It’s post Xmas for another year. As usual, it was a lonely time for me. I usually have a couple of mates out for Xmas dinner and drinks, but the “mate” who borrowed my car and wouldn’t return it bowed out this year, (he won’t talk to me any more). That meant the other friend didn’t have a non-drinking driver to bring him and take him home.

Therefore I elected to drive to his place to pick him up. But when I got there, he was waiting outside and said his son has contracted COVID and he didn’t recommend me getting too close. So, no guest for me, cancelled visit. Best idea, but that meant a lonely night. But I’m used to it, eh?

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I’m not without family. I have a sister and two brothers, but despite me sending my usual Xmas/New Year Greetings card, as I do every year, not one of them has bothered to respond in any way. And Xmas Day? You might think I might have got a phone call or two. Nothing. Complete silence.

Therefore I am ANGRY! And so I get labelled as the angry man, too hard to get along with. It’s all my fault of course, isn’t it?

Well, fuck you!! Fuck you!!! I’m in the process of redoing my will and they are going to get an unpleasant surprise when I check out. I’m leaving all my assets to more worthy causes and close friends who have actually helped me in the past 20 years, instead of hindering me. You have no idea of the dirty deeds that have been done to me by family members. I’m writing detailed notes about it all. Chickens will come home.

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I got home and turned in to the laneway where my “spare” car, the Verada is parked. It immediately hit my eye, the rear number plate is missing! I can’t imagine it’s fallen off, some thief must have taken it. The front plate is still there, which says something about the level of intelligence of the thief.

When was it taken? I have no idea, but it was so obvious when I saw it on Sunday evening that it must have been recent. I would have seen it before.

I’ve reported it to the police and they’ve given me an incident number – 15 digits long, would you believe? They’ll keep an eye out for it.

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I’m depressed about this car. When I lent it to KG in February 2022, it was going well, a daily driver. But since he returned it in July this year, 16 months later!, I couldn’t drive it. The rear tyres were completely illegal (since replaced), and the power steering fluid leak is so bad that you almost can’t drive it. And now it’s stalling all the time. I suspect this will be the MAF (mass air flow) sensor needing cleaning, so I hope it will be a quick and easy fix.

But the power steering problem is a $1,000 fix. About $500 for a replacement rack (reconditioned, not available new) and another $500 labour to replace it. I’m depressed. I love the car, but I can’t drive it.

I think I may have to just advertise it at a really cheap price and be honest with the buyer – it needs work. I’ll be losing a lot of money, but it’s costing me a lot of money with every month. Grrrrrr!

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Similarly, I think I’m just going to have to dump the mattress I bought last year. It’s so uncomfortable that I don’t look forward to going to bed. It’s advertised as firm, but it’s too soft! It hasn’t got support at the edges, so I constantly feel as if it’s trying to roll me out. I hate it! That will be $857 down the drain, although it will go to a good cause, the Salvos.

Luckily CHOICE, the consumer web site, has a top mattress recommendation that only costs $479 (full retail price, probably able to be haggled lower). I’ve asked the Salvos if they’ll take the existing one away – yes please!, so it should be easy. (Huh, I’ve said that before and lived to regret it.)

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I’ve bought myself a Christmas present. I’ve finally succumbed to the persistent advertising of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and bought a 12 month subscription for their on-line streaming service. it means I can watch and listen to it on this PC, or on my TV with hi-fi sound.

The offer also comes with a three disc BluRay set of lovely music. Looking forward to it.

I’ve got the hots to change my main speakers. Haha, more money spending. I’ve had a pair of KEF Q7s for twenty years now and they are good, but so neutral that they have no warmth or character. Speakers shouldn’t have a “sound” of their own, but I admit I would like more bass and a bit of warmth.

So I’ve got the hots to buy a pair of Dali (Danish Audio Loudspeaker Industries) Oberon 9s.

Those are a 5″ midrange driver at the top, a 1″ tweeter, and two 9″ bass drivers below. Each 9″ is in its own partitioned and ported section of the cabinet, so they should give adequate bass. They weigh 37kg each!

I haven’t heard them yet, but they’re stocked by a firm in Joondalup, so I plan to ask for an audition. All I’m going on is reviews and they get good ones, as they should. Price? $3400 – $3500. My KEFs cost about $2400 in 2003.

But I don’t need these! I get the urge to buy something at times and have to resist. We’ll see.

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Much more to write, but I have a Silver Chain assessor coming. Gotta close off.

Including ten pairs of chopsticks! It’s reached the stage where I’m doubling up on my orders. I saw an ad for fancy chopsticks on one of the cheap Chinese web sites and thought, yeah, I like that, I’ll buy the set of five pairs. They’re very fancy, smooth charcoal colour fibreglass (?) with gold ornamentation. Very cheap, about $5 for the set. So I ordered them.

But then I forgot I’d ordered the first lot and ordered them again. Duh. So now I’ve got two sets of five pairs. I guess if I have a Chinese tour group come through my door, I’ll be ready.

I confess I’m a bit addicted to Wish.com and Temu.com and Ali Baba. For example, I needed an antenna for a DAB+ digital radio in the Honda. It’s so easy to jump onto one of these sites and order it. It cost about $7 I think, and if you order a bunch of items, they come at a flat rate of $4.99 shipping/postage. Only took a week. I’m getting deliveries around twice a week. And things from Amazon as well. I’ve got a benchtop ice cube maker due any day now (it arrived today, Saturday morning), $129. Much cheaper than an ice dispenser in the door of a fridge, which adds around $500 to the price of a fridge and takes up space in the door.

I’ve also just received a power screwdriver. It’s a big, solid device:

And a camera bag for my new Sony camera equipment:

And so on. On-line ordering has become a way of life for me. A giant shop.

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At last, my restless leg syndrome seems to be coming under control and I’m sleeping much better as a result. The reason? Sifrol, a dopamine agonist. I confess I had tried it and jumped to a premature conclusion that it doesn’t work, but persistence has paid results and I’m not having too much trouble now.

But I spent Monday night in Joondalup Hospital Emergency Dept again this week, and the restless legs showed up again arounnd 5am.

Yes, I felt chest pain come on again around 6.30pm on Monday and by 7.30pm it was strong enough that I had to call 000. They know me by now.

It turned out that I had tachycardia (racing heartbeat – 155bpm) with atrial fibrillation. The pain had largely subsided by the time I was on the bed, but while I was lying there, I felt a funny kind of flutter in my upper chest and a wave of dizziness for a second or two. I mentioned this to the nurses at the foot of my bed and they looked up at the ECG monitor and saw my heart had reverted to its normal rhythm at that moment.

So then it was a night of uncomfortable boredom again. They moved me to a less busy part of the ED at about 11pm, which I didn’t mind because it meant I had a TV, which had the added bonus of having ABC radio and my favourite late night radio programs. Oh joy!

But at 4am they moved me back to the busy part of the ED, and of course, no TV or radio there. I’d forgotten to bring my small portable radio with me, and I didn’t bring my magazine or book. Grrr.

But worst, as we were leaving my house, I asked the ambo guy to grab my CPAP bag. No, he said, they have CPAP machines at the hospital. No they don’t, not in the ED. So it was a completely sleepless night once again. I’ll insist next time. At least they gave me a sandwich and some water this time.

I saw the breakfast trolley go past at about 7am, but they didn’t call in to my cubicle.

Bit of drama – around 6am I was in the toilet (I insist that they let me walk to the toilet – I can’t use bottles) when I let my right hand fall down by my side. The damn cannula fell out onto the floor! Immediately blood started gushing, flooding out. All over the floor. I had to grab paper towels and try to stop it. I had trouble opening the toilet door with one hand, but once I did, there was a gaggle of nurses standing outside and they helped me stop the bleeding. They got a bandage on to it and a wheel chair back to my cubicle. It stopped bleeding eventually.

After yet another interview with a doctor around 8am (they’re all different doctors and they don’t tell you their surnames and they all want your story anew), he said he’d disharge me, so I was allowed out around 9.30am. I got an Uber home.

This was a very interesting ride – the driver was a Pakistani guy, around 25 years old I’d guess, who’d only been in Australia for three months. He already had a B. Business degree and was putting himself through Murdoch Uni on a Master’s of Business Administration degree as well. Wow.

We talked all the way home about how life is a struggle for guys like him. And I talked about how easy my life has been in comparison. He was not married and so didn’t have to struggle as much to support a family, but as we know, many migrants do have to support family, children, parents and so on. I was quite impressed at his hard working attitude. He said he didn’t speak English when he arrived, and has picked it up in the three months he’s been here. Wow.

And I remarked on the fact that my ambulance ride and hospital treatment was effectively free. I pay an annual fee for my HBF cover, of course, but I dn’t have any worries about costs for my health. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

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As it happened by coincidence I had a phone consultation with the cardiologist scheduled for 5pm on Tuesday, so we talked about the events of the previous night. He’s put me onto amiodarone, a drug to regulate heart beat that I was on many years ago. I remember at the time that it seems you must stay on it permanently. But when I was on the China ship cruise in November 2014, I got my quantities mixed up and ran out of it half way. Yer not meant to do that, but I just had to stop.

However, there were no ill effects, so I stayed stopped. Now I’m on it again. OK, it has to be.

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I bought a new battery for the Peugeot during the week and it arrived on Tuesday – $310 including delivery. Wow, it’s heavy, 21.5kg. Imagine your 20kg checked suitcase on a plane flight condensed down to a small oblong black “cube”. It’s heavy!

I’ll have to get help to get the old one out and this new one installed. It’s too difficult for me.

I’m still trying to get the Verada into driveable condition. New problem – it keeps stalling. It’ll run as long as you keep your foot on the accelerator, but won’t keep running. MAF sensor is my guess. And after it’s return from the “holiday” with my friend, I’ve realised that the LCD odometer in the speedo (dash) is reading garbage, no real figures. Grrrrrr!!!

Crikey, it comes around suddenly, doesn’t it? But what beautiful weather we’re having right now. About 27º – 29º day after day, and soft breezes. Nice cool sea breeze.

I finally got the Honda MDX air conditioning re-gassed yesterday. That’ll be $150 please, plus $10 for replacement Schrader valves.

But then the guy noticed oily residue on one of the compressor hoses and found a joint was leaking. I give him credit, if he hadn’t noticed it, my gas would have just leaked out again. The joint was behind the front grille and it took him a full half hour to fix. So that was another $50. Ouch. Still, had to be done, and it sure is nice to have the cold air again, after a couple of summers of procrastinating.

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I had a busy week last week: a lunch with mates on Tuesday, where I came away wondering just who my “mates” are. It’s our 60th high school anniversary next year and I would like to invite a lady who is an ex-NSHS student (from the 1980s). She’s a Federal Member of Parliament, no less.

So I mentioned this to one of my longest-time friends sitting next to me: “How would you feel if I invited XXX XXXXX to the runion next year?” There was about 5 seconds of silence, and then he said, “Where do you draw the line?”

What!! What???!! I was embarrassed and offended. I should have said, “Why does there have to be a line?”, but being meek and mild I let it pass. Then he said, “What if we invited Norman Moore?” He’s a former Head Boy at the school and a very prominent former Liberal Party member of the WA parliament.

This is the point: my choice is the Labor Party member for Pearce, and they think I’m going to turn her visit into a Labor recruitment drive, a political rally/soap box speech. What?! I am fucking furious about this.

This is the second time I’ve had this crap, and that means I’ve decided I’m pulling out of the committee. I’m not going to put up with this bullshit any more. Unfortunately, many of the ex students are country people and farmers, which means they are ultra conservative, anti-Labor.

I’m fuming.

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Ha ha. I hang my head in shame. I’ve become somewhat used to Facebook ads which, if you fall for the sales pitch and buy, turn into an endless series of reassuring emails that tell you, “Your product has been packed”; “Your item has been despatched”; “Your item is in Customs”; “Your item is in transit”, and so on and on. I have a strong suspicion that these are prepared emails that their computer just selects every couple of days and sends to give you the impression that all is well.

Trouble is, the item never comes. Eventually the emails stop and you’ve lost your money.

So when I was getting emails in the past week of the identical look and feel as the scam ones, I thought my $27 purchase of a sushi maker was a lost cause.

So I lost my temper and sent an email to the company, saying “BULLSHIT!!” and accusing them of being a scam. That was last Thursday or Friday.

Well, you guessed it – my sushi maker arrived on Monday! Erm, colour me enbarrassed. Pleased, but feeling a bit silly. So yesterday I sent an email apologising and explaining why I was rude. Luckily they took it in good spirit (this is a USA company) and all’s well that ends well. I’ve learnt my lesson once again, don’t do things in a fit of temper.

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Even though I can’t get Ozempic, semaglutide, at the moment (supply problems), it still seems to be having an effect. I’ve lost 9kg since April, a kilo this week. Whacko. This is the easiest and most successful weight loss since my big 28kg loss in 2007/2008.

I still feel a bit tummy upset with loss of appetite, which is what you’re supposed to feel. Therefore I’m not eating much and losing weight.

Supply is supposed to resume at the end of this month. I hope so.

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I’ve just received my 17th camera, a Sony Alpha 6100 digital. Yeah, a bit extravagant, I agree, but I get bored otherwise 🙂

It’s a 24Mega pixel body with exceptional auto-focus capability, 12 frames per second fast shooting if you want it, 4K 60fps video, in a style like the older Leica cameras:

I bought it for a reason: I have three Zeiss Contax lenses from my film days, lenses which are legendary for their sharpness and image quality. But they are oddball auto-focus lenses. They don’t have a focus ring, being designed to be auto-focus on the Contax G bodies only. I’ve had them for twenty years and since I don’t shoot film any more (too expensive, too difficult to get processed etc), they sit on the shelf unused. To be honest, I never got a decent photo with them on the Contax bodies anyway.

But a couple of years ago, a Chinese company brought out an adapter to take these lenses (28mm, 35mm and 90mm) and fit them to a Sony E-mount body with full autofocus and electronic control (aperture).

Of course, I couldn’t resist and bought the adapter. So I had to buy a Sony camera to take it. I blundered! I bought a Sony body on Facebook Marketplace, an Alpha 3500, for $150, complete with a Sony 18-55mm lens. (And made a long but pleasant drive down to Mandogalup to the owner’s house. She was a real enthusiast because she was replacing the Sony with a Canon R5. That’s an expensive – $2,000 approx. buy. Plus new lenses.)

But I didn’t realise, that model is not suitable for this adapter. It’s a perfectly good camera, autofocus and everything, but it doesn”t talk to my adapter. Duh! Anyone want to buy a good Sony camera?

So here we are two years later and I’ve recovered from my blunder and bought this one, which should work with the adapter and give me AF with my Zeiss lenses. I’ve just been charging the battery and I’m about to find out.

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Plus, I’ve finally bitten the bullet and ordered four new tyres for the Mitsi Verada. My mate, who borrowed the car and kept it for 16 months (!), returned it with the rear tyres completely shot, illegal in fact. It’s been sitting out in the laneway for about three months as I’m too scared to drive it. if the cops saw it …

So Friday, the RAC are coming to fit new tyres on all four wheels, with balancing and alignment. That’ll be a big relief! But there’s another problem – the LCD display of kilometres and trip distance etc in the speedo display has gone almost blank. There’s only a strange character, no distance indication.

I’m 90% certain that the car’s “computer” (ECU) needs resetting and I’m pretty sure I’ve found out how to do it (Mitsubishi Owners Club on the web). It involves disconnecting the battery for 10 mins or so, reconnecting it, then going through a sequence of gear shifts and it should reset itself. Should. Hmmm. Wish me luck.