I’ll be offline for the next week or so (not that I’ve been saying much anyway). Things are a bit hard at the moment and I need professional help.

I’ll be saying goodbye for the last time to Minnie tomorrow morning. It has to be done, but it’s hard, very hard.

I made my first outing with the Butler Walking Group this morning. I’m embarrassed to say I only got about a third of the way to the destination and had to turn around and go back to the start. I’ve just looked at Google Earth and the destination was the site of the new Butler train station, 2.4Km round trip. The group soon went way ahead, one 6′ woman in particular striding out. I made it to 0.7Km and the lady walking with me could see I was struggling so said, “Let’s go back.” Still, I walked 1.38Km non-stop at quite a fast pace, so it wasn’t wasted. My thighs tightened up, which shows they were used.

The lady with me was Doreen, the organiser of the group, and she’s very nice. There are nearly 20 of us, all oldies like me, many much older. We had a nice coffee afterwards. They’ve told me of an Over 50s group too, so I’ll follow that up.

I’ll try to do that walk later this week at my own pace, just to see if I can do it with rest stops.

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I knew the Butler station was coming along, but apparently there’s going to be a big shopping centre there too, with Woolies and Big W. That’s OK with me.

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Having a hard time at the moment. The effect of the medication I’m on lessens and I’m having to use all the relaxation techniques I know. I see the doc at 5pm today – I hope to switch to more effective stuff. The walking helps, but it wears off.

Yes, I’ve been a bit quiet recently, sorry. That black dog is still circling, and baring his teeth, which is making me very nervous, anxious. Hard getting to sleep too, although once I am asleep, (after 1 – 2 hours trying), I sleep well.

Exercise helps, and I’ve discovered the Butler Walking Group. Mondays at 9am at the community centre. That’s 850m away, and I’ve done the walk there to check. Had a brekky with friends this morning, but next Monday I’ll be there.

My legs have really come back. It’s those beach stairs that have done it. I did four ascents last Monday! In March, I was battling to do one, with my stick. I don’t use the stick any more. I can enjoy walking again. I’ve also lost more than 10Kg over the past year, which helps.

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I bought seven items of IKEA furniture last Thursday, too. All storage stuff like bedside cabinets, chests of drawers (2), sideboard, wall glass cabinet and so on.

I went to IKEA today to buy some extra shelves for bookcases, but when I got them home, they’re wrong size, too deep. I didn’t realise there were different depths. Oh well, they’re still in original wrapping. so it looks like  another long drive to return them.

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I( was out spraying Feed’n’Weed on my clover verge yesterday and a woman came up and introduced herself, saying she’s from two doors up. She likes to get to know people in the street, so we had a good chat for nearly half an hour. She’s an Aussie too! Not many of us around here. Her husband’s a very tall ex-cop, too, so a good bloke to know.

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I’m reading Bill Clinton’s autobiography at the moment, all 957 pages of it. The amount of detail is almost overwhelming, but he keeps me hooked. I have to give him  credit for stamina. His life was just endless meetings, arguments with Republican congressmen, travelling, diplomacy and dealing with enquiries. Endless! Trip to Europe and back in a day. We’re just coming up to his second run at the presidency (which we know he won, of course).