Sunday, October 2nd …..

Marilyn’s just left for the airport, planning to spend a few days in Wollongong, Sydney and Mudgee. Right up until last night she was in two minds whether to go or not; she was worried that I might not cope and believed I would fret or starve or drop my bundle. Whatever happened overnight, she was up before 7 oçlock, resolved to go.

On Friday, she asked me to ring Jetstar to cancel the flight. I couldn’t do it on-line because she had been checked in automatically. After about half an hour on-hold, I was told that the booking could not be cancelled. If Marilyn didn’t turn up she would forfeit the fare. How dopey! Wouldn’t you think they would like the chance to sell the seat to someone else.

So, on to the internet, download the travel insurance claim form and work through that. Happily, we hadn’t got around to posting it, so the seat was still available. I don’t know when she’ll be back but no doubt we will cope.

We don’t usually watch the so-called current affairs programs but we noticed in passing that Today Tonight had a story last week on faulty hip replacement prostheses. It was about a batch of prostheses from Dupont, I think, which is part of Johnson and Johnson. Apparently, there could be as many as 50000 Australian patients fitted with these joints which are causing real problems. People are complaining of having them pop out (sounds familiar!), squeaking, blood conditions caused by metal dust coming from the action of the ball in the joint, and so on. A group of unhappy customers are putting together a class action.

However, I won’t be in with a chance of a payout. My prosthesis is a ceramic one and not prone to the problems of the metal-on-metal ones in the class action. I remember when we were kids, my father lost his little finger in an industrial accident at the steelworks where he was employed. He got a few quid as a payout and it was enough for him to put a deposit on our first car. For a minute I thought I would get a small windfall like him, but it’s not to be. Bugger!

It’s another beautiful day in paradise. The birds are still coming down in their droves to feed on the seeds that Jamie spreads around each day. The latest addition to the flock is a couple of galahs. Fantastic birds!