Wednesday
Going Nowhere
Left home Friday morning – a bit later than usual – and headed off to Adelaide. I made sure that everything was set up for Annabell before I left. The drive down was uneventful until just outside Port Wakefield where a serious crash had blocked part of the highway. My lane was clear – but slow and the other lane was backed up from the intersection to Port Wakefield itself. This is where the Copper Coast Highway joins the Interstate Highway 1. It’s a bad junction and has been the site of many accidents over the years. Governments have thrown money at the place in at attempt to contain the flow of traffic but it’s still a problem and on holiday weekend is the site of a major bottleneck. The present government has proposed a solution and is willing to fork out $90million to sort the problem. Most people believe that this also will not work until governments do what needs to be done – build a new road that bypasses Port Wakefield altogether. But they wont do that. Despite being a bottleneck, Port Wakefield heavily relies on the traffic for its survival. Because everything has to go through PW, there are more food outlets and service stations, bakery, repair shops than anywhere else and all the coaches coming from and going to the North, stop at PW ( BP Service Station) for refreshments and a break. Therefore, despite all its problems, PW is a major supply and service center and a bypass road that takes the traffic away would cause irreparable damage to the local economy and, to a lesser extent, the State Economy.
The remainder of the drive to Adelaide was quiet until Adelaide and city traffic. I managed to get most of the things Annabell wanted and did
some shopping for myself – mainly things from Officeworks for my diary – which – by the way is getting harder and harder to find. I think I said before that ordering things from the UK and the USA is getting too expensive because of the postage charges. Some time ago there were two outlets in Adelaide, but they have closed down.
The hot weather is coming back again for a bit but I don’t mind, it’s already done all the damage it can do and my plants are all dead. I did have a hope for a little while that it was only the outside leaves that had been burned by the sun and the plant and roots were still alive. I kept watering all the plants – even if they looked dead. Well, I now realize they are dead and no amount of water will change that. So, the hot weather kills the plants and the wind assaults us with 87,000 leaves.
This has been a slightly frantic week with three fundraisers to organise, two unplanned medical appointments and a funeral to get ready for. Well, the hopes that my last two months as Secretary of the Whyalla RFDS would be quite and trouble free, were always wishful thinking. The specialist in Adelaide has been unable to recommend any suitable medication for Annabell. There is another drug that she could take which would fit the bill, but the problem is that that has to be taken with a partner drug and the second drug is toxic for her. So, we both may have to go to Adelaide to visit a specialist who will teach us both how to administer insulin injections unless there is one visiting here. No idea when that will be. I may be an apology for the next church conference because Annabell has an appointment to see the eye specialist and that’s when his next visit is.
Why “Going Nowhere”as the title? Simply because Neil Sedaka’s song has been running through my head these last few weeks and that’s how I have been feeling sometimes – sort of running around in circles going nowhere. Well, I suppose it’s preferable to standing still and stagnating :o)
On the news this afternoon there was a major accident at the Highway 1 and the Copper Coast intersection this morning. Sadly two people were killed and a third one flown by ambulance helicopter to Adelaide. Honestly this intersection really needs sorted out – soon..
Wednesday
Wednesday
Moving, Benji, and Water for Wildlife
Thankfully, the weather has calmed down from its hissy-fit last week. A warm week this week but temperatures will be no more than mid 30s. The Hay Convoy of 50 B Double Trucks went through on Friday and I did get a lot of photographs and a video that had been sent to me. It really was something to behold and I am sorry that I missed it but watching the video was incredible. Perhaps next time they go through I will be able to see for myself. They always go through that way but this is the first time we have ever had notification of the time they were going through. Actually, they have to go through where they did – there is no other way. – Well, there is, but it would add about 1100 klms on to the journey and not really achieve anything. Saturday was Australia Day, which started out fine – a bit cool, but fine. By 6:30, the temperature had fallen and the rain came down. It wasn’t really all that heavy but it was constant and the latter part of the Australia Day Celebrations were canceled – although the fireworks did go ahead. John Jnr and I spent Saturday at my niece’s place moving furniture. She was only here for seven months and she is now heading back to Adelaide. Some things she didn’t want to take back with her, so they went onto my trailer and into the garage and the church may dispose of them.
Back to the doctor with Annabell this morning. This was a planned visit, but not a good one. Generally her blood sugar level has 
been controlled by diet, but that is no longer working. Doctor wants to put her on diabetes medication but can’t. He has to contact a specialist in Adelaide, explain the situation to them and they will decide what medication is suitable for her, given her health concerns and her current medications. So we just have to wait.
I had a telephone call this afternoon from one of the major Hardware firms and they wanted to give us (RFDS) the space to run a fundraising event at the store. I said I would see what I could do and try and get a team together. I will call them first thing in the morning and accept since I have a team available for them. Ten days and I head off to Adelaide for conference. We plan these days away and both of the boys either telephone her or just come over and see she is ok, The Weather people lived down to their reputation yet again. Fine weather, they said – temperature in the mid to high 30s, they said. What they didn’t say was 43c today. It be a wee bit warm. Ah, look on the bright side – We survived 48.9, we can survive 43c. The danger period will come in about two hours when people start getting home from work and cranking on air-conditioners, which could overload the system. Might even blow a fuse again.
As it happened a cool change swept in and brought temperatures down quite a bit. Temps came down, wind came up and we had dust problems which I could see in the distance when I was walking with Benji. Come the weekend and we are looking at high 30s again, but that’s fine. I think one of the things that has made people grumpy is that many Australians have been unable to do what they would normally do in summer. Generally, in the backyard with friends and family – barbecue and a few beers, a glass of wine – backyard cricket with the children, and so on – in the park or down the beach. Not so much since it’s been blowing every day for weeks, then the heatwaves came along and all of this has disrupted the Australian lifestyle. I don’t do any of this but I like to go walking with the dog or dogs and I can take them out despite the wind, but the heat causes problems for dog paws, so it’s after 9pm when the sun has gone down and it’s starting to get dark. From time to time Benji will dig his front paws into the ground, lock them and refuse to move. I have no idea why he does this but after a minute or so he will start walking again as normal. I think he does this because he wants to see if my arm can actually come away from my shoulder since he does this without any warning. The heat is not only causing problems for us uprights and our companions, it is also causing problems for our wildlife. This is mainly exacerbated by the drought and just the general lack of moisture in the bush. It is really pleasing to see that more people are filling buckets of water the leaving them in their gardens. .
Wednesday
Australia – Frying tonight!!
Thursday 24th Jan. This morning I took Benji out for his walk at 05:30. I thought I might as well, I was awake anyway. Actually, I had been awake since 3;40 – it was a very hot, sticky night and I
didn’t sleep too well. We saw quite a few Kangaroos and when I got back I made certain my water container – a big blue bucket – was full. I also filled the bird dish. Annabell and I had to go out since we had an unplanned medical appointment for Annabell. We moved across to the shopping centre and got her medication, the supermarket for milk and a few things then we came home. On leaving home this morning to take Annabell for her appointment, I did something I don’t usually do – I left a fan on for Benji so that he could stay cool until we got back. We didn’t waste time, got what we wanted and headed home. Inside and put the A/C back on again. The temperature climbed to an “official temperature” of 48.6 but my monitor read 50c and the reason it read 50c is because it couldn’t go any higher. At even the official 48c, the reverse cycle A/C had difficulty trying to cope. The government were noted and warned that the electric system was “struggling” so for the first time ever, the massive generators were switched on to help the grid. Despite this precaution Adelaide and some districts around, suffered power blackouts – and this on the hottest day ever. Around 8pm it had cooled down a bit so we went out for our evening walk. I was outside a short while ago and felt that it was warmer than when I took Benji out earlier, I checked the monitor and found that it was sitting at 36c and it is now 23:05, Might not be the best night for sleeping.
Did sleep reasonably well. Took Benji out this morning and was very surprised to see that many of the places on our walk had also put out buckets of water. I thought this was great. One place had a cleaned rubbish bin filled with water. I have increased the size of the container I use.
One of the incredible things that happen here are the Hay Convoys. Much of New South Wales and most of Queensland are in drought. Thus farmers cannot feed their animals. The farmers in Western Australia donated about 3500 bales of Hay – enough to fill 50 trucks and these are being trucked from Western Australia to New South Wales. The convoy was passing through South Australia on the Inter-State about 30 miles away. A number of people were going out to the Iron Knob truck stop to greet the trucks and the truckers and wave them on . I was invited to go with them and I really wanted to, but I had an unplanned medical appointment for Annabell and that was at the same time as the trucks were going through. I did ask my friend Angel to take lots of photographs – which she did
As I said before – the weather is strange and very unpredictable. From the hottest place in the commonwealth to being really quite cool when I was out a little while ago with Benji. It was ok, but really cool (17c) considering the temperature over the last few days. I did, however, remark to Annabell the other day when we were having these rolling power outages, that it was a bit sad when you have to walk about the house with a torch (flashlight) in your pocket and candles placed around the place – just in case, you understand. I have faith in Power Networks, I mean who else can tell over 100,000 people who have just lost power of the hottest day ever, that it was a blown fuse – and tell it with a straight face? That takes talent..
When I was growing up in Scotland the early days Fish & Chip shops sometimes put a notice in their window ‘Frying Tonight” That’s what it felt like here.
Wednesday
We have the Power — Oh no you don’t !!!
Well, we have now – otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this. The power went off without warning at 3:01 yesterday (Sunday)
1st SMS 4:30 SA Power Network: Power will be restored at 6pm
2nd. SMS 6:16 SA Power Networks: Power will be restored at about 8pm.
3rd SMS 9:00 SA Power Networks: Power will be restored at about 11pm
Yadda 12 Midnight
Yadda Yadda 01:00 Monday —– Power was restored at 1am this morning
Gollleee I am so thankful that it was only 35c otherwise we could have been in strife!! Had to sent the family home but at least we were able to feed them – sort of. But hey – what a wonderful way to start Monday and a new week. But – and here is the really exciting news – Planned power outage on Tuesday from 8am to 3pm and again on Thursday 8am – 2pm.
Heatwaves and temperature crashes.
The highest temperature recorded in the town’s history, was how the temperature of Port Augusta was described. The “Official Temperature”was recorded as 48.9c but the temperature monitor in the center of the town recorded 52.6c. Here, my monitor recorded a temperature of 43c as did the monitor of a friend in another part of town, yet the “Official Temperature” only recorded 37c.
Part of the local legend and conspiracy theory is that in the early days of the town, the temperature of the area was “adjusted” so as not to discourage people from coming here. It was advertised as having a “Mediterranean Climate” although off-hand I can’t think of many places in that area that experience temperatures of 40+C. Anyway, the higher temperatures meant lower and sometimes, no wind. I thought this was great and suitably attired, I managed to get almost all of the leaves swept up. Didn’t bode well for my plants despite the daily watering and monitoring. It’s also been a busy week in that I have had three medical appointment that were unplanned. What I mean by that is that doctor called and said he wanted certain tests for Annabell and I took her for these. And a call that he wanted to see her – that’s later on this morning.
Last night it was suddenly quite mild and Benji and me visited the Wetlands and had a good walk around the place. The thing I found surprising is that despite the coolness of the evening, there were not very many people about. I was, however, disappointed to discover that the Wetlands Kiosk was closed. I would have thought it would have remained open late, which would attract more people to the area in the mild evenings. There was not a breath of wind in the air. The water of the ponds were still and calm – sort of like me, really – still and calm — Yeah in my dreams!
Today – Friday – the wind came back, the temperature fell to the low 20s and we had a few spots of rain – so few spots I think it was scared to show its face after being away for so long. The heat, is some parts of the state and the country, only served to exacerbate the drought, pushing our farmers further into depression. Many of my plants did not survive and I did have concerns with my young Mulberry Tree, but it seems to come through ok – as far as I can tell.
I was hoping to go through to the Port this week and then on to Quorn Hospital but all these doctor dates with Annabell kind of knocked that on the head. She is ok otherwise. She coped reasonably well with the high temperatures this last week and we are going to look at replacing the Air Conditioner in her room with a reverse cycle Air Conditioner. It will give her more control to regulate the temperature to what is comfortable for her. I took Benji out for a walk this morning and it was – as they say -“Fresh”. In fact it was so fresh that I was sorry I had put on only a light jacket – and yes, that’s how far the temperatures have fallen. Sort of giving us a breather before the heatwave forecast for next week. Today, and tomorrow I have fundraising days for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This will take up much of the day. Fortunately it’s not a hot day – I think about 24c. We should be ok today and the team out tomorrow should have about the same,
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