We set off towards Kilcoy but on the way I decided that I needed to get settled in to the comfort of Lawnton Showground to get over a case of the dog's disease.
When we reached Wyllie Park there wasn't room to stop even for lunch so we dumped the black water and finished the journey to the showground. As we drove in we saw that somebody was parked in "our" space. It turned out to be Brian and Pat Galland who had had to find somewhere to spend the week while they visit various family members in and around Brisbane.
It was suppose to be a vege day but I had to do the laundry and I had to mend the wooly underlay on the bed so I did a considerable amount of work.
We went to a beginners class at the Taoist Tai Chi Society at Lutwyche. This was a beginners session intended to give one a taste for Tai Chi. If one wishes to continue, one joins the Society and pays regular dues in return for which all the classes and other activities are available. I enjoyed the class and would be happy to take up membership. Our nomadic lifestyle may make this impractical. We'll see.
We then on to Mitchelton to have my new hearing aid fitted. It was a bit strange initially with lots of extraneous noise but as the day progressed the noise disappeared and the improvement in hearing was quite remarkable. This is presumably another demonstration of the malleability of human senses. When I first got multi-focal spectacles, the images in the peripheral vision moved alarmingly whenever the head moved. This effect disappeared entirely within a few days and the images are now as steady and stable as ever. When I talked to the radiologist about the pain in my thumb which seems to come from the tendons while the problem is in the joint, he agreed that the brain determines via some indirect process where the pain appears to come from and this may not be the site of the actual injury.
Back to the hearing aid. I can now hear music from the CD player much as I could when I was much younger, the TV now runs at a much lower level than heretofore, the birds seem to be much closer now, and I'm really happy with the result and wonder why I delayed so long in getting something done about my deafness.
Lay day
I had designed the circuit needed to charge the extra battery I had bought to drive the 24V horn solenoid so we went to Aspley to buy the bits from Jaycar. We also visited Centrelink to pick up some forms to report changes in our assets and income. This took quite a while as there were not enough staff attending to clients and everyone ahead of us spent a long time at the counter. Eventually a lady from the adjoining counter, finding herself with no more clients, offered to help us. She thanked us for our patience and gave us several forms with reply paid envelopes so that we wouldn't have to queue again. It's good to know that there are still people in the bureaucracy who understand that out time is valuable too.
Being near Chermside, I went to the Telstra shop to find out what I would need to do to get a new phone. I came away somewhat poorer but with a new phone.
We went to Patricks Road to get the email, update the web site, see the kids.
The Gallands left to go to Hervey Bay so we move the Motley into "our" spot to get away from the tree which had dropped black stuff all over the Motley.
I had to go to Woolloongabba to pick up a patch cable for the new phone. On the way I left the damaged trailer wheel at a tyre shop to be repaired. I didn't get back till after lunch so we spent the rest of the day quietly doing stuff.
We went to Cafe Zanetti for lunch and then to Patricks Road to do some stuff with Sarah's iBook.
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We went to Patricks Rd expecting some kind of Mother's Day celebration and found Sarah had gone out with the kids. We went to lunch at Cafe Zanetti with Alain.
I needed to wash the Motley which took a couple of hours. My normally unused muscles complained for the rest of the day. I hope the Tai Chi improves my physical condition so that tasks like this don't result in such discomfort.
We had lunch with Sarah at Blooms in Mitchelton (next to Cafe Zanetti which is closed on Mondays).
We went to Tai Chi for the second lesson and joined the Society. We will attend as many of the present set of beginners classes as possible. We will be able to join another beginners series when we come back to Brisbane.
There are branches of the Society all over Australia so we may be able to continue active membership when we are on the road.
I had my second session with the periodontist. I'm glad that's over. Now I have to go back to the dentist to have some more teeth out.
Sarah and Jean went shopping in Paddington while I had a follow up visit to the audiologist.
In the afternoon, I managed to fix the installation of OpenOffice on Sarah's iBook so she can now share files with people who use the "software from hell".