Americas Cup 1986     © PJ Croft 2016

As you can tell by the long silence, I’m a bit busy. I have plenty to occupy me, apart from writing blog posts.

A visit to the Fremantle Maritime Museum is on the cards, somewhere I’ve known about and walked past, but never visited before. This is why I’m showing my photos of the Americas Cup from the summer of 1986/1987. That was an exciting time. Channel 7 was the major broadcaster, with our feed going to all the Australian Seven Network stations, and to the US networks, and to the west, to the British networks as well.

It was hard work. The Seven Network had only just come together in 1986, but it was not “together”: there was a lot of “Masters of the Universe” attitude coming from Sydney which I, as Master Control Engineering Supervisor, had to take and deal with. One Sydney MCR guy was especially abrasive. It seemed we in Perth could do nothing right, even though we had no written procedures and didn’t understand the way they worked. Yow!!!! I was stressed. It was hard enough just getting the technical stuff done without having to deal with constant arrogant criticisms. Melbourne were much better, always polite, and Adelaide and Brisbane were the same as us, easy going and a bit sick of the Lords of the Network in Sydney. But we in Perth were the network feed, not them, so everything we did mattered.

I’ll never forget the morning Sydney called up and said, “We need vision from you in ten minutes. Give us some test signal from Freo please.” It was an order, not a request. But we had no written schedule and when I called Fremantle, they knew nothing about this feed either and had nothing to give us. They had to hurriedly pull some “talent” into the tiny studio down there and improvise. We got there, but that was typical – often, no written schedule, lack of communication.

Americas Cup fan   © PJ Croft 2016

I especially remember the feeling of concentrating so hard that I got into a kind of state, where my mind was totally focused on the next event and nothing was allowed to distract me. The Chief Engineer walked in to Master Control at one stage and said, “How’s it going Peter”, obviously wanting to talk. But I was in that almost trance-like state and I just mumbled a reply about “OK”, and he went away. He knew it was the wrong time.

Our satellite earth station was across the road, outside the TVW7 grounds then. T^his was a brick building with the equipment required to drive and feed a 13m (40 foot) satellite dish. This was big stuff, very precise receivers and powerful microwave transmitters, and the power supplies and motor drivers to control the positioning of this dish. We were looking at the very first Optus satellites then, and talking to the guys in Sydney who controlled all the other channels on the satellite. The settings had to be very precise, because if we got our power or frequency settings wrong, we could have interfered with other users, which included the military. Was I nervous? Damn right I was.

The building and dish were surrounded by a big wire fence with a chain locked gate, and the building was alarmed. We had a defined time, maybe 2 mins, to unlock and open the gate, close and re-lock it, get into the building, close and lock that door again, and disarm the alarm by inputting the code. If you were held up or too slow, the alarm went off, and Sydney would see it on their panel too. Yuk! When we were already under stress, and had just run, yes run, the 200m or so and had to go through this procedure, gah!

Sometimes I was the only senior tech on duty around news time, with only a junior tech on with me. I had to make the decision: which is more important, to stay in MCR and send the young guy to the earth station to do something, or to abandon MCR and go myself? It was usually the latter. I’d come back into MCR puffed and sweating to face any problems associated with the news, which was hard enough in those days. Equipment was not so reliable then.

Despite the above, we got through, and in the end it was a triumph. We were puffed up and proud of TVW7’s effort. We got grudging credit from ATN7 in Sydney, of course, but we were, temporarily, briefly, Masters of the Universe ourselves.

Cruise ships in Fremantle Harbour, Americas Cup 1986  © PJ Croft 2016

Part of all this was dealing at times with people from one of the San Francisco TV stations taking our feeds, and when I went to the USA in April 1988 with the Chief Engineer, we got an invitation to visit the SF station and meet the people face to face. That was nice. If only I hadn’t been so shy! They were really friendly, but I was too shy to really relax and respond. We were invited to sit in the control room while they did their midday news bulletin, to watch how they did things. We came away mutually agreeing, Geoff and I, that we had nothing to learn from them. We felt we did things as well or better. We kept this to ourselves, of course.

It was this day that I’d arranged to have lunch with my aunt in San Francisco who I hadn’t seen since I was a little boy in Sydney about 1949, barely remembered. I’d exchanged a letter or card or two over the years, but there were no mobile phones or email or Skype then.

But I was so concentrated on this TV station visit that I forgot all about my lunch arrangement with my aunt. Gaaah! Luckily I had her work phone number and she was very forgiving and we had afternoon coffee instead. That was the only time I saw her and it was too brief, but that’s life.

Another incident in Americas Cup time was on a Sunday night: I was the only person on duty and we had a satellite feed scheduled at 8pm to Spain, for the Spanish TV broadcasters covering the Cup. I waited and waited, 8pm came and went, it was only a 10 minute booking, 10 minutes of test signal sent because no-one showed. End of booking, finito.

Then the Spanish crew arrived, about five minutes later, ready to feed. “Sorry, your booking has passed. You can’t feed now, you’ll have to make a new booking” Well, Spanish fireworks. Caramba! You must send out our feed. Sorry, no can do, new booking must be made. Not under my control.

I think the OTC (?) or Optus people at the Gnangara (west feeding) earth station took pity on me and there was a free slot in about half an hour, will that do? I asked the Spaniards and Si, that will be good. So we got through that. But I was almost laughing at the shock and frustration on the Spaniards faces. Sorry, guys, you had to be on time.

Americas Cup 1986     © PJ Croft 2016

Americas Cup 1986   Note the windsurfer in the foreground, and the chopper above. © PJ Croft 2016

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With friends’ help, I assembled a new settee and for the first time, I can sit/sprawl and watch TV. IKEA, very comfortable. Not easy to put together – some brute force was needed at one stage, but eventually man beat inanimate object.

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From an article in The Guardian:

“… some of our biggest and best-known businesses no longer resemble the societies they operate in. Lawfully exploiting the opportunities afforded them by globalisation and new technology, they hand over as little tax as possible to the countries on whose infrastructure and protections they rely, squeeze pay and conditions for employees even while handing out lavish rewards to managers, and underinvest in staff so as to over-reward shareholders.”

The article is specifically about the Boots pharmacy chain in the UK, but it applies to most businesses these days. “Lawfully exploiting”: clever accountants and lawyers, probing the laws for loopholes, other lawyers always ready to go to court to keep and expand the loopholes.

“… they hand over as little tax as possible”: if one of Australia’s biggest companies paid the full amount of tax applicable in Australia, officially 30% company tax, we would not have a budget crisis! Instead, they shift all their profits to Singapore where the tax rate is about 3%, and we are told there’s a revenue black hole and we’ll have to accept lower hospital funding! Make the bastards pay their fair share!!!

“… squeeze pay and conditions for employees”: all this talk about award employees, that is shop assistants, restaurant staff and so on having to give “flexibility” is just another way of saying, “We want you to take a pay cut”! So low paid staff have to take reduced pay and conditions, but the biggest companies get away with paying little or no tax, and nothing is done about it.

“… handing out lavish rewards to managers”: managers get paid these massive salaries whether they perform or not. Sure, a few lose their jobs, but their payouts are sums we can only dream of. They never need to worry. But employees have to work in many instances in dangerous jobs, losing their lives in unsafe conditions!

“… underinvest in staff so as to over-reward shareholders.” Good wage staff are seen as a cost, rather than an asset. They are expendable in tough times. They are asked to accept lower wages and give away hard won work conditions, in the name of “flexibility”. Bullshit!

Massive salaries, massive share allocations, huge bonuses to upper managers, widespread tax avoidance and evasion, even criminality among management. It’s time to mobilise, time to demand change. This is going to end badly.

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Ballsup.    © PJ Croft 2016

http://petapixel.com/2016/04/11/seafront-photographers-called-paedofiles-detained-angry-locals/ A few Greek tourists in Britain were taking tourist type photos, and a few women decided they were taking photos of their kids and branded them paedophiles, without any evidence. I’ve experienced this myself. I have to be very careful when I’m carrying a camera in public these days. NOT HAPPY! Any woman, or man, who tries to stop me taking photos in a public place had better be prepared for me to call the police and charge them with harassment and/or defamation. There is no law against taking photos in public, even if they include children.

Pentax K-5  (C) PJ Croft 2016

I had a cleaning lady here today and when she arrived at 11.30am I had been on the go for a while. She started the work and I was so buggered I went for a lie down. I heard her working, but when I awoke suddenly, silence. The vacuum was still out, on the floor, but no sign of her. I thought she might have been on a break, but no, she was gone. Then I found her note: she hadn’t wanted to wake me.

No problem. I got going again and finished the vacuuming, cleaned the fridge, did the laundry, made myself some lunch, finished putting up the towel rail, fixed the toilet roll holder position and now I’m buggered again at 5pm. Drinkies. Just a little one.

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Autumn in Japan. The Kiso River, before the winter snows.  (C) PJ Croft 2016

Ah, rain. It’s a bit too rare in Perth these days, so we rejoice. It’s not cold, 24ºC or so. Nice. It’s still forecast to be 29ºC tomorrow, when V arrives. She’s wondering if she’ll be cold. I think she will, but I have enough to keep her warm.

I remember when I used to need a couple of blankets and a light fibre-fill quilt for winter, but I haven’t needed anything like that for ten years or more. I’m still only using a single sheet on top at the moment, a month into autumn. I’ll need to fill the quilt cover now, but I’ll probably toss it back a bit. I haven’t used the filling for five years or so.

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I forgot to mention: I caught the train to town yesterday and on the way back, the ticket inspectors came. They stopped a guy a few seats back and I heard him make a weak joke about “Nearly made it, mate”, as he had no ticket. The inspector brought him forward near me and wrote out a ticket for a $100 fine, payable in 7 days. Bloody hell, a fine like that to save a couple of dollars! What an idiot.

He was a young guy, ragged beard, cool gear, massive tattoos, wearing work boots, a wind cheater, a beanie, all warm gear in other words, on a warm day like yesterday. He tried it on with the inspector: “I don’t suppose the price of a good drink would do, mate?” Hah! He couldn’t stay still, constantly moving, twisting, weaving, never still.

Anyway, after the ticket had been written, I saw him pull his wallet out. He had at least two $50 bills in there, I saw it. So why didn’t he buy a ticket?

He was constantly looking at his phone, of course (everybody does!). Then he pulled his other phone out, a smart phone, white of course, another one! So he could afford the cost of two smart phones, all the phone company costs, hundreds of dollars worth of tattoos, and had at least $100 on him, yet he avoided a $2 train ticket and got a $100 fine instead. Stupid. Dumb. Low intelligence. On drugs?  UGH!

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Left: Bali thatch          Right: Japan thatch         Both (C) PJ Croft 2016

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While on the topic of trains … ach! I took two photos on my Sony smart phone yesterday, but getting them from the phone to the computer … hmmm. Too hard, too long a process.

Anyway, the first showed a bike placed completely across the three disabled seats on the train. Sure, no-one was using them, but if anyone had wanted to, they would have had to wait while the guy found alternative accommodation for his bike. Grrr.

The other shot showed two young (16-18?) girls sitting in the disabled seats. Again, no-one was needing them, but can’t they read? There were plenty of vacant seats. Double grrrr.

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From the comments section on a Guardian article this morning: “The Right Wing of the Liberal Party STILL think Labor’s economic management was bad. Despite the triple A ratings, getting through the GFC relatively unscathed, & all the experts & international accolades in the years since.”

As George Megalogenis says, surviving one financial crisis (the Asian banking crisis of 1997) was good luck; surviving two financial crises (the so called Tech Wreck of 2000/2001) could be considered good management; surviving three financial crises in a row (the GFC of 2007/2008) should be seen as excellent work. All these survivals were due to the sound management moves by Labor governments in the 1980s and early 1990s, along with very, very competent management by the Reserve Bank.

It suits their purposes (the right wing hard line conservatives) to keep pushing lies, no matter what the evidence to the contrary. Look at Maurice Newman, former head of Abbott’s business advisory council (http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/08/maurice-newman-claims-to-be-head-of-business-council-disbanded-by-turnbull). Despite explicit statements that the former members of this board have been retired, including Newman, he is still saying he’s the head of this committee. What??!!

This is the bloke who denies global warming, despite all the evidence, and who believes there’s a UN agenda to take over world governments which must be resisted. Um, the clinic’s that way, Mr Newman.

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A discerning Japanese shopper. Kyoto.   (C) PJ Croft 2016

See explanation below.   (C) PJ Croft 2016

I know I shouldn’t worry, but I feel I have to get all the ducks in line by Sunday when V arrives. All those jobs that seemed a waste of time, now need to be done. I’ve made good progress:

• I have a couch/settee partly assembled, have to finish tomorrow or Sunday;
• I’ve bought a pair of outdoor chairs for my outdoor table (my old chairs disintegrated in the sun);
• I’ve bought a pair of new towel rails (my bathroom lacks space for towel rails and has always had only one!);
• My patio has been cleaned and the decking re-oiled, courtesy of my great and good friend Keith;
• All the paths have been cleaned and weed stripped, again by Keith;
• I’ve finally installed the new toilet roll holder that I’ve had for two years;
• I’ve replaced my scungy old toaster that toasted so unevenly with a schmick new Breville that I saw recommended on a US photography web site (how about that?) and which won the Choice tests.

And so on, and on, and on. Funny how near enough is good enough when you live alone, but when someone else is coming … uh oh. Clean sheets, quilt properly fitted, bathroom glass cleaned, table cleared and tidied … ah, she’ll be right.

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I drove down to Rockingham yesterday to see my good friend Donelle, to tell her all the news. Phew, long drive: 90 mins to get there, on the freeway, so it’s not too bad. But two hours to get back, coming via the coast road to avoid the freeway congestion at peak hour. So many traffic light stops! Stop-start all the way. Very annoying and tiring.

Donelle gave me a very nice small gift for Veronika, something a woman thinks of but I hadn’t. Bless her. I do know about the usual greeting, but this will be nice.

While at Palm Beach we saw this:

It’s the Sun, with a refractive ring formed by ice crystals in the very high cirrus clouds that you can see, the wispy kind. I’ve seen this only once before, in the 1980s, and have a shot from that time too. If I remember correctly, the ring forms at an angle of 57º from the Sun, although how you measure that, I’m not sure.

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You’ve heard me refer so often to my great good friend Keith? Well, this is he:

Iron Man Keith

Yes, this is Iron Man Keith Geary, OM, VD, CD, DVD and five bars. He’s wearing the latest fashion garment, a cheeky little welder’s mask with an LCD screen that shields him from all criticism. He’s thinking of super gluing it on to give up smoking. A great bargain at $59. He’s very pleased with it. He doesn’t have to put his teeth in or shave.

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I had coffee in the city today with another good friend and was able to show her my new prize. We go right back to school days and she knows something of my life’s struggles, so she was very pleased to hear my love story. Nice meeting.

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Oh, bloody Facebook. What a time thief! I shouldn’t …

Buddies or competitors? Busselton 2013  (C) PJ Croft 2016

Enjoyably busy. I’m having meet-ups with friends to tell them my big news and to show them my smiles. I guess I’ll calm down, but at the moment I’m buzzing.

I had coffee with my two regular friends yesterday, for our BSB, BullShit Breakfast, where we shoot the breeze about anything and everything. We’re all keen photographers and in theory we should be talking about that, but in fact we rarely do. We keep saying we should arrange a photo shoot day, but we’ve been saying it for years and never seem to do the next step. Oh well.

I’ve got to know one of the waitresses at the cafe very well and she was very happy for me when I told her of my new love. Thanks Denise. I hope to bring V along for you to meet.

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Bunker Bay?    (C) PJ croft 2016

I went to IKEA to look at a settee and found just what I wanted. I’m about to order it on-line for delivery, along with some more bookshelves and CD/DVD towers. It costs about $100 for a delivery, but the components of the settee weigh up to 40Kg and are 1.8m long, too much for me to handle. I hope I can get it before V arrives, but no matter.

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Once I reached IKEA, I reached for my walking stick, but it wasn’t there. Oh no, I’d left it in a trolley at Karrinyup shopping centre. I remembered where it was. These sticks have to be bought on-line and cost about $45, and I’ve lost two before, so … nothing for it but to go back and enquire.

Luckily it had been handed in and I got it back. Yay.  It’s crazy – I have to buy it by mail order (from a Perth company) because it has a U-shaped curved handle. For some reason, the chemist shops and hospital shops only stock T-shaped handles. When I’m shopping and reach for my wallet, I need two hands and need to put my stick away somewhere. With a U-shaped handle, I just hang it on my arm or on some other convenient object. But with a T-shaped handle, you can’t make it hang without sliding off.

I tried about six pharmacies and two hospital shops and none of them stocked U-shaped handles. It’s crazy. Why won’t they stock them? I made my views known, but had to order on-line in the end. I bought two, one for in the car and one for in the house.

This was a notable transaction for another reason: I paid for the sticks on-line when I ordered them. Deal done.

But a few weeks later I got a paper letter with an invoice from a firm that I didn’t recognise and a strange item code. At first I thought it was a pathology fee and nearly paid it. But eventually I realised it was an invoice for my two walking sticks. They’d tried to make me pay again! I phoned them and said I’d already paid. “Oh. I’ll pass this on to accounts and they’ll phone you back.” Did they? Pigs might fly they did. Nice try, people. Grrr.

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Reading about the terrible revelations of the tax evasion scandal with the Panamanian law firm, I found this in an editorial in today’s Guardian:

“The sense [is] that normal rules do not apply to the global elite. In a new gilded age, taxes would – once again – appear to be for the little people.

“That impression would be poisonous at any time, but it could be especially dangerous in the politics of this particular hour. The response to the financial crisis has been a constant: with a continual demand for regular citizens to make sacrifices in the name of austerity. But the understanding of what had gone wrong in the first place has steadily shifted. Initially, there was almost no understanding at all: baffling news reports about credit default swaps suggested only sorcery going wrong.

Slowly but surely, however, the world has learned that the banks that busted the global economy were also consumed with old-fashioned skulduggery: rigging rates, ripping off customers, and laundering Mexican drug money.”

Note that – banks engaging in old fashioned skullduggery. Banks have been at the centre of all these financial scandals. They are outright crooks, dishonest, law breakers. That includes Australian banks!!!!! Not all of them, but definitely the big four, led by the Commonwealth Bank, which used to be the peoples’ bank when it was government owned. But once it was privatised, the fraudulent behaviour charges just keep on coming.

Each of the other banks, ANZ, NAB and Westpac has been revealed as crooked at various times. This is atrocious!!!!

It’s very clear that dishonesty and fraudulent behaviour is rife throughout the upper levels of the financial world and among wealthy people. Paying tax is optional. Paying tax is for the little people, that is, you and me. In February 2011 I was told by someone who considers himself a finance whiz-kid, “I paid no tax last year. Everything went through the [family] trust.” This sickens me. I didn’t say anything but I am angry!

And “the little people”, you and me, are constantly being told we have to tighten our belts, accept more cost cutting, accept reduced services, pay more for electricity, water and gas and so on.

While all the time, the wealthy people and the big companies are paying little or no tax and increasing their wealth at incredible rates. So much, that the top 20 wealthiest people in the world have about half of the total world’s wealth. Just twenty people own half of the world’s total wealth!!!

This is an outrage and I think the time has come for action. I mean ACTION. I mean physical action. I mean action that will scare the shit out of these crooks. Read into my words what you will. I have a crow bar. I have a pick-axe handle… This is radical, but nothing else works.

Bunker Bay  2013    (C) PJ Croft 2016

Heeeey, I cracked the 120Kg barrier this morning, 119.8Kg. All done by reduced food intake, and especially reduced alcohol consumption. Slow and steady weight loss, 10Kg in the past 12 months. In May 2012 I was 142Kg, so that’s a 22Kg loss in about three four years.

And another cold shower this morning. I started my cold water regimen on 1 November last year, and normally I’d go back to hot showers about now. But I can still take it cold, so I wonder if I can make it to 31 April, six months of the year? Sure I can!

Correction! Er, 31 April? I’ll never make that. How about 30 April. Duh.

Japan  (false colour, but I like it!)     (C) PJ Croft 2016

I have dates now for my new love. A week’s time, for 13 days. Great. Now I have to really buckle down and do things. Like buy a couch. I’ve only ever had two armchairs. It shows my mindset in the past. I was gunna get around to it … one day. That day is here. IKEA, of course.

My other great good friend Keith is coming later this week to give me a hand, cleaning windows and pressure cleaning the timber decking which is very dusty.

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Yesterday I was heading south on Marmion Avenue when I was passed by a yellow Lamborghini, then immediately after by a Honda S2000 with the top down. Phwooooaaaar. Not so much for the Lambo, but the Honda … that’s a real classic. Long out of production, manual only, but a beautiful car. Holding their prices, unfortunately, so still $40K and above. I’d love one.

But the car position has completely changed now that I look like spending a lot more time in Bali. There’s no point in buying an expensive car any more, for it to just sit here gathering dust while I’m away. I’d be better off putting the money towards renting a nice SUV up there.

Maybe I should go for the Ford Probe I’ve always wanted. You can buy one for less than $4,000 now. All high mileage, around 200,000Km, I’m afraid, so might need repairs, but repairs should be relatively easy and cheap compared to a Merc.

Just dreamin’.

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Japan, Awara Spa, 1992.    (C) PJ Croft 2016

Persimmons, Japan    (C) PJ Croft 2016

Well, it’s not that bad, but I sure miss the things that have happened in the past month. It seems awfully quiet here, but I hope I’ll be seeing my love again soon.

Saw the doc this morning and it was a surprisingly unproductive visit. We spent so much time talking about all that’s happened to me that we skipped over the medical matters a bit. It doesn’t matter – I get my insulin from there FOC due to this trial I’m on, so I need to go back to see her in a couple of weeks. Alon alon, slowly, slowly.

My car started first try after sitting idle for a month. Good car!

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I had an annoying thing at Denpasar airport yesterday. First, a good thing – as I approached the Air Asia check-in counters with the long queues, my heart sank. But the guy pushing my trolley took me to the Red Carpet check-in counter. Oh, I’m not in this scheme, I said. But he pointed to my walking stick and just walked me in. No problem! No queueing, straight in. And they accepted my two pieces of luggage, even though you’re only supposed to have one. My big case weighed 15.5Kg and my smaller bag was 5Kg, by the way. Worked out well.

OK, so I got through and went to the immigrasi counter. The guy looked long at my passport and asked how long I’d been here. Well, 30 days, I said, 1 March to 31 March. No, that’s 31 days. Uh oh. I was taken to a small, dirty, untidy office and offered a seat. Sorry sir, you’ve been here one day longer than your visa. That’ll be Rp300,000 (A$30) please. Damn. At least I got a proper receipt. I made a joke that I’ll frame it and hang it on the wall at home. He laughed.

It’s silly because it’s counterproductive. Why fine me for a simple mistake? It means I’ll be careful to stay for a shorter time next time, and Bali will get less money out of me. Oh well.

I was able to just walk out of the office and I was away (after returning to collect my laptop bag which I’d forgotten). Then, at the departure lounge, another small nice thing. I must admit I was a bit buggered from the long walk carrying my heavy laptop bag, other camera bag and my stick. When the call came to board, the queue stretched away to the smoky distance and I was finding it hard going. But a stewardess saw me and my stick and waved me straight in, and to the escalator. I thanked her genuinely. Air Asia – I’ve had good service from them more than once.

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Back in Perth I was soon swearing in the baggage hall. I was a bit late getting there and I could not find a trolley. My stuff, now including 2.25l of duty free grog, was heavy and I was nearly dropping it (I mean it). Where are the trolleys??!!

I finally spotted them 20m away neatly stacked against the far wall. Bloody hell, why weren’t they out where they were needed? Perth Airport strikes again.

I finally got out at about 5pm, with no search, and was soon picked up by my great good friend Barry. Tonkin Highway was a traffic jam so we went via the Mitchell Fwy.

Home, and I was knackered. Bed at 9.45pm and instantly asleep. Güte nacht.

Japan.   (C) PJ Croft 2016

I forgot that my neighbour on one side is of German descent, and when I got my mail from her just now, and told her of my Bali prize catch, she reminded me that she speaks German. That’ll be nice for V.

My mail included my new watch: Wow, it’s thick and heavy. Occasional wear, I think.

Paris, the city of love.    (C) PJ Croft 2008, 2016

Having trouble sleeping again, dammit. It’s 3am and I’m trying to wind down. My feet are painful (diabetic neuropathy), my back hurts a bit, I have a mild headache … I’ve taken some Tramadol but it takes a while to work. I didn’t want any dinner, having had a bigger than usual lunch, so I just ate fruit and nuts.

The fruit came from a bowl I found in the room when I arrived, with a note attached addressed to me. Very nice. I will be giving this hotel top marks on the web site reviews.

Internet radio, fantastic. I’m listening to the ABC as if I were at home. I even listen on my phone while I’m in bed. I shouldn’t, of course. And damn Facebook! Once you start using it just a little, it kind of reaches out of your computer with tendrils and pulls you in. Friend requests, posts from people you know, political comment from an unusually perceptive guy who used to be at Channel 9. I’ve never met him, but I feel we know each other now.

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I’ve made no secret now of my new love, Miss V as I call her, Veronika Prull-Elnrieder from Vienna, Austria, but I don’t think I’ve said how it all started. If I have, sorry to repeat but I want to tell the world.

I caught a Kura Kura shuttle bus at the Kuta Galeria at about 4pm on  a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. Veronika was the only passenger as I hauled myself up and sat behind her. She swivelled and said something to me, I replied, and we just talked all the way to my hotel, the Taksu. V needed a place for her friend Surya to meet her to drive her back to Lovina, so she got off with me. She took the initiative and asked if I’d have coffee with her in the hotel coffee shop. Of course I would, and we talked and talked for an hour or more until Surya arrived.

When it came time to say goodbye, I couldn’t help myself, I made a split second, spontaneous decision and gave her a hug to say goodbye. She seemed surprised, but has told me since that this was a big factor in her feelings toward me. We’d both felt the sparks while we were talking, and I could see it in her then.

So next day I plucked up a bit of courage (it didn’t take much) and emailed her asking if we could meet again. I got a very nice reply, and that started a chain of emails, and more talking. She was back in Lovina at that stage, over the mountains 3½ hours away.

Then I said I was doing a trip around the south and east coasts, Candidasa, Amed and points north and west. V asked if she could come with me. Oh yes, yes, yes. Marvellous.

She came the day before I was due to leave and stayed with me. We went for a walk along Jalan Cemara and I showed her the villa that I nearly bought. By chance, there were some Australians there as we peeked through the door, they saw us and asked us in. I explained that I was the brother of the owner and how it all happened, and we had a brief look through. That’s the first time I’ve seen it in five years. There were six people renting it and we had a nice chat. The lawn needs mowing!

Then we left and walked down to the beach and along to a nice bar. Veronika is a strong swimmer and had worn her bathers, so she went off for a short swim. The water was a bit dirty, she said, so she was soon out.

We finished our Happy Hour drinks there and walked back on Jl. Sudamala, and came to the Linga Longa Bar which was serving babi guling, roast pig. We partook, along with some of their Happy Hour drinks too. They had a really good live band, really good. Soon the cuddles started and life stories started being explored, and that was it. I think V had made her mind up. Yah! I didn’t need any more to make up my mind. I shot six minutes of great 4K video of the band, by the way.

So that’s how it all started. We met purely by chance on a public bus, we were the only passengers, and we got off at the same stop. If either of us had missed that bus … it’s as if the forces of nature conspired to bring us together. We just meshed from the beginning, and it’s been all good news and better and better each day since then. We share so much in our likes and attitudes, it’s amazing, right from the start. Two lonely ships passing, happened to come together on Kura Kura bus. Amazing. Both of us had felt that we’d missed the last bus of life, so to speak, yet this bus brought us together and we caught it. Amazing.

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 ABC News:  “With the number of depleted home solar batteries being thrown away tipped to rise over the coming years, one Australian company is taking on electronic giants such as Tesla and Panasonic with the launch of an easily recyclable power source.

“Brisbane company Redflow says it has developed the ZCell battery that, unlike its competitors, does not use lithium and is more recyclable than its competitors.

“The active parts are plastic, aluminium and steel, the fluid electrolyte can be removed and cleaned and put in the next battery so the whole thing is very recyclable,” executive chairman Simon Hackett said.

“The battery is designed to store 10kWh of electricity — enough to keep most homes running for a day or two.”

I’ve always been an optimist when it comes to technological problems. Things might seem difficult, frightening or impossible, but I’ve always believed that science and technology will come up with solutions.

Well, the above looks exciting to me, and the fact that it’s an Aussie company makes it better. I’ve wondered about the world’s supply of lithium. It’s obviously finite and you can’t manufacture it, it has to be mined, with all the negative implications of that.

So I’m pretty enthused by this Redwall company. Go Aussies, go. But watch them being either bought out or crushed by a foreign giant.

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Need I say more?  Lovina  Tuesday 29 March 2016

I’m back in Sanur at the Taksu Hotel after three blissful days and nights in Lovina. Veronika had booked us into a hotel, bless her, and it was very pleasant. We were the only guests most of the time, which suited me fine.

The above photo was made at an upmarket bar/restaurant nearby, which V had arranged and which laid on a van and driver for us as it was too far to walk. We met a friend of V’s, a Swedish guy called Lars who lives in Bali but used to be in the wine business, so was very knowledgeable. He also used to work for IBM as a systems analyst/programmer, so we had a lot to talk about. What a nice guy. Quietly spoken, exceedingly polite, good conversation. I’m sure I’ll meet up with him again. He took these pictures for us.

Yeah.

So after a fond goodbye at midday, it was the drive back to Samur, arriving at 4.15pm. Same room, they know me by now, and it was like coming home. I like this hotel! I think it’s the best I’ve stayed at anywhere in the world. I will definitely use it again in future. Lacks a trendy, comfy bar, but still fine.

OK, flight home tomorrow, and it’s going to be difficult to adjust, I think. After a poor start at the S’Cape Condotel with all their faults, I landed on my feet by choosing this place and then finding the most important person I’ve ever met. This has been the most significant month of my life. I initially wrote “I think”, but I don’t need to think, it’s a fact. Wow, it changes everything. At last. At last. At last!

A picture tells the story.

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I had a nap for 45mins and woke with the smell of a hot stove in my nose. I’m using my CPAP without its humidifier and the air in this room is actually quite dry. That means the air I’m breathing is picking up the smell of the blower. Ugh.

Then I needed an ATM so I walked along Jl. Poso (strictly, Jalan Danau Poso) to the Circle K, about 350m. When I needed to cross the road, the traffic seemed to part as if for me. Things seem different now. 🙂  It was noticeable how much more energy I felt.

As I walked past a small warung, I saw movement on the ground. Bloody hell, it was a rat as big as a kitten, just moving at its own pace under the benches. I stopped to look hard, but no-one took any notice. That’s Bali.

I’ve noticed clanking sounds coming over the wall outside my room. As I walked along Jl. Poso, I saw a large digger working in a huge cleared area that wasn’t that way last week. Then I dawned on me – this is the sound I’ve been hearing over the wall.

There’s a large building next to it – ta da! It’s the Taksu Hotel.

As I walked back, that banner was unfurled and it’s going to be a Hardy’s Mall. Shazzam. Even better. This will generate more shops around the area.

[Correction. I was told it’s a new hotel, under the Hardy’s name, not a shopping mall.]

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I’ve had a small Bluetooth mouse for my laptops for years now and noticed the LED flashing at me yesterday. Uh oh, batteries. I’ve just changed them, and just in time. Even thought they were good Duracell alkalines, one had started to leak badly. Just in time!

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The return today was via Bedugul and Tabanan, stopping for lunch there. This was the view from the restaurant. Thunder was rolling over those mountains. Yaah.

A little bit of Austria in Bali? Me at V’s house. Very nice, but isolated.

Too many things to remember at this instant, so notes for later.

Arrived MyLovina Hotel Sunday 2.30pm after nice drive via Bedugul. Driver Tony: Made got the days mixed up, thought I meant Monday, Tony substituted. Good drive. 550,000 + 50,000 bonus.

Big room, not very effective aircon, right near the beach but beach dirty and grey sand.

Schwim, dinner at small bar across street, German girls.

Monday, yesterday, drive to Kalisada house where V lives. She has her own car, Diahatsu Xenia, small 2WD but like SUV.

My model. V in her garden, looking happy!

Fast driving! Alon alon, V, ja? Slowly, slowly please. V’s house like Austrian chalet, very isolated. No beach access, no pool, no aircon, but beautiful ocean breezes. Very rural, very local, at the end of a track through paddies.

Breakfast at hotel, because our room faces sun and room 1 is better, would we like to move over? Ja, so we pack up all our stuff. Come 1230pm, it turns out they gave that room to someone else! Without telling us! So we packed up for nothing. V was furious. Gave them a blast. But, nothing for it, unpack again.

Tiring day for me, always a bit tired. Dinner at new restaurant in main drag. OK, but nothing much. Nice company though. We never seem to run out of things to talk about. 🙂

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Showed V a lot of photos last night and she approves. Bagus! Had a new experience for me. Awake until 2.30am. Awoke again at 5.30am, so not a lot of sleep for me last night. No doubt I’ll crash after early swim (I say schwim now 🙂 ) and breakfast.

The universal symbol. This was a grab shot at 200mm, bouncing around. Image stabilisation!  Lumix FZ1000, I highly recommend it. Marvellous camera. The 4K video just sparkles. (C) PJ Croft 2016

I’m hitting the road today, up over that mountain again, to Lovina to see my new lovina gal. It’s grey and gently raining at 0720, nice and cool. I don’t actually look forward to that mountain drive now. It’s so twisty and steep that you feel that you’re constantly being thrown around. Not really, but it’s a tiring drive, even as a passenger.

Gee, I really feel as if I’ve lost weight. I can bend over in the shower much more easily. I don’t have any scales, so I can’t check, but I feel lighter. Almost ‘floating on air’ …….. 🙂

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Just hangin’ around? On the road to Candidasa. A grab shot, not my best.   (C) PJ Croft 2016