Another nice quiet day today - just did the bank then came home and settled in to cook some lunch, ran out of gas, had to go in for a replacement cylinder, back home, finish cooking lunch, remember I am supposed to be at the garden, dash in there and spend a few hours working with the lads, then home once more to walk the dogs.

Now to start getting organised for the reunion this weekend - find clothes that both fit and are suitable for a day at the races!!

The day started quietly with a requirement to go into town and clean one of the units as the neighbour was sick (again - apparently being engaged is wearing her out). So I left the washing on the line expecting it to pour rain in my absence only to have it turn out to be nice and warm for the rest of the day.

This created a little excitement at home as when a friend and I were standing at the back door chatting (she is frightened of dogs that jump so Seb had to stay indoors) we spotted Shadow doing a backward leap with rather more agility than normal. After putting him inside also, I poked at the spot with the rake handle and out came a rather elegant copperhead snake. This made me leap backwards with rather more agility that is my wont also. I called Reptile Rescue but while we were all sitting inside waiting to be rescued I had a veritable cavalcade of visitors turning up to chat about this, to borrow that, and to generally make life busy. Meanwhile the snake did what all sensible snakes do, and left the property. Apparently one is required to stand still and keep an eye on it until someone gets there. Bit tricky when it is highly unlikely I will have a mobile phone in my pocket if I spot one and even if I did, I am unlikely to be in an area with a decent signal that would allow me to make the call. Still, a nice theory. I think I will do a reptile handling course myself and sort out my own problems in future.

Still he was a nice man and rummaged through the entire property before leaving, so if there were any snakes there, they will have left by now.

The grey morning turned out to be quite sunny, warm and humid later, and there is now no sign of the rain they promised for this afternoon. I expect if it turns up at all it will be later tonight.

The temperature was a bit more civilised last night so I got to have a good sleep which lasted till 6! Today was supposed to start off grey then become sunny. Which it did. They forgot to mention the gusts of strong wind (now gone) and the looming rain clouds that have gathered this afternoon. Presumably there is some rain in them, but we will see.

So the fire, which was to remain unlit has a log burning at present - more of a 'presence' than for warmth, but it takes the damp out of the air that the clouds have engendered.

Only one flat to clean this morning, so after collecting the chainsaw (which has been in being serviced) and getting some petrol I headed up to Caroline's. She had surgery recently so is not her usual energetic self, but still cheerful and welcoming, so we sat and had a cuppa and gossiped and I admired her latest sewing exploits.

Then home via Jeans where yesterday's mail has still not been collected (I left it tucked behind the screen door) so I am not sure what is happening there - always a worry when one's older friends disappear unexpectedly.

The little charmers of yesterday have registered their outrage at me by dropping a bit of the grandstand over my back fence. It is back where it came from now and the dogs have had an afternoon walk.

I do believe I heard thunder just then - hmmm, could be interesting.

No sewing done today as I had a little loaf on the sofa instead. Trying to convince Seb his new bed is preferable to the sofa. It is one of those moulded plastic jobs which was too big for Caroline's dogs so it came home with me. Shadow has tried sitting in it a few times, but lying down is clearly out of the question for him. Seb will definitely fit into it when curled up, but whether he feels he can do that remains to be seen. I will raise the base a bit by adding some foam rubber so he feels less hemmed in while circling.

He displayed another of his more peculiar and un-dog-like moves today. He spotted something at a distance which had long grass and other obstructions to his view. So he stood upright on his hind legs, front legs rigidly down-pointing for balance, and just stood there on two legs for a good 30 seconds before I distracted him. Quite odd don't you think?

Last night, the temperature kept on rising instead of falling so by 2 am it was 17 degrees and I was throwing duvets and blankets off with gay abandon. Had to get up and sit in the lounge for a bit to get my core body temp down to a manageable level before retreating back to bed and one sheet. Naturally it then got cold and I woke again in time to pull things back over me.

Apart from doing the Bank I visited a friend who I have been neglecting of late. Leaving her place the temp had plummetted once more so I sorted for more wood (too damp to get the electric saw out and the chainsaw is at the Servo still) and by the time I did that it was warmer again. So the fire was only lit about an hour ago.

Then I sat and sewed for some of the day (in between dog walks). On our last walk we sprang four young thugs busily demolishing the grandstand, I had to keep an eye open to see if they left as I ordered them to (they didn't) then walk up to the President's house to let him know they were back on the job. Hopefully they won't do it again. Summary justice - your parents get told and you watch as they deliver punishment.

The little darlings (there were four of them) ran off as soon as I entered the oval to walk the dogs and skulked (not terribly well) in the growth around the oval. With two hunting dogs with me I knew precisely where they were so spoke to the dogs (in a carrying voice) telling them that the little idiots were trying to hide and to leave them alone. Then as I was leaving they moved around to the other side of the oval so I called across and told them not to do any more damage or they would cop it. I then replaced the bits that had been removed. Naturally they ignored me, so I waited till I could hear them inside the grandstand again and then walked up to Bear's place. He was off like a rocket in his ute, so presumably got them. I have no idea whose kids they were, not ones I am familiar with.

It rained! not terribly heavy rain, but rain nonetheless. And more water in the tank which is always good. The dogs are less impressed. Seb has a rather fine coat (he is bald in patches under his arms and similar locations) so cold weather does not impress him. I suspect I will need to buy him a dog coat come winter so he can pluck up the courage to go outside.

We had a walk in the rain this afternoon and unbeknownst to me the neighbour's dogs were once again loose on the oval. I had let Seb's lead go as he likes to take a run across the oval first thing. Then these two came ravening out of the long grass. Seb thought they wanted to play so ran toward them, ears pricked, not a hackle in sight. They turned tail and ran for home, lol. So now I know how to deal with that particular problem. Seb stopped at the fence and went no further - clever boy (I was worried I was going to have to go haul him out of their yard which would not have been a good thing after all the times I have told them off about their dogs in my yard).

The glass is back in the woodheater thanks to Andrew at the service station. He had to drill it out and retap a slightly larger hole as the screws were stronger than the cast iron of the frame and it all went to custard. But a nice clear bit of glass in the window and a fire chugging away behind it (it's not that cold, just dank) - it looks as if there is no glass there at all. I had forgotten how clear the glass was when it first arrived.

I seem to have been inducted into the Royal Order of Local Cleaners. They have all been much more social with me since I started work at the bank, and often stop to chat with me (I have no idea what their names are, but apparently they all know me). Today I was invited to go look at another B&B that one of them cleans. It is an amazing building - very very old, 1820s or thereabouts, with very low ceilings and doors in the oldest part of the building (I guess if you were building with local stone you would only go high enough to stand up in, rather than have all the spare head space that was a later addition). Lots of interesting outbuildings as well. And the kitchen is amazing!!

Since I blocked up the fireplace in the front room it has been rather easier to keep it warm (previously it has consistently been the coldest room in the house by a long margin). The strategy was simple and will no doubt allow for some drafts come the winter winds, but it looks like this:

 The filing cabinet blocks some of it and the ply on the back of the shelving overlaps the back of the filing cabinet and extends across to the edge of the chimney breast. I have stuffed up the hole under it with shale from the fireplace (may have to add some bagging when it gets colder), but it was so comfy in there today with the fire going and the rain outside, that I managed to get some sewing done. I am presently making a quilted curtain for the loungeroom window (there will be one for all of the windows given time). Basically it is simply a quilt to the window dimensions with a dowel at the bottom for weight and for rigidity when I want to roll it up. Two tags at the top to hold it in position and away you go. Because modern wadding is so thin, the sun shines through them and the seams become the leading on a leadlight window (though obviously not as much light penetrates as it might otherwise do. This is not a problem in winter as I have the lights on all day in winter anyway). They are a Canadian invention and are effective insulators - the place will be really snug when they are done. The next room on the list is the kitchen as I find I am uneasy at times in the kitchen when it is dark so early/late, and the cold strikes through quite severely at times. They come down come spring and get tossed in the machine - how easy is that?!

This one is very straight forward - just 4.5 inch squares of calico and patterned fabric - the patterned fabric squares arranged to form diamond patterns across the cream field of the calico. I ran up 8 strips today, and with more rain forecast tomorrow I will probably run up the rest of them tomorrow, then piece them together and rummage in my stash for wadding (or possibly I will be reduced to buying some from Caroline if necessary). Colours are mainly browns through to rust with the odd muddy green and blue as well. I will take a photo once I am done and it is hung in position (hopefully with some sunshine behind it so you get the full effect).

I have spoken to the electorate office and they are forwarding my email to the Minister, along with some from various other disgruntled constituents, as apparently mine is a case study that illustrates a point they are making. Lots of questions as to whether I wanted my name appended - to which I agreed (hey, you never know, they might send me the money for the aerial).

Meanwhile, being destitute, I have started having 'winning lotto' fantasies (my favourite pass time when things are coming unstuck).

There is a nice (terribly overgrazed and mis-treated) parcel of land on the outskirts of Oatlands that has been for sale for a couple of years. It intrigues me as there are a number of drystone walls subdividing it into paddocks of around 3/4 of an acre, as well as some sheds - one of which is inhabited. The sheds are corrugated iron, very old, and, I suspect, heritage listed (as would be the stone walls) which is probably what has inhibited the sale. Behind that property, and close to the edge of the Lake, is another paddock of equivalent size; not overgrazed and with no stone walls. http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-tas-oatlands-110578209

Being a bit of a fan of Joel Salatin, it occured to me that the property (with the addition of the less stressed paddock that runs between it and the Lake) would make a nice little smallholding. You could construct a corridor between the fields with a hen run up by the (yet to be constructed) house, and the hens able to access the paddocks on a rotation basis, and run some cattle, then sheep, and possibly a pig or two through them with the hens following up behind to scratch over the paddocks, pick the manure and generally boost soil fertility, and you could build a nice house on the paddock closer to the lake (sheds to straddle fences to house livestock when they are in the paddocks). A nice five foot drystone wall around the perimeter with a hedge inside that, and fence inside that again (until the hedge had been laid) and you would, in a few years have a truly delightful abode, since with the humungous lotto win that underpins this fantasy, you would be able to get the work all done and dusted before moving in, lol. 

Having just checked out the (now reduced) price, I could be seriously tempted even without a lotto win (if I had any money at all). Though of course, the price only include the top left hand paddock, not the two additional and more desirable ones that would be necessary to make it a viable farmlet.

I'm actually doing Spring Cleaning right now (albeit six months late) as the place had become a bit of a sty over the last four weeks which compounded the general chaos (mental) that the experience has induced. So lots more washing today as well - all the dog and cat bedding (including the throws that go over the chairs so that people don't get cat fur on them when they sit down (though most of my friends just sit on the throws and to heck with it lol).

It was a perfect autumn day today - still, cornflower blue skies, dew-decked mini-spiderwebs when we went for our first walk this morning, mushrooms thrusting from the earth (but not for long as they will be a light snack before tonight's dinner) and a warm sunshine that was not overwhelmingly hot. Bliss.

Vacuumed through the house this morning which was a bit of a production as at first the vac would not suck, and then when used the other vacuum to clean its air-filter still would not suck so I had to pull it apart and cut hair from the rotating brush and then put it back together again after which it worked. Then I tried to get the second (industrial strength) vacuum cleaner to suck and it too was uncooperative, so I pulled it apart and discovered that the last bags that I bought were not the right size so its innards were full of hair and dirt, and had to be emptied out and swept and bashed and banged till they looked about right, and I have yet to find out if that was successful as I am unable to buy replacement bags until I am next in town. In case you are wondering, the first is an upright and the second is a pull along. They each have their uses in this house (eg the pull along is good for getting under beds and cupboards etc.)

Then the Telstra man arrived (after I had put out two more loads of washing) and brought his box of tricks and voila - I had internet like real people have. It even worked in the office which is the opposite side of the house from the source of the signal (a hill several km north of Oatlands, which explains a lot, since i am several km south of Oatlands). The nearer repeater is blocked from my place due to an inconvenient hill. Perhaps I could get them to find coal in said hill and dig it away! Not only does that mean I can use the laptop in the loungeroom in front of a cosy fire in winter, but I can also use the desktop in the study. What is more, it boosts the signal on my phones as well so I can make and receive calls from the comfort of my own home. Gobsmacked at the future pleasures. And I can probably make up the monthly payments by not having to pay for petrol to drive around looking for a signal (well, perhaps not, but it will certainly help).

Then the nice man came back and took it away again (he barely escaped with his life!). 'Someone will be in touch' in the next few days to arrange a payment schedule and delivery of my very own one.

It is in two parts. There is a box about the size of  a toaster that sits on the kitchen window ledge and plugs in there. Then there is a second box which has to be a certain distance from the first box to allow for signals to remain unconfused, and this emits wifi into the house boosting signals in all directions. I will also try to the big box in the laundry (which will be a rather more convenient spot for it) when I get my own (and on top of various cupboards in the kitchen).

So problem solved. Now all I need to do is convince my MP of the inequity of the situation and see if he will pay for it, lol.

This morning I was wide awake at four am which was a bit futile as it is too late  to go to the loo then back to bed, but too early to get  up. Nevertheless I got up, had breakfast and was out walking the dogs before the sun had lit the horizon. By the time we were back the sun had really done its thing and provided a stunning sunrise:

Took a pause to enjoy that, then had a shower, got dressed (walking dogs in the dark does not require clothing I feel (well, some clothing, just not day clothing if you get my drift) and popped on a load of washing.

Then I hied me into the bank and was home by 8:30 so was able to get a couple of loads of washing through before heading into town for the Garden workers. Today it was blankets, jumpers, the doona (feather doona) and some heavier towels.  The doona was amazingly dry by the time i got home for lunch so was taken down and brought into town for half an hour in the big tumble drier at the laundromat. Sooooo fluffy - bit like the electric blanket (which has faux fleece top) which is positively bouyant.

Back into town for the afternoon in the Garden. We are presently laying beds across the width of the garden - really long ones that an entire class can work down each side of. They are crossing over the older  beds that have been harvested lately and so I came home with a goodly harvest of forgotten carrots, parsnips and beetroots since the lads didn't want any. Also a cucumber and a contained of birdseye chilis from my own patch.

So the chillis will be strung tonight for drying (the last lot I dried are almost ready for bottling now) and fiddling with the door to the woodheater. Six of the eight screws involved came undone without a problem. The bottom two seem to be welded into their threads (presumably from the heat of the fire). The glass, being in three pieces has been easy to remove, but I need to get at least one of the two remaining screws out so I can put the replacement glass in. Luckily the Mens Shed is open tomorrow. So far I have tried gallons of WD-40, brute force, and a hammer (to tap them and break the rust). Also removing the screw at the other end of the piece of metal bracketing so I can rotate the bracket and hope to ease the screw. Since I am unable to find my soldering iron (the next option - differential expansion rates of metal to break the rust grip), I will have to hope they have one there. And that they will do it quickly without lots of gossiping required as the Telstra man is arriving soon after Noon.

So the bed is now made up with all squeaky clean bedding and the last of the items to be washed will be the quilt. That will be tomorrow's job. I may also wash the down doona so it is  nice and fresh when it comes time to install it. And if I am really keen I might get out all the flannel sheets and give them a wash (or an airing) preparatory for use). We shall see. 

A looooooooong sleep in this morning. Got up at four to let the dogs do a wee, and then retreated to bed, reawakening at 9:15 which was quite blissful. Once dressed, I took the dogs on their longer walk (around the oval) but had to stop just short of the oval when I discovered the neighbour's two dogs out and about without supervision. They came in for the attack but fortunately Shadow as still on my side of the gate and I was able to drag Seb behind it as well. Not happy at all - and I am afraid the usual 'sorry Miss Bain' did not get its usually forgiving response. So Seb had to do what he needed to do in the orchard before returning indoors unexercised.

I stripped the bed and took the electric blanket into the laundromat to wash it (it is designed to be washed, so don't be alarmed). It fluffed up beautifully and is now back on the bed with clean sheets, clean doona cover and second quilt as the blankets and quilt will be washed tomorrow (along with my favourite jumper which may not survive the wash as it is so full of holes now it is sheer will power holding it together). I may yet wash the doona itself, once i find out how to wash feather doonas. It will be nice to be able to put it away clean and smelling sweet when it comes time to add the goosedown doona to the bed. But in the mean time, the nights are not consistently cool enough to warrant such excess heat.

Lit the fire this evening as it is forecast to be fairly cool overnight. On shutting the door I managed to put three cracks into the glass in the door. It is moments like these I am grateful it is a Bakers Oven and so has a spare glass panel in the oven door. I will swap it into the fire box door tomorrow when things cool down a bit. I can get another glass panel at a time when there are fewer demands on the budget than there are at present (rates, rego, trip to Vic for the reunion, dog kennelling .... argh).

There's a nice lump of corned silver-side coming to the boil on the stove top right now - it will be served with some mash and cabbage/colcannon once it is done. No parsley sauce as the parsley has all run to seed.

To my great surprise my MP responded promptly. Basically because I had a dig about their cancellation of the NBN and thus of provision of satellite to rural homes. His response follows:

"... but before then let's not suggest for one minute this government had or has anything to do with cancelling rollout of the NBN anywhere in Australia. 

The reason you do not have satellite currently is because of the incompetence of Senator Conroy and the government of which he was a part. The guarantees and promises made to thousands of Australians had zero chance of being delivered. We are very sorry they lied to you. "

Which I guess tells you how far i will get with him. Apparently the latest idea of the Liberal government is that they will upgrade mobile signals in black spots such as the one in which I live. This will mean my phone works (not necessarily a good thing as I like being able to decide when to respond to calls). And they imagine they can deliver broadband using the same technology. And to it more cheaply than via satellite. I gather this is being unduly optimistic and doubt it will do anything other than limit my already paltry download limits.

Still, I will focus discussions on the inequitable costs associated with delivery of services in rural areas that arrive for half the price via a home phone in urban areas. To give you a better picture of how things stand:

Urban setting - you can get ADSL with your phone for a connection fee (ie wires from the street to your front door) of $300.00. For $113.00 you get a phone and 500gig download.

Rural - you can't get ADSL, but you can get wireless. You pay for the Dongle (mine cost $200), you pay for the booster aerial ($800.00) and you get a maximum 15gig download for $95.00 per month.

If you decide to get a satellite dish it will set you back $3000, and you will be limited to 5 gig a month, which I gather from friends who have one, is still a very slow download.

You can hopefully see my point.

Since it was mainly grey and drizzly today I spent it lazing in front of the fire with a good novel - very relaxing.

Today was a taste of winter, though not as convincing as they promised us. Heavy rain they said (well it mists up my glasses if I moved fast enough). No sign of that yet, though they are still optimistic for later. I will walk the dogs around 6ish to ensure they get their loo break in in anticipation.

Meanwhile there has been the problem of lighting the fire. I only read the forecast at 5:30 last night so was in a bit of a panic, but found enough bits of wood in what remains of the pile to be able to fit into the woodburner and they have been chugging away since lunchtime, it being grey, damp and miserable. Fortunately so far the strong winds also forecast have kept their distance, but seem to be picking up at present.

I have so far sent off an email to Telstra (just fielded a phone call from the technician who will come up next Tuesday lunchtime), fired off an email to my local Member to highlight my annoyance at the costs involved (I have to pay $800 for an antenna if it actually works) and the disadvantages of this sort of inequity to rural dwellers (pointing out that amortised across the city populations, it would be a negligible increase to them while providing equitable access to us, and also asking how come someone buying a service from Westnet (who buy from Optus, who buy from Telstra) can nevertheless offer more service for less cost. I have invited him to meet with me, or send his representative, so that we can discuss a more equitable approach and intervention at the highest levels - not to mention suggesting that this is all the consequence of his own government's recent actions).

So apart from cleaning the bank, having a nice nap in front of the fire, and eating a disgustingly unhealthy shredded chicken in gravy bread roll (purchased under the label of roast beef and gravy roll), I have not achieved much at all.

My nice man at Telstra finally responded to my emails (he was off sick yesterday) and suggested I call a number and say two words which got me through to a person somewhere in India who could not help me. He put me through to a young woman who suggested I consider moving. When we had agreed that was not a helpful suggestion she then mentioned a service which has remained surprisingly under the counter until now (and which is hard to find even on their website for their staff) which is called Telstra Countrywide. They have an office at 70 Collins Street if you want to go visit them.

She provided me with their email contact and the name of their manager who I have since emailed, giving him a blow by blow account of my attempts to send the email (they were lengthy as the weather is on the turn). I have requested he arrange for an urgent followup from the man who has failed to come here yet, and to provide me with real alternatives.

If he fails to respond within two working days I will be forwarding the email to the CEO of Telstra and to the Ombudsman. If that fails to gain a result I will be referring the matter to my MP. Since that is unlikely to gain a result, the matter will then be referred to the Examiner, and any other newspaper that wants to run with it (highlighting the impact on rural Australia and its lack of access to quality educational opportunities etc - so many violins to play).

They won't know what hit them.

Meanwhile I have unenrolled from the first semester units and sought advice from the enrollments secretary as to whether I may remain enrolled in second semester units on the off-chance of a better quality service, or whether I must unenrol from them also.

George - while rummaging for dates etc I see I ignored your comments about the calves. Yes they were friesians which are primarily dairy cattle, but which are also a good beef breed. Personally I am not fond of veal as it is fairly tasteless. Given a choice I would rather see a steer grown on to three years at least before slaughter so the meat has a chance to develop the flavour. But six months would be fine to avoid having to hand feed - though I would take them to the abattoir, I suspect the neighbours might get upset if I started cutting cow throats and hanging them on the Hills Hoist lol.

Sadly I have to announce that the continued failure of the telecommunications industry to provide a service in my area, combined with the results of the fragmentary ad hoc approach I have been forced to employ has resulted in my just today, discovering that it is not one assignment and test due on Friday, but three. with a fourth due today.

As a consequence (and with Census date falling this Sunday) I have been forced to withdraw from the course pending the delivery of a more useful service. I will be drafting letters to the University (delivering a course accessible to rural and regional Tasmanians), Telstra - the incompetence and lack of social conscience of their staff and my unwillingness to pay other than a pro-rata rate to match the delivery of their service; the Telecommunications Ombudsman (the generally poor state of Telecommunications in the area and the exceptionally poor response from Telstra); my local member (the blind incompetence of this government that has cancelled the NBN rollout in my area), and if necessary the media  to name and shame all of the above. (well not the University as I do hope to re-enroll if the mess can be sorted out at some viable level).

For those of you wondering how I can regularly post here given the difficulties, it is simply that I am so inured to the need to try and try and try again to do so when the signal fails, and to the need to close down the laptop with my words preserved until later when a signal might be available. Fine for social intercourse, but patently inadequate for time-critical matters.

Tonight I plan to open a beer or two, read a good book and go to bed early.

The fire alarm went off twice last night. First it was just two beeps and investigation showed no cause. Then an hour later it was a group of beeps - still no cause and no repeat performances. I think I will put the cats in the ceiling if I can work out a way to keep Seb from climbing the ladder too.

Mushrooms and a visit by the dusky robins suggest that winter is around the corner, though day time temps remain in the high teens and twenties. It will be cooler tomorrow, so we will have to wait and see. I may cut some more firewood to tide me over the weekend when we have rain forecast along with wind and cooler weather.

The neighbour sprang a surprise on me today - the other neighbour that is (nothing would surprise me from the one on the other side). She is my alternate on cleaning the cottages and has been reporting in sick the last couple of days (great for my budget, not so great for my uni work). So today I popped over to see how she was getting along and to ask if she needed anything from in town, and she introduced me to her fiance. You may recall her husband died shortly before Christmas ..... The ring is a rather nice dark amethyst in a 'princess Di' setting with some chips around the exterior.

So all toddles along merrily in town for the time being. I will be taking the computer into town with me tomorrow when I clean the bank so I can download the rest of the stuff for this week. I forgot the dongle today so it was not possible. Still, I have lectures and readings to be getting on with and shall use them to while away the evening.

The Mercury plumbed new depths of reporting mediocrity when it commented on the March - 'a few hundred' they said - more like a few thousand (well, between 2 and 3,ooo when I viewed the video over-view of the crowd). Meekly following the model set by Tones when he and his little school mates sniggered that they thought that the only March in Sydney yesterday was the St Patrick's Day parade. Bear in mind that the Melbourne March had about 50,000 in attendance and you will wonder why you did not hear about it on the news.

The Canberra March today was also very well attended (though I doubt it will hit the news).

Time to start getting terribly paranoid when the media and a right wing government start conspiring to play down community resentment I think.

Today I plowed through readings and am about to start on the questions and mini-essay in my least favourite subject. Tomorrow I will do Literature (my very favourite subject) and start more readings on the third subject (the one with an essay due on Friday), and dabble with the maths unit (eek) for a bit of variety and different mental exercises.

This morning I cleaned the bank and was lucky enough to spot the first lot of people checking out of the cottages, so went straight over and cleaned up after them before heading to the Garden to check in the Workskills crew. Then back to the cottages to do the other two before heading over to my friend's office to do some uni work - sadly his computer does not allow access to the relevant site, so the IT guy is looking into it and hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow. I suspect however that it is due to them using IE, when the uni uses Google Chrome. My friend will look into obtaining permission to download Google Chrome for me (phew). If that is sorted by the end of the week I can do my test in the comfort of an office (albeit a very dusty office) instead of the back seat of the ute down by the Lake.

Time to go do some work I suspect.

March in March - Hobart

 Foregathering at Princes Park, Battery Point. There were three rallying points, and this was the smallest group. We marched down to Parliament Lawns and there was already a large crowd there, so we assumed the other two groups had already arrived. The songs were sung, the speakers started speaking, and then the group that had gathered at Elizabeth College started to arrive. And arrive. And arrive - I was astonished. People from all over Tassie (one speaker was a single mum from Devonport), and the vibe was really very positive considering the results of the election here.

Apparently no-one had briefed the police so there was only one police officer there that I spotted, and the media was apparently recovering from post-election trauma as there was no-one in sight when we started. Then people started posting their images on the FB pages, and tweeting them (there was a media alert hash tag arranged Nationally). By the end there was a veritable scrum of them gathered round the organisers as we all packed up to go home. Well done Tassie (even if you haven't worked out how to vote intelligently.

The plan today was get up, breakfast, shower, walk dogs (long walk, the get out for a wee first thing), Vote, do readings, lecture, go to clean, to think it all over, come home, do more readings.

Well I got as far as voting and after that things went a little pearshaped. Voting in a small community hall involves quite a lot of social interchange between others that you have not seen for some time all of whom want to know what you are up to, want to sigh over the lack of choice, you get the picture. So the ten minute walk up the street turned into an hour's activity.

Then home to read, but the dogs had concluded they needed another walk, so I did that then settled down to read, but Seb had not done what he had gone to do so we had to have another walk to deal with that problem, more reading, then into town to clean, get bailed up by more people who wanted to talk at length, clean, get home, realise I have no bread, go back into town (ditto) drop off the chainsaw for servicing while I am in there, and home once more to walk the dogs.

You might notice lunch has not featured in the activities - that is because I have had none.

I finished the reading about half an hour ago and took the dogs for another walk (unproductive so we will need another before bedtime).

I also cut some firewood as it started off chilly and overcast, threatening rain. It is still threatening rain but is 19 degrees so the fire remains unlit so far. Apparently there will be even more rain tonight.

Since I do not have to be in Hobart for the March till 11:30 I have decided to devote the morning to more reading, after which I will drive down, do my thing, hope I don't get arrested, and hopefully also pick up the bike if Barbara is at home. A bicycle will be a useful thing to have once i have accustomed myself and the dog to its peculiarities.

Once I have dinner I will watch the lectures and see if they help make sense of the readings. We were warned the text is very dry and dull. I disagree, it is fascinating. Dry and dull is the text for the other subject with the horror tutor.

Fingers crossed for the election results. Please god the Liberals don't win or we are truly screwed.

I hate my tutor. Sulk.

Apart from that, I have now completed three weeks of work in one subject, two weeks of work in another and am about to move on to yet a third subject. Once I have waded through the fourth one I will go back and start next week's work.

At least (apart from cleaning the bank) I got to spend the day at home. I have discovered that half the problem with Seb's more recent demands for attention are that I have usurped his position on the couch  - I take the laptop in there to watch lectures and to write my responses to the stupid (and frequently unanswerable) questions that the book asks (they give you a rough outline of a few behavioural development theories then ask you to diagnose the problems of a three year old that has suddenly developed fear of the dark and watches television all night instead - sounds to me like he needs a firm smack and a guiding hand back to bed (and no television for a month). But of course one can not say that, lol.

The lectures are I am sure, a violation of copyright in that they simply take you through the same material as the text book with a few supporting short videos to supplement the still images in the book. Since the lecturer is not one of the authors, this smacks of plagiarism on a grand scale to me (but then I don't like him or his smug little doctoral student tutor).

I will almost be looking forward to getting into the maths unit (the last text book having arrived today thanks to the miracles of Australia Post and the COOP bookshop in combination with our fantastic local postie.

I have one unit to clean tomorrow so will get some reading done first (and maybe a lecture) and then go to do that while I digest the information.

Hopefully I will sleep a little longer tonight than I did last night as I was up at four this morning (and not for nefarious activities involving the neighbour's flax plants, I promise, lol).

There are occasions when my neighbour's capacity for hypocrisy leaves me breathless. You will recall the $800 hedge that disappeared from one weekend to the next during the course of a dispute as to whether it was a living boundary fence and if so whether its impacts on our boundary fence might be detrimental or not (a conversation that was itself an oxymoron). Today she has planted two New Zealand Flax plants within a metre of the boundary fence. Both healthy vigorous specimens that will rapidly form ever -expanding clumps that will encroach upon, and whose root systems will invade and become enmeshed in that same fence to the detriment of the fence and my garden. I asked her politely if she could perhaps plant them more centrally within her property raising the issues above. Her response? You can cut off the leaves and dig out the roots if they come onto your place.....

I am seriously tempted to ensure they meet the same fate as my hedge. In fact they most certainly will the instant they approach the boundary in anything resembling an invasive manner.

Meantime I have been alternating between reading, responding to questions and trying to work out how to draw a map of my behavioural development when it was all so long ago. One that I can post in a public (well, a least to my classmates) forum without being too self-revelatory. Stupid exercise in my opinion. But another hurdle to be overcome I assume.

I have also had my training as a volunteer at the online centre (which is incomplete - I am still to be shown the 'hardware' operations (how to load paper, scan and document, use the binder etc). This will happen next Thursday when I am invited to take myself through the opening-up processes for the building and then move on to this level of training. Gargh!

The bonus is that the assignment I thought was due on Monday is in fact a test which will be done on Friday so that is an extra week of reading time. It should also give me time to catch up with the other subject whose assignment is due on Friday also. Though I am not quite sure how I will do that just yet.

Another text book arrived today so only one outstanding now. Now all I have to do is read them, lol.

The grey clouds produced lots of thunder and lightning, a brief blackout (just long enough to have to go around re-setting all the clocks) and not much in the way of rain. The wind was pretty impressive though!

I have been wading through more lectures today and also some readings. The one that is time critical is, of course, the dullest lecturer and reading material. He sounds to be reading from a sheet of paper, and since his grasp of english is limited, he pauses at inappropriate moments as he studies out a word, translates it into his mother tongue, back into English and checks its relevance at that stage of the sentence (at least I assume that is what is going on as it is all subvocal).

The Literacy unit is fascinating - looking into all the different aspects of literacy (language of power, colloquial usage, contextual use of language - eg shopping lists and that sort of thing). So I can see myself really getting my teeth into that one. The tutes are more interesting too and the discussion readings include short stories and little allegorical tales etc to explore the ways language is used to express ideas - definitely my kind of things. One unit I have not yet found where they have hidden the lectures (they are not in any of the usual places one might expect to find them), and the fourth one being maths and me with no text books will be a real pain, though at least a little more intellectually stimulating than learning off the theorums of about 20 different behavioural development theorists. Who all, by the way, oversimplify, are culturally specific, and who miss out on a range of factors including the influence that a longitudinal study has on the development of the child being studied. Still, I will leave that argument for a discussion paper I think.

It may or may not rain soon - I hope it does it has been grey, hot and humid all day and I am out of sorts. It also meant that my signal was all over the shop this morning so I went into town to get enough to download the lectures for this week only to find they have not yet been uploaded (grr). Still I picked up another ream of paper and a cartidge of ink to keep me going until my mail order arrives and came home to read my text books - most of which arrived this morning. I have discovered that the very dependent on the text book lecturer actually just rephrases what you have read if you had your text book to read before the lecture, so that seems a bit of a waste of time - I guess learning by reading, hearing and writing notes are all different for some people. I should have caught up with reading and lectures for that subject by tomorrow night and can then move on to the others.

I have also learned that I am supposed to have achieved 80% on the maths test, so have to revise and go back and have another go at that some time soon.

Tomorrow is bank cleaning, flat cleaning and downloading more stuff that might have miraculously appeared overnight.

This could become a very dull monologue soon I suspect.

I left early last night (well, 8:30 pm) as i had realised there might be a problem with parking at the other end. Not to mention the need to buy fuel en route as it is a lot cheaper at the other end of the journey than it is up here. So petrol bought and parking found (rather easily) I was there half an hour before the performance was due to start which gave me ample time to collect my ticket and get settled into a nice seat. Or so I thought. It had been delayed for half an hour so I spent that time sitting outside watching the world go by.

It was an amazingly warm night and people were out in sleeveless dresses - backless dresses, you name it. Astonishingly not like Hobart at all where the sea breeze usually drops the temperature noticeably by mid -afternoon. I was rather overdressed as I had anticipated it being cooler.

The performer, DeWayne Everett-Smith, was great - beautiful voice, great vocal range and interesting songs he had written himself. Not country and western as I had anticipated - more cabaret. His backing singers were good too - but scary looking - not at all the sort of woman you would want to upset, and prone to taking offence if you looked at them the wrong way I suspect!

The Spiegeltent was amazing. Like stepping back into a turn of the century Paris nightclub. Dark timber dominated the walls with large bevel-edged mirrors partitioned by curved glazing bars all around the walls. The pillars supporting the roof were also clad on all four sides with bevel edged mirrors and the circular ceiling was draped in fabrics in golds, browns and creams, gathered to the centre. Around the perimeter, behind these were booths with turned spindles on the upper portion and boxed in tables and seats and cocktail tables in front of the stage. All that was missing was candles in red glass holders!

On my return home at 1 am, I let the dogs out for  wee and put out food for the cats (who are fed on top of the washing machine these days) in the hope it would buy me a sleep in in the morning. No such luck as we were up at 7am. But once they had their walk, I had my breakfast and a shower and the cats were fed once more, I had a little lie down, got up for lunch and another walk, then had another nap this afternoon. Feeling almost human now.

Had sixty fits this morning when only one Mylo Mail arrived and that for the subject I have managed to catch up with. The other three were missing so I assumed I had been disenrolled (fortunately mistakenly) and went into meltdown. The good news is they arrived in due course when the next band of signal wandered by.

There is one subject with an assessment due this coming Friday which is based on a text book I don't have and can't get via the library, however so life it still fairly fraught on the academic front. I have printed out a few of the readings (running out of paper and ink in the process), ordered more ink, concluded I will have to buy paper from the local newsagent and hang the expense and so it goes on. But tomorrow being a public holiday it will have to go on a little longer I am afraid.

I posted panic-stricken messages on the discussion boards and am slowly receiving responses from lecturers/tutors.

So today was a fairly dull day, though I found the readings I had printed out interesting. Also the course outlines make much more sense in hard copy than they ever did as PDFs so I have managed to work out the shape of the semester now. Lot to do, not much time to do it in, but I powered through the readings (with comprehension) so apparently five years of reading slushy novels from the local library has not slowed me down too much. Fingers crossed the books arrive on Tuesday (or Wednesday at the latest).

It was a really heavy mist this morning that failed to clear until close to ten in the morning. Since I was awake at four this morning, walking the dogs in the mist was a bit of a trial. Seb disappeared into the fog and I had to hope he was back where they echidna had been (he was) as I could not run to keep up with him. The heel has started to heal quite well but I seem determined to remain lame. Last night I trod on what I initially assumed to be gravel but it was still there when I put my foot down again. On closer inspection it was a triagular bit of 3mm glass embedded in my heel (the left one this time). On removal it decided to bleed which I encouraged in case there was something left in the wound, then applied savlon and a bandaid before heading to bed. It seems OK, but being fairly deep I will need to keep it open as it heals to ensure no infection - the last thing I need right now. The achilles, on the other hand, is responding well to the salve and to the resumption of my elastic-sided boots which seem to have the right heel height to keep it relaxed.

I had a longish nap this afternoon after getting back from cleaning. Luckily the dogs agreed this was a good idea and so it was not for a couple of hours that Seb decided to climb onto my chest.

He is proving to be a bit of a wimp in some aspects of life. Last night Smidgen decided to get up and go for a midnight snack. Seb has taken to sleeping alongside the bed so made a useful step down for Smidgen. Seb, waked by a large cat landing on him, let out a shriek like all the hounds of hell were after him, waking the rest of the household as well. Sigh.

Two loads of washing also done today which was good, and more bookshelf sorting done. The three lower shelves of the bookcase have novels on them, and the top three are allocated to texts (when they arrive and accumulate). The three lower ones are also now arranged into author order which is a bit of a relief as I am a bit anal about that sort of thing and the last five years of chaos has been quite wearing. I will try to avoid carrying on into the other three sets of shelving though as I really should read some of those text books first, lol.

Bank this morning and while I was cleaning I was working out how much money I had left this week in the hope of maybe purchasing another text book. But since I had one trip into town already and two more to do before the next pay day (concert and protest march) I realised things must be getting a bit grim. So I checked my account and discovered over a thousand dollars in it. This being unexpected it was more alarming than pleasing until I got home and was able to check where it had come from. Turns out they have surreptitiously approved my Austudy and started paying it, along with the commencement bonus. So I got straight onto the computer and ordered my text books. What was left has been set aside to pay for a few other upcoming expenses (like car registration). I still have enough to cover the additional fuel costs of the two trips to town as well which is great.

It is a public holiday on Monday so I have the day off cleaning. This is a good thing as I have that free ticket to a concert I have to claim which will necessitate me being in Hobart on Sunday night (very late night sunday night as the relevant performer does not start until after 10pm and then I have to drive home again afterward). So I will be having an early night tonight to make up for it and store up some sleep in anticipation.

I put together the bookshelves I acquired from the school today - the two support posts, with shelves attached, were not stable so I have attached bracing ply to the back with some self-tapping screws and it seems to work OK. The additional benefit of the bracing ply is that it blocks off the fireplace in the study which should make it a lot easier to keep things warm come winter.

This necessitated unpacking a couple of cartons of books also as I was looking for my poetry books (which appear to have disappeared into the ether for all I can find of them) which I thought would be useful for teaching purposes. Sadly all I found was novels so I now have to exercise iron discipline not to fall upon them and re-read them with glee.

Shadow found an echidna on our walk today and was busy getting his nose stuck with quills when I tried to persuade him to rejoin us on our return to the house. Seb, fortunately, failed to notice this distraction so we finally made it home intact.

I'm having that eggplant dish tonight instead of last night as I forgot to cook it last night. I know. But time flies and suddenly it is 8:30 and you have no time to prepare anything worthwhile so something gets dug out of the freezer and zapped instead.......

I bought a lovely pair of Italian leather shoes some years ago on a holiday to Norfolk Island (duty free you see!) which I have never worn. I found them again this morning while rummaging through the suitcase in which I have hidden my shoes from Seb. Got them out, tried them on again and yes, they still hurt like hell, so put them aside intending to take them into the Bargain Centre to sell them. Unfortunately I forgot them in the mad scramble out the door and when I got home I discovered a nice Italian leather shoe. Singular.

I picked a large eggplant at the polytunnel which has come home with some tomatoes and will be added to some onion slices and basil, be drenched in olive oil and topped with grated cheese for one of my favourite throw-together meals called The Imam Swooned (apparently at the cost of the olive oil used in the recipe).

Woke to thunder and rain this morning - most unusual (the thunder at that hour of the morning) and lightning too! The rain soon passed and so too did the thunder and by the time i arrived at the bank it was a fine day. That sorted I spent some time downloading stuff and then moved on to home and walking the dogs. A bit of quiet reading and back into town to see the doctor, do some more downloading and go to the library which sadly only carries one of my texts and that an earlier edition. Still, it is on order and will hopefully arrive soon.

The recommendations for the heel were less than helpful - rest, don't walk up hills, anti-inflammatories which cause reflux and raise my heel. So since I don't have any shoes with raised heels of any description I will be inserting an orthotic into the right shoe and see what happens.

Waking this morning was a problem but I was on the road by 7:40 so not too far behind schedule. The trip down was uneventful and I made it to the radiology place in due course (almost punctually). Scan done and yes, I have a partially torn achilles tendon. from what I can see the sheath is intact and the tear is internal. What this all means is a mystery to me so I will have to go see the doctor again and while I am there pursue the issue of the severe pain in my heel which is apparently unrelated (sigh).

Then into Hobart where I parked down behind the museum rather than venture into a car park. To Goulds first and they have provided a comfrey and arnica balm for the tendon which, having been applied about an hour ago, seems to be doing the trick. Then to the Telstra Shop to have another go at finding a solution. I have eventually managed to convince the guy that this is a real problem so he is arranging for their technician to call and test for the sort of aerial the man in the Telstra business centre was talking about. Mean time I have upped my download limit to 8 gig which should see me through to the end of a given month I hope. Especially if I can sort out something with other people's computers.

And so the University where I tried to download Uconnect which is their on-campus wifi service, but apparently it was the wrong time of day because by the time it had loaded the battery was almost flat and so I couldn't use it anyway.

Still next time i am down there I am hot to trot and can use it (and take my cable with me to recharge). Also sorted out the fee side of things which is all good - even the Student Association fees can be deferred apparently :-).

And so home via the service station (student discount on display of card - which I had also collected while on campus) so the fuel was considerably cheaper than it is here. And to Bridgewater for grocery basics and so home. Despite my prolonged absence there were no accidents in the house so it's all good. Phew.

The night was a horrible one. My tummy decided to distend enormously so that no waistband would fit it, and nothing would come out either end to relieve the pressure so it was up and down all night in an attempt to relieve things. No idea what caused it.

As a result by the time I staggered into the bank this morning I was incoherent with exhaustion, so they got a very quick clean out today. Hope they don't notice I didn't vacuum. I did pick up all the lint and grass seeds and rubber bands (rubber bands seem to breed in banks).

From there to Council chambers only to discover that Service Tas did not open till 11, and hour after the garden tour left. So I headed down to the hospital to engage with that lot but by the second garden was so wombly I left as a car was heading back into town. From there I renewed the licence and headed home for a nap. This was interrupted by a visitor who wanted to chat. Endlessly. I was propping myself up on the outdoor table due to a lack of chairs, but eventually had to settle on the chopping block or I would have fallen over. He didn't get the hint. Just settled himself on a pile of rocks and kept chatting. This is why I would make a very bad Councillor as I simply zoned out.

After he left I went back inside for a snooze from which I awoke at 5, took the dogs down the back yard as any further is beyond me right now, and am back inside. I have some sandwiches left over from today's lunch so will have them for dinner I think, and head to bed very early since I have to be on the road by 7:30 in the morning

Life is never dull around here. That's for sure..............
Was merrily trying to get on line for the fifteenth time today when Eleanor turned up at the back door with takings from the Market and a donation toward our aquaculture project (that is nowhere near starting or even being planned as apparently the aquaria they have at the school are too big to fit into the shed - unlikely as it is bigger than the shed they are presently in). Anyway, she decided to give me the lowdown on Tim Morris's visit (rather poorly attended since no-one told us he was coming - letter box drops to Oatlands but not the rest of us). The conversation turned to the corruption of our local government (quite spectacular I have to say), and since this next election will be an all out- total replacement kind of election for the first time in history, who should they nominate if they had the choice. Apparently that was me............. like i don't have enough to do.

Apart from that little mindblowing exchange, not much happened here today. I did do the numeracy and literacy tests on the Uni site before the signal disappeared once more. 90% on literacy was not a surprise, but the 60% on numeracy was a very pleasant shock! I must be getting good at guessing answers in multiple choice, lol. since my last maths test at school (exam actually) garnered 25% something must have happened in the mean time. I will go back and do it again and spend more time on the trickier questions as I completed it with half an hour to spare this time around.

My ankle is still sore, so I hope the ultrasound on Tuesday finds something that can be fixed easily.

Into town this morning to clear out the flats and take a phone call then home to walk the dogs. While down on the oval we stopped to chat to the dog club people who were painting my old shipping container a nice shade of green. I suggested they approach Council to get the old kiosk demolished as it is being slowly vandalised by the local kids and is becoming a hazard. Once that is done they could move the shipping container onto the remaining concrete slab and take advantage of the electrical connections and plumbing that once served the building. It would give them a great vantage point to overlook proceedings during shows as well. they loved the idea so may proceed with it. Fingers crossed. The container will be a more attractive addition to the scenery than the old shed.

Home for a nana nap that lasted rather longer than expected (Seb made sure I woke up in good time, however) and then to walk the dogs once more. A load of washing up and dried and put away and more documents filed. I realised once they are filed I can check before downloading Uni stuff and see if I already have it :-)

The rest of them will hopefully get filed tomorrow so I can prepare for my trip into Hobart on Tuesday.