My fingers run away

Phyllis has an excellent command of written and spoken English, and even without the usual Indian accent.

Kosov has excellent written English but his speaking is quirky. He struggles to explain anything complicated. But then I probably do too. At times I have had to restart explaining something. 

Neither of them have good mental arithmetic. If they want an instant answer to simple arithmetic, they ask me. And my mental arithmetic is far from perfect but faster than theirs, and more accurate.

When a new calendar arrives each year, Phyllis marks the calendar when the fortnightly rent is to be paid. I picked up that he mucked that up during the change from last year's calendar. He wasn't trying to cheat me, as his mistake was in my favour by one week. They are now paying rent four weeks in advance, but again Phyllis mucked up, and marked the calendar one month after he last paid four weeks rent. No, no. That short changes me by a few days each month. He understood and realised his mistake. I have no doubt it was unintentional. He knows I am smart with minor amounts of money, just not so smart with larger amounts. Yep, I look after pennies, not necessarily the pounds.

Speaking of pennies, for a long time I've wondered why Americans refer to coins as pennies. Aren't they cents? Aren't dollars and cents the standard?

Some good news here today. Food delivery drivers will now receive an hourly wage of around AU$31 an hour while they are working, plus some accident and personal injury insurance paid for by their employing companies. My lads never look to the future about shopping and we had run out of cat litter, which is not in my job description. Kosov didn't want to go out to get some after being told to do so, so he had it delivered from Aldi, for a fee of $4.50. That is simply a ridiculously low delivery fee. It may rise now that proper wages have to be paid to delivery drivers. Good.

What a horrible business in England, where a professor was driven to suicide, mostly by the Murdoch media. I can never remember an academic being attacked by media as he was. 

In Israel, Netanyahu is trying to build bridges with far right parliamentary members who want to bomb Arab countries to bits before a forthcoming election, while #47 continues his nonsense, now having being humiliated by Iran. Yeah, all about oil, but #47, you have huge problems in your own country. Yet the fuckwit is against his own citizens and businesses who use and promote renewable energy, thus reducing the reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Follow the money for him and his corrupt cronies and you will find out why.

Now Kosov has his Master's degree and no longer a student, he had to apply for a two year post study visa. My god, how Australia rips off overseas students. Now it is an AU$500 for a medical check and chest x-ray. He has spent many hours online applying for his visa. Stepping out of my personal interest in having them stay, they are hard working, decent and honest young men, in a committed relationship. As much as they are taking from Australia, they are giving more back to the country. 

Oh yes, the three of us had a very nice couple of hours out with HH last Friday night. I was going to insist on paying for my two glasses of wine but I knew what her reaction would be, so it was pointless. She can certainly talk, but I noticed her conversational skills, by the way she engaged Phyllis and Kosov in conversations. You'd be surprised how well an 80 year old straight white Australian woman could talk with two Indian born gay overseas former students who have lived in Australia for a couple of years.

Monday Mural

Sami and others post a mural on Mondays. Here is my contribution, from Hosier Lane.

My famous neighbour Derryn Hinch who was given a state funeral, had his moniker painted in Hosier Lane, slashed over with his usual tv/radio sign off.

Totally queer.                                     

He looks sexy.

Sunday Selections

Lot's of photos yesterday, so not too many today. River hosts Sunday Selections, and along with the memory of Sue, here are my few contributions. This is one very large pot of chicken biryani, which served several meals. 

The failed and pretentiously named St Collins Lane has been reinvented after the failure of its major draw tenant, the English department store Debenhams. I think I bought something there once. Downstairs now it seems to be an upmarket bowling alley and amusement parlour. But at ground level I was excited to discover another Gillies and Marc sculpture. 

  

Oh Jass. This is after we shaved off the earlier damage.

Before I get into the shower each morning, Jass wants a drink from the tap. See that the handle is pointed to hot but it takes quite some time for hot water to reach the basin and she departs.

Remember Vanilla Bean? I don't expect you would. I have formed an attachment to VB. 

Not so much Amber.

 

Phyllis bought a new colour. I'll just stick to black, thanks.

It was still dark outside as I arose with bleary eyes. Whatever the barrier is, I have no time for something like a password to remove it. It is too hard to read in the very bad photo. It said, 

No entry without password.

_ _ g_. 

Kosov, is it dogs? Pugs? Bugs? Bags?

"No, Onnndrew. It is hooogs, (hugs)." Kosov needs lots of hugs.

The Bellarine Pt 2

The walkway to the door of my flat was a little treacherous in the very dark of the night, as the sensor lights were a bit slow to illuminate the path and approach.

The one bedroom flat was comfortable enough and even came with a washing machine.

Bone Doctor thought but didn't say anything at the time about the step up to the bedroom and that I might trip. It wasn't the step up that got me, it was the step down in the morning before it was light. I certainly stepped down very heavily. Only a fool will walk around in a strange place without turning on lights.

The party was from 4pm until 9pm. I arrived purposely late but in time to see the sun setting over Swan Lake. 

The party had a nautical theme. One woman came as Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, with her hair pulled to each side of her head and a floaty around her middle with SS Minnow written around the semi circle. There were some very creative outfits. Mine consisted of a cap, making me look like an old 'salty'. I faked the old part quite easily.

Bone Doctor checked with the Commodore and she was allowed to fly the Jolly Roger on the flagpole. There was only one rule, that no flag could fly above the Australian flag.

I was distracted and missed the sun disappearing below the horizon. It was quite beautiful. 

Paella chefs had been hired who came with their own equipment and set up on the decking and produced two very large paellas, one seafood and one vegetarian, enough to feed fifty guests.

Next morning before checkout, I walked the short distance to the beach. The waves often crash over the sea walls, depositing sand when they do. I was looking toward the point and Point Lonsdale Village.

I  was meeting Sister and Bone Doctor for coffee next morning at the recently renovated Queenscliff Hotel. We sat on the verandah with a slight breeze blowing. The weather for the three days I was there could not have been better for what is still winter. 

I did take a look inside and it is fantastic, with all kinds of area to drink and eat off the main hallway, leading to an atrium at the rear. Accommodation is offered too, but I will guess it would not be cheap. 

We parted ways and I steered Perl for home, or rather she mostly steered herself.

Friday Funny

I have such very weird algorithms. I must ask my doctor for a careful examination of my troublesome algorithms to find out why I am shown clips like this.

I'm Charged

I don't buy a lot in Aldi supermarkets, especially as I buy very little food now, just fruit for myself, and I don't find Aldi's fresh fruit, vegetable and meat as good as our other large supermarkets, although it is generally cheaper.

Where I find Aldi excels is its cleaning products, and quite a lot of its packaged food. 

I remember when Ray was with me, we decided a pack of 50 AA batteries in the centre aisle was a bargain, and bought them. I haven't finishing using them yet and annoyingly some have begun to leak acid. Ok, they are probably nearly three years old now. Is this to be expected? Perhaps.

Time for a forensic examination and my magnifying glass will be required.

Well, well, expiry 05-27. I am surprised that they are now leaking nearly a year before their expiry date.

I removed six and earlier I'd removed three, with the rest looking ok, for now.

  

I could complain to Aldi and perhaps get a refund, but I've no idea what we paid for them and backtracking through bank records is tedious. Although Aldi would see that they are their batteries, that they have failed before their expiry date, and work out a refund itself. Some battles just aren't worth fighting.

To save money, rather than allow the evaporation tray to use its boiling element to steam off water that drips from the aircon, I use a cheap battery powered stirrup pump to drain the water into a bucket. Even though the two Aldi D batteries that power the pump were only a couple of weeks old, they had seen not much more than half an hour of non continuous use. Yet, a couple of days ago, they would not give out enough power to lift the water from the tray. South Melbourne Aldi had run out of batteries last week, but as mine were quite new, I thought no matter that I don't have spare batteries. 

Then came Monday, and it was wet, very wet. Quite unusual for here nowadays. I had no way of pumping out the water from the tray so the steam off element did its job, all day. I've never known the aircon to drip so much water. Today I bought new batteries, this time from a major supermarket and I paid twice the price as I would pay at Aldi, and they immediately pumped water. I've been pumping out the tray for years to save the money, sitting next to the unit, being blasted with cold air in the winter, hot air in summer. It hasn't really made much water since June, and yesterday was an exception. 

The spike in electricity use was worse than I thought. 

Personal Bits

The zed/zee battle with Phyllis and Kesav is ongoing.

It has become a bit of a joke about Kosov visiting the rest room. I now wish him well with his visit to the rest room, which can be half an hour, and later ask him if he enjoyed his rest. Their is a bucket and scoop in the toilet, so I guess some washing happens. Both of the lads only shower about every third or fourth day, and that is when they wash their hair. They are always perfectly clean and wash their hand appropriately. 

Is it not enough that we seem intent on destroying our own planet, now we are starting to destroy the moon too, with one of Musk Rat's space craft crashing into the lovely Mr Moon, with a huge ground explosion. Scumbag. His daughter hates him so much, she changed her surname, and effectively called him a racist Boer. 

Friday, neighbour HH is taking us out for dinner, and Phyllis has chosen an Italian place in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. We will catch two trams to travel to the popular, rather grungy and alternative area. I said to HH, "Eighty year old Nonna will be able to brag to her children and grandchildren that she has been for dinner on the 'wild side'". 

I thought the twin boys would be last in my life time to be born in my immediate family, but no. Hippie Niece is pregnant with a boy. The mother of the now nine year old 'Cafe Latte' twins had a terrible pregnancy and horrible post natal depression, which became ongoing psychiatric issues. She was hospitalised for a time in a mental health unit, she wasn't to be alone with her daughters and was provided with a daily carer for some hours each day. She is now in a stable relationship, with two step daughters of a similar age to hers, and manages well enough. The whole family were dreading this happening, yet we've all decided to be very positive about the impending arrival of her son. At the age of 34, she is older and more mature, and I think she will be ok. So, I will have five great nieces and four great nephews, my youngest brother being their paternal grandfather, and Ex Sis in Law being their maternal grandmother.

I put it to Phyllis and Kosov, what should I do next at home in the way of renewal and improving my home. I gave alternatives, new modern overhead lighting? Replace the 20 year old plus lounge room furniture? Have new floor tiles put over the top of the old ones in the kitchen, toilet and bathrooms?  The vote went for the new tiles. 

I saw an ad on tv featuring a gay male couple with a baby. Kosov, I asked him, if you and Phyllis adopted a baby or child, which sex would you prefer? He said, either, but Phyllis would like a girl. I replied, 'So he and your daughter could share make up and nail polish?' The discussion went on about child adoption and I asked him if he would consider adopting a child in India. He emphatically said no, which seemed odd. Why so? 'If it was a he, he might turn out to look one of the three guys who raped me at school. Every time I see someone who looks like one of them, I just hate Indian men so much.' Well, that rather sent me sideways. 

We had a gay Anglo Indian friend from about 1980 to 1995, and he was raped at one of Calcutta's most prestigious boys' school, but in his case, he said he quite enjoyed it, and really fancied one of the guys.

I don't know any detail. There could have been violence or not involved. Warren already knew he liked guys and Kosov identified as straight then. Oh what damage men do.