Month: July 2015

Comments, bridges and dogs

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I believe it was something in the order of $A69 Million that was spent on the hospital and I still have to go to the Flinders Medical Center (FMC)  in Adelaide for an echo-cardiogram.  Well that’s not strictly true ( would I lie??)  I could have it done here, if I am prepared to wait  Monday 7th September until the specialist comes up from Adelaide. When I discovered that,  I contacted my Cardiologist and let him know and he had his secretary organize  the exam for next Wednesday ( now tomorrow) – in Adelaide. The specialist only comes here once every three weeks (for two days)  – hence the  overflowing appointment book. But fear not – the State Government are borrowing a bunch of dollars and building a $2.4 Billion Hospital In Adelaide making the Adelaide Hospital the Third most expensive building in the world:

1 One World Trade Center New York City 104 541 m 2014 $3,900,000,000
2 Palace of the Parliament Bucharest 12 84 m 1988 $3,000,000,000
3 Royal Adelaide Hospital Adelaide 11 41 m 2016 $2,100,000,000
4 The Palazzo Las Vegas 53 196 m 2007 $1,900,000,000
5 The Shard London 73 306 m 2013 $1,900,000,000

Since this list was produced there has been a bit of a cost blowout and the project is about six months behind schedule. But that’s ok,  Like most Australian Labor State Governments, they will borrow and spend and then blame the Federal Government for not giving them enough money – so  although they cannot manage their budget – it’s all the Feds. fault. It’s like Greece – it’s always someone else’s fault.

Last night was the Annual General Meeting of the RFDS and as of last night I am no longer Secretary.  I had been having discussions with Suzzanne over the last four or five months and she was willing to take on the position. However, a new position was created for me,  that of Assistant Secretary with the idea that I will  help Sue over the next year to get her settled in and then at the AGM next year, pass everything over to her and bow out. Frank & DebbieAnyway, we presented Central Operations with a cheque for $38,000,oo, which is a really great effort considering that times are pretty tough in SA at the moment with the highest unemployment in the Commonwealth – and getting worse .  Andrew’s ( my younger son) partner had been told that the bank will be closing down her branch by the end of the year, so she will be redundant.   Falling revenues means that the Fed Govt are cutting back in all areas of service, but we are still going to spend $17 Billion  on new Fighter Aircraft that we don’t need and a further $22 Billion on submarines that we don’t  need – we can’t not let the boys have their toys – only these particular boys don’t want some of the toys but the govt. are getting them anyway.  That $40 Billion alone could could be a great help in bringing the budget back into the black. I have to confess that our Prime Minister is not the sharpest  knife in the drawer The only time he should open his mouth is just to change feet. Although having said that, the opposition is not all that much better.

We bought two new beds this afternoon, so Chienne has a place to relax wherever she wanders. We also bought her two  “hoodies” fleece lined.  It is getting cold and Chi. is no longer a young thing and if they keep her warm, that’s great. The weather has been bitter with snow on the Adelaide hills. Didn’t last long, of course,  but long enough for the early risers to get up there and to experience actually being outside when snow is falling. We have had some wild weather of late – well some parts of the state have we’ve just had cold and rain. The wild weather is mostly at the bottom area of the State – as it generally is. We very rarely get the wild weather experienced by other areas.

I am starting to get just a tad concerned.  Comments that I know I have written seem to have vanished – who knows where!  I know I wrote a comment on the Galata Bridge  but it’s no where to be found. I don’t know though, perhaps I pressed delete instead of post – don’t think so but I guess it’s possible. If so – sorry!! Also I am finding things that Outlook has been “hiding”from me. I have only just read ( actually five minutes ago) that dear Gracie is blind and I understand the problems that this will cause, but apart from these nasty corners that kept trapping him, The Man managed fairly well  ( we wont talk about the head-butting of Chienne)  But it’s concerning  in that I don’t know if its the computer the program (MS Outlook Express)  or simply me going senile.  I think it might be me – well that’s what the voices are suggesting   :o)  It’s a worry…

 

 

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There and back again !!

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The drive down to Adelaide was partly cold, wet and miserable to start with but  by the time we were about halfway there, the sun came out, everything brightened up  and it was quite a pleasant  day. Parked in town and spent some time shopping.   I wanted to go to the camera shop at the Central Market but I think the old camera (which still takes good photographs) is now so old technology has passed it. Amazing how things can change in 10-15 years. I was not able to get anything  new – nor even pre-loved. Serves me right for buying a Sony all these years ago. The new camera is a Canon and I have yet to figure how to use all the bells and whistles and get the best out of it. I have bought a number of books and downloaded some things to the computer and I’ll see how I go with them. Booked into the hotel in North Adelaide and walked with John down to the

Yogi - Our friend's dog
Yogi – Our friend’s dog

Memorial Hospital. As I said the day brightened up so the walk down to the hospital was  fine. However,  during the time we were in the hospital things changed. His appointment lasted longer that was anticipated and by the time we got out of the hospital it was raining,  so the walk back was not so enjoyable. And that was the rain in for the rest of the night. I watched some television, did some things on the computer and  went to bed. When I rose in the morning, it was still raining.  It was a frustrating drive in that it was showers, sometimes heavy sometimes not so heavy, but windscreen wipers switched on – then off – then back on again.  Took John directly to the local hospital where he made a follow up appointment for an MRI then probably back to Adelaide again to  the Memorial Hospital

SummerBy the time I got home it was mid-afternoon and a short while later Jim brought Yogi over. He will be staying with us until they come back from Adelaide on Saturday.  Jim is taking his wife Fay down to the Breast Cancer Clinic.  Chienne was no problem. Yogi has been here several times before so she is fairly used to him.  I took them both out walking last night – all well rugged up for the cold.  Do you ever think that weather forecasters make information up as they go along? I distinctly remember the weather people warning us that it was going to be a cold, dry winter and to expect droughts. This would be followed by a hotter than normal summer.  Here we are, well into winter and thus far it’s been cold, wet and fairly miserable. Rain here and floods further up north and no sign of drought – Yet! Some places have had average rainfall some much more than average and not much of a sign that it is going to change any time soon.

Not far from where we lived were the ruins of an ancient castle. The castle was once a home of Mary, Queen of Scots and was owned by the Earls of Lennox. The Earl rebelled against King James IV and  the castle was partly destroyed by the canons brought over from Edinburgh. The present  castle dates from around the 15th century but  there is evidence of an 11th century structure.  The castle sits atop a hill and as children we went there to  sled and have snow fights. We used the South side of the hill to sled. The north side was a bit steeper but the south side ended in an area of flat land whereas the north side ended at the river. What brought this to mind was thinking about the long summer days and the concerts we put on as children. We all had something to do and sometimes we entertained the adults, who always encouraged us. Of course, all this was back in the “Middle Ages”when there were no mobile (cell) phones, no computers, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were still  at school, and – most importantly – no television.  I remember reading somewhere, that we were the last generation that went outside to play.