fred_mouse

I've done a tiny bit of logistics Stuff post arriving home. And then I flopped on the couch with the laptop, working back through my dwircle, and opening everything that was more than a couple of lines long and wasn't from one of a set of communities that I've decided to just skip over until I'm caught up. Reading them is for later. (The plan is reading with minimal commenting.)

And now I have 312 tabs open in that window, I got back more than 460 posts (as in the link had skip=460 in it, which I think means 460-480), it is 21:22, I'm exhausted, and I'm not going to achieve part two of the catch up, which was 'what has been happening in my inbox' (dw or email).

Instead I'm planning on going to bed in the next half hour. After I've sorted a few more things out (bleargh).

If nothing else, this trip across country has done Really Weird Things to my sleep/wake cycle. I have been awake pretty close to 6:15 every day in the last week, in the local time zone. Sometimes this was then permission to go back to bed because it was >=1 hour until the planned alarm. Sometimes it was quick trip to the bathroom and then laze around for a short while until the alarm (I don't think we set an alarm earlier than 6:15).

For now, the FB post; maybe later (if I have internet still) I'll write up a better post.

Youngest and I are safely ensconced in our accommodation at Border Village. We had a moment of panic when all we could see was the quarantine station, because we have dinner plans involving veggies we have lugged across much of SA.

It has been a mostly uneventful day, involving chatting, knitting, a bit of book reading (but only by the passenger) and stopping places for the standard travel reasons. Lunch was had sitting on a bench at Nullabor Road house. For some reason today has been the day of meeting friendly dogs.

Most excitement, of entirely the wrong sort, happened when I was looking down, B slammed the brakes on, and I looked up to see a black SUV oncoming in our lane, having attempted to overtaken when they didn't have enough space. Sure, we're a small car, but still.

There was also a moment of levity, when I commented that every car I'd seen since I started driving (driver swap happened at Nundroo, which was not the plan, but B's shoulder was acting up, so let's call it 'in the previous hour') was a 4WD type. And then the next one was a Hyundai, small enough that it was either another Getz, or something newer, like and i30.

Another day where I don't have the oomph for a more detailed post, so the summary from FB it is. This is, at least, a longer summary than yesterday's! Neither of us are as exhausted, and we managed to go forage for takeaway in town rather than eating an emergency meal.

We have made it out of NSW and across the Eyre Peninsula. The day was characterised by observations of goats, emus, water pipelines, train tracks, hills in the distance, dead roos on the road (and one live one), and rumble strips. We discussed the relative risk of hitting a goat vs hitting a roo, given the number of observed live animals, and times of travel (we are avoiding dawn and dusk as much as possible). And then we had to slow for an emu, and despite our belief that goats were harder to hit, we slowed twice so as not to hit one.

I do not remember there being an actual quarantine stop at Oodla Wirra, and the nice quarantine officer said that it used to only be staffed in winter. We had no contraband, but still had to open the boot (which had not been opened since Brisbane).

All we saw of Port Augusta was a main bit of road and a nearly deserted bit of park looking out on the water. The only excitement was being pulled over by the cops heading in to town, and getting grumbled at that our licence plate is too faded. I had to do a breath test, but despite the fact that I'm sure I was doing 5 km/h over the limit at the point the lights went on (not very far past the drop to 80km/h) I did not get a speeding ticket. Cynical me is very relieved I was driving at the time, because I think a completely baffled 'how does this even work' asthmatic middle aged individual is not what the cop was expecting. The asthmatic was relevant, because I had to attempt the breath test three times, and had to pull out my ventolin before the last attempt because I couldn't breath well enough.

The Big Galah in Kimba is very pretty, but we found no decent souvenirs in the gift shop. And choosing to go look at it means we didn't see the silo art.

We had estimated that our ETA for Ceduna was 'between 6 and 7' which was off by a whopping 4 minutes, as we pulled up to reception at 5:56pm local time. The motel feels quite swish for the size of town; this is the second night that we've been given a double and a single when I've booked a twin. Last night I got the double, tonight I've got the single.

Yesterday

• awake before the alarm, attempt to snooze, Youngest then got up, we decided to get moving earlier than planned
• dealt with forgotten / misplaced pair of shoes; these will be posted to their person from Perth
• breakfast at Youngest's now ex-work; we got there at 5 minutes to opening, they were asked to deal with a thing, and then there was a rush so they were on till for a few minutes (this was their usual shift). They got to say farewell to their set of four regulars
• Brisbane to Murwillumbah - the main highway had a lot of slow downs (holiday traffic) so we took the smaller road inland; this was an adventure.
• Catch up with Youngest's ex K, their parents and their older sibling. Parent J is originally from Murwillumbah, and they are visiting family.
• End point of the day: Taree. Some shenanigans finding the place because apple and google maps both failed to locate it correctly. We got checked in, we ate dinner, we went to bed in separate rooms (the only time this will happen). I asked this morning, the rooms were originally 'barracks' for railway staff.
• Managed to tread on a bee, second toe of right foot, tiny bit swollen.

Today

• awake before my alarm for the ?third day running - I'm not getting to sleep all that much earlier, so I'm a bit concerned about cumulative sleep debt and long distance driving.
• Cleared out in time for Youngest to do Park Run in Taree.
• We had planned to get fuel at one spot on the way out of town; that bit of road was completely blocked off by cops, so we had to detour. I gave in to temptation and bought corn chips, which was the right choice -- I snacked on them on and off, not bad for $2 (v. cheap, even for the small bag) -- even if they only had cheese, cheese, or cheese. Youngest had been meant to drive this section, but was a bit more puffed than anticipated post park run.
• Made it to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium (Newcastle) about ten minutes before the public session. Skated for a bit. I hate hire skates, but I wasn't going to pack skates for at most 2 hours when space is precious. Youngest was able to get lunch, I got a large biscuit (a Byron Bay one, they only had the Dotty in the GF) and a soft drink. Traded drivers - this turned out to be the right way, because I was pretty sore.
• Getting out of Newcastle was a bit of a faff, but relatively quickly we were on an A road. Maps kept wanting us to take a slightly faster B road, but after yesterday's lesson, I wasn't doing that. Got to go through Singleton, and somewhere else I've heard of but don't remember ever going. Got fuel and traded drivers at, hmm, Sandy Hollow? This was about 30km shy of the original planned spot, but I'm all team change early, change often, no heroics.
• Another brief break about 100km later, at Dunedoo. Nothing open except the loos at the rest stop, but that's to be expected at 5pm on a Saturday in a small country town. Did not change drivers
• Arrived Dubbo about an hour later (I ... could work it out, too tired). Find hotel, discover upstairs no lift, at the end of the corridor. This last is awkward in terms of logistics of getting stuff from the car, but great in that we are at the far end away from the music happening downstairs, which I literally cannot hear (I can hear some people talking and laughing, but I think they are in the beer garden).
• Walked up to the Aldi (still open until 8pm, this is not a small country town), got some extra fruit and vege, and another box of muesli bars. Stopped at a nice park on the way back to sit for two minutes (there is a war memorial down a wide avenue with jacarandas either side, but I wasn't up to that bit of walk). The stopped at a ?Chinese restaurant (I was at the too tired to track, but 'they will sell cooked rice' was the important thing, there were two options) and got a serve of boiled rice. I've eaten about half, it was supposed to go with the curry-inna-box, which I haven't had the oomph to deal with.

Tomorrow: alarm set for seven, we have agreed to not have the curtain open, goal is to leave by 8am. Drive to Broken Hill is about 8 hours, plus, say, 1.5h total for rest stops, and minus a half hour because we'll change time zones, and we'll still get in after the reception for our accommodation closes. But we should still be getting in in full daylight, so we will have lower 'roo risk (we have not seen a live 'roo. I have seen finches that might have been zebra finches at Dunedoo, but they were a bit too high up).

companion to this post, mostly written on the plane on 25th December 2024; posted online 14th May 2025

13:19 - somewhere above the grain belt; the flight boarded on time, and it was about 13:09 when we actually took off. I've very clearly seen Mundaring Dam, which is not something I've previously managed. And we've just had a notification that the flight is already running 20 minutes ahead of schedule, which, what??? we are literally 20 minutes past the 'departure time'.

Looking out the window, there is a lot of brown of cleared paddocks, and the odd bit of very dark green of uncleared eucalypts. I'm sharing the row (3 seats) with one person, who has moved on to the end (I have the window) and is planning to sleep. This is their second of three flights, having got off shift at 6am this morning in Karratha, and heading for Aotearoa - apparently there wasn't a direct option, and this managed to be cheaper anyway.

I've a book in Libby that I started in the aeroport (Thyla by Kate Gordon) and one I started yesterday (Murder in the Groove by Dave Warner) which I might swap to if this one becomes a little stressful - it is a YA about a teen who is amnesiac, found in the bush, and has now been put into a boarding school where she can pick that there are undercurrents of Something Going On, but not what. The alternative is a 'low stakes' murder mystery, by which I mean that there have been a couple of deaths, I now expect some faffing around plot, and nothing that requires me to spend a lotof time focusing.

(And, because I need to at least do some writing on the 'how I'm thinking' - what I have at this point is that I'm going to arrive at Brisbane about 7pm local (so just over 4 hours, which what?). I'm using the cane, so I'm going to sit quietly while everyone else rushes out, then toddle off slowly. I've a checked bag (and went for 'absolutely everything I can in the checked bag') so I'll have to wait for that. Lots of people are going to be more in a rush than I. And I'm using the cane (and really needing it). This is a 737, and we didn't have an air bridge - I didn't realise that they use the smaller craft for this particular route. I'm in 15A, which is one row behind the middle exit rows, which does make for harder to see, but as I don't have a route map screen, eh, not such a problem. I should try and remember that for future when I'm flying during the day, because I do like looking.

And then I have details of trains from Youngest, and I have to message repeatedly. Meh. I could do without W being a fuss-budget, but I'm also okay with just doing as requested. And now I'm off to read more of my book.)

13:58 - lunch was reasonable, although I'm still hungry. Slightly flavoured / yellow rice with ?sultanas in it, some rather under AND overcooked green beans, and then what I think was beef in a nicely flavoured gravy, which appeared to have capsicum in it. I've taken a red wine, and drunk a couple of mouthfuls - I might have another bit later, or save it for a bit. I've also ended up with two water bottles, which I probably won't drink both of - not particularly thirsty at this point. And now, back to the book (which is okay, in a limited way, for a YA boarding school story with fantastical elements)

14:13 - still over land; but not tilled land any more. Quite sparse vegetation most of where I can see; I think we are roughly over the divide between that and the more dense vegetation closer to the coast, because if I peer oddly out the window I can see the shading from one to the other.

14:33 - mostly all I can see out the window is cloud, which makes me think we are over water. Fortunately, there is free wifi, and i can use it to load google maps. We are over the Bight, maybe half way between Eucla and Yalata.

(I might be the only person on the flight wearing a mask. That is disappointing. Especially as I wouldn't count myself as being truly cautious, given that I've taken it off for food, then coffee, and then a bit of water. sigh. Had my half a cup of dodgy airline coffee with the sugar that came with my cutlery, and it was horrendously too sweet; I figured I needed the energy / calories)

14:55 and we are back over crop land - google maps says due east of Ceduna, north of the highway. So just out of crop land - and actually, now I look out again, no cropping. Maps says we are over Pureba Conservation Park. There is an enormous salt pan visible, not sure if it has a name on the map, but this is labelled Pinjarra Station. Not convinced that we are showing up as at quite the right place on the map, which I guess makes sense, because we are a long way up; the salt pan that I can see to the north/left of us is showing up as south of us on the map.

18:08 - we've changed time zones (I connected the phone to the wifi, which means it is updating time as we go; just about at the NSW border, checking settings it is Adelaide time; which I think makes it 30 minutes ahead of Brisbane, because on the half hour, plus daylight savings? You'd think I'd know these kinds of things)

Adding on the next day - after landing, it was a bit of a slog (collect luggage, train, rail replacement bus, train, collected by youngest, car) but it all came together nicely so there wasn't time to sit and write, even if I'd felt like getting the ipad out.

The accommodation is nice, much more swish than I'd allowed for, and full kitchen plus washing facilities.

Given that I'm too bleargh to do anything sensible, I'm going to do some faffing around / getting to something I'd mostly abandoned. To whit, dealing with the tab group called 'travel notes'. There are 38 tabs in there (and a couple others I'm hopefully going to remember to include here in other windows) and the goal is to close out the group. It is ~2 hours until the bed time I would like to achieve, which makes it doable if I don't get distracted. Minimal to no notes unless I get distracted.

( wow, this got long )

.. it is now 21:40, and they are All Closed.

• I've mostly not been blogging, because sitting and writing about what I'm doing and my thoughts about my projects for 15 minutes every day has been a great way to feel that I'm keeping a diary. Problem is that it very topic focused, and missing a lot.
• today: gaming, in person, six people, TransEuropa, lots of fun. Also, ariaflame and purrdence arrived early so we had dinner together; still struggling on finding foods that work for Thursdays (we have issues with eggs, nuts, soy, meat, dairy, some veggies). Given that I will eat meat when it is the least worst option, we had grilled (well grilled) sausages - this worked for everyone except W, who managed one. As they are the one with the very low appetite and several of the food issues, I'm going to have to do some more thinking. I used to be a good and imaginative cook. As we've slowly acquired more restrictions, my ability to be agile and innovative is failing me.
• Forecast was 29°C, not sure if it got there (I barely went outside). At the getting dressed point, I decided that that was definitely trouser rather than shorts weather (and I was right; it is still getting too cold for shorts in the evening).
• Caught up with J (one of the many J's) who came and collected the SwanCon front desk boxes from me. We sat on the porch and chatted. They've been having a difficult year being the primary carer for an elderly relative, and having a committee who are failing to commit.
• earlier in the week we brought home multiple boxes from the storage unit. I now have a ~140L craft full of yarn and fabric that will be rehomed; this is not all the sorting. The lounge is a maze of boxes and stuff.
• yesterday I set myself a small task, and then decided that the necessary pre-condition for doing that was going into the back corner of the library and poking at the kids books (picture books and chapter books). Some hours later, I'd gone through every book on the shelf, pulled about 1.5 linear metres of books that I think can be rehomed, spammed the family discord with suggestions, dusted everything, and checked every book that should have been in the catalogue. This is significant progress. And then about 9pm I did the task I'd planned to do at midday.
• weather: it feels too cold, especially for this time of the year. I respect that that is valuable, and I'll hopefully appreciate it later, but we are at the point of the year that A leaves the sliding doors open and I complain about the draft. Also that it is the wrong time of year to have doors open during the day
• I've been making steady progress on a couple of recorder pieces (Bach, Telemann) and attempting to cement one tune without the music (for all my memory is strongly sound based, it isn't high definition sound based, so I lose words and melodies really easily; I keep voices and the sensation of the orchestration. the effect is that it is hard to remember how tunes start, but once it is going I know the shape of it and where the oddnesses are, mostly)
• twenty days until I fly across country. we have no useful plans. I'm not panicking, but I am stressed.
• chickens: just the two, not as feral as the previous ones, still not that happy about being handled though.
• skating: one last lesson, I'm not signing up for the summer school because travelling and cash
• Job search: I continue to half-arse things, only applying for the cream of the crop and complaining a lot about the lack of jobs that suit my skills. I continue to not want to work, but not want to not work either.

Book tag numbers:

• 2011 - down to 21 books that haven't been seen since that check. At least three are books that I loaned that haven't been returned; I'm going to deal with that when I've run out of books to check.
• 2019 - 246 - (down ten from yesterday). there are a lot of music books to go through, and youngest's shelves. Plus some I've definitely lent to people. There will be a steady progression on either replacing or discarding.
• 2020 - 40, plus four that have the tag 'hugos 2020' - I might get rid of that because I've not been consistent.
• 2021 - 23 - nothing obvious here that can be fixed at this point in time
• 2022 - 9 books, mostly the collections of poetry that I managed to lose soon after acquiring.
• 2023 - 3, one of which I spotted yesterday while looking for kids books, so that will be (hopefully) dealt with tomorrow

Am back from three nights down south (Witchcliffe) and I think I'm done with travelling for the year, except for the fact that I have a flight booked to Qld at the end of December, to either go on a short road trip with Youngest and then fly home, or a long road trip, in which we drive the light blue car and All. Their. Stuff. several thousand kilometres home.

Artisanat was attending the same dance festival that they went to this time last year, we were staying in the same place, but this year we had maharetr rather than chaosmanor as the third member of the party.

Friday A and I collected maharetr at the end of their work day, then drove down. Dinner was split between 'things that can be eaten in the car' and then 'what can we scratch together' when we arrived.

Saturday the three of us drove to Margaret River, put the car on charge (there are now six EV charging bays up from, I think, two last year), and meandered to get coffee. The A headed off to the workshops, while M and I stopped in at the second hand bookshop. I found nothing I wanted to buy. Once the car was charged, we headed down to Witchcliffe, where we had two goals -- look at second hand places, and get lunch from Witchy Pies, which has a small range of GF options.

At the record store I picked up a Mike Oldfield (not either of the two I was after, but one I didn't have) at somewhat extravagant price; we found nothing at the three other places we poked at. There was an art exhibition / sale in the Druids Hall, and there were a couple of pieces I loved, but couldn't justify the $190 (worth it, just we are chewing through our savings). The pie I got was mediocre, and I wouldn't choose to spend $8 on another one. The dessert was nice, but what it wasn't was a chocolate brownie, which is what it was sold as.

The afternoon was spent lazing around; ditto the evening. I collected A around 4pm, and we ate dinner together before they headed off to the evening dance. Dinner was fried eggs on toast and simple salad.

Sunday was more laid back - A had the car, M and I did a wander around the block. I have several plant photos, I might remember to share them. I did a bit of crochet and a bit of knitting. I made progress on one book, then started a different one (which I finished today). Dinner was sweet potato (microwaved chunks), mushroom, capsicum scramble, and was very tasty.

Today we had a leisurely start, packing up and cleaning before heading out a little after 11am. Early lunch at Witchcliffe at Yardbyrd (not as cheap as the pie, but tastier, and vegetarian), a stop at the EV charger in Margaret River (and then a walk while it was finishing up to find the public loo) and a rive home - I think we were home roughly 4:45.

This week wasn't intended to be quite as chaos as it has been. Some of it -- the conference -- was planned quite some time ago; much of the rest of it has been very short notice and opportunistic.

( most of a week, in roughly chronological order )

backdated post, from offline notes; posted without edit

Lazy morning, in that the alarm was set for 8am; the goal was to shower and finish packing, then go out for breakfast (given yesterday's reaction to breakfast, avoiding all the same foods was a Good Idea, and I'd found another nearby place--closer than the last--in the findmeglutenfree app) about 9am.

We successfully got out the door just before 9am; walked the ~200m to Slice, which is tiny and off the main road, so probably fewer tourists and more locals (and possibly lots of students). There weren't a lot of menu options, and at first glance there were no GF options at all. When questioned, it turned out that they make their own GF bread; they had some fresh, and the three variations on eggs on toast were thus all GF (there were also waffles, and one or two other things; it was a simple menu in terms of food).

Of the eggs on toast, I picked eggs and greens (avocado and pea smash, spinach, some things I've forgotten) while A got the sausages and eggs. On arrival, they were nearly identical, with the sausage / greens layer lost in the midst of the eggs and assorted toppings. The bread was great, the eggs were good but a bit richer than I was expecting (how? I don't know. I'm assuming something added), the greens were tasty, and the toppings a bit high in onion. Stomach still grouchy, I pulled the remaining onion off when I was about half done, but was able to deal with the grilled tomato. I did rather struggle with each bite after halfway, but in a 'this is breakfast after a bad day' way rather than 'this food is disagreeing with me'.

Walk back to the accomodation, get our food out of the fridge, pack the food we were planning to take with us, downstairs. A did the checkout, I put the various tourist information tags back on the spinner (I took photos in three sets, front and back; whether I ever do anything with them or not is an interesting question). We had a bit under half an hour until the booked taxi (given we still had euros, I was all for spending them on things that make life more bearable, and a taxi to the airport was definitely that, given my search for shuttle bus info had been some frustrating). I used that for spamming the offspring with photos in the discord. (I do have 'put photos in flickr' on the to do list; I will hopefully, in the upcoming weeks, share some of them. I'm absolutely okay with people reminding me of this).

Nice chatty taxi driver on the way to the airport. Arrived maybe 11:30? Didn't actually check. Terminal 1 looks to be older and more careworn than terminal 2 from the outside; inside it is clean but a bit scruffy in some of the places we were. Find the check in for Qatar, which is open (yay!). We'd already checked in, so took the line for web check in / bag drop. Two checked bags, and then our main bags cabin bags (we had the extra for food) had to be put on the conveyor together (weighed?) and then tagged. Maybe ten minutes in the queue here? And then heading to security.

Something I've not seen before is a 'prep for security' station. Great big rubbish bins (three types - two recycling and a rubbish here; the later set I saw was a mixed recycling, compost, and general rubbish), with some sections of work bench in between. Each section of the bench had a supply of clear plastic bags, and instructions. It was at this point we realised that the risotto--bought to be my lunch, on the assumption that we would be able to get lunch for A in the airport, but not for me--was not going to make it through security. So I ate an early lunch, standing up and watching the videos relating to how to go through security (how the liquids rules work; take heels and boots off but runners are fine; jumpers and jackets have to go in the tray, as do belts; something else that surprised me but I've already forgotten).

That done, I wiped the spoon clean with my hanky, chucked the empty container, and we headed through. While we'd been waiting, the average time display dropped from 17 minute to 15 minutes. Security wasn't too tedious, but both our trays had to go back through, because they were both pulled into the 'check it' line, but when they brought up the tray number the image wasn't there. Second scan of both was fine. Given metal water bottles, ipads, spoons, a range of food, and a range of the kinds of things I keep in my bag (not the sewing kit with the scissors though), I have no idea what it looks like!

Meandered through to our gate - by the time we got through security, the gate on our boarding pass was wrong; we were able to check the screen just past security, and we wouldn't have been far off. 303 is in an end bit of the terminal (gates 301 to 303); great big round space with toilets and other facilities in the centre, and then sections of seats overlooking the planes. The space isn't really large enough to appropriately handle the numbers of people trying to get on each plane, and I observed some stressed people (staff and passengers) while boarding was happening at the next gate. People who had been summoned to board couldn't, because the press of people in the way, and people not in that section weren't allowed on. This was one of the shabbier sections - all the seat cushions in the area we were sitting were cracked.

At this point we were an hour and a half from boarding, and I was restless. I'd done some stretching while there was space, and knowing I was going to be sitting for many hours, and already sore, I headed off to look at the bookshops, with the 'see if you can find me something to read' from A (the book they'd started on the way over is sufficiently depressing that they don't want to read more. Or rather, the character is frustrating to read about, and make decisions that A doesn't want to read about). Two bookshops, both the same chain, and if we had been mystery or thriller readers (or possibly chick-lit) we'd have had lots of choices. What I found in SF was nothing I didn't already own; what I found in fantasy was Pern, but more grim (hmm. Fourth Wing was one of them, but there were, I think, three such). I've heard good things about one of them, but it isn't something I'd expect A to read.

Back to the waiting area, fill up water bottle (in retrospect, probably a bad idea -- it will have to be empty when we get to Doha, roughly 6.5 hours after we left, and there will be multiple beverage services). And wait, and wait. Have some hiccups in terms of being in the 'access the lift' queue rather than the 'stairs' queue. Board. Sit. Wait. 20 minute delay because air traffic over ?central? Europe. Depart. I now have the 'cockpit' view of the flight map, and the cities I can see in the central third, so roughly those we are 'close' to/going towards are Dortmund, Arnsberg, Iserlohn, Hague, Stadtallendorf, Marburg, Fulda, Scweinfurt, Siegen, Kreuztal, with Plzen* and Linz on the horizon.

* the n in this should have the same symbol as this ě, but my keyboard doesn't have that as an option.