Source Cachat

The Tour de France had the individual time trial yesterday and I am remembering the time we did our own three day ride around Lake Geneva. It was 14 yar ago and the first of our Swiss lake circumnavigations, the second one being Lake Constance.  They showed the drinking fountain and the Evian source yesterday.  We rode into Evian Les Bains a bit late but spent some time in the morning looking around before riding out.  The cachat gate was closed but at least I saw inside via yesterdays drone this time.  

Castle de Chillon

smoke on the water

a fork in the lake

source cachat

Curlewis Ride

 These mouth and tongue stitches have been a pain and the dentist hoped they would stay in place for at least three days.  On the fourth day two of them pulled out rather suddenly. This was becuase they kept getting caught in her teeth and this has loosened them out. However the whole area is much more relaxed now to the point where we tried a ride in the cold.  Curlewis has a north facing balcony cafe, so we made that the target for an out and back ride, probably no more than six kms.  I don't like the magpies there as they are persistent and since I got swooped the other day I am on the lookout. 

a big plus for tea in a teapot

Low Tide

 I went across with the shot and saw that a gang of interlopers, who were just out for a stroll, had sat themselves down on my cleared sand patch.  I busied myself at this end by filling in some more of the dugout which I can only do a bit at a time with my improvised spade. I thought the group may have moved on by then but I cleared it so well.  This turned out better for me as I tried the otherside of the groyne. Hard packed low tide sand makes such a difference. With this better surface I am sure I got it further out there. So this will be the new approach if I can put in my order in for a calm, sunny period, coinciding with low tide at around 10:00am every morning. Thank you and no squishy jelly fish in the way either. Landing a shot on a dead jelly would not be good. The hazards of beach shotting.

the landing zone all consistent on hard pack

The Pirate Returns

 Went across to see what's up. I started filling in a huge hole that was dug a few days ago and just left there for someone to fall into. I am using a drift board as a shovel so it is a slow job.  I was destracted by tyre marks where some rev heads had driven down to do wheelies in the sand but I needed the rest.  All the while this was happening, the pirate had pulled up, dropped anchor and got the dinghy and the dogs overboard for a quick ride into shore. I have observed and featured him a number of times on this blog. When he pulled up I said "you don't usually come in Winter."  I can tell you he leads a hermit style life but aboard a boat that is mostly moored across the bay and has done so for the last 15 yar.  He got up saw the day was a beauty and headed over to this side.  He is also an ex navy man who was interested in my observations of the navy comings and goings at the long pier. I think two dogs on a boat, especially greyhounds, would need a lot of trips to shore.

wheelie big twacks

Ride with Bomber

A sunny calm day presented itself so I got the bike out for  a slightly longer ride. Along the foreshore heights I could see the diggers down below, once again trying to keep the boat ramps clear of piled seaweed.  I kept a steady pace and decided to go down the main drag to get back. I don't do this to often and now I remembered why when the swooper swooped. It must be at least two yar ago when a bird sent me crashing into the gutter. This is exactly the same place, as I could see the same barriers looming as I was under fire. Three times it came down and it must be the same bird for I have read they can recognize people from a long way off.  I was not going as fast this time and backed off even more. So I let him do his thing which was thudding against the helmet.  It has nothing to do with protecting young in the middle of Winter, this one is just a bit crazy.

boats beware of rocks, weather and tractors

Dental not Gentle

 There have been persistent mouth issues as a result of medicinal side effects. It's time to look closer they said. We'll just poke around they said. As two holes are made in Debbie's mouth, one in the gum and another in her tongue that one with yet more stitches. These are turning out to be quite abrassive as the tongue moves. So it will be a liquid diet for the next few days.  What chance of there being no talking on the phone as well ... no chance.  Ah I have just noticed it is a sunny day. I am going outside.

Crown of Orchids

 We are on a two day hospital tour, one day for a visit and the second day for an apppointment. Tim is looking like the medicine is kicking in. We missed the head shaving ceremony and that's fine with me since I lost most of mine some time back. We have not been to Willie for a month or so which was always the plan and some work was done on the orchards here prior to that and it has paid off.  The new position has seen an explosion of growth with maybe ten sprays of flowers in all directions.  The book police will be onto me here as there are three books I have had for many weeks and the head librarian lives just across the road. The replacement electrification of heating, hot water and hotplate is all working well. We might now apply some of this to Clifton Springs.

Mary's door

St Vincents view

Gloved Putting

 There was a break in the weather which was perfectly timed for a beach session. The wind has thrown up a lot of F&J as well as swathes of wrack along tide lines. It was tricky even to find a sandy section to try a few throws. I cleared a spot of driftwood and sea balls which left a reasonable space. I also brought the rubbish bag and easily filled it with small bits like rope pieces, bottle tops and plastic shards. As for the throws I was as rusty as. I did four stand and deliver efforts then one glide style delivery which did not gain me much. I had the gloves on for this which hindered more than helped do to their grippy surface. No ill effects from a missing appendix that I could tell.

not sure what this is

seaweed city

Compression Gloves

Since we went to the fingerologist who was always looking sideways at my fingers as well as the patient's and as a result suggested arthiritis gloves for me.  I have been trying them for the last week or so and I think there is an improvement particularly with outside activities.  I am typing this now with them on and don't recommend it.  There are movement restrictions which I guess is the whole idea of squeezing the fingers. Pluses are warmth, say when walking and extra grip built into the palm surface.  Minuses are getting them wet.  Don't try cleaning your teeth, that was messy. 

the real patient has a neat criss cross

the pointer is my worst problem

Shells

 The indoor activities have continued around here. I did poke my head out the door considering a beach session maybe even bring the shot put. The wind has not quite given up its two day force so I went back inside. Last year we went to Asher's school fete.  It was huge and at the end, the $5 stall was giving it all away and I was handed a jigsaw puzzle.  I could not remember where this unopened box had come from until after I had finished it. This one took me weeks limiting myself to around 30 mins a day. We have picked up a lot of this stuff on our beach and maybe I could make my own puzzle.

Shall I ?

The Challon Heads

 I got this whodunit specifically as it has a stamp theme throughout the telling.  Alfred Chalon was an artist who did a sketch of a young Queen Victoria as she stood in regal pose at the top of the House of Lords staircase.  I am no longer amazed at the number of references I keep coming across as to where we were supposed to be this last month, like standing on the stairs at the House of Lords.  YadaYada. Anyway the Chalon sketch was turned into a painting that became the basis for many stamps from all manner of british colonies.  In the story, ransom demands were being made with stamps attached from Van Diemen's Land.  The whole murderous drama involved a stamp collector, a forger and a million dollar stamp. The stamp references were very factual and led me to investigate one of my stamps a bit closer. See below.

This is the only one I have that is featured in the book

Plate 77

 I have not wanted to get into the microscopic detail of stamps. The Penny Red which replaced the Penny Black is an example.  Millions of these stamps were printed requiring lots of printing plates.  Now plate 77 turned out to be a dud. They printed just one sheet of 240 stamps as the tester and found that most were skewed with badly aligned perforations, however 10 or so stamps were ok and survived after the plate was destroyed. The plate numbers are visible in each stamp in the scrollwork on the leftside.  

These days there is a website database that can help identify these plate numbers. OK I gave it a try. It knows the position of each stamp on the plate and has a zooming feature.  I have one penny red only and turns out, it is from Plate 71.  Close but no cigar, as the latest one from plate 77, was auctioned for a half million pounds some years back.

this is my stamp and the image sent back from the database. You can see the 71 on the left.

Whales Wont Wait

 We heard reports about whales off the bluff three days ago. There was debate about going out to see in a complete fog blanket. It lasted all day but it seems that was only us on the bayside while the oceanside was clear with frolicking whales winding whorling water wheels.  So we were late to the party yesterday but the Sun was out. I was so rugged up and sweating as soon as we got on the path up to the cliff tops. We could see to Torquay one way and the Heads the other way and not a whale anywhere in between. It was a good walk along the tops and back to Diver Dan's old spot for a sit down. It happened to be happy hour, so good timing.  A toast to the coast.

MoonFace

 James was doing his own archealogical dig at a renovation of a school he is working on.  The refurbishment meant opening up a brick pillar and inside was an old marble stoppered bottle. The base had been broken off and was probably left there by one of the workers last century. It would not have been kids, as these bottles were prized for their marble inside the pinched neck.  This one is from GC Meader who ran the Franklin Carbonated Water Company.  Most of the bottle is readable including a cool Moonface  logo which was the company trade mark.  The bottle still rattles with its marble intact.

Stamp News

 Nothing like a fogged in day for a stamp session or two. There will be a delivery of boxes today so I am clearing out some space. There is also the depository where unrequired stamps build up for a year or two before being stashed somewhere else out of sight.  The latest version of this weighs just under 11kg and is full to the brim. There must be at least 50,000 stamps in there. As for stamps that are required, I did find a couple of envelopes which I have kept. There is one addressed to Miss Rosemary Valintina Pereira care of the Kenya Extract Co., Colony of North Borneo.  Now that conjurs up a vision of empire and prim ladies in bamboo hats.  The other one was a letter thrown off the cruise ship ORIANA in 1975. There is an island there that collected biscuit tins, out of the water, from passing ships and delivered them to the next mail ship. The service ended in 1983 when an airstrip was built.  To quote that famous postman Newman, "The mail never stops".

OverBoots

 When is a good time to start riding after an appendectomy?  For me it was today but only for half an hour. I went down to the nearby boat harbour to check out the views.  The main problem was my fingers.  We have been dealing with a fingerologist recently who says I should get some arthiritis gloves. They keep in the warmth but allow the finger tips to protrude for activity. Now that sounds a lot like bicycle gloves and my fingers were getting numb anyway. Nothing a warm basin of water can't fix.  I also put on the overboots which helps the next part that freezes, being the toes.  You could also just wait for the Sun to come out.

Beach Comb No 488

Can't let a calm morning go without getting across with the trusty bag to pickup what ever has washed in. I need the walking as my exercise is only just starting to ramp up. I also need to get back on the bike as well.  I started this effort close by the water and squelched thru some deep wrack to get a bucket lid and a kind of a hoop to go with it. I got quite a few plastic bags in here and normally I don't go this deep. Further along it cleared out but there was plenty of lids, rope pieces and small plastics. By the time I got back the coast care guys were down getting the water quality samples from the creek and also a few floating bottles. They always appreciate my bag full of flotsam. The jetsam gets jettisoned and the flotsam just floats.

Long Travelled coat returns

 Sometime last century this coat was being worn all over the place. It got a bit ragged. The lining especially was in tatters and completely worn out from the inside.  There was hesitation about throwing it out after such good service but the outside was still ok so it was sent to Thailand for a repair job. The tricky part was finding a tailor.  Now Jill the haggler is an expert at getting the right price. So for a measly 2000 Baht, the coat was brought back to life with a silken lining.  Who says you need to buy three replacements on Temu or Amazon.

Hospital Tour

Not sure if I want to be an expert on hospitals but I can tell you what ever you want to know. I had a tour of St Vincents Private yesterday. Right from the outset you could tell that Tim was much better now than when we were in Darwin a month back. Nothing like the right medicine to get rid of the bugs. He will be here for a while yet. If you want to get into this private wing, you have to go via St Vincents Public as they have the Emergency access and the Private building does not. Not so in Geelong. I waltzed up to the front door of St John's Geelong Private and got in straight away as they have an emergency dept.  Tim was walking about giving us a tour of the place.  Saint Mary Mackillop was born in this house here and it is now a centre for abuse victims. Over here are the gardens and good for quiet reading. Here is the chapel also good for quiet time. If you can get onto health insurance from an early age then this is when it pays off.

Piano for Two

Asher has shown her prowess with the violin, moving up to solo performances on school stage this year. Now we have the all singing, all ivory tickling duo. Not sure how this was put to music. I think they found an age old tune that fitted the words from Asher's book.  Nana kept up the motivation for a bit more practice and a good showing was produced after an hour or so.  Of course the piano could do with some tuning work as it only gets a pounding when the grandies are around.  It is a magnet for them everytime.  Take a bow.

The Games

 Tried another new author, for me at least.  What are the odds of picking up a book, judging it by its cover and then finding out it has a theme around the World Cup Soccer and Australia still has at least one game to go. That's like when I read 1984 in 1984.  Here we have yet another action character who seems to be able to do everything.  You can't ask these guys what their super power is. You have to ask what is your ordinary power?  At least there were a few casualties along the way.  This was written just a few years before COVID but then again killer viruses have always been the rage.

Insurance Time

 Yes we are now back on the road of the travel insurance claim.  It is an uphill road and we have been on it many times.  This time we are getting the help of the Travel Agent. They have already been working at it and there has been a refund from airlines and train operators.  I can never understand why some businesses give refunds and others like cruise lines and hotels just keep the money.  One problem is that I booked the insurance under an IT industry membership scheme and not with the travel agent, so they do not get their payment from the insurer. We will have to pay for this and add it to the claim.  There are also numerous doctor receipts that we have to locate.  I was having my apple a day but it did not keep the doctor away. 

Grandies Stamp of Approval

It was a very rainy day, it was also school holidays so what better time to try a stamp session with grandies.  I got two albums out that I had previously cleared and were in very good condition. I also got a tub of stamps together maybe 500 or so which got dumped on the table and spreadout. My first suggestion was look for animals and you look for birds.  This worked very well as we have now had two sessions and as well as animals and birds, there is a page for plants and flowers and also fish.  I think interest was waining for the five yar old but the seven yar old is still keen.  I will be keeping the albums here with the other books in the nook.

Flip Out

 These all running, all climbing and all bouncing places are springing up like mushrooms in Winter. No matter which one you go to they are always packed. This is a new venue for us and whoever built this string of warehouses must love these guys as they have bought out the whole row.  This place is huge and the whole thing was covered in kids. You used to just bounce around. There is more neon here than Times Square.  Asher and Estelle were all over it for two hours. There was a section that required helmets but these two need to grow some more. A good place on a wet school holiday.