Thursday night I'd slept okay until I woke at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep for a while because I kept thinking about all the things I had to do before the weekend. Nevertheless I arrived at the hospital early for my appointment, which was just as well because it took me sometime to find the right section - I was almost tempted to change the sign Dept of Nuclear Medicine to read Dept of Unclear Medicine.
If you haven't had an ultrasound before (as I hadn't) it's a bit strange. You lie there half naked while a nurse/technician pushes a cold probe against your chest, telling you to change your position at intervals. On the screen of her machine, a shadowy figure appears now and again, pulsing like a sea-monster in an old B-movie. Every now and again it lets out a brief burst of sound. I hope the doctor understands what the scan says, because I have absolutely no idea.
After that I needed a cup of coffee so I stopped at my usual watering hole for something hot and caffeinated. Then across the road to the pharmacy where we had a long and unproductive discussion about the price of my diabetes supplies, which for some reason are tenfold what they were last year. Not happy Jan.
Did the weekend shopping on the way home and called in at the newsagents to buy latest issues of THE PHANTOM and PEOPLE'S FRIEND (is there a Teresa Ashby story in the latter - yes there is!). Went home and heated up something for dinner, then listened to the latest Reuters podcast, made some phone calls and went to bed early.
Tried to read "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun" a mystery-thriller novel by Sébastien Japrisot, the 1966 French novel. It wasn't what I expected and I had trouble getting into it. Feels more like James Hadley Chase than Simenon. Maybe I might try it again when I am less anxious.
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MARCH READINGS:
ANALOG SF (March-April 2025) Trevor Quachri editor
CHILDREN OF THE STONES by Jeremy Burnham (1977)
PLANETS FOR SALE by E. Mayne Hull and/or A.E. van Vogt (1954)
SOD CALM AND GET ANGRY editor anon. (2011)
THIRD TERM AT MALORY TOWERS by E. Blyton (1948)
ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey (2023) Booker Prize winner
THE ANGRY PLANET by John Keir Cross (1945)
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Wednesday 16/04/2025 was a landmark in my domestic arrangements. I was used to not having any lights in my bedroom, relying instead on the bedside lamp. At the end of last month, one of the fuses must have gone, meaning I had no electricity in the power points in my room - cue the battery-powered camping lantern for illumination. I was getting used to this as well and started having some early nights.
Then I discovered Wednesday morning that - sometime between 10pm and 10am - a rat or a mouse had gnawed through both the power cable and the phone line that let the modem do its magic. 😒I felt despondent for a while, thinking of all the things that were now lost to me -- e-mail, podcasts, Wikipedia, Amazon, Facebook, Netbank, iView and everything else that starts with www.
There is free wi-fi at any of the former phone booths, but you can't make yourself comfortable on the concrete steps of the post office. Thank goodness I remembered our local coffee shop has free wi-fi; I suspect they'll be seeing even more of me than usual.
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April among the bookshelves :
THE ASTOUNDING ADVENTURES OF DR. BIRD by Capt. S.P. Meek (1930) **
THE LADY IN THE CAR WITH GLASSES AND A GUN by Sébastien Japrisot (1966) **
JOURNEY TO THE UNDERGROUND WORLD by Lin Carter (1979) **
MR FORTUNE'S PRACTICE by H.C. Bailey (1923) **
ZANTHODON by Lin Carter (1980) **
CODE THREE by Rick Raphael (1963) ***
SEGOVIA: AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1893-1920 (1976) **
WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU A CAT by Syou Ishida (2023) *
WORRALS CARRIES ON.by Capt. W.E. Johns (1942) **
COCAINE BLUES by Kerry Greenwood (1989) *** Phryne #1
My communication problems have improved. My iPhone 6 has decided that it can, after weeks of thinking about it, actually install the update for Facebook Messenger, putting me back in touch with some of my activities. And Telstra have supplied me with a dongle to replace my dead modem. I never planned to go back to Telstra - I've been with iiNet and Southern Phone most of this century and had no complaints, but circumstances forced me back into the arms of the Telco colossus.
Got to admit I felt less than happy when I woke up the next morning and ran through the previous day's events in my head, but I had a hot drink and read a chapter of this week's book WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU A CAT and started to feel a bit better.
But why do they *always* make these gadgets black? I seem to be slowly filling the place with ebony electronic bits and bobs. If I lose one I have to get down on my hands and knees and use a bright light to track down the lost sheep. The alternative is to hope it turns up one day - and inevitably I find out where it is when I step on it and break it. Would it kill them to put a little dab of something bright on them at the factory? I'd be willing to pay extra if they'd put a yellow stripe on the side! As it is, I will have to remember to return the dongle to its little box every time I stop using it, just to be on the safe side.
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I didn't make it in to the newsagents for a couple of weeks because of all the public holidays. I was chatting to the girl at the counter while she fished out my orders, and I happened to mention my birthday. She said "Oh really. So, how old are you now?" I told her. Had to admire her restraint for not saying "Aren't y0u too old to be reading comic books?"
