Nagasaki Peace Park © PJ Croft 2014

I’m pretty quiet, for a couple of reasons. I’m still recuperating from the trip, still feeling very tired, weak and a “punched in the gut” feeling. Blood tests show signs of an infection of some kind, but not enough to worry about, apparently. Thyroid, contrary to being under-active, as I thought it might be, is actually slightly over-active. But not enough to do anything. CLL markers up a bit, but nowhere near enough to do anything. (Besides, there’s nothing to be done!)

The doc says, just be patient. Use pro-biotic yoghurt to try to reset my gut flora after all these weeks of high dose antibiotic for my legs. So I’m still spending a lot of time sleeping. I came back fired up to do all the things that need doing, but I’ve only tackled a few things so far. Be patient …

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At least my legs are far better than they have been since last year. There are no skin breaks or dry areas and even the lumpy cellulitis on the left leg is much reduced. I credit daily Dermeze ointment. Messy, but effective.

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Back in September I got pinged by a parking Nazi at Joondalup for having an expired ACROD sticker. Fair cop, I had been slack renewing it but the replacement for 2014-15 was literally in the mail.

So I wrote to the council, pleading guilty and enclosing my cheque for the $60 fine, but arguing that the original sticker had been issued last year for a genuine reason, that the reason still existed, I was sorry I was slow but my replacement sticker had arrived and enclosing a photocopy of the new sticker. I asked that discretion be used to waive the fine.

Trouble was, I forgot to post it before leaving on the trip. I carried it in my bag, looking for an opportunity to post it, but it was only in the Nagasaki Peace Park that I finally found a post office and sent it off. I wondered what the council would think about my letter arriving from Japan.

When I got home, the first letter I opened was a red page from the council saying I hadn’t paid the $60 fine and it was now $134. Pay up!

But there was another, thicker, letter from Joondalup Council as well. I wasn’t game to open it for the first week, but I finally did, to find that they had waived the fine! First offence and all that. Don’t do it again. Wow, I won for a change. They didn’t return my cheque, but it hasn’t been cashed.

But here’s the curious part. They admonished me, not for the expired sticker date, but because I wasn’t displaying the sticker number properly. They enclosed printouts of the photos the parking guy had taken.

But the photos prove that I was displaying the number! What are they talking about? The number and all the details are clearly visible in the photos. The only possible explanation is that the words ACROD Parking Permit are half obscured by the windscreen shading at the bottom, but you can still read it. All the important wording is higher up and clearly visible.

So what are they talking about? I don’t know. I suspect incompetence. But I just have to shut up and be quiet about it and count my blessings that I don’t have to pay $134.

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One good thing about being ostracised by your family is that there’s no Christmas shopping to do.

And after sending Christmas cards diligently to family members and friends for 40 years and getting almost nothing in return, I’ve given up on that, too. “Oh, I don’t send cards” — the implication being, “I’ve gone green”, or “No-one sends cards any more, that’s so 1980s”. But in reality, you’re just too lazy.

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I don’t think this blog is worth continuing. The virtually complete lack of feedback/comments is too disheartening. People ask me about the trip in emails and, after giving a bright reply, I say “Yes, all the details are right here” and link to the blog/daily diary. It later becomes clear that they have not followed the link, or haven’t read anything.

I’m sick of being told, “No, I don’t read your blog” / “I don’t read blogs” / “I won’t read your blog” / “I haven’t got time”. Utter rudeness. The single comment I got recently was completely irrelevant to anything in the blog.

I can just as easily write this as a private diary. I’m wasting my time writing on-line. I’ve got better things to do. Goodbye.

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