In which we pontificate upon tedium ennui and the general meaninglessness of existence

Dear Blog, I'm sorry I've been remiss for the past few days, but really, how could I top the excitements of last Thursday?

I've finally got the ball rolling on the Centrelink/Job Network front, not without some bureaudrama - but all sorted now I hope. And the damaged tyre has been fixed - I'd rather pay $25 for that than $125 for a new one!

Yesterday was - absolutely ghastly, weatherwise. Actually it all started on Saturday evening. The weather bureau had predicted a day of rain for Sunday, and we were all looking forward to that, but instead a long series of short, sharp thunderstorms came rolling across from the northwest, for hours and hours - from about 4pm to well after midnight. They were at about 1/2 hour intervals, and each one was neatly packaged with huge black clouds, lightning and thunder and a ten minute drenching shower with high winds. Weird, but effective!

This seems to have replaced the earlier prediction, because Sunday was warm and clear - some cloud around but no rain at all.

Yesterday started off OK, but the Man at the Bureau said - high winds, some showers, areas of raised dust. Cue to lock every window and door, pull the curtains shut - anything to keep the dust out! So, it's ok till about lunchtime. In the morning I had to take Mum to the doctor for a checkup: I managed to persuade him to give her a referral to a specialist, and he noted that she hadn't had a chest x-ray for 2 years. So we organised that for 3.30 yesterday afternoon. At this stage, it was a bit windy, but nothing too dramatic. Boy did that change! By about 1pm, the wind was howling, the dust was swirling, and when I went to the employment agency for the appointment-that-never-was at 2.30, it was raining mud. Yep, a good old Narrandera red rain mudstorm - which is what you get when you have showers and a dust storm happening together. I am SO glad I didn't wash my car at any stage! When I took Mum to the hospital for the X-ray, I had to hang on to her so she didn't blow away, little budgie she is...

Anyway, the X-ray showed a heap of stuff in one lung, but the other clear. Now I don't pretend to know anything about emphysema, but that's not what I'd expect to see. Nor, it seems, did the radiographer - he rang the doctor, and they organised some antibiotics. It looks to me like the poor woman has been suffering all this time from an undiagnosed chest infection rather than emphysema! We'll see if the antibiotics clear it up - and in any case it's worth going through with the specialist appointment (especially since she doesn't have to pay for it, being a war widow.)

Honestly, sometimes I lose confidence in doctors. And I thought this one was quite good! It doesn't help that whenever Mum gets in there, she talks down the problem: but the cough is absolutely terrifying to witness - it looks as though she's going to explode. Anyway - we could be on a good track at last.

Am I turning into Proust yet????

The new photo shows a scene looking south on the road between Matong and Ganmain (I think - somewhere out there anyway) on my way to Wagga last Thursday. Yes, the soil is that colour. The yellow bush is golden wattle, our national flower! I'll upload a closeup of the blossom too. I have some other cutesy pix to display - including Basil the labrador and Mia the moggy, snuggled up in the sunshine at the back door. Too cute.