Heaps of things on the go so this post may just meander through the past month or so.
picture of me "in action" on my bike, no real reason other than I like the picture! There are a couple of guys who set themselves up on Mt. Glorious (Nth West Brisbane) most Sundays, taking pictures of the various bikes and cars that pass.. very entrepreneurial I thought prior to going to their website (where you pick up pictures), bloody rip-off I concluded after I saw the price/picture - $25.00!! Still, I paid for one didn't I! There were four but I couldn't bring myself to fork out $100.00 for some pretty pics of me on my bike... one'll do...Probably the biggest news since my last post is that we've put an offer on a new house, specifically this house . Why I hear you ask, particularly when we only recently bought a house? Well, there are number of reasons, but primarily it's basically because Narangba is just too far away from anything. Last year this seemed appealing to us all - the idea that we could get away from "suburbia" and out to a county village was extremely appealing and in many ways has proven to be exactly what we expected - very peaceful, almost serene sometimes (when the few neighbours we have aren't having a party...). The price we pay for this serenity is the commute to/from work, which, thanks largely to a combination of the worst premier this state has had in years, together with an inept mayor, is well, crappy. In fairness the fault does not lie entirely with these two - the former premier, a media tart who re-badged Queensland as "the Smart State" amongst other rubbish ideas has much of the blame on his hands. Consequently, Brisbane promoted the concept of "Live Local -Work Local" but did nothing to support growth of the idea, thus many people moved out of the "green" belt" of Brisbane and into the "greener" belt, only to find that their palatial "McMansions" required them to commute to and from the city (in most cases) because unless they wanted to be a shoe/mobile phone/other salesperson or - heaven forbid - a real estate scumbag errrr... agent, this was the only choice. And thanks to the crappy management of this state and city, planning and subsequent sprawling of homes 30,40 and sometimes 50k's away from the city centre occurred at pace whilst infrastructure (roads) to get people to and from their homes was either not considered or actively ignored, resulting in people in London-like traffic jams on a daily basis should one poor sucker get a flat tyre/hit the guy in front/get hit by the guy behind/other...
You may get the hint that I am well over sitting in my little car/on my bike for over an hour per trip to get 30k's... I am! So this new place is about 20K's closer to the city and thus work for both of us, with the added benefit that it has a pool for when I get home so enraged by the stupidity of it all that the only choice for me is to jump in the pool or else explode... Yes we've got a pool... finally (assuming the contract goes through of course...)In other news, I've quit smoking! Finally, and after more years than I care to think of, I've been off the "evil weed" for... 45 days so far with no slipping up... I got a bronchial infection in January and this, for me, usually means about 6-7 weeks of slooooow recovery as I chug my way through it. "Enough" I thought - and went and bought some patches. This is not the first time I've used patches, but it's probably the first time I've actually wanted to quit whilst using them. They are quite amazing, the craving is still there and I've found myself every now and then thinking "Gosh, I could have a cigarette round about now" (or words to that effect...), but the thought just sort of goes away and comes back a few hours later, at which time I think about it again but don't act on it. And I'm free - just like that. Well, actually that's not true. I am free in the sense that those foul things no longer rule my life (I used to think of them as the punctuation of my life - how ridiculous!), but that's not to say I don't miss them, because I do... a lot. However I think that in all likelihood I will not go back to the horrid things ever again. My good friend Jill gave up well over a year ago and has patiently persevered with emails and gently hints now and then. She's been an inspiration and has helped me immensely. Long way to go still but at this point I'm remaining confident. Work was the real test - I expected to be back on the things mere moments after going back to work (I gave up on day 1 of a 4 day public holiday) but actually didn't need to as much as I thought I would and now, I'm loving the extra time I get back in the day!
Rowie continues to improve, although as you would expect "recovery" is relative. She's been back at work since early December and sometimes it's almost like it never happened, the whole operation. We have to constantly remind ourselves that she's still quite delicate and can't over-do it. Most days go like this: get up, rush off to get Oscar to school (20 minute drive) then back onto the "freeway" (and I use the term loosely see above rant) for anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5hrs. Then do it all again in the afternoon! The saving grace of this situation is that at least the drive back is more predictable - since she finishes at 2.15pm the traffic is a little bit quieter. Until a few weeks back she needed a nap in the afternoon, although this need is diminishing. The real issue is that day-to-day living provides a certain amount of exercise which keeps a person on an even keel as it were, whereas recuperation requires that you RELAX and don't exert yourself, which in turn reduces your muscles making it harder to actually do anything... it's a downward cycle which is very difficult to turn around. That of course explains Rowie but why the hell am I porking up too!? I must be doing it subconsciously to "support" her... yeah, that sounds like me.
Well, that's probably enough of an update for now. Hope everyone's well and (if in England) enjoying the beginning of Spring, which as usual I have romantised in my head as green lawns, birds chirping merrily, and people walking on the road, smiling for no apparent reason... of course this was never the case, but boy I'd like to live in the England I remember! Here's it's (finally) starting to cool off, March is the worst month because it'll cool a little then the heat turns up for one more hit - horrendous. Still April soon...
Take care,
Neil
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