Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 7th August 2022

 
Wonderful cartoon from Jeff Glorfeld - we think Morse would identify with this

We started our week with a successful visit to Leanne last Sunday. She was in good spirits & we were able to help her, mostly by chatting about things. Wes was able to see & admire the work done by Peter the handyman/painter. We drove back here to discover Morse in his bed with remnants of the dried bone we had given him.

On Monday morning I was unable to pay for my shopping at Coles Supermarket, as my credit card had been dishonoured. I spent the rest of the day waiting to speak to someone in the Fraud department of the NAB to get this sorted. The solution to paying for groceries was to leave them there, return home, collect Wes's credit card & pray it went through OK, which it did. In between periods of waiting on the phone, I had a very welcome massage with Sarah Hunt, which was just what I needed!

At 3pm the third person I spoke with suggested I visit an actual NAB branch. Wes offered to drive me to Ballarat, so we did just that & got it sorted in 15 minutes. Wes did think I had gone to incredible lengths to get out of School that morning, which was spring cleaning our bathrooms 🤣🤣.

Back to 1984 - from the top

Cousins - Andrew & Sharyn Kierce + Callum & Heath Preston

Hong Kong - Jan McClean, Karen Maloney & Viva Saundry

Danny Millman & his daughters - Greta, Celia & Lauren

Jeff & I were able to chat on Messenger on Tuesday morning & found ourselves reminiscing about shows we had seen when travelling. She won with her memory of seeing the wonderful opera, Turandot, performed at La Scala, where the audience booed & hissed. She was able to tell me that the Aussies had won more Gold Medals in the pool & in the gymnastics, and I assured her we would come back to the pack once the Athletics started (but I could be wrong - we seem to be still winning medals).

We were at the end of our tethers by now after two weeks with no NBN & Wes eventually spoke to someone higher up in Telstra, who finally agreed to send us a technician the next day. Mohammed arrived on time, checked that everything was OK inside, which it was, & headed outside. He arrived back after 10 minutes to say that our NBN had been turned off at the exchange for no apparent reason!

Wes spent Wednesday morning, while I played Mah Jong with Judi, getting everything reconnected to the new modem & when I arrived home, I tried to do the same with our printer. After two frustrating hours Wes could print, but I couldn't, so on Thursday I bought a new HP flatbed scanner, printer & copier. It means we go back to a printer each, but life is too short to keep uninstalling & reinstalling our current HP printer. 

Also, on Thursday my new credit card arrived, so I spent a good part of the day updating my details with all the businesses with which we have direct debit accounts. I am thrilled with the speed of delivery of the card, as well as the professional way the whole potential fraud was handled by the NAB. 

Finally, because we had the NBN, I was able to enjoy a lovely fun Zoom with old friends - Kathy, Karen & Libby - after a fortnight of having to assign Kathy as host instead. 

Christmas morning 1978 - 

above - Libby Tyrrell & Karen Millman & 

below - Joyce Spiteri & Kathy Lazzaro 

& we are all still friends

We had a lovely long brunch with Fiona & Les Groundwater on Friday at Bad Habits café. Fiona is the daughter of David & Annie Smith, two of our earliest Daylesford friends, who both died far too soon. We met Fiona, who lives in Fremantle, early on in our friendship, when she brought her baby daughter, Chloe, to Daylesford to spend time with her grandparents. We have stayed in touch over the years & always enjoy catching up, especially now when we can share our memories. 

That night Collingwood played Melbourne in yet another game that wasn't decided until the last few seconds. At half-time I was resigned to our inevitable loss, but amazingly we rallied & won by 7 points in front of a crowd of 71,000 on a cold, wet Melbourne night at the MCG. 

Yesterday, after not much sleep, I found myself watching the replay, while our sheets, towels & clothes all washed & dried themselves in the laundry. At lunchtime, we had a delightful visit from our former neighbours, Rob & Dene, who were looking at nearby properties in Kingston & Waubra. We hadn't told Morse they were coming to see us & he was overjoyed, especially when Rob fed him treats. It was so good to see them both & we were sorry they had to leave after an hour with other commitments. 

Finally, the news of Judith Durham's death was a very sad way to finish off yesterday. Her wonderful voice will never be forgotten as she & The Seekers recorded so many albums & were loved around the world. 

A recent photo of Athol Guy, Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley & Keith Potger