Go toHOMEBottom of PageGo toThe Motley ExpeditionsViews from the Other SideStrolls in the BushTravels round my FamilyMy Life as an EngineerBarraba Red HattersGo on the Web toEco-Camping AustraliaThe Highway Wanderers Chapter of the CMCAThe Australian SkepticsMy Daughter's Blog |
September 2012A Wonderful Weekend and a sad tripTuesday , 25th September 2012On Saturday I drove to Brisbane with Jean to visit our son Alain to celebrate his Monday birthday. On the way we had a problem with a failure of the clutch on the Terios in Glen Innes, We rented a Toyota Corolla from Herz in Glen Innes to complete our journey to Brisbane. We visited Alain's new apartment in the afternoon. In the evening we bought him some wonderful indian dinner to celebrate his coming birthday and we watched Doctor Who with him on his TV because he was keen to do that every time. I handed him my newest MacBook which had had some total failures so that he could take it to work to get it repaired. I am using my previous MacBook which I had to adjust lots of files which had been altered after I stopped using it. I am impressed that I can still use my ninth, Apple computer "nein" I have owned while the tenth, "ex" is being repaired. Sadly nein doesn't use the BigPond modem even though I had made ex use the modem before I had stopped using ex because of the Macbook problems We slept in Alain's place on Saturday night. We drove back to Glen Innes on Sunday so that we could work on the repair of the Terios on Monday. We thought we could get it towed back to Barraba by NRMA so that Barraba Motors could do the repair and we could get back to Barraba in the towed vehicle. It was not reasonable to get it repaired in Glen Innes because we would have to stay in Glen Innes several days until this was done. I spoke to the driver of the NRMA truck and he said that he had taken the Terios to his son's business, 24 hour Diesel in Glen Innes to have it repaired. I asked him if he could take the Terios to Barraba and he said yes. IWe booked into a Motel and went to the Glen Innes RSM restaurant for dinner. We had a good dinner and a good night's sleep. On Monday morning I spoke to the truck driver's son who agreed that taking the Terios to Barraba would be OK. Jean said that she was not prepared to travel in the Terios on the back of the truck because it would probably be very badly uncomfortable. I spoke to the guy at Herz from whom we had rented the Toyota Corolla and asked him if we could drive it to Barraba and to the Herz business in Tamworth and he said that would be OK. We drove back to Barraba before lunch. Before I left Barraba I had to post the Motel room key back to Glen Innes because I had forgotten to hand it back and they had failed to ask for it. After lunch I drove to Tamworth so that I could put the car back in Herz and so that I could come back to Barraba on the Country Link Bus leaving Tamworth at 4.30 pm. The trip down there and back was OK. Today the Terios was delivered to Barraba Motors by the Mark on his NRMA truck from Glen Innes to Barraba. We had to pay him for this but I was appreciating what had happened. Sadly we will have to wait some time before Barraba Motors can repair our Terios so we will have to walk a lot in Barraba or get lifts from Sarah in Barraba or to Tamworth and back. Revised: 25th Sept eveningA Wonderful radio InterviewThursday , 20th September 2012When I was driving back to Barraba yesterday I was listening to ABCFM radio I was amazed when I heard a lady interviewing Richard Heinberg He is one of the famous authors some of whose books are in my personal library. I was impressed when he told the lady that he had read The Limits to Growth in 1972 and it had convinced him that there was a major problem in the future world because we were over consuming many natural products. I remembered that I had read the same book in the same year and had the same thoughts into my head. I have had three of Heinberg's wonderful books about Peak Oil and other issues which are important to the Transition Network. When I bought his recent book, The End of Growth, I sent him a congratulatory message which included my opinion that his book was wonderful and which also included the facts that I had some of his famous books in my personal library and I told him that he was there with several other famous authors, Tim Flannery, Isaac Azimov, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking. He sent me an email which congratulated me for this information. The interviewer mentioned that she thought he was working in Santa Barbara in California. He told her that he worked in the Post Carbon Institute which is a non profit organisation which is trying to convince everybody that the future problems need to be avoided by every bodies reduction in their oil fuel and in their carbon footprints. I was so happy to have heard this interview and it suggested that he was visiting Australia, I assume that Post Carbon Institute are interested in what Australia is doing about the future problems. Another Good FixThursday , 13th September 2012I had two wireless mouses for my Mac Book. One was a CE brand chinese one. The other was a Logitech. Both of them had failed to work reliably. The Logitech which I used mostly was turning my clicks into double clicks which caused some major problems. I went to Dick Smiths in Tamworth and asked for a new mouse for my Mac Book. He offered me an Apple Magic Mouse which I bought. When I got it to work by setting up the Bluetooth connection it was wonderful. I am so pleased that the problems I had have been removed. |
BackMar 2014Feb 2014Jan 2014Dec 2013Nov 2013Oct 2013Sept 2013Aug 2013Jul 2013Jun 2013May 2013Apr 2013Mar 2013Feb 2013Jan 2013Dec 2012Nov 2012Oct 2012Aug 2012Jul 2012Jun 2012May 2012Apr 2012Mar 2012Feb 2012Jan 2012Dec 2011Nov 2011Oct 2011Sep 2011Aug 2011Jul 2011Jun 2011May 2011Apr 2011Mar 2011Feb 2011Jan 2011Dec 2010Nov 2010Oct 2010Sep 2010Aug 2010Jul 2010Jun 2010May 2010Apr 2010Mar 2010Feb 2010Jan 2010Dec 2009Nov 2009Oct 2009Sep 2009Aug 2009Jul 2009Jun 2009May 2009Apr 2009Mar 2009Feb 2009Jan 2009Dec 2008Nov 2008Oct 2008Sep 2008Aug 2008Jul 2008Jun 2008May 2008Apr 2008 |