Saturday 7 October 2017

As Jan's last chemo is on Halloween we contemplate going en costume (should be said with French accent). Since Lesley won't be here we can steal her idea and go as "Despicable Me" minions - goggles available online. Alternatively we could go as North Americans: we'd fake the accent, pronounce word-ending "R"s, have no tattoos or multiple piercings, not drive a Hilux 4WD with breather snorkel for bush-whacking and drink two glasses of wine instead of a case of beer, so that might work. Another idea is to go as a pitiful cancer patient and her amazingly supportive partner who would prefer to be anywhere but Darwin, but nobody would believe any of that. Maybe we'll just go as deadbeat cruisers in shorts, T-shirts and sandals - don't really want to frighten anyone and pretty sure we can pull that one off.

Tuesday

Have a confession, but wouldn't want this to get around. We�'re very lucky to be where we are. Australia is tops in the world for treatment of breast cancer and notwithstanding common wisdom in Darwin when someone has a medical problem �"if you�'re in pain, get on a plane�", recent establishment of the Alan Walker Cancer Center makes it an excellent location. Treatment is on par with best practice anywhere and it's immediate. As a rule public health systems, secure in the conviction that medicine is exempt from the laws of supply and demand, treat the inevitable imbalance with delays and waiting lists, shocked to have anyone compare this to rationing. That has yet to develop here and doctors, nurses and staff have been excellent.

Sunday

The boat is equipped with two reverse cycle air conditioners (aircon in Oz - the last three syllables are in the too hard basket). Since these rely on thermal exchange with relatively cool water and the marina is now a spa (alternatively, a hot cesspool), effectiveness is less than optimal. On those occasions when the saloon unit doesn't overheat and shut down (aft cabin unit completely gave up a few days ago), interior temps range between 28 and 30 C (82 and 86 F). Borrowed 2.7 kH window unit in forward hatch runs about 10 minutes each hour making unnatural and vexatious noises to minimal effect. Currently considering options including: flushing and descaling units, adding second raw water pump, buying or renting better AC, chucking spare ice cubes over the side or all of the above. One or more of these may not help.

Plan for doing laps at the Casuarina public pool this morning instead of biking was thwarted due a special event that had it overrun with citizenry. This was met with little disappointment as swimming is boring and odious. Skipping exercise days, however, is regrettable because, at an age, one transforms into a blob of viscous goo at a shocking rate and rapidly ceases to be a stud muffin - an unacceptable eventuality. As this is now a wasted day and return to boat will lead to fumbling around with hydrochloric acid doing actual work, drove to local Coffee Club for free internet, an especially large breakfast including sweet muffin and as much delay as is conscionable.

Jack