Stuck in the past and learning about modern stuff

Because we have thick-ish carpets (who thought that was a good idea in a hot climate?) our book cases are not stable. We have solved this by putting pieces of chipboard / MDF under some of them which has helped. This morning we went to buy some more so that I can unpack some more boxes of books. It surprises me that I still have to spend my weekend visiting DIY stores.

Martin suggested that as we were at the shopping centre already we would buy some new movie watching stuff. Our combined DVD/VCR has packed in after only a year or two. It was a Philips and I am starting to feel that the Asian makes (Samsung, LG etc.) has served us better, although not very highly thought of. What I really need is a new VCR as I suspect they will go out of fashion shortly (like the Record Players) and I will be stuck with hundreds of tapes I cannot watch. I think that is top of the list as a stand-alone player.
Then we will look into what DVD player to get at a later stage (until we get a new one we can watch them on the PCs). They have all sorts of cool ones now, I am specifically interested in getting one with a USB port (so I can watch all the movies I have on my external HDD), but there are also some which comes with HDD so that I can watch a VHS tape on the telly, then record it onto the DVD HDD and save my precious tapes. There is a lot to learn and it will take me a while.
We'll see, but I'll try to get a new VCR tomorrow in any case.

Working from home

I am working from home after four days of commuting. It is hard work this bus-taking and stuff. I tried the ferry home one evening but it really takes too long (now during the holiday season the bus does not get stuck in traffic). I have tried several different ways and there are a few more to try next week. However four days in a row in the office is hard work and I have a lot to catch up on. Doing it with a nice view and the roar from the sea in the background is not a bad way.
I also went in to Manly council to get a parking permit for potential visitors - so just come along when you feel like it. On the same note - the guest room is now functioning and is free of boxes. It got the same view as the laptop (above).
Plans for the weekend are unpacking some more boxes in search of my 2006 binder, which hopefully holds a document with my UK Tax-Return password.

Papegojas coming home to sleep

Outside our apartment, between us and the beach are a few funny looking pine trees. The trees provide a place to sleep for little parrots (papegoja in Swedish) who arrive around quarter past 8 every evening, in pairs. Probably a 100 or so of them sleep there and they are really cute. They are really noisy when they arrive, but quiet down within 10 minutes when they have sorted out who sleeps where and with whom? They are really hard to take a picture of as they are the same colour as the tree and arrive really quickly, but I have some "Wild Bird Seed" which I will put out on the balcony over the weekend and see if they pay any attention.

Beach or Cricket?

The weather was perfect for a day on the beach so we decided to go and watch the cricket, as there will be many more opportunities for a nice day on the beach, but not to go to the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and watch an International Test-match. We got tickets for Day 2 of the Australia - South Africa third test.

Transport was easy. They ran shuttle buses and queues were manageable. Charissa from work and her friend Terry joined us as well, which was great fun. The beer was cold and free flowing and we had good seats in the shade, although a little bit too far up for my liking. We watched Australia play very well. It took them 4 hours to loose the four remaining wickets. South Africa were a bit slow getting going. Smith broke one of his fingers, which was a bit unlucky and they lost a late wicket after we left.

In the evening Kerry-Anne and Peter came to visit. They are travelling around Australia so we had drinks on the balcony and then went to eat at the Italian. Overall a nice and relaxing day.

AZ 88 RI - Little Car is Home

So, after a drive to Dural (1 hour), waiting time at the RTA (30 Min), discussion with the RTA and presentation of enough paperwork to make even the most experienced bureaucrat confused we now have Little Car registered for the next 12 months. Colin, the star mechanic from the Midget & Sprite Club did most of the talking. The problem I ran into on Wednesday was not spotted, but a couple of other hurdles were eventually passed. We got the number plates after another 45 minutes and then set off to Colin's to attach them to Little Car. I am just back from haven driven home without major incident (I did some emergency breaking, I went slightly the wrong route and Martin may have run a red light or two to keep up with me).
However he is now safely tucked up in our large garage.

New Year's Day 2009

Woke up early and went for a morning swim. It was supposed to be a run, but seemed too much hard work. Asa stayed over so we were quiet until she woke up then we had breakfast on the balcony and then another swim. In the afternoon Charissa & Terry came over and after a quickly prepared late lunch consisting of pasta with leek, red pepper, garlic, bacon and Alfredo Sauce, we went for another swim, jumping in the waves. The lifeguards kept telling us to "swim between the flags" which is a tiny area that they control, but there were too many people with body boards, so we moved a bit down the beach anyway and got caught in the current. It was hard swimming and you did not get anywhere, so Martin came and towed me into safety. I guess they had a point.
Kerry-Anne finally managed to get in touch but I am not sure we will be able to meet up as they are going to the zoo tomorrow and Saturday is Martin's Birthday and Sunday we are probably going to watch the cricket (Australia - South Africa), but I hope we manage to sort things out.

New Year's Eve 2008

During the day of New Year's Eve Martin worked and my mission was to get number plates for Little Car. I had the previous day managed to get Insurance and armed with that I went off to get the CTP (Compulsory Third Party), also called Green Slip, Insurance, which covers injuries to people. It was not easy. 1961 MGs never did exist in Australia. They were imported as Austin Healy Sprite Mk II. So, they do not exists in their computer system. I finally managed to get my Green slip. I then went to the RTA (Road Traffic Authority) to get Registration done. It felt like what I can imagine being old 1960's unemployment offices. Take a ticket, wait, be called forward, be inspected and then denied.
The first time I did not get as far as to speak with anyone as I did not have the required sets of ID (I have already written a piece of Australia's obsession with ID). I had brought my Driving Licence (as proof of who I am) and my Rental agreement (as proof of address), but that was not enough. I needed my passport, a credit card and my rental agreement. So when I came back and queued for another hour, I was told that the Chassis number on the Import permit was not identical to the chassis number on the car. The problem is that in Sweden they only care about the number (in my case 1004), but on the car is whole code, in my case (GAN1L1004) and they said it could not be registered unless they are the same, asked me to get back to Canberra and change the Import application. However, I cannot do that as on the Swedish Registration document it only states 1004. So I rang up Colin, the car mechanic who has been looking after Little Car and he asked us to get over there on Friday and he will take us to his local RTA. Will see how it goes.

In the evening Asa came over and we had cheese, biscuits and wine on the balcony, overlooking Manly beach and the Pacific Ocean. Very pleasant. At 9pm we went up on the 16th floor roof terrace and watched the pre-fireworks. There were a pack of teenagers misbehaving and throwing their glass over the edge, but the fireworks were very nice. After steak & chips we went back up at midnight to the real stuff in Sydney. Considering we are around 15 km (10 miles) outside we had quite a nice view. I got a text from a UK friend around 1 am and rang her up and we had a nice chat, but went to bed around 2 am, which is pretty good for me (Martin came an hour later or so).