Day 2 of this ad hoc diary. I’m not sure I’ll write every day but we’ll see.

Notable today is the quiet. It’s like a Sunday. There’s noticeably less traffic noise. I assume this is because people are staying home. There are also no sirens. That’s one good thing that’s come out of this so far. I hope it reflects reality.

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From ABC News this morning, regarding four new Covid-19 infections recorded in Perth yesterday:

“Three of the cases had travelled from overseas — one from the UK, one via Bali on the way to and from the UK, and one from Austria.”

My partner is in Vienna, having not returned to Bali, thank goodness. She’s more or less confined to her apartment since the authorities there have imposed quite severe restrictions on crowds. She says they are not supposed to gather in groups of more than five people. Luckily it’s spring and the weather is warming up, but the temperature yesterday was only about 10degC. She’s in quite a central area of the city, close to the Danube and I think if you have to be confined somewhere, Vienna in spring and summer would be one of the nicer places to be. But since all the concerts and operas have suspended their performances, and the museums and art galleries have probably closed, there may not be much to do after all. Books, books, Netflix, DVDs, computer, plenty to do.

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I heard on the radio, ABC Radio, so I trust it, that there’s a new scam going on. The scammers have got the phone numbers of some people like me who have home help coming to clean weekly or whatever.

They phone the target and say, “Hi, this is Silver Chain [or whatever], your regular cleaner is sick today so we’re sending a replacement. Could you please just confirm your address?” So the trusting elderly person gives out their address, and soon after a big guy arrives and ransacks the house for money and valuables. How nice.

I’m never an advocate of capital punishment, but it’s time we brought back public caning for scum like this. Or public shaming – the stocks, or shackling them to a lamp post in the street for about 8 hours with a sign to say why they are there.

I have someone I know in the USA who has been writing quite often on Facebook lately. But she’s writing and repeating things that are mostly just hearsay and unverified “medical” advice. She’s emphasising how this pandemic is nothing compared to all the deaths from other annual events and diabetes etc. That’s not what the health professionals are saying. The point about this is that we’re only just at the beginning and it could get away from us in a big way if we’re not careful enough.

So I feel she should pipe down and stop spreading rumours and pseudo medical advice. But I’m not sure if I should write to tell her so. I don’t know her that well, even though we’re related. I’d only do it in private anyway.

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I did decide to go out yesterday, to a local auto parts shop to buy some power steering additive for a leaking power steering pump in Vera, the Verada. Were any of the staff wearing masks? No. Was I? No. I did buy two pairs of gardening gloves as substitutes for the thin rubber ones that tear when I try to put ’em on.

I have my regular podiatrist appointment at the medical centre tomorrow, so I’ll be interested to see how protected they are when I arrive. I intend to ask if this year’s ‘flu vaccination has come in and book an appointment if it has. I have it every year and it doesn’t worry me. I don’t get ‘flu either.

I read the other day that when real ‘flu hits you, it happens within about 90 seconds. One minute you’re feeling OK, the next you’re feeling as if you’ve been hit by a bus, with body aches and pains and headaches. And you feel you can’t get out of bed, even to eat.

I can honestly say, I’ve never had this happen that I can remember. That’s why I feel pretty safe right now.

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So much for my idea of driving North. The government are saying, “Don’t”. Broome was specifically mentioned and there are two sides, two views about it. The first is that Broome depends on the winter crowd for most of their annual income to see them through the tropical summer cyclone season. The other is that they, and the government, don’t want visitors possibly bringing the virus into the town, which sits quite isolated from the world.

Anyway, I’ve decided the safest place to be is right here.

Being one of the ones who definitely should self-isolate, having three co-morbidities as they say, I thought I might try to do a daily diary of any little things. You never know, this might be my last writings for posterity to pore over. Samuel Pepys, move over.

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Crumbs! This from Schwartz Media, publishers of the Saturday Paper and The Monthly, this morning (I subscribe to the Saturday Paper):

At Schwartz Media, we are anticipating and preparing for a significant downturn in advertising. The arts sector, which our titles do so much to support, has a freeze on shows to promote. The travel industry is in lockdown. Others will follow. In the short term, a third of the revenue we use to make our titles will likely disappear.

It is a perverse outcome of this crisis that just as quality journalism becomes more necessary, its production becomes more precarious. What we need now is calm and trustworthy information.

This comes on top of the shutdown of Australian Associated Press AAP, which is being called a disaster for news and journalism, and the slow strangulation of the ABC by this nasty, hostile, anti-free speech government. Does anyone realise or remember that there used to be 10 minute news bulletins at many hourly points in the day, and now they are only 5 minutes? And that AM and PM used to be 1 hour programs, but are now only 30 minutes?

This is the result of this inexorable loss of government funding for the ABC, as prescribed by the IPA, that cabal of hard right wing destroyers. The parliamentary Liberal Party are doing their bidding. The aim is to cut the ABC so hard that they will be able to privatise them, sell them to a commercial company, and guess who that would be – News Corpse, and Rupert Murdoch. Shit!!!

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As the saying goes, it’s an ill wind that blows no-one any good. (I wrote that in full because it’s quite possible that younger readers, if I have any, will never have heard of that expression. Ask your grandparents.)

I’ve got quite a lot of camera equipment that I’ve been meaning to sell. One of the best and easiest ways is to sell to a company called KEH in the USA. They specialise in second hand equipment and constantly need new “old” stock to keep the dollars flowing. They have an on-line form for you to list your stuff and it gives an estimate of what they’ll pay. If you decide to go ahead, you package all your stuff and send it to them. The postage from here will cost quite a bit, unfortunately. Assuming your items pass their assessments, they pay into your nominated account. There’s no chance to haggle though. It’s take our price or leave it.

As the Aussie dollar falls against the US$, if I sell my stuff in the US, I get more for it. If the rate was US$1 = A$1 for example, I’d only get maybe A$50 for that old $50 camera. But if the US$1 = A$0.59, then I get A$84.74.

Therefore one of the things I’m going to do in my self-isolation will be to package all that surplus gear and make some money on it. It’s a crime, the low prices they pay, but I doubt I’d do any better on Facebook Marketplace. It means I’ll have to go to the post office a few times, but I’ll seal myself up somehow.

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Having said that, I keep a box of rubber gloves as a normal thing. I never usually use them but I tried a pair just now and there’s no chance I could get them on. My hands are too big and the glove just tears as I try to pull it on. I’ll have to use dishwashing gloves, the heavier ones. Which I’ll have to go out and buy!

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Come to think of it, I’ve been advised to use Nulon additive in the Verada’s power steering pump to stop the leak. I’ll have to go out to buy that, so right now is a good time.

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Up here in the wild north, I’m not having any trouble buying my groceries. I have the Coles just across the car park; a local IGA, which is often almost deserted; Aldi 1.5Km away; a big Woolies another 300m further; and big shops at Clarkson, 5Km away. I must admit I was a bit surprised at Aldi on Monday:

I chatted to a shelf loader and he said there’s no shortage of deliveries, it’s just people coming in early and taking everything. They must be freezing it, I assume. Serve them right if it’s not properly frozen and they get food poisoning.

I saw one guy with a trolley of UHT milk; he had at least 24 2litre cartons.

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In the news yesterday, people are still flying to Bali, despite the warnings. The report said two full planes flew out on Monday alone with a total of nearly 500 passengers. Interviewed, one couple said they had booked their holiday months ago and they didn’t care, they were going.

This is all very well, but when they come back, they could be carriers. We know the virus is active in Bali, with one (reported) death so far. And the government are saying, come home while you still can, before the flights stop and before we close the borders. Typical bogans. Do they realise they will have to self-isolate, by law, for 14 days when they get back? That could well affect their income and so much for having a relaxing Bali holiday, they’ll be stressed out by their enforced isolation once they get back here. Duh!

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As for my self isolation, what’s different? I spend most of my time isolated anyway. For sure, I would miss my twice weekly lunches at the shopping centre, but I’ll probably find a way to go safely.

As for being bored, hah! I have a million things to do. So many unread books piled up. So many unwatched DVDs. So many Netflix programs to watch. So many images to upload to Picfair (allowed 20 per day). So many images to print and frame. So much writing to be done on my work history and memoirs. So much gardening to do. So much design and construction on my “one-of-these-days” model railway. And so on. I’m not bored!

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There was a door knock at about 10am and my amplifier has arrived. The guy had put it down on the doormat and as it’s a big, 17Kg box I asked him if he’d lift it and put it onto a small trolley that I had ready.

He was quite reluctant. He said they are not allowed to come into the house, fair enough, but I reassured him and he finally did it. No big deal, he didn’t have to cross the threshold, but he was ready to leave, pronto.

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Ouch, ouch, ouch, oooowww. I’ve just had my latest water bill – $565.08! As they say on the card, I must have a water leak.

I’ve had an email today about it, how to test, and it says there’s possibly a rebate if the leak is not my fault. But to get onto it, quick sticks. OK. It’s simple to check.

Yes, I was aware of a kitchen tap leak, but that was fixed about three weeks ago, and both my toilet cisterns have very slow hisses and drips, as they don’t quite shut off, and I’m careful to minimise it. But I didn’t think the damage would be that big.. There goes most of my $750 government pensioners’ gift.

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I keep thinking I’m finished, but then a new thought pops up. I’ve been using Phenergan, the anti-histamine, on my GP’s advice for my right ear problem and it works wonder for sleep. It makes me groggy in the morning for a while (until about 11am), but I sleep well.

I ran out last night so had to do without it. I was a bit worried, but I needn’t have been. I dropped off normally and had a good sleep, waking at 7.15am with no bleariness of the eyes. This is good!

And the ear problem? It seems to have cleared up, thanks for asking.

Now to open my big parcel!

Hmmmm. How about this for a scenario for a novel?

CHAOS

A virus sweeps the Earth. It becomes clear that it mainly kills the elderly. Healthy younger adults recover easily and children seem to be unaffected. The result is that population demographics are shifted, world-wide, in favour of the young and especially children and adolescents.

Elderly people in aged care homes are simply left to die because there are no nurses for them and no carers are willing to go there. Healthy people with families are too frightened to care for them.

The disease progresses over several years, losing none of its toxicity, perhaps even increasing its virulence. Since there are now far fewer old people, it becomes clear that the budgets of many countries greatly improve. The long feared problem of the burden of ageing populations seems to be solved. After the disease has ravaged populations for a couple of years, it becomes clear that money is which was earmarked for increased numbers of aged pensioners and increased spending on aged care facilities is freed up to spend on the health and welfare of much younger populations.

Actual news quotes: Authorities have since relaxed restrictions, established an emergency hotline to help doctors and invested millions in private companies developing quick-turnaround tests. (My emphasis.)

It also establishes a testing system that looks somewhat like South Korea’s, with big-name corporations operating drive-thru clinics.

The average emergency room visit in the US costs $2,246 AUD— and that’s without the standard COVID-19 precautions like isolated rooms and specialised care.

Taking the time to get tested is another financial obstacle.

Nearly one-third of all Americans do not receive paid sick leave, and the current tests can take days to yield answers.

America is waking up to the fact that it has almost no public capacity to deal with this crisis. The crisis builds into public panic. Much of industry shuts down, starved of workers. Yet many, many people are forced to work, regardless of their illness, since they have no sick leave pay, no social security, no annual leave stored up. It’s go to work or your family starves. There is no government support and proper medical care is far too costly. Therefore the virus spreads with almost no control.

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labour and a Professor of Public Policy at U. Calif. “Instead of a public health system, we have a private for-profit system for individuals lucky enough to afford it and a rickety social insurance system for people fortunate enough to have a full-time job.“

My book scenario continues: As the disease progresses, it kills millions, including hundreds of thousands of hospital and medical staff. The U.S. in particular, enters a crisis caused by years of neglect by the Trump administration, including the disbandment of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Pandemic Response Team of professionals which has left the already overloaded U.S. medical and hospital system unprepared.

The U.S. government relies on private companies to come to the fore by providing testing kits, essential medical supplies and rooms in privately owned and run hospitals. Since these are all in the hands of mega-millionaires and billionaires who see this as a very profitable opportunity, only the well off get help and treatment, those who can pay.

The result is chaos in America with the mega rich and the billionaires profiting from the crisis.

The disease then mutates and becomes even more contagious, even more severe. The vaccines are nowhere near ready and due to the mutation are rendered largely useless.

It becomes clear that although children don’t get sick, they are still major carriers of the virus. Parents are faced with the need to keep their children out of school, off the streets, at home but at the same time, they must practice isolation from their own children. They must especially keep their children from contact with any vulnerable people, the elderly including grand parents and anyone with any sickness at all.

The children do what children do, try to escape these restrictions, so the police and armed forces become involved, policing the streets, keeping children away from any public areas and returning them to their parents. Anger flares, escapes grow, chaos grows.

Geopolitical issues arise. European countries close borders completely, even within the Schengen area of the EU. Troops patrol the borders although the disease takes its toll even among the soldiers. Poorer countries see disproportionate power and funding being used as political weapons and react. Mass migration attempts begin from poor countries, the Middle East and Africa, dwarfing anything seen up to now.

Russia, which had kept a very low profile, decides it is time to show some muscle while the US is in chaos. Russian troops annex parts of Hungary and more of Ukraine. The West is powerless to do anything, being preoccupied with the disease controls.

China sees its opportunity to tighten its grip on the South China sea, prohibiting passage through the Strait of Taiwan without express permission. Taiwan goes to a high state of military alert since the prohibition on shipping blocks access to its ports. The USA makes threatening talk, but China knows that there is little chance of any military response.

Etc etc etc. What do you think? Anyone is welcome to write this novel based on my outline. Just acknowledge me, OK?

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I’m fine. As I’ve said, in all my life I don’t think I’ve ever had even the normal winter ‘flu. I’ve had a bad cold and I get a mild one each year, but never anything serious. And as they say, you’ve got about as much chance of winning Lotto as catching Covid-19.

There have been, what, 28 cases in the whole of WA? That’s 0.0014%.

I had to laugh this morning – there’s talk of closing our border with SA and the NT! By road, that is, and even by air. Oh, I laugh. I’ve been joking about that for years. We should require people from the eastern states to show passports to get into WA.

The problem is, the reverse could apply, in even worse form. Hmmm.

I think I’ll delay my plan to escape North, though. I don’t like the idea of being away from competent and comprehensive medical and/or nursing help. Maybe later.

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I’ve bought a beautiful Super Audio (SACD)/DVD player to go with my new s/h Sony amp:

The amp was going to come ‘sometime this week’ and as there was a medical appointment cancellation at midday for one hour, I grabbed it. When was the amp delivered? In that time slot! Grrrrr. They don’t say when they’re coming. Now I’ve had to rebook the delivery and they have to make another trip out here tomorrow. This is crazy and infuriating. They have three ways to contact me: phone, SMS and email. Do they try? No. Grrr. So it’s coming tomorrow.

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My Mazda MX-6 is laid up in the garage, my garage that is, with an auto transmission problem. It won’t let me move the selector into Reverse and then through to Park. It’s in Neutral, but that means the key is stuck in the ignition switch. Since I can’t reverse it, it’s immobile.

Knowledgeable friends tell me there’s a switch or solenoid on the brake pedal that’s there to ensure you have your foot on the brake before you can select Reverse. That’s to stop you putting it into R while the car’s moving. Good idea. Anyway, they say to get that looked at. Also a good idea.

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I had the roof lining in the Verada replaced yesterday. Advertised on Facebook at $100, it turned out to cost $230. It gets your attention, that’s the thing.

It turned out to be in Canning Vale. That’s 1 hour’s drive! It’s freeway all the way except for South St at the end, but I’m tired of all the roadworks on the freeway. They’ve been going on for years. It’s both north and south of the river. How long is this going to go on? Large parts of the freeway are down to 80Kmh or even 60Kmh in a few places.

The guy was a very offhand kind, as if he’s doing you a favour. He works at his home and there were five cars parked on the road and two in his garage. It’s a wonder he doesn’t get complaints.

Before he started on mine, he asked if I had a plastic bag for him to put all the screws and plastic fittings in. What?! He’s the workman, how come he doesn’t have trays for this? I found him a plastic chamois cloth container.

He said it’s not the glue, it’s the foam that the cloth is glued to that deteriorates and gives way. All cars do it, and none is worse than any other. About 20 years, that’s the life. Foam plastic breaks down, that’s all. That means we’re breathing the breakdown products, though!

Anyway, he had a suitable colour so I walked to the local shops while he did the job, about an hour. He had to be paid in cash (no pay tax, GST, OK?) and when I got in I found two small plastic caps left over on the floor, left over from screw heads. Grrrrr. I can’t see where they’ve come from, so it will have to be.

All in all, would I recommend him? I would not. I wouldn’t use him again. At least the job is done.

Combined with

• the power radio antenna being fixed (thanks Danny!),
• the LH headlight being polished clean and clear,
• the new RH driving light being fitted in place of the smashed one,
• the RH tail light assembly being replaced,
• the new brakes and
• the new exhaust;
• a new battery;

it’s now a fine, good condition car. There’s a very intermittent misfire occasionally, and the power steering pump needs topping up from time to time, but all else iss gut. Good enough to sell? Maybe.

Ooooh, I’ve struck a Trump supporter.

A woman from a Bali web site I’ve been visiting, who lives in the USA, put up a post this afternoon saying that she’d just heard a Trump press conference (that should have been my first danger signal) and she said when he was off-mike she heard him say “fuck”. She didn’t make fun of him (that should have been the second danger sign), but a few people commented.

I put in a comment saying “The man’s a pig. No, pigs are better than him. A US pandemic expert said this morning that Trump is a danger to the whole world.”

Well, in less than five minutes I got a Facebook message, “Unfriend me please.” She must have been a Trump fan! Ha! Ha ha ha ha.

I’m glad I provoked her. I haven’t done as she requested. Too bad.

Someone’s vomited on my car. This is the Verada, parked outside in the laneway. It may not be vomit but I don’t know what else it would be.

This is the second time. Someone pissed, urinated on my Magna when it had to be parked out there last year.

What a mob of druggies and thieves we have around here. Luckily, apart from the loss of my mitre saw a few months ago, I’ve had no other trouble.

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I just heard about the $750 for pensioners. That’s nice, assuming I get it. I should. I was mightily crapped off in 2009 when all taxpayers got the $900 to stave off the GFC crisis. I didn’t get it!

I was a self funded retiree at the time, not on any pension, no government funding. But because I didn’t pay any tax (not enough income) I wasn’t a taxpayer, therefore I wasn’t eligible!

What!!! What kind of logic was that? Holy smoke, I was paying my own way, not being a burden, but I missed out.

I wrote a letter of protest to the PM’s office and after about a month I did actually get a full reply. It used some kind of twisted logic to explain it, but it didn’t satisfy me. What could I do? Nothing, except watch two friends, both quite high income earners still working, spend their gifted money on a big gas barbecue. Grrr.

I’m actually spending a bit at the moment because I’m also selling things. New CPAP machine, lots of small things from Wish (doing my bit to help keep China afloat 🙂 ), a new roof lining for the Verada next week $230.

I’ve just bought a second hand Sony STR-DA3000ES Surround Sound Receiver off eBay, $320:

Seven channels of 150W per channel. I only want two of the channels, but it’s nice to know that the power is available. I had to arrange a courier to collect it from Cheltenham, Melbourne, and bring it here. It weighs 17Kg, $64 to transport.

I also plan to buy a second hand Bowers & Wilkins ASW-600 sub woofer this weekend:

It has a 150W amplifier built in. My KEF speakers have always lacked bass. This should fix it. Surprisingly, the seller is just across Marmion Ave, in Jindalee.

The purpose of all this is that I rarely listen to good music in the lounge area these days, nor do I watch DVDs. It’s because the amp and DVD player are too far away from my seated position and there are two things in the way to get around to reach it. I plan to reorganise things so that the electronics things are just to the left of the couch, so that I can easily reach them. The Pioneer amp I use at the moment will go. It’s too complex to use and I can’t read the tiny grey lettering on the black metal.

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We were planning to hold our annual high school reunion (still going strong after 56 years!) on 4 April, but by general consensus among the 24 attendees so far, everyone agrees we should postpone. It’s too dangerous for us, all now aged 73, or soon will be, and some with frailties. I’m not frail, but I have three strong risk factors so I’m in agreement.

So we’ll postpone, not cancel. Therefore the 2020 reunion will be held in 2021, and the 2021 reunion in 2022, ad infinitum. Hah.

What’s wrong with these images?

The top image shows a brand new Honda 2,200W petrol generator for US$93 = A$141 approx. Pretty good, eh?

The second image shows the Australian retail price of what appears to be the same unit. The type number is slightly different, EU22i compared with EU2200i, but they look the same.

Look closely, though and the cheap unit is only 120Vac out, instead of 240Vac out. Yet a price difference of $140 vs $1799?

I was a bit tempted, but “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”, and this looks too good to be true. It stinks of scammery. So, I said so in their Contact Us form, but in three days I’ve had no response. There’s no indication of the location of the seller, and I suspect you may not hear from them if you pledged your plastic. On the other hand, they do use Paypal, so I think that would give protection, but even so… Pity. I’d buy one and use a step-up transformer, or buy two and twin them to get 240V.

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This Covid-19 virus is certainly dominating the news at the moment. Panic buying and fighting over toilet paper? Good grief!

I must admit I’ve bought four packs of either 8 or 9 rolls, but there was no shortage where I shop. Aldi sells the eight-packs for $3.65 so I bought two. The nine-packs came from my local IGA. They weren’t priced but I wasn’t fussed and picked up two. Only when I got through the checkout did I find they were $8.65 each. Urrrrggh. Oh well, too bad.

I’ve bought a double fill of my medications, no problem. And a few shopping bags of canned goods, especially beans and fish, tuna, salmon etc. And Indian vegetarian foods. Bread mixes. Not huge quantities, just enough that I would be free of food worries for up to 28 days. And a big bottle of laundry detergent and simple cleaning stuff.

I think that will do me.

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I saw the eye specialist today for the first time in two years. The news? All good. There’s been almost no change since I saw him last. No retinal damage and the intra-ocular pressures were 16 and 17, meaning no glaucoma. No need to make another appointment, only if I want to in a couple of years. That’s good news.

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I’ve just finished reading the latest science fiction book by Stephen Baxter PhD called World Engines. All 564 pages of it. I’ve read almost all of his books and he writes HUGE themes. He’s an astrophysicist so what he writes is scientifically plausible. This book deals with moving a planet in its orbit around the sun so as to forestall a future collision in 1,000 years or so.

But I confess to some disappointment, again. His books read like lectures. There’s a strong storyline, of course, but there’s little tension. Nothing ever goes wrong. It’s like music without crescendos. There are no problems to overcome, no crises. Everything works on their spacecraft. The planet move works. Two men die in a nuclear explosion, but he spends little time on their end. They got there in a British spacecraft which uses CRT displays and they do their calculations on slide rules. Ridiculous.

I’ll make an exception for his book Titan which I will say is one of the best sci fi books I’ve read. It’s very long and you wonder whether the ending was necessary, but there.

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I’ve got 115 images up on the Picfair web site now. https://bullsnapper.picfair.com

I had the last of three dental appointments on Friday, this one to fix a front tooth that broke last year. I was pretty nervous after the previous week’s painful session, but it was a breeze in comparison this time. I think even the dentist was shocked at my pain reaction the previous week. He said he’d asked colleagues and no-one had heard of my reaction. Well, I wasn’t imagining it, although as I’ve said, the memory of it has faded. Strange.

Anyway, this time I hardly felt anything and it was all over quite quickly. that was the last procedure until the next regular check, so I’ll get back into the habit again. It was really encouraging to find there was no decay or major work needed.

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I’ve been scouring the web in search of information about camping and caravan parks up North, in case I decide to get away this winter. It’s so hard to know what to do. Will it get bad here in Perth? In what way? Would it reach the stage of feeling confined to our houses? If I did decide to hit the road, what if I started to feel sick at Kalbarri, for example? I don’t think there’s much in the way of hospital care there. What about Coral Bay, or Exmouth? What if I were camped on the other side of NW Cape? So would I drive myself while feeling very sick?

It’s obviously impossible to know these things. I guess all we can do is try to stay positive and busy and “Always look on the bright side” as Monty Python would.

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Jeez, Broome’s bloody expensive! If I drive north, I might make it my turn-around point and stay for a couple of nights, but $125 per night is the minimum for any kind of cabin or hotel room accommodation and it heads skywards from there. I’d like to see the place, but who can afford to stay there. I could stay in a five star for a month in Bali, including airfares, for the price of a week in Broome in a three star, and not including airfare or fuel.

However, given the drought of forward tourist bookings, those prices may change. I was reading that Cairns is almost at a standstill now. Lots of bargains there, I’d say. It would be nice to spend the winter in Cairns.

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I’m steadily uploading my images to Picfair, the photo sales website https://bullsnapper.picfair.com and I’ve got about 120 up so far. Each upload is limited to 20, and every image has to have a title, a description and as many keywords as you can come up with (usually about 20-25). It all takes time. It took about three hours to do the latest batch of twenty.

No sales so far, I’m afraid. The Picfair people suggest a price for us to choose, so I’ve put $25 approx for all mine. That’s for whaat they call editorial use, e.g. for a magazine picture or for a web site. But for a major campaign, say a prestigious magazine, or as the lead for an ad campaign or whatever, then it’s usually about 10x that. They set the price, not me.

No sales, as I said, but at least I’m out there. You never know.

Maybe it’s my just deserts for being a curmudgeon, but my visit to the dentist on Friday morning was among the worst, most painful I’ve ever had.

I had to have the anaesthetic needle at the back of the jaw on the left, and for some reason, maybe he went into the muscle or something, but the pain of the needle was agony!! It wasn’t that sharp pain as if he’d hit the nerve or something, it was broad, agonising pain as if my jaw was being forced open very very hard, or similar. It wasn’t that sharp, toothache pain, it was quite different. I was groaning and shivering, but I didn’t ask him to stop as I knew it would only be a few seconds more. Hah. It went on and on. I could hardly bear it.

When he eventually pulled out after, at a guess 60secs, I was trembling and shaking, seemingly from shock. It took me more than 5 mins to calm down. The dentist said he’d never seen a reaction like that and neither have I ever experienced it. I don’t want another one either.

It’s all over now and I treated myself to a nice brunch at the Dome to compensate. Funny, after a few hours, the memory of the pain seems to have faded. I’m glad it has. I really can’t recall it much at all. Good thing.

I still have one more appointment next Friday. I’m not too scared, but all my life, dentist = pain, and this hasn’t helped.

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One good thing is that although I’ve been very lax about going to the dentist for the past eight years out of fear and anxiety, apart from one very painful experience in 2014, his examination showed no decay, apart from one little surface bit on one tooth. That’s remarkable! I asked about staining and such and he said no, there’s a bit but nothing a good clean won’t fix. Two fillings needed replacing, which were done on Friday, and one front tooth needs cosmetic repair next Friday, but that’s all.

This is a testament to the efficacy of the electric toothbrush, I feel. When I was younger I used to scoff at Americans for using them, but now I realise how good they are. I’m not fully compliant, I don’t clean after every meal, but I am religious about cleaning every night before bed and it’s obviously paying off. Very rarely do I miss the bedtime clean.

One thing he confirmed is that I have a small mouth and jaw. There’s no room for 32 teeth and never has been, and he finds it hard to work in there due to inadequate room. That’s the way I’m built, I’m afraid.

But in hat size, which I’ve been paying attention to recently, I’ve got a big head. I knew that. Even in men’s hats I’m the biggest size, but in women’s, well, they perch on top. I’ll have to try some small cuts to loosen them a bit. In the hats, that is!

Damn internet and data collection – I was talking to my GP about baldness a few weeks ago and he recommended rollers with many tiny needle points, which slightly injure the skin. As it heals, the blood vessels are stimulated and hair follicles are helped. It can also benefit facial skin as well.

So I did a web search for these rollers, which I’d never heard of before, and blow me down, within a few days ads for these rollers started appearing on the Chinese Wish.com website I’ve mentioned. Now it’s progressed to hair restorer lotions and all sorts. Seemingly all because I did that web search.

I read about saffron in tablet form being good for insomnia and mood, so I’m about to do a web search for that. What’s the bet it starts appearing on Wish soon after. If it’s available at Chinese prices, that will be OK. Good for my mood in itself.

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February 29th, leap year and the birthdate of one of the guys I used to work with. I phoned him this morning and he said yes, he’s 17 today, or 68 in dog years.

He’s had a very nasty brush with cancer. Lumps in his neck about a year ago and warning that it was stage 4 lymphoma. But he’s had a lot of chemotherapy and it’s worked well, and there’s only one small lump left which has resisted. He starts radiation for that next week. He said the chemo has been easy, though, with almost no nausea or side effects. Lucky.

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One 1995 Mazda MX-6 for sale, in immaculate condition, a credit to the previous owners. I’ve had my fun and I still enjoy it, but getting out is proving too hard. It’s a car for a fit young man. I’ll put it up on Facebook asap.

Funny, last week it was the Honda that was to go, but I’m getting a little bit excited about the idea of that trip north now and the Honda is integral to that. It’s a bit hard on fuel consumption but I can get it down to 9-10l/100km with a careful right foot. (~12-13l/100Km around town, same as the Magna and Verada.)

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I took delivery of a new Resmed S10 Autoset CPAP machine yesterday, replacing my S8 that I’ve had for 12 years. It was still in nightly use, but the display wasn’t working and neither were the front panel buttons.

These are very expensive machines, normally around $2,600, but for February they were on special at $1599, with an HBF rebate of $720, so it was time to do it.

It’s a pity that it feels absolutely no different to the old machine. All that money for no improvement. And the faint whine of the motor rises and falls as I breath, which the old machine didn’t do. Grrrr. I’ll get used to it.

Anyway, the other thing is that the old machine ran on both mains and 12V DC, so you could run it off a car battery. But this new machine needs 24V DC! What a nuisance. It’s possible to get this from inverters, but it’s more expensive. If I travel up north, I doubt I’d need battery power but it will be good to know I can do it.

It uses 24V DC @ 3.75A. That’s 90W, easily within the capability of a solar panel. In fact it’s the same as a large laptop power supply, which it effectively is. That amount of current is presumably including the heated humidifier. If I ever got caught out, I could remove that and use much less current. Hmmm.

So for a good camping trip, 130W solar panel set = ~$250. Inverter, about the same $250. Camping fridge probably about the same too, $250. I already have a great 12.6V DC battery vehicle starter with great air pumping ability and USB and LED torch. I also have two Li-Ion battery banks of 20Ah capacity.

All I need to add is a good tent, and a good bed, one that’s raised high enough so that I can get up off it easily. I don’t need anything else. No surfboards or fishing rods. Well, maybe…..

I love this planning.

Wow, another thunderstorm today (after the ripper yesterday). About midday I was in the kitchen and saw a flash, then less than a second later, Kaboooom! the crack of the lightning was like a cannon shot. This is is the closest I’ve ever seen and heard a lightning strike. The power stayed on, nothing else happened and there was no more that I saw, but that was a beauty.

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I had a doctor appt today and was sitting in my car, dressed as a woman as I do nearly every day when I go out. Two young women came to my window and said “Got any change? We need to catch the bus”, or something similar. I said no, I don’t use change any more, sorry.

Then one of the girls said, “Are you a man or a lady?” I gave my sweetest smile and said, “Guess”. One of them said “Lady”, but the other one said “Nah, you’re a man.” I just laughed.

Then I went into the surgery and just after taking my seat, one of these girls came in and asked for a glass of water. Uh oh, I thought. The receptionist got up and went down the passage to get the water. I watched carefully in case the girl reached over the counter, but although she swung around a bit and gave me a good stare, she didn’t try anything.

Then the other one came in and asked the same thing. The receptionist told her there’s a public toilet across the way, to use that. She objected that it’s dirty, and the receptionist again got her a cup of water and she left. I had a chat about it and she was aware of them. There’s no doubt they were up to no good. I think she should have refused their request for water.

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Continuing the credit card saga: last night and today, I tried to use my old bank’s Visa card as a test, and again it was declined. Dammit! What’s going on? I phoned them and was told a block had been placed on it because of two bad PIN entries yesterday. I can’t understand how that happened, but anyway, in return for changing my PIN they unblocked it and I was able to use it to buy the CPAP machine. I didn’t want to have to drive over to Joondalup again, in the rain so it’s lucky it’s free delivery. It should arrive Friday, I hope, but I have the dentist at 10am. I hope they contact me because I hate these chases.

For the new bank’s Visa card, I phoned them as well and found it too was blocked. Probably a scam, they said. Yeah, well, last Friday I got a message on my phone, supposedly from Australia Post, you need to pay $2 extra postage to release a parcel. Since I’ve been getting many parcels recently, I didn’t think too much about it and entered my credit card numbers to pay the $2. Nothing happened.

As soon as I said this, the bank lady said “Scam”. Yes, it’s a scam and fool that I am, I handed over my numbers. I got a message from P&N Bank soon afterwards from their Fraud Watch line asking me to phone them. I tried, but was told they were too busy, please try again later. Which I neglected to do.

Fast forward to today and that was what had caused the block on my card. Upshot, the card had to be cancelled and a new one issued, that’ll be $10 charge. So that scammer cost me $10. Oh well. At least my old bank’s card is working again, but while talking to them I noticed that the annual interest rate is 20.24% !! This the Commonwealth Bank folks. I’m working my way away from them. I’ve been with them 33 years, they reminded me today, but that didn’t stop them slashing the interest paid on my Saver account to almost zero recently, and they didn’t tell me, so they are losing my business. Nasty, unethical, dishonest bank.

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We’re being told, quietly, to start preparing for a pandemic, so I made my start today. I’ve started buying non-perishable foods and asked the pharmacy for two months’ worth of medications. No problem, they’ll do it.

I could also grow my own vegetables. I have the garden space and now that I’ve got the reticulation sorted, things are looking quite good.

Many years ago I saved a newspaper article about this very thing. I remember showing it to a couple of mates and got a dismissive response, they just laughed it off. Well………….

The laugh first:

Zensonic massive 900w with 2 teach 120w speakers. Got it from the shead and tested but some who some light got off and I cannot put it in the proper line to get sound. You may be lucky and get sound This only for someone that know who to fix or need for parts. The speakers they very loud and they working with my other amp.

Get that? A nine hundred watt amplifier! Price? $15. Yes, step right up ladeez and gennelmen, the price includes two 120W speakers as well! Do you know who to fix?

This is Facebook Marketplace and is another example of these illiterate yokels flogging rubbish.

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What a ridiculous day. I decided it’s time to buy a new CPAP machine to replace my 12 year old S8. A company called Perth CPAP in Joondalup are pushing good deals, $1599 for virtually any machine, any brand, and it includes a mask and tube too.

So I phoned to check stock and tootled off at about 1pm, found a parking spot right outside the door, used PayWave for the first time on a parking meter, and ventured inside. Just as well, because it was bloody hot today, 34deg. and I was feeling it.

After a long, largely unnecessary instruction from the guy, it was all boxed up and I went to pay. Visa card attempt 1, declined. I’d just cleared the balance owing this morning, so I was a bit annoyed. Attempt 2, declined. OK, try another bank’s Visa card. Also declined. What??!! Tried my EFTPOS card, also declined. What??? This was embarrassing.

OK, what if I go and get a bank cheque? No, doesn’t want that, he’d have to go to the bank. OK, what about cash? No, same thing, have to go to the bank. So what do I do? The guy behind the counter had no answer.

I decided I’d have to go to the P&NBank branch at Joondalup. They checked everything and couldn’t see any problem. After a long talk I went to an ANZ ATM and tested my Visa card. No problem, it accepted my PIN for a balance enquiry.

So after a bite to eat, I drove back to the CPAP shop, confident that I knew the PIN and that my Visa card was working. CLANG! Declined again. I fiddled around with another card but still no luck. I asked if he could invoice me and I’d pay on-line. No, can’t do that.

So I left and walked across the street to an ANZ branch and tried their ATM and again, it accepted my card and PIN and told me my balance. What??!!

So I went back to the P&NBank in the Joondalup shops and told them about it. They didn’t know the answer, but said do you want cash, then? OK, I said, so I took a wad of notes and headed out the door. Then I remembered, not only does Perth CPAP not accept bank cheques, they also close at 4pm, which time it almost was. Damn, damn, damn. What a stupid business.

I decided to buy some groceries and while doing it, heard loud rumblings. Hmmm, noisy stockroom they have, I thought, but it went on and on and soon the rain was actually coming through the roof into Woolies. I waited a while and had to walk to the car in the steady rain, but too bad. That was a big, violent thunderstorm that moved fast down the coast and ripped up trees. The mud and debris on the road home showed how much water had flowed in my area.

OK, I got home and thought I’d try buying on-line. This time I chose PayPal as the method. I use PayPal all the time and never have any trouble. But this time, again, my P&N Visa card was declined! What???!!!

I tried again using my actual Visa card numbers. Declined again.

That’s where it rests. For some reason, my Visa card won’t work. It did a few days ago. I don’t feel like driving over to Joondalup again to pay cash for the machine, given how lazy he was. I’ll have to get the card fixed, then order on-line again. No rush. Bloody ‘ell!