actually did as it should do yesterday - got me where I needed to go.
I had to go to the other bank because I had a small cheque to put in. When I was given the cheque I realised I can simplify life for the person who wrote it and myself by providing her with a "BSB" number and an account number. I will do that but the cheque meant a trip to that bank.
I also had something else to deliver to another location. Middle Cat was taking the Senior Cat out to do yet something else. It meant I could do both things - if I planned it carefully.
I pedalled off in time to go to the untidy shop first as I had also promised to get some cotton for an elderly neighbour. That done I went to the bank. There was, inevitably, a queue. I waited...and waited some more.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," the person who served me said. It wasn't her fault so I just smiled and muttered the usual things. We dealt with the issue of the cheque.
I then realised I would miss not just either of the trains I had planned to catch but that the next one would not stop where I needed to get off. I had to get something for the Senior Cat at the supermarket - so I did a quick prowl into one of the two in the shopping centre. Of course the layout is different and that took longer than I thought it might.
I eventually found and bought the said item and pedalled off to the railway station near that shopping centre. Two trains went through as I was going up the long ramp - both of them running late. Grrr....
I could have caught one of those!
I waited...there was announcement that the next one was running late too. But, it arrived eventually. The driver even gave me a nod to indicate he had seen me and my tricycle. (I can take this on the train.) The platform is almost level with the train. It is easy to get it on and off there - one reason for planning the journey as I had.
At the other end it is a little more difficult but again the driver indicated that he had seen me by giving me a thumb up in the mirror and a nice young man helped me alight.
I delivered the item I needed to deliver. I returned to the station and waited....and waited. There was trouble somewhere down the track. The "down" train could not leave the city because the "up" train was stuck somewhere and there was no crossing loop between the two.
Eventually the problem must have been sorted out because there was the welcome sight of the city bound train...and then, my train!
However my waiting time was not wasted. I knitted and I read a book - a book I need to read rather than want to read.
I came home to a quiet house. The Senior Cat was still out with Middle Cat. I made a large mug of tea and foraged for a rather late lunch.
The trains had actually got me where I needed to go - home again!
Thursday, 7 November 2019
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
Mathematics or, more precisely, trigonometry
came up in my internet conversations yesterday.
Mm... I haven't used trigonometry since I left school. I did very little of it then. There was merely an introduction to the topic in our maths classes.
Do you remember those little books we had? They were called "Logarithmic and other tables" but of course we called them "Bogarithmic and other fables". Most of my fellow students reworked the cover and title page to reflect this. I didn't dare. If I had done it my mother would have brought out the hair brush she used to hit us on our bare backsides. (She only stopped using it after it broke on my brother. He stood there, looked at her and then patted her on the head and said, "Little Mum". He was about fourteen at the time. I am two years older than he is.)
But, back to the maths. I can, sort of, remember it but I would need to do a quick refresher course to actually solve a problem. I have actually never needed to find the height of a tree or a building which is about all I can really remember of those classes.
Basic algebra on the other hand has been useful. I actually did a quadratic equation not that long ago. Not everyone would need to do this and I can still remember the blank looks on the faces of my classmates as the Senior Cat started our first lesson. (This was long before "new maths".) How can a number be called "x" or "y"?
We were supposed to learn a lot of things in school that I could not see much point in. I saw no point in repeating the same "social studies" course each year. I wanted to learn more history, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Middle Ages, and much more. All I had through primary school was the same old stories of explorers in our state and a little bit more of national history. When I should have had those things we moved and the curriculum in rural schools meant I had to repeat things I already knew. I read under the desk instead. I've forgotten a lot of the details of the stories of the explorers - but I have had to remind the Senior Cat of the order of succession in English history. I've forgotten most of my Latin and, later, my law. I remember a lot of psychology and linguistics - but I use those things all the time.
But the internet is there. If I search sensibly and use sites that should be reputable I can remind myself of all sorts of things - and I can learn new things all the time.
I still remember that first algebra lesson though. There was silence and then a young male voice asked,
"Sir, how is this going to help me milk the cows?"
"It isn't," the Senior Cat told him, "But you never know when it might turn out to be useful so you need to learn it."
Mm... I haven't used trigonometry since I left school. I did very little of it then. There was merely an introduction to the topic in our maths classes.
Do you remember those little books we had? They were called "Logarithmic and other tables" but of course we called them "Bogarithmic and other fables". Most of my fellow students reworked the cover and title page to reflect this. I didn't dare. If I had done it my mother would have brought out the hair brush she used to hit us on our bare backsides. (She only stopped using it after it broke on my brother. He stood there, looked at her and then patted her on the head and said, "Little Mum". He was about fourteen at the time. I am two years older than he is.)
But, back to the maths. I can, sort of, remember it but I would need to do a quick refresher course to actually solve a problem. I have actually never needed to find the height of a tree or a building which is about all I can really remember of those classes.
Basic algebra on the other hand has been useful. I actually did a quadratic equation not that long ago. Not everyone would need to do this and I can still remember the blank looks on the faces of my classmates as the Senior Cat started our first lesson. (This was long before "new maths".) How can a number be called "x" or "y"?
We were supposed to learn a lot of things in school that I could not see much point in. I saw no point in repeating the same "social studies" course each year. I wanted to learn more history, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Middle Ages, and much more. All I had through primary school was the same old stories of explorers in our state and a little bit more of national history. When I should have had those things we moved and the curriculum in rural schools meant I had to repeat things I already knew. I read under the desk instead. I've forgotten a lot of the details of the stories of the explorers - but I have had to remind the Senior Cat of the order of succession in English history. I've forgotten most of my Latin and, later, my law. I remember a lot of psychology and linguistics - but I use those things all the time.
But the internet is there. If I search sensibly and use sites that should be reputable I can remind myself of all sorts of things - and I can learn new things all the time.
I still remember that first algebra lesson though. There was silence and then a young male voice asked,
"Sir, how is this going to help me milk the cows?"
"It isn't," the Senior Cat told him, "But you never know when it might turn out to be useful so you need to learn it."
Tuesday, 5 November 2019
Exam stress
is under discussion again. There is an article about it in this morning's paper - suggesting that a certain amount of stress is good for mental health.
Ms W has exams coming up. Her school has them at the end of each school year. There are assessments and tests in between. She copes pretty well but she does work hard. Her attitude is "My Dad is paying heaps for me to be at school so I should (work hard)".
I went to school under the old Public Examinations Board system - rather like the old "O" and "A" system of the various examination boards in England. That's gone now. There is no "Intermediate" or "Leaving" and "Leaving Honours". It has been replaced with a year 12 "certificate" instead. Even that has changed from the time my nephews here did it.
Ms W will eventually do some form of that. At the moment she is just sitting school based exams - or about to do them. She is doing French and Latin at school and Italian as an extra subject. The school brought in a native French speaker yesterday and the girls had what I suppose was a form of oral examination. I went over after school for another purpose and heard about it.
"Our teacher said we didn't have to say anything and that it didn't matter if we didn't. She said it was about listening as much as anything and that we could talk about it later. It was weird. Our teacher still says lots in English and this one didn't. It was all French."
And how did Ms W get on?
"It was okay. She sort of told us to do some things so that everyone could join in and I tried to say things like I did when we went to Switzerland."
Her teacher spent some years living in France and does, according to a native speaker I know, speak very good French but she is not a native speaker herself and this would have been different.
"I suppose it was sort of an exam," Ms W said, "There are exams all over the place all of the time."
This is true. We keep doing them even when we don't recognise them as such.
I loathed school exams, college exams, university exams. When I did the last formal exam I vowed and declared I would never do another. The most recent Masters I did had no such exams. There was a lot of practical work to hand in, research to do, essays to write. I suppose it was more like real life in that area.
"But having to do exams makes sure you actually know things at least for a while," Ms W informed me.
Mmm.... I wonder. I can't do trigonometry now.
Ms W has exams coming up. Her school has them at the end of each school year. There are assessments and tests in between. She copes pretty well but she does work hard. Her attitude is "My Dad is paying heaps for me to be at school so I should (work hard)".
I went to school under the old Public Examinations Board system - rather like the old "O" and "A" system of the various examination boards in England. That's gone now. There is no "Intermediate" or "Leaving" and "Leaving Honours". It has been replaced with a year 12 "certificate" instead. Even that has changed from the time my nephews here did it.
Ms W will eventually do some form of that. At the moment she is just sitting school based exams - or about to do them. She is doing French and Latin at school and Italian as an extra subject. The school brought in a native French speaker yesterday and the girls had what I suppose was a form of oral examination. I went over after school for another purpose and heard about it.
"Our teacher said we didn't have to say anything and that it didn't matter if we didn't. She said it was about listening as much as anything and that we could talk about it later. It was weird. Our teacher still says lots in English and this one didn't. It was all French."
And how did Ms W get on?
"It was okay. She sort of told us to do some things so that everyone could join in and I tried to say things like I did when we went to Switzerland."
Her teacher spent some years living in France and does, according to a native speaker I know, speak very good French but she is not a native speaker herself and this would have been different.
"I suppose it was sort of an exam," Ms W said, "There are exams all over the place all of the time."
This is true. We keep doing them even when we don't recognise them as such.
I loathed school exams, college exams, university exams. When I did the last formal exam I vowed and declared I would never do another. The most recent Masters I did had no such exams. There was a lot of practical work to hand in, research to do, essays to write. I suppose it was more like real life in that area.
"But having to do exams makes sure you actually know things at least for a while," Ms W informed me.
Mmm.... I wonder. I can't do trigonometry now.
Monday, 4 November 2019
Nitrous oxide
is apparently available for sale in supermarkets and "convenience stores".
I am clearly a very ill-informed cat. I had no idea that you could buy a small canister of this and get a short "euphoric" high.
What I do know is that our dental service - a large one attached to our health fund - is now offering nitrous oxide or "laughing gas" in an attempt to cater for cowardly cats like me. That surprised me.It also disturbed me.
I detest going to the dentist - although I like my dentist as a person I do not like what she does to me. But I doubt I will be indulging in "laughing gas". It is also unlikely that my dentist will offer it to me as an option. We would both be wary of the likely effect on my coordination.
Apparently though some people use it as a sort of recreational drug. The sale of it close to the "night club strip" in the CBD apparently confirms this. It is illegal. The real purpose of these little canisters apparently has something to do with whipping cream - presumably the artificial sort. On the rare occasions I whip cream I tend to do it with an old fashioned, indeed old, hand held rotary beater.
Why do people need to do this? I seriously wonder if there is something wrong with them or with me. I have never spent a night wandering the city, calling into a "nightclub", getting drunk and taking drugs. That would not represent "fun" to me at all. Yet thousands of people do it, some on a regular basis. It is the high point of their week.
Uncontrolled use of nitrous oxide can lead to brain damage, damaged eyesight, and memory loss - or so I am told. I would not want to risk any of those things. All I can assume is that, as with other drugs, the potential "pleasure" outweighs the risk for those who indulge.
I think I will reaffirm my "scaredy cat" status. It's no laughing matter.
I am clearly a very ill-informed cat. I had no idea that you could buy a small canister of this and get a short "euphoric" high.
What I do know is that our dental service - a large one attached to our health fund - is now offering nitrous oxide or "laughing gas" in an attempt to cater for cowardly cats like me. That surprised me.It also disturbed me.
I detest going to the dentist - although I like my dentist as a person I do not like what she does to me. But I doubt I will be indulging in "laughing gas". It is also unlikely that my dentist will offer it to me as an option. We would both be wary of the likely effect on my coordination.
Apparently though some people use it as a sort of recreational drug. The sale of it close to the "night club strip" in the CBD apparently confirms this. It is illegal. The real purpose of these little canisters apparently has something to do with whipping cream - presumably the artificial sort. On the rare occasions I whip cream I tend to do it with an old fashioned, indeed old, hand held rotary beater.
Why do people need to do this? I seriously wonder if there is something wrong with them or with me. I have never spent a night wandering the city, calling into a "nightclub", getting drunk and taking drugs. That would not represent "fun" to me at all. Yet thousands of people do it, some on a regular basis. It is the high point of their week.
Uncontrolled use of nitrous oxide can lead to brain damage, damaged eyesight, and memory loss - or so I am told. I would not want to risk any of those things. All I can assume is that, as with other drugs, the potential "pleasure" outweighs the risk for those who indulge.
I think I will reaffirm my "scaredy cat" status. It's no laughing matter.
Sunday, 3 November 2019
"100gms of yarn or less"
are magic words to those of us who knit or crochet - and perhaps bead or weave or do some other craft.
"Black magic or white magic?" you ask. Let me just say "challenge magic".
The end of year Christmas Party is creeping up rapidly. We are "encouraged" to enter the "100gms or less" challenge held each year.
How long can it take to make something out of 100gms? Do something with thick yarn and it could be a day or two. 150m of yarn? Nothing could be simpler - apart from deciding what yarn, what project, finding the right tools and the pattern you know you had somewhere and....
Finer yarn? Anything up to 700m perhaps? Mmm...that is a little more time consuming. I mean you always did intend to knit up that skein of fine pale grey lace weight given to you because the original recipient didn't know what to do with it, doesn't knit anything that fine and didn't like the colour.
Or something in between perhaps? 100gms makes a pair of socks if you use "sock weight" yarn. There is still sock yarn there. You need more socks. But socks take time, more time than you have right now?
Well, something else then?
I made a list of suggestions several years ago. I wasn't being particularly helpful when I did it. It was just a list I had made for a group of then children I was teaching to knit. They wanted projects that would be useful and that they could actually finish. They most definitely did not want to knit scarves. What they wanted were a variety of small projects so they could practice the skills they were being taught. I added to that list for the Christmas Party group - socks probably appear on it. I do not have the list to hand.
There were some mutterings around me yesterday when people were reminded of this. It isn't compulsory. There is no need to do it. Some people feel they "must". Others feel they "should but don't know what to do". Still others simply can't be bothered even though you can knit or crochet or both and it is only the yarn which needs to weigh 100gms or less.
I feel bound to do it if I go - because I made the list and because of other things. I have a project in mind - several in fact.
Imagination can be a curse sometimes.
"Black magic or white magic?" you ask. Let me just say "challenge magic".
The end of year Christmas Party is creeping up rapidly. We are "encouraged" to enter the "100gms or less" challenge held each year.
How long can it take to make something out of 100gms? Do something with thick yarn and it could be a day or two. 150m of yarn? Nothing could be simpler - apart from deciding what yarn, what project, finding the right tools and the pattern you know you had somewhere and....
Finer yarn? Anything up to 700m perhaps? Mmm...that is a little more time consuming. I mean you always did intend to knit up that skein of fine pale grey lace weight given to you because the original recipient didn't know what to do with it, doesn't knit anything that fine and didn't like the colour.
Or something in between perhaps? 100gms makes a pair of socks if you use "sock weight" yarn. There is still sock yarn there. You need more socks. But socks take time, more time than you have right now?
Well, something else then?
I made a list of suggestions several years ago. I wasn't being particularly helpful when I did it. It was just a list I had made for a group of then children I was teaching to knit. They wanted projects that would be useful and that they could actually finish. They most definitely did not want to knit scarves. What they wanted were a variety of small projects so they could practice the skills they were being taught. I added to that list for the Christmas Party group - socks probably appear on it. I do not have the list to hand.
There were some mutterings around me yesterday when people were reminded of this. It isn't compulsory. There is no need to do it. Some people feel they "must". Others feel they "should but don't know what to do". Still others simply can't be bothered even though you can knit or crochet or both and it is only the yarn which needs to weigh 100gms or less.
I feel bound to do it if I go - because I made the list and because of other things. I have a project in mind - several in fact.
Imagination can be a curse sometimes.
Saturday, 2 November 2019
The bank is closing
the branch in our local shopping centre.
That means there will no longer be a bank in the shopping centre. Some limited services will be available at the Post Office.
This is not service at all. Some years ago there were four banks. Over that time I have used all of them for once purpose or another. The first to go was the bank I use. It was not their choice to go. The building was bought and the site is now another supermarket we didn't really need. (I am not sure how well this particular supermarket is doing either.) That was an incredibly busy branch but developer's profit was more important than the community's need for the bank.
The next to go was the "State" bank. It had one of those old-fashioned buildings all to itself. Although it was opposite the community library and well used it first cut the number of hours it operated. Then, over a year ago, it closed too. The building is still vacant. (The building is not that big but there is car parking at the rear.) I had occasion to go in there more than once for elderly people who had always used that bank.
That left two banks. One was on the main road which could be accessed via the shopping centre car park. The people in there were pleasant and knew me because I did the banking for more than one older person. It never seemed very busy so I was not surprised when it closed too.
And now, the last bank is closing. It is the bank the Senior Cat uses. At almost 97 he is wary of doing everything by computer and card. He dislikes ATMs. He still writes the occasional cheque. I have been going into his bank of late to do his banking. He tells me not to use the ATM. Indeed the ATM cannot do what I need to do for him. It will mean pedalling a considerable distance - about thirty minutes in each direction - to the nearest branch of his bank.
I am not impressed.
I can do that if I need to do it but I should not need to do it. The situation will be far worse for the many elderly people in the district who are not able to get to a bank and find it difficult - for one reason or another - to use a teller machine. The Post Office will not be putting on extra staff and won't be able to do everything these people need.
It will also affect all the businesses in the shopping centre, some of whom had already changed banks because other banks closed their branches. Not that many months ago they were being told there was "no chance" this branch would also be closed.
Should we simply be doing everything by card and computer? I am told that this is the way things are going. I could do that now.
But there is something that really bothers me about all this. It means that the capacity to spy on us and very precisely know how and where we spend our money will increase dramatically. It isn't that I spend money on anything illegal. I don't. The vast majority of people don't but giving businesses that information and the potential for commercial espionage is alarming. We won't be better off with fewer services and bigger supermarkets.
People will just become more isolated.
That means there will no longer be a bank in the shopping centre. Some limited services will be available at the Post Office.
This is not service at all. Some years ago there were four banks. Over that time I have used all of them for once purpose or another. The first to go was the bank I use. It was not their choice to go. The building was bought and the site is now another supermarket we didn't really need. (I am not sure how well this particular supermarket is doing either.) That was an incredibly busy branch but developer's profit was more important than the community's need for the bank.
The next to go was the "State" bank. It had one of those old-fashioned buildings all to itself. Although it was opposite the community library and well used it first cut the number of hours it operated. Then, over a year ago, it closed too. The building is still vacant. (The building is not that big but there is car parking at the rear.) I had occasion to go in there more than once for elderly people who had always used that bank.
That left two banks. One was on the main road which could be accessed via the shopping centre car park. The people in there were pleasant and knew me because I did the banking for more than one older person. It never seemed very busy so I was not surprised when it closed too.
And now, the last bank is closing. It is the bank the Senior Cat uses. At almost 97 he is wary of doing everything by computer and card. He dislikes ATMs. He still writes the occasional cheque. I have been going into his bank of late to do his banking. He tells me not to use the ATM. Indeed the ATM cannot do what I need to do for him. It will mean pedalling a considerable distance - about thirty minutes in each direction - to the nearest branch of his bank.
I am not impressed.
I can do that if I need to do it but I should not need to do it. The situation will be far worse for the many elderly people in the district who are not able to get to a bank and find it difficult - for one reason or another - to use a teller machine. The Post Office will not be putting on extra staff and won't be able to do everything these people need.
It will also affect all the businesses in the shopping centre, some of whom had already changed banks because other banks closed their branches. Not that many months ago they were being told there was "no chance" this branch would also be closed.
Should we simply be doing everything by card and computer? I am told that this is the way things are going. I could do that now.
But there is something that really bothers me about all this. It means that the capacity to spy on us and very precisely know how and where we spend our money will increase dramatically. It isn't that I spend money on anything illegal. I don't. The vast majority of people don't but giving businesses that information and the potential for commercial espionage is alarming. We won't be better off with fewer services and bigger supermarkets.
People will just become more isolated.
Friday, 1 November 2019
Our new freezer
should be delivered today.
Getting a new one is a matter of safety. The old one is almost fifty. It has served us well but it is no longer efficient. On the first warm day of this season I found it was leaking. Investigation showed it was not sealing properly. There was water on the floor. That could be extremely dangerous, especially for the Senior Cat. As he also pointed out, "If something happened to you then we would be in a real mess."
Yes, we would.
We did some research. We spoke to someone who knows about such things. No, it was not worth repairing. Freezers are, naturally, made quite differently now.
We did more research. What was recommended? Could we afford it? Did we really need a freezer or could we manage with the freezer compartment of the fridge?
We decided on a new freezer. Middle Cat is now using some of the garden to grow vegetables some of those will go in there. With a freezer I can buy in bulk when items we need are a good, seasonal price. There is the expense of running the freezer but, if I shop this way, then things even out. I don't have to shop almost everyday. And, also important, I can cook multiple meals at one time and freeze them so that we have a supply on hand. That can be very important in this house. Anything could happen to delay meal preparation or make shopping impossible. "Take away" meals are expensive - even more so if we had to rely on their delivery.
Feeling guilty I went on-line. I went to the company which provided our new fridge some time ago. Did they have one of the recommended brands? What size? Ah, yes. They will deliver it today. Delivery is "free". They will take away the old one.
If they are as efficient as they were last time then we should have a new freezer today.
What puzzles me is that the actual object will come from a store somewhere here in the suburbs. If we had bought it that way the cost would be higher. There would be a delivery fee on top of that. We would need to dispose of the old freezer ourselves. This way it gets recycled safely and efficiently.
The problem? It cuts out a job for someone in a shop somewhere.
I am still feeling rather guilty - even though it has saved us several hundred dollars.
Getting a new one is a matter of safety. The old one is almost fifty. It has served us well but it is no longer efficient. On the first warm day of this season I found it was leaking. Investigation showed it was not sealing properly. There was water on the floor. That could be extremely dangerous, especially for the Senior Cat. As he also pointed out, "If something happened to you then we would be in a real mess."
Yes, we would.
We did some research. We spoke to someone who knows about such things. No, it was not worth repairing. Freezers are, naturally, made quite differently now.
We did more research. What was recommended? Could we afford it? Did we really need a freezer or could we manage with the freezer compartment of the fridge?
We decided on a new freezer. Middle Cat is now using some of the garden to grow vegetables some of those will go in there. With a freezer I can buy in bulk when items we need are a good, seasonal price. There is the expense of running the freezer but, if I shop this way, then things even out. I don't have to shop almost everyday. And, also important, I can cook multiple meals at one time and freeze them so that we have a supply on hand. That can be very important in this house. Anything could happen to delay meal preparation or make shopping impossible. "Take away" meals are expensive - even more so if we had to rely on their delivery.
Feeling guilty I went on-line. I went to the company which provided our new fridge some time ago. Did they have one of the recommended brands? What size? Ah, yes. They will deliver it today. Delivery is "free". They will take away the old one.
If they are as efficient as they were last time then we should have a new freezer today.
What puzzles me is that the actual object will come from a store somewhere here in the suburbs. If we had bought it that way the cost would be higher. There would be a delivery fee on top of that. We would need to dispose of the old freezer ourselves. This way it gets recycled safely and efficiently.
The problem? It cuts out a job for someone in a shop somewhere.
I am still feeling rather guilty - even though it has saved us several hundred dollars.
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