Two weekends ago we went to see Wicked Little Letters at the cinema, which was good. On the Sunday we watched the original Gladiator movie, which I hadn’t seen before.
This weekend we played bocce/boule at the club with the dive section. Rob and I made the B final but were outclassed. Sam beat me in the first game but didn’t make a final so honours even?
On Sunday we went to see Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell in the city. It was a bit of a wasted day hanging around to drive into the city for 6pm and he was good but not great. I haven’t seen him on TV for years. His impressions / accents were the highlight.
Yesterday (Monday) I started a series of 2 injections into my neck. They are into the “fatty sleeve” that surrounds the nerve that runs down my arm to reduce swelling and hopefully give me full feeling back, remove the pins and needles and muscle strength. Yesterdays in Clarkson was on the C5 dermatome which serves the middle of the arm/hand which is less of a problem. This afternoon’s will be on the C6 which I think aligns with most of my symptoms.
I was worried about injections close to the spine but they are actually in the neck/shoulder area and are guided by regular CT scans until they get the needle in just the right place. Thanks to Maryann for rearranging shifts to take me as I am not allowed to drive back. I also have to be totally still for 6 hours and limit movement for 3 further days. It should take 2 weeks to take effect, assuming it does.
We spent Easter weekend down in Busselton again. As usual, I worked from home down there the day before to avoid the traffic. It was a fairly chilled weekend, except for Toby who got loads of long walks and runs on the beach.
We got the SUP’s out on Friday morning; I had been Googling an electric pump to run off the car 12v when I saw an offer of a board at Anaconda for 67% off so dashed straight down there to get both. It wasn’t quite the bargain I thought as it wasn’t until I got home I realised it didn’t include either a paddle or a leg tether (both $30 each extra).
Anyway I was KUP-ing (kneeling up) while I got my confidence back on some slightly choppy water and passing a couple of skilled SUP-ers when I heard the lady say “shark” and a grey shadow passed between us. My first thought was dolphin, they are common down there but the lady was adamant and on reflection it’s tail was going side-to-side not up and down so maybe she was right. So everyone near us got out, looked at each other, then after about 5 minutes most went back in again! It wasn’t a large thing, in no more than 2m of water, maybe 1-1.5m long and there were plenty of fish for it to feed on.
I also got the bikes ready on Sunday, though Sam decided not to go out with me in the end. I rode 5km each way to Geographe Marina and was back home within 30 minutes despite not being able to put weight on my injured right shoulder. Heading back up from the foreshore I was slowing down for a crossroads when I tourist went past me and indicated left to go across my path forcing me to slam on the brakes to avoid crashing into her. Give me sharks over inattentive, stupid drivers any day!
Other than that, we did the obligatory eating and drinking you do down there but only had a few each day and ate snack-ish food rather than big meals. I think there was only one night we stayed up past 9pm. Getting old!
We came back on the Tuesday after lunch to avoid the traffic on Easter Monday, after I had put in 6 hours work. But Google maps suggested the traffic hadn’t been that bad (people were staying for the week?) and ironically the roadworks for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road cost us 30 minutes and then accidents / traffic through the city another 40 minutes. So, we didn’t get home until almost 5pm.
Sam is enjoying her new job but Maryann decided not to take up the job she was offered after a trial day. She said they just threw her in the deep end with no direction.
We went away with the dive club to Rockingham last weekend. We left home at 2pm hoping to beat the traffic. It didn’t help we had to fill the car with diesel first but it took almost 2 hours to get there as we got caught in the traffic leaving the city then all tradies leaving work in Rockingham.
It’s a large complex right on the shoreline but the accommodation is basic – school dorm rooms for about 6 with a communal ablutions block. Thankfully we took a desk fan as there’s no aircon and it was about 34C. After unpacking the first three beers must have had holes in the bottom they disappeared so quickly. So I switched to a zero to pace myself and kind of lost the vibe. We had some old ready meals from the freezer we had taken for dinner. About half went out for dinner and we were sitting a bit away from the rest as my shoulder has been really hurting but reclining it back (camping chair) eased it. Neither of us were much up for it and made an Irish Goodbye for an early night at 8.30.
A couple of boats went diving the next morning. Very early. I had taken my gear, and would have felt obliged to go if someone offered but kept my head down as we were keen to take our new Stand-Up Paddleboard out for the first time. We had tried someone else’s last year.
At first, I thought I was back to square one but gradually knelt up, stood up and then paddled along after about 5 goes. Last year I hadn’t been able to turn but this time I got to that point, first turning, then falling off immediately and second time turning and the paddling back. Mission accomplished.
Sam had a go and was fine sitting and kneeling but couldn’t stand.
We both lost a pair of glasses. Sam’s were only $5 servo ones. But mine were prescription sunnies. I either brought them from the UK 19 years ago or got them shortly afterwards, were scratched and the arms were loose. But they were great for just this sort of thing and valid safety glasses on site. Despite have an elastic strap behind my head they still fell off. I got my fins and mask from the car and had a look but they both fell off in thick seagrass so didn’t find them.
We were a bit more social that afternoon. Sam was first to get out the ham, cheese and crackers platter which went down very well. I finished the rest of the beer I took and a couple of bourbons and coke but again we snook away early. We aren’t the party animals we used to be! With Toby and Parker waking us up about 5am every day we have got used to early starts and early to bed.
After three weeks I still hadn’t made the waiting list for my knee injection so tried somewhere else. They said their queue was very long too, but suggested somewhere else, only marginally further away in Clarkson. They got me in as quick as yesterday (Thursday) after just a 3 day wait and I have to say the antibiotic and steroid injection, guided by CT scan, has already made a big difference in 24 hours. The swelling behind the knee has gone right down. Unexpected bonus – it seems to have made quite a difference to my shoulder too! I guess the cortisone spreads? So, I have some useful insights for the doctor on Monday. It looks like Sam may be right and it is a bursitis.
We had our annual pest spray yesterday morning. It’s been a long hot summer and the ants have been really bad.
We had 5 days in Busselton at the start of the month to coincide with my birthday and the Labour Day long weekend. For the first time in a while the first day was actually a holiday not a WFH day.
Sam drove me to a few wineries on the Friday. In the evening we had dinner at Albertas – a small restaurant run by a couple who used to work in one of the best restaurants in the world (Nomo in Copenhagen). They came to Busselton during Covid as she is from WA. As it happened they announced that day they are stepping back from running a restaurant to focus on teaching workshops and special events (and family I assume). I had baby octopus in a fish stew (it had a better name than that, but was lovely).
On Saturday we ate at the Busselton Pavilion a new pub which has already got a great reputation for it’s food. Spoilt between a choice of the Marron Sanga (freshwater lobster baguette) and the beef tongue I went with the tongue and it was amazing.
Sunday we had a quite night in after walking Toby to the pub – cheese toasties!
On Monday we drove out to Bunbury for the morning, somewhere I haven’t been for over 15 years. There was a bit of traffic from everyone going home from the long weekend but nothing too bad. We took Toby and walked a mural trail then along the foreshore to a statue. Toby was knackered! By the time we came back (midday-ish) the traffic going the other way was horrendous. I heard stories of people taking 11 hours to get home from Pemberton. Which is why we took an extra day to return on Tuesday. We ate at Inara that night – a mediterranean restaurant and had the set meal which was also great.
Sam and Maryann got me a turntable with speakers and cabinet and set up all my old vinyl on it for when I got home.
This weekend was a busy one as we caught up on chores and to get ahead of the game for going away again this weekend. We went to the dive dine-in on Friday night to be sure of plans for this weekend.
Two weekends ago I drove a 500km round trip to Busselton to turn off a light. To explain:
The original plan was that the dive club was driving down for the day on the Saturday to dive the sculptures under the jetty. I read this in the minutes. I had spoken to a few people at the birthday party the weekend before and there were a few people who variously new about it, weren’t going or were going down for the week anyway. But when I checked a few days before I was told the trip was canned due to a function at the club.
We had received a call from the guy we bought the house from a couple of weeks’ earlier to say the neighbour had contacted him as we had left a light on and it was shining through her bedroom window. It seemed unlikely as we are thorough about checking everything is off, but Judy in unit 1 is a sweet old dear. So I made the trip straight from work on the Thursday night anyway.
When I got there I discovered the light outside the laundry door was on. It is a dim light and there is a 2m high fence all around so surely wasn’t that much of an issue? But as I turned it off I heard “thank god for that”, not from Judy’s house but next door. They really annoy us by having tradies start work at 6am and shouting outside our bedroom window from dawn to dusk. I was tempted to put a brighter bulb in and leave it on again before I left!
I worked from home Friday, went for a few long walks and generally chilled for a few days, other than a quick wander round the shops, picking up some cheap t-shirts and kitchen towel door hangers. I watched some movies Sam wasn’t interested in like Lost in Translation and All Quiet on the Western Front.
On Sunday I was up at 6am, walked the length of the jetty, packed up, cleaned the house and, via a grocery stop at Bunbury Farmers Market was home just after midday. The girls couldn’t believe I was back so early.
Last weekend I was looking forward to a really quiet weekend doing nothing, floating around the pool after that trip south and generally being very busy. But we had our first proper rain for 3 months! So I ended up shampooing the carpets, mopping floors, spring cleaning and tidying the garden between downpours. Not a rest at all.
I saw the specialist about my knee on Wednesday. He said no need to think about operating on the torn meniscus at this time. It looks worse that the other one 4 years ago that he did operate on though. And the Bakers Cyst is very small. But he confirmed the minor MCL sprain but most importantly noted that the knee is full of fluid, hence the difficulty bending it. I am on the list for an “image-guided” injection in the next month or two.
Two weekends ago we stayed in the city to see some Fringe Shows. I drove in and left the car at work. On Friday night we saw a selection of comedians at the comedy lounge (a bit disappointing but they were probably trying new material) then Kyle Legacy who was good (a scouser, his parents live in Busselton). At the last minute, Sam decided to make it a late night and bought tickets to Pear: Braver which was proper Fringe-ish material being mostly improv in nature (weird but good).
It was a stinking hot weekend (as they all are at the moment) so some of the pop-up venues were steamy.
We walked across town to Watertown fashion outlet on Saturday morning, I came away with a few bags of shorts and t-shirts as this was my bi-annual shopping trip. But with bags to carry and temps nearing 40C again we got the bus back to town and had a couple of cold ones at the Globe.
We saw Tom Gleeson at 3.30, not sure if he expected (rightly) his audience to be mature at that time of day but his act was appreciated by the mostly Gen X / Boomers being basically an hour long complaint. We went for an early dinner at Sauma (tapas style Indian) as we do every year before seeing Bogan Shakespeare – a Freo Cicerellos-based comedy retelling of King Lear (a must every year).
This weekend we just went into the city on Friday night to see Rhys Nicholson and Larry Dean (both very funny) at Johnny Fox’s in Northbridge. Same venue back to back, so we walked out the exit door and round the corner to join the queue for the next one!
We spent all day Saturday doing chores; it has been a chore staying on top of everything with so much going on recently. Then we went to the club at night for Martin’s 70th birthday party. 70/80’s themed with Sam in a jump suit and me as a permed Kevin Keegan (Martin is a Liverpool fan so appreciated it).
Work is busy but I am really enjoying it. I just started a “Community of Practice” for project risk folk and it went down really well.
We successfully completed our nearly dry January, getting up to the point we went away this weekend.
The prior weekend we went into the city on Friday night to see Dr Ahmed at the Fringe Festival, followed by dinner at the Italian Street Kitchen. We didn’t miss the drink and it meant I was able to drive in and out, parking at work so home at a reasonable time.
I got the results on my knee: torn meniscus, minor MCL strain and a Bakers’ Cyst (yet another bursa injury). I see the specialist in a few weeks.
My neck, back, shoulder and wrist were all getting better, until yesterday. Presumably it was unpacking the car, carrying shopping or sitting back at a desk?
We had a great weekend in Busselton with Toby. He had long walks including two runs on the beach. Sam wasn’t feeling great so we didn’t get to use the SUP (again). But we did have a day out. We drove to Wellington Dam to see the largest mural in the southern hemisphere, had a drink at Bush Shack Brewery (which I used to love at Yallingup but don’t like anymore) then had a walk around Gnomesville (which was just on the road verge by a roundabout but had a staggeringly large number of gnomes).
Happy New Year. Work was very quiet for the first 1.5 weeks back but has now become very busy.
Sam and I are doing dry January (up to the Australia Day weekend, 25th) and it is going well so far; 12 days and counting. We went out last night, to the club for the dive section dine-in, and after an awkward-feeling first few minutes I drank Heineken 0,0 all night and kind of forgot I wasn’t drinking.
With a bit of a general health kick around walking more, eating more veg and less red meat I have lost 3kg.
I went to the doctors this week about a knee injury I have had for a couple of months, and he sent me for an MRI. The suspicion is I have torn the meniscus; I had an op on the other knee for that 4 years ago. Also, having just gotten over carpal tunnel in my wrist I have pulled a ligament in the hand so that is in a splint too.
Continuing a medical theme, Sam and I both gave blood (plasma) last Saturday. I was nervous after nearly fainting last time (12 months ago) but was fine. Sam had an issue with her machine so had to abandon her session.
We just booked our winter holidays – diving in Vanuatu with the dive club. It starts mid-week, just after Sam’s birthday, so we are going out a few days early and will have three nights on Moreton Island off the coast of Brisbane which appears to be Rottnest Island on steroids.
Today is 41C! So after running some errands early it is too warm even to float around the pool so we are busy doing housework, booking that trip. And writing a blog update! Back to mid-30’s tomorrow so that will be our pool day.
It was a very quiet Christmas break. Normally I get about 6 days in then regret we didn’t do more, but this year I was absolutely fine with it.
We spent the first 6 or 7 days in Busselton. Sam went down on Thursday to do a big shop and set up some decorations, while Maryann and I went down late afternoon on the Friday with Toby and Parker.
We spent most days doing similar: took Toby for a long walk, maybe on the beach with a tennis ball. Brunch. Pottered around / popped to the shops for a look-see. Then chilled in the afternoon either at Rocky Ridge Brewery, watching TV or playing games on the Wii Switch.
Maryann came back on Boxing Day as she worked between Xmas and New Year, picking up some extra shifts to save for her next big trip. I am sure there were plenty of colleagues happy for her to cover for them.
The only difference when we got home was we had 3 days by the pool instead of popping to the shops.
Just a quick update to clear the decks before Xmas.
Work is quietening down, though there has still been the odd very busy day. I have two more interviews to do tomorrow (Thursday) before hopefully getting an offer out, maybe even accepted before Xmas. That would start the clock ticking on any notice periods people have to give so I will give it every chance.
Two weekends ago Maryann went down to Busselton for the weekend. Sam and I went to see Napoleon at the movies (Gold Class). We went to an early afternoon showing and had the entire theatre to ourselves.
This weekend, after a busy Saturday morning, we had the afternoon by the pool. On Sunday we went into the Swan Valley to buy some wine to top up the wine racks and my new wine fridge (Santa came early).
Now it just a case of waiting. To be honest, it all feels a bit over-hyped this year. Other people have been looking forward to it (the time off work more than Xmas) for 6 weeks or so, it feels like. It’s only 10 days for us, though others are having a few weeks. Maybe its because I am enjoying my job so much so not desperate to get away from it, maybe that 10 days is pretty short compared to 5 weeks in Europe earlier in the year. Its going to be a (very) long weekend really. Bah humbug! 😊
3DownUnder 