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Nearly normal
Our lockdown finished over a week ago, then we had some restrictions, including wearing a mask, until Sunday. Amazingly we had no new cases of community transmission here and so life returned to nearly normal on Sunday. Mask-wearing was annoying at times but we made it through that short period. I feel I can’t complain about it since we’ve only had a tiny taste of what most of the rest of the world has dealt with.
The Scientist and I went off to a local market/food fair for lunch on Sunday. It was pretty busy but our timing seemed to work out well since the event started in early morning and the stalls weren’t particularly crowded. It was a good thing as it was really hot and steamy during the day. We got our food and found a shady place to sit on the grass and eat our yummy foods. Afterwards, we walked around the stalls, bought a plant in a handmade pot, bought some brownies and fudge and then I got a really delicious smoothie that had raspberry, banana, mango and several other nice ingredients. It wasn’t sweet at all and was really refreshing on a stinky hot day.
Later we went home where I finally had to wake up Lego Lover to go out. He’d asked the night before and I said possibly okay. We went to a shopping center that is about half an hour away. I like the fact this place has five or six bubble tea places. I also hate making decisions on where to get a drink, lol. We walked up and down the place and stopped in the usual spots. We stopped at Nando’s to get him some lunch since he didn’t have time to eat before we left. It was super crowded at the shopping center so we were both relieved to get out soon afterwards. There was a stop at a toy store that has taken the space left from Toys R Us and then we headed home. On the way there and back we listened to the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast which we enjoy and learn a lot from.
We arrived home and there was still Game Fanatic to feed. There’s a shop where we used to go regularly for charcoal chicken and then it suddenly changed to a kebab shop. Then months later it added the chicken back in. So we went there and again they are only doing the kebabs. I think that one is a lost cause. Then we thought to go to the fish and chip shop but we wanted to watch the latest Wandavision episode first. So we did that and pondered on various parts of this week’s show before heading to the fish and chip place. Which was closed for the upteenth time. We nearly came home when the Scientist thought of a Thai restaurant we recently discovered and liked. It was a bit out of the way but surely was open.
And that’s how we found ourselves sitting in a park, next to the little strip where the Thai place exists. We had a half hour wait for our order and we’d wandered around the playground and tried out the swings. I tried to take a photo of the Scientist but the growing darkness and the movement meant it was all a blur and it wasn’t an aesthetically appealing one. We laughed at the notion that some would claim it was a ghost if they saw it. :D
We eventually sat on a park bench and took photos of each other and then of both of us together. He has a Samsung Note and I have an iPhone so we have mostly different apps for photography. After several false starts we both got a couple of decent shots. It just happened that a car’s headlights were on in one of mine, which lit his hair from behind and caused a bit of a glow. And overall we both looked decent. I found most of my other ones had me and/or him with closed eyes. Anyway, we had such a nice time for such a simple thing as waiting for take away order. And that was the highlight of my Valentine’s Day.
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Strange times
We’ve just finished one month of 2021 and it feels as though the world is less stable than ever. For the first time in a little less than ten months, we had a case of community transmission here. Within hours we were in a hard lockdown. We spent late Sunday afternoon rushing to get requirements before the shops closed. It was not a pleasant experience.
We didn’t hear about the lockdown until well after the announcement when a family member sent a message about it. We’d been watching tennis on the tv but no news was broadcast about it. Lockdown began a t 6pm Sunday and it finishes at 6pm today.
For the first time we needed masks and they were nowhere to be found. Well that’s not really true because I found some at my favorite tea shop. The owner had sold them last year so we went there on the chance he might have them and he did. He wasn’t selling but was happy to share his supply with us and we got a handful of disposable masks, and that ensured we were covered until we could get cloth ones.
There was another run on toilet paper and I saw a couple people with several packs in their trolleys at the grocery store. The Scientist went in and managed to get a massive pack that was left. Not the brand we like but it is better than nothing since our supply had dwindled to the end. I’ve been doing better at keeping stock but admit I missed this time. Lucky we got in in time. There was also a run on meat and milk but we were fine in that area until we needed it.
I must admit that wearing a mask has been a novel experience. I knew there would likely be issues, especially with my glasses and now I have a better idea of it. I ordered cloth masks from Amazon on Sunday night, mostly as I knew there was a better chance of them arriving more quickly than just about any other place. I got two with filters included and they arrived earlier than expected on Wednesday. For the most part mine is quite okay but it is difficult wearing it for long periods of time. Yesterday another order arrived with three more masks. These aren’t as nice as there’s not filter but they should work for the boys should they go out. The last one will got to an outside family member.
Work has been a bit off kilter this week. My long time client is staying with family and I only supported him briefly this week. Another client has quite different needs and I did provide support but not for the usual time frames.
The state government implemented contact tracing through an app and qr codes back in December. This enabled them to narrow down all the places where the case had been, and people have been testing in large numbers through the week. So far, no new cases have been found so our hard lockdown will end tonight at 6pm. We will have to continue to wear masks and follow some restrictions until 12:01am on February 14th when it will be two weeks since the previous case turned up.
Meanwhile, a major bushfire started on Monday and has been ever present in our lives all week. So far 81 homes have been lost and the fire is still not contained. It’s been super windy here much of the week which is hampering efforts to bring it under control. Tuesday was one of the worst days when we woke to ash falling from the sky throughout the Perth area. We don’t live that close but also not that far from the fire and we ended up in the lowest alert zone for a couple of days. Today we have been moved out of that zone so can relax a bit more. The danger for us was more about embers travelling from afar. In all the years living here, we’ve never been in that blue emergency zone before. So while we weren’t in immediate danger, we were in an area where we needed to be on alert for sudden changes to our safety.
It was quite eerie on Tuesday afternoon when an ice cream truck was moving up and down streets nearby. I haven’t noticed it around much lately although maybe I tuned it out before. But still it was almost creepy to hear it moving along when everything was so still and quiet. Not to mention yellow and grey skies about. We couldn’t run our air conditioner due to the smoke and ash so we spent much of the day without air flow. I went out to the hardware stores and got an industrial sized fan to help and that worked well until temperatures dropped later in the day. Also there was a fire reported in our suburb that day and it was quite worrying until I later learned it was a garbage truck that had caught fire. That was handled quickly and the danger was passed easily.
I went out walking last night for the first time in ages. The winds have been gusting so I decided not to try my bicycle. I’d taken it out on Monday and there were a few places where I felt really unsteady. Not to mention I didn’t want to go too far from home and that’s easy to do on bike. My walk was okay aside from the wind slamming into my face. I didn’t walk all that fast but I think that was okay because most of my exercise has been on bike lately and I needed lower impact this time. I had to stop as parcel lockers to pick up the second order of masks along the way and just managed to get home a few minutes before my hour was up.
While all this has been going on, the northern part of the state has been dealing with a cyclone for a few days. There’s been rain and flooding in some areas, which I think is connected. Those rains should be moving into our area this weekend and hopefully the rains will help with containing the fires nearby. We also have cooler temperatures right now, so I hope that will improve the ability to get things under control.
And so our new year carries on, with all sorts of news to keep us on our toes.
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Summer
It’s now the fourth of December and we are well into summer here in Perth. The month started out with the Scientist having a birthday. I took him to iFly to do indoor skydiving and he loved it. I took part in it too but I’m not quite as enthralled. I might do more in the future but it wasn’t quite so smooth sailing for me. The Scientist has got a ten pack of visits to use and he’s hoping to become independent of the instructor by the end of them. I look forward to taking photos and videos of him while he keeps learning.
With the warmer weather, the ants decide to take refuge in our house and we had pest control out yesterday. The guy was 45 minutes late and there was no apology and his manner was kind of off, like he had to stop and think after every second word. Even when he arrived he sat in the truck in the driveway for a good five minutes or more without coming to the door. Anyway, here’s hoping the barriers work because we had a terrible time last year with ants, even after treatment. This was quite an expensive service so it better last a lot longer.
Last week we had tree people out to do some pruning and bush removal. One of our lovely bottlebrush plants bloomed a couple months ago and then promptly started dying. Not sure what happened but it needed to be removed. Also we had bushes growing into the gutters so they were pruned back severely. They still need some light trimming as the work done was just major removals.
And with that we need to get someone out to do our gutters. The one quote I had was expensive and they can’t come out until late January, which doesn’t seem very helpful. Which reminds me I need to grab a community paper and see if I can find someone else to come out.
The nicest thing at this time of the year is how we have daylight running so late. I haven’t ended up out on my bike quite as much as I wanted but hopefully that will soon change. The weather is just becoming quite pleasant for riding, aside for the sometimes strong sea breeze that comes in during the late afternoon.
Anyway, it’s summer and Christmas season and after so many years I have adapted to this notion of the holiday during the opposite season to what I grew up with.
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Turning Japanese
In our house we have a variety of smart devices, including both Amazon and Google speakers. Last year I got an Echo Show on sale to put in the bedroom and it has been good for us so far. I also have Amazon Prime access and noticed the show was a device listed for it. I tried to remove it and apparently accidentally deregistered the entire device because when we went to bed it was showing a new setup.
So I guessed this was related to the mistake I’d made earlier and went through the set up process. But after going through most of it, I got a message saying there was a mismatch between the account language and the device language. This made no sense but it became clear afterwards the device thought my account was Japanese and the introductory video played in that language. Sigh. I thought maybe I did something wrong and we went through it again a couple more times with the same result.
Meanwhile my Alexa app wasn’t showing the Echo show on the list of devices on any of these occasions. We did a lot of searching and couldn’t find any answers. Eventually I found a contact page where someone would call me and I filled out the details and submitted it.
Within seconds I had a callback and was immediately on hold for about 30-45 seconds. The guy that answers sounded like he might have been in India and his name possibly was Indian. At first he was a bit hard to understand but he got better with time. I am pleased to report that he was extremely helpful and stayed online the entire time we were sorting things out. What happened is I seem to have created an account in Amazon Japan at some point and it had the same login details. I have a vague idea of trying to buy something from their site and trying to sign in but I guess it created a different account. The guy I spoke with deleted that account and reset the password for the Australian account. I think it took around 20 minutes to reset the device and to sign in again. All was working fine when we finished the call.
So I am pleased to have such a good result of this customer service even though it was tricky to actually get to the page to use it. :)
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Almost novel experience
I remember Sizzler growing up and our family went there on occasion, if I remember correctly. That said I can’t recall exactly where they were located any more. Then I came to Australia and found they existed here. Turns out it’s been THE place to go for family get-togethers most of the time I’ve lived here. Even our family used to go there occasionally and it worked out even for the vegetarians in the family. But in that last several years, we haven’t been there at all as it’s been too poor value for money to make it worthwhile. The location nearest us, however, has often been crowded despite the increased prices.
The company here in Australia has had some difficult days and most of the restaurants closed over the past few years. There were three left in our state. Unfortunately COVID made sure these didn’t survive and an announcement was made several weeks ago of the impending closure of the remaining restaurants.
Both the boys have fond memories of going there in the past, and we all like their cheese toast a lot. We had a plan to make a final trip there. They close on Sunday and we went there today. We had to stand in line for an hour before being seated. Social distancing wasn’t too good there but we did our best to manage. We finally got to the front and place our orders but were told it could be half an hour or more for meals to come out. We were okay with that seeing we’d already been waiting so long. Anyway, we had the salad bar to help us along.
There were a few issues along the way with the meal. The restaurant was obviously understaffed and the poor people working were doing multiple positions. The cutlery was lacking at the salad bar and there were limited plates and bowls. Soup spoons were in abundance but we almost never have that. The Scientist stopped a worked to see about a fork as there were only knives available. I got a meal that was mostly typical for me. I mainly went to get the baked potato and the salad bar. Too bad there wasn’t an option to get the potato only with salad bar.
The salads were not really all that great and the selection was quite limited. It used to be there were some savoury items included but aside from some shrimp fry and scalloped potatoes, there wasn’t any. They had taco shells and salad fillings but no protein available. The Scientist order just a one trip meal but he had barely enough to satisfy him.
Then the dessert bar was out of almost everything and the soft serve machine looked pretty awful for the vanilla…There didn’t seem to be enough people to keep things going.
There seemed to be nobody to bus tables for quite some time. Most of the ones around were empty with dishes left behind for most of our visit there. There were staff that came around but they were in such a rush that some tables weren’t quite as clean as they could have been.
What was good were the staff were quite good and treated people well. The cheese toast came out promptly. We weren’t crowed in like sardines…well there are regulations on the crowds so that shouldn’t have been an issue. The boys managed the people really well and even went up to the salad bar without one of us along. My baked potato was cooked well. :)
So was a day of some nostalgia for us and a kind of novel experience since it’s been so long since we’ve been there.
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Novel experience
I wrote about seeing a different doctor in my last post but wanted to write a bit more about the doctor. When I made the appointment I saw that she has special interest in LGBQT+ issues which usually isn’t listed. She came out to the waiting area and she was extremely tall, probably over six feet, which seemed unusual although not unheard of.
On the script she wrote for me, it lists her name differently to the one she uses in the practice. I looked her up online and discovered she’s pretty much the go-to doctor for LGBQT+ issues, but especially trans issues as she’s a trans woman. I had a bit of suspicion that might be the case before but this just confirmed it. It’s kind of sad to think the options are so limited with regard to doctors that are recommended here.
Anyway, it was kind of neat to discover this.
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Getting better
It’s been weeks and weeks now and I am still coughing. But it’s much better than it’s been and it’s been awhile since I woke up coughing in the night. I am still unsure where I had a viral thing or not. Turns out I was in contact with someone who became ill just a couple days before I started coughing. Another mutual friend also has been ill for weeks with a chest infection and was also coughing a lot. It seems terribly coincidental. I don’t know if a couple days is long enough to incubate a virus of that sort or not. I was coughing up a lot of thick sputum early on but it’s not like that at all now. So maybe this has been an infection of some sort, possibly viral.
I did see a doctor a week and a half ago and my lungs were clear, so if there had been something, that part was gone. Maybe by this time it was more of a post-viral cough that was being affected by reflux? Who knows? That was a strange doctor visit. I made an appointment rather late so didn’t get to see my regular doctor. The one I saw was new to me and I found her a bit strange in her manner. It was one of those cases where I felt like I was expected to do all the work of figuring things out. In the end she gave me a prescription for paracetamol with codeine (Tylenol 3, in essence) to help me sleep. That turned out badly and my reflux got really bad the one night I tried that. It was painful and while I did sleep eventually it was very broken due to the reflux. I stopped that immediately. I have more to say about this doctor in a separate post.
I went out on a bike ride a couple days ago and I was exhausted by the time I got home . To be fair I kind of overdid things by taking too long a ride. But I was desperate to get out and I don’t regret going out…just doing too much.
Today I am going back to my swimming lessons. I’m still coughing but I think it will be okay and hopefully the exercise will be just enough to make me feel better. And to get back to learning the butterfly stroke.
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Phew!
Like much of the world, the election has caused a lot of anxiety and stress, particularly over the past week. First of all, my ballot never arrived so my vote won’t be counted. My thoughts about this are that the post office didn’t process the mail properly the second time due to there already being a postmark on it. I could be wrong about it and perhaps my ballot is still somewhere in the postal pathways. Or maybe it’s also gone into the ether. LOL
My heart sank when I saw that Biden didn’t get a landslide win. This causes me more despair than before because the president still isn’t seen for what he is: an ugly person who has used the office to sow discord and hate amongst the public and to line his pockets. Among many things. Most of my family still voted for him and still overwhelmingly support him. After all, the MSM is all fake news and all…sigh.
But early Sunday morning, before I went to bed, I heard that it was official that Biden won. I was elated and days later I am still feeling elated. I still have that anxiety about the rest but at the least the current president is going to be out. I just hope any investigations/lawsuits don’t go all that far.
I will never say Biden would have been my first choice for President. But overall he’s a decent man and I trust him to consider all the people not just those that bow down to him.
I am now thinking about what I will use for my profile image on Facebook on inauguration day. It’s been nearly four years using a black background and I want to come back with a bit of a splash. These next couple of months are going to be slow for me.
Already I have heard Biden speak and it is so refreshing to have someone who isn’t all about himself. He spoke of handling the covid-19 crisis and implored people to take safe measures because it’s the right thing to do as an American, no matter who a person has voted for. I only caught the end of his speech so I’m not sure what came before. But he’s taking action in a way that hasn’t happened at the executive level as yet.
I haven’t heard Harris’ speech(es) yet but from all I’ve heard, she’s going to prove an active and useful VP. It’s so cool to have someone with such a diverse background in such a high level position.
And how about Stacy Abrahms in Georgia? I can see she is going to go places and her work right now is so important.
I am still worried about the state of the country but now I am encouraged and a bit hopeful.
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Into the ether
I’d been planning for some time to get a new iPad in the latter part of the year. I originally had intended to get the iPad Pro but then the specs on the iPad Air came out and it met pretty much all my needs. Nice to have a mid-price item working out for a change.
I had an idea of buying in-store when they were released but then I noticed that even the Apple store didn’t have any available to buy in-store. So I checked out local retailers yesterday and found one that had stock available at one of their stores. It wasn’t our local but it wasn’t terribly far either. So I ordered one online with the expectation of being able to pick it up during the afternoon. But then I realised I hadn’t added the Apple pencil in with my order so did another order for that. I had done the first one using a credit plan but couldn’t do that for the pencil so paid outright for that. I soon got a notice on my phone thanking me for my order. Soon after I got a notice my purchase was available for pick-up. These turned out to be for the pencil and not the iPad. I still hadn’t got anything later in the day so I tried to phone but nobody answered.
I finally went to the store to pick up the pencil and to query the other order. No confirmation ever came through. The original person I spoke to wasn’t that helpful but she was able to eventually get another person to help out. He couldn’t find any other order in the system. I don’t know where it was but it wasn’t there. But my app showed the purchase on my credit account as a pending item. In the end I just purchased one in-store and decided to sort it out later when I could get assistance from staff from the east coast (who were now closed due to time change).
Today, about 27 hours after I made the online order, I finally got a confirmation and then a notice for pick up. It must have gone into the ether and bounced out again a day later. I called the store today to cancel the order and when I explained what had happened, the woman on the phone said she’d heard of that happening a few times lately with the Apple products. Very weird stuff.
Meanwhile, I got my new iPad set up although I had a few hiccups at first. The last few purchases have involved pretty easy transfers but this one wasn’t so straightforward. I did get there in the end and now just have to wait to get the case I ordered from elsewhere. First impressions are quite good and I really like the pencil, especially as it charges up by sticking to the side of the tablet and is easy to write with. I try using it to write on the screen and it worked really well. My last iPad I got a keyboard folio case for it but I have found I hardly use the keyboard compared to my expectations and got a decent case instead. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting good use out of this tablet and the old one will now pass along to Game Fanatic, who is using a much older one.
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Trackbacks gone
I noticed that comments looked like comments in every place aside from the actual page. Then I wondered if the theme might be the issue. I changed it and the problem is eliminated. Thinking back, I think the problem did start after I switched to the Koi theme. I didn’t intend to keep it long term but little did I know it was going to create a problem.