Benji, Walks and Flooding

In a very recent post I  complained that although I had  thick gloves on, when I was out with Benji my hands were still cold. On the news the other night I found out why – the 6am temperature  here was -4C.  That kind of explains that – the coldest day in two years. This last week has not been all that much better. It is so  very odd, the skies are a pretty blue with white fluffy clouds, the sun is shining and it’s  bitterly cold. I have the heater on in my room here and i’m still not warm enough. A lot of the discussion with the cold has been raised recently with regards to  complaints  by Australians. In essence, Australian houses ( including this one) were built to  accommodate  the heat of the Australian Spring, Summer and early Autum – they were not built to cope with an Australian Winter. Traditional house sits on a quarter acre block and are general large rooms with up to the owner to provide heating and cooling.  A recent study by Adelaide University said that most Australian Houses were not even meeting the WHO standard for a house winter temperature of 18c. The study referred to them as “Winter Tents”Everything is geared to warm to hot weather – even the clothes. I was cold and wanted a heavy pullover so I went to the clothing shop. There were lovely pullovers there – very fashionable – but so blooming thin I could poke a finger through the material. I’m thinking of immigrating to the UK- I hear it’s quite warm there at the moment. :o)  I always find it amusing to see people all rugged up yet still with bare feet and thongs. – Makes me cold just looking at them. Anyway, the temperature in the room – where I sleep – was 12c about an hour ago. The temperature here in this room – where I work and a heater is on – is currently 20c

We are very fortunate in some ways that we are in the area known as “The Arid Lands” and rain is intermittant at the best of times. This is  unlike our fellow Australians in New South Wales who are experiencing their fourth flood  in less than two years. Someone  – locally – said that they should do something to fix the problem.  This is not a fixable problem – the ground is waterlogged and just cannot  absorb  any more water – it needs time to dry out and  with the constant rain it’s not getting that time – thus flooding.

I ordered a new 18-140mm lens for my camera. It’s coming from Sydney in NSW so it will probsably  be here in — soon –I hope, but it is coming via Australi

a Post who are not as reliable as they once were. It is coming from a company I have not  had any dealings with, so we’ll see. Going back to the weather for a moment. There were major problems at Adelaide airport yesterday. A heavy  fog settled and and some flights were cancelled or delayed. Great stuff = right at the start of the school holidays. Amnd in the latest news, NSW people have been warned that the rain is likely to  continue until December. Many places have suffered  flooding but Lismore  has been hit hard. We have friends in Lismore and this is their third time that their business has gone under water. There wont be a forth time as they have decided to  see this flood out, clean up and get everything in order then sell what they can and leave.

One thing I find irritating about these posts is that you spend time getting it set out the way you want it but when it’s published it’s never (or rarely)  posted the way you set it out –  going to the review is not much of a help because it shows you how you have set it out, but not really how it will look when it’s printed and published.

Annabell has been fairly well and we go  for the 4th Covid injection on Monday. Benji is still in the stroller and he seems quite happy with that. We go out walking at night but as I said, it’s only a short walk whereas the morning walk is 2.35 miles or about 5349 ateps – give or take a few hundred steps. Perhaps not as much as others but a fair enough result for the area since I no longer go to the Wetlands.