I got to read some rather worrying posts on Ash's blog over the last few days. Nan has been in hospital since just before we left for Australia. She had what Em thinks is a pleural effusion which has caused a build up of fluid on her right lung. This has obviously caused a fair bit of pain and lots of troubles with her breathing which she needed to get looked at. They put in a drain a few days after we saw her and by all accounts it has been draining pretty much constantly since it was put in. This means that the cause of the problem is still there and causing it to continually refil, a bit like taking the plug out of a bath, but leaving the tap running. Without finding a way to turn off the tap, it will just keep draining, and if the plug is put back in (the drain taken out) then it will cause the build up of fluid once again and the pain and breathing difficulties to reappear. This is fair enough, but the fact that it has been over 3 weeks now makes me really worried about her.
I've also been informed that the standard of care is really low in her ward. The nurses don't seem to give a stuff about Nan, they sound like they are more worried about the state of their paperwork than the state of the patients. Nan is of the generation that went through the war and always gets on with things and tries not to make a fuss if things aren't as they want them. This puts her at a great risk when the nurses don't do a decent job as she won't make a noise and complain. Nan has always had a problem with her feet swelling if she stays in a chair with her legs down, and what does mum keep finding?? The nurses don't put her feet on anything so her legs keep swelling. Nan doesn't help by not complaining, but it shouldn't be up to her to complain to get the treatment she deserves.
Now I hear that Nan has got a bedsore!! Mum wouldn't have been caught dead letting one of her patients get a red patch on their skin let alone a bedsore when she was nursing, so my big question is what has happened to the nursing hierarchy that used to exist in the NHS? Where are the Sisters who would give the younger nurses hell if they didn't do their job correctly? And why, when they are obviously being negligent in their care, is there nobody questioning why this is occurring. I suppose worst of all is, why doesn't anyone give a shit about this happening?
If Nan and Gang had been really wealthy and could have been able to afford private healthcare without thinking about it, I know for a fact that she'd be in a much better state of health than she is now that the NHS have been allowed to do their worst.
I hope that the threat of lawyers which I believe is the next step, will improve their care towards her. If this doesn't work then I really hope mum and dad look carefully at how much private health care will cost. She's been in the hospital for 3 weeks and by all accounts is looking grey, thin, hardly eating or drinking and is very difficult to hear when she talks. I keep thinking if that's what they do to her in 3 weeks, how bad will it be in another 3?
And after these 3 weeks of hell, they still don't know what is causing it. I told mum two weeks ago that both Em and Iz have had patients with all the same symptoms as nan and that it was all due to underlying heart failure, treatment of which resolved the lung problems. I know that this is a diagnosis made by two juniors on the other side of the planet, but at least they seem to be on to things a bit quicker than the NHS. I hear that the cardiologist has now at least seen her - but that's after two and a half weeks in there!
I really hope that they find a cause soon because given the level of nursing care at Southport Hospital, it may be too late by the time they do get around to diagnosing her.
Friday, 29 February 2008
Cars
Had a good week this week. Tim managed to finally sell my car which is a load off my mind. I'd been wondering how things were going to work out with this sale for a week or so. Initially before I left the UK I tried unsuccessfully to sell it. I had acquired the car when my Grandad (Pop) died a few years back (June 2004 I think it was) and since getting it with only 16000 miles on the clock I'd only put on an extra 30000 miles, and the vast majority of that was added in the last year during my daily commute from Bournemouth to Southampton. It had been a terrific car after the saga of my previous mode of transport, a somewhat dodgy Rover 220 coupe which I'd always wanted ever since getting a lift from one of my dad's friends at his amateur dramatics society. I still remember the smell of that new Rover, a K-reg version in British Racing Green and ever since that day I thought "I'm going to own one of these one day". I finally bought it, my first car, using a fair whack of my savings that I'd built up over the years and in hindsight it was probably a bit of a waste of my savings, but I was sure it was a great deal. It turned out to be one of the greatest drives I've ever experienced, but that turned out to be fairly rarely. The day after I bought it, I drove to Lancashire and on the return journey, the head gasket blew in the outside lane of the M5 ... not what I was expecting. Three replacement heads later, I was back on the road. It then went through 2 clutch cables before I realised a leaky battery was causing that disaster - again the clutch went on the outside lane of the M6 this time, but again not far from the RAC headquarters in Birmingham. At least they didn't have far to come to pick us up!!! So as you can see, I was really happy to get the Micra. It never put a foot wrong and sailed through all but the last MOT, when a leaky brake cylinder called for a rear brake overhaul. Pretty good for a 9 year old car I reckon :-)
Well with the sale of the Micra, we can now start planning the purchase of a new car over here in Australia. We'd been looking since we got here as we knew that we needed to buy one as soon as possible because shift patterns would soon stop falling right for lifts to and from work for Emma. The costs of cars out here are not cheap at all. There are some cheap ones, but they tend to be high mileage and by high mileage, I'm talking seriously high mileage!! In the UK a high mileage car would be one approaching 100,000 miles. We're talking about cars with over 300,000 kms (about 200,000 miles. I know Australia is big, but that is just daft! Izzy came back from a shift last week andtold us of a girl at work who she'd been working with who is also English and out here on a 6-month contract but is off at the end of the week and is desperate to get rid of her car at what ever cost. We went round to her place on Tuesday to see if it was still available, and although she wasn't around (has gone on a short holiday for a fortnight before beginning a new job in Darwin) her house mate was there, although in the process of moving out to also go to Darwin, she let us go and view the car. It is a year 2000 Ford Mondeo and looks to be in really good nick. Yes it does have a fairly high mileage of 155,000 kms, but at only $4000 it is a steal, so we are hoping to pick that up at the beginning of the week after next.
The acquisition of a car will help Em quite a bit as she's on ICU which I believe I've mentioned before, but this means that she does 7 days straight, working 12 hours minimum per day (8am to 8pm), so although she can get a lift into work easily enough, she was having to get buses or taxis all week to get home which is not ideal - especially when buses switch to an hourly service after about 6, and if she misses a bus has to wait around for up to an hour to catch the next one and so therefore wasn't getting home till between 9.15 and 9.30pm each day. It'll also allow us to go for trips of a weekend or on her weeks off and explore a bit of Oz. Something which we are not easily able to do at the moment, but we have been exploring Terrigal quite a bit.
Our explorations were cut short this week however. This was due to what the news broadcasters were describing as a one in twenty year thunderstorm, referring to the quantities of rainfall during one particularly bad storm on Tuesday. Parts of New South Wales experienced more than a months rainfall in an hour and a half. This, following some horrendous weather in Queensland (the state to the north of NSW) where they've had massive floods and only on Monday had 600mm (yes that is over half a metre or 2 foot) of rain in a matter of hours! At least it isn't at flooding stages yet here!!! The storm was mightily impressive though. It passed over us as I was cooking tea on Tuesday. There were bolts of lightning hitting all around, and Rhys (who had gone out) told us next day that he saw a bolt hit the ground about 100m from where they were all walking ... a rather scary experience by all accounts. It soon turned into an electrical storm and the clouds were continually flashing, about one bolt/crash of thunder, every thirty seconds for about 2 and a half hours as it passed over us and out to sea. It has since been raining for at least a few hours each day, with today finally picking up and rain only falling first thing this morning. All this after I sat watching the news over breakfast and was informed by an australian in England that England has experienced the sunniest February since records began - over 101 hours of sunshine by all accounts. Here was us moving to the other side of the world in Winter thinking that we'd be in NSW, by the beach, in February which is always the driest and one of the warmest months, and we are then told on the news that it has been the wettest February over here since records began!!! Typical!
Here's hoping the weekend brings some slightly better weather so we can get out and about a bit more this weekend and go exploring. Izzy is off tomorrow so we are hoping to go and do something. Might go to the Reptile Park near to Gosford which seems like a good day out. They also have a spider acclimatisation area where you can go and see the nasty spiders, and if you are brave enough, go and pick up some of the friendlier types. I don't think Em will like this bit - we were looking at a book the other day and I think she began getting a mild panic attack!!
Will write more shortly,
Tootle pip,
Rich
Well with the sale of the Micra, we can now start planning the purchase of a new car over here in Australia. We'd been looking since we got here as we knew that we needed to buy one as soon as possible because shift patterns would soon stop falling right for lifts to and from work for Emma. The costs of cars out here are not cheap at all. There are some cheap ones, but they tend to be high mileage and by high mileage, I'm talking seriously high mileage!! In the UK a high mileage car would be one approaching 100,000 miles. We're talking about cars with over 300,000 kms (about 200,000 miles. I know Australia is big, but that is just daft! Izzy came back from a shift last week andtold us of a girl at work who she'd been working with who is also English and out here on a 6-month contract but is off at the end of the week and is desperate to get rid of her car at what ever cost. We went round to her place on Tuesday to see if it was still available, and although she wasn't around (has gone on a short holiday for a fortnight before beginning a new job in Darwin) her house mate was there, although in the process of moving out to also go to Darwin, she let us go and view the car. It is a year 2000 Ford Mondeo and looks to be in really good nick. Yes it does have a fairly high mileage of 155,000 kms, but at only $4000 it is a steal, so we are hoping to pick that up at the beginning of the week after next.
The acquisition of a car will help Em quite a bit as she's on ICU which I believe I've mentioned before, but this means that she does 7 days straight, working 12 hours minimum per day (8am to 8pm), so although she can get a lift into work easily enough, she was having to get buses or taxis all week to get home which is not ideal - especially when buses switch to an hourly service after about 6, and if she misses a bus has to wait around for up to an hour to catch the next one and so therefore wasn't getting home till between 9.15 and 9.30pm each day. It'll also allow us to go for trips of a weekend or on her weeks off and explore a bit of Oz. Something which we are not easily able to do at the moment, but we have been exploring Terrigal quite a bit.
Our explorations were cut short this week however. This was due to what the news broadcasters were describing as a one in twenty year thunderstorm, referring to the quantities of rainfall during one particularly bad storm on Tuesday. Parts of New South Wales experienced more than a months rainfall in an hour and a half. This, following some horrendous weather in Queensland (the state to the north of NSW) where they've had massive floods and only on Monday had 600mm (yes that is over half a metre or 2 foot) of rain in a matter of hours! At least it isn't at flooding stages yet here!!! The storm was mightily impressive though. It passed over us as I was cooking tea on Tuesday. There were bolts of lightning hitting all around, and Rhys (who had gone out) told us next day that he saw a bolt hit the ground about 100m from where they were all walking ... a rather scary experience by all accounts. It soon turned into an electrical storm and the clouds were continually flashing, about one bolt/crash of thunder, every thirty seconds for about 2 and a half hours as it passed over us and out to sea. It has since been raining for at least a few hours each day, with today finally picking up and rain only falling first thing this morning. All this after I sat watching the news over breakfast and was informed by an australian in England that England has experienced the sunniest February since records began - over 101 hours of sunshine by all accounts. Here was us moving to the other side of the world in Winter thinking that we'd be in NSW, by the beach, in February which is always the driest and one of the warmest months, and we are then told on the news that it has been the wettest February over here since records began!!! Typical!
Here's hoping the weekend brings some slightly better weather so we can get out and about a bit more this weekend and go exploring. Izzy is off tomorrow so we are hoping to go and do something. Might go to the Reptile Park near to Gosford which seems like a good day out. They also have a spider acclimatisation area where you can go and see the nasty spiders, and if you are brave enough, go and pick up some of the friendlier types. I don't think Em will like this bit - we were looking at a book the other day and I think she began getting a mild panic attack!!
Will write more shortly,
Tootle pip,
Rich
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Leaving UK never easy
Our experience of leaving the UK was one which got a large number of our fellow passengers supremely irate, but with Em and I being laid back as usual, we just let it slide by without letting it worry us.
We left Bournemouth in a blacked out people carrier making us get a feel for the celebrity lifestyle as kids in cars passed by us trying to peer through our windows to see who was in the back. Our driver was a really talkative chap retelling many stories of the people he's taken to and from the airport, from the high flying businessmen to the well paid doctors and the children of rich parents on their way to and from luxury holidays in the alps. The journey lasted about 2 hours and we even managed to stay awake for the whole trip - quite impressive considering we'd spent the previous night sleeping on a blanket on a wooden floor for a few hours before conceeding that it was so uncomfortable that we had to swap for a room with a carpeted floor which wasn't a great deal better and quite a bit cooler.
At Heathrow, we unloaded the car and he drove off and then we had to figure out exactly what was the best way of getting 6 bags from one side of the road to the other and into the terminal without leaving any alone for security to run off with and practice their controlled explosions on - especially as there wasn't a trolley in sight! I decided to take my cases in to the terminal on the hunt for a couple of trolleys and after a bit of a walk down past security I found 5 trolleys abandoned by the wall. I grabbed one, threw my bags on it, and went out to find Em. We piled all the large bags onto the trolley and then I dragged the hand baggage behind me whilst Em pushed the trolley back into the terminal building. I will point out that I wasn't being cruel, but Em couldn't drive two sets of hand luggage and found the trolley easier to control. After getting our boarding passes we queued up for baggage drop off and looking at the hand luggage checking rack I began to get worried. About three weeks earlier we had rung up BA to say that my bag was larger in one dimension by one centimetre than the specified dimensions, but that it was smaller in the other two to which the lady on the helpline said that it is fine and that they aren't that strict. I had my doubts, but we'd decided to stick with what we'd got as it was going to be extremely useful having those extra few inches of space in comparison with Em's smaller hand luggage. We checked in the big bags and went round to the security check and sure enough I was pulled to one side and was asked to put it into the checking frame. I knew it wouldn't fit but tried anyway and sure enough the wheel got stuck - about one centimetre too large. I then had to check it into the hold which was going to cost another £75. I opened up the bag as I knew there were a few things in there that I didn't want to go into the hold such as my contact lenses, my camera, some magazines Sascha had bought us and my paperwork which I may need on the other side. Thankfully I also remembered my passport was in there before I took it back over to baggage check-in.
I got chatting to the lady at the desk and told her our story, knowing full well that she probably got fifity sob stories every day from people trying to buck the system and get something for nothing. I wasn't expecting anything and got out my cash and asked her how much it would be ... she said nothing. I was surprised and asked if she was sure, and apparently the paper work is so lengthy that she couldn't be bothered with the hassle so just put it through for me for free. "Bonus" I thought!
We went back through security and this time passed through without problem, other than the normal flush of embarrasement on the other side of the scanners as I hold everyone up whilst trying to refill my pockets with all my loose change and proceding to drop it on the floor and then scrabble around to try and gather it all up again! One day I'll go out and buy a wallet with a coin pocket to prevent this happening ... but I doubt I'll remember before the next time I see the scanner.
We now had about 2 and a half hours to kill before our flight, so we went for a stroll around the airport shops before spotting a JD Wetherspoons at one end and decided to go and get ourselves some food as we'd not had much to eat all day. I decided on Chilli and Em had the veggie Chilli. We spent half of our time in Wetherspoons calling parents and I missed a call from Ash on his way back from Scotland, so managed to get in touch with him about an hour later. Many goodbyes were said and we then headed off to our gate as boarding time was approaching.
Ten minutes after boarding was meant to begin, an announcement came over that we were going to change planes and that the gate was changing, so a mass rush began to be the first to the gate. We realised there was no point in rushing as we were going to be on the plane for the next day, and because of this, what was the point in getting irritated by it all? We strolled over to the gate and took a seat while a couple of hundred people queued up. After another half an hour we were told tha the flight would be delayed until quarter past ten; it was now half nine. Everyone sat down and mumblings began from lots of quarters of people saying to one another "I told you we should have flown Singapore Airlines", "I knew British Airways service would be crap" etc, etc.
Time passed slowly by and at around ten past eleven we finally made our way through the gate - only to find they'd moved us behind a door, down some stairs and into another holding area! We were only here five minutes and then we weaved our way down a series of ramps until we ended up outside and faced with an awaiting bus. 6 buses later, everyone was standing outside getting rather cold (bear in mind that most people were anticipating a warm sunny day in Australia on arrival and were dressed accordingly) and beginning to board the aircraft up the stairs and into the plane.
We'd booked the rearmost two seats of the plane which when we got to them we were really happy about. being the back two seats, they'd taken up any discrepancy in seat spacing in this seat, so even sitting correctly in my seat I had a good 3-4 inches clear to the seat in front. Combine this with a large amount of space between the seat in front and the internal wall of the aircraft and I ended up having loads of space. Em was obviously fine in her seat and had the added bonus of being on the aisle so she could get up and wander around whenever she needed to.
The flight went without any real problem - apart from around 80% of the seats not having any entertainment on the way to Bangkok (not us thankfully) and around 95% of seats not having anything on the way to Sydney (again not us) after they tried to fix the problem but just blacked out more seats than before. We managed to watch Ratatouille and Stardust (I recommend this for Dad - his kind of film) and Em watched one other but I was attempting to sleep! Amazingly Emma got a decent amount of sleep due in the most part to the travel sickness tablets she was taking every 8 hours and the side affect of this was that they sent her to sleep. We can also report that the turbulence at the rear of the aircraft wasn't as bad as Tim suggested it might be. Obviously we don't know what weather conditions were like at night, but we did hit a bit of the rough stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary.
We landed in Sydney around an hour and a half later than scheduled so we knew that our day was already not going to go exactly to plan (we'd hoped to meet Izzy around 9am). We then proceded to get delayed by a further hour and a half as the bus driver was waiting for another gentleman who was due to be on the flight following ours. A few phone calls later and a long time sitting outside McDonalds in Sydney Airport, the driver gave up waiting and said he'd take us rather than continue to wait. We got to Gosford around 11.45 and met Vicky at the main reception. She told Em what the plan was for the next couple of days, and then we booked a taxi (an estate which we only just managed to fit all our bags into) and then headed off for Terrigal which we arrived at at 12.30 to be met by Izzy who had just returned from Wyong with her new car. Unloaded and then went out for lunch.
Spent the day wandering around Terrigal - small but very nicely laid out; plenty of restaurants and shops and really good beach and from the look of it, decent surf conditions. Met Rhys in the evening and then proceded to attempt to stay awake in the evening. Apologies to Izzy for the rather poor conversation that evening as both I and then Emma fell into that half sleep where you are convinced that you're awake but everyone knows you aren't!!
We left Bournemouth in a blacked out people carrier making us get a feel for the celebrity lifestyle as kids in cars passed by us trying to peer through our windows to see who was in the back. Our driver was a really talkative chap retelling many stories of the people he's taken to and from the airport, from the high flying businessmen to the well paid doctors and the children of rich parents on their way to and from luxury holidays in the alps. The journey lasted about 2 hours and we even managed to stay awake for the whole trip - quite impressive considering we'd spent the previous night sleeping on a blanket on a wooden floor for a few hours before conceeding that it was so uncomfortable that we had to swap for a room with a carpeted floor which wasn't a great deal better and quite a bit cooler.
At Heathrow, we unloaded the car and he drove off and then we had to figure out exactly what was the best way of getting 6 bags from one side of the road to the other and into the terminal without leaving any alone for security to run off with and practice their controlled explosions on - especially as there wasn't a trolley in sight! I decided to take my cases in to the terminal on the hunt for a couple of trolleys and after a bit of a walk down past security I found 5 trolleys abandoned by the wall. I grabbed one, threw my bags on it, and went out to find Em. We piled all the large bags onto the trolley and then I dragged the hand baggage behind me whilst Em pushed the trolley back into the terminal building. I will point out that I wasn't being cruel, but Em couldn't drive two sets of hand luggage and found the trolley easier to control. After getting our boarding passes we queued up for baggage drop off and looking at the hand luggage checking rack I began to get worried. About three weeks earlier we had rung up BA to say that my bag was larger in one dimension by one centimetre than the specified dimensions, but that it was smaller in the other two to which the lady on the helpline said that it is fine and that they aren't that strict. I had my doubts, but we'd decided to stick with what we'd got as it was going to be extremely useful having those extra few inches of space in comparison with Em's smaller hand luggage. We checked in the big bags and went round to the security check and sure enough I was pulled to one side and was asked to put it into the checking frame. I knew it wouldn't fit but tried anyway and sure enough the wheel got stuck - about one centimetre too large. I then had to check it into the hold which was going to cost another £75. I opened up the bag as I knew there were a few things in there that I didn't want to go into the hold such as my contact lenses, my camera, some magazines Sascha had bought us and my paperwork which I may need on the other side. Thankfully I also remembered my passport was in there before I took it back over to baggage check-in.
I got chatting to the lady at the desk and told her our story, knowing full well that she probably got fifity sob stories every day from people trying to buck the system and get something for nothing. I wasn't expecting anything and got out my cash and asked her how much it would be ... she said nothing. I was surprised and asked if she was sure, and apparently the paper work is so lengthy that she couldn't be bothered with the hassle so just put it through for me for free. "Bonus" I thought!
We went back through security and this time passed through without problem, other than the normal flush of embarrasement on the other side of the scanners as I hold everyone up whilst trying to refill my pockets with all my loose change and proceding to drop it on the floor and then scrabble around to try and gather it all up again! One day I'll go out and buy a wallet with a coin pocket to prevent this happening ... but I doubt I'll remember before the next time I see the scanner.
We now had about 2 and a half hours to kill before our flight, so we went for a stroll around the airport shops before spotting a JD Wetherspoons at one end and decided to go and get ourselves some food as we'd not had much to eat all day. I decided on Chilli and Em had the veggie Chilli. We spent half of our time in Wetherspoons calling parents and I missed a call from Ash on his way back from Scotland, so managed to get in touch with him about an hour later. Many goodbyes were said and we then headed off to our gate as boarding time was approaching.
Ten minutes after boarding was meant to begin, an announcement came over that we were going to change planes and that the gate was changing, so a mass rush began to be the first to the gate. We realised there was no point in rushing as we were going to be on the plane for the next day, and because of this, what was the point in getting irritated by it all? We strolled over to the gate and took a seat while a couple of hundred people queued up. After another half an hour we were told tha the flight would be delayed until quarter past ten; it was now half nine. Everyone sat down and mumblings began from lots of quarters of people saying to one another "I told you we should have flown Singapore Airlines", "I knew British Airways service would be crap" etc, etc.
Time passed slowly by and at around ten past eleven we finally made our way through the gate - only to find they'd moved us behind a door, down some stairs and into another holding area! We were only here five minutes and then we weaved our way down a series of ramps until we ended up outside and faced with an awaiting bus. 6 buses later, everyone was standing outside getting rather cold (bear in mind that most people were anticipating a warm sunny day in Australia on arrival and were dressed accordingly) and beginning to board the aircraft up the stairs and into the plane.
We'd booked the rearmost two seats of the plane which when we got to them we were really happy about. being the back two seats, they'd taken up any discrepancy in seat spacing in this seat, so even sitting correctly in my seat I had a good 3-4 inches clear to the seat in front. Combine this with a large amount of space between the seat in front and the internal wall of the aircraft and I ended up having loads of space. Em was obviously fine in her seat and had the added bonus of being on the aisle so she could get up and wander around whenever she needed to.
The flight went without any real problem - apart from around 80% of the seats not having any entertainment on the way to Bangkok (not us thankfully) and around 95% of seats not having anything on the way to Sydney (again not us) after they tried to fix the problem but just blacked out more seats than before. We managed to watch Ratatouille and Stardust (I recommend this for Dad - his kind of film) and Em watched one other but I was attempting to sleep! Amazingly Emma got a decent amount of sleep due in the most part to the travel sickness tablets she was taking every 8 hours and the side affect of this was that they sent her to sleep. We can also report that the turbulence at the rear of the aircraft wasn't as bad as Tim suggested it might be. Obviously we don't know what weather conditions were like at night, but we did hit a bit of the rough stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary.
We landed in Sydney around an hour and a half later than scheduled so we knew that our day was already not going to go exactly to plan (we'd hoped to meet Izzy around 9am). We then proceded to get delayed by a further hour and a half as the bus driver was waiting for another gentleman who was due to be on the flight following ours. A few phone calls later and a long time sitting outside McDonalds in Sydney Airport, the driver gave up waiting and said he'd take us rather than continue to wait. We got to Gosford around 11.45 and met Vicky at the main reception. She told Em what the plan was for the next couple of days, and then we booked a taxi (an estate which we only just managed to fit all our bags into) and then headed off for Terrigal which we arrived at at 12.30 to be met by Izzy who had just returned from Wyong with her new car. Unloaded and then went out for lunch.
Spent the day wandering around Terrigal - small but very nicely laid out; plenty of restaurants and shops and really good beach and from the look of it, decent surf conditions. Met Rhys in the evening and then proceded to attempt to stay awake in the evening. Apologies to Izzy for the rather poor conversation that evening as both I and then Emma fell into that half sleep where you are convinced that you're awake but everyone knows you aren't!!
Interwebbed at last
I've finally got the internet up and running today. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours playing with the router, filters and changing as many settings as I could think of to get the net up and running at our place. The decision to try this was spawned by an email from our provider saying that we had now been fully provisioned. I took this to mean that we now had a broadband service active on our line ... apparently that is not what the Australians mean by 'fully provisioned'. After a fruitless two hours or so, I read further down the email from the ISP and it says:
"The service will be activated by Internode for charging purposes no later than 7 days after the service has been provisioned"
Fair enough, I thought and left it at that. It wasn't until I was going to bed that I suddenly thought 'Did I put the right cable into the phone and the right one into the modem??' This thought was triggered by the discovery by Izzy that the phone no longer worked at about 8pm. I figured that maybe the filter I brought from home may be running on a different frequency so disconnected that and turned off the router. The phone then worked. So I was getting ready for bed and had this thought, so went back into the living room, and sure enough, I'd put the wrong cables into the modem, so at half midnight I now spent a further half hour trying to get it working again. Still no luck so I went to bed.
Thought I'd try again this morning and still nothing and made the decision that the filter must be the problem as that didn't seem to be letting any signal through at all for the phone, and therefore the same must be happening with the modem. I read through the troubleshooting guide and it said "Do not filter the signal to the modem". This was a surprise as we have to filter, or at least I believe it is recommended for us to do so in the UK, so I disconnected the phone, plugged directly into the modem and Bob's your Uncle ... we now have broadband!!
I will now probably spend a few hours updating the blog with the full story of our flight out here, and various things that have happened in the first couple of weeks here, as I'm in the house on my own today as Rhys has gone to Sydney and Izzy's parents are here on holiday, so they've gone out for the day, and Emma is on her final day in ICU (the last of 7 successive 12 hour shifts).
Will write more soon
Tootle pip
Rich
"The service will be activated by Internode for charging purposes no later than 7 days after the service has been provisioned"
Fair enough, I thought and left it at that. It wasn't until I was going to bed that I suddenly thought 'Did I put the right cable into the phone and the right one into the modem??' This thought was triggered by the discovery by Izzy that the phone no longer worked at about 8pm. I figured that maybe the filter I brought from home may be running on a different frequency so disconnected that and turned off the router. The phone then worked. So I was getting ready for bed and had this thought, so went back into the living room, and sure enough, I'd put the wrong cables into the modem, so at half midnight I now spent a further half hour trying to get it working again. Still no luck so I went to bed.
Thought I'd try again this morning and still nothing and made the decision that the filter must be the problem as that didn't seem to be letting any signal through at all for the phone, and therefore the same must be happening with the modem. I read through the troubleshooting guide and it said "Do not filter the signal to the modem". This was a surprise as we have to filter, or at least I believe it is recommended for us to do so in the UK, so I disconnected the phone, plugged directly into the modem and Bob's your Uncle ... we now have broadband!!
I will now probably spend a few hours updating the blog with the full story of our flight out here, and various things that have happened in the first couple of weeks here, as I'm in the house on my own today as Rhys has gone to Sydney and Izzy's parents are here on holiday, so they've gone out for the day, and Emma is on her final day in ICU (the last of 7 successive 12 hour shifts).
Will write more soon
Tootle pip
Rich
Thursday, 21 February 2008
First few days of work ... for some at least
This week Em and Iz have been off at their respective hospitals and getting stuck into the world of work once more. Em is in Gosford at the hospital where we were taken on our first day in Australia and Iz is over in Wyong, about 20 miles north of us in Terrigal. So far we have not yet bought a car so Em is getting a lift in with Rhys in the mornings and returning by bus later that night. She is on 12 hour shifts (8-8) and is loving every minute of it. I have heard many stories of Central lines being put in, Art lines and all sorts of funky procedures which sound pretty daunting, but she is jumping into them as only Em does. Iz is having a slightly harder time of things as she's been dropped into Emergency Department work and not knowing the system in Oz, or the equipment which by all accounts is pretty different, she's having to learn on her feet and pretty fast too! I'm sure she'll get by soon enough.
I've signed us up for broadband now and am just waiting for them to switch us on which should hopefully be in the not too distant future. This will allow me to spend a bit more time composing the blog and adding photos for you all to see.
Over the last few days I've been doing a lot of shopping, cooking and housework as well as going out and spending time soaking up the sun and watching the surfing and sailing. I've now purchased some suncream, so hopefully the days of bad sunburn are now behind me!!
The weather has been pretty good, although Queensland (a few hundred miles north) is undergoing some of the worst flooding on record. They had 600mm fall in a matter of hours the other day, but the pictures on TV of the surfers at one of the big surf competitions look awesome. Big swells and loads of tubes for them to ride. As I write this, I can see a pretty decent swell throwing the laser yachts around out in Terrigal, so I'll have to go and look at the surfers when I've finished here. They should be putting on a good show today hopefully.
I've been checking out gyms and they are pretty expensive here. $26 per week, which works out around £50 per month - quite a lot more than I'd expect to pay for a comparable gym in the uk - £25 per month would be more like it. So I'm now looking at buying a bitof equipment and working out in the comfort of our place. We've got Air con, so I could switch that on whilst working out, plus there won't be much excuse for not doing it! I'm really missing the work outs actually, seeing as I've spent the last year with Sascha 3 times a week, something seems wrong when I'm not doing anything!! Will have to see what Sash reckons I need to get ... more emails to write!!
Well I'll try and write something else in the next few days.
Tootle pip,
Rich
I've signed us up for broadband now and am just waiting for them to switch us on which should hopefully be in the not too distant future. This will allow me to spend a bit more time composing the blog and adding photos for you all to see.
Over the last few days I've been doing a lot of shopping, cooking and housework as well as going out and spending time soaking up the sun and watching the surfing and sailing. I've now purchased some suncream, so hopefully the days of bad sunburn are now behind me!!
The weather has been pretty good, although Queensland (a few hundred miles north) is undergoing some of the worst flooding on record. They had 600mm fall in a matter of hours the other day, but the pictures on TV of the surfers at one of the big surf competitions look awesome. Big swells and loads of tubes for them to ride. As I write this, I can see a pretty decent swell throwing the laser yachts around out in Terrigal, so I'll have to go and look at the surfers when I've finished here. They should be putting on a good show today hopefully.
I've been checking out gyms and they are pretty expensive here. $26 per week, which works out around £50 per month - quite a lot more than I'd expect to pay for a comparable gym in the uk - £25 per month would be more like it. So I'm now looking at buying a bitof equipment and working out in the comfort of our place. We've got Air con, so I could switch that on whilst working out, plus there won't be much excuse for not doing it! I'm really missing the work outs actually, seeing as I've spent the last year with Sascha 3 times a week, something seems wrong when I'm not doing anything!! Will have to see what Sash reckons I need to get ... more emails to write!!
Well I'll try and write something else in the next few days.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Friday, 15 February 2008
Terrigal and Laser show
We've been settling in nicely in Terrigal which we have now discovered to be a tourist getaway for the residents of Sydney. Our Landlord owns both our flat and the one next door, and his main house is in Sydney, so it should eb pretty quiet most of the time next door, so no neighbours to annoy with any loud music or parties!
I've attached a few photos of our flat below:
We've been out and about in Terrigal this morning, seeing some of the sights and taking in the weather. Currently there is the World Laser Championships being held in the town, so people like Ben Ainslie are competing just off the headland, which is called the Skillion. On the walk over to the Skillion, we spotted a couple of lizards which were basking in the sun. They were about 14 inches long, and about 2-3 inches broad. Izzy initially thought it was a snake's tail, but when it scurried into the undergrowth, we realised it was actually some kind of lizard. I am going to have to invest in a book of Australian flora and fauna so that I can figure out what we are looking at, cos we haven't a clue most of the time!!
Spent about an hour wandering around the headland and watching various world class sailors continuously capsize their dinghies (don't think we'll be trying to sail them any time soon if the best can't stay out of the water!) and hunting for more wildlife, we headed back into town and to a few shops so Em and Iz could browse the clothes rails!
Found a rather nice looking bakery and bought some cream cakes and headed back to the house for lunch. I have been given the name Douglas (my middle name) as my slave name! I think Iz and Em are taking this whole "Rich, you're doing the house work, cooking, cleaning" thing a tad too far!! They have even bought a bell to call me when they want something ... will have to devise a cunning plan to get my own back!
After watching Australian Ready Steady Cook, we got ready to come down to the internet cafe. It was at that moment that I realised that I was glowing. I touched my arms, and yes, I was well and truly burnt :-( We then looked at Em, and saw her rather interesting tan (or should that be burn) lines. Serves her right for wearing a fancy top!!
Looking forward to Rhys returning home this evening as he has purchased a plasma TV and surround sound system, so an evening of boys tinkering with toys is awaiting.
Tootle pip,
Rich
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Quick Update from Oz
Just a quick update as not got huge amount of time today. Will try and update tomorrow with pics and more info!
Flight was 2 hours late getting into Sydney, mainly due to BA switching planes at the last minute as the entertainment system wasn't working, and subsequently putting us onto a plane where the entertainment system wasn't working!!! Oh, except for about 6 seats at the back, of which 2 were ours :-) Much abuse was given to us by other people when they saw us watching films!!
Arranged bank accounts on the first day. Went to Gosford yesterady with Em and Izzy and met the admin people at the hospital. Went over to Sydney to the Medical Board and the Immigration office, so they can now work in the hospital, and we can't be deported ... always a good thing to sort out I think. Have been back into Gosford today and now have Australian driving licenses and medicare cards which basically put us on an NHS esque system where we don't pay for any medical treatment.
Will go out and take photos of house, Terrigal and some of the wildlife and upload soon. House is great, 1 minute from the beach and is really well kitted out. Terrigal is a holiday town really, so we've got shed loads of restaurants and shops, surf clubs, diving ... you name it it is pretty much guaranteed to be here!!
Will post again soon as time about to run out at the internet cafe. going to try and sort internet for home in next few days so will be able to update more regularly.
Rich
Flight was 2 hours late getting into Sydney, mainly due to BA switching planes at the last minute as the entertainment system wasn't working, and subsequently putting us onto a plane where the entertainment system wasn't working!!! Oh, except for about 6 seats at the back, of which 2 were ours :-) Much abuse was given to us by other people when they saw us watching films!!
Arranged bank accounts on the first day. Went to Gosford yesterady with Em and Izzy and met the admin people at the hospital. Went over to Sydney to the Medical Board and the Immigration office, so they can now work in the hospital, and we can't be deported ... always a good thing to sort out I think. Have been back into Gosford today and now have Australian driving licenses and medicare cards which basically put us on an NHS esque system where we don't pay for any medical treatment.
Will go out and take photos of house, Terrigal and some of the wildlife and upload soon. House is great, 1 minute from the beach and is really well kitted out. Terrigal is a holiday town really, so we've got shed loads of restaurants and shops, surf clubs, diving ... you name it it is pretty much guaranteed to be here!!
Will post again soon as time about to run out at the internet cafe. going to try and sort internet for home in next few days so will be able to update more regularly.
Rich
Saturday, 9 February 2008
All coming into place
Just heard from Izzy. She got out to Oz fine and has found that we do indeed have a house to move into. Terrigal sounds great and we can't wait to get out there and join her. Last bit of re-packing underway to ensure that we get all the left overs into the suitcases. I expect the next post will be from Australia!!
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
The big move north
After finishing work on Thursday, Friday was spent manically packing the last few things in the flat prior to getting the van on Saturday morning when Tim was due to come round and help us load up. I did get a call from the hire company asking if I still wanted it which was good to hear as I knew they'd not forgotten about us, and I told him I needed the biggest van possible - I was starting to have doubts about the decision not to go for a Luton box van.
Got a call in the afternoon from a woman who was calling for some foreign guys who wanted to view the car. Sorted that for Sunday morning as that was the only day they could come, but meant we couldn't leave on Saturday night which I'd thought about doing to give us more time at the other end to unload. But if it was worth it to get some cash and get rid of the car!
Got the van Saturday morning, again had a panic over whether it would be big enough when I saw it considering the piles of stuff in the flat. Finished last bit of packing and Tim came round about 1pm and the marathon began. Em ran off about 3 to go see her mum and her friend for a cuppa, so we were left to it. Tim left around 6 and Em and I finished off loading the van with a bit of help from her ma and Giles. Said goodbyes to Em's folks and then off to see Ness and a few her friends who were down in Bournemouth for the weekend. Met up in Cuccinis for some good Italian, lots of catching up and stories of travels before going to Label for a couple of drinks then back to ours for a nightcap. Not much in the way of home comforts back at the flat, but I think the plastic beakers added a touch of class to a potentially embarrassing situation! More goodbyes, and then went to bed and realised we'd packed all the bedding, so found a blanket covering a mirror which hadn't been put in the van and wrapped ourselves up in that on the sofa bed.
Waited around on Sunday till 11am for the guys to come look at my car but no one showed. Was most pissed off. Don't know why people don't have the decency to call to let you know if they can't make it, especially after I made it clear I was being put out to see them at that time. After a bit of a rant, threw the last few bits in the van. Got Em in the cab and piled computer, hand luggage, vacuum cleaner and house plants on top of her and then set off for Ham Lane.
Saw Ann et al and had a cuppa before Ann called the hospital to see if we could go and see aunt. They said we could go early which was cool, so Ann, Chris, Em and I went to Russell's Hall to see her. I've never seen a hospital so expansive before - apparently funded by PFI, and has given the area a cracking healthcare centre, but at the expense of losing a lot of the smaller and more local hospitals. I realised the problem this causes when we left and saw the queues to get in for visiting ... they stretched a good half mile in all directions, on all roads into the site. Aunt seemed really good considering what I'd heard, and she knew it was me and Em, and we had a good chat for an hour or so. Was good to see her and hopefully it won't be the last time, but the docs have said it may not be long until her cancer gets the better of her. Fingers crossed we'll see her when we get back.
Left Ham Lane a lot later than intended, but for good reasons and off to Lancs. Got there at a little before 7pm, and Ash turned up about 10 mins later. Pondered the pros and cons of unpacking before or after tea. Decided on after, and met Ash at Nan's at quarter to 9. Thankfully dad suggested putting the majority of the stuff in the garage which I was happy to do, and this meant it only took about an hour to unpack the entire van. Em did the relay into the house with all the bits we didn't want left outside in the cold and then threw a few bits into the van to take back to the parents. Said a quick hello to Nan and then back home.
Off to Southport on Monday to take the van back after ringing to see if they'd bring us back to Burscough. Got there and they'd changed their mind so got a lift to the station. Em got supremely cold waiting for the 12:15 train which strangely suddenly became the 12:38, so went to M&S to keep warm, do a bit of shopping and go to the cafe for some lunch. Got a call from Mum saying Nan had got a bed in the hospital and she'd see us later when she got back from taking her. Got home late afternoon and took the dog out, and when we got back had another call from Mum, this time saying they were still waiting for the ambulance to take them. They eventually got there at 5:15 so went with Ash that evening to see her and say our goodbyes. Hope they actually do something for her this time and don't just keep her in for a week and then send her home!! Can tell Nan really doesn't like the idea of us jetting off. Was sad to say goodbye, and also to say goodbye to Ash when we got dropped off.
Had to try and get up early on Tuesday to say bye to Dad before he went to work, then grabbed our stuff, burnt a couple of CDs of data from the pc we'd left, and then said bye to Mum and headed off to catch the train. 7 hours later we were back in Bournemouth and ready for the last couple of days before getting the taxi to Heathrow! We now have all our possessions in one room!!
Got a call in the afternoon from a woman who was calling for some foreign guys who wanted to view the car. Sorted that for Sunday morning as that was the only day they could come, but meant we couldn't leave on Saturday night which I'd thought about doing to give us more time at the other end to unload. But if it was worth it to get some cash and get rid of the car!
Got the van Saturday morning, again had a panic over whether it would be big enough when I saw it considering the piles of stuff in the flat. Finished last bit of packing and Tim came round about 1pm and the marathon began. Em ran off about 3 to go see her mum and her friend for a cuppa, so we were left to it. Tim left around 6 and Em and I finished off loading the van with a bit of help from her ma and Giles. Said goodbyes to Em's folks and then off to see Ness and a few her friends who were down in Bournemouth for the weekend. Met up in Cuccinis for some good Italian, lots of catching up and stories of travels before going to Label for a couple of drinks then back to ours for a nightcap. Not much in the way of home comforts back at the flat, but I think the plastic beakers added a touch of class to a potentially embarrassing situation! More goodbyes, and then went to bed and realised we'd packed all the bedding, so found a blanket covering a mirror which hadn't been put in the van and wrapped ourselves up in that on the sofa bed.
Waited around on Sunday till 11am for the guys to come look at my car but no one showed. Was most pissed off. Don't know why people don't have the decency to call to let you know if they can't make it, especially after I made it clear I was being put out to see them at that time. After a bit of a rant, threw the last few bits in the van. Got Em in the cab and piled computer, hand luggage, vacuum cleaner and house plants on top of her and then set off for Ham Lane.
Saw Ann et al and had a cuppa before Ann called the hospital to see if we could go and see aunt. They said we could go early which was cool, so Ann, Chris, Em and I went to Russell's Hall to see her. I've never seen a hospital so expansive before - apparently funded by PFI, and has given the area a cracking healthcare centre, but at the expense of losing a lot of the smaller and more local hospitals. I realised the problem this causes when we left and saw the queues to get in for visiting ... they stretched a good half mile in all directions, on all roads into the site. Aunt seemed really good considering what I'd heard, and she knew it was me and Em, and we had a good chat for an hour or so. Was good to see her and hopefully it won't be the last time, but the docs have said it may not be long until her cancer gets the better of her. Fingers crossed we'll see her when we get back.
Left Ham Lane a lot later than intended, but for good reasons and off to Lancs. Got there at a little before 7pm, and Ash turned up about 10 mins later. Pondered the pros and cons of unpacking before or after tea. Decided on after, and met Ash at Nan's at quarter to 9. Thankfully dad suggested putting the majority of the stuff in the garage which I was happy to do, and this meant it only took about an hour to unpack the entire van. Em did the relay into the house with all the bits we didn't want left outside in the cold and then threw a few bits into the van to take back to the parents. Said a quick hello to Nan and then back home.
Off to Southport on Monday to take the van back after ringing to see if they'd bring us back to Burscough. Got there and they'd changed their mind so got a lift to the station. Em got supremely cold waiting for the 12:15 train which strangely suddenly became the 12:38, so went to M&S to keep warm, do a bit of shopping and go to the cafe for some lunch. Got a call from Mum saying Nan had got a bed in the hospital and she'd see us later when she got back from taking her. Got home late afternoon and took the dog out, and when we got back had another call from Mum, this time saying they were still waiting for the ambulance to take them. They eventually got there at 5:15 so went with Ash that evening to see her and say our goodbyes. Hope they actually do something for her this time and don't just keep her in for a week and then send her home!! Can tell Nan really doesn't like the idea of us jetting off. Was sad to say goodbye, and also to say goodbye to Ash when we got dropped off.
Had to try and get up early on Tuesday to say bye to Dad before he went to work, then grabbed our stuff, burnt a couple of CDs of data from the pc we'd left, and then said bye to Mum and headed off to catch the train. 7 hours later we were back in Bournemouth and ready for the last couple of days before getting the taxi to Heathrow! We now have all our possessions in one room!!
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