Wish it still looked like this. Freshly laid last year. Very dry now. Spraying with soil wetter, Lawn Rescue and a general lawn fertiliser later, plus better reticulation will, I hope, restore it.

I finally got a reticulation repairer here yesterday and no wonder my system wasn’t working properly. As he said, it doesn’t appear to have had any work done since the house was built in 2004.

First, no wonder there was little pressure. There was a broken joint on the far side of the house which was almost creating a pond. Once that was fixed, whoa ho, almost too much pressure. Oodles of it now. Thank goodness.

Second, the reason the mini sprinklers on the new garden bed I had built last year weren’t working is because they were all blanked off, except one, by the line being connected to the stopper point on the mini sprinkler. One the lines were switched to the open valves, away they went. So why did the landscapers leave my system in a non-operational state last year? Grrr.

Third, two of the popups on the back lawn were blocked, so it was only getting the centre popup at reduced pressure.

Fourth, a popup on the front verge was broken and robbing what little pressure there was from the others. Replace that and clear the others and I have a good coverage again.

Finally, reprogram it for the correct days (I thought mine were Wed/Sat but he swears it’s Tue/Sat) so I’m legal.

He did three hours and only charged me for 2½ so I was pleased. For once I wasn’t left gnashing my teeth at a tradesman. He’ll get more work from me, for sure.

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What goes around … I’ve just booked at the Aquarius Hotel in Sanur for a few nights, and it’s resonant with the Aquarius Hotel in Earls’ Court, London, in 1974. A bit different in style, that’s for sure. There wasn’t a pool at the Earls’ Court place.

That’s the beach at the end of the street above, about 250m. I seriously hope to get up before dawn and set my tripod up on the beach to get the dawn over the ocean and Lembongan, with Agung on the horizon.

That’s directly opposite the hotel entrance. I’ll let you guess where. I suspect I’ll be dropping in there from time to time.

Now, I still have two nights booked at Ubud. Will I try again for Kintamani before Ubud? Still thinking about it.

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I’ve just booked my rental car to get from home to the airport when I leave for Bali. I have no confidence whatever that a taxi would pick me up from here at 4.30am on a Sunday and take me to the airport, nor for less than $100.

I’ve booked a Corolla for Saturday 12th Dec, which I will collect in Adelaide Terrace, drive home (visiting friends on the way), then drop off at the airport on Sunday morning at 6.00am. Cost? $52. Neat solution, I think. Now, nothing could go wrong, could it … ?

I should add that my initial choice was Avis but when I went ahead with the booking at an advertised price of $55 for the day, I discovered that they add another $30 for a “relocation fee”, i.e. transfer from the airport back to the Perth depot. Bloody hell. As if they wouldn’t have any customers picking up at the airport.

Therefore they lost my business. I’m not putting up with a fee being hidden until you proceed with the booking. Get lost, Avis. I went with Thrifty. They add a fee, but it’s only $7 and it’s disclosed early.

Garuda seems to fly regardless of ash clouds. Erk.

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I was supposed to go to Tai Chi this morning but I had another of my nearly sleepless nights. Consequently I was far too groggy to drive at 9am. Pity. I’ll try next week.

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Next episode of Fargo tonight. I missed last week’s but I’ve got it recorded so I’d better watch it early. What a violent show this is!! This is America, glorifying guns and violence as if that’s what makes men into men.

So why am I watching it? Good question. It has a morbid fascination to it, is all I can say.

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I must admit I’m absorbed by Who Dares Wins on SBS as well. This is also tough guy stuff, but much, much gentler, surprising to say. I sure wish I had that toughness.

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But SBS are driving me mad!!!! with their promos. The same promos over and over and over and over again. This is repetitiveness overdone. It’s so bad that I record all the programs I want to watch and fast forward through the breaks later.

As for Channel 7 and Channel 9 competing with each other to see who can show the most episodes of Big Bang Theory, what the … ? Seven showed six episodes last night, I think, and Nine showed three. They even show the same episode on the different channels sometimes. I’ve started keeping a list of who’s showing what episodes. Even I’m reaching saturation point.

Talking to a couple of mates on Friday night. One has lost the sight in his left eye due to a detached retina. He said it started out as seeing a lot of floaters, which most people have, but these were big enough to look like flies buzzing around. He was bothered but didn’t act.

By the time he saw an ophthalmologist about it, the retina was completely detached and he was told it was too late to save it. He says he has a small amount of peripheral vision but the centre is completely dark. Scary. Be warned. Make sure those flies are real flies, or get to your eye specialist asap.

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I was at the rugby club. I used to be a member from 1999 to 2013, and it was fantastic. I knew a lot of the guys, apart from the TV station mates, I mean, and the girls … ! I got to know all the girls too, and it was a really friendly atmosphere. I really looked forward to Friday nights.

Then I moved up here, but at half an hour each way, it was too far to go. And you can’t drink and drive, so I stopped going.

Now they say someone’s made a complaint, there’s a new committee, so there are no girls any more. All the players are a younger crowd and a lot of the old timers are gone (like me). So that’s the end of that. I was thinking of rejoining last Friday, but no, even my TV mates are leaving too. So endeth the fun.

I tried to persuade my mates to come up here, just for a visit, but “Nah, too far.” Great mates.

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One of those guys has just come back from Bali. Very quiet up there, he says. Taxi driver saying he’s only had two fares all day. The volcano causing people to stay away, I’d say. Oh well, good for me.

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I was thinking of cancelling, myself, but no, it’ll be OK. I’ll stick to my plans. Garuda seems to fly regardless. I can’t say that makes me feel safe, but …

The story is that a new airport is finally ready to start building. I’ve heard that before.

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Me in history © PJ Croft 1945, 1994, 2015

The Guardian ran a story today about the tight rope walker who made an historic walk between the twin Trade Centre towers in NY in 1974. They invite readers to send in a picture of themselves in an historic photo.

I’ve submitted the image above, tongue in cheek. I did this as a Photoshop exercise in a class in about 1994. My kimono was from my trip to Japan in 1992. I wonder if they’ll use it?

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I tried my first session at a Tai Chi class last Tuesday. It’s at Currumbine, 15 mins away, so not too far.

It’s the first time I’ve tried it and even though it’s slow and not too strenuous, I still felt a bit of muscle strain and soreness afterwards. Not badly, but I felt as if I’d had a mild workout.

There were about a dozen ladies and only one other guy besides me. All of the elderly age group, of course. The next one is this Tuesday and I think I’ll go again, even though I have to pay to join. It’ll keep me up to the mark. Once you learn some of the moves, you can do it at home, of course, or in a hotel room.

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Phwooaaar. I saw this yesterday in Masters and I want!

I’ve never owned a drill press, mainly on size grounds. They’re usually pretty big and heavy, and not well made. Cheap, admittedly, when made in Taiwan and improving in quality, but I’ve never bought one.

But this one looks good. Probably made in China but to Bosch quality standards. It has a laser pointer to show the drill point, and a very smooth motion thanks to that wheel, although I’m not sure it’s any better than a spoked wheel. But the whole thing oozes quality, with a nice machined alloy surface on the base, with a sliding fence. It’s not cheap at $399, but …

As well, they’re selling a solid metal framed kit work bench with two slide out steel drawers for $79. I’ve got room now, so I might buy these two. I’ve got an immediate job for them.

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It’s our verge junk pickup this week so I’ve finally had the chance to get rid of some stuff. A lot of it disappeared before the truck’s come along, but that’s OK. Even aluminium framed outdoor chairs with torn and discoloured webbing were taken. People must renew the webbing, I guess. Good for them.

The 7 Crew l-r: Geoff McCann, Me, Geoff Mortlock, Danny Piccin, Tim O’Dea, Ross Argyle, Con Michael, Geoff Stewart. Probably a collective 250 years’ experience there.

As promised, eight of us had dinner last night at North Beach. It was partly to remember our former colleague Len, who died recently at 64, unable to enjoy the retirement he’d worked so hard for.

It was also to talk about the good times we had at TVW7 and to chew the fat about electronics and TV generally. Wow, the technology’s moving fast. Something that seemed amazing a year ago has been surpassed and we’re on to the next new thing. It’s exciting.

A general theme is that there are no new young guys coming up. The stations don’t train anyone, the old diplomas and certificates are not attempted any more, the Control Board is defunct and the BOCP and TVOCP are not required any more.

If doctors, nurses and dentists weren’t required to have qualifications any more, would that be OK? How about accountants and financial planners being allowed to practice without needing qualifications?

It’s upper managements causing this. They just don’t care.

Why does this matter? Because we are being left in the dust by the Asian tiger economies in STEM areas. South Korea is a giant in electronics, cars, ships, medical equipment, cameras and lenses etc. Taiwan makes much of the world’s PCs, laptops, semiconductors, motherboards etc. China is coming to dominate all these areas of manufacturing and it won’t be long before their cars are acceptable. Singapore is another giant in electronics, computers, medical and so-on.

Even Hong Kong is now making high quality lenses, among all the other electronics they make.

All these except China are countries with no natural resources. The one thing they all have in common is that their people regard education, particularly the STEM subjects, as an absolutely vital part of their maturation. They will sacrifice everything to get uni degrees, not just piddly TAFE certificates and diplomas.

We really are becoming the White Trash of Asia. We’re not doing well enough because we’re not trying. The standard of education is not good enough.

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Pictures in these posts are usually clickable to see the full sized image, but Word Press have changed the software today and the image above won’t enlarge. The one on the previous post will. C’mon Word Press!

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Holy smoke. I’ve just opened a box in the garage that I’d missed before. In it I found a plastic bag containing two trays of old photos. They’re mostly Dad’s, mostly prints but many with negs (hurrah, I can do high quality scans from negs), but also many of Uncle Darcey’s too.

Thank goodness, Dad was diligent and annotated the backs of the photos with names and places. You must do this for posterity if you make prints.

And among them are many of me that I recognise as having seen before, but for some reason I don’t have scans of them.

Kerrumbs, this means I’ve got weeks of work scanning all this new stuff, and it means my Croft History books will need to be revised. I’ll need to do a new edition of volume 1, The Sydney Years, I think. There are dozens of new photos to add.

I don’t mind. I love doing this.

I finished My Life yesterday and sent it off for printing, but only one copy so far. I think I’ll have to revise it before sending the second copy off.

This is very odd. I’m sure I’ve seen all these photos before, but I don’t have scans of them. I thought I’d scanned everything I had. Clearly not.

The Studio 1 control room in valve days.

After the shock of Len’s death last week (heart attack), a group of eight of us TVW7 survivors are having a dinner on Wednesday to chew over old times. I reckon we had the Golden Years of TV in this town and country. We did big things, we had variety in our work, we were totally involved in the equipment, although that often didn’t feel so good. We got training on the equipment, often in other cities and overseas. We had time to enjoy.

In contrast now, the station occupies about six rooms and one relatively small studio in Osborne Park, everything’s controlled from Sydney and Melbourne, there are only six techs left who are always on call, there’s no training, all faulty equipment has to be packed up and sent to Sydney for repair so there’s no local knowledge. The remaining techs are all over 45 or 50, with one, at least, aged 63 and happy to get out asap. There are no trainees. The company doesn’t do training. Or plan for the future. All they want to do is get rid of people. So that the big bosses can have bonuses and $million salaries and big company cars.

Apart from Telethon, mostly staffed from other organisations and volunteers, there’s no local production any more. The station doesn’t do anything any more. No local engagement.

Thank goodness I left when I did. Retirement at age 52. I didn’t have to work again, except part time if I wanted it. Fantastic.

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Nearly forgot: I was passed by a Mercedes S320 on the freeway last week and thought, “Gee, that looks great.” So I started looking for models for sale.

The S series is Mercedes’ top of the line. These are the cars that German Members of the Bundestag and diplomats are chauffered around in.

I didn’t find an S320 of the shape I saw because it’s an early 1990s model. But I did find an S350, and it’s for private sale in Perth. Too expensive for me, but wow!

Interestingly, it’s a 2006 model but it’s only done about 35,00Km and it’s registered as a Small Charter Vehicle. Must have been small charters. Too pricey for me (over $50,000) and I’m not mad on this particular shape.

Then I found this:

It’s an S55, which means a 5.5L V8 with supercharger, and it’s an AMG, Mercedes’ specialist hand-build section. Yeeeaaah. That’s what I want. And below $50,000, dealer in Victoria.

Then there’s this one in Perth. It’s a 2007 S500, meaning a 5.0L V8, no supercharging or turbo:

Gee, it’s tempting. Also below $50,000, “all offers invited”. These have just about everything I want, except two doors too many. I’d prefer a coupe. And this 2007 styling has gone too “funny”, Toyota-like, in my opinion. I prefer the earlier, pre-2006 models.

But as soon as I start reading about reliability, the horror stories come out. $10,000 a year repair bills, and that’s in the USA where everything is half price compared to here. These cars have a bad reputation for electrical and electronic faults. Mercedes should be ashamed. As I said the other day, Japanese cars don’t have these problems. My 2001 Australian built Mitsubishi is faultless. Yet Mercedes, with all their German technology and reputation for quality, can’t claim this reliability.

I dunno. I’m still tempted. But I’ll have a Bex and a good lie down.

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I had a short visit to the new TVW premises in Osborne Park a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to see that several of the people I knew are still there and we had a good catchup. Crumbs, it’s 15, nearly 16 years since I left.

But it showed me how much the technology has changed. It’s totally digital and my analogue TV knowledge no longer applies. I couldn’t use the gear there now. (Well, I do have a few clues. I could pick it up.)

Imagine if you were a doctor, for example, and within a few years, all your medical training was useless as there was a new type of human body. Relearn, retrain or get out.

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I was talking about digital audio to some of the “veterans” last week and mentioned that I have Mini Disc. Actually, I have three Mini Disc recorder players:

It’s only just bigger than the disc it holds, and runs forever off one AA battery. Brilliant. (This is a web picture – mine’s cleaner than that.)

My Hi-Fi deck. (Another web image, but this is the model I’ve had since the mid 1990s.)

I have this on my computer desk to amplify the computer audio. It has AM/FM radio, and with a disc permanently in the slot, I can instantly hit record if I hear something I like. It also plays CDs, as you can see. I love this unit! I bought it new around 2003 for about $350. It was marked down because no-one seemed to want Mini Disc. Fools.

For some reason, MD didn’t catch on. It was meant as a replacement for tape cassettes and it was a great system. The audio is digital, much like CDs. The discs are magneto-optical, meaning they are coated with a dye which is changed in reflectivity by the simultaneous application of heat from a laser and a strong magnetic field. They are like a recordable CD, but encased permanently in a plastic caddy, as shown at the top.

Because they require both the laser and the magnetic field, they are virtually indestructible. They can’t be accidentally erased by a magnet, for example. The caddy means they don’t risk dust or scratches, there are no finger prints and they’re easy to handle. They would have been IDEAL as car stereo systems.

I did a report when I was still at Channel 7 arguing that the broadcast MiniDisc machines would be perfect in the News editing suites for short voice recordings. We were still using 1/4″ tape cartridges at that time, which required frequent maintenance and were not all that reliable. My recommendation was approved against opposition from one particularly old school engineer, and we bought about four machines. They were a big hit with the journalists because were easy to use and they cued up almost instantly.

But they use an audio compression scheme of Sony’s own development called ATRAC. In the early days they were competing with CDs, which don’t use compression at all, and the ATRAC compression got a bit of a bad reputation from the hi-fi purists, the “golden ears”, for being audibly lossy. Although Sony improved it, MD never recovered as a hi-fi system and the ignoramuses constantly disparaged it, even today. Thoughtless slinging off.

Bulldust. People accept mp3 which is much more aggressive compression, yet they wouldn’t accept Mini Disc. Stupid. I’ve got music on some of my discs and it sounds beautiful to me. One disc holds one CD worth, 72 minutes, but there’s a higher compression mode which allows space for four CDs. I’ve never used this.

There was also a DataMD model, to hold computer data such as mp3s, but it never caught on and I’ve never seen one. I’d buy it in a shot if I could. Of course, when you can fit 8GB and more on a USB thumb drive for about $5, it renders MDs a bit redundant.

Oh well, I’ve got my three recorder/players and about 100 discs, which will never wear out. I smile smugly. You can’t buy any equipment new any more, I’m afraid.

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I had lunch with friends at a restaurant which had better remain nameless, because it was atrocious. I should ring Rob Broadfield and get him to review it.

I had the fish special, which was a piece of rubbery grilled fish, supposedly barramundi. It tasted fishy and not much else. The waitress asked if I wanted chips or salad. “Both”, I said, and pointed to my friend’s plate.

When mine arrived, the “salad” consisted of one small piece of wilted frilly lettuce and about six very fine strips of dry carrot. That was it. No tomato, which my friend had. I asked about tomato. The waitress said, no, this is only a garnish. You don’t get tomato in a garnish. Bloody hell.

“Anything else you need?”, she asked. Yes, some vinegar please. She went away and came back with a small bowl of a black viscous liquid. I smelt it and said this looks like soy sauce. No, it’s balsamic vinegar, she said. I smelt it and it didn’t smell of vinegar. I used a bit but it didn’t taste like vinegar either. So the rest of this bowl went to waste. Oh, I got two wedges of lemon. Thankful for small mercies, I guess.

This restaurant epitomises everything that’s wrong with Perth restaurants. Barely adequate cooking, and an attitude that they have their way of doing things and the customer has to conform. The waitress wasn’t going to give in to my requests. I would never go to this restaurant willingly. Ugh!

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Speaking of which, the $5 cup of coffee has arrived in Perth. I had a coffee at a Macdonald’s a few weeks ago. For a “Standard” sized cup, a small mug size, it’s $4.25 and for an extra shot of coffee it was another $1. So total $5.25 for a cup of coffee! Americans reckon $2 is normal. Not impressed.

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Phew, 36C, 38C, and it’s not even summer yet. The heat has arrived with a whack. I started my cold showers for the summer on Friday the 13th. I won’t use hot water now until about April next year. I wish I knew how to turn the gas off to the storage hot water heater. It’s heating that water all summer for nothing.

UPDATE on yesterday: my Sony phone is working again. I found the box and the instructions, which are in Spanish only. There’s a bit near the end which says If Yer Phone is Indisposito, press this tiny contact in the battery area with a ball point pen.

I pressed it but nothing happened. Then I held it down while pressing the power button and bingo, up she came. I was worried it might have wiped all my settings and stored stuff, but it’s OK.

I’ve realised that I can store all the music and images that I used to store on my “iPhone without the phone part”, I’ve forgotten what it’s called. That’s one less thing to take on a trip.

Mount Rinjani, Lombok, Indonesia

I’m beginning to wonder whether I should cancel Bali.

That volcano caused Virgin and Jetstar to cancel their flights today, although Garuda still flew from Perth on the 8am run. I wonder if they’re being crazy brave or if it’s really OK. I don’t want to test that theory very much.

The problem is, even though it’s a month until I fly, there’s no end in sight to the eruption. I’d take the chance, but I need to take out travel insurance very soon and that will cost a minimum of around $400 which obviously I won’t get back.

So I have to balance out the cost of the insurance against what I’d get repaid if I had to claim on it. So far all I’ve paid out is $525 for the Garuda return airfare and about $200 for the first four nights’ hotel. That’s refundable up to 24 hours before arrival. All my other four hotels are booked but you don’t have to pay up front and I can cancel now without penalty.

I’m assuming Garuda would refund if they won’t fly me. Better check.

What to do? I’ll think on it some more.

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Bloody hell!! My run of bad luck with electronic/electrical appliances continues. My new Sony Experia SP phone is dead.

I had it in my pocket all day yesterday and it wouldn’t turn on when I looked at it. OK, battery has discharged, yes? Put it on charge, orange LED comes on, then changes to green after an hour or so.

Tried it again today but it’s dead as a brick. Take the back off, look for the battery, sealed – can’t get it out (not without removing tiny screws, anyway). Back on charger for a few more hours, green LED on, but still no go. Just won’t turn on. Tried reset button.

I am fed up! I’ve only had this phone about two months, $246 worth. I assume it’ll have a warranty but now I have to find the receipt and how to claim and pack it and post it. And what if I do decide to continue to Bali – I’ll have to race to get this sorted beforehand. Grrrr.

Three coffee machines, a model rail loco, a Solid State Drive, a pair of lens adapters, two successive Yamaha FM/DAB tuners, a lost mobile phone (yeah, not an electronic fault, I know) and now this. I think the rapid pace of electronics is too rapid for the quality control to keep up.

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I was in Coles LiquorLand at Clarkson today and bought some beer. I was going to buy a bottle of gin but all the spirits were in locked glass fronted cabinets with no lighting. I was going to ask, but decided to move on.

I said to the girl at the checkout, “Bit offputting”, pointing at the cabinets.

“What?”, she said.

I repeated, with a sharper point, “Bit offputting.”

“What do you mean?”, she said, with a blank look.

“Well, I’ll go elsewhere”, I said. I still don’t think she got it, but I moved off anyway.

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Almost finished my Me, Me, Me book (but that won’t be the final title). Just going through proof reading now. But I reformatted from an 8.5″ x 11″ imagewrap cover to a similar sized hard cover debossed last night. Arrrgggh. Suddenly all my type has changed from 10pt to 10.8pt and a lot of the text blocks have come up with overflow warning signs. Now I have to go back through every text block, shift it a little and reset it to 10pt exactly.

This Photobook software is good, but there are glaring deficiencies. You can’t do global changes is the main one, and lack of page numbering is another. But it does have dropped shadows, which I want, whereas other software doesn’t.

Aaaarrrrrgh.  (Above July 2014. I’ve lost 5Kg since then.)

Diabetic friend dies early from heart attack last weekend.

“A spare tyre round the middle of an otherwise average-sized body is more dangerous than being fat all over, research has shown.” Twice the risk of death. The Guardian 10/11/15

“Scientists have discovered a link between strong legs and a fit brain that resists the effects of ageing.” The Guardian 10/11/15

Sitting is the new cancer.

Lesson: do it now, don’t wait, don’t make long term plans, make ’em short term. The rainy day is here.

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Improvements at Perth airport, the worst in Australia and one of the world’s worst, drag on, year after year. What a clunker of a design the international terminal is! To have to go to the upper level, then go down those ugly concrete steps to reach the aerobridge! What idiot designed that?

Ain’t that beautiful? It’s a new design for Beijing, and they’ll build it too. Look at Denpasar – they built a complete new departures terminal inside two years, and it’s great. Works perfectly. Except that I had to go down the stairs and walk to the plane (Air Asia) and up the aircraft’s stairs again while I was feeling so sick on the way home from China last year. Ugh! That was hard work. My cabin bag was the full 7Kg.

I’d asked for a wheelchair because I felt so crook, and I got it (late) in the terminal, but had to abandon it to get across the tarmac to the plane. That didn’t work well. But when we got to Perth, they were waiting for me and I had the wheelchair from the plane door right through to the outside. That was well handled by Air Asia Perth staff.

I was surprised when I was wheeled up to the immigration passport guy. He said, “I remember you.” I said really? I was surprised. “Yes”, he said, “I remember you from when you departed” in a friendly tone. That was nice. Quite flattering.

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It’s our verge junk collection next week and Keith and Baz are coming on Thursday to help me put stuff out. Not that it’s hard: there’s only one large item, a folding table I  bought 15 years ago. It’s too big for the room.

It cost $100 in about 2000, but they’ve halved in price since then. Prices just keep going down.

I’ve been here 2½ years and already I’ve accumulated too much stuff! Unless I use it or really, really need it, it’s got to go. I’ve got to stop buying things!

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It’s nearly time to stop using hot water in the shower. Each morning, I’m tempted to start the coldies for the summer, but it’s not quite warm enough yet. Soon.

Re saving water, I reckon one of the main culprits for long showers is liquid soap. You can’t rinse the bloody stuff off! I stopped using bar soap because it was so bad for soap scum, but it washes off very quickly. I might have to go back to it.

Memo Water Board: get onto the liquid soap makers and enforce a quicker wash-off. That would easily save 2 mins per shower.

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I’ve said I’m a fan of Big Bang Theory, but even I’m getting tired of the repeats. Channel 9 seems to be repeating the same episodes only a week apart, plus Channel 7 is showing it as well, so sometimes we see the same episodes there as on Nine/Gem. I must admit I’m confused as to which is showing which, but the number of repeats is ridiculous.

I must admit I’m tiring of If You Are The One, the Chinese dating show. I’ve been watching it every night for the past year or so and it doesn’t have the charm it had early on with several of the girls who were really perky. It’s mostly a new lot now, and they don’t seem to be as lively. Oh well.

I’ve still learnt a lot about how the Chinese think, though. Looking after parents rates very, very high on the list. You might even need to live in the same house as the parents. No pensions there.

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Damn. I got a flyer in the letter box last week from an ISP offering phone/fibre optic internet plans. Fibre?! I jumped at it.

So I got onto their web site and started a chat. Can they give me fibre at this address? (Otherwise why letter bomb me?) Result: Umm, er, don’t know, we’ll get back to you. That was last Thursday and they haven’t got back to me. Yeah.

I’ll try them again.

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Gone quiet on cars. I thought I wanted a CLK Merc but black outside, black inside. You can have silver outside/black inside, but that’s about it. Boring.

Then I saw an E350 coupe. Nice, and less expensive (3.5L V6 instead of a V8). But when I took a closer look, I was thinking, “This looks like a Toyota Camry.” C’mon, Mercedes, your styling has gone crazy.

One thing that’s come out is, “Don’t buy a 1990s Merc.” They used a wiring loom that was bio-degradable/recyclable, and the insulation disintegrates in the engine heat. Result – intermittent electrics and the cost of replacing entire wiring looms at Mercedes prices. Ouch. It’s OK if you know what you’re doing, but …

In fact the entire electrical system in Mercs before about 2000 is suspect. They are all prone to intermittent faults, even from things like being pulled too tight in a corner in the boot space, for example. BMWs are notorious as well.

When was the last time you heard of these kinds of problems in a Japanese car? I think maybe I should start thinking Japanese instead of German. The Lexus Soarer attracts me. And they come in different colours – white, blue, red, maroon, green, as well as black. Cheap now, too, less than $10,000 most of them, but nearly all are >150,000Km. That’s not frightening. If a good motor is well looked after 250,000Km is not unusual.

Len Anthonisz in 2009. © P.J. Croft 2009, 2015

I just heard the news this morning: there’s a Death notice in yesterday’s West Australian for Len Anthonisz (above).

It’s a bit of a shock. Len worked at TVW7 for many years on a contract basis and we got to know each other well. He was a charming, gregarious bloke, full of interesting stories and was an encyclopaedia of TV engineering knowledge. We used to yarn for, ahem, far too long, out in the satellite earth station, often about the beginnings of digital video and digital editing. This was the 1990s, after all. The PC was only 10 years old at that stage. We thought paying $4,000 for a 486 was a good deal.

He was a do anything, go-getter, can-do sort of bloke. At one stage around the mid 1990s he negotiated a deal to buy three or four surplus Bosch BCN VTRs from TVW to on-sell to a TV station in Vladivostok, Russia! He arranged the shipment and went up there to install them. He got me to check them over and write a condition report on them before buying them. It wasn’t hard: I’d looked after them for many years and they were in pretty good reliable condition. He was talking of taking me up there with him to help at one stage, but that didn’t happen. I wasn’t sorry about that. Vladivostok didn’t sound like a holiday destination to me, but he went.

After the work at 7 dried up, he moved into mobile phone equipment installs, including a major country wide installation for Fiji, I think. He also worked in Jakarta for a few years, and lived in Bali for a couple of years, doing mobile phone work. This was major infrastructure, not just the small stuff. He had the ability to pick things up very quickly and was in managerial roles.

He also worked in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, same deal. Lately he’d been working for mining companies in the north west of WA (Karratha, Port Hedland) setting up their comms and data links. Big stuff.

He was a workaholic, I’m afraid, with not much time for play. I know he was diabetic but I don’t know what caused his death. He was a fair bit younger than me, perhaps 62 or 63. Unfortunately I hadn’t heard from him in the past four years or so. Very busy man. I’m sad about that.

RIP Len, you old bugger.

© PJ Croft 1983, 2015

Hmmm. Will I be going to Bali or not? C’mon Mr Rinjani Volcano, settle down, at least when I fly.

I have to seriously consider that I might not be able to go, or if I get there, whether I’d be able to return on the date I’ve booked. My airfare is already paid and I haven’t bought my travel insurance yet. I’ll definitely be buying insurance (the bloody fire breathing dragon would crap all over me if I didn’t) but I’d assume Garuda would refund if they couldn’t transport me on or near the day. All my hotels are booked but only one, for four nights, has been charged to my account so far.

I wouldn’t actually be bothered if I had to stay up there, naturally, but my medications might be a problem. I’m going for 26 days and I could take five or six weeks’ worth of tablets, but Byetta (injectable diabetes drug) only lasts for 28 days. Cross fingers, I guess.

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I’ve already booked my hotels, but I’m spending a lot of enjoyable time using the maps and Google Earth to look around the neighbourhoods up there, looking closely at nearby hotels for some other time. I’m finding lots that look very attractive for not much money, simply because they’re a bit out of the way, off the tourist streets. There are four star hotels for $50 a night or less if you don’t mind being away from the beach. My requirement is that there be a big shopping centre nearby to cool off in, plus plenty of street shops, restorans and cafes. I’m storing up hotel names for another trip. One in particular looks good and gets good reviews for only $27 a night. Hmmm.

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One of the good things about smoke from volcanoes or forest burning – nice scenes like this. This was 1983 and was due to forest burning in Borneo. This scene was just to the north east side of Kuta, about where Sunset Rd is now. All these paddies are gone, I’m afraid. © PJ Croft 1983, 2015

My doctor told me last week that there’s finally an antidote for Pradaxa. Pradaxa is an anticoagulant, to prevent clots forming in the heart when atrial fibrillation occurs. It’s the replacement for warfarin or rat poison.

Pradxa is easy to use, no testing required, unlike warfarin, but its drawback is that up to now, there’s been no way to reverse its effects if you had a major bleed. The hospital would have had to stem the bleeding and wait for it to wear off, maybe twelve hours or more.

A reversal agent has just been released, so that’s a relief, but I doubt I’d be able to take it with me to Bali. To be honest, I was considering not taking the Pradaxa while I was in Bali, but the doctor didn’t like that idea 🙂 Crumbs, I’m not very worried, but there’s a bit higher risk in Bali, of being hit by a motorbike, for example. She’ll be right.

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© PJ Croft 1983, 2015

Nearly finished my latest book. It’s a compilation, in chronological order, of all the photos I’ve got of me, from 1947 to now. There are more than 200, at a guess. I’m just trying to think of a title. I’ve overdone the Bull’s Roar thing, I think, so I need something else. “Me me me!”; “My Life as a Dog”?; “The Chronicles of Croft”?; “Mr Bitter and Twisted”? I don’t have a title yet.

It’s noticeable that there’s a big gap between my ages about 12 and 27 when I bought my own first serious camera. We didn’t have cameras when I was at high school and afterwards. Cameras were very expensive things and not easy to use. I really wish I had more pictures from Northam days. I’ve only got a few.

The other problem is that I was always behind the lens, much less commonly in front of it. I’ve got lots of photos of family and friends but not as many of me. I’ve got enough, though, to fill 40 pages, so I can’t complain.

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Today was supposed to be the second reunion day. After last year’s Northam High reunion, everyone said, “Ooooh, let’s do it again next year.” But trying to get people to respond to my suggested dates has been a waste of time. I can’t get an answer from the committee members, except for one honourable exception, a bloke, naturally. My emails go unanswered, even from a woman who complained a couple of months ago that we weren’t talking to her! Bloody stupid woman.

I think I might go to the Tradewinds this afternoon and take a photo of myself just to show that, Hey, I was there when I said I would be, where were you? Bit fed up.

My Bali bike in 1985. Yes, on three trips in the 1980s, I rented motorbikes in Bali and survived without a scratch. No helmets required then. I obeyed the rules. (That’s my camera bag on the seat, and I’ve still got that bag 30 years later. I like it.) © PJ Croft 2015

Another amazing motorbike atrocity yesterday. I was coming home driving along the single lane section of Marmion Avenue. There’s a 2m bicycle lane on the left but nothing on the right except about 1m to the curb on the median strip.

I was doing about 60Km/h, accelerating. We were just speeding up to the 70Km/h limit after exiting the roundabout. But this wasn’t enough for the guy on a dirt bike a few cars behind. He gunned his engine and passed us on the right in that 1m gap between the cars and the curb. He was going at least 80Km/h (he was past me in about 1 second), his exhaust deafening.

I am tired of motorbike riders! They deserve any injuries they get, in my opinion. Just occasionally you see a rider obeying the rules, but it’s so rare as to be remarkable. Obey the law!

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Damn, the bloody tax scam artists have got my number. Yes, I’ve had my first call from the “taxation office”. I let it go to voicemail, so I have it recorded: “This is Peter Jones of the taxation office. We have tried to contact you by mail but our letters have gone unanswered.” Bullshit. Plummy Pommy accent. (This guy must know he’s preying on vulnerable people – has he no conscience?)

And so on. There is a matter about my tax which must be answered. Well, since I don’t pay any tax (I have no income), there can’t be any matter to be cleared up.

It continues with a NSW number to call and a threat that if I don’t call it will be bad for me.

So we have the phone number. Why can’t the police or whoever follow up this number and take action against these scam merchants? How are they allowed to get away with it for so long?

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Aaaah, Bali.

Lake Batur from Kintamani. © PJ Croft 2015

I love planning trips, especially what camera gear to take. I’ve been telling myself to restrict it to just one camera this trip, but already I can feel that resolve slipping.

I stayed in this hotel, the Puri Dalem, in 1985 and it’s still there. I think I’ll stay there again for a few days this trip.

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I saw the diabetic nurse educator yesterday. I was hoping to try a new drug that my GP had told me about (Jardiance), but the nurse wants me to modify my diet (cut the carbs) and see what happens.

My weight – 2015

However, I ain’t doin’ too badly. Yes, I weigh every day and note the figure in my expenses notebook. I admit it’s a bit OCD but it comes in very handy.

This isn’t so good, though:

Blood glucose before breakfast – 2015

The night reading, after food, is worse – I don’t want to show it.

At her request I’ve been recording everything I eat in a food diary for the past month. Boy, that’s tedious, much harder than weighing. But it shows so far that I’m well withing the recommended kilojoule allowance, and mostly below it. Hence the weight loss. Things seemed to change after the massive doses of antibiotic I had to take a year ago. I think this killed off a lot of my gut flora and food tastes different now. Many things taste bitter now. That doesn’t make sense, I know, but I just don’t want to eat some things I used to like. That’s good.

I use the Calorie Counter booklet put out by Alan Borushek. It was first published in 1977, apparently. I bought it then and I’ve bought a new copy every few years. Good book.

But boy, looking up the figures is TEDIOUS. Sure, some foods are repeated daily, but I still waste far too much time thumbing through trying to find how many kilojoules for my estimated weight of that item.

I was hoping there might be a downloadable spreadsheet of all the foods, but there doesn’t seem to be.

Therefore, idea: I think I might try to build a spreadsheet that allows me to just click on list boxes of the foods and the amounts and so automatically calculate the totals. It would be a lot of work, but I like doing that kind of thing. Watch this space.

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Thinking about travel, insurance comes to mind. It’s noticeable that age 70 seems important, i.e. are you 70 or under? Not long to go before that pops up for me.

Disclosure of existing conditions too. If I reveal, will I be refused insurance, or attract a loading? If I don’t reveal, they could refuse to pay out. I think going to the USA will be out of the question for me. The travel insurance cost would be enormous. My earlier idea of round-the-world airfares seems ruled out: you can’t go around the world without going through the USA.

Well, actually, that’s not true. Go via Canada, for example. Hmmm. Must check that out.

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Another contender for a cruise has popped up. The Queen Mary 2 goes from Singapore to London in April next year, via Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Dubai, the Suez canal, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Cadiz and Southampton.

The total fare includes airfare Perth to Singapore, one night hotel in Singapore, one night hotel in London and airfare back to Perth. They show both the cruise only price, and the total, and these flights and hotels add up to $1217. That seems not too bad. The cost of the 33 night cruise works out to $258 per night.

But it’s the Queen Mary! That means stuffy British rules. If I thought the Arcadia was bad when excluding me from every restaurant except the buffet, the Queen Mary wouldn’t even let me be seen in my sandals and shorts. I’d need a bloody dinner suit.

No, I’d love to do it but I think it would be much cheaper to fly, and stay in nice hotels along the way.