Another glorious summer day, 30degC, cloudless blue sky, almost no wind. Lovely.

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I had a physiotherapist around here this morning, since I’m not moving well these days. My legs are so weak (as a long term problem) that I’m unsteady, having trouble walking, having balance problems and generally feeling unsteady. The GP recommended a local guy, who seems to work from home about 2km from here. Neat. The GP was surprised when I said I’ve never seen or used a physio before. Huh? Never needed it.

He spent an hour with me and boy, I was tired by the time he left! He went through a long assessment list, like, how easily can I get up from a chair, how long can I stand unassisted (not touching anything, passed that one), how many times can I get up unaided from a standard chair, can I do six minutes of walking a 10m loop without resting, etc etc. Answer, had to stop twice, but he noted that I recovered quickly, within a minute or two.

And so on. He also assessed my new mattress and agrees that it’s no good. It’s too soft. I chose medium. Bloody hell, I was a fool to just shop on-line without testing in a shop.

Cost – $150 for the hour, and there will be weekly visits costing $130 each time. Ouch. But I think I can claim on HBF.

Nice guy, but I complained that I expected an athletic young female. 🙂

And wow, I was/am weary after that. I haven’t done anything like that for a while. But not out of breath. Heart’s OK. I’m expected to do a set of exercises twice a day (!) in this next week and I guess I’ll be assessed again next week. Although I phoned his office (?) to make a new appointment and the assistant seemed to have left early for the New Year’s long weekend. No answer.

I’m feeling quite good about this. I need someone to push me, someone to answer to, someone to encourage me. Dammit, I used to love walking. I used to be able to walk long distances (Stirling Station to Trigg, about 8km) just for the enjoyment. I used to walk for 3 – 4hrs in the city, just browsing the bookshops and so on. Haven’t done that for years. So here’s hoping.

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Success at last! For the past six months, at least, I’ve had a message on the display of my Panasonic house phone saying “New Voicemail message. Press VM”. And the LED on the top flashing. Endlessly flashing. Even in the dark in my bedroom, flashing such that I can almost see it on the ceiling.

So I pressed VM and all I got was some female voice saying an error message. I could not get rid of it!

Today, I hoiked out the instruction book – I keep all the little stuff you get with products you buy these days, including receipts. You rarely need them, but occasionally you do, like now.

Trouble was, I discovered that the instruction booklet I have is not for my model of phone. How could that have happened?! I tried to follow the instructions to access voicemail anyway but got nowhere.

To cut a long story short, finally …………. without being on-line or in a call, just the phone handset in my hand, idle, I pressed the hash # key and bingo, the LED went away. So easy! Just like that. Crazy. Whaddya godda do.

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I’m going to have to call an electrician next week, just to replace some light “globes”. They’re not light “globes” any more, they are LED downlights, but as several of them are in positions where I would have to lean sideways from a step ladder, I can’t risk doing it myself any more.

I’m pretty annoyed. Two years ago I got some electricians in (there were two guys) to do this same job. But (a) they didn’t have any lamps in their kit (dammit, why should I have to pay for their trip to Bunnings within the job time, and pay retail plus their margin?); and (b) out of five lights, one failed almost immediately, three failed a few weeks after and the other one is flickering and on the point of failing. Pretty annoyed about that job, $150 odd worth.

Anyway, the ones I want are MR16 bi-pin type, $16 for three. This time I will buy them and have them ready when they come.

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Dog, I’m tempted. The Peugeot 407 car stereo sounds OK, but it’s pathetic really. Very hard to operate.

This is a Chinese made drop-in replacement for the Peugeot car stereo, including GPS (!) and several other functions. Such as displaying the car’s fuel economy readings, BlueTooth phone connectivity (ie making and receiving phone calls), SD card slot, USB socket and displaying a rear vision camera (included) and so on.

Price $423 + $45 postage. Very easy installation (YouTube video shows how).

The thing is, am I going to keep this car? I have it booked in to the RAC Joondalup in February for a service and advice on why the engine is so rattly. As I said to the guy, it drives beautifully, despite the noise. What’s the cause?

I guess that’s the answer – wait until after this service before making a decision on whether I’ll keep it.