What a cluster. Papaya, Ubud (C) PJ Croft 2015

Finally, a picture. This is a shot from my Sony phone. It’s no substitute for a real camera, in my opinion. Emergency use only.

Last morning here, being picked up by Yanick around 10am or 11am? I hope. I’m going back to the Oasis hotel in Kuta until Saturday (?) when I move to another hotel in Kuta, a four star one. I bloody well hope it’s earned that extra star.

This little hotel in Ubud has been a charming place, mainly because I’ve been able to talk to the people. And sit out on the verandah and watch the passage of people and events.

That black cloth on the trackpad is a microfibre cleaning cloth. It serves two purposes: one to clean my glasses frequently in this humidity; and two, to stop my thumbs from accidentally moving the cursor while I’m typing. I use a wireless mouse, not the trackpad. I hate the things.

That’s another phone shot during a heavy rain shower. Note the little wooden statuettes cemented onto the wall. They’re everywhere.

________________________

I finished watching the movie Melancholia last night. Wow, it’s, um, er, interesting. It’s sort of about a rogue planet called Melancholia that hits the Earth. End of Earth civilisation. But it’s not a disaster movie, it’s a study of two women, sisters, and how they handle it. Set to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. The music alone makes it worth watching.

______________________

I did take that empty DVD back to the shop and asked for another copy, but I asked them to test it first. Result – also empty. Looks like a dud batch. So I chose another one, Everest. Plus two more, The Changeling and The Physician. I shall report.

______________________

More cramps last night, mainly my left leg. It just cramps from my hip right down through my knee to my calf. It won’t let go. Gotta find an answer to this. Magnesium. The apotik wanted to sell me a big bottle the other day but they wanted $60 for it. Huh. No, thank you.

Maybe this is the answer:

__________________

” … 2,620 fatal landslides and 32,322 deaths from 2004-2010. That’s 4,617 people buried alive every year. ” The Guardian

People worry about nuclear power dangers and phone tower radiation and so on, and so on. But look at the above quote after the Shenzhen landslide yesterday. FAR more people are killed by landslides, coal mining etc in one year than have ever been killed in the entire history of nuclear power. Keep things in perspective.

__________________

1400: Back in Kuta at this awful hotel. Oh well, I move on Saturday? / Sunday?  to a four star. It better be better!

Just had a good chat with a woman from Melbourne in the pool. She’s the same age and married to an ex-US Navy guy who used to work on avionics in the military and who’s now working on the NBN. I look forward to meeting him. They’ve invited me to have lunch with them tomorrow, Xmas Day. Might do that.

She’s also given me antire card of Cramp-Eze tablets. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve just taken one because I was cramping in the pool. We’ll see, and hope I can buy them here. There’s an apotik (Guardian Pharmacy) just up the street.

_______________