous of some that had the foresight to create a new life in a country with a different language or where the culture was vastly different from home. At 28 I was not as smart as I thought I was, in fact I would go as far as to say that I was as thick as pig shit. I drank too much and when I bumped into other Scottish folk I gravitated towards them and so all I had really done was move to a place where the sun shone most of the time.

I don’t really have any major regrets, it’s not good to have regrets but if I had any it’s that I drank too much and should have been more independent and completely avoided many of the acquaintances I made in my early days in Australia. I wonder where I would be today if I had taken the sober path earlier in my life?

Now I am approaching another fork in the road; cash in my house and buy a new cheaper one elsewhere and then travel again or I stay where I am and rent this house out and bugger off once more. I would rather stay where I am but there is the prospect of flooding happening in the future, it might not happen for another 10 years……..it might never happen again but can I take that risk? I don’t want to be in my 70’s and having to deal with all the shit of being flooded. I’m on the edge of the flood zone. If I could move my house 4 meters higher then I would stay and have no worries about the future. Many suburbs are now unable to get house insurance or if they do offer it the premiums are exorbitant.

So after 34 years I need a change and I really wish that I had made some of these decisions a decade ago. I’ve been lucky in life to meet some amazing people that have contributed to my random wanderings which have been great. I now need some new ideas and I have a few in my head, I just have to find out a bit more information before I take my next steps to the next 34 years.

Winter arrived last week with a vengeance and there was even frost on some of the cars as the sun was getting up. I still cycled to work but had to stop a couple of times to wipe the snot from me nose. With the wind chill it would have been below freezing for sure, but still managed to wear the shorts.

Last weekend Stuart and Catherine came up to help me with the old tree in the back garden. I had started to remove the lower branches last week but the rest of the tree was just too big for me to tackle on my own, plus the fact that Stuart has a bit of experience with this lumberjack nonsense. What a difference a chain saw makes.

After three or four hours the tree had been reduced to bits and pieces scattered around the garden. The yellow sawdust was everywhere and I did feel rather sorry for what we had done to the old tree, but I am sure that once spring arrives for real it will begin to grow once more.

It was a good day to fell the tree; the sun was shining and it was only around 20c and so it was easy to work in. The best part I guess is that we managed to do all this without anyone being hurt or causing any significant damage to my shed or fence.

The Indian curry we went for in the evening tasted absolutely delicious and was the perfect way to finish off a very cool winter’s day for us lumberjacks.

The next morning the sun was up and the temp was cool, another beautiful day and so we went to Boonah to have a look at the Clydesdale horse event which turned out to be very good, the highlight for me was the ice-cream and apple crumble.

On Monday it seemed as if winter had finished only after one week. The temperatures had once more increased to double figures overnight, which is a bit of a shame because I do enjoy these fresh mornings.

This past week has seen the amount of snot and mucus reach an all time high. It’s been a long time since I have coughed up a lung. This head cold hit me with a vengeance and as a result I had to buy some drugs, Codral tablets to be exact. They seem to work a lot better than I remember as they do cut down the amount of snot produced but then it reaches a consistency that makes it difficult to exit the nasal passage or throat for that matter. I can feel lumps of it caught in my throat as it clings on for dear life.

Strepsils have menthol in them and they instantly open all the apertures you need for breathing and then the snot is released in cycles of undignified guttural noises and this is when you need to have your spittoon at the ready. In fact I think a spittoon is a must in these situations.

By Friday I had run out of Codral and so I returned to the chemist to see if there were any other options because although I was feeling slightly better this cloud was still lingering and I wanted to shift it. I went for some Demazin, which had a day and night option with bright pink night tablets ready to be popped. I prepared myself by buying a vegetarian pizza which I scoffed whole heartedly, followed by several cups of tea and then a few spicy crisps and almonds to make sure I had an all round balanced diet.

I popped two pink tablets at around 9pm and wandered off to bed to get good nights sleep. I switched off the alarm and switched on a podcast. I don’t remember much of the podcast, can’t even remember what it was about. When I awoke the sun was up, which is unusual. It was 7 am and I had slept right through, but instead of feeling fan dabby dozy I was as flat as a pancake. These drugs really fuck you over.

After breakfast the snot returned, but I was feeling that the drugs had at least given its marching orders to the snot and so I decided to drop one more normal Demazin and rest my weary head once more. I woke up at 10am and after a cuppa headed out to the garden. No more drugs until it’s time for bed, these fuckers knock you out and create lethargy in spades.

I had to do a big washing because as it has rained for the last few years, it was nice to once more see the sun. The tree in the back yard has needed a trim for some time now and so began to trim the lower branches using my wonderful bow saw on a stick that I have. It effortlessly cut through the thinner branches and before you know it the amount of light reaching the ground had increased tenfold. The next time I tackle this I will need to get out the ladders and trestles but to be honest I don’t feel strong enough to tackle this at the moment and I feel that this is partly due to these Demazin drugs, they seem to suck the life force from you.

Saturday evening I retired early and took more Pink tabs, I’m not up early on Sunday so I can take it easy.

Sunday morning I got up at 8am, haven’t done that in many a long day. I won’t be taking anymore of those this week because I need to get up early in the morn and I don’t want to fight through the fog at dark o’clock.

The snot has certainly reduced, but the lumps of phlegm being launched from my throat has increased and the spittoon needs to be emptied more often which is a good thing. My body feels very weak and I have no desire to do anything, even although this is the first weekend for weeks when the sun has been shining. The wind is blowing a gale and feels very cold and the mere thought of going out there to cut the grass sends a shiver down my spine…………I’ll do it tomorrow. (Asta manyana)

So today. Sunday, I have eaten breakfast, had one Demazin, had a snooze, had tea, sat outside, ate lunch while watching TV and then had another siesta and now I am writing this which will be followed by more coffee, more eating whilst watching TV and then it will be time for bed. No doubt tomorrow I’ll wake up with the beginnings of a guilt trip for doing absolutely nothing today, however if the snot has fucked off and I can wash out the spittoon and put it back into storage I will be a happy man.

At last, Morrison is out. This evangelical puppet of the US of A, this lying cunt, condescending prick, this psychotic narcissist has finally been put to rest. He attainted the position of PM by default, not by merit. He stabbed Turnbull in the back and as the race for the new leader came down to the wire it was either him or this other maniacal nutter called Dutton, Morrison was the lesser of two evils. At the last election there was no competition and so he got back in easily, not because they wanted him but once again he was the lesser of two evils.

We need a change in this country, it’s one of the richest countries in the world and yet it manages to waste so much money on nothing of value. There always has to be a commission of some sort before common sense decisions are made. There has been no leadership in this country for years. I’m not sure if the new PM will be able to fulfil half of the promises made but you know at the end of the day he seems to be a more genuine individual that is fallible and can relate to the common man naturally without having to practice.

Morrison was only interested in one person, himself. Last week when he realised that his “bum was oot the windae”, he tried so hard to be affable when being interviewed. The crazed look of a desperate man, knowing that he was soon to be headed to the gallows. It was almost enjoyable watching him squirm but for me it was still a struggle to watch him as he writhed in his own shit. But either way I am happy that he has left the centre stage and it is also satisfying to know that he knows that it is his fault that his party lost the election, although he will never really accept that I’m sure.

There was another cat fight last night. Around 2 am I got up to go to the loo and I heard this scuffle followed by the howl of a couple of banshees giving it welly outside. This morning I found the remains of one of those cats outside the back door.

The threat of more flooding is very real. The rain has been battering down for days. I used to enjoy the sound of rain on the tin roof before I got flooded in 2011; the waters came up and over the floor boards on the second story of the house. In February of this year they had what they called a “Rain Bomb” which hung around for days and caused major flooding throughout the east coast. It was a very worrying time and brought back the fears and anxieties of 2011. Will my home be flooded once more?

You are completely helpless when this happens. There is nothing you can do to prevent the waters from reaching your home, you just have to sit and wait. Waiting is difficult and stressful. At what point do you begin to prepare and move your things to higher ground? Does it matter? The river level is currently sitting at around 10m, 16m is where it will begin to affect my garden and shed and then it will be around 17.5m or so before it would enter the bottom half of the house at which point I should be long gone.

This is the second time within 3 months that there has been a threat of flooding. Last time I spent a whole day moving the contents of my shed to higher ground before I went to stay with friends. On that occasion the water came through the shed and there was minimal damage, but the stress and fatigue it introduces is substantial. I don’t want to have to live like this for years to come.

I come from Scotland where the rain is part of life, in my 24 years living in our house in Corseford we nearly got flooded once. We had had days of rain and one of the burns up in Spateston flooded and the water just flowed down over the Beith Road, it also flooded the underpass. The houses across from us in the Cul De Sac got water through their houses but we were lucky because it stopped at the lip of the front door. Us kids thought it was great because we were out paddling and having water fights, it was a novelty for us at least. The burn that was responsible for the flooding was worked and flood mitigation was done and it never flooded again. I don’t know what the council has in store for our community, but they need to begin flood mitigation works and look to the future because this is going to be a constant threat hanging over our heads.

I can’t sell my house and buy another and stay in the area because I just don’t have the money, the only option I may have is to move to another area. I don’t really want to move, I like my house and I have put a lot of work into it over the years and I have spent close to $30,000 on it since I returned two years ago. All that work, time and effort could literally be washed away in a heartbeat and that would be hard to take. I’m insured of course but the energy and time I have put into my home will all be for nothing and I don’t know if I have the energy to rebuild. I’m not alone in this of course because there are thousands of homes currently at threat. Some communities have already been told to move to higher ground.

The rain is predicted to continue today with falls of over 100mm and it then should ease tomorrow and over the coming days, which if it comes to pass, then I should be ok. But the stress of all of this is simmering under the surface. The one unknown quantity in all of this is how much water will be released from the Wivenhoe dam; this can cause major destruction and cause the river levels to increase rapidly. Wivenhoe was designed to be a safety valve; a sump to hold the water from the Somerset dam and to control the flows being put into the rivers but their track record is not good. An 11 year court case against them, suing them for flood damage to houses in 2011, dragged out for 11 years only to have the decision go in favour of the government body which is SEQ Water. The government after all is responsible for development, for infrastructure to build a better society but corruption over many years has only lined the pockets of those in power which is no different of course to the rest of the world. The government rarely loses.

On Facebook this morning it gave me a reminder that 6 years ago it was 2.4C in the morning and dry, this is how it should be at this time of the year. Today is currently 21C and extremely wet. Climate change or is it an anomaly? Well I know that the weather patterns have certainly changed in the last 18 years that I have lived here. When I moved here there were drought conditions and water restrictions for many years. I got a water tank for the garden which is very rarely empty anymore. There is more rain and it’s warmer. I have always enjoyed the winters in Queensland because they are sunny and dry but that’s not been the case in the last two years that I have been back.

So hopefully this time all will be well but I’m not looking forward to the next time or the time after that so I think I will need to find a new place to call home.

The third long weekend in a row and it was also the weekend when Ipswich had their local Planes, Trains and Automobiles show. It’s usually free for locals but this year there was a token $6 charge which I thought was OK. Getting parked was as usual a challenge. The sun was shining and it was close to 30c on this lovely Autumn day.

I’ve been to a few of these open days and I quite enjoy them, although there were way too many people. I don’t enjoy crowds much.

I escaped through to the quieter repair shops and workshops where you can find trains and carriages in different states of repair and the workshop is also full of many old machines, many of which are from the UK.

I stayed for about an hour and then struggled through the traffic and picked up a pizza for lunch on the way home.

The rain came on Sunday and so it was a fairly quiet day, although I did manage to get a walk in after breakfast.

Monday morning the sun was shining and I decided to get the trestles set up so that I could start on power washing the front of the house because it was slowly turning green from the current white. The wooden trestles were surprising easy to move and erect, I had been worried because when I picked them up they seemed so heavy. This time I opened them slightly and stood in the middle of them and found the fulcrum point and managed to lift and move them ok. Standing them up took a bit of an effort, getting them level and secure before I placed my new 6 metre plank on the top. After about 40 mins I was ready to get cracking, it was good to finally get this started as I’m looking forward to changing the colour of the top half of the house.

About 2.30 I called it a day and headed to the hammock and stayed there for about an hour listening to music on random.

The days are becoming cooler which makes it easier to function out in the garden, although the UV is still extreme. I’ve fixed the burst pipe and fixed up the path and I’m continuing to sieve the gravel so that I can recycle it before I get some mulch. I need to rearrange things a little bit. I went to the markets this morn and picked up a few more succulents for a new garden bed which I’ve created.

The other day, just up the street, a band of tree loppers arrived on site to take down a huge tree. I’m not sure of its height but it must have been over 30 m in height. They started at around 8am and finished around 4 pm, but they had to come back the next morning to tidy up some of the larger branches. I’ll need to cut down the tree in my backyard in a month’s time or so, it’s around 7 m tall but it will still be quite daunting to tackle it as I don’t have any fancy equipment like those professionals.

Last weekend was Easter and so it was a four day week, which was my first week driving a fixed school run with Sunshine Buses. It’s good that I can cycle to and from the job which allows me to get a few more rides in on the bike.

I also managed to pick up a 6 m aluminium plank to go with my two trestles which will now allow me to start on the house painting; I’m hoping to start within the month after I’ve finished the top half of the garden.

I haven’t done a great deal over the last two weeks, apart from a bit of work I’ve worked in the garden and finished another book, Ben Elton’s book “Blind Faith” is brilliant…….definitely worth a read.

Sunday morning and the sun is up and the day is cool, great day for a wee jaunt on the bike. Now that the temperature has dropped it’s a lot better for the bike and it’s easier to push through when it gets a bit difficult.

Today I did a circuit that I’ve done a few times and it was good today it was quiet, Sunday is the best day to go out on the bike because the traffic is light.