Microwave

Well, the microwave was briefly clean. Tonight I had an exploding soup. Had to clean it again.

Grouping emails

I've now changes it so that emails aren't grouped together, so you should now see each email individually. Let me know if you want it changed back and I'll fix it.

Armies

My armies were a mixed batch covering the ancient, medieval and renaissance periods. Mostly cavalry armies.

emails

There were actually four emails - but the way gmail works they'd only look like two from the main screen. You have to open them and then there'll be some indication that there's more than one - probably like another title line somewhere in the text of the message or before or after the message. You then click on that and it will open too.

Just had a look at your email and it will probably a grey bar before the message showing the title and a snippet of the other message in that group. Might be after though.

The number in the sender/receiver column tells you how many messages there are in the group.

Omnibus

We have been paid!

Sounds like the hospital was OK, but you were in more danger on the ride home.

Later today I'll forward some emails about the Galapagos trip that arrived in your other email account. I can post them up on this blog if you prefer. Done - plus an email from me to the Galapagos people.

The mulch mountain is in the Japanese garden - or near the brussell sprouts if you prefer. I decided it was easier to cart stuff downhill rather than uphill. It's still only a small mountain.

Insurance

I spoke to the insurance people and they weren't concerned about you not calling them at the time of admission. Further, they are happy for any claim you might make to be submitted once you return to Australia. They've allocated and initial contact number (12438885) if you do wish to make a claim on your return.

What you will need if do do wish to make a claim is proof of payment, and a statement as to the treatment you received - this should have been provided by the hospital.. The statement of treatment should be in English and they suggested having it translated while you are in Turkey. They said it doesn't have to be an official translation - having it done by anyone who can read and write both languages is good enough.

I found them easy to deal with - once I stopped being in the hold queue.

Microwave

Clean!!!!! Maybe not sparkling though.

Leaves

Today I started my assault on the leaves, and in the process I started a new mulch mountain. So far I've vacuumed the leaves from the concrete under the oak tree and from the Japanese garden and the area around the bamboos. I also removed all the acorn waste from the concrete.

The area under the oak tree looks bare and uninteresting without its decorative oak leaves.

Next will be the rest of the garden.

Confused

It's good that you are feeling better and are up to getting out and about. And eating again - that is good too.

First you say you didn't buy any carpets, then you say you gave away your rug. Took me a while to figure out you were talking about the Gallipoli tour rug.

It took me even longer to figure out your comment about dogs.

Poor old me! All these parcels to collect.

Tour

It's good that you are feeling up to going on the tour. I hope that you survive without any accidents.

It's been mostly sunny today, so I went for a walk this morning - I've been feeling fat and lazy for a while.

This afternoon I've been making fletching for my arrows and later on I'll bring in such of my washing as is dry.

Good

It's good that there's nothing seriously wrong. No so good that they thought you needed an IV drip - implies that you are still dehydrated. I hope that you fully recover soon.

This morning has been the coldest so far - minimum 1.9 at Tuggeranong and -0.8 at the airport. Still, the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky so things aren't looking to bad.

My new soup is good, but not as good as the last one. Maybe it will improve on the second eating as soups usually do.

I've decided to take advantage of the sunshine, so today is washing day.

Much confusion over who has a public holiday today (Monday) with it being quite inconsistent in the ACT and nationally. Seems like the various governments made up their minds at the last minute and it hasn't been well communicated. ACT public servants would seem to be getting the day off, most private businesses aren't, and not much has been said about Commonwealth public servants.

Are you getting up really early, or going to bed late? Your latest comment seemed to have been made at about 23:00 Turkish time.

Tulips

I knew that tulips originated somewhere near Turkey, but not they were the Turkish national flower Shouldn't have been surprised I guess. Sounds like the tulips would have been worth seeing. Better than Floriade?

Rhubarb

No, I didn't know that. It don't think they were eating it in the way we (well, maybe you) do though. I think they were using it for medical purposes - possibly as a purgative. I seem to remember reading that somewhere. Yes, that's right, I just looked it up.

Sydney has received another whopping. Hailstones in Sydney:

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/weather/sydney-weather-hail-storms-batter-sydney-20150425-1mt1rk.html

and snow in the Blue Mountains. All we got in Canberra was 1.7mm of rain and lots of thunder and lightening.

As I write soup production is in full swing - red soup with sausage. Almost had a disaster this morning. I was heating up my Turkish food for breakfast and the beans started to boil, so I set the timer for one hour, forgetting that it was already in use for timing the Turkish food! I had to guess how long my breakfast had been heating for. Worked out OK though.

Off to archery when the soup finishes.

Not much going on

No much happening here today. For the ANZAC commemoration (the ABC keeps saying celebration, to which I object) there was a fly-over by an E-7A Wedgetail (Boeing 737 with a radar of top) and three F-18E/F. First time I'd seen the E-7A.

Lots of lightening and thunder today, but not much rainfall.

TA must have got a surprise as the people rushed past him!

I hope you're feeling better and can participate in the other parts of the tour.

Acorns

It looks like acorn season is over for the year. We're no longer getting flock of corellas or cockatoos producing a gentle rain of acorn waste. Just an occasional visit by parrots of the usual types. Earlier today there was a cockatoo eating the discarded acorns on the deck, and when it ran out of them it started to have a chew of the planking on the deck. That didn't last long as I went out a shooed it away - it hasn't been back so far.

There's still plenty of acorn waste and oak leaves under the tree though. I keep meaning to clean them up but whenever I think about it, it starts to rain and makes all the leaves wet again. Vacuuming wet leaves isn't much fun.

Some things have priority

It's good that you're starting to fell better. Wouldn't be good if the whole trip was ruined.

The tour people may be busy, but medical problems should take precedence. In any case, it doesn't have to involve them. Anyone with some command of English should be able to point you to a doctor.

There is a limit

I may be flexible, but I'm not a contortionist!

Flexible

Yes, amazing - and it wasn't too bad. Not much different from going there on Saturday morning. Much the same number of people around.

The impetus for this radical action was that I decided to I wanted to make a soup for next week and needed more ingredients.

Travel insurance

Doesn't sound so good - could be something more than just a minor reaction. Maybe you should go to the doctor. No point having the travel insurance if you don't use it when you need to.

Break with tradition

Because ANZAC day is on Saturday I'm going to break with tradition and do the major shopping today. Flexible!

Clothes

How strange. I guess you win some and you lose some. Trousers might be harder to replace than other things though.

Too bad about you not being well. I hope things work out OK.

Phone call from your mother

I just had a phone call from your mother wondering how you are - she hadn't yet looked at her email. All seemed well with your parents, and the only reportable thing is that they are going away tomorrow (Friday) to Bright for a week.

Other stuff

Sounds like you are enjoying the food, even if the ferries leave something to be desired. The buses sound interesting. Does the rest of the traffic behave like the buses? If so, sounds like a good place not to be a driver.

The difference in floor level is to provide better sealing without using a snake or draft excluder. Serves the same purpose as the doorstops at the side of the door jamb.

Email address

I have added the email address you requested. Try typing your mother's first name and it should come up - at least it did for me.

We have not been paid

Because it's not payday. I have, however, recorded your numbers and will continue to do so while you are away.

Too organised!

Well done, you are just too organised! I also added a comment to your comment, but thought you'd be more likely to see it here.

NRMA

Today you got a membership renewal notice from the NRMA. It covers Club Care (28.00 - basically maintains from years of membership and access to discounts) and Traveller Care ($89.00 - the bits other than roadside assistance). It does note that you do not have roadside assistance - I assume that this is still included in the car purchase. The renewal is due on 16 May.

I assume you haven't set up an automatic payment for this, so I'll pay it in the absence of any other instructions.

I got the other three letters.

Warmer, but still windy

Today has started out warmer, but still windy. Nothing like in Sydney though. Here it's been mostly dry and the wind has been continuous, but hasn't been gusting very strongly. As a result there's not much damage in Canberra - in fact they are sending some of the ACT SES crews to Sydney to help out.

Citibank

The Citibank card finally turned up - along with a PIN which may or may not be the same as the other one you've got. I spoke to Citibank about the situation and they couldn't come up with anything that I thought was worthwhile.

They do have an office in Istanbul at:

Tekfen Tower
Eski Büyükdere Cad. No:209
34394 Levent
İstanbul - Türkiye
Telefon: (0212) 319 45 00

and other places around Turkey, but they said they wouldn't be able to issue another card as yours was issued by Citibank Australia.

All they could really suggest was that you call them on the number on the back of the card (+61-8225-0615) to discuss what they might be able to do.

All in all, not very helpful.

Cold, cold, COLD

Maximum temperature 12.7, currently 12.3, apparently 6.4. The Ugly Black Fingerless-Gloves are on, the green thing is on the couch, and the heater is on! Very windy too.

WInter arrived

Winter arrived at 10:15 this morning. The wind got up, the temperature dropped, the rain started, and the sheep graziers were warned. Snow down to 1200 metres. The forecast for the rest of the week is pretty bleak too.

Snail-eaten mail

Found another snail-eaten letter from Citibank in the letterbox. Still no sign of your card, but the letter contained instructions on how to activate your card, and a request to provide them with a tax file number and provide a declaration saying you're not a US citizen - otherwise they might apply withholding tax at the top marginal rate and the US IRS may start asking questions.

First phone call

Got my first phone call from Turkey We exchanged numbers and I told you about the strange "phone authorisation" phone call.

Laptop

I've done the usual updates on your laptop, malware checked it and virus checked it. I'm now in the process of doing a full backup to a removable hard drive.

I still haven't figured out why Windows Defender is doing strange things.

Today & yesterday

While driving home I saw the reason for planning on leaving home so early. There was a big accident on the Hume, and traffic towards Sydney was banked up for kilometres. If we were still heading north we would have been delayed for quite a while.

When I got near Canberra on the way home there was a LOT of smoke in the air from a fire somewhere. I didn't find out were it was, but it must have been on the north side somewhere as when I got home the smoke wasn't as bad.

Raining all day today. Not heavily, but persistent.

No sign of the Citibank card yet.