Pinch Me

Pinch me indeed, I am having a completely work free day from both jobs - woohoo. Have got a load of washing on and sheer luxury, am watching a bit of morning tv - (hollywood gossip) while sitting on the couch with the heater on. Winter is here and whilst it is a realatively rain free winter, it is FREEZING, or close to. Wouldn't you know it, there have been lowest temps recorded in the last few weeks, since Adam was a cowboy, lol. I think the temp over night in Geraldton last week was 1Celsius. Luckily the days are correspondingly warm when out of the wind so it is a case of dressing in layers morning and night.



"School" finished last Thursday followed by a quick clean up and staff meeting on Friday so at the moment I am down to one job. In a true case of Murphy's law, this is the week my hours finally drop at the fast food establishment so I have gone from 50 - 60 hours a week to just over 20 hours this week - gotta love the employment roller coaster that I am on, lol. I am picking however that the fast food establishment may give me extra hours seeing it is school holidays and I already picked up two extra hours yesterday.



On my list of getting things sorted, last week, I got my eyes tested. During the packing from the WM's house to house sitting, I found my old pair of glasses, put them on and wow, could see like I didn't have glasses on if that makes sense to anyone. They were a bit bent out of shape, so took them to the optometrist (who regularly will put glasses back into shape or fit for no cost), got them straightened as best as possible and have been wearing them since. So, made an appointment for an eye test at the same time as it is 2 1/2 yrs since they were last done. It would seem my eyes are more in sync with my old glasses than the new ones, though there is some drop in one eye for close up sight. OMG, they took a photo of the back of my eyeballs - how is that even possible????? Anyway, I can truely say, I have seen the back of mine now, pink, round, with veins tracking across the back of them - should have asked for a copy, lol. It would seem that graduated lenses are maybe not the best for what I need and the optometrist suggested two pairs of glasses instead which I have no interest in. That is why I got graduated lenses in the first place cos I was always putting my glasses down and forgetting where etc. Once again, how can we get man on the moon and not get things sorted better to see!!!!. Am taking time to think about the next step.



The car is going well but I think I underestimated the effort to get it started. OMG, have built up inner thigh muscles that you wouldn't believe. The first time I got to start it easily must have been down to the wind being in the right quarter, lol. After that time, for the next few weeks, I had to start it in neutral, push the clutch sideways with my right foot, then quickly change feet before putting it in gear and driving off. That got old real quick so have persisted, (nearly getting groin strain in the early stages I might add) and now most times, I can get it started with my left foot, woohoo. I am averaging spending $10 week on petrol except for when I have done a trip out of town, so am very happy with that.



The joys of house sitting, technology and using unfamiliar remotes. Had a fit of housework the other weekend, during which I came across the remote for the heatpump/airconditioning sort of thing, lol. We had these in the boarding school in NZ but the staff and girls mainly used them, (I managed if I had the written, how to, piece of paper in front of me or others telling me what to do), and Dad had one, (but of course, the remote seldom left his hand, lol) but in a fit of how hard could it be to turn it on and warm the place up, I pressed the on button. I imagine the last time it was used, was in the height of summer, so cold air came swooshing out, and out, and out, and out, as after trying to change it to warm, going through a variety of options on the remote, it appeared that the batteries had died, and could not even get the damn thing turned off. I sat through a coffee with a friend who dropped round before giving up and we both shot down the road to buy more batteries and eureka, got it stopped, started and stopped again, and through experimentation, got warm air coming out.



If that was not enough, my next sorte was with the TV remote. I can count on the fingers of one hand nearly, how much tv I have watched over the past weeks, however, being on my own and getting home from work around 8pm instead of midnight, I thought I would check out what was on. What happened to turning the on button on a remote and the tv instantly coming on, on channel. This tv comes on with a blue screen and the brand name of the tv - great. I found the channel up down bit and pressed it and hey presto got a channel and thought this is easy, I will check the channels out. Not sure what I pressed next but ended up with info on picture, teletext, and a blank screen that when I pressed the channel piece, kept going through radio stations. I switched the damn thing off thinking if I did that, I could turn it back on and sneak up on a preset start - no such luck, and was back to the radio stations again - who has radio stations on tv for god's sake. I cannot remember how I got back onto the tv channels but it involved much switching on and off of the tv ( I am a slow learner, lol and hope springs eternal) when somehow I got back to tv, but joy of joys, the news in chinese, then japenese on some obscure channel and an sbs channel from memory. I think I might have got to the swearing stage by then and after going through every button on the remote, somehow I FINALLY found a channel I recognised, only to find there was nothing worth watching!!!!. I am now very careful when I turn the tv on and watch where my fingers are pressing everytime rather than guessing lol. What I have found during the past week as I got home late most nights, was the tennis at Wimbledon. Was gutted to see Federer lose in the quarter finals, but pleased to see Nadal win for the second time.



Washing machines - when did they get so complicated - what happened to small, medium and large washes and a basic cycle. The washing machine here does not have an agitator, so ok, can fit more in, but HOW does it clean, lol. There is a board that lights up like a flight deck and I have to negotiate about four different moves, AND if you get them done in the wrong sequence it cancels the lot out and you have to start again. This was complicated by trying to work it in the dark at midnight or thereabouts as I washed my uniform to get it out on the line (no dryer in the house, gasp) so it would be dry in the morning. It took me two weeks to find the light switch, lol, as it is on the left hand side of the door way, being an add on to the house at some point. Yay there is a dishwasher (pavement kissing moment, lol) but have only used it once as that is as much time as I have been here to get it filled. Again far too many switches but I seem to have an innate ability to use that piece of equipment, laughing lots. Thankfully, the stove is electric, though the elements are the old fashioned solid kind and I mean 1950's old fashioned where you could make pikelets on the top of them or cook griddle scones (my grandmother used to use them for making those). Have had little cause to use that piece of equipment more than cooking some bacon and eggs during the week so no dramas there.



Interesting point of difference in Aussi houses to NZ houses - I have mentioned this before when I first got to Tardun but it has come to notice again. Over here, a lot of houses have most of the rooms with curtains drawn or blinds shut - to keep the heat out and while that is great, at times it can feel like you are living in a tomb so to speak. On arrival here, every blind was drawn and curtain closed, and seeing heat is not an issue, I have tended to throw curtains open during the day, and have all blinds in the kitchen open so that any warmth from the sun, and actual light gets in. In my room the curtains are open 24 hours. I am fortunate (or the neighbours are fortunate, lol) that there is a banana tree right outside my window, with a double garage down the back of the section, a head high fence to the left of my room and to the back, so have complete privacy to do so. My bed is right against the main window which is bad Feng Shui but the only place it can fit. It is interesting with having no curtains as at night, have no insulation from the cold, but at least can see the stars. I just dress like the Michellen man to compensate, lol, and in fact the other night, wore a scarf to bed, gambling on the fact I would not strangle during the night!.



Have just looked at the time, and am going to help the WM's lads deliver pamplets again for a walk and some fresh air - I know, I am on my feet all week at work and am going to go walking on my day off!!!