Journal Entries
How to build a Volkswagen on the third floor.
Posted Feb 14, 2006
I'm just back from Sydney, and another few odd days with D. Any day with D is an odd day, come to think of it.
After about four months back in Sydney, he already wants to find a different place to live. I'm not sure what took him so long, to be honest. On the plus side, the pub's right opposite and the shops are just around the corner. (Interesting shops - trilingual signage - English, Greek and Chinese.) On the minus side, the train station is two doors down and freight trains run right under the loungeroom windows... No air-conditioning either, which makes a Sydney summer rather a trial. (Humidity is not something I'm comfortable with.)
Living alone doesn't suit him much. There needs to be someone else around to keep him grounded. I noticed that everything he's bought since moving - laundry baskets, the soap dish in the bath, cushions on the dining chairs - still has a price tag on it, because nobody's around to remind him to remove them. But that's as nothing when there's a bumper bar from a 1971 VW Beetle under the coffee table and several smaller parts here and there about the place. The car has been scrap metal for a few months now, but D can't bring himself to rid himself of all the spare parts. He says he might have another Beetle one day. His current car is too modern and characterless, apparently.
Of course he was good company, as he always is, but he is getting rather more eccentric. (Does that comment make me the pot or the kettle?) Eccentric or not, he's still a darling - sometimes even a certifiable darling - and sometimes just certifiable; there's never a dull moment. 
For all the passing irritations, it's nice to remind myself once in a while what I saw in him in the first place...
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Latest reply: Feb 14, 2006
Necrology
Posted Jan 24, 2006
This is becomming a depressingly frequent event. Here's an excerpt from an email I've just received...
'Steve M passed away on Saturday night from acute myeloid leukaemia. No one knew he had it until Friday. It has been a huge shock as he had been well but got flu, then pneumonia and then on Friday they said they thought he had leukaemia. His funeral is this Friday.
'It's been a terrible time for his family as not only has he got the two boys, but N is six months pregnant with their third (a girl).'
****
I w*rked with Steve in Mount Gambier in 1994/95 when I first ran away to join the public service. We started on the same day, at the same level. He then went on to marry his one and only girlfriend and settle into a seemingly unruffled existence... He was, I think, a year younger than me. He was always cheerful and healthy and all the other things I'm not. We meant to catch up next time I was back in Adelaide.
Words fail me, for a change.
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Latest reply: Jan 24, 2006
On having the rug pulled out from under one.
Posted Jan 9, 2006
I'm feeling a bit vulnerable just at the moment. For a change, it's not just because of all the politics and associated drivel that oozes out of my office. If I'm somewhat more terse and irritable than usual over the next few weeks, here's why...
I had a call from the estate agent this morning, giving me 28 days to vacate the premises. I've been living here since June 2001. The landlord wants his granddaughter to live here, and sadly it's quite legal for him simply to chuck me out like that. Four and a half years of regular rent payments and garden maintenance count or nothing. The agent says she'll help me find another place, but if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that estate agents aren't to be relied upon.
I had a look at a possible new place this evening on the way home. It would be $70 a week more than this one, and it has hardly any garden. It's barely even a courtyard in fact. Worse than that, there were 18 people in the queue ahead of me. (Another 20 or so behind, incidentally.)
So I'm getting drunk. Please join me...
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Latest reply: Jan 9, 2006
Hot and sweaty and covered in grit.
Posted Jan 3, 2006
A brief diary of the last couple of days...
Friday 30 December
Hung around office for at least half a day before deciding to go home on the grounds of lack of interest. On way home, decided to accept yesterday’s offer of lift to Sydney in morning. N is going down to spend New Year at her sister J’s place, and the invitation came from both of them. J is living in Lane Cove, in a house with views over the harbour. She’s sharing it with the grandson of the late owner while the state is being settled. Got home, washed clothes, dried clothes, packed same. Dithered for a while. Repacked clothes. Packed wine.
Saturday 31 December
Up early, just after 5. Watered garden lavishly, cleaned kitchen and bathroom, set off with N at about 11am. Met J and her passengers at Lake George. (Dry at the moment; I believe the water apparently visible on far side of lake to be a mirage.) J's car overheating; would only run with heater on, which isn't ideal in 39C weather. Travelled in convoy in case of car breakdown or nervous breakdown. Stopped first at Marulan and then again at Pheasant's Nest to wait for J. Got to her house after 4pm, two hours later than anticipated. Bought lots of beer en route; started the party on the verandah waiting for her. Went to supermarket and had unpleasant time of it – bare shelves, surly staff, mysterious stains on floor, screaming children, screaming parents, and a large display of Easter eggs. (
Yes, on New Year’s Eve.) Back to house, in shock and in desperate need of cold shower and clean shirt. Sydney weather humid and hot; not a nice combination. Various people appeared; all youngish scientists. Bizarre conversations ensued. Drank lots. Trooped up hill before midnight to watch the harbour fireworks. Trooped back down again afterwards for more drinks; rang Mum en route to wish her happy birthday. She was 63 in my timezone but still only 62 in hers, so it was a good tease. General collapse at 3am.
Sunday 1 January
No hangover - probably because alcohol was sweated out as soon as it was consumed. 28C at 7am. 45C by mid-afternoon. Pestilential weather. Lots of sitting in kitchen, with fan going. Then bookshopping as alternative to beach. Perfect airconditioned bliss. Saw a pigeon lying in the shade with its wings outstretched; nearby there was a cat sprawled in another patch of shade. Neither the cat nor the pigeon cared. Cool change came through after 9pm, dropping temperature to 38C which genuinely felt cool. Lots of filth in air. Covered in grit. Faint smell of smoke.
Monday 2 January.
Temperature was 20C at 8am. Rain. Pleasant drive home, especially by comparison with Saturday’s excursion. On arrival, found garden not dead despite worst fears. Slumped in corner, exhausted.
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Latest reply: Jan 3, 2006
Press 'pause' to exist
Posted Dec 2, 2005
I just hacked my DVD player's region settings - gosh how naughty and rebellious of me. It was so easy, even I could manage it. 
Now I'll be able to get DVDs from Amazon. I've been desperately longing for 'Drop the Dead Donkey' for some time, so that's the first target.
The process was simple, but disturbing. I just trawled 
sites for the unlock code for the machine, then pressed 'pause' and entered the code. The message came up asking me to enter the desired region code, from the 0-6 range... At the bottom of the screen, it said: Press 'pause' to exist.
That captures my mood of the last few weeks quite neatly, come to think of it.
It's reassuring to know that even machines find the modern world a little less than satisfactory. 
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Latest reply: Dec 2, 2005
Ivan the Terribly Average
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