Wow, another thunderstorm today (after the ripper yesterday). About midday I was in the kitchen and saw a flash, then less than a second later, Kaboooom! the crack of the lightning was like a cannon shot. This is is the closest I’ve ever seen and heard a lightning strike. The power stayed on, nothing else happened and there was no more that I saw, but that was a beauty.

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I had a doctor appt today and was sitting in my car, dressed as a woman as I do nearly every day when I go out. Two young women came to my window and said “Got any change? We need to catch the bus”, or something similar. I said no, I don’t use change any more, sorry.

Then one of the girls said, “Are you a man or a lady?” I gave my sweetest smile and said, “Guess”. One of them said “Lady”, but the other one said “Nah, you’re a man.” I just laughed.

Then I went into the surgery and just after taking my seat, one of these girls came in and asked for a glass of water. Uh oh, I thought. The receptionist got up and went down the passage to get the water. I watched carefully in case the girl reached over the counter, but although she swung around a bit and gave me a good stare, she didn’t try anything.

Then the other one came in and asked the same thing. The receptionist told her there’s a public toilet across the way, to use that. She objected that it’s dirty, and the receptionist again got her a cup of water and she left. I had a chat about it and she was aware of them. There’s no doubt they were up to no good. I think she should have refused their request for water.

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Continuing the credit card saga: last night and today, I tried to use my old bank’s Visa card as a test, and again it was declined. Dammit! What’s going on? I phoned them and was told a block had been placed on it because of two bad PIN entries yesterday. I can’t understand how that happened, but anyway, in return for changing my PIN they unblocked it and I was able to use it to buy the CPAP machine. I didn’t want to have to drive over to Joondalup again, in the rain so it’s lucky it’s free delivery. It should arrive Friday, I hope, but I have the dentist at 10am. I hope they contact me because I hate these chases.

For the new bank’s Visa card, I phoned them as well and found it too was blocked. Probably a scam, they said. Yeah, well, last Friday I got a message on my phone, supposedly from Australia Post, you need to pay $2 extra postage to release a parcel. Since I’ve been getting many parcels recently, I didn’t think too much about it and entered my credit card numbers to pay the $2. Nothing happened.

As soon as I said this, the bank lady said “Scam”. Yes, it’s a scam and fool that I am, I handed over my numbers. I got a message from P&N Bank soon afterwards from their Fraud Watch line asking me to phone them. I tried, but was told they were too busy, please try again later. Which I neglected to do.

Fast forward to today and that was what had caused the block on my card. Upshot, the card had to be cancelled and a new one issued, that’ll be $10 charge. So that scammer cost me $10. Oh well. At least my old bank’s card is working again, but while talking to them I noticed that the annual interest rate is 20.24% !! This the Commonwealth Bank folks. I’m working my way away from them. I’ve been with them 33 years, they reminded me today, but that didn’t stop them slashing the interest paid on my Saver account to almost zero recently, and they didn’t tell me, so they are losing my business. Nasty, unethical, dishonest bank.

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We’re being told, quietly, to start preparing for a pandemic, so I made my start today. I’ve started buying non-perishable foods and asked the pharmacy for two months’ worth of medications. No problem, they’ll do it.

I could also grow my own vegetables. I have the garden space and now that I’ve got the reticulation sorted, things are looking quite good.

Many years ago I saved a newspaper article about this very thing. I remember showing it to a couple of mates and got a dismissive response, they just laughed it off. Well………….