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. 
Anyway, 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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