David Jones – Edgar's Page

Towards the final curtain D

11/10/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Whilst the good people of the Northern Hemisphere wax lyrical about Autumn – or Fall, here in this little corner of the Southern Hemisphere, Spring has Sprung and Dear Mother Nature has

given us a reminder of who is really in charge. The temperatures this week have steadily climbed to 41c, with a high North Wind. In this corner of the planet a North Wind is a hot wind coming off the desert. It was not the most pleasant of days to be running a fundraising Barbecue for the RFDS , but never the less, we did it anyway. Given that it was the middle of a long weekend and many people were away, if we made more than $150, I will be very surprised. Why did we do it- we were asked to – that simple. And, of course it was for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. However, we have a policy that if a trader asks for the RFDS to do a fundraising venture, I will do my upmost to get a team together and accept on the belief that if we refuse, they may ask someone else next time. LOL, I have even organised a fundraising event from one thousand kilometers away when I was in Mount Gambier – and yes, I have had my head examined – several times!! Most of the time it’s good fun – we work and chat with customers and when it comes to the RFDS, people are very generous, and they were this weekend too – even although there were not all that many – and I expressed the belief that there was more money put into the donations tin than there was to the cashbox. Anyway, it’s funds that we didn’t have at the start of the day and that’s what matters. Having been through an early 41c on Saturday, the temperature crashed overnight to be 24c on Sunday – Monday wasn’t too bad and today (Tuesday) I was feeling very cold when I took Benji out for a walk at 6am. I guess I was too pig-headed to go back for a heavier jacket, so I just continued with the walk, but it was a cold morning.

One of the drawbacks of living “in the sticks” is the fact that I miss city shopping. I don’t mean that the shops here are not good, they are, but there are things not available in the country that are commonplace in the

city. For example, I want shoe polish, not the common New Zealand (Kiwi) Shoe polish but a polish that is produced here in Australia and is not petroleum based. Decent size Australian Company but products not available here. We really only have one shoe shop here and that’s “Spendless” with small shoe departments in Harris Scarfe and Target. The shoe shops we did have have all gone. How can you survive in a place where 60% of the population wears flip-flops or no shoes, 35% wear sandals or sneakers and only 5% of us wear actual shoes.

Over many (Too many) years I have gone from paper organisers, to electronic organisers ( Palm Pilot ) and finally back to paper, Filofax, Van der Spek, Mulberry and my current Kikki.k. I have gone from Personal, to A6, back to personal and finally to A5 and Kikki.k. It was all so very easy once. I was in Adelaide fairly often so was able to buy what I needed in either David Jones or Borders, and in a few of the stationers. Not so now. David Jones no longer stock much in the way of Planners/Organisers and I think has only one Filofax in stock and Borders closed down. Now I have to order on line from China, Hong Kong, or, if it is from the UK or the USA, I practically have to donate an

Benji on the Hill; We were just up there again this afternoon.

arm or a leg to defray the postage costs. For other things I have a supplier in Perth, Western Australia, and she’s very good. For my inserts these days, I download a system that I like in the size I want, copy it to a USB and take it to the local printer who will print everything for me in an A5 size — I supply the paper, which is great because it means I get the paper quality that I really want.. And yet, it would appear that paper-based planners and still quite popular, but in South Australia it certainly doesn’t feel like that.

Adelaide, Kangaroos and walkin’ the dog!

22/03/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

On Tuesday morning I set off for Adelaide. I was not too far from Adelaide (less than 90klms) when my son contacted me and said that there had been a change of plans and that they were both arriving in Adelaide on Tuesday night and heading home on Wednesday morning, so I didn’t need to come down after all. I told him where I was and how impressed I was but I hope I shall be able to cancel the second room at short notice. This is the hotel I use when Presbytery is in North Adelaide. I took a run out to the shopping center at Tea Tree Plaza and did some shopping for Annabell. I like TTP and am generally quite comfortable there. For some reason I don’t like Marion Shopping Center. Can’t think why but I just don’t like it. It doesn’t seem to have a lot of character and I find it quite antiseptic. Later on in the afternoon I was at a place that has an overload of character – The Central Market. It’s one place I really enjoy wandering around. Anyway, I went to the hotel and booked in, explaining why I no longer need two rooms and why I need to cancel one. No problem. They were very understanding. Once I booked in and put my case in the room, I took the bus into town. I had some things I wanted for myself at Kikki.k and David Jones

For more years than I care to remember I have used a Filofax but in recent years it has become ridiculously expensive to get inserts. I think I said before that I can, of course, get inserts from the

UK and the USA but the cost of shipping/postage is greater than the cost of the inserts. Yes I can download but my printer cannot not cope with the size and I am not about to buy a printer that can so I can use it once a year. Anyway, there are several printing shops in Adelaide so at the last meeting of the year ( late November early December) I can download, save to a USB and have the inserts printed off for less than $10. For years it was so simple and there were two Filofax outlets in Rundle Mall, Adelaide – Borders and David Jones. Borders has gone and David Jones don’t really stock much now.

It’s been ages since Benji and I were down at the wetlands. It’s really been too hot and sadly there is only a limited amount of shade there. This whole week the temperature will be around the mid 30c mark and still too hot to take him onto the concrete paths at the wetlands for any length of time. Interestingly, there is no shade at the Wetlands Kiosk. Not long after it opened I took Benji for a walk then stopped off for a coffee for me and a small Ice Cream for Benji. The cost was over what I anticipated which I thought was a bit much. I have not been back since. I also notice that it is closed for a number of days during the week, so perhaps it is not doing as well as was expected. Personally, I think the lack of shade might have something to do with that. The forecast for next week is for cooler temperatures, so perhaps we can get back down to afternoons at the lighthouse and the wetlands.

This morning on my walk with Benji, the place was covered in Kangaroos – they were everywhere. Not just the odd one or two as normal, but mobs of them. Why no photographs – it’s 6am and it’s dark. In the early evening, I go around the park/ play area: I no longer go through it. There are quite a few Kangaroos there in the evening and I find that even although Benji is under control and does not offer a threat – he doesn’t even bark at them – they still take off when they see the dog, and that’s my problem. There is bushland across from the park and that’s where they make for, but it means crossing a road and they would just take off without any concern for traffic. Hitting a Kangaroo is not good – it kills the Kangaroo, but the car would be a write off and depending on the angle of the hit – the driver could be too. So, I go around the park and leave them be – it’s safer that way

Lovely weather and visiting dogs.

14/01/2019 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This is the photograph that I submitted for critique and whilst they waxed lyrical about each other’s photographs they were not thrilled about my photograph – bad lighting, poor composition, were two of the comments and when it came to scoring, it didn’t do well at all. I am not averse to criticism, even negative can be helpful, if done correctly, but they just didn’t like this and there was no constructive criticism. Anyway, I’m fairly comfortable with my photographs. I agree they could improve but not this way.

Got back from Adelaide last night. Was midnight before I got home and close to 1am before I got to bed and then back up at 5;45 to take the dogs out. It took me a while to settle the dogs down when I got home – you would think I had been away for weeks instead of just one day. I had to have everything done on the one day because I needed to be back for Annabell’s medical appointment. It was a fairly good trip – and I got everything that Annabell asked me to get for her but when it came to me – fail. David Jones has very little in the way of Organizers, or inserts these days, Kikki.K had nothing, Typo had nothing, same story at Officeworks, which I did find surprising. I have some things coming from the USA so I

shall just have to exercise patience and wait until they arrive before I can finish the change-over.

I did, however, get Annabell a new cookbook.

We bought an air-fryer and although it has a small cookbook along with the instructions, Annabell wanted something more so I looked for an Ari-Fryer Cookbook for her. I got this at Dymocks in Rundle Mall. We have no book shops at home. The last one closed down years ago. Yes the newsagent sells a limited number of books and the library has not caught up with Air-Fryers yet. Come to that, neither has Dymocks and there were only four books to choose from. Even in Adelaide many of the bookshops have closed down -Dymocks, Borders, Angus & Robinson, were the main bookshops in Adelaide. By contrast, Dymocks, the remaining bookshop, was crowded and many of the customers were young people. Anyway, I got her a cookbook and she is quite happy with it.

We have a Nursing Home here but the beds are very limited and it is not unusual for people to be sent to care in other places where a bed is available. This could mean they are sent over 100 miles away. If you remember I did visit one of our congregation who had been sent to a nursing home in Quorn which is about 90 miles from here. We have another person who has been sent there and I am going to visit him early next week.

The four Test Cricket matches against India have ended with a well deserved win for India. There’s no question of the fact that India really dominated the entire series and in all honesty should have ended 3 1 instead of 2 1. India dominated the last Test Match from start to finish and should have come away with a win, but bad light and bad conditions means that the match was abandoned and it became a draw. Be interesting to see how they do with a different set of skills in the ODI (One Day Internationals) ( Not very well, I fear!!)

In ten days from now we would have had Dougal for three months in what was to be a week to ten days visit. Anyway, he went home today. I took him round to Sam this afternoon. I think Dougal was glad to be home and glad to see his people. I’ll miss him but it’s nice to be back to me and Benji again. I think Benji will be quite happy and we had a good walk – just the two of us – this evening. We should be clear now until sometime in December when we get Yogi back for a bit. You never know, we could have Dougal back for a few visits if Sam has to go back to Adelaide for tests.

Adelaide and a Dinosaur

25/07/201625/07/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Adelaide Arcade with the fountain in front.

Just after 1:30 pm Andrew picked me up and we headed off to Adelaide. We drove directly to Port Wakefield before we stopped for coffee and something to eat. From there we drove to Adelaide – Andrew to his hotel, me to mine. Fortunately both were in South Terrace – The Chifley and the Sage – Andrew in the Chifley. Why not in the same hotel, or even sharing a room? Well this was not a planned trip – Andrew was going down for a meeting so I bummed a lift from him and I just booked to stay where I normally do in Adelaide, whereas Andrew’s room was booked by his company. In the morning I made my way into town – had scones (and butter) and coffee at the Coffee Club in David Jones. Refreshed I went up the road to the Apple Shop to find out what was wrong with my laptop. Here I need to bore you further with an explanation. My Apple MacBook Pro is working fine – it’s great – no problems– however (there’s always a “however”isn’t there?) although it is working very well, it will not upgrade. I am running an operating system that is at least three upgrades behind what I should be running and I am starting to find that some things I download will not operate because the OS is out of date. Why wont it update? Well, that’s what I was seeking an answer to. I didn’t get one – well I got one of sorts. After going through it the tech admitted he had seem nothing like it. Everything is there but it will not upgrade and we don’t know why. They believe that the best solution is to wipe it clean and start with a fresh install then upgrade that to the current OS. That I could not do because I do not have a recent backup, so we are back home again and I will do a backup before I go back down.

Andrew finished his meeting and I met up with him again. We went off to Bunnings and we both did some shopping there and I checked out some of the things I would like for the garden – which I need a trailer for. Leaving Bunnings we headed for home again stopping at Port Wakefield for fuel and food. We arrived home at about 9:40 – a long and tiring day. I may do the backup this weekend and perhaps take a run down during the week and have the clean and install the new operating system. All I have to do then is put the backup back into the computer. Actually I might get

the Tech to do that for me – probably cost, but worth it. In Adelaide we came across “The Pet Barn” a big pet accessories shop. Well, yes, I did buy some new toys for BJ, one of which was a Dinosaur. Since I gave him the Dinosaur he has hardly let it go and he takes it up on my bed with him. I managed to get it on its own for a bit and took a photograph. His duck was a bit grubby so I gave it a wash. Came out quite well and the squeaker still works.

Although I’ve been in Adelaide the weather up here has been calm and warm – today is a mild 24c and whilst the warmer weather is welcome, it wont last and we’ll be back to cold and wind again soon. However, I did take advantage of the warmer weather to get some work done and this morning I hope to hook up the trailer and get down for a load of Granite Chips and make a start on the back.

The WaWa continues to go for Benji and the spray bottle is no longer having any effect; Yesterday was not a good day. The WaWa never shut up the entire day. Spent much of the day outside or driving – always with Benji with me – even if I was going to the hardware store, I took him with me. Keeping him with me and stopping the WaWa from nipping at his back legs has become a constant battle and although I do not wish away time, October can’t come soon enough. Sooah insists she will be back then – I hope so, I really hope so. I have to have something in place before November when I head off back to Mount Gambier and be away for four and a half days and I wouldn’t be at ease worrying about him.

Work, Chocolate and little twisters

22/08/201324/08/2013 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I have been called into work three days this week and decided that I am not available for the last two days. I said that my garden is starting to get messy because I have not had the time to look after it, I should have added that my room is also like a tip. I have brought back paperwork from Adelaide and have not had the time to put it away before I was off again. I really need some time to get things organised before starting again – i.e. heading south in the general direction of Adelaide. When we were in Adelaide last week, Herself just wanted to go back to the hotel and rest after the journey and the tests. I took her to the hotel, got her settled and made sure she was ok. I then took off into town for an hour or so to do some shopping – mainly stationery that I can’t get at home. I wandered into David Jones and saw this display of Chocolate. Talk about “Death by Chocolate”. There was also a display of Marilyn Monroe, in Chocolate, but it was just too crowded and I couldn’t get near to get a good look and not the time to wait around. Probably just as well!!

In the morning I will make a start on the garden and hopefully get rid of the bulk of these weeds. I also need to sort out the Sturt’s Desert Pea which has been sort of running wild and has overflowed into the driveway. The Arid Land plants are doing well, at least I think they are. I will know better when I can get to see them better through all these weeds. We have just had so much rain recently that the weeds have just taken off. The weather has been really odd and a tornado – not the big scary ones like America gets, but big enough to cause a lot of damage on the outskirts of Adelaide – touched down not far from Bolivar.

I’ve cleared the bulk of the weeds away and refreshed my Arid Lands Plants – which are doing well. I am also in the process of creating two new raised flower beds alongside the garage. I had some thoughts about placing the flower beds on concrete but then I came up with the idea of using the wood chips as a draining agent rather than a mulching agent – covered the bottom in a good layer of wood chips then the potting mixture on the top of that. Anyway, that’s

my theory and what I have done. I just have to see if it works :o) And the Sturt’s Desert Pea is taking over everything at the front — Joyfull with its bright green and bright red flowers. I had to cut it back a little because it had spread out over the driveway and people, including me, were driving over it.

Not with a whimper….

22/08/201222/08/2012 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

This is my Main Man — The Maltese Terrorist

Winter might be heading off for a holiday but it will not be going quietly. The forecast is for rain and a bit of wild weather. The trouble with weather like this is that it tends to make a fellow feel homesick – (yes, I come from Scotland) I’ve only been here for 25 years so I’m a relative newcomer. The Refrigeration Engineers are supposed to be coming today to install the new split level air-conditioner system. The current system decided to give up the ghost – or whatever a/c systems do – and die on me. It was going to cost XX to repair and XX+x to put in a new system. The Insurance Company were not too happy and paid out, but only if we got the new system because the old system is just on the ten years and they are reluctant to insure any system that is more than ten years old. At the moment we are using an electric heater and thus far it cast cost an arm and a leg in power bills.

In my previous post I made mention of phILOFAXY and posted a photograph of my Scanda. This will be retired at the end of this year and it you look at the photograph you will see to the left of the Scanda what looks like another Filofax- it is. This is my “Filofax in waiting” This is the Filofax that will replace my Scanda – Cuban Zip Personal. Out of the picture, to the right, sits a Cuban Zip A5, which stays there and I work between the two. I think, regardless of what I said the other day, if anyone uses an Organiser of any kind, you should look at phiLIOFAXY because there are some really interesting things, helps and tips on there. Filofax is just not popular where I am and I am probably about the only person who uses one, thus there are no supplies in this region and everything I want has be to brought from the UK or the USA. Unlike the people on the blog, I can’t go down to the local Stationery Shop and I would kill for a WHS ( which I remember with fondness) People use a diary but not an organiser, so it is possible to pick up any range of diary, from Academic to Household Shopping, but not get inserts for a Filofax. David Jones, in Adelaide used to stock supplies and a range of Filofaxes but these days their range is very limited and inserts thin on the ground. The photograph above is the Cuban Filofaxes – the front one being the Personal and the rear one the A5 and yes the Personal is sitting open and flat..

The engineers have arrived and are working on installing the new AC System. At least it’s not raining and even if it were, the AC Unit is under the carport anyway, so they would get some shelter. I’ve just left them to it as they move in and out of the house. The only good thing about winter is that you can leave the door open and not be invaded by flies while you slowly freeze to death. Have to love Australian country towns – 20,000 people, 50 million flies.

As you can gather I have not been doing a lot of work in the garden. Tomatoes are coming along nicely as are my new venture in Purple Carrots. Don’t really know if I like the idea of Purple Carrots but I thought I would give it a try. Parsley seems to have taken over the herb garden, overpowering the Mint and other odds. Just as well I like parsley. Most of the roses are doing well. I think I have lost a few and it’s too late to replace them now. If I were heading off to Adelaide anytime soon, I would most likely still get some to replace the dead ones, but not here. If you ever hear that the world is coming to an end – come to South Australia; everything takes fifty years to get here.

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