Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
An 'Expletive' horrible day!
So......yesterday was not such a good day.Dave arrived early to tile and shortly after so did Mal. I kept out of the way but a little later heard Mal calling me.I went to see what he wanted. He was standing on the back steps."Isn't it right that there is not going to be a shower screen up here in this bathroom?""Yep" I said.......and a loud expletive exploded put of the bathroom window followed by..."Well that's two days work down the drain!"I went to see what was happening."Why did you not tell me that there is not going to be a shower screen up here?" yelled Dave....... at me."Because," I said, " I did not know you did not know. I assumed that Keith (the building manager, who was here the day Dave first arrived) had told you everything you needed to know about the job.""Well, it will just have to be ripped up......(expletive!)..........(expletive!).........(EXPLETIVE!)""You best ring Keith" I said and walked away. I felt sick.Keith was already on his way so arrived soon after.Dave was still highly strung. It seems the problem was that he had not screed the floor to slope enough towards the drain for a wet room.Keith phoned Danny. Danny arrived a bit later."We just can't delay," said Danny, "we don't have the time to fix it, we will just have to continue."It was the best decision under the circumstances....Dulcie should have been home today (Wednesday). We cannot delay her any longer. We are expecting her home by Monday.There is a slope on the tiles but it is not the 'regulation' slope for a wet room.We just have to hope it will be fine.Will and I were all set to run away when I told him on the way home from school.....but we can't. We have to stay here. Dulcie needs the visitors. We have already had out second nurse come up to us and say how down she is and quiet.....she is fine when we see her but when alone she rarely smiles. It has been long enough now.Today(Thursday) the tiling was finished upstairs.....Dave may be a' drama queen' but he is a good tiler.....it looks fantastic. There is still  little bit of grouting to do but he reckons they should be able to fit a loo tomorrow.My hopes soared......."But that's not to say it will be plumbed in," he added.I didn't say it but there was an 'expletive' in my head!
'Dances with Mice' and 'Dulcie's Anatomy'
(It's like 'Dances with Wolves' only shorter)Actually I haven't even danced with a mouse......I choose that title because like Kevin Costner, in that film, I am left 'holding the fort' alone.I know there are mice about.....Will has seen one, whereas I have only seen blurry sudden movements out of the corner of my eye, so quick that when my eyes actually look, there is nothing there.It's some tough mouse! It is already munching it's way through it's second bowl of 'Ratsak' poison."Kills Rats and Mice" says the label......er........no, it doesn't actually......it is party food for this mouse!Everyday the 'Indian's' arrive......and when I say 'Indian's', I mean the tiler, Dave. He is from N.S.W (New South Wales). He has a very dry sense of humour. I feel like I am living in an episode of 'Shameless' or 'Gordon Ramsay's Bathroom Nightmare's' such is the wave of profanity that washes over me everyday.Dave is a good tiler, he works hard and I just keep out of the way behind my barricade and let him get on with it but sometimes he calls me out to moan about the workmanship of those who have gone before and I just shrug my shoulders and say 'oh dear' in the right places and then scuttle back into my mouse infested quarters.Yesterday Mal, the plumber turned up. Mal swears  more than Dave....why use 1 swear word when you can use a dozen? Mal wanted to fit a waste pipe but it did not suit Dave. Dave is a man on a mission and he didn't want anyone going on his newly laid concrete floor."Oh, and when you fit the toilet down here can you sillicone it rather than bolt it down?" he asked Mal. "You do know how to sillicone or are you too old?" He added.I ducked below the parapet."You're from New South Wales ain't you? " He said it as if he had found something nasty under his shoe......."Could you flatten the floor a bit for the toilet to sit on?" asked Mal.Dave couldn't and wouldn't.......with the shower room not having a shower screen all the floor had to slope to the plug hole. Mal went off....to come back tomorrow.I peeped over the parapet."These Queensland plumbers don't know how to use sillicone," bemoaned Dave, "they still bolt them down but if you bolt this I am not responsible if it is no longer waterproof. Sillicone is tough, you could sillicone a fat bitch to a jumbo jet and she wouldn't fall off!"I tittered, than added a shrug, decided to leave out the usual 'oh dear' and retreated back to the mouse hole.Let's switch channel.....On the other channel is 'Dulcie's Anatomy'.....(I am not going to actually mention any of her anatomy so you can relax and read on.)'Dulcie's Anatomy is the on-going saga of everyday life in Rehab.When I arrived in Room J it was like Piccadilly Circus! Some one new had just arrived in Maureen's/Mary's old bed......I looked for the scrawled name card above the bed......"Stavroula Kapeleris"..........I sense she is Greek.There was a whole host of people fussing about trying to locate her hearing aids.....Lillian was just rolling her eyes in the corner, Dulcie was lying like Cleopatra on her bed letting it all wash over her and Henrietta was not paying any attention and just searching  in her bag.Finally, most of the people left leaving Stavroula's two sons....they were like 'Little and Large'......'Little' was in charge and was helping her unpack a large suitcase while 'Large' just sat in a chair.....the reason he is no doubt 'Large'.We went out to the dining hall for lunch and Lillian joined us. When we got back 'Little' was going through the menu, translating all the options for his mother....he did that for nearly an hour....and you can guess what 'Large' was doing.Henrietta was still searching in her bag."Have you lost something?" I asked."Not lost,..........mislaid" she said, sounding again like Mrs Doubtfire.I left her to find it. About 10 minutes later we heard a surprised "Oh" and turned to fine Henrietta holding up a large brush."Found it," she said.How could she misplace something as large as that in a tiny handbag? I suspected she just chose it to end the charade!(I shall look towards the camera with a quizzical look and hold it until the credits start to roll at the end of another episode of 'Dulcie's Anatomy'.)
"Hollywood" comes to Acacia Ridge!
It has been very exciting!At the weekend we noticed large marquees being set up on some spare land owned by the airfield just up the road. At first I wondered if it was going to be for a wedding but the next day there were lots of large vans there and one had "Film Unit" on the side.Was it a movie? Was it a T.V show?Today there were lots of cars parked on the field too and people in fluorescent jackets and signs warning of "Filming in Progress".The amount of people involved and the number of vans and cars can only mean it is BIG BUDGET!Coming back from  picking Willl up from work we saw a large helicopter hovering over the airfield and watched it slowly descending. We knew that that was part of the filming.Back home we got on Google but found nothing about any filming at Archerfield Airport.I know Angelina Jolie has been directing a film down on the Gold Coast and Brad has been here with her. Could Brad be just up the road from Celtis St?A little more searching revealed that another BIG BUDGET movie has just started filming on the Gold Coast.....$100 Million dollars budget!It is called "San Andreas"........about an earthquake. The hero of the film is a helicopter pilot (aha!) who spends the film looking for his daughter in the aftermath of a huge earthquake. Apparently the Gold Coast is standing in for California!The star of this multi-million dollar epic?............Dwayne Johnson or "The Rock".I am soooooooo disappointed......But I feel it in my (held in) water that this is the film that they are making just up the road.I can tell you now.........it will be rubbish! It's going to be in 3d!...........still rubbish!Another $100 million down the drain!Now, 'Possum Galore - The Movie' that would be money well spent!Tom Cruise could play me and Brad could be Will. Meryl Streep could be Dulcie.Maybe I should wander up there and pitch it to them!
Frustration!
"How long do you think we will be without a toilet?" I asked."Oh, two or three days," was the reply. That was nearly a fortnight ago now. Frustrating!Yes, we had a lovely weekend but still unmentioned was the fact we come home to a bucket or trips to the public loos at Woolies or the hospital.Nothing happened re the bathroom this weekend which was frustrating since after Dulcie's home visit we had said that we expected it would be ready for this Wednesday.Following that someone announced to her officially at her bedside that she was going home on Wednesday. Of course she was delighted...but the work at the house ground to a halt. Frustrating!When no one arrived this morning......AND I got up at 6.30 am just in case.....I texted Keith, our building manager at 8.30 am to tell him so and warn him that I was going to the hospital early as the Transition Care people were coming to talk to Dulcie and I wanted to be there. I left the key in the fernery.Keith's reply was when I found out the dreadful news that the tiler that had been lined up to do the job for us had taken a bigger job and left us in the lurch! Frustrating! Keith was trying to find a replacement.The traffic at 8.30 am was dreadful! Frustrating! I have never seen it so bad. I set off early so that I could avail myself of their 'flushing facilities' but by the time I finally got there I had to go straight to her bed. I was there at 9.00 am...the appointed time....but of course they didn't turn up until 9.30 and though I needed the loo dare not leave in case they arrived while I was away.Annie arrived....for it was she! It was a good job I was there. Annie was lovely and Chinese. Dulcie could hardly understand a word!Transition care will last for up to 12 weeks. We will get someone to help with showering and a nurse to keep an eye on the her wound and there will also be physiotherapy. It was as we expected.I had never been in so early, visiting usually starts at 11.00, but the ward was mad! We were trying to listen to Annie. Lillian was trying to get someone to find her handbag so she could buy something off the mobile shop trolley that was manned by three(!) people, well, two normal people and a 'bewildered' one. Three doctors arrived to see Henrietta, (who has been in Celia's bed since Pumping Pamela blew off) and there was another woman who was just drifting about and smiling amid the chaos."So you are going home on Wednesday?" said Annie.I butted in before Dulcie could say yes and told of the palava back at Celtis St. Annie did not think there would be a problem with her staying a few more days.Finally Annie left and so did everyone else and the room feel quiet."Here, cut this in half for Dulcie and Henrietta," said Lillian. She'd bought them a Lamington cake from the mobile shop trolley. I went in search of a knife but of course there were none....too much of a temptation in that place for suicidal patients....and visitors!I found a spoon...and used it's handle to cut the cake.Dulcie tucked into her half straight away. Henrietta was looking for something in her bag....she had been looking for about half an hour. I put Henrietta's half on herbedside table."Thank ......you.......Dearrrrrrr......" She sounds like Mrs Doubtfire. She is from Edinburgh.The other day she said;" I was born in Edinburgh, confirmed in the church in Edinburgh, married in Edinburgh. I had three children in Edinburgh.....no two.......oh.........( she was lost in thought) was 'she' born in Edinburgh, no........yes.......I think she was..........." We never found out if 'she' was or not.Henrietta is slow...not as slow as Marcelle ( remember her?)..... but slow. People often remind me of animals, their faces, and I couldn't make my mind if Henrietta was a parrot or a tortoise.....it's definitely a tortoise.I came home about 11.00. At 12.30 pm Keith and a new tiler arrived. He seems decent. He worked until 6.30 pm and has laid the concrete in the upstairs bath room....things are moving again.He said he will be back tomorrow about 7.00 am. The forecast is now that it should be ready by Monday for Dulcie to come home.So......another 6 days without a toilet.Frustrating!