Monthly Archives: August 2012

Still here!

Ooops, sorry for the break in transmission. Normal service is being resumed.

Well, it happened again. Another ride in one of those green and white buses with the sirens last Tuesday, to Joondalup Hospital this time. Tuesday afternoon I was actually sound asleep (for my nap) when I was woken at 3pm by chaotic heartbeat, chest pain and pounding in my ears. I used GTN spray but it didn’t seem to help, so sat up and waited. Bit of pain in my neck and jaw, and my arms were aching too.

I can tell you, when you think you’re having a heart attack, it’s an awful feeling. I was thinking, “Is this it? Is this the end of my life? What if I collapse? My phone is out of reach.” So more GTN spray, but it didn’t help.

So I got up and went to the bathroom for a Disprin, then slumped down in the chair. I grazed my right leg on the chair as I did, and it started bleeding and wouldn’t stop. It dripped onto my nice new carpet. I spent the next few minutes arranging a band aid and wiping up.

After 45 mins the pain had eased a bit, but was still there, so I finally called 000. Tonya came over and helped me pack things, and the ambos were here shortly after. By this time the pain had eased but they measured my heart rate at 130bpm and I was very breathless.

So off we went. One of the paramedics, Kyle, had seen my cameras and lenses and is  a Sony NEX-5 owner, just setting out on the photography journey, so we had a good long chat. Again, I asked about genuine vs false calls to 000 and he said, yes, there is a real trend for people to call an ambulance for anything now, headaches, colds, flu, drunkenness etc. Again, he reassured me that I was fully justified in my call.

This time I was taken to Joondalup Hospital and so began 8.5 hours in the Emergency Department. It was both good and bad. Good because I was attended by a particularly excellent doctor who introduced himself only as Abdul. I commend this guy. He was very thorough, let me speak, and above all didn’t talk down to me. He spoke of lipodermatosclerosis and the dose of one of my drugs being at a homeopathic level. No problem. I understood.

He also turned out to be a computer builder, so we had plenty to talk about and he gave the impression he had the time to talk to me. I warmed to him and I intend to write a letter of commendation.

However, you try lying on an ED bed for 8 and a half hours. By midnight I was so tired and so tired of being ignored that I got stroppy as usual and was seriously considering walking out on my own recognisance. Every doctor or nurse said “I’ll be right back” but wouldn’t show again for an hour or more. My legs and feet were more of a worry and although I could sit on the edge of the bed, I could see my feet getting darker and darker as the blood pooled down there. Abdul was worried about DVTs and said I should get an ultrasound asap, as an emergency next day.

There’s too much to write but at 1.15am I was finally taken to the Coronary Care Unit upstairs and at 2am I could finally settle down. My troponine enzyme reading had gone a bit high, which indicated potential heart damage, so I was stuck there for a couple of days. Great care, but boy, you have to watch out for wrong medication interpretations. Even though I provided a printed list, I was still getting misunderstandings and obsessing about missing Ostelin and Ferro Gradumet tablets. These are vitamin D and iron over-the-counter items, not important, but I was constantly being queried about them.

Anyway, they’ve switched me away from Sotoacor to Amiodarone for my arrhythmias, so we’ll see what happens now. They also inject stuff called Klexane into my stomach, to thin the blood, but it makes me bleed! Even the site of one of the injections is a mess, two days later.

Finally, at about 2.30pm, I was sitting in the hospital reception awaiting Barry when I noticed blood running down my right leg. It had burst the dressing and wouldn’t stop. After an initially unsympathetic response from the desk, a nurse came down and wheeled me across to the emergency department again, where I saw the poorer side of A&E for the first time. Phew! is all I can say. Lots of lower level people, shall we say.

Anyway, after about 30mins of waiting, I was taken in and my “wound” cleaned up and re-dressed. I was also given a tetanus injection. Why? Graze from metal chair, I was told. No problem. More than 5 years since the last one anyway.

So Barry took me home via the coastal scenic route on a beautiful afternoon on Thursday and all was right with the world again. Minnie was very glad to see me. The tail was going strong. She knows when I’ve been away.

But the AF continues strongly at home. I’m assured it’s not dangerous, but it’s very uncomfortable and disconcerting. Breathlessness and a bit of dizziness. I shall know more after I see the cardiologist in 10 days.

Yesterday I acted on the “emergency” leg ultrasound request and after a dash up to Merriwa to get a referral, I attended the Innaloo Western Radiology clinic.

Amazingly, the sonographer, who I never got to see, determined that the referral was not an emergency and has rescheduled me for next Friday, a week away. I should have stamped my foot, but I was having lots of AF and feeling breathless and dizzy so I just left. I’ll be seeing my other GP on Sunday to sort it out. Seems amazing that a sonographer should countermand a doctor’s referral for an immediate check.

It just makes it more urgent to make the move to St Ives, I think. They have call buttons in the villas and you’re not far from help.

Jayzuz, I never thought I’d get to this stage so soon. I’m only 65 going on 40. It sort of puts paid to travel ideas. Although there have been costs for all this treatment, it’s not huge. But if I were in Bali or Europe, I’d be a bit more scared, I think.

Guard your health.

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And the beat goes on …

18 August 12 – it’s being a bit slow. In 2008 it had fully bloomed by 1 August.
Well, that was fun. I’ve just had 2 1/2 days in Hollywood Private Hospital having my heart probed again. No problem, all’s well. Actually, possibly not entirely well, otherwise I may not be having these turns, but there are no obvious things to be fixed. However, it could be my medication. See further down.
On Wednesday evening about 6pm my heart started doing its usual war dance – fibrillations and chaotic beating. Trouble was, it was a bit worse than usual and I felt very breathless, leaning against the door frames, feeling quite distressed. It was also hurting in the centre of my chest quite badly. Nowhere else, no radiating pains.
I did my usual thing of using GTN spray and after a few minutes it eased up, but I was feelin’ pretty bad and called 000. I also called Tonya next door to help with Minnie and luckily Emily was home, so she zoomed straight over. The ambo guys arrived and they know Em, so a nice little party atmosphere developed, except I wasn’t much fun.
They hooked me up and said straight away there was normal sinus rhythm, so the drama was all over, but I don’t mind admitting I was in floods of tears because I just felt very, very tired, as well as being tired of this happening. Literally sick and tired of it.
I keep a bag marked I.C.E. for this very reason – it contains changes of jocks, T-shirts, teeth kit, combs, soap, nasal decongestant, and most importantly, my previous scans and angio results. It just needed my CPAP machine packing up, which Tonya did, and needing to  grab all my medications in their original boxes! The hospital won’t accept my daily pill box. They want the actual scripts and the original packaging, so that took up another bag.  Yesssir, three bags full.
They let me walk out to the ambulance and I climbed in. I made the usual comment about feeling like a fraud and they must be busy? The medic said, “Actually, sir, you’re the first genuine call we’ve had in two days. All the others have been spurious, like someone just being drunk or feeling a bit stupid.”
First to Charlies and two hours of boredom, blood tests and X-ray. Result: no heart attack. Amazing how uncomfortable it is lying on your back.
Then back to the ambulance and across to HPH, where the only bed available was in the ICU. No complaints though, terrific service.
Eventually, about 1am, I was able to settle down for some sleep. I’d had no dinner, so I was quite hungry, but there was no food available. Too bad.
Unfortunately, my CPAP tube was full of water, so I got a blast of water in my face when I started it up! Some water also seemed to have got into the electronics, too, so it kept stopping and giving an error message. Panic! I need that machine. I kept at it, going through the menus and resetting it, and eventually it settled down.
Even more annoying, I couldn’t find my nasal spray, and I asked if the ward had some. Nope. OK, what about some saline in a spray bottle? Nope. It seemed an impossible request, that a hospital would have a small sprayer! Not too impressed with that.
So I had to go the night with a blocked up nose on CPAP. It’s not easy. I turned the humidifier up so the air was moist and awoke in the morning feeling OK, but not as good as usual.
Then, rummaging through my I.C.E. bag, there I found two bottles of decongestant. They were there all along. Booger.
Next morning, more waiting, waiting, waiting in ICU. Another X-ray, where I noted that the machine’s alignment window was canted at about 10deg when lined up on me. I said, “Am I tilted or twisted?” and he said, yes, a bit. So even when I think I’m sitting straight, I’m tilted to the right. Spine curvature? Yes, please.
Then about 2pm (Thursday) news of an angiogram about 1030am tomorrow (Friday). But they need an echocardiogram first.
The nurse phones the echo dept. Hello? “Hello?” (It is an echo department … ) “Yes, we can fit him in tomorrow afternoon.” But that’s after the angio! “Oh, er, OK.” Well, how about now?  OK, so she comes right over, bringing the portable machine.
I get the jelly applied and presto, I’m watching my heart beating. Wow! It is an amazing experience. She can zoom in and actually show the chambers, just as they appear in diagrams. She turns the sound on and there it is, lub dub, lub dub, lub dub.  I’m thinking, I know I can speed my heart up — I wonder if I can slow it down, but I can’t right then.
I  say to the sonographer, “Wow, I can see the baby’s head. Can you tell me the sex?”
She finishes up and says, “I’m not supposed to tell you, but it looks fine.” Nice feeling.
Then finally, I’m moved upstairs (er, in a lift, of course) to a proper bed in a proper ward. Beautiful afternoon light, digital TV, my own shower/bathroom (only shared in ICU). Comfort!
I realise, after I washed my CPAP mask downstairs, I left the head strap in the bathroom. I walk to the nurses’ station and with the mask in my hand, ask if they can phone down and have someone find the strap and bring it up.
The nurse on the phone says, “Mr Croft has left his CPAP mask in the bathroom.” NO I HAVEN’T! Here it is in my hand. It’s the strap I want.  “Oh, er, he wants the blue strap.” Well, glad we sorted that out.
They’ve locked all my medications away from me, of course. By 6.30pm, my feet are aching, stinging and burning, my leg is itching like mad and my arse is very painful (inflammation etc). I look for my Panadeine in my bag. It’s gone, locked away!!! I get upset, I don’t mind saying. I’m in pain. I realise, when I think about it, that I actually have chronic pain, every day. I just hadn’t thought about it before, but no wonder I get irritable sometimes. Eventually, I’m allowed to take a two Panadeine and it eases off.
Delicious dinner. I don’t mind hospital food one bit. It’s excellent, better than I usually get.
By 8.30pm I’m zonked and say I’m going to turn in. “Oh, the doctor will be coming around soon.” OK, I’ll hang on. I try to stay awake but by 9.30 I can’t stay awake and roll over to sleep.
At 10pm the full room light is switched oer up so the air have to do yourwoke in the morning feeling OK, t annoyed.
Then, rummaging through my I.C.E. bag, there I found two bottles of my spray. They were there all along. Booger.
[A whole section of my writing today has been lost here due to bugs in Google Blogger! I’ll try to replace it later.]
On Friday morning I was fasting for the operation and by 0930 I was really desperate for carbs. I was tense, irritable, cranky, upset and dehydrated, just as I am when I go too long without food.
I asked the nurse for a lozenge to suck on, explaining how bad I was feeling. She didn’t care one bit! She measured my blood sugar – it was normal, so that was it as far as she was concerned.
“Now, Mr Croft, I think you’re just getting your knickers in a twist. Just take some slow deep breaths and calm down.” And that was that. That’s all she was prepared to do or say.
After another hour the crisis had passed but I was drooping and half asleep. This is what happens when I can’t have food. In hindsight, I think it’s carbohydrate craving, but I need to investigate further.
However, although I have the highest regard for nurses, this particular one was the worst, least co-operative, coldest, most unsympathetic I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I’m going to make a written complaint about her. I actually think she may be near retirement, but I’ll say I will refuse to have her tend me again. She just ignored anything I had to say. I was furious.
So finally, at 11am, I was wheeled down to the CCU, the Cardio Catheter Unit. Brrrr, cold! I was parked and given a hot blanket, and tended by Clare, a vision of loveliness. These cardio nurses are my kinda woman!
Finally, about 11:30am, I’m in and struggling to slide myself over onto the narrow operating table without falling. I’m too big for them to risk trying to lift me. But eventually I got there, feeling desperately with my right hand for something to grab onto to pull myself across. There’s nothing to grab onto! I got there.
Cold!! It’s like a morgue in there. They whip the covers off and smear cold Betadine all over my arm and groin. No false modesty in there – you’re exposed. Too bad. I had asked several times for something for anxiety, but as far as I can tell, I got nothing – I suppose I calmed down but I don’t mind admitting, I felt pretty nervous.
Then this guy in huge black rimmed glasses comes sweeping in and it takes me a while to realise it’s the doc himself wearing safety glasses. He says nothing to me. We’ve only met very briefly in the corridor. He takes my right arm and starts twisting and pressing it down to an angle where he wants it, but it’s unnatural and under pressure. They tie it down with tape but the tape keeps breaking. They pack sheets under it to lift it, but it still feels twisted. Too bad.
Then he says, “OK, this’ll sting a bit.” and it does! Ow! It’s the local anaesthetic, but boy, it hurts. I start to feel a little drowsy and a bit more relaxed, but still well aware. He works fast, no time for chit-chat. If I’d said, “Who you barracking for this weekend?” I doubt he’d have answered me. Total concentration.
Lots of presses on my right arm, but no other feeling, except a bit of chest pain from time to time and extra beats. I report any chest pains. At one point, I say, “I feel as if I want to cough.” He says, “OK, but please don’t.” It goes away.  Lights go up and down, the X-ray head moves around robotically, I can’t see the screens unfortunately. The heart pains are quite strong at times, but stop immediately after. I cry out once as it hurts a bit, but it stops.
Finally, I get an incredibly warm feeling in my ears, then immediately afterwards in my balls! It last about 10 seconds. I laugh and tell him but get no answer. I think that’s the contrast dye injection, right near the end.
Then after about 15-20 mins, it’s over. I’m asked to get off the table and stand up, move to the bed and lie down again. They wheel me back out into the corridor where I’m left alone, with a transparent plastic pressure device pressing hard over the wound in my right arm. I’m given an empty plastic syringe to hold in my left hand and asked to hang on to it. I bet this device costs a bomb! Anything medical …
The pressure wound closure device. Dead simple – made in Japan.
 The surgeon comes by briefly and says, reassuringly, “It all looked good. Your stents look fine. I didn’t see any other problems. Come and see me in about 4 weeks.” I say what about our appointment next Tuesday? No, don’t worry about that one, four weeks. And yes, stay on the lower dose of Sotalol (as I had said I want to try).
NB: he had said 240mg of Sotalol is quite a high dose. Well, that’s the opposite of what my previous doctor told me. He’d said 240mg was quite a low dose and he’d had “elderly women on much higher doses than I’m giving you”. I remember this clearly in his office at Northcourt, Karrinyup. (He’s retired now.)
What??!!  Who do I believe? Is it possible I’ve been given a bum steer for the past 6-9 years? The side effects of Sotalol are quite bad – it can cause arrhythmias, the very thing it’s meant to relieve. Other effects are:
  • tiredness (YES!)
  • tachycardias (yes)
  • shortness of breath (yes)
  • unexplained rash (yes)
  • hives (yes)
  • itching (YES!)
  • unexplained swelling (yes)
  • wheezing (yes)
  • fatigue (yes)
  • chest pain (yes)
  • palpitations (yes)
  • general weakness (YES!)
  • water retention or swelling (yes)
  • diahorrea (yes, to a lesser extent)
  • arm or leg pain (yes)
  • sleep problems (yes)
  • new or worsened arrhythmia (yes)
I’m getting all these things! (I’ve left out the ones I don’t get such as nausea/vomiting; lung problems, etc.)
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Back to the story, briefly — I’m left alone in the corridor, ignored for half an hour; needing a piss; finally, when I started waving and shouting, the Dragom (sic – I’ll explain later) arrives and I’m wheeled back to the ward.
She commands me to lie still and not move my arm. Er, too late, lady, no-one told me, no-one paid me any attention, I’ve already been lifting it to look and waving it around.
It’s now 1.30pm and I still haven’t been able to eat or drink. I ask for some sandwiches and am firmly told, “When I’ve done my observations.”  i.e. No, not yet, you’ll have to wait.
Five minutes later, a tray arrives with my lunch, but it’s sit up food. I ask the nurse Dragom to pass me the brown bread roll, at least. She ignores me! She doesn’t answer me. I ask for water. She ignores me. When she’s ready! She just goes on writing. It doesn’t matter what I say, she doesn’t pay me any attention.
I’m getting really stroppy now, but finally, she gets me a glass of water and a straw. I drain the glass.
Thank goodness, at 2pm she goes off shift and Natalie takes over. What a difference! I’m practically in tears of gratitude. She is so much easier to deal with. She gets me sandwiches and passes me the roll, which finally quells my cravings.
At about 3pm I’m allowed to sit up and I can finally go for a pee. I’m told I can go home at 4pm so I phone Barry and great guy he is, he arrives and takes me home on a glorious sunny afternoon. Beers are consumed!
So, that was the saga. Dragom is an anagram of the dragon lady nurse’s name, and I am going to complain. This was unacceptable treatment.
So good to be home and with a hope that I may be able to sort out this awful drug. Can it be possible that it has been causing me all these problems of fatigue and itching and heart problems???
I am suffering from iatrogenic effects. Problems caused by medical treatment. Not just this, in other ways, too. I’m gradually coming to realise this and gradually beginning to sort it all out. But I have suffered.
Boy, have I suffered. In the hospital, I started to make a timeline going back to 1990. I have been going through hell for nearly 20 years. Maybe I can see an end to the suffering at last and a chance to get my life back. Getting there …

This is the end!

Two events have happened today that make me realise that I cannot continue with certain associations..

The first is with Google Blogger. An entire post, two hours work, has disappeared from Blogger, and I don’t see any way to retrieve it.

Oh well, too bad. I’ve moved here to Word Press and that’s the end of my postings on Google.

The other realisation is that a close personal relationship is also gone. Lost. Damaged beyond repair. There is no understanding, no way of making the modules talk together. Like software, the modules are incompatible. They  cannot communicate. Black is white, white is black. Hands outstretched, poles apart, no common ground, incompatible code.

I don’t think there is any possibility of restoration and I don’t feel like going through the pain and sheer grind of trying.

Too bad. Not interested. I’ve moved this to the outer and I’m moving on.

In the past 20 years I’ve developed a hard, impervious outer shell. No-one gets through unless I allow it. I have closed the gate, locked and bolted it and that’s it. I control who enters and I shove people who hurt me outside.

I simply no longer care. I am moving on to the rest of my life and I simply have no feelings any more for people who hurt me. End of story. I honestly don’t care. I have learnt the hard way to be this way. Do not get close to people, do not let people get close to me. Especially females. Not a chance.

Ah well, luckily I have lots of new things to do and I’ve made some terrific new friends recently, and rekindled some old friendships. That’s all I need. I am confident of my integrity. That’s all I need.

So if you don’t hear from me, that’s it. Don’t call me. I won’t call you.

Australian Management?

15 August 2012 – my tree has not yet popped into flower.    In 2008 it bloomed around 1st August. Is it the dry weather?
Oh this buggy Blogger! I didn’t deliberately shift the picture. It did it all by itself. Duh!
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OK, I sent complaints to both Coles and Woolworths Supermarkets showing the items below, and neither has responded today. So much for their web site complaints forms.
My next step will be to contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), and to post on the CHOICE web site. Standby.
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Today I also escalated a dispute with CamerasDirect.com.au (Gold Coast address) to the Queensland Dept of Fair Trading. I bought a monopod from them a couple of weeks ago and when it arrived, it’s faulty. $135 worth. I believe they’ve sent me an old shop model which someone else has used but rejected. It has scratch marks and simply won’t work in the way it should.
I’ve sent them five emails and made two phone calls in the past 10 days, but all I get is either silence or an answering machine. I have had one email response, but only to say their warranty department would get back to me. Of course, they didn’t.
This isn’t a shonky mob. I actually bought my Canon HD camcorder from them in 2008 and went there to collect it, so I know they exist. I’ve bought from them before and had a good relationship, but boy, something’s gone wrong this time.
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Today, with Bazza’s negotiating skills, I’ve also written a letter to Carpet Call saying, “Not satisfied! You don’t get off this lightly. I want financial compensation for the hell you put me through.”
On Barry’s advice, I’ve asked that it be dealt with at senior management level because this is a serious matter, and I want a written response. We’ll see what happens now.
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I’m also expecting a phone call from Texas, USA, at 8am tomorrow morning, to validate my Photodex ProShow software. Even though I have a fully paid copy, even though I have a serial number, even though I have been a paid user since they first developed it about 6 years ago, I still have to validate it by connecting on the internet to their server.
But my desktop PC cannot connect to the internet and never will. Therefore I cannot use the software! I get very terse. I have complained from my laptop and they’ve said they’ll phone me, but only during their working hours. Luckily 8am here is 5pm in Texas, so I expect a call. They’d better.
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Finally, here’s Minnie! She’s fine and smiling.

This is a salad?

See those two little blobs? That is the bocconcini cheese you get in a Woolies salad for $6.98!
Hah! Little did I know that the bocconcini salad would contain just two, tiny pieces of bocconcini cheese!
Woolies is being informed.

Coles for Kids

Coles’s idea of Kids’ DVDs
Oh yeah, nearly forgot. This is Coles Supermarket at Innaloo last Thursday 9 August.
Coles’s idea of DVDs suitable for kids includes Shutter Island rated MA 15+, Gladiator rated R, and Atonement rated R.  There may be others but I can’t read the labels.
I think Coles is going to hear more about this. (Taken with my iPod Touch).

Woolies joins in the deceptions too

Woolies attempted deception  14 August 2012
Not to be outdone, Woolies got me again today.
In the photo above, notice the WOW SALAD BOCONCCINI (sic) TOMATO & BASIL 300G? It scanned at $6.98, even though it’s clearly marked down to $5.58.
(Also note that they can’t even spell their own product name properly. Look at the tub label, bocconcini, which is correct.)
I am tired of this. To get it fixed, I have to go back to Karrinyup and stand at the counter. I don’t want to do this! I have no reason to go back for a week or more.
I cannot go through a scanning checkout these days without catching at least one of these attempted scams, be it Woolies, Coles or IGA.  I think it’s time to go to the ACCC and demand that scanning “errors” be stopped.
Additionally, it used to be that if you found a scanning error, you got the item free. Not any more! They stopped that years ago. Too many payouts I reckon — too many errors.
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I was pleased to hear about the Facebook rant today about Target children’s clothing. A woman posted her anger at Target making “trashy” clothing for 7-14 year olds.
I don’t care about that, but I do care about K-Mart’s DRAB clothing. In men’s clothing, you can have any shade of drab you like, as long as it’s black, purple, green, turquoise, military camouflage or grey.
But the overwhelming impression in K-Mart men’s is DRAB. It looks awful! Cheap, but rubbish.
Bali, by contrast has magnificent men’s clothing. I can’t find anything I like here, but up there I am in clothing heaven. The only problem is, 4XL is not a common size in Bali!
I think it’s time I started telling these local waster shops that they can take their drab and stuff it. No wonder retail business in Australia is bad. These guys can’t sell to save their lives.

Coles deceptions

I have just sent this to Coles corporate web site as a complaint:

You BASTARDS. Congratulations – you’ve tricked me again!
On Thursday 9 August I bought two packets of Birds Eye Wok Ready 750g meals BECAUSE THEY WERE SHOWN AS ON SPECIAL AT $4.99 each.
They scanned at $9.99 each. I didn’t notice until I got home and being aged 65 and with poor mobility, I have been unable to go back and SHOUT AT the poor bloody shop people.
I realise now that only one of the few varieties of Wok Ready flavours was on special.
Congratulations! You’ve deceived your customer once again.
This is happening more and more – deceptive pricing on shelves.
Even when I try to look closely, I STILL get caught! My eyesight is deteriorating but your fine print is deliberately designed to catch us out. BASTARDS.
On the same trip, I managed to catch another of your deceptions. I bought an item marked with a yellow SPECIAL tag at $5.81, only to have it scan at $21.40!! Luckily I caught it and rejected it in time. But I was embarrassed because it was an item of makeup and I didn’t like being seen buying it.
This is happening over and over again. I have to pay careful attention to what the tags actually refer to, and since they are often low down (yeah, low down!) I can hardly read them. It’s deliberate deception!
I will no longer willingly shop at Coles. I am fed up. You are predatory, deceiving bastards. I take every opportunity to highlight this, including on-line on my blog.
Damn you.
I have the receipt, but there’s no way to attach it. How convenient.
Therefore I’m going to post this on my blog for the world to read.

Word salad

Um, mesclun, methinks
I’ve just eaten some more of the Mescalin salad leaves as featured with my name in today’s Inside Cover in the West Australian.
I submitted this item last Friday and they phoned me twice, Friday and Saturday, to double check my identity and ask questions about the item before publication.
As the New York Times writer said, “If your mother calls to say she loves you, get another source.”
I debated whether to phone the company before I dobbed them in, but if they’re too lazy to use a dictionary or the web to check before they get their packaging made, they deserve a rocket (boom, boom).
In fact, I’m pretty disgusted with the quality of the WA made salads I buy at IGA. They are made from the tough, leathery outer leaves of lettuces, sometimes containing as few as two baby tomatoes, with old, tough capsicum slices and in the Caesar Salads, rubbishy, dry, counterfeit bacon chips and flavourless croutons. All at $8!
We are being served crap at high prices! It’s time we jacked up, as Japanese consumers do. Don’t accept this rubbish. Complain.

Good day

Blossom start August 2012
What a nice day. I got up at 4am and watched the whole of the Olympics Closing Ceremony. 
Wow! With the sound up high, it rocked. What a change in technology. Hi def digital vision, digital audio, LCD screen, LED lighting all over the stadium, radio mics everywhere, hand held cameras, flying cameras, chopper shots, flawless stadium sound, huge stadium screens … it’s hard to imagine how it could get better. This is so far ahead of 2000 and the 1990s. I think it even surpassed Beijing in 2008.
I posted a comment on the Guardian’s newspaper web site:

 Congratulations, you Pommy bastards. Top job, top show. I got up at 4am and watched all of the closing. It was great!

I admit I was a doubter. All those pre-games troubles had me worried, but it was all right on the night. Even the weather played the game.

Well done, from a proud Aussie. Proud of my English heritage, even from 7 generations ago, and proud to be an Aussie as well. Geez, I’m gettin’ a bit emotional.

If only I could summon the cash and the strength to come to London now. I bet the atmosphere will be fabulous for the next few months. Ya never know, ya might see me in my shorts and T shirt yet. Say G’day if you do.

This got 31 Likes (recommendations)

Then at about 7am I went for a walk along my street to the corner and back. I must admit, I don’t do it anymore so this was a bit hard. But I did it, and more importantly, Minnie followed me! She’s still capable of walking to the corner and back, and I’m sure she loved it.

Crumbs, I’ve got to do it more!

As well, it was a nice, fine day and my almond tree is on the point of bursting into flower. And North Beach/Trigg is the top performing suburb in real estate values for June.