What a beautiful day. About 25C and almost no wind. Lemon yellow sky in the east at sunset. The photo above is because a guy I used to work with posted a shot on FaceBook of that ship he took when it visited Albany in, he said, 1990. I think my date is accurate.

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The title refers to getting ready to go up and over the rim of the bunker for my operation tomorrow, to have the squamous cell carcinoma removed from my right temple. I’ll be glad to have it gone because it’s getting quite painful – intermittent sharp jabs. No doubt it will be even more painful by this time tomorrow, and so will my backside be after they take a big circle of full thickness skin for the graft.

It’s taken three months! Three months from when I first phoned for an appointment with the specialist in February, to now. I’m upset that it’s taken that long. This is a cancer! It’s grown in the past three months, and is hurting now, whereas it wasn’t in February. Just take your time, guys, don’t worry about me.

I’ve just had the third phone call from the anaesthetist about medication and whether I can stop taking the blood thinner. It’s taken a phone call to the cardiologist (having to leave a message), him phoning the anaesthetist, back and forth. The answer is, yes, it’s OK to stop today and in the morning tomorrow, but keep taking low-dose aspirin. I’m surprised about that, because I find that makes me bleed much more.

The hospital also phoned me and I told them I’d rather stay overnight as I don’t have anyone to sleep with. I’d like to say the lady volunteered to sleep with me, but that would be a lie. However she was delighted to welcome me, so I’m looking forward to beef curry and ice cream (separately) tomorrow night, and muesli, toast and orange juice for brekky on Wednesday.

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I’m nearly finished reading the fifth of six Kindle books about a hypothetical World War III. Each book is around 550 pages, so this is a lotta reading. I guess it’s a bit juvenile of me, but I am fascinated. The author is a former US Army soldier, so he writes from a detailed knowledge.

The point is, his fictional writing is very close to what’s happening right now. Russia has massed troops on the Ukraine border and uses the excuse that they have to support the Ukrainian rebels who want East Ukraine to separate from the main part, ruled from Kiev. True. Russia mounts an attack and invasion, thinking NATO won’t react too much.

But the US and NATO intervene to help the Kiev government and pretty soon it turns into a real shootin’ war.

China sees the US tied up and decides it’s time they invaded Taiwan. But first, North Korea decides they will start a war with the south, and uses nuclear warheads over two military bases. That starts a big fight and then North Korea launches ICBMs against the continental USA, obliterating Oakland and San Francisco.

From then on, it’s on for young and old. India joins the war on the side of Russia and China, as does Indonesia, but neither of these countries has modern equipment and loses battles.

It’s literally a long story and I am heavily engaged in reading it. It’s looking like nuclear weapons might be used at the moment. One book to go.

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Like these? They are tea cups. They’re advertised on https://tenmokus.com/collections/ and I’m tempted to buy one or two. Unfortunately, they’re quite expensive, AUD$35 to $50 each, plus postage. There’s a large collection, these are just the ones I like. I’d only need two. Hmmm.