A letter from the Office of the Prime Minister
I am sure the Prime Minister will not mind me sharing the letter I received today from her office. For security reasons, I have blocked out my address and the name of the staff member who signed the letter.
Letter from the Office of the Prime Minister
As readers know, I am, at the moment, one of those swinging voters. I am pleased to see, despite it being budget week last week, we have a Prime Minister who does communicate with the electorate. While Julia has not read Love versus Goliath, it seems obvious from the letter that someone in her office has read enough of it to personalise the letter. This is an entirely different approach to that taken by another politician when communicating with me. I draw the comparison merely as something for fellow Australians to think about.
I am very pleased to have Love versus Goliath acknowledged by the Prime Minister of Australia. I wrote this book to draw attention to what happens and the trauma that results. I hope others in senior positions will also see merit in my words.
Thank you, Prime Minister.
Fish for the foodies
We went shopping for fish today.
The whiting and squid looking pretty usual.
Squid
Whiting
There was this AMAZING looking fish we have NO idea what to do with! Nether did the lovely Asian lady who was as intrgued as we were. She was trying to find out something about it from the shop assistants, but no details were forthcoming so she wandered off. We were a little disappointed as we would have liked to hear something too!
Scorpion
@MindyHoyden has provided a link to an Italian recipe for scorpion fish, which looks pretty darn good! http://italianfood.about.com/od/fishdishes/ig/La-Galleria-del-Pesce/Scorfano–or-Scorpionfish.htm
As we wandered off to get vegetables and fruit, we passed a stall selling the most amazing Nepalese Chicken. If you haven’t been to a Nepalese restaurant, I recomend you do. Great food!
Nepalese Chicken
They are doing my head in!!!!!
A couple of days ago I wrote about my current paper warfare! Chasing up a medical appointment and it seems somewhere something went awry.
Having heard nothing, despite the promise to call me back, today I followed up the situation.
The conversation went like this.
First I explained the WHOLE situation yet again!
Then the young lady said, “Oh it is all sorted, you have an appointment on May 17.”
I mentally rolled my eyes and replied, “Today is May 17.”
“Oh”, followed by a moment’s silence, “I’ll reschedule that for you.”
The first date offered was not good as I have a speaking engagement that day for the book.
So we eventually agreed on a date in June. *Sigh*
To be confirmed in writing. I’ll keep my eye out for the letter!
Do you remember the 8 inch ones?
My kids have never seen one. They haven’t even seen a 3.5 inch one. Actually, I’ve never seen an 8 inch one either and was quite surprised to find they ever existed!
Of course, I am talking about floppies.
The data storage floppies, you evil minded one!
Today at work we were reminiscing about the “old days”. Then we wondered just how long ago were the “old days”! My guess for the arrival of the 3.5 inch was mid-’80s as I distinctly remember a staff member having trouble reading a 5.25 – no wonder, as he had, judging by the ring on the cover, been using it as a coffee cup coaster.
We did what everyone does to answer the unknown, we Googled. Lo and behold, I was right!
Around the same time, in fact a little earlier I believe, I had an actual hard drive sitting on my desk, connected to my PC by, I think, a serial cable. Hey, come on, it is YEARS ago! Anyway, this wonderful invention was LARGE. No, I am not referring to the storage capacity, which was a whole 20 Megabytes, I am referring to the physical size! Had a footprint the size of about two of today’s PCs sitting side-by-side. Read more 
The joys of medical appointments
Fish Tank – ED Waiting Room, Royal Children’s Hospital
Before I launch into my current interesting situation, I must say up front I think our public health system is a wonderful thing and we must protect it at all costs!
However, there are times when I wish I was just “going private” and this is one of them! Yes, we do have private health insurance but right now the gap would be a bit beyond the budget, besides we’d probably end up at the RCH anyway.
Mr O Jnr 2 has a bit of a problem with his feet and/or lower legs. He tends to fall over his feet and walks with both feet at almost 45 degree angles (inwards). Dad says “But he was born like that”. I think we can improve the situation. When he was playing soccer, he would be limping badly by the end of the game. He denies he is in pain, but he must be to be limping, I think. If he has lived with this all his life, he would know no different, I guess.
Anyway, I consulted our GP (general practitioner) who suggested he be assessed by an orthopaedic specialist at the Royal Children’s Hospital. I asked whether we needed a referral. No, was the response, so I called the RCH. No, I needed a referral. OK, back to the GP. Got the referral and some x-rays!
On February 22 I faxed the referral to the RCH and hoped I wouldn’t lose the x-rays before we got an appointment. 
On March 8 I received a text message telling me I would be advised when we were allocated an appointment.
By today, May 15, I was starting to wonder if we had been lost in the system. Well, that wouldn’t be unusual for us, would it? 
I was prompted to follow up as the patient mentioned to me his lower back was hurting. THAT may have more to do with school bags and books, but it did remind me to follow up.
I called the hospital. They advised they had rejected the referral, sending it back to the GP for more clinical information – on March 8! The same day I received the text message. OK, seemed odd, but I then called the GP, wondering why I hadn’t been notified. The GP’s office advised the only letter they have is dated March 6 and advises the referral is being processed. Now, I think a perhaps an 8 could look like a 6 on a scanned copy (they scan all correspondence onto the patient’s file), but never mind.
An unusual Mothers Day
BHC
Today would, I think, qualify as an unusual Mothers Day. I left my four youngest in Melbourne and dashed up to Bendigo to visit my Mel in hospital. Mel is fine, had surgery late last night and is facing more surgery later this month. Naturally, I am a little on the worried side but am confident she is in good medical hands and I know her husband will take the best of care of her. This did kind of overshadow his recent birthday though, but I am sure Mel will make it up to him later.
Autumn has arrived well and truly in Bendigo as this streetscape illustrates.
Autumn in Bendigo
Putting your LIFE out there
A few weeks ago I wrote about writing a memoir when the memories are fresh.
That was before the physical books arrived for distribution. The eBooks are somehow not quite as real, I understand why some of our readers waited for the paperback, the physical book. Even our Mr O Jnr 2 fanned the pages in front of his nose and said, ” Oh, the smell!”
The Managing Director of my employer bought a book yesterday. Many co-workers have also bought copies. Even my local bottleshop bought a copy. As I said in my previous article (link above) it is scary. I am the same person these people knew yesterday. I haven’t changed, but there are things in the book they did not know about me. For 40 years I rarely mentioned my parents both committed suicide. Now it is “out there”. Will people think it is hereditary? For the record, my GP tells me I am past the age for that to be a risk! Just in case you were wondering!
You see, some days I feel strong. Proud that I’ve had the strength to put it out there, to tell it as it really is.
Other days I feel scared. Today was a “scared” day! What will people think? Will they think less of me because I was driven to the point of wanting to drive my car through the doors of the Melbourne DIAC building in sheer despair? Or will they understand? Will they feel it?
