Monday, October 16, 2006
Is Jupiter aligned with Mars?
I've had a kind of freaky week. Are the planets in some sort of strange alignment? Do we have a sun spot shower or something?
This week:
Flew to Canberra (3500ks)for three days. Left at 2.20am, got there 9.20am. Ascertained that hotel had a dining room. Got back Sunday evening to find the dining room did not open on Sundays. The hotel was in an industrial area with not a shop nor restaurant in sight. Had a bag of potato crisps and a snickers bar for dinner.
Tuesday - Flew back to Darwin, arriving at 11.45pm.
Thursday - Friend tells me her husband has been diagnosed with artery problems and is in hospital having a triple bypass. She also says she's been feeling a little unwell and has had some tests.
Friday - dear family member goes into hospital for planned bowel operation. Problems worse than expected. Looking towards 10 days in hospital and a fairly protracted convalescence.
Sunday - Same friend (see Thursday) rings me. She's in hospital. She's had a heart attack and is awaiting possible transfer to same hospital as her husband for possible bypass surgery. She tells me another friend is in there with her. He was brought in by ambulance after suffering severe chest pains.
Monday - Get to work and our computers have undergone a 'migration' - needless to say no-one's computer works anymore. Takes till 2pm to fix the problem
Monday - Friend I haven't heard from for about 10 months text messages me and asks if I can get my stored belongings out of her garage in the next two weeks - yeah sure, I'm 3000 kilometres away and every time I've tried to do it when I've been in town she hasn't wanted to know... (huh!)
Monday - Arrive home to devastating sight. There is a very large tree in the neighbours' yard that shades the westerly windows of my bedroom - remember this is Darwin and daily temperatures range between 30 and 34 C all year. The tree has been cut down. Not trimmed; not lopped - no, all that remains is a 30 cm stump, a pile of sawdust and the sun reflected blindingly from my bedroom windows. I loved that tree. It gave me shade and privacy and a moving panoply of green to watch. Now all I can see is the next door building, the carpark and the bloody sun!
Tonight my best friend arrives for a two week holiday. Her plane gets in around 1am - please God... no more nasty surprises eh?
This week:
Flew to Canberra (3500ks)for three days. Left at 2.20am, got there 9.20am. Ascertained that hotel had a dining room. Got back Sunday evening to find the dining room did not open on Sundays. The hotel was in an industrial area with not a shop nor restaurant in sight. Had a bag of potato crisps and a snickers bar for dinner.
Tuesday - Flew back to Darwin, arriving at 11.45pm.
Thursday - Friend tells me her husband has been diagnosed with artery problems and is in hospital having a triple bypass. She also says she's been feeling a little unwell and has had some tests.
Friday - dear family member goes into hospital for planned bowel operation. Problems worse than expected. Looking towards 10 days in hospital and a fairly protracted convalescence.
Sunday - Same friend (see Thursday) rings me. She's in hospital. She's had a heart attack and is awaiting possible transfer to same hospital as her husband for possible bypass surgery. She tells me another friend is in there with her. He was brought in by ambulance after suffering severe chest pains.
Monday - Get to work and our computers have undergone a 'migration' - needless to say no-one's computer works anymore. Takes till 2pm to fix the problem
Monday - Friend I haven't heard from for about 10 months text messages me and asks if I can get my stored belongings out of her garage in the next two weeks - yeah sure, I'm 3000 kilometres away and every time I've tried to do it when I've been in town she hasn't wanted to know... (huh!)
Monday - Arrive home to devastating sight. There is a very large tree in the neighbours' yard that shades the westerly windows of my bedroom - remember this is Darwin and daily temperatures range between 30 and 34 C all year. The tree has been cut down. Not trimmed; not lopped - no, all that remains is a 30 cm stump, a pile of sawdust and the sun reflected blindingly from my bedroom windows. I loved that tree. It gave me shade and privacy and a moving panoply of green to watch. Now all I can see is the next door building, the carpark and the bloody sun!
Tonight my best friend arrives for a two week holiday. Her plane gets in around 1am - please God... no more nasty surprises eh?
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The mother of all barbecues
Yesterday I bought the mother of all barbecues. It's one of those stainless steel, 4 burner plus wok burner with hood for roasting models. Man I've been lusting after one of these for years. Kept looking at my old charred and rusted one with the wobbly wooden trolley with one and a half wheels and three out of four burners still working and thinking: "gee those really nice ones are coming down in price all the time, I should replace the old one". Yesterday the local Bunnings hardware store was closing down (to make way for the biggest hardware store in the Pacific that's almost complete near the airport). Anyway they were having a 20% off everything sale and I just couldn't pass up the last super barbecue on the floor. Pretty good deal actually, I ended up getting it for $350. Bringing it home in 4000 pieces, lugging it piece by piece up the stairs and spending the rest of the day as the apprentice barbecue builder had me wondering whether I was in my right mind. As did the thought of this monster overtaking my medium size balcony.
But tonight it was all worth the effort. There sits my shining, stainless steel space ship - looking like Dr Who's Dalek has landed on the balcony - but man, the steak and eggs for breakfast were superbly cooked and tonight's roast chicken, vegies and stir fried vegetables - succulent, juicy and absolutely delicious.
I can see there will be no need to replace my dodgy hotplates and oven - they'll probably never be used again.
Go the Dalek!
PS - somewhere during the course of the day I remembered that I bought the old barbecue in 1987 - at that rate, the new one will outlast me or at least my ability to cook - so it's official folks, this is my last barbecue!
But tonight it was all worth the effort. There sits my shining, stainless steel space ship - looking like Dr Who's Dalek has landed on the balcony - but man, the steak and eggs for breakfast were superbly cooked and tonight's roast chicken, vegies and stir fried vegetables - succulent, juicy and absolutely delicious.
I can see there will be no need to replace my dodgy hotplates and oven - they'll probably never be used again.
Go the Dalek!
PS - somewhere during the course of the day I remembered that I bought the old barbecue in 1987 - at that rate, the new one will outlast me or at least my ability to cook - so it's official folks, this is my last barbecue!
