Monday, November 3

When you pass the 80-year old mark, life becomes quite narrow.  In our previous life we worked hard and kept up an active social life but, nowadays, when we are retired and getting on in years, our program is much narrower.  Looking at our diary for this week, for example, we only have two items listed: activity classes on Tuesday and Friday at Toosey.  In the past, Marilyn might have gone to her Craft Group on Tuesday but the Activity Class has superseded that.  Later this month we'll have our Probus meetings and, no doubt, there will be a hair appointment and something medical, but they're not yet on the horizon.

On my desk is a reminder from Specsavers that I'm due a check-up on my eyes and I have a half memory of receiving something similar about my hearing but I'm not treating those as urgent.  I'm happy with my current spectacles and haven't worn my hearing aids in months so I can leave those appointments on the back-burner for the time being.

In the meantime, I'll fill my days in the usual way: reading, fiddling with my tablet, checking Youtube and drinking coffee. It's not a bad life.

Friday, October 31

 There's a terrible mess outside the front of our unit; I noticed it when I opened the front blinds. An 8-foot section of the paling fence opposite is streaked with bird droppings, The concrete driveway is covered with droppings and the path up to our front door.  There was a mess even under the chairs on our front deck.  When I went out to have a closer look, I noticed that there was just as much mess on the roof.

Clearly, there had been a bird convention here overnight and Marilyn and I, sleeping at the back of the unit had heard nothing.

My first thought was that we had had an influx of seagulls but we are quite a way from the sea, and Jamie suspects the culprits were cockatoos.  Longford is well-known for being a haunt for Black Cockatoos but I rarely see them.  Maybe the purpose of their visit was to remind me that they still exist.

I went for a wander around the other units but none has had the treatment we have enjoyed so it remains a bit of a mystery.

Jamier has promised to bring over his Karcher and we can make an attempt to clean it all up.  

Wednesday, October 29

 It's Garbage Collection day so there's a string of bins lined up in front of our units.  There are five units in our set , so ten bins this week.  The kerb space between our driveway and the one next door isn't wide enough to accommodate the ten bins so Paul from Unit 1 leaves his the front of the next house.  The -other eight bins fit snugly in the available space with about 15cm between each one and the next.  Looks alright to me.

However, Bertine from Unit 5 isn't happy.  She thinks they're too close together so she hung around one morning  to chat with the garbage men.  She reported back that they would like half a metre between each bin so that it would be easier for them to manipulate their grabber between them to pick them up.  I suggested that the only way that this might happen is if a couple of us dragged our bins to another section of the street, in front of someone else's house.  Would she like to volunteer?

Nothing's happened about that of course and the garbos seem to have retained the skill to fit the arms of the grabber between the bins.

Sunday, 26 October 2025

 There was a celebration in Deloraine yesterday to mark the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of Giant Steps School for Autism.  For the first five years it muddled along under the direction of a group of parents but when it was a bit more established they decided to appoint a Principal.  I started at the beginning of 2000 and I think it was the most interesting period of my working life.

There was more to the job than managing the program.  I found myself being advocate for the school, negotiating with and educating government, fund-raising and extending the school's footprint by buying adjoining properties and building extra classroom space.

It's been over fifteen years since I retired and there have been three other principals since then.  The current boss was appointed by me in about 2005 as a Teacher Aide and has now taken on the job as Principal.  The school is unrecogniseable with new buildings and reorganisation of facilities.  When I became Principal there was always the danger that we would have to close our doors but those days are long gone.

It was great to see that Giant Steps has gone from strength to strength and is now very well-established.  It's nice to think that I played a role in that.

Friday, October 24

 I came across an interesting story this morning about a group of convicts who escaped from Tasmania in about 1830, hijacked a merchant ship called the Cyprus and sailed it towards New Zealand, through the Chatham Islands, past Tonga and along the coast of China before arriving at a small island called Tebajima in the south of Japan.  The local population of Samurai families were very suspicious of the intruders and frightened them away with cannon fire.

This is probably the first encounter between Japan and Australia, and not very diplomatic.

Our cleaner is here this morning, a young man from Nepal, so I'm hanging around at my desk until he leaves and I can get my shower.  It's all very well having home-help but I resent the invasion of my privacy.  Marilyn and I have an exercise class this afternoon.

Thursday, October 23

 I hate it when I'm shown to be wrong about something.  It's bad enough when it's another person pointing out my mistake and I just have to put on a brave face and accept that I'm not infallible.  But, it's worse when it's my own sub-conscious that points out my error.  Although, at least I don't need to admit my fault publicly.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about a bloke I know in Deloraine who shares my birthday and I boldly said that he was the only other person I know who does.  Thinking back, there may have been a slight feeling of disquiet, that it was a careless statement and that, at some time in the future it would come back to bite me.

Today was the day.  In fact, it was early this morning when I was still in bed and  my subconscious rang a little warning bell in my brain.  It wasn't a polite bell; in fact, if I had to categorise it, it was a peal of bells, highlighting the carelessness of my statement.

Yes, I had forgotten my childhood friend and class-mate at Blantyre Public School in Scotland. Matthew Scott was born on the same day that I was and we ended up in the same class at school.  The last day I saw Matthew would have been about December 9th or 10th, 1950 and I haven't heard from him since.  Perhaps I can be forgiven for leaving his memory back in the mists of time.

Wednesday, October 22

 Marilyn and I both have places to be today but an executive decision has been made that we will ignore them and stay home.  Marilyn would normally be at her Craft Group/Bingo and my Probus Club is visiting the local Police Station but it's a miserable day, grey and pouring with rain, so we'll stay indoors and stay dry.

The local Police Station is, apparently, a state-of-the-art facility and well worth a visit ... but not today.

Yesterday I went to the Exercise Group which meets at Toosey the local Old Folk's Home.  Marilyn usually comes with me but wasn't feeling up to it.  We go twice a week; there are usually a dozen of us on Friday but only five or six in the Tuesday group.  Yesterday, I was the only one to turn up.  I though the Physiotherapist who runs it would pull the plug but she decided that, as I had taken the trouble to attend, I would have the hour's session to myself.  I don't know how much I would have been charged if I had booked an individual session but it certainly would have been money well-spent.  Emma asked what I would l like to focus on and I suggested balance so I was given the benefit of her expertise in an area which is becoming a concern.

It was hard work, of course, but well worth it and I don't know when I might have an opportunity like this again.