A progress report from home
I must be getting better as I'm getting very cross at the speed, or lack of it, of this computer. But after four days of feeling nauseous and having rampant diarrhoea I think I'm entitled to be crosss. I think I'll just switch off and try again later.
P. had a rostered day off so in between burrowing away on A. Nauthor, I went into town with him while he bought a digital camera at Michael's Camera Store. It all went well, though as he said last night, I'll probably arrive back from Sydney to find a frazzled little heap of ash from trying to make it work. He spent some of the arvo poring over the instruction booklet, but I'm sure he will have mastered it by the time I get home. It is ten days after all. He wants to be proficient before we go to Newstead at Easter, then there's Bali in June. Lots of happy digital snaps.
While in town I got some Haig's chokkies for the Nowra mob, which is a bit of a copout, but everyone likes chocolate, don't they?
This evening we went to the local Retreat Hotel for a bar meal, which was excellent. Pierre had grilled trevally, and I had schnitzel of a very superior kind. What was remarkable were the salads which were exceptionally good, as were the chips. Delicious! We haven't been there nearly enough, as it's just at the end of the street.
Nearly packed and prepared to head off tomorrow for Nowra and parts beyond.
Last night, P. and I went to a meeting called at the local pub. to discuss parking. Three of our councillors were present as local folk aired their grievances which focussed around the parking problems caused by Computershare which has 1,000 employees, many of whom have cars. That's a lot of cars. Also, there seem to be many people parking near the football ground, then catching the train or biking to town. The upshot is a chronic shortage of parking during the day. The obvious solution is having residents' parking permits, but the dilemma is how to get them. The process requires an extraordinary proportion of signatures from the residents and surrounding businesses. Or a yearlong parking and traffic study. The problem is now. It seems as though the councillors, who are onside, are being snowed by the council officers. So: the usual protests, petitions and rounds of public meetings are called for.
Meanwhile, A. Nauthor visited in the afternoon, after his overseas visit. We discussed how things were going and resolved a few queries. I still have to finish entering the corrections and give it one more run through.
This morning I went to the health centre for medicaments, and a scrip from a new doctor, Dr Sara. In the arvo, I dropped in to see Sally whose nose is repairing after surgery.
Tonight P. cooked delicious pork chops (I had made apple sauce earlier on today) with roasted potatoes, rosemary and garlic, and beans with tomato. Yum!
I'm gradually getting used to the idea of heading off to Sydney on Thursday.
It was as usual, a feast at Abla's on Friday night. Elisabeth's friend, Kathleen, who it turns out is one of our councillors, is vegetarian, so every time there was a meat course, Abla produced a veggie alternative for her. We finished up stuffed like dumplings but very well satisfied.
On Saturday, Elisabeth went off to shop till she dropped, and she did. A jacket and a suit later she arrived home, after we had gone with Frank to Brunswick for our regular Continental Deli shop to get bulk olive oil, pasta and cheese. After Elisabeth caught the plane back to Sydney, Frank came to dinner, and Peter made a very nice chicken stirfry (with broccoli and a soy honey sauce). Fresh fruit and berries for dessert with creme fraiche and ice cream rounded off the meal. (The stirfry was for the chlorestorol, the dessert was for reward).
Today, after brunch, we met my olds at the Bundoora Homestead art gallery for an exhibition of pottery from the old Preston pottery. It was very gumnut and koala, very, well shall we say, unusual, different. But you see nothing like it in these days of the international look. Fashionable pottery looks the same worldwide, whereas this stuff was very clearly local. What has happened?
A. Nauthor is back, so I'll meet him in the next couple of days as I start to focus on Sydney.
Have been listening to Elisabeth today as she does her Melbourne gigs to publicise her book, about lousy, lowpaid jobs. She seems to be doing a good job of it. Meanwhile a letter arrived from Melbourne Uni. giving a knockback for their job. It is, as these things are, very non-specific, so I'm quite unsure why I didn't get it. Never mind! though any rejection is disappointing, perhaps it's for the best. I did have reservations about the job, but also felt that it was well-suited to me and vice-versa. Twill be interesting to see who got it.
So, back to the drawing board. I guess I'll have to have a long hard think about what I really want to do apart from entering A. Nauthor's corrections on the computer, a computer which is playing up a bit. I think a new one is in the offing.
It's been a fairly homey few days: mainly working away on A. Nauthor. I'm starting entering the changes today on the computer which will be tedious but rewarding, I hope. Only outings have been to the Writers' Festival, where Simon and I did a double act as no one else turned up. We need new members on the programming committee, as I missed the previous meeting and only Louise turned up. I've got a swag of books to look at though. Some good, some dreadful. The other 'outing' was to the health centre to drop P. off for a medical certificate, and to collect pills for me. Also trying to clear the frig, as we overbought last week, and have been ploughing through leftover chilli con carne and shepherd's pie. Nearly done, and we can get onto the new stuff, which fortunately we froze. But tonight won't help as we are off for a pigout at Abla's with Elisabeth W. who is in town, I hope, promoting her new book, Dirt Cheap.
Well, nearly. Today was a visit to the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic, and after a very long wait, two and a half hours, in which I finished a whole novel, I saw a surgeon from the Peter Mac days. He seemed pleased to see me alive, and said they had been discussing me yesterday, as they had a similar case. I said that the wisdom of hindsight was wonderful. He said that was the principle they work on. The problem is everyone is different. Anyway, my simulacrum (? I sound like Kim Beazley) is to have radiotherapy. I hope they don't die of it, like I nearly did.
The upshot is that he is quite pleased with my progress. Back in two months. And he was very interested in Ubud when I said the next appointment would be just before our trip to Bali and the Hotel Tjampuhan.
Home for a very good shepherd's pie from the leftover lamb.
Live in a two storey house with Peter, work as a freelance editor and like good food! I'm not an Aries as the computer says but Aquarius. I'm a Pig not a Rat. Peter is an Aries.
