We had to go back to Brisbane but before we left, we called on the estate agent. The salesman was out and we were told he wouldn't be back for over an hour. As we were really just stickybeaking, we decided not to wait for him.
We drove back to Lawnton and set up in "our space".
I woke up feeling lousy and thought that Tai Chi might be beyond me but the gentle exercise seemed to exorcise whatever was plaguing me and by lunch time I was fit and hungry.
I spent the afternoon and evening catching up on some outstanding administrative chores. I didn't get them all done so I'll have to have another go tomorrow.
I managed to finish most of the things I needed to get done while we are in Brisbane.
The Telstra shop in Chermside where I bought the phone is closed for three weeks for make-over but the data cable for the new mobile phone has not appeared so I decided visit the Strathpine store to try and find out what had happened. The young man there was very helpful and searched the records from the Chermside shop, rang Cellnet, and found that the original order had never been sent to them. He promised to fix it up.
I had an appointment at the dentist in the afternoon and lost two more teeth. The dentist said that I have to wait three months before they can fit a denture so I will have to revise my diet to exclude things I have to chew.
We visited Patricks Road and found the new data cable had been delivered.
We decided that, with the cold nights we are presently experiencing, it would be more comfortable to stay at Lawnton Showground than to go bush for the weekend.
I spent the best part of ther day trying without success to get the new phone to connect to the ibook.
I had mulled over the problem with the new phone overnight and in the morning I found some settings which work using the system that the old phone used (QNC). As the phone is also 1XRTT capable I tried to get that to work but failed. I'll have to wait until Monday to talk to the appropriate tech support people to find out what the problem is.
I have adopted Jean's diet of two meals a day of Optifast and, as she did, found the change caused some considerable initial discomfort so we veged out.
We met the family at Cafe Zanetti for a late breakfast and went back to Patricks Road to do a bit of web surfing.
I downloaded all the campsite details from the CMCA website but couldn't find a way to make the stuff easily readable because the layout is quite obscure. Maybe this is because they expect everyone to use a PC and ignore the needs of Macintosh users. On the other hand, it may be just the way it is written. Whatever the cause, I find it pretty unhelpful. On the other hand I've got "The Book" so I don't need the CMCA list, do I?.
Jean had to go to the doctor to see about a spot on her back. It was diagnosed as an age spot , totally benign and only of concern if it were in a place where it would be rubbed a lot.
I had planned to get the doctor to do medical forms for Queensland drivers licenses but I didn't think about it until after Jeans appointment so we'll have to go back. I struggle with the problem of remembering everything we must do. I keep lists but I don't always remember to put things on them and I don't always remember to refer to the lists. What I need is a device which knows about my problems and insists that I make all relevant entries and insists that I take its advice when I am doing stuff!.
I have just finished reading Death Sentence by Don Waston, an Australian academic. He describes the current "managerial English", which is full of cliches and buzz words, has few if any verbs, and is generally written in dot points rather than sentences. He suggests that it stifles all original thought in both the writers and the readers and threatens the foundations of our democracy.
He ascribes the language in the first instance to consultants. In the seventies and eighties they found that they could baffle brains with bullshit and make a handsome living saying nothing worthwhile at great length. He shows how it spread like some fungal disease from the companies who paid for it, to other companies, to government instrumentalities, to government itself, and even to the universities. I reflect that I was caught in some of this in the later years of my working life. I had to cope with all sorts of "modern management methods" but I balked at "Quality Function Deployment" and refused to even try and find out what it was.
Some of his examples of bad writing are hilarious. George W Bush is said to have said "The trouble with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur".
The message is, however, a frightening one because there seems no way back to a more inspired world. He does propose a solution. He suggests that every organisation put in place a policy which requires meaningless words and phrases to be targeted one by one and banned from all written material. This would encourage writers to think about what they are writing and give their readers something to think about. Gradually we would all become weaned from "managerial English" and revert to fully developed English. I'm sure it will happen someday but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting.
But I digress
We were asked to baby sit the kids for dinner because Sarah and Max were both working and Al wouldn't be back till sixish. It was OK. Max had bought sausages from Lindsay so that there would be no fuss from the kids. I cooked dinner and they behaved remarkably well.
We went to Lutwyche for Tai Chi and then to Cafe Zanetti for lunch.
I arranged for the Motley's windscreen to be replaced. They were happy to come to the showground to do it and I was happy not to have to move the Motley.
While we were sitting around waiting, Lance Maguire, the banjo player, appeared to show off his newest toy. He had bought a little pop-top to replace their ageing car. A Canadian lady had bought it, toured Australia for six months, and sold it to Lance at a huge discount when she returned to Canada.
We entertained Al to dinner of curry and rice. I bought it from the Bombay Express in Lawnton and it we all enjoyed it. It's handy to know somewhere close by where we can get good takeaway food.
I had another appointment at the dentist. The result was a decision to have the last two upper molars out.
I had to book the truck in for a service so we decided to stay another weekend and escape from Brisbane next week. We'll have to negotiate an early celebration of Kelly's birthday but that shouldn't be a problem.
We left the trailer at Lawnton and drove both the Motley and the Little Motley to Aspley to have the truck serviced. I had heard that the gas regulator had been replaced under warranty so we went to Virginia to pick up the new one.
Coffee at Cafe Zanetti, lunch at Patricks Road, to the doctor to get medical certificates for new drivers licenses, and to Mazda to pick up the truck. I had been told, when I took the truck in for its 100,000 km service in Horsham, that the timing belt should be changed. They didn't do it then due to lack of time so I asked for it to be done this time. When I got the bill, I noticed that it didn't include a new timing belt. I asked about this and they called the mechanic who said he didn't change it because the T4600 doesn't have one, it has a gear drive. Presumably the guy in Horsham had found this out when he tried to get a new belt but he didn't tell me. All that worry about nothing.
Out early to do the laundry. Out again to dump the black water.
In the evening, we had a barbecue after happy hour with all the assembled motorhomers. The conversation finally turned to the state of the CMCA. It was interesting to hear the views of some different people. We have an election for two directors later this year so perhaps things might change for the better.
We went to Patricks Road to celebrate Kelly's birthday. She seemed to enjoy our present a lot which was nice. We had roast chicken and lots of roast veges which was also nice.
I decided to wash all the windows of the Motley and this led to cleaning the fly screens and this led to trying to clean the curtains. This last proved difficult so we decided to fit new curtains which will give us the added benefit of changing the decor a bit and perhaps providing a lift to the look of our home We went to Spotlight and found some suitable material so I'll have to do some stitching soon Sarah met us at Spotlight trying to buy some new brackets for the very heavy curtain rod in Ross's room. I thought another solution might be better so we went back to Patricks Road to investigate. We decided to replace the curtain rods in all the bedrooms to provide more light in the rooms during the day.
Up early to go to Tai Chi. I had a headache but decided to not take pills to see if the exercises would have any effect. Indeed the headache went away as soon as we got into it.
We went to Spotlight to buy the curtain rods for Patricks Road and then to Patricks Road to fit them.
I had done a lot of work on the family tree in the website putting the pictures in so I took the opportunity to do the upload on the ADSL connection at Patricks Road. While browsing I visited the Highway Wanderers website and found some errors in the links so I fixed them too.
Max had accepted a booking at the same time as Sarah so we had to wait around for Al to come home to make sure the kids weren't left alone.
Jean had a bad headache so we retired to the Motley for dinner and a quiet evening.
I had to go early to the dentist to have a couple more molars removed.
I needed to veg out so we stayed in Lawnton We had a visit from Lance, the banjo player who needed a letter typing out. I talked him out of the words he was proposing to use because hey would probably have made the situation worse. I drafted some more diplomatic words which he thought were OK.
We had decided to change our drivers licenses over to Queensland so we venture to the local Queensland Transport office expecting a long wait. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn't a queue and to have it all done in ten minutes. Now we are "real" Queenslanders.