Good news. My husband managed to talk to the neighbour and apparently they are renting. Got the details now. Still no sign of the wife. I think she might be in the freezer.
Despite a brief stormy interlude without power and the "assistance "of Miss Meow I have finished today's sewing project.
The curtain is for the doorway to my laundry, which is uninsulated and draughty and has just been closed off by an old blanket tacked in the opening for some years. At one stage it had a sliding door, but because there is not enough space next to the door to allow it to fully open it always partially blocked the doorway, and there is not really room for a hinged door there either. So a curtain seems the best solution, and also allows Mr Woof free access to the laundry, which is where his dog door is. The new curtain is thick woven fabric with a thermal lining so should keep the heat/cold out fairly well. It needs some weights in the bottom to sit more evenly, but I think I've done enough for one day.
I like it, especially the pelmet bit. You're really quite handy aren't you, with the gardening and preserving and making things.. great skills to have. If the world goes to hell in a haycart I really hope there's a place for you to subsist and live a simple but rewardingly self sufficient life. I'll be on the outside with my machete and hunting knife at the ready, keeping to the shadows to avoid the petrol hunting raider gangs and zombie hoards.
Hello everyone, hopefully you’re all ok. We have no power in Burwood, and our phone internet is dial up speed. Our ETA for power to be back on is also 1pm on Thursday. I reeeeeaally hope it doesn’t take that long, I’m not built for sponge baths.
Thursday, damn that’s rough! I saw on the news there was a fallen high voltage tower, that could be why it’s taking so long. Hopefully you can go to another suburb friend/family/workplace to charge devices and have a shower if needed?
Today was an awful day to be running around the CBD. Despite staying indoors as much as possible, all the sun protection and water, I've been thoroughly dessicated in this roasting heat and attacked in the face by aggressive mini tornadoes of dried leaves. I'm so over it.
Plus side is, the drive went smoothly and my niece is very nicely set up. So glad I remembered the toilet paper. Just gotta stay awake till 8 then go home and zonk out.
Our fence is completely down now between us and the fuckwits next door. Every time my husband goes to speak to them they run inside and ignore his banging on the door.
This time my husband knocked on their back door and they still didn't answer. The old cunt lives outside like a hobbo for fucksake. I'm going to put a curse on them.
You own? While you can arrange to split costs, end of the day, legally, in vic, you can rebuild a fence whenever you want and your neighbours can gargle your balls.
Yeah we own but from my understanding is you can get the fence fixed with both party's going halvies but the hard part is getting blood out of a stone.
It’s time to get a whole bunch of annoying animals. With the fence down, they’ll overrun his yard and he’ll be begging for a new fence in no time. Goats, geese, Rottweilers (have you seen the deposits they leave?)…
Aahhh have a newbie who needs the office because they haven't got home internet sorted and I need to go in too to be a good team leader and not make them the only team person braving the weather but I DON'T WANNA go out there....
So I talked to my young relative about the people she normally associates with and her one friend who lives here too.
i have a rant.
These are the kind of kids in their late teens to early 20s whose parents found rent too high in Sydney and bought them an apartment with cash instead. Another who just casually mentions her parents rent out beachfront houses and can move between cities because they own properties everywhere, like it's fairly mundane information.
I try not to be resentful to the point where I focus on things I can't change, at the expense of things I can change. I can't personally blame these kids for something they didn't create.
But when the grind towards secure housing seems like such a Sisyphean task, and constrains so much of our lives these days, then I actually meet these kids and their friend circles being handed these assets as a matter of fact... to never know what such a fundamental part of most peoples lives involves... It's beyond just rich and poor, it is such a massive gap in life experiences and coming face to face to it is just a bit surreal and depressing tbh.
Really saps the energy out of you in even bothering to try joining the race. I don't want to grow up with all their privileges but gee, not having to ever worry about housing security when looking for jobs, partners, hobbies, etc would be very nice.
exhale well, not to try and Pollyanna myself out of the situation but I'll try and end the night now at least feeling grateful for my warm shower and power. The worst I've suffered back home is two chilli pots blown over squashing other plants.
What they have is family and no mental guilt or misplaced shame with using family assets.
How come poor people/young adults think they have to be independent, have to live on their own, have to make it on their own? That's nothing but false truisms that keep poor people poor.
kitten, you're doing really good things for your fam, the right things. 🤗
It's hard not to be bitter when you see the staggering difference in opportunities being handed out. Indeed these kids are very privileged and will have a big head start in life. The system is fucked.
But you're doing such good things for your niece and ensuring she didn't just go off a support cliff on moving to study. It's so helpful what you did for her and having that support will help her focus on her studies. Even if it's not a paid off house it's a lot more than some young people get and I'm sure she appreciates it immensely.
Was thinking about hitting the beach but experience tells me that wind will ruin your day.
It reminds of the time I went to Kalbarri in WA few years back (lovely place can recommend) went to the beach and wind was huuuge. Sand was hitting my shins with extraordinary vigour and it left a mark on them for a few years. Completely destroyed my shin modelling career.
Sandblasting is no joke.
edit: and look who decided to look after the chillo patch:
Anytime I see them there is a squeal of delight. These things whilst pretty are apex monsters of the bug world. If I were an aphid I wouldn't be buying a long playing record.
<3 I do the same whenever I see these friends chilling out with my plants too. Chillos have been aphid free this summer, entirely thanks to my homies I think
Channelling the Mock Turtle's song in Alice in Wonderland. Given that lobsters and crayfish are pretty much the same.
"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle — will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be,
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance—
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France—
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
Drove past a crew doing some king of work in the nature strip (water maybe?). In this hot windy weather, I wish to say to all workers who have to be outdoors today you are all absolute champs. People don’t appreciate there are real people out there keeping stuff going. You have my admiration and appreciation.
Yeah they're trying that in brighton. Literally in dendy's special survey. I mean, do they want to find out how far a fist can go up their arse? 'Cos that strikes me as a very good way to find out.
Internet is entirely cellular, the ntd was the first thing to go when the power died. Weirdly? My backup modem is 3G and since everything has shifted to 4g+ it's very underloaded. Running better than my phone.
We have no power but i've lived through enough bigass outages that we have plenty of creature comforts. We got fans, console power, working kettle, even a fridge. Womp womp.
If the shit folds out into tomorrow ima gonna bust out the solar panels to refresh some batteries and bring up the big bastard to run the inverter for my laptop.
For me - pick a couple of small things that are guaranteed to help you (like basics - home cooked dinner, morning sunshine, decent bedtime - what is super simple but feels delightful?). Anchor to them. You won't do everything but if there's something you can come back to as a reset it helps. Get outside and moving (running is good, even walking, or just putt your feet on grass every day and breathe for a minute.). Make some of these little spaces to feel your feelings, or just to hook into the bigger natural world.
For me its sleep and nature. I try to go for a walk every day (even a few houses and back). I stick my head out the window at night and look at the sky / clouds. Every morning I get up round 6am or earlier. Even if I just wash my face, look out the window, have a glass of water and then go back to bed. Its a little anchor.
And have a list of friends - if you've gone a few days without good easy connections, txt someone a meme, give them a call, organise a walk on the weekend. It hard but it really helps.
Running. Only real cost is shoes. Obviously other exercise too, but running you can do straight from your front door, no travel to work into the schedule, no memberships etc
I thought it was some new posh coffee apparatus then I looked it up and saw it was just a plunger. I have one sitting on my kitchen cabinet as an ornament.
I am very lucky to still have power - the other side of the road is out. Internet's very patchy though, I have both Telstra and Optus sims and they are both dropping out periodically and running slow.
I like those Chris' Dips that come in the little terracotta pots. However, don't get them delivered if you order groceries online. I think they spend a bit too much time in the back of the truck out of the fridge. They can be one of the few reasons I leave the house to buy groceries.
Just saw on the Latrobe valley incidents facebook that 6 of the transmission towers got taken out. That's hurricane level shit. They're literally bent in half.
One of my cats has gotten quite fat…. Lazy ragdoll that clearly eats more than he should. The other cats are self regulating as far as food intake and exercise. This is going to be a fun issue to fix ….
Fricken worried about the fire risks today. Im an hour from home (assuming the trains work). Mrs is 20/30 minutes drive. Were in the suburbs so we should be totally fine, but it is close to Gippsland too.
Can relate - I’m always worried leaving my place over summer. Nobody to enact the fire plan and make sure the animals are safe. Have indoor cats, plus a dog and horses.
I have a grocery delivery that was supposed to be delivered before midday that has still not arrived. The website still has an estimated arrival time of 10:30. My current working theory is the delivery driver decided it was way too hot and has holed up in an ice-cream shop somewhere instead. I couldn't even really blame them if they had, it's nasty out there 🤣
Edit: I'm not too far off, the driver apparently called in sick. Groceries will be delivered this afternoon, so whilst the communication from Coles has been dreadful at least they are still coming today.
I've had reliability issues with Coles click and collect recently, with no communication.
Woolies on the other hand communicate all the time with any issue.
Some of those scifi series like Dr Who books are written by really good and now famous authors, using fake names. It's reliable income in a trade that's notorious for variability.
I just got 2 letters from my GP and I'm so confused. "Our records show that you're required to attend an appointment. Kind regards, GP". They're not even recent, they're dated from Jan 28 with a deadline of Feb 2nd.
A. Why would they send me a letter when they have my email and phone number
B. They're located a whopping 1.5km away from me, why does it take 2 and a half weeks for a letter to arrive
C. Why did they send me 2 letters on the same day with the same deadline
Edit: it seems that they were trying to remind me to make an appointment, although I've got no clue why they phrased that as "you are REQUIRED to attend an appointment" but whatever ig
He's a great story teller, it was a shame he went sub-only, but he's got to make a living like the rest of us. I can only find his new pod 'Medical Mysteries' but not his true crime series.
All his back catalogue is definitely back. He had a short message on medical mysteries and when I checked it was all there. I use castbox for my podcasts but it's on Spotify too.
A fruit smoothie (no watermelons, pineapples, or disgusting bananays), smoked salmon, and THE POWER OF GOD (useless or otherwise) to get me through this day, particularly in 2 hours time where I'll be driving a minivan to the airport and then into the CBD itself at peak hour with some potentially cranky passengers.
I slept from about 10 til 2, then had about one more hour of sleep after that 😴 busy day at work today too blargh. I'll take... Three red bulls, a double espresso shot, and an electric eel up my bum
Yeowza. One job I ended up doing in Clayton (first one cancelled) had the storm hit halfway through and they lost power - their son said all the way to Ringwood and not expected back until midnight.
Fortunately all good in my area but until I got to the Dingley bypass most of the lights were out, to say nothing of the trees with half the branches gone and the odd ambulance. 😬
disappointed sigh and there goes the last day of "summer" :/
I actually am quite sad about it. I was looking forward to a nice week of actual summer happening and then it just didn't. Back to dark skies and rain for the next 7 months ☹️