NFTs

 Look up fungible and it means tradeable or replaceable and some how from that, nonfungible means unique. So nonfungible tokens are digital files representing real world items that can be bought and sold.  Years ago NFT's were a fad taken up by certain generations of  20 somethings who seemed to have time and money to burn.  The thousands of dollars spent on NFTs have dropped away to worthless. I guess those 20 somethings are now 40 somethings and have moved on.  Some countries joined the rush with Digital versions of some of their stamps.  Australia Post has come late to the party with a DigiStamp. I have bought one just to try it for $15. You get your postage stamp but you also get a code to scan, which gives me my online unique digital picture.  I will just stick to real stamps from now on.

digital snake oil

Garden Fail

We have taken the eye off the ball or actually the eye off the zuchini. There had not been much growth action so who was going to look underneath those big fat leaves anyway. I mean there were some flowers earlier and those shrivelled up. Maybe it was becuase one took hold and kept growing, secretly low down where it could hide. We found it and had trouble picking it up. I checked the tomatoes, still rock hard green cricket balls. I checked the strawberries and still mostly green tiny specks.  We do have one lemon starting to yellow but that is all . Debbie has turned attention to the lady plant sculpture which has gradually declined over two years. It seems there will be a restructuring of her in some way.

Unkown Soldier

 I can't believe I picked a book set in the Arabian desert where CIA spies have been tracking camels and sending drones out on missions to blow stuff up when the same thing is happening in the real world.  This one is a bit dated, being over 20 yar old and these days no one is to fussed about caring for the drones, as you just crash the whole thing and go get another one.  At the turn of the century drones were new, expensive and cutting edge so they always wanted them back. We  have had to scramble to change our direction of flight to detour around the Emirates when we fly mid year and I think plenty of others are doing the same, as we got the last few seats on other airlines. Phew!  We have lost $$ with some of this and in the fine print travel insurers do not cover war related claims.

 

Collendina Report No 888

Yes it was a warm day and we took our beach friend Jill to see our old  Collendina haunt as well as the beach beyond.  But true to form being a long time local, she also had some history there remembering back to when there were horse races held on that beach last century. The tide was up so we ventured into the dunes where we had a good view. One of neighbours on the next dune setup his parachute and off he went yet we could hardly feel the breeze.  We finished off with a tour of the caravan park which was completely deserted.  The waves were strong and drove in to the base of the dunes but I still got in for a short swim. Two others I know got their ankles wet.

Afternoon Amble

We tried the Williamstown beach front FiFi cafe for lunch. Grandies like sand and food and playgrounds and it was all there. The homemade sausage rolls are good but I am not sure if they do them everyday. We strolled on the beach and Estelle had a splash in amongst a few fish that had washed up.  Then we went across to Asher aand Kaia where it was full on  getting ready for a long weekend at the Gold Coast. However there was no stopping for Asher's weekly swimming lesson even if it is in a backyard pool.  Spending around 2 hrs on the floor is still a tricky business.

some deja vu here as we think James had some lessons here last century

Tyro Goes to Mars

 I have not been to science works for some yar and I don't think it has changed that much.  There was the possibility of a lovely lovely tour of the sewerage pumping station which was just across the way, all about pushing s**t uphill however there did not seem to be too much interest. We toured the sports area, running and jumping and pedalling before it was time for the Planetarium. Now they are all very excited in there at the moment, as there was an eclipse of the Moon last night, not to forget this years circumnavigation of the Moon and next years Moon landing.  After all that we watched Tyro fly his cubby house to Mars.  Dogs in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

Ready Set

the Moon is Soon

nap time

The Bypass Ride

 That was a wet one yesterday but the rain was handy. I should go and check our tank. It all cleared away so we got the bikes out for a spin. Debbie is stepping up her exercise regime so we are working up to longer distances.  This was still a modest 16km but it did include the bypass track around town. I hadn't been along there for maybe a year. Too bad we can't have smooth flowing bike tracks beside all of our roads. For this ride it would be 8km on track and 8km on road.  Now we have to get consistent with the rides.

The Lords of Bookkeeping

 I think most of the Lords of Bookkeeping are women.  So when we got the invitation to go to the House of Lords for a you beaut bookkeeping celebration for the world's high flyers of bookkeeping, we said yes and viewed it as a culmination of the hard work Debbie has put in over the last 30 yar.  Getting the invitation in February for a trip in June is more like going tomorrow for me. I am rusty at travelling abroad but got things going. Airfares, stopovers, accommodation and a nearby cruise all possible, so we went to a travel agent to set it all up.  We paid the first half last week including airfares flying Emirates to London.  This morning I am scrambling to remove Dubai from the itinerary. Our travel plans over the last few years have mostly gone astray.  Good thing we used a travel agent this time so we have someone working on this for us. I daresay the travel agent has a lot more urgencies than us at the moment.

Eerie Calm

 The heat has been topping out in the afternoons so we waited til after lunch to take the waters.  There was this overall grey that merged between water and sky. There were also few rain drops in the two hours we were there but that was it.  The jellies have gone away so hopefully they don't return.  We closed the Summer out by lounging in the shallows to cool off . Overall I think it was a warmer Summer than the last few and drier but without being too hot.  We seem to be using fans and bay breezes rather than the aircon these days. I would say we had the aircon going on less than 10 days and mostly to cool bedrooms before sleep or when there were visitors.

Riding & Eating

Those Clancy's are well setup to take on some extra bike riding with the new all tilting bike rack that enables easier access to the car's rear even with the bikes in place.  So it was given a test run by driving part the way towards Queenscliff and unloading from about 6km out. We followed the rail trail to town with a coffee stop and then back to the car the same way.  We had booked the Whiskery for lunch so had to get a move on once we reached the cars.  The Whiskery has a good ambience. The cool shade trees were occupied so we went indoors where we had it to ourselves. The style is more fingerfood than pub meals and I wish they would bring back the lobster roll however we made do with at least five platters. This is a good spot just 10 minutes away.

Wino's Wine bar

We went back to the local wine bar and got the same table as last time which is actually up against the bar.   Next time I would like a different table as it is a bit too cosy as the everpresent barman can lean right into our space and become part of the group. The finger food platters are the best and there is no need for any thing else. The champagnes went down well especially the imported French one but if you are having birthday drinks for Tim then nothing but the best. We arrived at 5:00pm and left around 8:00pm. 

Land Banking

 Don't think I like the term Land Bank. It seems developers hold plots of land until they have enough to get rezoning done or onsell or repurpose.  The house next door has been sold to a chinese developer. The house just happens to be next to a vacant block that has never had a house on it which also happens to be separating another house that went up for sale this week. This is like a large retirement suburb where the house turnover can be quick. We have had five elderly residents die from our street since we have been here and usually it is more elderly types who buy in. Hopefully Mr Chinese is not trying to put up 10 condominiums.

two for sales signs and an empty block

 

Strawberry Fare

 The consequence of putting in new strawberry plants is that they are slow to get going. There has been some colour on some plants and I managed to pick our first but small strawb today. Other plants have shown some shrivelled fruit but there does seem to be a few batches starting to sprout. I crossed the road to the land of the sand. The overnight tide was high and I could see how it topped the ridge dune and pooled in a few spots down behind.  I walked this line and picked up two bottles, some underwear, the usual small plastics like lids, a spoon and a straw.  There was also a poo bag. On the way back up I got a second bag which had deliberately been left to taunt everyone as they went passed. How nasty.

Cycle Suspension

 I got the video unloaded from the GoPro which I had mounted to Debbie's handlebars. There are numerous places to mount these things which would have had an unobstructed view however it is what it is. This is an enclosed water proof version of the camera and we have had heat issues in the past where it will switch off if it is too hot.  No such problems this time.  I have had to cut it severely to get down to clip size but it shows the trail ok. There are many bikes and some at speed.

Kaia star of the show

 The afternoon was a well organised three year old birthday.  At first Kaia seemed unsure of getting all the attention but seemed to get used to the spotlight by the end of the day. The main banquet table was just the right size to handle 12 ankle biters with a steady supply of  sausage rolls, pies, sushi and quiche, don't forget the ice cream. The adults also got plenty of that finger food as well. The highlight was the pinata for the kids and the cocktails for the mums.  That was a long fun weekend now for a rest day.

Sunday Sweat Club

 Yes we started the day with a gym session, as we are trying to beat current PemBro side effects and is also now part of the recovery phase ie try to have one physical session per day.   We have our own gym here but the Willie gym is better.  I used the bicycle machine while Debbie did a rotation thru just about every piece of equipment. We went around to the library and I had in the back of my mind the parking committee at that other famous retirees village. I was imagining the library committee here headed by a Mr Tulk lookalike and sure enough when I looked back thru the pages of signouts, I finally found the entry for the overdue book I was returning. It had a pink texta highlight right across where I had to sign the book back in. We now have the eye of the book detectives on us.  And guess what I found on the shelves "The Man who Died Twice" so now I can get back on track.  

Bicycle Beach

 We have been wanting to try this and had to get a bit makeshift.  The bikes were still prepped from the morning effort and I found that if I slung the large umbrella across my back I could still peddle freely. Keeping it there was tricky.  I emptied my backpack and we gould get two towels as well as four travellers in there with the weekender questions and a packet of snacks. The drinks were wrapped in a cooler bag with ice blocks.  It was the biggest crowd I have seen for a while on Williamstown beach and the water was inviting.  The transport worked well and was an easy breezy ride of 15 minutes. There are many options with kiosks at both ends plus a restuarant and a cafe.  They are all the things we don't have at ours but get a beach on your doorstep first.

VeloWay All the Way

Hooray, this time we were allowed onto the veloway after finding it was all locked up about a month ago when we last tried it.  This is an engineering masterpiece with large sections suspended over Footscray Rd. The whole area is unrecognisable compared to when I was riding thru here to MMBW and MITS last century.  We stopped at Docklands for the 2nd day in a row.  We haven't been there for years and now it is twice in two days. The veloway is a dream run and gets you there in 14km of largely uninterrupted riding. Don't be a pedestrian on the suspended section.  It crosses the Maribyrnong but not the Yarra, you will still need to use the bike ferry to do that but this way gets you to the city in good time. We took 40 mins each way for the total 26km.  There is also some video which I need to unload soon.  At least this way I cleared the sinuses.

Bill the Nerd

 We got to the Christmas present last night and its name was Bill.  I read a few of his books which have a lot of humour but the most factual is the "History of nearly everything" which I thought was the best. On stage he was hamming it up with readings of book excerpts, interspersed with video clips and some of the walk in the woods film.  He was gloating over the choice of Robert Redford to play himself.  Bill has a lot of facts and revelations in his head but if I had to write one down here it would be the sheer size of the universe and its starting from one point somewhere.  This means there are plenty of other inhabited planets out there but their distance is so far away that we are effectively alone, as trying to cross 200-300 million light years is not going to happen.  We are a speck of dirt in an ocean of nothing. 

Three Part Day

 Part One would be getting up in time to drive our way to town for an unscheduled Alfred appointment by 10:30 am.  Fortunately a cancellation meant there was more time for the Doc to see us. I sat this one out downstairs due to this head cold that seems to be clearing slowly. The waiter service was good down there who brought me free cappuccinos and biscuits just like in Thursday Murder Club. We were able to get around to Docklands Urban Alley for Part Two which was a luncheon appointment at 12:30.  They have a good $20 lunch offer which most of us used and of course you had to try the amber stuff they brew in house. We have now made it back to Williamstown for the afternoon snooze to be ready in time for the Uber pickup at 6:30pm for Part Three. I haven't done this much daily activity since I was working. Phew!

Part One - Lobby Service

Part Two - Beer Service

Part Three - Author Service

The Late Show

 I have read quite a lot of Michael Connelly and there is nothing like a cops and robbers theme. You've got your good cops and bad cops, throw in some criminals, a body or five and there is another crime caper right there.  This is the first of the Ballard series and there are at least 5 more books. I have also watched the TV series but I could not remember it exactly.  The books eventually get the retired Bosch back on the scene and I do remember him making an appearance in the show as well, however this is the Ballard the crime buster from now on and series 2 is on the way.

 

Not Much Storm

 There was a bit of wind and a bit of rain overnight but it did not amount to much. Our tank is still pretty empty.  I took the morning constitutional and carried the rubbish bag with me.  The water was stirred by last nights activity and was quite murky and not inviting. There were two larger items to pickup one being a volleyball (deflated) and the other was a helmet and hopefully no one was wearing it when it went overboard. There is a constant parade of very large ships passing thru here and most would require these helmets. The rest of the haul was the usual, a coke bottle and can, straws, rope pieces and plastics. I left one poo bag hanging on the fence as it was tied there. Surely that means it will be picked up on the way back.

Evening Cool

 We delayed the cool down until late, that way the Sun loses most of its sting but it was still 30° also Debbie had a chance to do some work catchup earlier in the day.  There were a few people around so we went to the far end and found some shallows that would swallow our wallow.  This was a soak while watching the Sunset. We also had a traveller each back on the beach so a pleasant way to end the day.