Year: 2021

I sort of suspected that!!!

We had the family here for dinner for the first time in two weeks – that’s the three boys and Rachel.

So who is Rachel, well she is Andrew’s new love. Andrew and Connor’s mother split up about 17 months ago. In the intervening time Andrew met Rachel. She has been here with him and Connor several times and she is a lovely  young  woman. She is very nice, very down to earth and I can talk to her a lot easier than I was able to talk to Patrica  (Trish) I like her and I would like to see this relationship progress.

One would think that after all the years I have been doing this that I should be able to write a church service and an address without too much difficulty, yet today I was a mess. I made so many mistakes and lost the plot a couple of times. I did not have a good morning! Only a few people have been turning up to service.  The reasons for this is that the Government Rules are that we must wear masks, we must have a 1’4 metre distance

and we cannot remove masks to sing. Because of this a number of people with health issues related to mask wearing will not come to church and a number of people who don’t want to sit in church for the length of time  the service takes and have to wear a mask, also wont come. So, until such time as the government removes the mask issue, our numbers will decline.

A good number of years ago I was in Adelaide. I lived in Adelaide for over three years. Yes I was able to go home  fairly frequently, but it’s not the same. During my time there I was in and around Elizabeth and was active in the church there. Elizabeth church became my second home. So, it was quite a shock to me to be told on Thursday that my dear friend, Agnes, had died. Agnes was the Session Clerk of the church for many years and was not only a great help to me, but was also a good friend. The Elizabeth people were very good and helped to look after me during my stay there.  Being told that she had died, hurt me very much in that I didn’t even know what she had been so ill.

Some years ago, before Annabell became ill, I had to spend the weekend in Adelaide. On the Sunday people asked Annabell where in Adelaide I was staying and were told that      ” John is in North Adelaide’  “Oh so he will be going to North Adelaide Church then?”         ” No”, said Annabell , ” If I know John, he will be in Elizabeth Church”  And she was right – that is where I was.   So yes it was a shock to me to be told About Agnes and my heart wept for all my friends in Elizabeth.  I really wish I could be there with them tomorrow for the funeral,  but it means two days away and  my job is here – to look after Annabell. As it turns out, Annabell is not the best today.

There is no report from the hospital in Adelaide so we do not know what the results of the tests are. I should like to think we will have some information sometime this coming week. I  should also like to think that whatever the results are, we should be ok until the  visit in December. We have advised the medical people in Adelaide that if the units need to be replaced,  the scripts, should be faxed to the pharmacy  here and we will have them filled out and bring them down with us.

Today, (Monday) I went back down to the Wetlands for the morning walk with Benji. An unfortunate decision as Annabell was unwell and didn’t call me because she knew where I was. I was quite annoyed and she should have called me and  I would have come home. For the time being I will  stay in the area with Benji where I can be home in minutes rather than a quarter of an hour away- longer if she calls and I happen to be on the ‘wrong side’ of the ponds.

The drive home was uneventful. A stop for fuel and food at Port Wakefield, which, with all the  roadworks, took us two hours to get to from Kent Town – and it’s only about 125 klms. Still, it was good to be going home again.  I drove through from Wakefield to Port Augusta (285 klms.) where we  stopped again for fuel. I also went into the local store and I don’t know how it happened, but two new toys somehow  got into my shopping basket. It’s a mystery to me !!  The last lap from Port Augusta to home (77klms) was the best lap of all – of course it always is..

Where we stay in Adelaide is at the Flinders Lodge. This was once a regular hotel but it is now owned by the South Australian Cancer Council, along with a second lodge in another part of the city.    They are used as accommodation for cancer patients and their carers/ partners. I am allowed to stay there because I am with Annabell, but I would not be allowed to stay there if, for example, I were in Adelaide for a Conference. However, if Annabell were in hospital and I came down to visit, I would be allowed to stay there.  Flinders Hospital and Medical Centre is a fair way out of the city and the train from Central to Flinders takes about 30 minutes, so if you think about that, all the running around I had to do last Thursday because of the pharmacy, took up a fair chunk of time.

Everything seems to be going well and we should not be back in Adelaide again until sometime in December. Oh I meant to say that our first day in the Lodge I got really excited when I saw a lady guest with her dog, but on talking to her I found out it was a “Service” dog,  and that is allowed. Oh, also, on the subject of “allowed” Feeding the birds is not allowed. I did not know that, so I fed them. I was told  by the staff – very nicely – that they are wild not tame birds and if they cause any injury ( the have big beaks) the Council takes no responsibility. There is a notice in Reception to this effect, but I didn’t see it.

To say Benji was glad to see us, is an understatement. Once the initial greetings were over, he did not leave my side for much of the day. I had difficulty trying to unload the car  :o)

It was good to be home again and I really missed him. Once we were settled and the car was unloaded, I put the harness on him and we went out for a walk. John didn’t have the time to take him out so this was his first walk in nearly a week. He spent a fair bit of time catching up on, and replying to,  his mail  :o) Everything is fairly well back to normal, or as normal as it can be :o)

When I was in Adelaide I managed to get to a garden shop and bought three African Daisy seedlings. I have planted them and looking forward to seeing how they develop. I did water them yesterday and last night it rained. Spring!! You just don’t know what it has in store.  Still not happy with this version of “Classic”  The old version let me know how much I had written – this one does not. Ah Ha – I have found it.

Neither Annabell nor I have had our Covid19 vaccine injections yet.  Annabell was told to wait until after the day surgery and I decided to do likewise so that we both go together. Now that we are home until at least December, we will organise to have this done. Thus ends a most interesting  seven days.

Hmmm. It says ” Classic” but it’s not the classic I remember. Oh well, we will persevere. Today is Monday 13th Sept.  and  tomorrow we head to Adelaide. John will be looking after Benji while we are away. Things have been fairly set out and provided they don’t change anything I have everything organised. Tuesday is a free day – apart from driving. Wednesday we have the clinic; Thursday Tests: Friday day surgery: Saturday a rest day to recover from the Surgery, and then set out for home Sunday morning. All-in-all, a fairly busy week.  This will be the longest time we have left Benji. Generally it has always been just for a few days, but six days is along time  for him to be without His Peeple. Still, I’ll make it up to him  and you never know, a couple of new toys might just slip into the case. Still on about Benji – I can see from the window as I am typing this that he is outside on his new chair getting some rays on his bones…

I missed the cut-off day for the City Council Calendar so I wont have any photographs in the 2022 Edition.  I didn’t do too badly in the four  photographs I put in  to the Photograph Exhibition and my points were, 8,7,6,6. with some reasonably write-up by the judges. I am quite pleased with it all and I’ll see what I can do for the next time.

We have now been in Adelaide for three days with three more to go. We have been for consultations and tests and tomorrow at 6:45am we have to be at the hospital and she is first on the surgery list. Of course, we were last time but it’s still after lunch before we get away. We will stay here on Saturday and head home early Sunday morning. We will be glad to get home. This has not been a great trip and we had quite a run-around from the hospital pharmacy and the doctor had to cancel the the scripts – re-issue me with new ones and I  had to go into the city the following morning to have them filled at any outside city pharmacy. I am not impressed with the hospital pharmacy and neither was the surgeon since these units were necessary for the operation. Thursday was supposed to be a sort of ‘Free Day” but I spent most of it travelling back and forward to the hospital collecting the new scripts, then taking them into town, getting them filled out, at a city pharmacy, then back to the clinic.

I will be glad to get home and I am missing Benji. John has been looking after him and sending me information on how he is.  Annabell will be glad to get back home and into her own bed. The beds here are very comfortable but for Annabell a bit too low.

I did have one exciting time. The hotel is close to the major parklands and across from the hotel is the gathering place of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. On the Thursday evening, after all the running about, I heard a noise outside the door and went to investigate. To my amazement there were not one, but two Cockatoos on the balcony. I grabbed a couple of plain biscuits (cookies), went outside and hand fed them. As I was doing so, a third one arrived, so I was hand feeding all three.  I thought this was very exciting to be up close and personal with wild Cockatoos. Not the greatest of photographs but I didn’t have the time to stuff about with settings. I felt they would take off and I would miss the opportunity. Perhaps later on I’ll put if on Lightroom and brighten the photographs up somewhat. The photograph of Benji is one that John took and sent to me in Adelaide.

Tomorrow is the last day of Winter. Spring begins on Wednesday. Winter is giving us a cheerful farewell with temperatures climbing gently from 23c today  to 34c on Thursday before falling back to 16c on Friday. After that a wet weekend. In essence we are having a taste of what summer may be like ahead of time. I mean it’s generally not as warm as this so early in the season, so it could be an interesting time ahead.

Overall it has been a fairly quiet week and on Sunday, we opened the church again. Social distancing and masks mandatory – even when singing.  The congregation were told by phone that if they were coming it was preferable to bring  a couple of masks with them. We also have a box of surgical masks at the door in case anyone forgot their mask. That’s not all that difficult since I have,  on  several occasions, had to walk back from the main door of the Shopping Centre  to the car because I forgot my mask. Well, I don’t wear it when I am in the car driving.

South Australia is still Covid Free and although we do have some restrictions, we do not, like our neighbour states, have any form of lockdown and, our State economy is recovering quite well, thank you despite the fact that we have cancelled  large population events. Except football – in this state everything revolves around football -I mean, considering what is happening and the crisis in Afghanistan, Chanel 9  opens its MAIN news broadcast with a Football story, only after it has explored that does it mention what’s happening in the rest of the world

Annabell has had a good week or so and over the last week we had two hasn’ts – hasn’t grown and hasn’t moved , so that’s great for her peace of mind when  we go down to the clinic in Adelaide  on the 14th /15th Sept.

The weather, being mild has allowed me to do some work out in the garden and I have managed to plant some new flowers.  The chair that Benji uses to sun himself has seen better days so I decided it was

time the old Papasan chair was disposed of and a new one bought. So that’s what I did. Now he can still go out and  get a few rays but with a slightly larger chair. Actually it is a nice morning and he is out on his chair at the moment.  I can see him from the window. No I do not spoil my dog, I just look after him very well. At the moment he goes out with me in the car and when I cannot take him into the shop, he is fine in the car with the windows partly open – and I time my visit to the shop so he is not left in the car for too long.  In a month or so this will probably stop as the weather heats up. Even with the windows open it would still be too hot for him.

Actually we have not been  for a road trip for a while, so I think we are about due for one before it gets too hot. Also we have not been to the wetlands for a while and have  done our walking in the morning here in our local area. I think I did mention  once before that a single area walk covers more distance than two tours of the wetlands. I did go there this morning ( Tuesday) and it seems that the group are splitting up because some of the ladies are starting  the walking at 5AM  and it is starting to get light at 5:40. But going to the wetlands is good but there is no way I can keep up with them – not with a four foot dog!! – And that’s on his good days..

Apart from the odd Wednesday/Thursday submission, I have not really written much these last few weeks. The reason is simple, I have had to attend to Annabell. These last few

Arose at the usual time this morning to the sound of a strong wind and heavy rain.. That kind of put paid to the walk. It rained off and on for most of the morning and to add to the discomfort the wind was bitterly cold. I put the heaters on, Benji settled back down in his bed and I covered him with a blanket and I settled down dressed and with a steaming hot cup of coffee. We shared the heaters – Benji and me.  Later on in the morning we had to brave the wet and cold as I took Annabell to Westland (masks on) and the  SA Pathology for blood tests. That didn’t take long as the place was empty.  Some shopping in the Supermarket and then home. Not a very exciting day and it is unlikely that the rest of the week will be any different. Although, having said that I  have to say that since the  lockdown began the case cluster has increased from 6 infections to 14 infections. However, the Premier is optimistic that we should be able to come out of the lockdown in the seven days as planned.. The day, other than the trip to SA Pathology , has been spent at home. The wind has died down but it’s still raining and looks settled in for the night.

The rain increased in  ferocity overnight as did the wind with gusts of up to  120KPH in some places – fortunately not here. I think we

had gusts of about 70KPH and not all that much flooding or damage. During the day there was not a lot that could be done outside and since the rain was intermittent walks were short between showers.  Today, (day 6) the sun is shining, there are clear blue skies and absolutely not a trace of the wild weather in

the last few days.  Lots of damage in Adelaide and surrounding areas, but not to much here.

We are now in Day 6 of the lockdown and the Premier has just announced that the Lockdown will be lifted at Midnight tomorrow – Tuesday – some of the restrictions will remain in place for at least a further week.  By the sound of things I don’t think we will be re-opening the church at the moment. As a small church, we do not have the  capacity to accommodate a 4  metre gap between people – and singing is still banned.

With all the running around  between hospitals, doctors,  driving to Adelaide and back, x-rays, scans and MRI,  I stuffed up ONE appointment  For some reason I  believed we had an appointment today at 10AM and I got ready for it. However there was a nagging at the back of my mind that something was not quite right, so at 08:30 I telephoned the clinic and found out that the appointment was for Next Monday 2nd August. That was bad and good – bad that I had made that mistake but good because it was an appointment for me  not Annabell. The Filofax wasn’t wrong –

I was. Anyway, no harm done but will be a lot more careful in future.

I have been walking Benji around the district, which has been good – when it wasn’t raining or blowing a gale –  but once the lockdown is lifted we should be able to get back to the wetlands on Wednesday and Thursday. I know it seems longer but really 2 turns around the Wetlands is actually less in terms of distance covered than the District walk we are doing. However the reason for changing to the wetlands was to get away from other dogs. But then I met  some lovely people and that has been great. I miss our 6am walks.