Round 5 Final Results

Well I did get my two points for today but oh what a nerve wracking experience it has been!! I am getting way too old for such nerve wracking suspense!!!! Brisbane didn't have things all their way and for a little while it looked as if the Demons could have gotten up for an unexpected win. The Lions were never really safe until the last few minutes of the match when they managed to gain a 4-goal advantage. The next match was even more nerve wracking, the Kangaroos even taking the lead at times while the Hawks seem to struggle to get any break at all. With the Kangaroos threatening to steal the match and ruin my Sunday tipping record, most thankfully the Hawks managed to hang on. So I got the two points but I probably aged 10 years in the process, probably gotten a few more grey hairs to add to my increasing collection of it !!!!

So in spite of a bad start I did manage to salvage the round and scored 7 points in total, the same as last week. I even managed to gain a spot in the competition ladder, now up to 4th spot with a total of 33 points, the leader has 36 points. There are five of us on 33 points and amazingly I am just 2nd from the top in the 33-point bracket, the three people below me having an even worse points variance than me!!! My points variance is at 150 while the person above me also on 33 has a variance of 143, the person below me has a huge 174 points, the next person down a much worse 206 points, and the last person in the 33-point bracket bearing a whopping 231 points variance which is keeping him out of the top 6!! The person occupying 2nd spot with 34 points has a variance of 159, while the top person on 36 has a variance of a huge 172 points. So I guess my variance is not so catastrophic afterall !!

So far luck has been on my side though it hasn't gone totally my way. In the Freo and Richmond match with the controversy of the goal umpire getting in the way thus denying Richmond the score that would have given them victory, if the Tigers had been given that score as they should have I would have jumped up possibly to 2nd spot cos nearly everyone else picked Freo to win! I thought Richmond was more likely to win, and I was indeed correct, just that bloody goal umpire getting in the way!!!! Richmond SHOULD have won!!!! Uh well them the breaks, there is order and chaos in the universe, and the chaos is what gets in the way!!!

Taking it a round at a time we shall see what Round 6 brings......

Round 5 part 3 not so grim

Oh what a round!!! I managed to score all four points today giving me a much better result of 5-2.

The Suns won as expected, turned out to be a big win in the end. Carlton stayed ahead of the Crows for virtually the whole match and in spite of a Crows fightback which for a while looked like would steal the game and wreck my tipping results, the Blues thankfully held on and scored when it really mattered - in the final few minutes!! The Geelong and Bulldogs game wasn't such an one-sided affair that many expected, the Cats did win as expected, being ahead for all but the 1st quarter.

The Weavils however, they managed to stay so far ahead of Port that by the 3rd quarter I was ready to concede most grudgingly that perhaps they are not so bad afterall and I resigned myself to the loss of the 3rd point. However the Power had other ideas!! They staged a truly incredible fightback in the 4th quarter and for over the last half of the quarter they remained less than a goal in front!!! Talk about stress!! I am getting too old for this kind of suspense!!!!!! But oohhhhhh what a relief when they held on for a 5 point victory completing a perfect Saturday round for me!!!!

Now just two more matches to go for tomorrow, and with the bookies posting fairly short odds for both my picks I should hopefully pick up both points bar any upsets of course. The Lions should account for the Demons without too much bother although if the Lions takes it too easy the Demons could conceivably get up for an unexpected win. The Hawks shouldn't have too much trouble in overcoming the Kangaroos.

If all goes to plan then I should hopefully remain in the top 6, but we all know in football not everything goes to plan all the time!!!!

Round 5 part 2 things are looking very grim

hmmmm.... with Freo getting over the line by the slimmest of margins things are looking very grim with a dismal 1-2 result, I am in danger of falling out of the top 6, and with a disastrous point variance stemming from the Maggies thrashing at the hands of the Bombers, it will be difficult to get back into prize money contention. There's no point in saying, uhhh Richmond had the game won when they hit the front in the last dying minutes of the match and was unlucky to get pipped at the post. Facts of the matter is Freo did win, and I have a 1-2 result going into today's round of four matches with all but one up for grabs.

Suns verses Giants. While the Suns are expected to win, the Giants are no pushover and if they happen to have a good day today then it could be enough to throw the Sun's off balance. Carlton at home to Adelaide, it looks like Carlton on paper but again the Crows are capable of causing a minor upset.  The only near-certainty of today's matches is Geelong over the Western Bulldogs. Even the over-rated Weavils may pip the Powers at the post in spite of the match being a Power home match. I think the Power is more likely to win, as I say, the Weavils are over rated. So depending on my luck I could lose as much as 3 points, I will have to be happy with 2 points, anything more will be a bonus. I am staring down the barrel of a dismal round. It will remain to be seen whether if this time tomorrow morning I will be looking to Sunday to salvage a catastrophic round or to consolidate a more reasonable round. But whatever the results it seems like it will be my destiny to be on the outer longingly looking at a top 6 position and hoping beyond hell that round 6 will be more kind to me.

Round 5 part 1

The first match will be a good match, the traditional ANZAC Day match between the Maggies and the Bombers. Well let's not beat around the bush. The Maggies for certain. They have hit their straps at the right time, they had a great win last week against Richmond, so are certain to carry their form into today's match. Unless something extraordinary happens, the Maggies should win this one!!!

The other match today, Sydney and St Kilda, the first match in AFL history to be played outside Australia in the premiership season, indeed to be played in the land of the Kiwis. It will be interesting to see how both teams will cope with the trip, but both will be in the same boat. Sydney should still win without too much bother.

Fremantle and Richmond tomorrow night at Pattersons. Hmmmmm.... not sure about that one. Most expects Freo to win, but I am not so sure. Freo are showing signs of getting the jitters after a good start to the season. Richmond are quite capable of beating Freo even at Pattersons. They may have lost to the Maggies but then we are talking about the Maggies, they're in a class of their own!! haha!!!! Both teams are coming off quite substantial losses the previous week, Richmond may prove to be mentally a bit tougher, that may ultimately decide the results tomorrow.

My musings for Saturday's matches.... that will be either tomorrow night or Sat morning.

Round 4 Final Results

Uhhhhh another reasonably satisfying round with 2 more points for today giving me a total of 7 points. Melbourne did give me a very Weavil-like scare and I was about to give up on them but thankfully they really hit their straps in the final term for a big win in the end, giving me one point. The other point was never seriously in doubt with as I predicted Adelaide running away with the match. So I jumped into 5th spot in my office comp just two points from the lead. This puts me in money contention, the first 6 spots at the end of the season wins prize money. Now I just have to stay there which will be far easier said than done, there is still a long way to go yet, and anything can happen and usually will happen!!!

Now just looking forward to the Maggies ending the Bombers' winning streak on ANZAC Day.... uhhh did I say that??... hehe... haha..... go Maggies!!!!!

Maggies back in business

Yay the Maggies!!! I knew they'd do it! Oh what a match!! A very good win in the end and more than ready for the ANZAC Day showdown with the Bombers!!! Watch out Bombers!!!! hehe!! haha!!!!

Last night Geelong had a good win in the end, giving me a good start on my tipping. The Hawks beat a determined Freo Dockers as expected. And the Bombers had a fair win against the Saints. And Port's win over the Suns was no surprise. So that was the first five points.

Trust those bloody Weavils to spoil the party! That is it! They have had their last chance! I will not be picking the Weavils again. They are over-rated, and if they can't even win at Patterson's then there is no hope for them. Lesson learned!!

Now for tomorrow's matches..... The first of the matches hard to pick, a battle for the wooden spoon, a toss up between the Giants and the Demons. Probably go for the home ground advantage here, that is about the only thing separating the two teams.

Adelaide at home to the Bulldogs. Adelaide SHOULD win that one in spite of being only one spot above the Bulldogs on the ladder. The easiest of the three matches to pick from my point of view.

The Kangaroos against the Lions, another two lowly teams though not as lowly as Melbourne and Giants. My hunch is towards the Lions although the Kangaroos starts as favorites.

So with a current score of 5-1 tomorrow's matches could make or break me. I'd be happy to get just one extra point which will still leave me in a reasonable position in my office tipping comp. I was up to 7th spot as of last week, just one spot out of the money spots - the top six at the end of the season shares in the cash. Any more than one point out of tomorrow's matches will be a bonus!!

Round 4 with some intrepidation

This could be the round that will make or break me with a few matches that could go either way....

Tonight's match is a case in point, Sydney and Geelong. Most are picking Sydney cos of home ground advantage but me thinks Geelong has a chance, so may stick my neck out there. It's a points variance match, have to guess the winning margin of the team I picked, so just sticking with another low amount to minimize any damage in case my tip doesn't come up with the goods. I think it will be a close match anyway.

Hawthorn and Fremantle, that one should go to Hawthorn especially being in the cool climes of the Apple Isles.

My Maggies against Richmond, I think it's about time my Maggies hit their straps and stop pussy-footing around, to do what they do best, play good footy and win a few matches. This is the week to start, being at the MCG they usually play well there.

The Saints and the Bombers, well the Bombers should win that one, they should continue their unbeaten run at least for one more round.

Gold Coast and Port Adelaide. Will be a lot closer than many will give credit for especially it being in the land of the banana benders. I really think it could go either way, perhaps luck will be just on the side of the Power.

Last but not least for Saturday.... the over-rated Weavils against Carlton. I do think the Weavils are way over-rated and if not for the match being at Patterson's then I'd pick the Blues without too much hesitation. However it IS at Pattersons and the Weavils usually play a little better there. I may stick my neck out and pick the Weavils but will send them hexes if they let me down! haha!!

Sunday matches musings on Sat night or Sun morning........

Back at Work

I guess it's about time I give an update. I have been back at work this week and keeping myself busy, so very often by early evening I am exhausted and usually in bed by 9pm but waking up through the night and if necessary getting up for a bit more online time before I get tired enough to go back to sleep..... until between 4-5am when I get up to get ready for work.

So my routine is more or less how it was before the two years of hell when Sally's health issues took a turn for the worse. That is I am up by 5am, getting online for a bit then getting ready for work, leaving by 6:30am arriving before 7am - there is hardly any traffic at that time of day. Then stay at work all day, no need for lunchtime trips back home, etc, so I knock off around 3:30pm, and if need be go to the shops, etc, otherwise just come straight home. Then just wind down a bit, go online, do various other jobs around the house, have dinner and watch the news on TV, than maybe another show or I get back online..... but as I said I am usually in bed by 9pm due to sheer exhaustion. Back in the days before the two years of hell I'd stay up until midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends or vacations. During the week I be up until midnight then up at 5am for work, I'd run on 4 hours sleep each night due to my ADHD. I still run on 4 to 5  hours of sleep each night but just spread through most of the night in blocks of as little as one hour at a time!!! On weekends I'd "sleep in" until 7am, that was before all this. During the two years of hell my sleep patterns were all over the place, sometimes Sally waking me up in the night cos she needed medical attention of some sort. So I guess I am so used to being woken up at all hours that I simply cannot sleep straight through the night, plus also the nights are a bit freaky as I am not used to being alone at night. But I guess I will get used to it over time.

Another issue is getting all my debts paid off stemming from medical and carers expenses and etc. Plus also our utility bills are very high due to Sally's intensive medical needs, so now have two very high bills but knowing that the next bills will be much lower even in spite of Barnett's broken promises. Barnett promised to keep utility prices rises to around inflation level, but I KNEW when he was returned to office in the last elections last month that he would break those promises and I expected the utilities bills to rise by around 10% in the May budget. It is now April and it seems my prediction is coming true, he is already suggesting that his promise may not be necessarily kept, of course citing "unexpected" budget conditions as an excuse. So I am expecting for the utilities bills, electricity, gas and water, to go up around 10% in this May's budget. The electricity charges has already gone up by about 60% since Barnett won office four years ago and only 9% can be blamed on the much despised carbon tax, that leaves 51% for other pitiful excuses!!

However in spite of these increases, my bills should go down after I paid these ones. Due to Sally's health she needed stringent climate control, intensive heating in winter and cooling in summer. I have no such needs, probably stemming from the poverty years at Wilson when we didn't have aircon and mother used the oil heater sparingly, and our only method of keeping warm in bed were those rubber hot water "bottles" placed at my feet - though in later years mother did manage to get us electric blankets. So I can get by without any such devices, with only a single fan being used for cooling, and I rarely use the heater. About the only time I use any heating is when I take a shower and that is only during the colder days of winter. But once I get into my warm winter PJs and nightgown I am OK, I turn the heater off, and with the doona on my bed I don't even need the electric blanket. So I usually get by with little or no heating even in mid-winter.

Furthermore I no longer doing laundry 4 times per day. Due to Sally's sores and other issues, we'd go through a lot of towels sheets etc, and the chair gets changed usually once per day. So there is always a pile of laundry to do, and in order to ensure an adequate supply of clean dry towels, sheets, etc, I be needing to do the laundry virtually around the clock four times each day, a full load each time. I set the machine on the timer before I go to bed, and the 1st laundry of the day is done by the time I get up, then I throw the load into the dryer, and are dry by the time I head off to work. Even in summer I still must use the dryer cos the towels needed to be dried as soon as possible. I set the next load of washing going when I head off to work, and that is done by the time I come home for lunch and change towels etc again. Then the next load when I head back to work, and that is done by the time I get home, than another load for the evening. So between the washing machine and the dryer, that makes for massive electricity consumption, not to mention the water and gas, our water is heated by gas. So now being back to only one or two laundry loads per week together with far less climate control, I expect a drop in my utilities bills, certainly the electricity and gas, even in spite of the expected 10% rise in those rates in May due to Barnett's broken promises which I knew would happen. Meanwhile for the next month or so I would have to scrimp and save in order to settle my debts and pay these (hopefully) the last of the very high utility bills. But mother taught me well during the poverty years and beyond, I know how to budget, and right now I am literally down to $10 for a week but I have enough food in the fridge and pantry, enough petrol in the car, and enough other resources to get me through.

Anyway must get on with my evening tasks.... I be back with my football musings tomorrow......

My poor ole Maggies

Oh those Maggies.... they did put up a bit of a fight but in the end those Hawks were just too good. Doesn't look like those Maggies will do quite so well this year.... uh well life happens. Richmond won as expected, and for a while it looked like the Crows would come up with the goods until their cross-town rivals really hit their straps just prior to the last term and ended up with a reasonable win. So I gotten two points out of today's set of matches, that I am reasonably happy about in spite of the Maggies big loss. So my round 3 result is 7-2, better than I expected under the circumstances.

Round 3 Progress

Uhhhhh so the Weavils managed for a record win. Biggest margin at MCG. Best 3rd term score ever. Weavils are on their way back. Top 4 finish. Gonna win the flag..... WHOA!!!!! Time out people!! Let's take three deep breaths!! We're talking about Melbourne here, and let's not forget they put up a hell of a fight in the first half, even taking the lead a time or two, and it looked like my prediction would be accurate!! But it wasn't to be. All that has happened was that the Demons didn't eat enough Weeties for brekkie!! They simply ran out of steam which is what bottom teams do on occasions. It's not that the Weavils had really improved that much, it was simply that the Demons didn't have enough Weeties, they ran out of steam, rolled over and played dead! I thought they would put up a better fight than that, and for the 1st half I was right! But I am not the one who feeds them brekkie!! LOL!! A Weavil reality check is in order, and Carlton will be the one who will deliver that reality check next week even at Pattersons! Carlton is of a higher calibre than the hapless demons and they will not just roll over and play dead. They almost upset one of my other tips, came close to beating the Cats before they managed to hold on for a reasonable win. As it turned out it was those bloody Weavils again who frustrated my attempt at a perfect tipping record, that match being my only loss so far. I now enjoy a better than expected 5-1 result.

For a while I thought those Bombers were fixin to let me down, but they managed to fight back and snatch the game from the jaws of the Dockers, ensuring success in my first tip. Furthermore my predicted margin of 5 points was off by only a point, so my point variance increased by only 1 point this round, the cumulative total still catastrophically high but not so much of a catastrophe now. The Kangaroos did put up a fight as I expected them to but in the end Sydney did enjoy a good win, and another point to my total. I thought the Giants would put up a greater fight than they did but after the first term catastrophe for them their fate was sealed as was my 3rd point. Carlton almost stole my 4th point but thankfully the puddy Cats managed to hang on for a fair win. The closest game was the Suns and Lions, and it seems my luck may have changed at least temporarily, the 2nd match being decided by less than 6 points actually going my way!!!! So 5 points thus far with three matches to go tomorrow.

Those three matches however are far from certain, though one would think Richmond SHOULD beat those Bulldogs but I wouldn't quite put my life savings on that, just another tipping point!! My Magpies, well it breaks my heart to say this, but I think they are in for a hard slog against those Hawks, and may come up a wee bit short. It's a match that could go either way, but if I wasn't a Magpie fan then I'd pick the Hawks. Perhaps it is time to put my loyalties aside..... hmmmmmm..... not going to say another thing about it. Last but not least, the inter-town rivalry between Port and Adelaide. That one hard to pick, the Crows probably slight favorites but it will depend on which team has the most players waking up on the right side of the bed that day tomorrow morning.

So let's see... should get at least one more point, I'd be very happy with two, and utterly ecstatic if I get all three for tomorrow.... I'll hope for about two points I will be satisfied with that.

Round 3

Looks like a very interesting round indeed and will be hard to pick, more difficult than most will give credit for, I will be hard pressed to repeat my 8-1 result from last week. On that score I shot up 11 places to 13th in my office tipping comp, being just 3 points behind the leader. Of course there is always someone who manages to pick all 9 matches, indeed 4 of them did so. Nevertheless considering you need to be in the top 6 to get the prize monies then I still stand a reasonable chance although my catastrophic points variance will cost me dearly.

Now my Round 3 musings.... Essendon meets Freo tonight, both are unbeaten and Freo is here at home in the warm climes of the west coast. So in theory one team will not maintain its unbeaten record, though of course it could be a draw!! Essendon is on top on percentages, and as they say, good teams wins regardless of whether they are at home or away and in spite of media controversies. They are certainly up against the wall on both counts but it will just make them that much more determined out on the field as they will have a point to prove. So I will tip the Bombers but with a small points variance, it will be close. There will be trouble if the Bombers lets me down!! haha!!

North Melbourne at home to Sydney, another toughie to pick and could go either way in spite of their relative positions on the ladder. It takes at least 4 to 5 rounds before ladder positions becomes established relative to true team form so is not yet the best indicator of form being only 2 rounds worth. A toss of the coin for that one.

As for the Weavils and Melbourne, it is utterly beyond me why everyone is picking the Weavils!! Could put that down to bias on the part of the media here on the west coast, but even the TAB has Melbourne at $12, and they are Australia wide!! If they're not careful some people are gonna win a lot of money!! The Weavils are utterly useless and they can't handle the MCG. OK they have players back from injuries, big whoops!!! Hmmmmm..... The Demons sacked their CEO, and teams generally play better after a sacking within their ranks. Sticking my neck out, the Demons for me especially being at the MCG.

The Giants and the Saints..... yet another close match in the making, another toss of the coin here. I think Geelong should beat Carlton. Gold Coast and Brisbane another toughie to pick. So we have 6 matches, 5 that could go either way, I'd be happy if I manage to pick 3.

Sunday's matches I will talk about tomorrow night.......

The Funeral and Beyond

Well I gotten thru yesterday's funeral without too much drama. It was a small but lovely funeral on what turned out to be the near hottest April day on record, 37C (98F). The weather has remained so hot, often into the mid-30s (mid-90s) and today is hot yet again. Anyway a few of my workmates were among the small turn-out at the funeral, the rest of the numbers being made up by members of mother's and Pasco's side of the family, mostly representatives from the Bartolone, Dawes-Smith, Kerr, and Davies. It was nice but unexpected to see my workmates there, they must have gotten the details from the paper. My boss was there too and he gave me a few extra days off work, so instead of going back tomorrow I now have vacation until Monday. The wake was at the Dawes-Smith where most of us sat in the nicely shaded patio area. I was finally back home not long after lunch to contemplate my future life without Sally, I soon kept myself busy, more reorganizing of the house and garage.

The nights are the hardest, so dark and lonely except for the many ghosts! LOL! I usually crash out soon after dinner, sleep for a couple of hours, then wake up and if I can't get back to sleep I just get online on my computer whatever time of the night it is until I am ready to crash out again. It is still hot at night so is harder to get back to sleep, these are literally summer conditions and it's April !!

Today I hit the board running, did more work in the garage, went to the shops, more errands, and now just stopping long enough to do this blog though I will probably go back to the shops when I am through. Just mainly living on takeout and "junk" food at the moment but won't be much longer. I still do have all of mother's recipes, and I will make a lasagne tomorrow. Mother made the best lasagne on the planet. There is a reason why she worked at a restaurant of an international hotel back in the days of my childhood, and in later years worked with my Aunty Dawes-Smith for camp catering! She worked in camp catering right up to when she became too sick to be able to work!! So I will start using her recipes again, do what I did before all those years ago in my bachelor-hood, cook up whole casseroles etc from mother's recipe on the weekend, and divide up into portions for me to live on through the week. And I won't be able to use lack of time as an excuse, there is no more attending to Sally's medical needs, dressing her wounds, attending to her toileting needs, bathing her, etc.

So first I lost my mother and now I lost my wife, so I must have killed one too many China-men in a past life! LOL! At least mother's passing was expected, the illness was terminal and was just a matter of time before it finally took her. But Sally was most unexpected, she had her health problems but I didn't think it would kill her!! But in hindsight, her life has been in danger for some time, and it was pure luck that she made it this far in two years!! Her immune system was virtually non-existent, and so those ulcers and staph infections were really dangerous. As long as they kept on her skin she'd be fine, but once it gets into the blood, the poison spreads like wildfire to the rest of her body, and with no immune system, that is what killed her. I now realised she have had close calls in the past, her life had been in danger before, getting to the hospital just in time to stop the infections spreading. But they couldn't kill the infections, no antibiotics worked, so all they could do was to manage the infections, and for her to go into hospital when the infections looked like it would about to flare up. The home nurse was usually the one to determine whether her life was in danger and would send her to hospital. But in the last few weeks the home nurse stopped coming, and circumstances conspired to take Sally's life away. She couldn't get up without my help due to the design flaw of her recliner chair, and the hospital had no money to replace her chair with a more modern chair without the design flaw, and due to occupational health laws the nurse is not allowed to lift her legs or otherwise help her up. Therefore the nurse couldn't check her sores which were mostly underneath her legs and her butt . And due to my work commitments I couldn't always be there. In the last weeks of her life I spent every lunch hour with Sally, but it wasn't good enough for the nurse whose schedule doesn't always allowed her to come during lunchtime but at another time of day, and she only came once per week anyway. So the nurse basically gave up and just told me to keep checking Sally's sores. But as they say I am a physicist not a medical practitioner, so I wasn't expert enough to tell whether the sores were life threatening or not.

Also I thought  even if Sally did become sick, as long as I got her to the hospital soon enough she'd be ok. But it wasn't to be. Once the infection had gotten into her blood, her fate was sealed. The doctors couldn't do anything. Sally was too weak to be able to cope with any surgery. So there was no choice but to wait for her to die, which all happened within 3 days!!! As they say, the rest is history!!!!

Anyway I now have the rest of the week to try reorganise myself and get my schedules and my diet back on track before going back to work on Monday......

Those wonderful Maggies.... hehe

Uhhhh yes those Maggies they don't let me down!! For a while it looked really grim but those Maggies hit their straps at the right time and that little worm kept itself on the right side of the line when it really mattered!!! hehe!! Go Maggies!! So I ended up with a 8-1 results in my tipping, much better than I expected. And guess who let me down!!! Those Weavils!! I should never have picked them, I did so only cos of home ground advantage. I will never pick them again, never listen to the biased Western media!! The only way I may pick the Weavils again is if they play against some lowly team such as Melbourne and the game is at Patterson's. But yeah in spite of what many of us in the west would like to believe it ain't gonna be the Weavil's year. Freo will do way better, they are the team to watch over here. The Weavils will only just make up the numbers in the comp and that's about it.

But overall I must say it has been an excellent round for me, probably the best I will have for a long time. I don't think I ever picked 8 last year. But Round 3 is another round, and wouldn't ya believe it, the Weavils are indeed playing Melbourne but at the MCG so will probably pick the home team. Meanwhile my Maggies are up against the Hawks and of course I think we can beat them!!! hahaha!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day

Funeral preparations, at least my part of the deal, is pretty well finalised, and now just to get thru the day today. Tomorrow (Monday) is funeral day, 10am local time. The funeral itself won't be long, about 30 minutes. Will have to be out of the chapel within the hour. Tight scheduling of funerals for the day demands that we be through well before 11am. The wake will be held at Aunty and Uncle's place which is not far from Pinnaroo the funeral site. So hopefully will be home by early afternoon. I am still in shock and it still hadn't quite sunk in that Sally is truly gone, it is like a dark dream, it seems like someone else's funeral though I am the one making all the decisions being the nearest kin, and I be the one collecting the urn a few days later. I have changed the farewell song, it will now be "Made It Thru The Rain" by Barry Manilow, one of her fav artists. This is the song.....

The first two songs, Amarillo and Yellow Rose of Texas will still be played, and this is pretty well be it. Yesterday was pretty well my final preparation day. Also made up a tribute that will be read at the funeral, it incorporates a tribute sent to me by her son who is still back home in the States. So will not be making any more changes today except possibly minor changes in my part of the tribute (will not edit her son's tribute) if things comes to me. But I will be keeping myself busy most of the day today, unlike yesterday being the Jewish day of rest. Funeral day it turns out is on holocaust remembrance day, and one of the last things Sally did was investigate her ancestry and found that she is indeed partly Jewish.

I am back at work Wednesday and I will have to start dealing with the nitty gritty of the legalities associated with Sally's passing. She never gotten around to doing a will but then she doesn't own much, no company shares, no investments and no hidden riches. She has a bank account in the States which she receives installments of the court settlement from her first marriage, but her family friend in the States is also a signatory to the account and also her power of attorney so she will be able to deal with that side of things back in the States. Affairs here are I suppose left to me, and it is the great unknown to me, it will be a learning curve. The biggest issue is that the car license is in her name, that was done for the pensioner discount. I am not sure if the license will simply be transferred to me being her next of kin, or whether there are a lot of hoops to jump thru - knowing the govt system as I do around here I suspect the latter will be the case. We have a joint bank account which my wages goes into, I already informed Centerlink that Sally is deceased so hopefully the pension will have been stopped by now, will find out tomorrow which would have been her pension day. A couple of the bills are in her name again for the pensioner discounts.

The biggest thing a bit down the track is our lease on this house. The lease runs until October, then I guess I will have to decide whether I will remain the sole occupant of a 3-bedroom house on a 1/4 acre block of land or whether I will recommence my apartment lifestyle!! I heard it through the grapevine that the owner of this house has also passed away, so the landlord being the son of the owners may want to sell the house meaning I will have to move anyway. The reason why we have been renting this house in the first place is cos the spouse of the owner had passed away, so the remaining spouse had to move out and into a nursing home, and the son was given administration of the house - he being our landlord. Now the remaining owner has passed away, well I guess I shall wait and see how it all pans out. I will actually get advanced notice if the house will be sold. Our aircon broke down and the landlord wouldn't fix it cos it was out of warranty and not counted as an essential, much to Sally's annoyance cos due to her health she really needed an aircon. This past summer we just made do with fans and an evaporative cooler. However if sometimes in the next few months the landlord suddenly contacts me and inform me that he will get the aircon fixed I will take it as the sign that the house will be sold after the end of my lease!! I have been renting for as long as I care to remember, and so have learnt that when landlords starts to refurbish the property and repair non-essential broken items they are not doing it out of goodwill, they do it when they intend selling the property meaning we would have to move out!!

But whatever the lease runs until October so have plenty of time to get things organised in the house, deal with Sally's hoardings of half-finished craft projects, and etc. We have a housing crisis here with no end in sight, and so it will be difficult to find a new place, but it won't be nearly as difficult as it would have been if I still had Sally and her health issues therefore her specific requirements for a house, such as, on flat land, single storey, no stairs, bathroom rails installed, etc to deal with.

Meanwhile..... I am jumping ahead a bit.... first we just get through with the funeral......

Round 2 Progress thus far

Uhhhhh what a difference a week makes. They say a week in politics is a long time, well its a long time in the tipping stakes as well. My tipping so far has yielded a perfect result of 6-0 with three matches left tomorrow. From Friday's night match my points variance for this week is low, my predicted winning margin being only 6 points off the actual margin. It's a pity that the variance is cumulative so my overall variance is still catastrophically high, it is just that only 6 points were added to it for this week.

So even if I miss all three matches tomorrow my points for this week's tipping will still be higher than last week. Geelong should beat North Melbourne so most likely to gain at least one more point. But the last two matches are hard to pick. My fingernails will be chewed to the bone by the time the Carlton and Collingwood match is over, it could go either way and is likely to be close. Carlton may manage to keep its nose in front when it matters most, at the final siren, but if I was to pick Carlton and my Magpies ends up winning I would feel really bad, so am sticking with the Magpies - it's either that or toss the coin as to which box I would tick on my online tipping sheet!!

Then there is the Weagles and Hawthorn - too close to call. A toss of the coin there as well. Whatever happens it is unlikely that my perfect record will remain intact. I should get at least 7 points, perhaps 8 but I won't hold my breath for that.

Round 2

My football musings for this week - part 1

I finally gotten up the courage to check online our office tipping comp, and well I barely made it into the top half, ranked 24 from a total of 48. A whole lot of us were on 4 points but due to my catastrophic points variance I am at the bottom of the group of 4-pointers. The top tipster only gotten 6 points and that is 3 of us so I guess being only 2 behind the top there is hope yet, but it is likely that my catastrophic points variance will cost me dearly in cases of dead heats.

Now for this week and there are at least 5 matches that could go either way, and knowing my luck or lack thereof, the team that wins will be the team I didn't pick. Tonight's game although most of the experts are picking Richmond I don't think the result is so certain, it's a fair likelihood that the Saints could come up with the goods. Nevertheless I will go with Richmond but will choose a low points variance to try to limit the damage especially if the Saints wins. If Richmond wins I don't think it will be by a lot anyway so a low variance would be the order for the day or night as the case may be.

For the Saturday matches, Sydney SHOULD win but I think will be a closer match than most give credit for. Gold Coast won't be the easy-beats like they were last year, especially given they beat the Saints last week. The Western Bulldogs and Fremantle match is one of the 5 that could go either way. If not for home ground advantage I'd be more comfortable tipping Freo, but it will be the Bulldog's home ground advantage that will make it a closer match. I won't jinx myself by saying who I picked!!

Brisbane Lions and Adelaide is another toughie to pick, that could go either way as well. Again the Lions has the home ground while most seem to think Adelaide is the better team. Port Adelaide SHOULD beat the Giants especially being it in Adelaide. And of course I have to concede that the Bombers shouldn't have too much trouble against the Demons but there will be trouble if the Bombers let me down!! hehe!!

I shall talk about Sunday's matches tomorrow, one of them being my beloved Magpies.

Another Day

Now the funeral date is set it is not just a matter of waiting, the next few days having to contend with my restless soul..... will either keep myself busy, do some yard work, or just go out somewhere.... of course there are some preparation for the funeral, putting together a tribute for Sally to be read out at the funeral, making sure I have the clothes etc ready, and remember to take Sally's pix to be placed on the coffin. The family is gonna pick me up, I much prefer to make my own way there, but they are insistent on picking me up and taking me. After the funeral is I guess a bit of a wake at the Dawes-Smith household which is not far from my place anyway. It is still hot here as usual, still summer like in the mid 30sC (90sF) so don't think there be any problem with rain ruining the funeral though it will be mostly indoors anyway, it doesn't rain much here! LOL! It was on TV last night the long range climatic forecast on this side of the universe is for the drought to get worse, the days to get hotter and drier, and more cyclones (hurricanes) of greater strength up north.

Anyway that is about it for today..... and unless there are significant news to be shared I may not come by every day but I am very much alive and kicking......

Funeral date set

Well after getting through the Easter break we finally have the funeral date. It will be held next Monday, the same day of the week that mother's funeral was held. Sally's funeral date being 8-April-2013. It happens to be on Holocaust day. One of the last things Sally did in what turned out to be the last weeks of her life is get in contact with long lost relatives in the States and investigate her ancestry. She already knew she is part Lebanese as her father was of Lebanese descent. However through these ancestry investigations it turns out that she is also part-Jewish, that she does indeed have Jewish blood in her. As with me she always have had felt connected with the Jews, even more so than with Lebanon. Considering that Lebanon are supposed to have been at war with the Jews this have caused family frictions through her years, nevertheless, her connection with the Jews could not be shaken. It was one of the things that attracted me to her. So to have found out that she actually have Jewish blood in her, that was one of her last great thrills prior to her passing away. So although I didn't choose the funeral date the energies of the universe once again conspired for these coincidences to fall into place. As I say there are no such creature as "coincidence", it is the manifestation of the energies of the universe falling into harmony.

So to recap. The funeral day being Monday is the same day of the week in which mother's funeral was held. And the funeral date falls on Jewish Holocaust day. The third significance is that as it falls on the 28th day of the Jewish lunar month, indeed the first month of the Hebrew year, the funeral falls at the beginning of the New Moon period. The New Moon that marks the end of the month is Wednesday. Sally passed away during Full Moon day, and now it turns out her funeral falls near the New Moon. On what appears to be amazing coincidences, her hospital admissions and discharges during these last two years of hell had always been at the peaks (within a day) of the lunar cycles, either the Full Moon or New Moon. The only exception being her last ever admission, being 4 days prior to the Full Moon, but her passing away occurred on Full Moon day.

I am happy to announce that she will be cremated. I understand the cremation process takes a day or so, therefore the whole process will probably be completed by New Moon day. I will be collecting the urn when it is ready and for a while it will be kept on top of mother's antique cabinet, the one that was passed down from her parents possibly from the farm, and next to mother's photo - though when I am at work I will keep it in a more secure location in the unlikely event of burglary. I have neighbors who keep watch of my house, indeed my former landlord, and there are security grills and deadlocks, nevertheless, you can never discount the possibilities. Pasco still has mother's ashes at the house but he will shortly have it buried under a rose bush at the cemetery  Not sure where it will end up, could be at Karrakatta next to Poppa's ashes, or at Fremantle where Pasco's relatives are buried, it all depends on if there is space available and other logistical factors. Sally's ashes will also be eventually buried under a rose bush hopefully next to mother's if there is space available. But for the time being it will be kept with me.

Oh yes, the funeral service itself will be held at the beautiful Pinnaroo site. The link to it is here....

http://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/OurCemeteries/Pinnaroo.aspx

....it is a lovely site and not far from my house. Sally always enjoyed being in nature and watching the kangaroos and other critters. It also happened to be where some of the relatives of my Aunty and Uncle, the Dawes-Smith family, are also buried. I have before attended a funeral there in the not-too-distant past for one of my Uncle's parents.

A funeral notice will also be in the paper, it could possibly be in today's paper or tomorrow's.

I am most thankful the funeral will be held just before I go back to work. I am due back at work the following Wednesday so this will give me a day's recovery time. I would finally be able to move on, though you never get over the death of a close kin. I am still as torn up by mother's death as the day she died. Sally's death will just simply add to the burden of grief. Nevertheless as they say life goes on, and in whatever way I can, enjoy my single life again - just never expected for it to come this soon!!!!!

I will be back out today, going to the shops for the remaining items that I didn't get yesterday.

Tuesday

Now Tuesday and hopefully if all goes well I will hear from the funeral director as to when the funeral will be and whether there will be a cremation. The hospital will hopefully have finished their formalities and release the body to the funeral director. If I don't hear from him today then hopefully tomorrow. I have exactly one week left of my vacation so hopefully the funeral will be before then although I won't have any problems getting time off work if need be, I do have Bereavement Leave, I took it for mother. It would be ironic if the funeral is set for Monday cos that was when mother's funeral was, I remember that day like it was yesterday. I guess Sally's funeral will be added to my growing list of eternally fresh and not-too-happy memories!!

I will keep myself busy today, going to the shops and running other errands. I have to remember that there will no longer be Sally's pension coming in on the Monday so I will need supplies to last me through to my Thursday payday. At the hospital they said I might be able to claim Bereavement Allowance as Sally was on a pension, but after contacting Centerlink it turns out that I earn too much. Basically it goes like this, the full rate of the Bereavement Allowance is about $700/fortnite and you can earn up to about $150 before they start reducing the amount at a rate of 50c per every dollar over the limit, so some simply maths establishes that my wages will be way above the limit where the allowance would be down to zero. As one would say, now I am single again I should have more disposable income, but reality is I still have these one-off expenses to deal with, the ambulance fees and then the funeral and other expenses associated with this whole thing, so it will be some time before I will start having some disposable income to enjoy. I have no credit card debts, just a small loan I had needed to take out to cover for Sally's ongoing medical expenses such as bandages and pads, and the repayments are relatively small and won't eat much of my fortnitely wages. Finance companies actually charges you a fee if you pay off the loans earlier, I guess to cover for the lost interest!! You'd think they'd be glad for me to pay off the loan earlier, but no, they are looking for the profits from the interest that I would be paying with each repayment!! Uh well as I said it is a relatively small repayment and I hopefully won't need any more loans as I no longer have to deal with medical expenses, and my utility bills, electricity, gas etc, will be lower as well. No more doing laundry 3 times per day so our gas bill from the hot water system will be way down, and my climate control requirements are far less than what Sally needed. Our winters are not cold so I never needed heating. While Sally needed the living room kept in furnace-like conditions due to her hypothermia, I was perfectly happy in my frigid computer room and bedroom, I never needed any heating at all. So the winter utility bill will be much lower also.

Then there are other matters that has been put on hold for two years that needs to be attended to. For example the car hasn't been serviced for over two years, and the hand-held control or "clicker" for the alarm has long since died despite a new battery being installed so the car has been without an alarm for much of that time. The trailer needs fixing to make it roadworthy again. And various other matters. Basically our lives has been put on hold for two years due to Sally's health issues, and well as money becomes available over the next few weeks and months I will be able to attend to such matters. The lease on our house runs until October so have plenty of time to get things sorted out there, then will decided whether I stay here, assuming the landlord doesn't want to sell the house or something. If I do move it will certainly be into a smaller place, I quite enjoy the apartment lifestyle, the only reason why we have been in detached bungalows on 1/4 acre blocks is cos Sally liked her space and privacy, she did not like apartment living at all !!!!

Anyway time to hit the boards running for this day.........