3 realities. The everyday consensual. The Eleven Islands. The future.
Another pretty flowering shrub in the old section of the village. I hate the idea that all these will be lost when the wreckers are sent in.
Of course I could go in there and get a bunch of cuttings but I already have a dozen plants that I care about on my balcony and the new gardens are a different style and not mine.
I’m sitting in a green chair, different from last time I was here when I was directed to a black chair, in the waiting area of my local Centrelink branch. Gone are the days of queueing … one thing Covid was good for.
I’m here to explain the ‘flow of my finances’ and although I have nothing to hide, Centrelink’s power and layers of bureaucracy and impenetrable behaviour, I’m as nervous as everyone else sitting here waiting for their appointments. Centrelink of course likes to keep us on our toes, we think.
I have with me plastic folder of proofs in two bunches as my printer/scanner has not recovered from the move yet and refuses to shake hands with the computer. First thing this morning had to beg the village’s admin to print stuff off for me, that CL can keep. The other bunch are the paper copies CL will need to copy.
To top off the day, the good news is that my previous unit, where I broke the lease, has new tenants. Meaning, I don’t need to pay any more rent there.
And the bad news is that my hearing aids have spat the dummy. Switched themselves off. I’ve tried everything I know, to get a sign of life, but no go. All verbal communication is like talking and listening through a wad of cotton wool.
I’m outside now, finishing this off. It’s raining. I didn’t bring an umbrella, or raincoat. Probably better wait for my ride.
Guess how high this tree is …
Up in the upper left. Ever met one of these? First time for me too.
I had so much to learn, move, stack, shift and unpack that I just looked it for the whole first seven days I was here, while I learned the other three.
Me saying ‘learned’ up there instead of ‘learnt’ will tell you the learning is ongoing. My control over the downlight switches needs fine tuning.
The fan, which is great, is controlled contrarily. 3 = 1 and 1 = 3 if that makes any sense. Thankfully, all three fans in the house work the same.
The left hand light ‘switch’ works the far four downlights in the living area. The right hand switch operates the nearer downlights.
The kitchen has its own array of controls.
The HUSH button?
I asked Deb from Admin when she came yesterday to talk me through my first monthly EEVI check. Which is a whole other kettle of fish.
The HUSH button will calm the fire alarm, say you set it off accidentally burning your toast, or something.
The possibilities seem endless now that I found my way to the exciting options. Thinking about these:
They’d be between two plain panels, maybe of one of the gold tints.
Though I mustn’t forget that any curtains must complement Hiske Tas Bain’s painting ‘Immersion’.
Is a puzzle. The complex comes with an embedded network. Not all providers accept them among their customers. Nor does the embedded network accept ‘others’.
And some of the acceptable providers seem not to be in existence any longer since they were listed.
Luckily I can hot-spot my laptop to my mobile phone, but not ideal. Laptop on footstool in front with a cord to power outlet to my right. Another cord from laptop to hub on the left. Mobile/cell on the couch beside me with a cord to the hub.
No sudden moves recommended. Trippy enough to trip over.
Today I might rustle through the spare cords for one to hotspot the TV to my mobile. Another kind of trippy!
Make-believe curtains are the go for the moment, until I decide curtains or blinds.
The carpenters clamps, rope and bed sheets curtains to the side installed by my son, and the highly unusual ceiling detail overhead.
There are four pristine white levels with only two of them faced with painted-over timber for curtain rails and/or blinds to be fixed overhead …
To be fixed overhead on two levels, neither of them ‘regular’ lengths. Which will make it hard to buy off-the-shelf products.
This morning I was distracted while researching indoor necessities by a pageful of Temu growlights, followed by discovering specialist products are not needed to help my plants survive.
It’s too long to wait for plants until the depth of winter to get a decent day of sunlight. So that’s another ongoing search for solutions. Love a good problem to get my teeth into!
Where to start?
The improvements on the previous place are numerous though I’m too tired now to do little more than describe the excellent light … in the lounge room, one whole wall is ceiling to floor glass, fixed panes and sliding doors, about two and a three quarter meters tall.
Where I’m sitting on the couch typing this blog post, what I see opposite is Rainer Hartlieb’s work of timber art … the shelf units he made for me in 2014 or thereabouts, when I lived in my Mullumbimby house … put back together and adapted for the space by my son.
This version of the shelf unit is approximately 75 centimeters shorter than the original which had a window seat included. The uprights and top length are of Queensland kauri. The short side shelves might be white pine, though I don’t recall that for certain. They made up three large handrails salvaged from a building site. The broad lower shelves are cypress pine, a width of timber that will never be seen again. These were my discovery. A $30 score from a secondhand store, they’d been used in a paint store, their undersides a thick coating of spilled paint.
Liminal space how, people will be thinking.
Liminal in that I am in a between space and time.
Up to yesterday I lived in a medium-sized all-ages complex with 90 separate households. At least 20 young children, 5 infants, and numerous teenagers whom I mostly didn’t see. A handful of elders.
Lived there for three years through recovery from chemo, through the latter part of Covid restrictions, walking and exploring nearby parks. Stone’s Corner was almost next door. I walked East Ekebin Park. Moorhen Flats. Bentley’s. The Common. Bowie’s Flat Park and all the little green places in between.
Lived there through the extreme disappointment that chemo didn’t also fix my myalgic encephalomyelitis, and so two years after the end of the chemo, my ME flared. A disease that once you have it you will always have it. Can be kept semi-controlled only by extreme pacing, strict dieting, a shoal of supplements and not catching any viruses. Continuing to live the Covid life, in other words.
Lived there getting more and more involved in Lego. thebrickarchitect.com ; AFOL. MOC. brickresales.com.au ; bricklink.com ; rebrickable.com ; all became part of my language. I packed a large stack of boxes, two wide four high, with the whole of Reet’s Brick Town in there, plus all the remaining parts and separate builds. Lol, a lot of rebuilding to be done later, I suspect. Bosley & Co will be busy for months on the repairs.
The place between, as I mentioned yesterday, is Isla House. A compact room, with a large communal living space at the back of the house, kitchen dining facilities, and garden strip alongside the outdoor areas. Pity that the weather is still so hot. Summers are spinning out. I’m very tempted to go out and get some cuttings for my new place. I wonder if figs will grow from cuttings?
Below a pane in the bathroom for my frosted glass collection, looking out on the perimeter fence and the garden section.
I’m in my accommodation for one maybe two nights at Isla House in Greenslopes, while my flat is emptied and my new apartment is furnished.
Gotto admit I made a few changes to this room. It’s not a regular motel room, so there is no water boiling or micrwave, all that’s in the kitchen down the corridor.
I brought in a cafe table from the verandah, borrowed a tea towel to cover the weathered top. Was able to fit my walker mostly in the wardrobe.
Doors open, I’m not a fan of everything out of sight, especially in teeny tiny room. Like a box.
I have two nights more at this place. Thursday afternoon I go to a little motel to stay the night.
Friday at 7.30 AM the removalists are arriving to pack up and drive approx ten kilometres down Old Cleveland, take a right at Carindale, a couple of lefts past the mall and a right into my new street. Then the unpacking.
I’m being saved from all this as I happened to pick up a virus somewhere, and will be completely useless without having somewhere to frequently sit or lie down.
My job for the last few days has been to pack up the Lego. Well, there are definitely going to be a few changes happening in how I store things. Luckily thebrickarchitect.com is rejigging their label system which will be a wonderful resource.
And there will have to be some serious rebuilding, because of course several builds did not take kindly to being packed up. Unfortunately, as you can see below, Jed has stormed out of the scene, taking Jackie’s crane on his truck out of the picture!
Rita de Heer 