A friend said he likes cirrus clouds. Near Canal Rocks, WA.  © PJ Croft 2016

I had my six monthly eye examination yesterday and yes, I have glaucoma. It’s called the Silent Blindness, because there are usually no symptoms until it’s too late.

But he said mine is very early stage and although I’ll need nightly eye drops soon, I don’t need to start yet. That’s good, because twice daily Byetta injections and once nightly insulin injections are enough for me. There’s the prospect of both of these becoming weekly soon, with new formulations, so that will make things easier.

My headline is because on being asked to read the chart, I was able to read all the letters, right to the bottom line. This is perfect distance vision. It’s because I wasn’t too tired yesterday, having slept OK. When I’m tired, my vision goes blurry.

Yes, I have the start of cataracts in both eyes, but it’s too soon to do anything yet. Watch and wait. OK about that. Now I can get new glasses made, and they’ll have to be graduated focal.

One more appointment to go on the 23rd, the gastric man about vagus nerve. Then I can head back to Bali and the warmth.

Seeing the GP this afternoon and I’ll be asking to see a pain specialist. I have chronic pain in my feet and legs from diabetic damage, and it’s severely affecting my sleep, which affects everything else. I have strong pain medication but I worry about the side effects.

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My comment about failing gas struts on the tailgate of my car produced a tip to look on eBay. On Sunday I found what I need for $24.95 a pair, postage included! I ordered and they arrived this morning. Fast service! Now to fit them. It’s supposed to be easy, but it doesn’t look easy …

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Six months ago I was all fired up to change my car, but having met my new partner, it makes no sense to have a good car sitting in the garage when I’m away so much in Bali. (Yes, we’re still together, and I think it will stay that way. Won’t it dear?)

PS: Hah! So I thought. I was in it for the long haul, despite all the traumas I was enduring, but it seems my sentiments were not returned. In a complete surprise to me, I’ve been given my marching orders. So much for fidelity. It’s much overrated.

But if I were to change, I think my ideas have changed. I think I’d go for a Ford Territory now, specifically the SY II Ghia model, produced 2009-2011. This is to get the revised “non-collapsible” front suspension, a well known fault with earlier models.

This would be to do some long range driving, possibly towing a van of some kind. Yes, fuel consumption is high, but it’s about the same as my present car, around 12L/100km around town, 8L/100km country, so it doesn’t scare me.

But I’ve noticed that most are either black or a very dark colour, and single toned, i.e. without the rather nice two toned “body pack” that looked so good to me. Odd.

They go for around $20,000. Just another day dream of mine. I really must stop this.

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Another death wish driver yesterday, two actually. Very heavy traffic on West Coast Highway, Scarborough. A car breaks down in the left lane, so people, including me, start looking to slowly edge out around it.

A motorbike rider doesn’t care about this and charges through between cars, then has to swerve to avoid a car moving out to change lanes! Doesn’t slow down, just charges through. I have NO sympathy for motorbike riders. They ALL break the law, so they get no quarter from me.

My turn, and I slowly ease out (we’re at walking pace) and in my mirror, I see a car two cars back come out from around the car behind me, accelerating, and she (it was a pink Hyundai i20 and I caught a glimpse of a female head) charged straight through and past me, missing me by centimetres as I was halfway into the right lane by now. She was going through from behind, no matter what.

I marvel at the Bali way of driving, but this is much worse than that. The arrogance, the aggression, the get-out-of-my-way attitudes here! It’s awful.

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Goin’ fishing.   © PJ Croft 2016

Oh, this is spooky! Last night I was reading a book called Can We Live Here?, about emigrating from the UK and finding a place to emigrate to. (Hint: the favourite begins with B and ends in i and has al in the middle. Ubud, to be specific. Perth cracks a big mention as a great place to live, but dull and very expensive. Agreed. And she says it has a nice flat bike path right around the river foreshore between the bridges.)

That’s not the spooky bit. The author mentions the movie Alien at one point, and the young girl called Newt who features with Sigourney Weaver.

In the Guardian this morning, in an article about a US TV show, this line: “He looks less comfortable making eye contact with other human beings than the little orphan girl Newt from the movie Alien.”

Sure, it’s a coincidence, but just a few hours apart, and in completely different contexts. Amazing!

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I was reading at various times like 1am, 2.30am, 4am and so on. Insomnia! I never used to have trouble sleeping, but this is a terrible problem for me now. I only got one 2hr stretch of proper sleep and the rest was just dozing, interspersed with my terrible itching. My right leg starts to intensely itch in one small spot, but I have to resist scratching because if I do, it spreads like a fire. It’s diabetic nerve damage, not a rash.

But now I’ve developed dermatitis on the back of my hands, for some reason. I’ve never had this before, it’s only started in the past few months. This itching really is a rash.

I bought a little bottle of a liquid called Pain Strike yesterday, which is based on oil of cloves, a natural anaesthetic. I’m hoping it might help. It seemed to help a bit last night, along with Panadeine Forte and Tramadol. The pains in my feet are very bad too. This is chronic pain and it’s rare that I get a good night’s sleep these days. Not good.

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Ever since I bought a new fridge when I moved here in April 2013, I’ve regretted my choice. It’s a Panasonic bottom freezer (a bum freezer?), and I’m sick of having to bend down all the time. As well, it has a rattle that drives me nuts. I’m sure there’s something loose in the door. And the door is hinged on the right (as nearly all fridges are), which is the wrong side for my kitchen. (Incidentally, Fisher & Paykel have at least one model that allows you to specify the hinge on either side.)

Anyway, I’ve considered changing my fridge, but I’m severely restricted by the width available, about 800mm. Anything in double door style is almost always around 900mm wide.

Well, a Good Guys catalogue in the paper last week showed a Hi Sense side-by-side French door fridge-freezer only 794mm wide. So I called in the the local Good Guys on Saturday to see what it looks like.

Um, not only do they not have it, they don’t even have the same catalogue which I have. They don’t know the model, even though it’s clearly shown in the catalogue I got. I checked the catalogue date – “On sale 4-24 September”. Crazy. “We can get it in for you sir.” But I’m not going to buy such a major item without being able to see it. Looks like they lose a possible sale.

Anyway, I can only think about changing if they’ll take my existing fridge as a trade. This is just another of my musings. Probably won’t happen.

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On the other hand, I think I’m going to have to buy a lawn mower. For the past three years I’ve been getting the guy who does my neighbour’s lawn to do mine, at a cost of $30 a time. Front verge and back lawn. It gets done about 5-6 times a year, so I’ve paid out about $500 so far!

But he’s disappeared and I’m told he’s retired down south, so I haven’t had a cut for about 4 months.

I saw an electric mower advertised at Bunnings for $178 the other day. I don’t really want to own a mower, but the economics are plain – it’s far cheaper to cut it myself. Being electric, it should be cheap to run and maintain.

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Ever since a Samsung system software and BIOS update two Saturdays ago, my Tab Pro S tablet has changed, such that I can no longer put it to sleep by tapping the power button. It’s either on, or it’s shut down. I can put it aside and wait for it to sleep, but that’s hardly satisfactory. In addition, it’s intermittently started booting up with just a black screen with mouse pointer and nothing else. Can’t proceed, can’t shut it down. Only by trying repeatedly will it finally boot.

This is so obvious and such a glaring change that I thought they must quickly come out with a fix, but nothing happened. What to do?

Bingo, a Samsung sales/service counter appeared in the centre mall at Joondalup shops last week, just when I need them. So I took my machine along yesterday and left it with them. Three to five working days, they tell me. Here’s hoping.

Left: with infection, Monday 5th.                   Right: now, Friday 9th.

The intravenous cannula was removed from my arm this morning after the final i/v antibiotic injection. Thank goodness. It wasn’t that painful, but it was constantly irritating and itching. Now I can have a proper shower without wrapping my arm in plastic.

It might not be that obvious, but the swelling is mostly gone and the redness is back to normal, about as if my leg had been barbecued. I still have to keep to the bed and keep my leg elevated, and take a double dose of cephalexin antibiotic for the next two weeks.

The lesson is, guard against any skin breaks in Bali. Use moisturing cream. Apply antibiotic cream at the first sign of a break. If any infection gets in, take to the bed, dose up on cephalexin and apply beer. 🙂

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Driving back home, I was on a dual lane divided carriageway road, with an 80km/h limit. There was a big truck in the left lane slogging up the hill, and a car just over my right shoulder. I waited for him to pass, then put my indicator on and moved right with another car, a blacked out Jeep Renegade (yeah, penis extension), about 20m back, well behind me.

But that wasn’t good enough for Mr Jeep. He (she?) reckoned he was entitled to push his way past me and blasted me with his horn and lights. Well, I was in the overtaking lane by now so I applied my brakes and took my time. I was absolutely within my rights here. I was well in front, he was well behind me. Finally he flashed past and all I saw was a finger through his (her) tinted window. I say she, because the number plate was white lettering on a pink background, TAURYP. Very distinctive and hardly masculine.

So TAURYP, I hope you had a rotten day and get done for speeding and dangerous driving very soon. You deserve every bit of bad luck you get.

I have a recording camera in my GPS, but facing forward, it can’t see crap like this.

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I forgot to mention two nice things that happened in the past few days:

When I was taking the photos of the speedboat on the lake last weekend, I was holding the camera, the Panasonic FZ70, up to my eye and a couple of boys flashed by on their bikes. One called out “Nice camera”, and was away before I had a chance to react. Nice.

Then yesterday I was struggling a little bit to load my groceries into the back of my station wagon with the dud gas struts that won’t hold the tailgate open any more. So I was holding it up with my head (doesn’t everyone?)

A guy in business clothes with his son walked toward me and said, “Can I help you, sir?” I said, “Thanks but I’ve got it now, thanks anyway.” I thought that was a nice gesture from him.

And as I was going through the checkout at IGA, the young girl asked me how I was. I said, “Well, I’ve been a bit crook during the week, but I’m better now.” I was surprised that she said she knew I have a bit of trouble and seemed to know about me from months ago, even though I can hardly remember her. She wished me well. That was quite nice too.

Although I get frustrated with many things in Australia, it ain’t such a bad place to live.

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People ask me why I don’t use Apple products.

The new iPhone comes out, but you can’t use your heaphones or earbuds any more. You have to buy Apple’s ear buds at $229, or use a bulky adapter at extra cost.

This is crap! This is typical Apple. They take all the i/o sockets away from the iMac and leave only a single USB-C socket, even for charging. That means you can’t use more than one external device at a time, without using a USB hub, and you can’t use a peripheral and charge at the same time.

Ahem. The Samsung Tab Pro S that I’m using is the same, and I hate it! All it has is one USB type C socket for charging and everything. It’s a pain. I was doing a backup to an external drive yesterday and it depended on the battery lasting longer than the time required to finish the backup.

So today I bought a Targus external USB 3.0 4-port hub with a power supply ($79) so that I can charge the tablet at the same time as I’m using external USB devices. But I’ve found that to charge, I have to use a USB type A plug to a USB type C cable. That will cost me another $38! And it’s yet another cable to carry and connect! This is madness. Black mark, Samsung. Nearly as bad as Apple. At least Samsung provides a headphone socket.

As well, they did a major software update weekend before last. It updated the system software, including the BIOS.

But since then, I’ve found I can no longer put the device to sleep using a short press on the power switch, as it used to do. Now, it takes a long press and this asks if I want to shut down. There’s no other choice. So I have to just put it aside and wait for it to sleep, or shut it down completely. No, no, no, Samsung. Bad move.

(C) PJ Croft 2016

What is it? I reckon it’s the finish line for the great duck race on Kingsbridge Lakes.

It seems to be to keep the water birds away from the bridge? While I took this pic, I was surprised by a great whoooosh of sound, created by this:

It’s a remote controlled speed boat, and SPEED! is what it does. Zow, I reckon it hit 100km/h in a straight line.

You can just see it in the spray plume.

I was surprised that all the birds were completely undisturbed by it zooming around. Granted, they were mostly on the grass, but they just ignored it. Good.

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Pretty quiet for the past few days, sorry. I saw the doc on Monday about my leg, and she wanted a Doppler ultrasound (they’re the best kind, y’know) and blood tests. The ultrasound yesterday was all clear, thank goodness. That was my worry, a Deep Vein Thrombosis. The blood results were mostly fine except for inflammation. I know that.

So I’ve had three intravenous antibiotic injections through a cannula in my arm so far, and there will be another two, tomorrow and Friday. It’s going OK, the redness is shrinking down and the swelling is reduced.

But I’ve been given strict instructions to lie on my bed with my leg elevated above my shoulders. I’m to regard myself as if I were in hospital, just at home. I can get up for toilet and meals, but no walking around. if I want to watch TV, I’m to lie on the couch, not sit.

So no pretty nurses buzzing around, but it’s better than being in hospital, I guess. I feel OK.

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I wanted to buy a car cigar lighter/USB adapter yesterday and found one in K-Mart. I took it to the self service (ie, do it yourself, mate! Who do you think you are?) checkout and it refused to scan. I called the girl and she came over and whipped it out of my hand. “No, this is not for sale, sorry.” But, but? “It’s been withdrawn from sale.” But it’s right here, in my hand! Why can’t I just buy it? Nope. I couldn’t. CRAZY!

So I found one just as good in the newsagent for about the same price, $10 for a dual outlet.

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Stephen and Lisa Croft, USA cousins.

That’s my USA cousins, Stephen on the left and Lisa on the right. Stephen’s just turned 65. Lisa’s about 58? Not sure when this was taken. Pretty good lookin’, huh? I reckon Stephen is a dead ringer for Bruce Willis.

He posted a big swag of photos to Facebook yesterday, and he’s sure led a varied life. He worked on a kibbutz in Israel in the 70s, as a carpenter/builder and for the past 15 years or so as a fireman/emergency/paramedic in Providence, Rhode Island. He’s very proud of that, I think. He lives near Newport, RI. Lisa lives in California, south of SF. There was another brother Dean, but he passed away some years ago.

Gunung Agung  © PJ Croft 2016

Home again, and feeling better after a solid night’s sleep. My right leg is still somewhat painful and swollen. Doctor on Monday.

I slept badly on the last night in Sanur, and felt really groggy in the airport and on the plane. I was trying to sleep, but the guy in front of me seemed to have the fits, the large woman next to me kept brushing my arm (and never apologising or even speaking to me), and there were three kids nearby who were intermittently crying and screaming. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I hate these flights, but there’s no alternative. I was thinking on the way, what if there was a high speed large ship doing the run from Freo? Too costly, I suppose, and at a minimum of 48 hrs, probably too slow for anyone but us retirees. Anyway, “count your blessings”, eh?

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I pay an extra $48 on each ticket for Premium Flex, which gives me two possible changes of date, time and seat, down to 2hrs before the flight; priority check-in; priority boarding; choice of the best seats; and a meal included. It also includes a priority bag tag to be first unloaded, (but I haven’t noticed any difference at the Perth end. My bag just comes when it comes).

I’ve needed to change my flight dates a few times recently, so that’s worth the extra money. The priority check-in is brilliant. The porter walks me straight past the massive queues to the Red Carpet counter, and after a minute or two, I’m through and walking to Immigration. Priority Boarding is the same, first on, seat right at the front and I’m seated. At the destination, I’m one of the first off, so no hassles there either. Bagus.

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Part of the purpose of this trip was a birthday party.

It was a big show with many guests, including lots of kids. I’d brought a big bag of sausage balloons which can be made into sausage dogs and so on. These were a big hit. I was amazed to see the kids, not knowing how to tie them, get onto a smart phone and the internet and see pictures and video of how to do it. Astounding.

There were also glow-sticks galore, another thing we never had as kids. They can be made into many shapes, including bangles and bracelets and necklaces, and glow in the pool, hence the rings above. V had also engaged a flower arranger who brought banana trunks with small “shelves” to hold real oil flame candles, also shown above. There were about 36 LED candle bags around the pool, and every table was arrayed with flickering LED candles. It was quite a show.

In the mid evening we had a surprise performance of a Balinese dance by the 17 yo daughter of a close friend, which was brilliant. Music was provided by a live band, who while setting up, played recorded music which was like Bali-meets-Cafe del Mar. I liked it immediately and the trick now is to find out what it was. I’ve bought a couple of Bali CDs (at $7.90 each for genuine ones) and while one is boring as hell, the other is not bad. But it’s not as good as I was hearing. The hunt goes on.

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My potential house-sit is still in abeyance while the owner finds another buyer. It should still happen, but maybe not for a few weeks. That suits me, although I’m quite keen to get back there. When I’m there, I want to get home, but when I’m home, I miss being up there. Huh.

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Home.    (C) PJ Croft 2016

Home today, and I’ll be glad. I’m tired, and tired of living out of a suitcase. A month is enough.

On Sunday on the drive to Sanur from Lovina, about 4pm I quite suddenly developed a shaking fever. I couldn’t stop shivering. My friend who was driving was quite alarmed.

At the same time my right lower leg became extremely painful 8/10 in two small locations, one on the outside and one on the inside of my upper calf.

I was worried about a deep vein thrombosis. I’ve never had one, but it seemed to fit the symptoms. We got to our hotel and I felt very sick, tired, trembling, in pain. I took a big whack of Tramadol and hit the bed at about 8.30pm. I slept very soundly all night except for several big pee sessions.

In the morning I felt better, but we hated the hotel and decided to move to another. Once we’d done that, it was off to the BIMC Hospital for tests.

I’d forgotten until then about the cruel massage I’d had last Thursday. The guy applied incredible pressure along those muscle and nerve lines in my legs. I was asking him to tone it down, but he seemed to delight in hurting me. I’m wondering if he damaged some nerves?

Anyway, the blood tests proved negative for dengue fever (hadn’t thought of that) and DVT. I didn’t know you could test for it. That was reassuring. But they were concerned about a high white cell count, indicating infection, and wanted me to have I/V antibiotic injections and an ultrasound examination.

The cost was very high though (another $250 on top of the $350 I had to pay for the consultation), and I have a course of an antibiotic that I’m quite used to using, so I begged off to discuss it with my “wife”. So I’m taking my normal antibiotic capsules and I’ll leave further investigations until I get home.

Unfortunately my travel insurance won’t cover this, I don’t think, as I have pre-existing vein problems in my legs. On the other hand ………. this was not a pre-existing condition, this was new. Hmmm.

Anyway, I feel much better today and able to fly.

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More later. Airport run soon for my 12.55pm flight. Hope it’s not too cold in Perth airport as I don’t have a cardigan.

This will be my “prison” for the next few weeks in September. Nice view, huh? It’s 400m elevation, the owner says. Nice and cool compared to the coast.

Today we drove up to the villa (shown above) where the owner needs a cat-sitter for a few weeks. I’ve realised that this is the place where my friend sent me a web advertisement a couple of months ago. It’s been sold but the new owner won’t be arriving for another few weeks, so the present owner wants to go back to Qld in the meantime. Hence his need for a villa and cat sitter.

It’s a bit isolated but there’s a car in the garage and I can have a driver on call. Should be OK. As long as the cat-nappers don’t try to steal the cat again.

(Damn, I’d written a big par about this, but my PC just flashed and hiccupped and it’s gone. Grrrr.)

So it’s back to Sanur for a few days from tomorrow, back to Perth on Thursday, a weekend to check that things are OK at home, doctor on Monday, pick up new med supplies, then back here the next Tuesday.

This has been a complete surprise change of plans, but it’s the spice of life, ain’t it?

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This was taken at the nudist resort last week. I was wearing a gate. No, I’m not gay, wash your mouth out! This was the gate to the beach. No nudity allowed beyond that point.

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I picked this up off the road today. It’s the fruit and nut of a cashew tree. I’ve never seen this before, although I’ve read about it. The soft fruit is edible and smells beautiful. It’s very juicy but a bit fibrous. You can eat it, but it would be better just juiced.

The nut, however, is in that hard shell and the kernel has to be extracted, then roasted to get rid of its poisonous oils. I was told that opening the shell needs to be done with care because the oils irritate the skin.

We sucked the fruit dry today but I’ve got the nut with me. I’d like to take it home for curiosity value, but I think Customs might have something to say about that.

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I’ve been working hard today, writing an essay on bullying for the daughter of a friend. This daughter has just started first year uni in Singaraja and they set a punishing work pace. Lectures start at 6am and Brenda is working until late at night on assignments, then has to leave home at 5am to be at the uni.

She’s been set two essays due in on Monday – both to be written in English, both of about four legal sized (8.5″ x 14″) pages. One is on bullying, and the other is to be entitled “Your Life”. Because she’s snowed under, she’s asked me to write them.

Ouch. I’ve done the bullying one, by a lot of copying and pasting from Doctor Internet, changing as much text as I can to avoid plagiarism charges.

But it’s now 10.30pm and we’re leaving here tomorrow. I doubt I’ll be able to do the Life one. I think I might have to just list some headings in a framework for her to fill in. Besides, it’s very hard for me to write about her future life!  If I knew that …

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This is where I am now. Taken this morning, in the misty coolness. Nice, huh?

Heading out for some fishing at 8am.

Seen one sunset, ya  seen ’em all, ay? (C) PJ Croft 2016

It was a sad goodbye to our resort stay today, and back to the grindstone of the luxury villa at Pemaron. It’s a tough life.

As I said, it was a nudist resort and we enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately all the other guests left on the day before we did, so it was a bit quiet at the end.

I had another massage this morning and the guy was brutal! The power in his thumbs and fingers! I was yelling and groaning and putting my hand up to ask him to stop quite a few times, but he kept on applying the pressure. He says I have a problem in my left leg and right shoulder. Yeah, I know that. This is the guy who can climb a coconut palm just using hands and feet. Tough as nails.

Despite the pain, it was good, especially when it stopped. A 1 hour massage cost Rp150,000++ or ~A$17.50. OK value.

We were sorry to leave today. It was so peaceful. Recommended. Just leave your clothes at the gate, but you can leave your hat on. 🙂

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Pemaron west 26 Aug 2016  (C) PJ Croft 2016

There might be a change of plans coming up. I’m due to go back home next Thursday 1 September, back to the cold and winds.

But an Aussie couple are needing someone to house-sit their villa and cat up in the mountains near here for a few weeks and I might be the one. It’ll mean going back to Perth next Thursday because the ticket is non-refundable and I need to get new supplies of my medications anyway.

But I might be coming back to look after that villa the week after that, maybe the 5th or 6th. Just for a few weeks, but no rent or hotel costs, of course. It’s tentative at the moment, but could be done. It’ll be a bit isolated, but I should be able to get a driver for the car at the villa and get out and about.

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Pemaron looking west, 26.8.16  (C) PJ Croft 2016

Meanwhile, I’ve got another task – write two essays in English for the daughter of a friend of V’s. She’s just started uni in Singaraja and is snowed under with assignments. These two essays need to be written in English. One is about bullying, and the other about “Your Life”, meaning about the student’s aspirations for her life. Deadline, Sunday afternoon late. Length – four A4 pages each.

Bloody hell! This is a big ask. I have to go and visit this potential villa-sit tomorrow (Saturday) and that’ll take a while. I also have a batik shirt fitting at 9am tomorrow.

There might have to be a bit of copying and pasting, I think, from Dr Wikipedia and other sources. A bit of plagiarism. Uh oh.

Life for uni freshers here seems to be brutal. The amount of work they have to produce in a short time frame, and classes start at 6am. I suspect it’s to weed out the strong from the weak. Yowch.

Our verandah and semi private pool. It’s cool and deep and long.

Sitting at the breakfast table in the open air restaurant with the sound of the surf coming over the wall to my left. I’m stark bollocks, and the gentle sea breeze reaches all of me. It’s beautiful.

We like this place so much that we extended our three day stay to five days, and it will be hard to leave tomorrow, back to the textile world of prohibitions and conformity. As my friend says, it’s so peaceful here, away from the stresses and traffic.

We’re very happy with this restaurant. The food is very good, if a bit expensive for Bali. Most dishes are $7 to $12. That’s pretty good, I suppose. But we’re pleasantly surprised by the food each night. Lucky, because we can’t go anywhere else. The wine is a sore point – A$37 for a locally blended bottle of chardonnay made from SA Barossa grapes. Although simple, it’s very nice.

I’m booked for a massage at 11am. Unfortunately it’s by a guy. I regret there are no women on the staff.

Midday: Phwoooaaar, that was good! The guy was cruel but I got to almost enjoy the pain after a while. He started out with mild pressure but seemed to be saying “Easy no good – hard is good.” Yeah, I think he’s right, but I was groaning and yelling at him to stop sometimes.

So now I’m sitting, totally nude, having Italian espresso coffee in the open air dining area, covered in oil, feeling great. I don’t wanna wear clothes again, thanks. V is out snorkelling about 200m offshore. I’m certain she’s enjoying it. That makes two of us.

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Another pretty sleepless night. I dropped off almost instantly but awoke at about 2am and that was the end of sleep last night. Luckily I don’t have to go to work. Lucky also because I don’t have any clothes. 🙂

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One more week, then back to winter. I leave here next Thursday. We’re going to Kuta or Legian for four days first. I have medical appointments in September before I can consider coming back. This is my fourth visit this year and there’ll definitely be another as I have a ticket back from DPS to PER on 11 January. I’ll be here over Xmas in other words.

There was a young man from Perth
Naked at time of his birth
Determined to see
The same new ditty
In the time he has left on this Earth

Ha ha ha, I’m laughing out of sheer pleasure. We’re in a location where wearing a watch is being over-dressed. Get the picture? Unfortunately I can’t take too many pictures, but I’m not carrying a camera anyway. That would cover too much and I don’t have a pocket. 😉

From  the breakfast table.  The ocean is just to the left, behind a low wall.  Aaaah.

V wanted a fresh coconut, so the Balinese staffer actually did the climb up the trunk just using his feet and hands. I’ve seen pictures of it, but now I’ve seen it live.

In fact he didn’t get a coconut, just hacked off some low fronds, but he’ll get one later. V has a locally made hand hole driller for coconuts. It’s stainless steel, has a T-handle and a tapered, very sharp, round, pointed blade. Just push it in and rotate. Works a treat – $13.50 for one.

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We like it here so much that although we’re only booked until tomorrow, we’ve decided to stay another couple of nights. BIG room, and BIG pool with very cool water and a very deep end just outside our door. Nudity is compulsory around the pool. Suits me! Unfortunately there are very few guests at the moment, just us, another couple and a single guy.

I was here for a few days in January 2011 and the development since then is remarkable. Many more rooms and of a higher standard. Excellent, recommended.

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The other couple are good value. From NZ, one of them is a PhD in law from Cambridge and a Wagner fan. They’re heading to Melbourne after here to see his fifth performance of the Ring. That’s dedication. He hasn’t seen it in Bayreuth, but that’s a pleasure still on his bucket list. They’ve been coming here to this resort since 2009.

The PhD guy is long retired, used to lecture in law in Auckland, and still works from home using the internet. Very interesting to talk to.

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I’m using a Samsung Tab Pro S laptop/tablet PC these days, and ever since a big Samsung software update last Saturday morning, including a BIOS update, it doesn’t work properly any more. The power button used to put it to sleep, but now it will only shut down and power off. That means a restart every time. Grrrr. I hope they fix this soon.

Now for a swim. Phwoooaaar, the water is cold. It gets cool here at night, no aircon needed and even the fan at lowest speed was too much. The pool is shaded most of the day so stays cold. It’s good. I did 10 laps of a 20m pool, 20 x 20 = 400m, non-stop. Slowly, but I was puffing. I sure wish I had a pool at home, for exercise.