Back From America

I will be updating my America trip page on Facebook for a while yet with the huge number of pixs yet to be uploaded and my weird musings of my adventures in America. It will probably take me until my Glastonbury trip in October to finish updating my America trip trip, which by then I will have a Glastonbury trip page. But other things has been happening which I will share in upcoming blogs here. It took me a while to settle back in.

My PC have given up the ghost..... again..... hence am composing this on my tablet. However this time I am ready to let it go. It is an ancient PC and increasingly unable to meet my requirements. This tablet actually meets these requirements more efficiently than my PC. And between my tablet and my phone I can do most things that my PC could do. We Virgos does not like change so are often forced into change by circumstances. But in truth these days the PC is virtually obsolete with advances in tablet and phone technology, both items in my possession are less than a year old in contrast to my PC which is several years old, in fact over 10 years, that makes it virtually a museum piece.

This is also in keeping with my trend towards a minimalist lifestyle, that is, with a minimum of possessions, which not only will help fund my overseas trips - I plan on more next year - but ultimately will lead to a more nomadic lifestyle. I will need a Windows based device, my two devices are Android devices and there are certain things that will work only in windows, and there are reasonab6 portable items around for as little as $300, but it will have to wait until after my Glastonbury trip which is less than four months away. My air ticket and lodgings are already paid for but will need to save my pennies for other things on the trip, while still dealing with a legacy of my America trip.

It is amazing how the universe operates in cycles. My previous America trip was back in 1998, 18 years ago, which is a lunar cycle. The Moon moves in cycles of 18-19 years which the Hebrew calendar is based. My 1998 trip left me with the legacy of the car rental fiasco where basically I was ripped off by a car rental company, which wrecked my finances, maxed out my credit cards, and led to my bankruptcy a year later and years of financial troubles.

This time it is the telco roaming  rorting fiasco. This time I am far better prepared, my finances in better shape, and I didn't bring back a wife this time, so this will not lead to bankruptcy. But this will test to the limit my Virgo ability to plan, budget, and get myself through this while at the same time save for my Glastonbury trip.

As I was enjoying my week in Hawaii I was blissfully unaware I was rapidly racking up a bill of several hundreds of dollars in roaming data fees. There was no wi fi in the hostel I was staying at, but I kept my online time to a minimum, only for a short time each evening. Then Telstra decided to warn me when my bill reached several hundreds of dollars which was a shock to me. They were supposed to warn me when the bill reached $100 but they failed to do so. Telstra did to me what the car rental company did to me 18 years ago. It turned out I had forgotten to switch off background data downloads on my device thus blissfully unaware that my device were downloading data, such as autosave of my pixs and auto updates. Needless to say I immediately switched off the background data but the damage has already been done. I now had a bill that was close to $1000.

Since arriving back I had already paid off  $300 towards the bill, and with my Virgo abilities to plan things down to a T and my organization skills, I  should be able to pay off the rest of the bill in about six weeks or so. But this is something I could have done without with Glastonbury only 4 months away!!!!

I have also taken steps to make sure this won't happen again when I go to Glastonbury. I have purchased a portable wi fi device on a prepaid data plan with a different telco company, and set my devices to connect to this device. I will not be going onto any more contracts, and when my current contract with Telstra ends in May next year I will be terminating my relationship with Telstra and have my phone on a prepaid plan with a different telco company. Meanwhile I have switched off my data on my device which ensures that the only way I can get data is through wi fi such as my home broadband connection which costs only $100 per month for virtually unlimited data with a different ISP and bundled with my landline phone, and my portable prepaid wi fi device when I am out of the house. After May next year I will have nothing whatsoever to do with Telstra. Main lesson, do not go on any contracts, always use prepaid.

On top of this, the lawnmower catastrophe. My lawnmower had given up the ghost at the worst possible time, indeed this is the worst possible thing to have happened. If my washing machine had broken down I could just handwash or go to the laundromat, if my fridge broke down I could just live on food that doesn't need refrigerators for storage, or even if my car broke down well I have my bicycle and a reasonable public transport system. But the lawnmower, well as part of the lease agreement I need the lawns mowed so need a mower to do it with, there is no getting around it!!!!

Option 1 - hire a mower. It turns out it costs about $60 on average for a day's hire on weekends, and here in winter I would need to hire a mower every two weeks, that is how fast my lawns grows in winter. And since I sourced a reasonable mower for under $200, after six weeks it becomes more cost effective to purchase such a mower.

Option 2 - pay someone to mow my lawns. Very expensive in Perth, so not a viable option at all when I would need to do it every fortnite.

Option 3 - have lawnmower repaired. Getting anything repaired is very expensive in Perth. It is an electric mower and my Virgo analysis of the situation led to an educated guess that the electronic switch box has blown and needs replacing, which is likely to be expensive this on top of the labor charges which is very expensive in Perth. Last year when I had my PC repaired all they did was tightened a loose wire, they didn't even replace any parts, and they still charged me over $100 for the privilege! !!! So a lawnmower with at least one part that will need replacing, I  reckon at least $300 minimum, so cheaper to just get a new mower for under $200.

Option 4 - Get a new mower. As stated I have sourced a basic but functional mower for under $200. I could get one for close to $100 but is too small for the area of my lawns. The $200 model is bigger, and its not cordless like my current mower but it will do me for this winter until I get to Glastonbury. So will get the mower this week.

Furthermore with my lease ending this month there is some likelihood I may have to move out anyway which will kick start my nomadic lifestyle. It does help to be single. But that is another story altogether.

Other things has been happening, none so catastrophic.... will share next time......

Enough of my musings for now......