Not busy by many people’s standards, I suppose, but I’m mentally running through my list for this week and I’ve got something on every day.

This morning, it was 8.30am at Joondalup Health Campus to return my Holter Monitor. That’s a bit early for me, but it was just in and out to the cardiologist’s office and I was able to park in the 15min medical deliveries bay at no cost, thank goodness.

Then to fill Vera up with fuel on the way home. That’s the first fill since 2nd October. Fuel doesn’t cost me much as I don’t drive a lot and I always choose Sunday or Monday at the bottom of the cycle. It was 103c/l with RAC discount this morning.

Tonight (Monday) I hope to go down to Jindalee Beach around 10pm, hoping to see two astronomical events at once – the Geminids meteor shower and at the same time, the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.

The Geminids are an annual event but the Jupiter Saturn alignment is a once in 20 years thing apparently. It will be just my luck that it clouds over and rains, as it did last night and the night before. It’s not likely tonight, though.

I haven’t done much astrophotography and I’ve been running it through my head, which camera(s) and lens(es) to use. It shouldn’t be too difficult – I have a 20mm lens on one Panasonic camera and another 14mm lens on the Olympus OM-D E-M1, plus two tripods with good heads. Here’s hoping.

Then on Tuesday (tomorrow) I’ve said I’ll go to the local state ALP branch Sundowner for this Xmas. John Quigley, the Attorney General, is my state local member. It’s at 5pm just five minutes up the road at Alkimos and is only scheduled to run for two hours. Good, ‘cos I don’t want to be there too long.

Then on Wednesday I’m scheduled for a visit from someone from MyAgedCare, the government organisation. I’m not sure what it’s about, so I hope I haven’t broken the rules or something.

On Thursday it’s cleaning lady day, followed by the weekly grocery shop.

On Friday it’s my regular podiatrist appointment at 10am, followed by a GP appointment at 11am in the same building. The cyst on my temple has not cleared up, it’s got worse and it’s bugging me. My pillow cases are looking the worse for wear, stained I mean.

Plus, since the middle of last night, I’m being tortured by stabbing nerve pains in the third and fourth toes of my right foot. I’ve been getting diabetic neuropathic pains for years, but never at this intensity and so localised and repetitive. It’s about five seconds of severe, acute pain, then it suddenly stops again, repeated every few minutes. It’s bad enough that my head jerks back and I cry out in agony. I found it hard to sleep last night because of it. It’s happened at least 15 times while writing this.

Panadol doesn’t help, not even Panadol Osteo. I can’t take Tramadol because it causes insomnia, and the same for duloxetine even though it’s very effective. What else can I take? I’m not supposed to take aspirin but maybe I’ll give it a try. I’ll be asking the GP about Cannabidiol oil becoming over-the-counter from 1 February. Maybe that will help.

______________________________________________________

I’m thinking about Xmas food, not that there’s a lot to think about, but it makes me think that bottom mounted freezer compartments are a DUMB idea. Why? Because it just fills up, bag upon bag upon packet, and you can’t see what you’ve got. There are things at the bottom of my freezer that came back from Scott’s trip to Antarctica. I’ve forgotten what’s there. It’s lucky it doesn’t need defrosting. At least I can surprise myself with “What’s for dinner?”

I think it’s time I had a big throw out if I’m to take advantage of the $20 per kilo crayfish, since the Chinese market dried up. I’m not a big crayfish fan but I think I’ll buy one tail, frozen. The rest will be sourdough based pizza, shop bought partly made and frozen, then with added prawns, smoked oysters, cherry tomatoes, anchovies and so on. My Breville Air Fryer Oven does a great job. Plus a stuffed chicken breast, prosciutto and cheese rolls, bresaola/cheese rolls, lotsa salad and some good prosecco and champagne.

I’ve also got a good 4K UHD movie to watch, “1917”, about the trench warfare. It’s not exactly a Xmas movie but we’re not kids.

______________________________________________________

Just re-reading the above and thinking about Arctic and Antarctica. We say we will go to Antarctica, not “The Antarctica”. But we don’t say we will go “to Arctic”. We go to The Arctic. These two words are closely related yet with one, we say The Arctic, but the other we don’t say “The”. Strange.