It seems when you get a bit older the government will give back some of the tax they have taken off you. You have to ask your accountant to press a magic Sapto button at the time of submitting your return, so now we can have $3200 back. I know, I am ducking flying pigs here. I am not sure why you have to ask as I think we could have got it the previous year. As well, I am still on the trail of the elusive health card. Why does that one take months and the Sapto is a check box?
Hammond Innes was an adventure writer from last century. This book was written based on a trip he took in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in 1975. We also took a boat ride to those places as well. One line that resonates with me is a cargo of road building materials was being taken to Guadalcanal. They have roads there that were built by the Americans in 1945 and never touched since then. The book also has a philatelic theme with the title being the name of a stamp used for transporting letters around the islands. After chasing old letters, stamp sheets and proofs amongst an uprising of local indigenes, the collection was saved. Hooray.
I found a letter from way back last century but I should go back a month earlier. There was a group going to Tassie and after some cancelations there were only two of us left to go however Nana Beryl had an issue with that. In the end another couple, Maree & Wayne Furlong, were roped in to come with us for a weeks camping and walking. This was 1979, for when you check the date stamp on the envelope it was a year to the day that we got married a year later. They were not confident at all with carrying all that you need but after this trip they were encouraged to go back a few weeks later. The letter describes the sorry state of walkers coming towards them with dire tales of mud and crud. They had no issue with turning around. Not sure if they ever got back to Cradle Mtn.
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| we are ready to go |
These guys are going to put us on a list if we keep going to the pot for insurance money. Each time we do this it seems to take a different path. This time we have left it largely to the travel agent (for a fee) to get the paperwork ready for an insurance claim. It has taken six weeks but we should be able to send it off today. It seems that all the medical out of pocket costs are not claimable because they did not happen in a foreign country. There are always fine print clauses hiding there. We have two medical reports, a travel agent report and a stack of bills and receipts. I have scanned everything but I will add a tracking number to the envelope. Insurance on insurance.
It is not often we see the Tassie boat going passed in Winter. The schedules change with the seasons and maybe we are just rugged up inside at night. Although we are noticing slightly longer evenings as the Sun heads back towards us for the last five weeks. The acoustics were so good that the ding ding ding of an announcement came to us across the water. For a second there we thought that the new replacement boat was in action but those are not due to start service for another few months.
Debbie spied a notification saying last minute popup concert for Queenscliff. Five minutes later we are registered on their website and are going to the Jessica "wowboy" Mauboy show. We have no idea what this is but there are three stages being erected at different times on the day. She was sent an email on the morning of the popup with more info. We got to town for lunch at the Esplanade Hotel, featuring steak and pies. Now that is a hotel lunch, not to forget two bottles of champagne. We missed two of the staged areas but did wander along to the ferry terminal in time to see the stage set up outside. So here we are standing on a sand dune with music on one side and the Rip behind us. Now that is something different.
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| dune tunes |
I opened a box that was delivered yesterday from the auction house. The hammer man describes the lot in a few sentences but you never really know what you are going to get from an auction until you have looked inside. There was the usual old albums but also two books. One of them an ancient looking catalog from 1954. Now this has happened previously as well, as I was sent another edition from 1984. So with the catalog I bought in 2019, I have an historic record to compare stamp valuations over time. There is a theory that stamps only ever go up in value and I can prove it. Let's take the first ever stamp, which I can see was worth £3 in 1954. In 1984 for it has gone up to £125 and in 2019 it was valued at £375. So maybe it is around £400 by now. Who said diamonds never lose their value. In my lifetime that stamp has increased in value by 13,200 %
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| 1954 |
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| 1984 |
I have been retired for 11 years but never seem to be free of the taxman. For various strategic reasons we have just put in two years of returns one after the other. There is an amount we owe the Guvna, followed by an amount the Guvna owes us and throw in some Pay as you Goes that I got foisted with and a long standing payment plan then what we are hoping is that it will all balance out in the washup and one day pigs will fly with butterfly wings. While I was in the Guvna's website I found the health card section which said the claim had been processed and there was an outcome except I couldn't find what the outcome was.
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| and we live at the beach as well |
It can't be called a Spring clean, maybe an almost Spring clean but a lot of paper has just gone into the bins. Last week two bins were needed for paper and a lot of it was shredded which can block up the bin quicker. There were files there going back 20 yar. I read somewhere that shredded paper was good for landfill as it promoted bugs. This week is no different two more bins filled with paper, mostly magazines and old stamp albums. I also notice the pesky possums are back now that the tree has lemons again. Why would the gnawing of lemon rind leave red marks? Unless there is some bleeding going on. I need to get a few off for the sidewalk market.
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| lemon chews still on the tree |
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.
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| Castle de Chillon |
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| smoke on the water |
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| a fork in the lake |
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| source cachat |
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.
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| a big plus for tea in a teapot |
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.
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| the landing zone all consistent on hard pack |
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.
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| wheelie big twacks |
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.
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| boats beware of rocks, weather and tractors |
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.
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.
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| Mary's door |
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| St Vincents view |
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.
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| not sure what this is |
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| seaweed city |
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.
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| the real patient has a neat criss cross |
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| the pointer is my worst problem |
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.
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| Shall I ? |
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.
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| This is the only one I have that is featured in the book |
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.
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| this is my stamp and the image sent back from the database. You can see the 71 on the left. |
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.
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.
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".
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.
