SOUTH PERTH: “Sure, he dropped me on my head countless times as a boy, but he had to try to equalise somehow,” Payton L. Inkletter says of his sibling

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

In other news…

07-11^th March 2009:

Saturday: …before driving over to Umple Dais’ in the dark at 6 a.m., and taking him back to his workplace at Bluescope Lysaght, back at Forrestfield, where his car started this time, having had the night to evaporate the flooding from the carby. It was running rough though, and I followed him all the way back just in case he broke down.

Back at home, daylight now, that took about one hour. I did a proper kitchen clean up while Janny slept on, then watered out in the back garden, finally returning to write and research a few things on Google. And yes, it’s Sarrerdi! Then a dual posting of yesterday’s diary.

Instead of being sensible and retiring to the cot for some much needed shuteye, I began more editing of Venty Still, among other modifications splicing in a paragraph on biological immortality, in which that self promoted know it all, Frank R. Wallace aka Wallace Ward gets a mention. I hope over time that many readers get the ‘teapot with an alligatored patina’ qualification, in regard to said ‘expert’. And so it wasn’t till after two that I did put crown to pillow. I also did something most rare: I turned the computer off. It has run 24/7 with rare exceptions for the past 10 years. I was prompted in my decision by the desire to extend the fast download speed I get commencing on the 7^th of each month with Optus, but which disappears in about one day when I leave Netants on unthrottled, downloading Librivox audio books.

My alarm beat the alabaster dragon to rouse me about half six, and I de-zombified until sitting to watch My Beloved with Pa pree, Janny having got him for a shopping expedition earlier in the afternoon. While there still was daylight, I charged out the back and fertilized and watered like a man dying of thirst, for there were some sections further out back in the wilds that were desperate for water.

Dark well and truly settled upon this little sanctuary, I came inside to heat up my scrambled eggs vittles which I declined earlier, just as Janny was about to take Pa pree home. I watched some of Hulk on free to air while eating, and I didn’t realise that the straight parts of the film were far better than the animation quality. Later a marriage building discussion didn’t go as smoothly as it could have, and then the rest of the night involved writing (pooter back on about midnight), a late walk on which the boys in blue slowed down and eyeballed me, and the usual kitchen cleaning up. I tried to stay up till Janny’s brother Umple Dais was due at nine to pick up the Swift to take his mate car shopping, but I couldn’t make it, having to retire by six. I turned the computer back off, which the astute reader will recall is most rare.

+paytontedwithlove+

08^th March 2009:

Sunday: A hot 34 Celsius, I managed a little outdoor watering before spending a fruitless half hour trying to get Pa pree’s computer to work when I delivered his vittles; it now just freezes at the XP Welcome window.

Back home for my vittles, and after My Beloved Missus Inkles and I watched a couple of the Sixty Minutes stories, and what should we see in Liam Bartlett’s piece but the Gila Monster, that spit-filled lizard which is improving Janny’s health greatly through the drug in Byetta, at the cost of much nausea. Good thing the young somewhat chesty pear had those 5mm thick gloves on, or we’d have had another Steve Irwin tragedy. Coldplay will give U2 a run for their fortune, and that will be good thing, for what Bono won’t do of his own accord – learn humility – maybe he will when external pressures give him an assist.

I did some more fertilizing and watering under lights, before returning to The Box for Compass, and its excellent documentary ‘Bridge Over The Wadi’. The problems faced by that school are so immense that I suggest it won’t get too far unless, somehow, somewhere, it can find bi-lingual neutral teachers and staff to do the job the Palestinian and Jewish staff are trying to do. I admire the attempt; I despair of them getting far; I hope I’m wrong.

After this we both set to work cleaning up the lounge kitchen area, myself on the vacuum, Janny on the wax and polish as you dust, Missus Inklesheen, in preparation for tomorrow afternoon’s visit by Esther Grainey. While I was doing my share, I noticed an interesting program on Aunty, and by the time the work was done it was half over, but we watched the last half: a documentary about the life of writer Howard Fast, and it was fascinating. I must learn more about him.

I went for a late walk, at an early one o’clock, if that makes any sense, on a very still night. I did not even turn the computer on today, which is very rare. I showered from the sweaty walk, and had an ‘early’ night.

+paytontedwithlove+

09^th March 2009:

Monday: Barely three hours sleep, and my alarm told me it was time to get up and drive to Ultratune for 8 o’clock, to meet Umple Daffyd, who delivered his car there for work to fix the problem which led to it’s refusing to start after his work at Bluescope Lysaght on Friday. I dropped him back at his place where he fired up his hog and went in Triumph to work, late, but with good reason.

I returned to bed beside the slumbering alabaster dragon, and got another couple of hours, then my alarm again rudely informed me that Bob was depending on me to take him swimming today, having had to cancel at the last minute last Friday over Umple Daffyd’s needing transport when his wheels refused to cooperate after his work. I did a clean up inside, after Janny’s nausea required her to return to the cot to sleep the feeling off, which worked, and I woke her at two at her prior request, in the meantime having done a bit of badly needed watering in the backyard, on this hot mid thirties Celsius day. I fired the computer up briefly for emails and the like, but shut it down again.

Bob was relieved to see me, and I took him to a busy Swan Aquatic, where he got cracking on many walking laps and duck dives. I wrote a draft for replacing the explanatory notes at my Progressive (Cumulative) Stories page, as I’m intending to remove the caveat on Venty Still, not being really happy with putting it there in the first place. My new explanatory notes will include terms and conditions that are very open and generous, in my opinion, to all contributors to any progressive story that ever develops there.

We had a cup of tea and a walk at Fishmarket Reserve, and while on the walk a couple’s husky dog got attacked by bees from a tree, not hurt, but definitely stirred up. A pup, but big, and very pretty.

I got home after half seven, and took vittles straight away to Pa pree, then returned to eat and watch the remainder of Kezza on The 7.30 Report and then the inspiring story of Matt Laffan on Australian Story, a choice for airing by producer Ben Cheshire and an excellent choice at that. What do most of us have to complain about? Matt made the most of the hand life dealt him, and so makes a great role model. Janny remembers the original program of years ago, but I’m a bit fuzzy on it. Next was Four Corners, Liz Jackson’s report ‘Heat on the Hill’, but try as I might, I couldn’t stay awake, which is no reflection on the program, for I was utterly whacked.

Janny helped me get to bed, and I was afraid of being struck by lightning, or at least the lovely dentist Sidrah, because I didn’t clean my teeth. I was asleep about nine.

+paytontedwithlove+

10^th March 2009:

Tuesday: If you can believe it, I slept for 16 hours! Yes, there were breaks, for peeing, during which I noted the perfectly still night, the second such in a row. When Janny drove to pick Pa pree up to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening here it woke me up, but it was two o’clock. I worked hard to revive myself, showered, and due to Janny having leg pains, I drove her to her three o’clock appointment with Samantha the wonderful shrinking doctor. Pa pree remained in the airconditioned lounge at our place, for the day was a stinking 37 Celsius. I waited in the atrium area at the doctors’ centre, listening to my fabulous favourite talking book, and then we went nearby to the major shopping centre and shopped till we dropped.

Janny had the very pleasant experience of being able to buy a couple of items (on sposhull) straight off the shelf at Autograph, and she would probably hit me if she knew I mentioned it here, but this is a small reward for the nausea hell she’s been through with the otherwise wonderful Byetta. We didn’t get back home till about half six, and I was shopped out, as well as lighter in the in the already emaciated wallet, as all husbands know when they accompany their wives shopping.

I fired up the pooter before din dins, and made a comment on Jothiek’s page, where he has a spiffy new design. Then My Beloved over vittles followed by Kezza and his The 7.30 Report, and my only comment tonight on the segments he covered is on the Murray-Darling Rivers Water Buyback program, which I’m in two minds about: the rivers system desperately needs all the water it can get, and the irrigation that will be lost will impact on Australia’s food production. Rising food prices won’t help us, and neither will a dying river system. Between a rock and a hard place…

I took a rest, laying down and trying to perk my health up, then wrote until after half nine, before taking Pa pree home. Janny and I watched Jennifer Byrne’s book show ‘Hoaxes’, which was really good, and I noted the curious fact that two of her four guests’ surnames ended in ‘x’: Malcolm Knox and Jack Marx; not a hoax I presume. Now Jennifer, as I’ve complained before, you don’t bring us enough of these programs; I want one a week every week of the year. Get cracking, you can do it, I have complete confidence in your ability. Earn your stipend from Aunty.

Lateline was a treat because Tony Jones interviewed that Federal Minister who, despite often being wite, is always wong, Penny Wong, that penny from Kevin. But my, notwithstanding my enjoyment of her – it’s her cute and lovely nose I think – what a steely stare she can give her interlocutor, and what amazing emotional control she maintains. She would make a brilliant inquisitor overseeing torture if the Catholics reinstate that old method of assisting God’s work in society. You can’t help but notice the nuancing of interviewing technique employed by Tony Jones according to the nature of the beast he’s trying to extract useful information from, and he’s sized up Penny before today and has an approach to try to break through her tough exterior, but I think Penny wins each time.

Letterman is a funny bloke, which I noticed over twenty years ago when I first began watching him, and he shone through a couple of times tonight with classics: his ending remark about his first wife was a beauty, brilliantly timed, and his request of Jack Hanna’s female assistant to come on in Jack’s place, in order to lift the knowledge quotient, was superb. I don’t quite know what to make of Russel Brand, but you’ve got to hand it to Letterman, for he is very often very generous to some of his borderline guests. Also the repartee between Paul Shaffer and Dave tonight had some very good moments. I literally this second have just googled Shaffer, to ascertain for which side he kicks, for I couldn’t recall his missus or children ever being mentioned, although of course that could be simply memory lapse, and Wikipedia has just informed me that he is married with two children, so that settles that.

An email from a relative arrived asking for advice on some very important matters, and this has been occupying my mind since, and hopefully I’ll be able to send an answer back tomorrow night. I thought much about it all on my late walk, on this third night of the doldrums, a very surreally still night. But then this is not uncommon in March. On my return I came back to the keyboard, and finally got up to date with my diary, although I didn’t actually post the finished days.

It was not too far off dawn when I got to bed, again turning the computer off, about the fourth or fifth day of doing this for the first time in so many years.

+paytontedwithlove+

11^th March 2009:

Wednesday: Although in bed for two hours, I might have got an hour’s sleep, before the alarm got me out of bed and preparing to pick up Pa pree and take him for a blood test down at the major local shopping centre; ‘in and out’ was his expectation relayed to me, before ‘not long in the centre’. Well, all up, two hours, and when I dropped him back at his place I came home and returned to bed, very tired indeed, slipping in beside the alabaster dragon. While waiting at the centre I listened to my favourite talking book.

Missus InkleI’mDoctorHoffman’sstarpatient drove herself to a late afternoon doctor’s appointment, but her typical leaving commotion woke me up. I dozed off again, only to be awoken again not too long after by the phone. Where would I like to jam the phone?; let me count the places…

I did a kitchen clean up, with Janny back, reporting on her star patient status with her doctor, and his advice regarding her back induced worsening leg pain. I retreated then outside to water and fertilize and prune dead bits from the bamboos, and I wasn’t out there long when a pair of Mormon Elders arrived, which cemented my decision to remain outside and miss My Beloved as well as Kezza’a The 7.30 Report, while Missus Inklecan’tgetenoughofthemelders entertained them like houses on fire. When they finally left I came in and had vittles while watching The New Inventors, and for my ten cents worth the Rowergo Brace was good but way overpriced, and I wouldn’t have awarded the Aqualim first prize.

As always Spicks and Specks was tops, as was Chandon Pictures, though it was painful when they thought it was all over red rover financially, which just goes to show how well they are acting. I greatly enjoyed Ruddy Hell: It’s Harry and Paul, and fear it’s nearing its end if not already.

I did a few minutes watering outside again under lights, before charging back in to watch Lateline, putting Janny to bed about then, as she was asleep in the Ibis. Lisa Millar interviewed Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director of the Climate Change Institute at ANU, and it was most sobering to hear his assessments, from the meeting of climate scientists in Copenhagen, of likely ocean level rise this century. A hell of a lot of cities are going to need walls built around them if these predictions are correct, or exceeded. Before this story we had Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF giving dire warnings of the possibility of war due to the Great Recession the globe is now in. Sadly, he has to be taken seriously.

Letterman had one of my favourite segments, Stupid Pet Tricks on tonight, and Janny had woken up and rejoined me in the lounge, so she enjoyed it also. The dog that played dead was our favourite, closely followed by the counting dog. Dave look-alikes is always fun as well.

I fired the computer up after midnight, and wrote a reply to my relative who asked for advice on the serious matters, and emailed it before going on a late walk, on this dead still night, in the full moonlight shrouded by an overcast sky. It’s the fourth night without a breath of wind, but it makes for a beautiful eerie walk, and there were few cars tonight.

I tried to establish a username and password for my online account with Optus, for the second time, the last being a year ago, when I wasted an hour going around in circles. Well, it happened again; I wasted heaps of time, so resorted to phoning them about four a.m., and Rahjet, bless his chapattis, spent almost 45 minutes setting it all up for me, which goes to show how complicated Optus have made it. All I wanted was to use the Optus offered option online of having the same username and password I have for my webmail account as for my financial and usage account. And after the dust settled – Rahjet was a paragon of patience and politeness by the way – it turns out that I have to have a different password for the financial account, although I can have the same username. Typical of businesses and institutions, full of anomalies. And to top it all off, once the financial account was accessible, the usage figures were not yet available!

I struggled for a while with some health problems, before hanging out Pa pree’s washing under lights, and then, after a shower, returned to the computer to write this diary while filling a gnawing hole in my stomach with a toasted sandwich, washed down with chocolate rice mullock, which was a UHT carton I bought six or twelve months or more ago and forgot about; it was nice.

I broke down and had too many scorched peanuts, Home Brand, which I bought yesterday while shopping to the point of dropping with Janny. And by the time it was all over I had polished off the whole litre of the chocolate rice mullock.

I dual posted five days of this diary to the Main Site and In other news…, and it took ages as usual, what with the usual html problems with the infernal Blogger editor. I finally got to bed dead tired about half ten, with the alabaster dragon just toying with the idea of getting up.

+paytontedwithlove+