Shiver me timbers. Winter's long cold neck is in these darkening Autumnal days. We do like the cold more than we ever liked the tropics. Strange how it took so long to move South. maybe sometimes people do need to actually suffer.
Our small house is good in the winter. Rooms are small, the heating is by gas and is inexpensive still when used in a 'seldom' fashion; the heat that comes through the ceiling vents in each room is very effective, and so fast, and more than is ever possibly needed. We can turn off any of the vents we like to, say for the second bedroom, that we aren't using. The thermostat works. Also the one savvy air-conditioner in the lounge will also act as a mild heater, if you like, bringing the house temperature up to ten degrees celsius. Sensible, not wasteful.
The best thing about small rooms and small houses.
When/if we have money ever again after Beth's last visit, we will get the ceiling re-insulated, as the cellulose/newspaper that was sprayed in there is 15 years old now and quite sparse and worn out.
We had a grand holiday with Beth here. We travelled to Daydream Island (not impressed) where the view is delightful and everything expensive, and to Uluru (not impressed by the big Roast Potato there, nor its indigenous folk or history), and even more expensive.
The most fun was had in the last ten days, back at home, going to markets and out for dinner sometimes. Beth does like Melbourne but would prefer Sydney, I think. Still, she has chosen her life as she has, and she must wear that, as an adult being.
She is back in Shanghai and has a few more weeks of working from home for a new company before going to live in Chengdu, in Central China, where the Pandas live, to work again in the digital AI computer realm. The pay is good in Chengdu, like Shanghai, but the living costs in Chengdu are much lower...rent, food, power etc...so that would either allow her to save a fortune...unlikely...or to spend one...highly likely. I expect she will miss her friends in Shanghai a lot, but travel is easy and not expensive.
Lisa is a much happier soul after spending time with Beth. Lisa is back at work at the usual work, and that is okay, for now. The constrictions applied by Government and Trade Unions to stop successfully teaching Mandarin remain, and only the super-rich can set up their not very good but remarkably profitable schools in Australia.
I'm back at my 3 shifts per week role in The Addictions Unit, and it's pretty good. I do notice lapses in my memory, but no one seems to mind, and I just accept it. I'm 70, I have to be less bright. That's what just often happens. They still put me in charge when necessary, and I just keep the focus on safety.
The Garden has become Winter-Dormant now apart from the Carolina Reaper Chillies that are still fruiting quite fast. Wow, they are so hot! Too hot. A young guy in China won a prize for eating 25 of them in one episode, and they took him and his prize to hospital and induced a coma for him. Fortunately, due to his prize, he could afford the medical care.
I find that if you slice a thin 5 cent sized piece of the shell/skin of a good Reaper chilli, and put it in a big bowl of pasta for 4 people, already flavoured by spices and mushrooms and sauces and all that, that it provides a good and potent 'heat' to the meal and for a few hours after, without destroying the taste of everything else, but it really is a matter of being a bit minimal in using it.
The Great Heat isn't in the seeds, per se, nor in the shell, but rather in the white fleshy-like support structures for the seeds.
It is very important, after preparing the Reaper chilli for the saucepan, to wash one's hands vigorously with lots of soup and water and it is suicidal to make the mistake of scratching one's testicles at this time. Those without testicles have always had an easier life.
I see the Gaza War on the Very Poor and Not Fiscally Relevant Human Animals continues as horribly genocidal as it has been, relentlessly, for so long now. The Evil that real men and real women freely do. The Jews. No wonder Jesus wept. With his ideas, no wonder they killed the poor bleeding crucified bastard.
There have been quite big protests in Melbourne, and even one guy, today, about 50, carrying the Palestinian flag as he walked into the Main Street here in our small town, probably to buy fruit at Coles. I sounded the car horn in support as I drove home from the Illegal Cigarette shop.
There is only one Illegal Smoke Shop in town now. There were three shops all doing good business but, through misadventure or tragic perdition, the other two burnt down or the owners were somewhat biffed about the head a lot until they stopped doing it. The Joys of Capitalism. The Market will work it out. The Saudi Omega Brand, at $15/packet are still the best ones I've found. They are as good as a Benson and Hedges Special Mild cigarette and I'm sure Stuart Wagstaff would agree.
As for the upcoming USA Presidential Elections, I'm pretty sure that Mr Trump will win. The only real problem for that bizarre and very foreign nation that could arise is what would happen if he didn't win...particularly if he just lost by a whisker again...as we know, they are somewhat well armed, mad, juvenile, and divided unto themselves. The Evangelical Right is convinced that this is the End Game. They Desire The End of it All. They will hold sway. Idiots.
I'm following up with my attendance at the Tridentine Latin Catholic Mass at the Cathedral in the city tomorrow, and Lisa is interested in coming along for the spiritual aspect and shopping and dinner afterwards as the Cathedral is very near Chinatown.
I've told her it is a very solemn and serious Rite of the One True Church on Earth, Church, and that it is okay to go outside for a smoke when the Priest gives the sermon in English as I expect it will be the usual highly scripted quirky messianic pro-Israeli drivel. I love it just to see the remnant embers of the Holy Roman Empire, still sparking a bit. They've had a long run in the world.
My intention in this matter is to have a religion that serves me, rather than one where I serve it. So, nothing for the plate...I will do $2 for a candle though as I am not mean, although I will take 5 candles for the $2. The most important thing I've worked out regarding the Great Religions, Catholicism, and all the lower forms of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Jew, is to never ever give them any of your money because it rots them to the evil core in a minute. Next time, I'll go wholesale...$2...maybe ten candles?
It all works out, In the name of the Father.
